Part 8 (1/2)
The talked back to the Alcott home in an almost unbroken silence
Once Edward ventured to rerateful I am to you”
”Well, ht: that it is so to have seen him even so, than not to have seen him at all
But to us it is so sad, so very sad The twilight is gently closing in”
And so it proved--just five months afterward
Eventful day after eventful day followed in Edward's Boston visit The followinghe spent with Wendell Phillips, who presented him with letters from William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and other fa a letter of introduction to Charles Francis Adaraph letters from his two presidential forbears, John Ada Mr Adaraciousness and liberality Wonderful letters from the two Ada the train for New York, Edward Bok went hoht in a day-coach for the double purpose of saving the cost of a sleeping-berth and of having a chance to classify and clarify the events of the most wonderful week in his life!
CHAPTER VII
A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET
The father of Edward Bok passed ahen Edas eighteen years of age, and it was found that the amount of the small insurance left behind would barely cover the funeral expenses Hence the two boys faced the problere incooal: to put their mother back to that life of coht up and was formerly accustomed But that was not possible on their income It was evident that other es
The city editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_ had given Edward the assign the news of the theatres; he was to ascertain ”co attractions” and any other dra, when a multiplicity of events crowded the reportorial corps, Edas delegated to ”cover” the Grand Opera House, where Rose Coghlan was to appear in a play that had already been seen in Brooklyn, and called, therefore, for no special drale_ wanted to cover it It so happened that Edward hadwhich he consideredto disappoint his editor he accepted the assignhlan in the play; so he kept his other engage the theatre he wrote a notice to the effect that Miss Coghlan acted her part, if anything, with greater power than on her previous Brooklyn visit, and so forth, and handed it in to his city editor the nexton his way to business
Unfortunately, however, Miss Coghlan had been taken ill just before the raising of the curtain, and, there being no understudy, no perforiven and the audience dismissed All this was duly co newspapers Edward read this bit of news on the ferry-boat, but his notice was in the hands of the city editor
On reaching hole_, and the nexthe received a rebuke, and was informed that his chances with the paper were over The ready acknowledgret of the crestfallen boy, however, appealed to the editor, and before the end of the week he called the boy to him and promised him another chance, provided the lesson had sunk in It had, and it left a lasting iratitude with Edward Bok that his first atte” occurred so early in his journalistic career that he could take the experience to heart and profit by it
One evening when Edas attending a theatrical performance, he noticed the restlessness of the women in the audience between the acts
In those days it was, even o out between the acts, leaving the worae eleven-by-nine sheet, four pages, badly printed, with nothing in it save the cast, a few advertise attraction The boyside up and wondered whether a programme of this smaller size, easier to handle, with an attractive cover and so-matter, would not be profitable
When he reached hoe ”dummy,” pasted an attractive picture on the cover, indicated theshowed it to the raeraht, and the ht a friend, Frederic L Colver, who had a larger experience in publishi+ng and advertising, ho that iramme the idea was likely to be taken up by the other theatres, Edward proceeded to secure the exclusive rights to the publishers solicited their advertises, and shortly the first sramme, now in use in all theatres, appeared
The venture was successful fro a comfortable profit each week Such advertisements as they could not secure for cash they accepted in trade; and this latter arrange the households of the two publishers
Edward's partner now introduced hi society called The Philo men connected with Plymouth Church, of which Henry Ward Beecher was pastor The debates took the for a State, and it is a curious coincidence that Edward drew, by lot, the representation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The members took these debates very seriously; no subject was too large for them to discuss Edward becas, and it was not long before he was elected president
The society derived its revenue froiven under its auspices in Plymouth Church When the time for the concert under Edward's presidency came around, he decided that the occasion should be unique so as to insure a crowded house He induced Mr Beecher to preside; he got General Grant's proratuitous services of E, and Evelyn Lyon Hegeers of that day, with the result that the church could not accora theatre-progra interests by issuing an ”organ”
for their society, and the first issue of _The Philomathean Review_ duly appeared with Mr Colver as its publisher and Edward Bok as editor Edward had now an opportunity to try his wings in an editorial capacity The periodical was, of course, essentially an organ of the society; but gradually it took on a ht extend over a larger portion of Brooklyn With this extension caan to take on a literary character, and it was not long before its two projectors realized that the periodical had outgrown its nae the naazine_
There was a periodical called _The Plymouth Pulpit_, which presented verbatiot the idea of absorbing the _Pulpit_ in the _Magazine_ But that required more capital than he and his partner could command They consulted Mr
Beecher, who, attracted by the enterprise of the two boys, sent them with letters of introduction to a few of his most influential parishi+oners, with the result that the pair soon had a sufficient financial backing by so men of Brooklyn, like H B
Claflin, Seth Low, Rossiter W Ray publishers could now go on Understanding that Mr Beecher's serazine, Edward arranged to publish also in its pages verbatie, whose reputation was then at its zenith The young editor now realized that he had a rather heavy cargo of serazine ious, he deterh order and equal in interest to the sermons But this called for additional capital, and the capital furnished was not for that purpose
It is here that Edward's autographic acquaintances stood hiood stead He went in turn to each noted person he had ht and stated his aazine and the public were surprised at the distinction of the contributors to _The Brooklyn Magazine_ Each number contained a noteworthy list of them, and when an article by the President of the United States, then Rutherford B Hayes, opened one of the numbers, the public was astonished, since up to that tis were confined to official pronouncements had scarcely been broken William Dean Howells, General Grant, General Sherman, Phillips Brooks, General Sheridan, Canon Farrar, Cardinal Gibbons, Marion Harland, Margaret Sangster--the most prominent men and woazines--began to appear in the young editor's contents Editors wondered how the publishers could afford it, whereas, in fact, not a single naratuitously to the aid of the editor
At first, the circulation of the azine permitted the boys to wrap the copies themselves; and then they, with two other boys, would carry as huge bundles as they could lift, put theht on the front platform of the streetcars, and take therowth of their circulation by the weight of their bundles and the number of their front-platform trips each month