“You forget,” observed Mr. Warlingham, “that your time, out of school hours, belongs to your parents: they have the first claim upon you, and many of them need _all_ the assistance which you can give them. If, however, your parents can spare you, I think you may do a great deal towards raising the sum required: but even then, the money can only be raised slowly; and what is poor Dinah to do for hay for her cows, all through the winter?” For the third time there was a dead silence. “Well, Boys, I hope you really feel how great a difficulty this is, in which you have placed yourselves. I can only help you to a certain degree, and even if I could help you out of it altogether, I would not; because I am anxious to make this a lesson which may last you your lives.--Now listen to me. It is, as you know, my custom to give you a Christmas dinner in this school, at some period during that time of rejoicing. The cost of that dinner to me is about five pounds. Instead, therefore, of giving you your usual Christmas feast, I shall, (if, as I am sure you wish it,) advance the sum of Five Pounds to Dinah Marjoram at once. This will reduce your debt to one-half, and at the same time you will feel by the loss of something to yourselves, that you have made a sacrifice of your inclination to your duty. But now the question arises how are we to raise the other five pounds?” Bob Kennedy looked round at the other boys, and then said, “I am sure we should all be glad to work for it, when our parents could spare us,--if any one would employ us.” “Some of you are too young to be of any use,” replied the Vicar. “We older boys must work the harder, Sir,” answered Dunn. “And certainly the most of the labour ought to be thrown upon us, Sir,” added Kennedy, “because we were the leaders: if _we_ had not thought of the fire-works, the little ones would never have wished for them: indeed they wanted sweets from Peggy Brandrick.” “Now that you speak in this way,” said Mr. Warlingham, “I see you are in earnest, and really desire to make up for your past fault, so far as it is in your power: and, therefore, I will gladly do what I can to assist you.” The boys thanked him. “Do you think Sir,” they asked, “that the farmers would employ us?” “Perhaps they would employ a few,” replied the Vicar, “but we could hardly expect them to employ _all_, and I want to make _each one_ of you bear his share in the business.” “I beg your pardon, Sir,” said Harry Martin, “but I think I know what we might do. There are just fifty of us, in the school. Now, if each of us brought a penny every Monday morning, that would be four shillings and two-pence a week; and if we went on bringing in our pennies weekly, that would raise the sum required in about six months.” “Well Harry: your notion is not a bad one, but how are you to raise,--each of you,--a penny a week?” A great many boys said that they were sure that their fathers or mothers would pay a penny a week for them.