seven o'clock
He was about to invest his whole capital , but , by the advice of his companion , bought only eight copies , as by the time these were disposed of a later edition would be out , which of course would be more salable . It will be unnecessary to give in detail the record of Ben 's sales . He succeeded , because he was in earnest , and he was in earnest , because his own experience in the early part of the day had revealed to him how uncomfortable it was to be without money or friends in a large city . At seven o'clock , on counting over his money , he found that he had a dollar and twelve cents . Of this sum he had received half a dollar from the friendly reporter , to start him in business . This left sixty-two cents as his net profits for the afternoon 's work . Ben felt proud of it , for it was the first money he had ever earned .