“I don’t s’pose you could lend the team enough money to get boards for a back-stop, could you, pa?” asked Tommy, wistfully.
“I’m afraid not,” was the answer. “You see, it cost me quite a bit to move here, Tommy, and I can’t afford to let you have any more than I allow you every week. But why can’t you boys earn money yourselves?”
“There doesn’t seem to be many ways of earning money here,” replied the lad. “Back in Millton, now, I could make a lot cutting grass. But they don’t have many front lawns here, and people let the grass grow as long as it likes in the back yards. I asked a lady, two or three houses down from here, the other day, if she didn’t want her back grass cut, and she said it didn’t matter because no one saw it, anyhow. I’ll cut our front grass for fifteen cents,” went on Tommy, quickly, looking at his father.
“All right,” agreed Mr. Tiptop. “I’ll pay you to-morrow. And, if I were you, I’d go downtown after school, some days, and see if you can run errands for any of the storekeepers. I know up at the factory where I work we often need a boy to run errands and carry light packages, when the regular boy is out. It’s too far away, or you could come down there and earn a little money.”
“Well, with my ten cents and fifteen for cutting the grass, I’ll have twenty-five cents,” went on Tommy. “That will help buy some wood, and we’ve got about half a dollar in the treasury,” he added, proudly.
“Good luck to you!” cried Mr. Tiptop as his son went up to bed.
Tommy arose early the next morning and had most of the grass cut before it was time to go to school. He finished it at noon, and though he wanted to go and practice baseball playing with the boys on the new diamond they had made, Tommy decided that he would go downtown and see if he could not find a chance to earn money.
“Can I run any errands for you?” he asked in several stores. But though the merchants were kind, and smiled at Tommy, they did not need any help just then.
“I’ll try that florist’s over there,” decided our hero, as he got in front of the flower place. “Maybe he has bouquets to send out somewhere. Then, if I don’t get a chance, I’ll go back home and try it again to-morrow.”
“Any errands to run?” he asked of the proprietor of the flower shop. The man was standing behind the counter, holding a long box in his hand.