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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15930-8.txt b/15930-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8894b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/15930-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7811 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After, by Edward Bok, +Edited by John Louis Haney + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After + + +Author: Edward Bok + +Editor: John Louis Haney + +Release Date: May 28, 2005 [eBook #15930] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15930-h.htm or 15930-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930/15930-h/15930-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930/15930-h.zip) + + + + + +A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER + +by + +EDWARD BOK + +Adapted from _The Americanization of Edward Bok_ + +Edited with an Introduction by John Louis Haney, Ph.D. +President, Central High School, Philadelphia + +Charles Scribner's Sons +New York Chicago Boston +Atlanta San Francisco + +1921 + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Photograph of Edward Bok.] + + + + +TO + +THE SCHOOLBOYS AND SCHOOLGIRLS OF AMERICA + +I DEDICATE THIS STORY OF A BOY + +WHO BELIEVED THAT AN OBSTACLE IS NOT SOMETHING + +TO BE AFRAID OF + +BUT IS ONLY A DIFFICULTY TO BE OVERCOME + +AND WHO TOOK FOR HIS MOTTO + +AS I HOPE EVERY ONE WHO READS THESE PAGES WILL DO + +THESE LINES BY MADELINE S. BRIDGES: + + + "Give to the world the best you have + And the best will come back to you." + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +In recent years American literature has been enriched by certain +autobiographies of men and women who had been born abroad, but who had +been brought to this country, where they grew up as loyal citizens of +our great nation. Such assimilated Americans had to face not only the +usual conditions confronting a stranger in a strange land, but had to +develop within themselves the noble conception of Americanism that was +later to become for them a flaming gospel. Andrew Carnegie, the canny +Scotch lad who began as a cotton weaver's assistant, became a steel +magnate and an eminent constructive philanthropist. Jacob Riis, the +ambitious Dane, told in _The Making of an American_ the story of his +rise to prominence as a social and civic worker in New York. Mary +Antin, who was brought from a Russian ghetto at the age of thirteen, +gave us in _The Promised Land_ a most impressive interpretation of +America's significance to the foreign-born. The very title of her book +was a flash of inspiration. + +To this group of notable autobiographies belongs _The Americanization +of Edward Bok_, which received, from Columbia University, the Joseph +Pulitzer Prize of one thousand dollars as "the best American biography +teaching patriotic and unselfish service to the Nation and at the same +time illustrating an eminent example." The judges who framed that +decision could not have stated more aptly the scope and value of the +book. It is the story of an unusual education, a conspicuous +achievement, and an ideal now in course of realization. + +At the age of six Edward Bok was brought to America by his parents, who +had met with financial reverses in their native country of the +Netherlands. He spent six years in the public schools of Brooklyn, but +even while getting the rudiments of a formal education he had to work +during his spare hours to bring home a few more dollars to aid his +needy family. His first job was cleaning the show-window of a small +bakery for fifty cents a week. At twelve he became an office boy in +the Western Union Telegraph Company; at nineteen he was a stenographer; +at twenty-six he became editor of _The Ladies' Home Journal_, which +during the thirty years of his supervision achieved the remarkable +circulation of two million copies and reached every month an audience +of perhaps ten million persons. Such is the bare outline of a career +that has the essential characteristics of struggle and achievement, of +intimate contact with eminent men and women, and, most interesting of +all, is not a fulfilled career, but a life still in the making. + +The significance of _The Americanization of Edward Bok_ is threefold +and is clearly indicated by the author's own conception of the three +periods that should constitute a well-rounded life.. These he +characterizes as education, achievement, and service for others. +Conceived in this ideal spirit, the autobiography has a message for +every American schoolboy or schoolgirl who is looking forward to the +years of achievement and who should be made to understand that there is +a finer duty beyond. It has an equally important message for those of +us who in the turmoil of a busy world are struggling to achieve, in +many instances with no vision beyond the desire to provide as best we +can for the welfare of ourselves and our families. Lastly, it has an +inspiring, constructive message for those who are now in a position to +render altruistic service and thus contribute their share toward making +the world in general and