他画着声音跑过去，来到了一处建筑工地。罗伯茨湾的人喜欢自己建房，用的钉子是从当地一家工厂买的，都用麻袋来装。有时人们实在太忙，就会把麻袋随手丢弃，而鲁本知道，他可以以5分钱一条的价格把麻袋再卖回工厂。
那天，他找到了两条麻袋，拿到杂乱的木材厂，卖给了为钉子打包的人。
男孩手里紧紧攥着两个5分硬币，两公里的路程，他是一路小跑着回到家的。
他家附近有座旧谷仓，是用来圈养山羊和鸡的。鲁本在那里找到一个锈迹斑斑的苏打铁罐，把两枚硬币投了进去。然后，他爬上谷仓的阁楼，把铁罐藏在一堆散发着甜香味的干草底下。
鲁本回到家时已是晚饭时分，此时父亲正坐在大餐桌旁摆弄着渔网，母亲多à在灶台边忙着准备晚饭，鲁本在桌旁坐了下来。
他望着母亲，笑了。夕阳的余晖透过窗子照进来，把母亲棕褐色的披肩发染成了金黄色。苗条、美丽的母亲是这个家的中心，她像胶水一样，把这个家紧紧地黏结在一起。
母亲有永远也干不完的家务活，她要用老式的“胜家”缝纫机为一家人缝缝补补，要做饭、烤面包、打理菜园、挤羊奶，还要用搓衣板洗衣服。可母亲很快乐，在她看来，全家人的安康才是最重要的。
每天放学后做完家务，鲁本就在镇上搜寻装钉子的麻袋。只有两间教室的学校放暑假的那天，鲁本比任何人都高兴，现在他有更多时间去完成他的使命了。
整个夏季，鲁本除了做家务——给菜园锄草、浇水以及砍柴、打水外，一直进行着他的秘密活动。
转眼，菜园收获的季节到了，蔬菜被腌制装罐后储藏起来，此时，学校也开学了。不久，秋叶飘零，海湾吹来阵阵寒风。鲁本在街头徘徊，努力找寻着他的宝贝麻袋。
他常常会饿着肚子，又冷又累，但是一想到商店橱窗里的那样东西，他又来了精神。妈妈偶尔会问：“鲁本，你去哪儿啦？我们都等你吃饭呢！”
“我出去玩啦，妈妈。对不起。”
每到这时，多à总会看着他，摇摇头，男孩子嘛。
春天终于来了，绿意盎然，鲁本的精神也随之振奋。时候到了！他跑进谷仓，爬上草垛取出铁罐，倒出硬币，开始数起来。
他又数了一遍，还差20美分。镇上哪儿还会有废弃的麻袋呢？他必须在天黑之前再找四条卖掉。
鲁本顺着沃特街向前跑去。
当鲁本赶到工厂时，夕阳已骗将周围的一切à长了影子，收购麻袋的人正要锁门。
“先生！请先别锁门。”
那人转过身打量了一下鲁本，他浑身脏兮兮的，满头大汗。
“明天再来吧，孩子。”
“求求您了，先生，我必须现在就把这几条麻袋卖掉——求您啦。”那人听出鲁本的声音在颤抖，他快哭了。
“你为何这么急着要这点儿钱呢？”
“这个是秘密。”
那人接过麻袋，从衣袋里掏出四枚硬币放到鲁本手中。鲁本轻声说了句“谢谢”，就转身往家跑。
然后，他取出铁罐，紧紧地抱着，直奔那家商店。
“我有钱啦！”他郑重地对店主说。
店主向橱窗走去，取出鲁本想要的那件“宝贝”。
他掸去上面的灰尘，用牛皮纸小心地把它包好，放到鲁本手中。
鲁本一路狂奔到家，冲进前门。妈妈正在厨房擦灶台。“看看，妈妈！看这个！”鲁本边跑边叫着来到妈妈跟前，他把一个小盒子放到妈妈那双因劳动而变得粗糙的手上。
妈妈生怕把包装纸弄坏了，小心翼翼地将它拆开，一个蓝色天鹅绒首饰盒映入眼帘。多à打开盒盖，瞬间，泪水模糊了她的双眼。
一枚小巧的心形胸针上刻着两个金字：母亲。
那是1946年的母亲节。
多à从没收到过这样的礼物，除了结婚戒指外，她没有别的饰物。她一把搂过儿子，不说一句话，脸上露出圣洁的微笑，整个人愈加容光焕发起来。
真的梦想，没有屏障
Save Money for College by My Own
佚名 / Anonymous
I will never forget one day in my first year in high school. I was sitting on the stairs descending into the basement, putting my head in my hands and crying out in despair to my parents that I would never be able to save enough money for college. My parents tried to console me, but it seemed impossible to save 64, 268, the cost for the private restitution that I desperately wanted to attend.
Now let me tell you the amazing story of how I earned this sum of money.
It all began with a paper route in Ankeny, IA. I hated delivering that route, but was determined to stick it out for six months until my family moved to Wausau, WI. With a few meager dollars from my paper route, a small nest egg began to develop. My next job was with an athletic company as a telephone customer service representative. The savings account continued to grow very slowly. Then, the fall of my junior year of high school, I began to waitress at Denny' s restaurant. It was a hard work, but the money began to roll in and this job paid at least twice as much money per hour.
By the time my senior year arrived, I had saved a considerable amount of money. This was encouraging, but I knew that I would also need some help, so began the process of applying for scholarships. Sometimes it was discouraging because I was rejected again and again. Then, my first scholarship offer came in, 2, 000 a year to play tennis. This is only a small dent at a school that costs approximately 14, 000 a year, but it was a start. Several other academic scholarships also came my way and soon I was up to have 9,050 in scholarships. Between scholarships and savings, I had enough money for my first year！
Another interesting development emerged. I began testing out of classes. Running anxiously to the mailbox in anticipation of my test scores became part of my daily routine. Excitement mounted as test result saved me approximately 1,000 in tuition and then enabled me to graduate a year early. This would save room and board expenses as well.
Finally, I was off to college. Because of careful saving, I did not have to work during the school year. Then, summer hit and it was time to work harder than ever. I continued working as a waitress at night, instructed tennis camps several mornings a week and worked as a secretary for a few hours in the afternoons. Being a little overzealous, I decided to also take a class at a community college. This class at the community college saved me 650, it was an exhausting summer and made me anxious to return to my relatively easy life at college.
During my second and third years of undergraduate schooling, I decided to work about five hours per week in the campus admissions office answering phones. This provided a little spending money and kept me from draining my savings. The overall situation looked hopeful as I approached my senior year as long as I could make as much money as I had the previous summer. That is when I decided to go to Israel to study for 3 weeks. I hesitated in making this decision and had just about decided not to go because it would cost me 1,600 more to get the credits in Israel.
About two weeks later my Mom called to tell me that I had 1,600 in the bank that I had forgotten about！ One of my concerns about this trip was not only the cost, but the loss of time to make money; however, I made as much that summer in the ten weeks that I was home as I had made during the fourteen weeks that I was home the summer before. The way everything worked together to make this trip feasible was one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me.
Finally, my senior year of college was upon me and to keep things interesting, I decided to buy a car. I obviously did not have a lot of money to spend for a car. I searched many newspaper ads and I was ecstatic to find one for only 4, 200.
Then, I also attended an 8-week course on marriage and family in Colorado. This was an incredible experience that taught me a great deal about my worldview and how to develop a healthy family. This experience was also very costly, 4,000. I was surprised to find that I had graduated with no debt and so many remarkable journeys along the way.