She also proposed that they should drop patch-work, and help her make some blue shirts for Ben.

Mrs.Barton had given her the materials, and she thought it would be an excellent lesson in needle-work as well as a useful gift to Ben,--who, boy-like, never troubled himself as to what he should wear when his one suit of clothes gave out.
Wednesday afternoon was the sewing time; so the two little B's worked busily at a pair of shirt-sleeves, sitting on their bench in the doorway, while the rusty needles creaked in and out, and the childish voices sang school-songs, with frequent stoppages for lively chatter.
For a week, Ben worked away bravely, and never shirked nor complained, although Pat put many a hard or disagreeable job upon him, and chores grew more and more distasteful.

His only comfort was the knowledge that Mrs.Moss and the Squire were satisfied with him; his only pleasure the lessons he learned while driving the cows, and recited in the evening when the three children met under the lilacs to "play school." He had no thought of studying when he began, and hardly knew that he was doing it as he pored over the different books he took from the library.
But the little girls tried him with all they Possessed, and he was mortified to find how ignorant he was.

He never owned it in words, but gladly accepted all the bits of knowledge they offered from their small store; getting Betty to hear him spell "just for fun;" agreeing to draw Bab all the bears and tigers she wanted if she would show him how to do sums on the flags, and often beguiled his lonely labors by trying to chant the multiplication table as they did.

When Tuesday night came round, the Squire paid him a dollar, said he was "a likely boy," and might stay another week if he chose.