America in particular a better place in which +to live. + +Because of the recognized value of Edward Bok's life-story, the present +abridged edition, which is re-named _A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After_, +has been undertaken. The chapters here brought together, with the +approval of Mr. Bok, tell the story of the Dutch boy in the American +school, his earnest efforts to help his parents, his journalistic and +literary experiences, his wide-spread influence as editor, and a vision +of what he still hopes to accomplish for the land of his adoption. + +Our boys and girls who become familiar with the story of this +resourceful Dutch lad should note that he is not ashamed to tell us he +helped his mother by building the fire, preparing the breakfast, and +washing the dishes before he went to school, and when he returned from +school he did not play but swept, scrubbed, and washed more dishes +after the evening meal. He did not whine and mope because his parents +could no longer keep the retinue of servants to which they had been +accustomed in the Netherlands. He simply pitched in and helped. The +same spirit impelled him to clean the baker's windows for fifty cents a +week, to deliver a newspaper over a regular route, to sell ice water on +the Coney Island horse-cars--in short, to do any honorable work to +overcome the burden of poverty. Meanwhile he strove to acquire what +little education he could, but he probably learned more from his +association with the prominent persons whom he met as a result of his +early passion for autograph collecting. Such a boyhood brings home the +important truth that necessity is the mother of self-reliance. + +Mr. Bok's story indicates the road to success and gives encouragement +to those who would tread that pleasant way, but it also sounds a frank +warning against the pitfalls that beset ambitious youth. When he was +sent by the city editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_ to review a theatrical +performance and decided to write his review without going to the +theatre, he had, of course, no warning that the performance would not +take place. He took what many a more experienced reporter would +consider a reasonable chance and he suffered keen humiliation when the +lesson was forced home that it does not pay to attempt deception. He +tells us that the incident left a lasting impression and he felt +grateful because it happened so early in life that he could take the +experience to heart and profit by it. With equal candor he tells of +the stock-market "tips" that resulted from his intimacy with Jay Gould. +Wisely he records that he resolved to keep out of Wall Street +thereafter, in spite of his initial success in speculation. When he +gave up an association that probably would have led to his becoming a +stock-broker, and somewhat later, when he declined an offer to be the +business manager for a popular American actress, Edward Bok was called +upon to make fateful decisions. In this story he lays ample stress +upon the need for careful and deliberate consideration at such crucial +moments. + +The account of his long and successful editorship of _The Ladies' Home +Journal_ reveals the extent of his influence on American social and +domestic conditions. He broadened the scope of _The Journal_ until it +touched the life of the nation at many points. The earlier women's +magazines had devoted most attention to fashions, needle-work, and +cookery, printing a few sentimental stories and poems to give the +necessary literary atmosphere. _The Ladies' Home Journal_ took up a +great variety of problems concerning the American home and those who +dwelled therein. A corps of editors was assembled to conduct +departments and to answer questions either by mail or in the pages of +_The Journal_. Free scholarships in colleges and in musical +conservatories were given in place of the usual magazine premiums. +Series of articles were published to foster our national appreciation +for better architecture, better furniture, better pictures--in brief, +for better homes in every respect. + +Mr. Bok discouraged the taking of patent medicines, the wearing of +aigrettes, the use of the public drinking-cup, the disfiguring of +American scenery with glaring signs and bill-posting, the use of +fireworks on the Fourth of July, and many similar matters that were not +to our credit or advantage. He printed convincing photographs taken in +various "dirty cities" that tolerated refuse and other evidences of +untidiness on their streets and literally shamed those communities into +cleaning up the plague-spots. Had he been a commonplace editor with +his main thought on the subscription list he would have avoided +controversy by confining his leading articles to subjects unlikely to +offend any one, but he would not pursue any policy that meant a +surrender of his ideals. When occasion demanded he did not hesitate to +hit squarely from the shoulder. Whether the public agreed with him or +not, it knew that _The Journal_ was very much in earnest whenever it +espoused any cause. + +Mr. Bok's last important service as editor of _The Journal_ was a +direct outcome of our participation in the Great War. The problems +raised by that world cataclysm called for a restatement of American +ideals and aspirations. He therefore arranged for a number of articles +adapted to the needs of every community, whether large or small, and +these were soon acclaimed as the most comprehensive exposition of +practical Americanization that had yet been published. As a +far-sighted editor with a long experience behind him he knew that many +of the immigrants coming to this country were ready to enjoy our +privileges without undertaking to share our responsibilities. The +newcomer could realize a freedom unknown in Europe, he had a chance to +achieve higher standards of living and to establish a better home for +himself and his family; what were we asking in return? We did not +subject him to a political confession of faith and we did not fix his +social caste; were we justified in asking him to accept our language +and to uphold our institutions? The intelligent immigrant knows that +the culture of America is a transplanted European culture, but he +quickly realizes that it has become something distinctive because it +developed under conditions where social barriers or racial jealousies +are of slight importance. The person who grasps this truth, as did +Edward Bok, knows well that America stands ready to accept any man, +whether native-born or alien, at his true worth and will give him +unequalled opportunity to make the most of his abilities. + +In accomplishing his Americanization, Mr. Bok learned much from us and +he has given his fellow-Americans a chance to learn something from him. +He is aware of our pride in what we have achieved, but he points the +way to still greater triumphs in the years to come. He urges us to +give more regard to thrift, to be more painstaking and thorough in what +we do, and finally, to overcome our prevalent lack of respect for +authority. Such advice is especially appropriate at this time. During +the present critical period in the wake of the greatest and most +destructive of all wars, a prudent nation will follow the fundamental +political and economic virtues. It is no time for extravagance, for +slipshod service, or for defiance of established law. Our young people +need every incentive to make the most of their talents and of their +opportunities. If they observe closely the successive steps of Mr. +Bok's career they will understand why he did not continue to wash +shop-windows all his life or why the Western Union's office-boy did not +grow up to be a mere clerk or local manager. In the important chapters +entitled "The Chances for Success" and "What I Owe to America" they +will learn that ambition and industry must be supplemented by other +admirable qualities in the loyal American who is eager to serve his +country to the utmost. + +The concluding chapters of the autobiography have a most valuable +lesson for every American, young or old. In them Mr. Bok calls upon us +to give a helping hand to the other fellow and to accept in more +genuine spirit the gospel of the brotherhood of man. The civic pride +that urged him to join in the movement to beautify his home community +of Merion and that caused his activity in the raising of an endowment +fund of almost two million dollars for the Philadelphia Orchestra is +what we would expect of the idealist who sets out to observe the wise +precept of his Dutch grandparents: "Make you the world a bit more +beautiful and better because you have been in it." + +Throughout the book the observant reader will note the author's pride +in his Dutch ancestry and his consciousness of the fact that he owes so +much to the splendid qualities of his forbears. Such pride may be +shared by every other progressive American of foreign birth or +parentage who feels that he is bringing into our social and industrial +life certain commendable traits that characterize the best sons and +daughters of his fatherland, whatever that fatherland may be. + +The admirable dedication that Mr. Bok has prepared for this little +volume is addressed to American schoolboys and schoolgirls, but its +message is just as vital for the older reader. In the prime of life +and on the threshold of his Third Period, Mr. Bok has begun to give +practical demonstration of the kind of service that is possible for +those who are sincerely ready to serve. He is alive to the fact that +as a nation we are still young and eager to learn. We have made +serious mistakes in the past and our institutions are as yet far from +perfect, but with more of our intellectual leaders accepting the +watchword of altruistic service in the spirit of Mr. Bok's conception, +there can be virtually no limitations to the part that America seems +destined to play in the future. + +JOHN L. HANEY + + +CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL + +PHILADELPHIA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + +AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA + + II. THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK + + III. THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION + + IV. A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE + + V. GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW + + VI. PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST + + VII. A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET + + VIII. STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE + + IX. THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES," + AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S + + X. THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS + + XI. LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK + + XII. SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP + + XIII. BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE + + XIV. MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO + + XV. ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS + + XVI. THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE + + XVII. THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY + + XVIII. ADVENTURES IN MUSIC + + XIX. A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES + + XX. THE THIRD PERIOD + + XXI. WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME + + XXII. WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA + +EDWARD WILLIAM BOK: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA + +THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL PLEASURE + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Edward W. Bok . . . Frontispiece + +Edward Bok at the age of six + +Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands + +The grandmother + +The Dutch grandfather [Transcriber's note: missing from book] + +Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden + + + + +AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS + + +IN WHOSE LIVES ARE FOUND THE SOURCE AND MAINSPRING OF SOME OF THE +EFFORTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK IN HIS LATER YEARS + + +Along an island in the North Sea, five miles from the Dutch coast, +stretches a dangerous ledge of rocks that has proved the graveyard of +many a vessel sailing that turbulent sea. On this island once lived a +group of men who, as each vessel was wrecked, looted the vessel and +murdered those of the crew who reached shore. The government of the +Netherlands decided to exterminate the island pirates, and for the job +King William selected a young lawyer at The Hague. + +"I want you to clean up that island," was the royal order. It was a +formidable job for a young man of twenty-odd years. By royal +proclamation he was made mayor of the island, and within a year, a +court of law being established, the young attorney was appointed judge; +and in that dual capacity he "cleaned up" the island. + +The young man now decided to settle on the island, and began to look +around for a home. It was a grim place, barren of tree or living green +of any kind; it was as if a man had been exiled to Siberia. Still, +argued the young mayor, an ugly place is ugly only because it is not +beautiful. And beautiful he determined this island should be. + +One day the young mayor-judge called together his council. "We must +have trees," he said; "we can make this island a spot of beauty if we +will!" But the practical seafaring men demurred; the little money they +had was needed for matters far more urgent than trees. + +"Very well," was the mayor's decision--and little they guessed what the +words were destined to mean--"I will do it myself." And that year he +planted one hundred trees, the first the island had ever seen. + +"Too cold," said the islanders; "the severe north winds and storms will +kill them all." + +"Then I will plant more," said the unperturbed mayor. And for the +fifty years that he lived on the island he did so. He planted trees +each year; and, moreover, he had deeded to the island government land +which he turned into public squares and parks, and where each spring he +set out shrubs and plants. + +Moistened by the salt mist the trees did not wither, but grew +prodigiously. In all that expanse of turbulent sea--and only those who +have seen the North Sea in a storm know how turbulent it can be--there +had not been a foot of ground on which the birds, storm-driven across +the water-waste, could rest in their flight. Hundreds of dead birds +often covered the surface of the sea. Then one day the trees had grown +tall enough to look over the sea, and, spent and driven, the first +birds came and rested in their leafy shelter. And others came and +found protection, and gave their gratitude vent in song. Within a few +years so many birds had discovered the trees in this new island home +that they attracted the attention not only of the native islanders but +also of the people on the shore five miles distant, and the island +became famous as the home of the rarest and most beautiful birds. So +grateful were the birds for their resting-place that they chose one end +of the island as a special spot for the laying of their eggs and the +raising of their young, and they fairly peopled it. It was not long +before ornithologists from various parts of the world came to +"Egg-land," as the farthermost point of the island came to be known, to +see the marvellous sight, not of thousands but of hundreds of thousands +of bird-eggs. + +A pair of storm-driven nightingales had now found the island and mated +there; their wonderful notes thrilled even the souls of the natives; +and as dusk fell upon the seabound strip of land the women and children +would come to "the square" and listen to the evening notes of the birds +of golden song. The two nightingales soon grew into a colony, and +within a few years so rich was the island in its nightingales that over +to the Dutch coast and throughout the land and into other countries +spread the fame of "The Island of Nightingales." + +Meantime, the young mayor-judge, grown to manhood, had kept on planting +trees each year, setting out his shrubbery and plants, until their +verdure now beautifully shaded the quaint, narrow lanes, and +transformed into wooded roads what once had been only barren wastes. +Artists began to hear of the place and brought their canvases, and on +the walls of hundreds of homes throughout the world hang to-day bits of +the beautiful lanes and wooded spots of "The Island of Nightingales." +The American artist, William M. Chase, took his pupils there almost +annually. "In all the world to-day," he declared to his students, as +they exclaimed at the natural cool restfulness of the island, "there is +no more beautiful place." + +The trees are now majestic in their height of forty or more feet, for +it is nearly a hundred years since the young attorney went to the +island and planted the first tree; to-day the churchyard where he lies +is a bower of cool green, with the trees that he planted dropping their +moisture on the lichen-covered stone on his grave. + +This much did one man do. But he did more. + +After he had been on the barren island two years he went to the +mainland one day, and brought back with him a bride. It was a bleak +place for a bridal home, but the young wife had the qualities of the +husband. "While you raise your trees," she said, "I will raise our +children." And within a score of years the young bride sent thirteen +happy-faced, well-brought-up children over that island, and there was +reared a home such as is given to few. Said a man who subsequently +married a daughter of that home: "It was such a home that once you had +been in it you felt you must be of it, and that if you couldn't marry +one of the daughters you would have been glad to have married the cook." + +One day when the children had grown to man's and woman's estate the +mother called them all together and said to them, "I want to tell you +the story of your father and of this island," and she told them the +simple story that is written here. + +"And now," she said, "as you go out into the world I want each of you +to take with you the spirit of your father's work, and each, in your +own way and place, to do as he has done: make you the world a bit more +beautiful and better because you have been in it. That is your +mother's message to you." + +The first son to leave the island home went with a band of hardy men to +South Africa, where they settled and became known as "the Boers." +Tirelessly they worked at the colony until towns and cities sprang up +and a new nation came into being: The Transvaal Republic. The son +became secretary of state of the new country, and to-day the United +States of South Africa bears tribute, in part, to the mother's message +to "make the world a bit more beautiful and better." + +The second son left home for the Dutch mainland, where he took charge +of a small parish; and when he had finished his work he was mourned by +king and peasant as one of the leading clergymen of his time and people. + +A third son, scorning his own safety, plunged into the boiling surf on +one of those nights of terror so common to that coast, rescued a +half-dead sailor, carried him to his father's house, and brought him +back to a life of usefulness that gave the world a record of +imperishable value. For the half-drowned sailor was Heinrich +Schliemann, the famous explorer of the dead cities of Troy. + +The first daughter now left the island nest; to her inspiration her +husband owed, at his life's close, a shelf of works in philosophy which +to-day are among the standard books of their class. + +The second daughter worked beside her husband until she brought him to +be regarded as one of the ablest preachers of his land, speaking for +more than forty years the message of man's betterment. + +To another son it was given to sit wisely in the councils of his land; +another followed the footsteps of his father. Another daughter, +refusing marriage for duty, ministered unto and made a home for one +whose eyes could see not. + +So they went out into the world, the girls and boys of that island +home, each carrying the story of their father's simple but beautiful +work and the remembrance of their mother's message. Not one from that +home but did well his or her work in the world; some greater, some +smaller, but each left behind the traces of a life well spent. + +And, as all good work is immortal, so to-day all over the world goes on +the influence of this one man and