The Americanization of Edward Bok | Page 9

in his nature, and is very likely to be equally so in his mental
view. Edward's father was distinctly interested--very much amused, as
he confessed to the boy in later years--in his son's discernment of the
futility of the Spencerian style of penmanship. He agreed with the boy,
and, next morning, accompanied him to school and to the principal.
The two men were closeted together, and when they came out Edward
was sent to his classroom. For some weeks he was given no
penmanship lessons, and then a new copy-book was given him with a
much simpler style. He pounced upon it, and within a short time stood
at the head of his class in writing.
The same instinct that was so often to lead Edward aright in his future
life, at its very beginning served him in a singularly valuable way in
directing his attention to the study of penmanship; for it was through
his legible handwriting that later, in the absence of the typewriter, he

was able to secure and satisfactorily fill three positions which were to
lead to his final success.
Years afterward Edward had the satisfaction of seeing public-school
pupils given a choice of penmanship lessons: one along the flourish
lines and the other of a less ornate order. Of course, the boy never
associated the incident of his refusal with the change until later when
his mother explained to him that the principal of the school, of whom
the father had made a warm friend, was so impressed by the boy's
simple but correct view, that he took up the matter with the board of
education, and a choice of systems was considered and later decided
upon.
From this it will be seen that, unconsciously, Edward Bok had started
upon his career of editing!

II. The First Job: Fifty Cents a Week
The Elder Bok did not find his "lines cast in pleasant places" in the
United States. He found himself, professionally, unable to adjust the
methods of his own land and of a lifetime to those of a new country. As
a result the fortunes of the transplanted family did not flourish, and
Edward soon saw his mother physically failing under burdens to which
her nature was not accustomed nor her hands trained. Then he and his
brother decided to relieve their mother in the housework by rising early
in the morning, building the fire, preparing breakfast, and washing the
dishes before they went to school. After school they gave up their play
hours, and swept and scrubbed, and helped their mother to prepare the
evening meal and wash the dishes afterward. It was a curious
coincidence that it should fall upon Edward thus to get a first-hand
knowledge of woman's housework which was to stand him in such
practical stead in later years.
It was not easy for the parents to see their boys thus forced to do work
which only a short while before had been done by a retinue of servants.
And the capstone of humiliation seemed to be when Edward and his
brother, after having for several mornings found no kindling wood or
coal to build the fire, decided to go out of evenings with a basket and
pick up what wood they could find in neighboring lots, and the bits of
coal spilled from the coal-bin of the grocery-store, or left on the curbs
before houses where coal had been delivered. The mother remonstrated

with the boys, although in her heart she knew that the necessity was
upon them. But Edward had been started upon his Americanization
career, and answered: "This is America, where one can do anything if it
is honest. So long as we don't steal the wood or coal, why shouldn't we
get it?" And, turning away, the saddened mother said nothing.
But while the doing of these homely chores was very effective in
relieving the untrained and tired mother, it added little to the family
income. Edward looked about and decided that the time had come for
him, young as he was, to begin some sort of wage-earning. But how
and where? The answer he found one afternoon when standing before
the shop-window of a baker in the neighborhood. The owner of the
bakery, who had just placed in the window a series of trays filled with
buns, tarts, and pies, came outside to look at the display. He found the
hungry boy wistfully regarding the tempting-looking wares.
"Look pretty good, don't they?" asked the baker.
"They would," answered the Dutch boy with his national passion for
cleanliness, "if your window were 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