Mr. Hooper gazed thoughtfully up into a cherry tree as he spoke. The fruit nearly all was bright red and so plump it looked as if it might burst.
The orchard owner took Connie’s pail of cherries to the shed for weighing.
“You’ve picked four pounds,” he said. “That’s six cents. After you’ve practiced awhile, you’ll find you can strip the trees three times as fast.”
Pa Hooper told the girls that a professional picker usually made from six to ten dollars a day. The Brownies, of course, never could hope to earn that much.
Instead of paying Connie for the cherries she had picked, Mr. Hooper wrote her name on a card and the amount that was due.
“This is your account,” he said. “If you’re a good picker and stick to it, the sum should grow and grow like Jack’s beanstalk.”
Then and there, both Connie and Veve made up their minds to be the fastest pickers in the Rosedale Brownie troop. They scarcely could wait to return home to relate their good news!
“Be at the orchard early in the morning if you want to get a good start,” Mr. Hooper urged. “At least by seven o’clock.”
Now, as a rule, Connie and Veve scarcely had their breakfasts by that hour. You may be sure, though, that they didn’t tell the orchard owner. Instead, they merely nodded and promised to be on hand.
The girls felt quite happy as they trudged to the bus stop. Their arms ached from such fast picking, and Veve had several cherry juice stains on her pinchecked dress. But they were pleased to have obtained a promise of work.