Part 2 (1/2)

”They would,” answered the Dutch boy with his national passion for cleanliness, ”if your ere clean”

”That's so, too,” mused the baker ”Perhaps you'll clean it”

”I will,” was the laconic reply And Edward Bok, there and then, got his first job He went in, found a step-ladder, and put so e sho that the baker ied with him to clean it every Tuesday and Friday afternoon after school The salary was to be fifty cents per week!

But one day, after he had finished cleaning the , and the baker was busy in the rear of the store, a customer came in, and Edward ventured to wait on her Dexterously he wrapped up for another the fragrant currant-buns for which his young soul--and stoered! The baker watched hily he served the customer, and offered Edward an extra dollar per week if he would come in afternoons and sell behind the counter He i that, in addition to his salary of a dollar and a half per week, he should each afternoon carry ho as a present to his reed, and Edward promised to come each afternoon except Saturday

”Want to play ball, hey?” said the baker

”Yes, I want to play ball,” replied the boy, but he was not reserving his Saturday afternoons for gaht be his preference

Edward now took on for each Saturday --when, of course, there was no school--the delivery route of a weekly paper called the _South Brooklyn Advocate_ He had offered to deliver the entire neighborhood edition of the paper for one dollar, thus increasing his earning capacity to two dollars and a half per week

Transportation, in those days in Brooklyn, was by horse-cars, and the car-line on Smith Street nearest Edward's home ran to Coney Island

Just around the corner where Edward lived the cars stopped to water the horses on their long haul The boy noticed that the ar-store before which the watering-trough was placed, and got a drink of water from the ice-cooler placed near the door But that was not so easily possible for the wo ride without a drink It was this that he had in mind when he reserved his Saturday afternoon to ”play ball”

Here was an opening, and Edward decided to fill it He bought a shi+ning new pail, screwed three hooks on the edge frolasses, and one Saturday afternoon when a car stopped the boy leaped on, tactfully asked the conductor if he did not want a drink, and then proceeded to sell his water, cooled with ice, at a cent a glass to the passengers A little experience showed that he exhausted a pail with every two cars, and each pail netted him thirty cents Of course Sunday was ato Sunday-school in the , he did a further Sabbath service for the rest of the day by refreshi+ng tired mothers and thirsty children on the Coney Island cars--at a penny a glass!

But the profit of six dollars which Edas now reaping in his newly found ”bonanza” on Saturday and Sunday afternoons beca ice-water boy found that he had a competitor; then two and soon three Edward ie; he squeezed half a dozen lear, tripled his charge, and continued his lass” Soonfor le Edent to a party of young people, and his latent journalistic sense whispered to hiht like to see her social affair in print He went ho careful to include the na took the account to the city editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_, with the sage observation that every naraph represented a buyer of the paper, ould like to see his or her nah of these reports he then the circulation of _The Eagle_ The editor was not slow to see the point, and offered Edward three dollars a column for such reports On his way home, Edward calculated how many parties he would have to attend a week to furnish a coluanize a corps of private reporters hiot each to promise to write for hiave, and laid great stress on a full recital of nale_ from two to three columns a week; his pay was raised to four dollars a colu started a depart those present” at the parties all bought the paper and were iratified to see their names

So everybody was happy, and Edward Bok, as a full-fledged reporter, had begun his journalistic career

It is curious how deeply embedded in his nature, even in his earliest years, was the inclination toward the publishi+ng business The word ”curious” is used here because Edward is the first journalist in the Bok fah which it extends in Dutch history On his father's side, there was a succession of jurists On the mother's side, not a journalist is visible

Edward attended the Sunday-school of the Carroll Park Methodist Episcopal Church, in Brooklyn, of which a Mr Elkins was superintendent One day he learned that Mr Elkins was associated with the publishi+ng house of Harper and Brothers Edward had heard his father speak of _Harper's Weekly_ and of the great part it had played in the Civil War; his father also brought home an occasional copy of _Harper's Weekly_ and of _Harper's Magazine_ He had seen _Harper's Young People_; the name of Harper and Brothers was on some of his school-books; and he pictured in his mind hoonderful it must be for a man to be associated with publishers of periodicals that other people read, and books that other folks studied The Sunday-school superintendent henceforth beca the boy hastened fro before the hour for school, and seated himself on the steps of the Elkins house under the pretext of waiting for Mr Elkins's son to go to school, but really for the secret purpose of seeing Mr Elkins set forth to engage in thebooks and periodicals Edould look after the superintendent's foro to school, forgetting all about the Elkins boy whom he had told the father he had co histhe baker's shop in after-school hours, serving his paper route, plying his street-car trade, and acting as social reporter, it soon became evident to Edward that he had not much time to prepare his school lessons By a supreed to hold his own in his class, but noall that he ht from his educational opportunities, yet the need for hireater The idea of leaving school was broached to hisso much Perhaps the tide with the father would turn and he would find the place to which his unquestioned talents entitled him Finally the father did He associated hiraph Company as translator, a position for which his easy coes admirably fitted him Thus, for a time, the strain upon the family exchequer was lessened

But the American spirit of initiative had entered deep into the soul of Edward Bok The brother had left school a year before, and found a place asEdward heard his father say that the office boy in his department had left, he asked that he be allowed to leave school, apply for the open position, and get the rest of his education in the great world itself It was not easy for the parents to see the younger son leave school at so early an age, but the earnestness of the boy prevailed

And so, at the age of twelve, Edward Bok left school, and on Monday, August 7, 1876, he became office boy in the electricians' departraph Company at six dollars and twenty-five cents per week

And, as such things will fall out in this curiously strange world, it happened that as Edward drew up his chair for the first ti, there had been born in Boston, exactly twelve hours before, a girl-baby as destined to become his wife Thus at the earliest possible moment after her birth, Edward Bok started to work for her!

CHAPTER III

THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION

With school-days ended, the question of self-education becaht with Edward Bok He had lish, but six years of public-school education was hardly a basis on which to build the work of a lifetime He saw each day in his duties as office boy some of the foremost men of the time It was the period of William H Vanderbilt's ascendancy in Western Union control; and the railroad reat interest to the young office boy Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A Edison were also constant visitors to the department He knew that soe of collegiate training, and yet they had risen to the top But how? The boy decided to read about these men and others, and find out He could not, however, afford the separate biographies, so he went to the libraries to find a compendium that would authoritatively tell him of all successful men He found it in Appleton's _Encyclopaedia_, and, deter to have only the best, he saved his luncheonthe five , had his reward in the first purchase fros: a set of the _Encyclopaedia_ He now read about all the successful innings had been as modest as his own, and their opportunities of education as limited

One day it occurred to hi James A Garfield was then spoken of for the presidency; Edondered whether it was true that the man as likely to be President of the United States had once been a boy on the tow-path, and with a si, wrote to General Garfield, asking whether the boyhood episode was true, and explaining why he asked Of course any public e his correspondence, is pleased to receive an earnest letter fro boy General Garfield answered warmly and fully