The Honest Dollar

Lee's Island off the New England coast is the scene of a sturdy domestic drama and of young Janie Marshall's acquisition of the measure of responsibility that helps her whole family take a new grip on life. Head of a family of four children, Mr. Marshall is a poor fisherman whose pride stands in the way of letting him take the least favour from anyone, so that when Janie is accused of stealing unused driftwood from another man's beach, the blow is doubly hard to take. Thereafter, Janie's search for ways to earn money to buy the small encyclopedia she wants and eventually to help with still another new baby in the family, is beset with the difficulties of being a girl and of finding the jobs. But diligence turns the tide. In the end Janie has made some new friends on Lee's Island and Mr. Marshall, now more optimistic, is willing to concede that Janie might possibly be able to go to high school after all.