The boy helped his family doing the great depression by not   telling on   his  dad   about   his   dad's      job      because   he did    not    want    his    family   to   break   apart . In the story it says that when he saw his dad selling apples on the corner he was really sad. Also in the story it says that he had sold a news paper to Babe Ruth and he did not even know that Babe Ruth wanted him to go to the baseball game at Yankee-stadium. This shows me that the boy was a really smart boy, selling newspaper to help his family. This story reminds me of when my Grandma was in the midst og great depression.