one woman, whose life on that little +Dutch island changed its barren rocks to a bower of verdure, a home for +the birds and the song of the nightingale. The grandchildren have gone +to the four corners of the globe, and are now the generation of +workers--some in the far East Indies; others in Africa; still others in +our own land of America. But each has tried, according to the talents +given, to carry out the message of that day, to tell the story of the +grandfather's work; just as it is told here by the author of this book, +who, in the efforts of his later years, has tried to carry out, so far +as opportunity has come to him, the message of his grandmother: + +"Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have +been in it." + + +EDWARD W. BOK + +MERION + +PENNSYLVANIA + +A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA + +The leviathan of the Atlantic Ocean, in 1870, was _The Queen_, and when +she was warped into her dock on September 20 of that year, she +discharged, among her passengers, a family of four from the Netherlands +who were to make an experiment of Americanization. + +The father, a man bearing one of the most respected names in the +Netherlands, had acquired wealth and position for himself; unwise +investments, however, had swept away his fortune, and in preference to +a new start in his own land, he had decided to make the new beginning +in the United States, where a favorite brother-in-law had gone several +years before. But that, never a simple matter for a man who has +reached forty-two, is particularly difficult for a foreigner in a +strange land. This fact he and his wife were to find out. The wife, +also carefully reared, had been accustomed to a scale of living which +she had now to abandon. Her Americanization experiment was to compel +her, for the first time in her life, to become a housekeeper without +domestic help. There were two boys: the elder, William, was eight and +a half years of age; the younger, in nineteen days from his +landing-date, was to celebrate his seventh birthday. + +This younger boy was Edward William Bok. He had, according to the +Dutch custom, two other names, but he had decided to leave those in the +Netherlands. And the American public was, in later years, to omit for +him the "William." + +Edward's first six days in the United States were spent in New York, +and then he was taken to Brooklyn, where he was destined to live for +nearly twenty years. + +Thanks to the linguistic sense inherent in the Dutch, and to an +educational system that compels the study of languages, English was +already familiar to the father and mother. But to the two sons, who +had barely learned the beginnings of their native tongue, the English +language was as a closed book. It seemed a cruel decision of the +father to put his two boys into a public-school in Brooklyn, but he +argued that if they were to become Americans, the sooner they became +part of the life of the country and learned its language for +themselves, the better. And so, without the ability to make known the +slightest want or to understand a single word, the morning after their +removal to Brooklyn, the two boys were taken by their father to a +public-school. + +The American public-school teacher was less well equipped in those days +than she is to-day to meet the needs of two Dutch boys who could not +understand a word she said, and who could only wonder what it was all +about. The brothers did not even have the comfort of each other's +company, for, graded by age, they were placed in separate classes. + +Nor was the American boy of 1870 a whit less cruel than is the American +boy of 1920; and he was none the less loath to show that cruelty. This +trait was evident at the first recess of the first day at school. At +the dismissal, the brothers naturally sought each other, only to find +themselves surrounded by a group of tormentors who were delighted to +have such promising objects for their fun. And of this opportunity +they made the most. There was no form of petty cruelty boys' minds +could devise that was not inflicted upon the two helpless strangers. +Edward seemed to look particularly inviting, and nicknaming him +"Dutchy" they devoted themselves at each noon recess and after school +to inflicting their cruelties upon him. + +Louis XIV may have been right when he said that "every new language +requires a new soul," but Edward Bok knew that while spoken languages +might differ, there is one language understood by boys the world over. +And with this language Edward decided to do some experimenting. After +a few days at school, he cast his eyes over the group of his +tormentors, picked out one who seemed to him the ringleader, and before +the boy was aware of what had happened, Edward Bok was in the full +swing of his first real experiment with Americanization. Of course the +American boy retaliated. But the boy from the Netherlands had not been +born and brought up in the muscle-building air of the Dutch dikes for +nothing, and after a few moments he found himself looking down on his +tormentor and into the eyes of a crowd of very respectful boys and +giggling