Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary

Eliza and Gant require the boys to go out and get jobs when they are still quite young, feeling that it will make them independent and self-reliant. Ben has a paper-route, which he begins at 3:00 a.m. He has become quiet and withdrawn and quits school after the eighth grade. The parents take little notice of the life he is living. At home, he plays with Eugene, giving him money and buying him presents, and he always remembers birthdays of all the family members with gifts.

Eugene must get up at six-thirty to fill baskets with garden produce and peddle them throughout the neighborhood. He gets to keep his own money, but Eliza requires that he put money into a bank to which she holds the only key. On Saturdays he sells The Saturday Evening Post on the streets. Luke is...