Edward's father did not find it easy to make good. He was between forty and fifty years of age and everything was new and strange. He could not find work for quite a long time and the strain began to tell upon his wife's health. Edward and his brother were quick to see how the heavy burdens were weighing upon their mother, so they decided to relieve her by rising early in the mornings; building the fire, preparing the breakfast, and washing the dishes, before they went to school. After school they gave up their play and swept and scrubbed, and helped their mother to prepare the evening meal, and wash the dishes afterwards.
One morning the boys woke up to find that there was no kindling wood or coal wherewith to build the fire, so they decided to go out each evening to gather coal which had been carelessly spilled when coal was being delivered. A good deal of wood was also lying about the streets which they were glad to get. The mother remonstrated with the boys, but Edward said: "It is all right, Mother; this is America, where one can do anything if it is honest. So long as we don't steal why shouldn't we get it?"
Money was badly needed in that home and Edward looked around to see if he could not earn something. One day he was standing looking longingly into the window of a baker's shop. The baker had just put a tray of tempting buns, tarts, and pies, in the window and he came out to look at them.
"They look pretty good, don't they?" he said, noticing the wistful look on Edward's face.
"They look all right," answered the little Dutch boy, "but they would look a whole lot better if you had your window cleaned."
"That is true," said the baker, "perhaps you will clean it."
So Edward got his first job. He cleaned that window every Tuesday and Friday afternoon, for which he received fifty cents a week. One day the baker was busy and Edward waited on a customer. When the baker saw how aptly he did it, he suggested that Edward help him on certain days after school and on Saturday afternoons. The salary was to be one dollar and fifty cents a week. Edward eagerly consented and hurried home to tell his parents about his rare good fortune. On Saturday mornings he took a delivery route for a newspaper, for which he received one dollar; thus he brought his weekly earnings up to two-fifty.
One evening Edward was invited to a party in Brooklyn. The thought occurred to him that the hostess would probably like to see an account of the party in the newspaper, so he wrote an account of it, giving the name of every boy and girl present, and sent it to the Brooklyn Eagle. The editor of the newspaper was so pleased with the idea that he offered to give Edward three dollars a column for such news. From that time Edward sought eagerly to find out where parties were being held in order to keep the editor supplied with news and to earn some much-needed money. It pleased people who had attended parties to see their names in print, and, of course, it increased the circulation of the paper. Edward was not yet thirteen, but he was attending school, working in a bake-shop after hours, serving a paper route on Saturday mornings, and acting as reporter for a newspaper.
One evening Edward learned that an office boy was wanted in the office of the Western Union Telegraph Company. The salary was six dollars and twenty-five cents a week. Edward secured the position, and so, at the early age of thirteen, he left school to make his way in the world. His mother was keenly disappointed at his having to leave school so early, but owing to the straitened circumstances of the home, she gave her consent.
Edward early developed habits of thrift. He never lost a chance of making five cents, and when he got it he did not spend it foolishly. He never used a street-car if he could walk. Thus, he was able to buy books to improve his education, and to make up for the serious handicap of having left school so early in life.