girls, who readily made a passageway for his brother and +himself when they indicated a desire to leave the schoolyard and go +home. + +Edward now felt that his Americanization had begun; but, always +believing that a thing begun must be carried to a finish, he took, or +gave--it depends upon the point of view--two or three more lessons in +this particular phase of Americanization before he convinced these +American schoolboys that it might be best for them to call a halt upon +further excursions in torment. + +At the best, they were difficult days at school for a boy of seven who +could not speak English. Although the other children stopped teasing +Edward, they did not try to make the way easier for him. America is +essentially a land of fair play, but it is not fair play for American +boys and girls to take advantage of a foreign child's unfamiliarity +with the language or our customs to annoy that child or to place +difficulties in his way. When a foreign pupil with little knowledge of +the English language enters an American school the native-born boys and +girls in that school can accomplish a useful service in Americanization +by helping the newcomer, thus giving him a true idea of American +fairness at the start. No doubt many American boys and girls gladly do +this little kindness for the young foreigner, but Edward Bok and his +brother suffered tortures at the hands of those who should have helped +them. + +Fortunately the linguistic gift inherent in the Dutch race came to +Edward's rescue in his attempt to master the English language. He soon +noted many points of similarity between English and his native tongue; +by changing a vowel here and there he could make a familiar Dutch word +into a correct English word. As both languages had developed from the +old Frisian tongue, the conquest of English did not prove as difficult +as he had expected. At all events, he set out to master it. + +[Illustration: Edward Bok at the age of six, upon his arrival in the +United States.] + +Edward was now confronted by a three-cornered problem. Like all +healthy boys of his age he was fond of play and eager to join the boys +of his neighborhood in their pastimes after school hours. He also +wanted to help his mother, which meant the washing of dishes, cleaning +the rooms in which the family then lived, and running various errands +for the needed household supplies. Then, too, he was not progressing +as rapidly as he wished with his school studies, and he felt that he +ought to do everything in his power to take advantage of his +opportunity to get an education. + +Methodically he worked out a plan which made it possible to accomplish +all three objects. He planned that on one afternoon he should go +directly home from school to help his mother, and as soon as he had +finished the necessary chores that would make her life easier he would +be free to go out and play for the rest of that afternoon. On the +following day he would remain in school for an extra hour after the +class had been dismissed and would get the teacher's help on any +lessons that were not clear to him. When that task had been +accomplished he would still have part of that afternoon left for play. +He broached his plan for work at home and study at school on alternate +afternoons to his mother and his teacher. Both approved of the idea +and agreed that it had been well thought out. + +Thus Edward Bok learned early in life the valuable lesson of a wise +management of time. Instead of attempting to accomplish various +results in some haphazard fashion, he planned to do only one thing at a +time, yet his plan was so comprehensive that it provided for the +necessary housework, study, and play--the three things that he wanted +to do and felt he should do. + +As his evenings were also devoted to various tasks and duties, this +young American-to-be, by using each bit of spare time for some useful +purpose, became early in life the busy person that he has remained to +the present day. Of Edward Bok it may truly be said that he began to +work, and to work hard, almost from the day he set foot on American +soil. He has since realized that this is not the best thing for a +young boy, who should have liberal time for play in his life. Of +course, Edward made the most of the short period that remained each +afternoon after his household duties or his extra studies at school, +and when he played it was with the same vim and energy with which he +worked. He had little choice in the matter, but he often regrets +to-day that he did not have more time in his boyhood for play. + +Like most boys, Edward wanted a little money now and then for spending, +but his mother was not always able to spare the pennies that he +desired. So he had to fall back on his own resources to earn small +sums by running errands for neighbors and in other ways familiar to +boys of his age. One day he came across an Italian who was earning +money in a rather unusual way. This Italian would collect the +bright-colored pictures that adorned the labels of fruit and vegetable +cans. He would paste these pictures into a scrap-book and sell it to a +mother as a picture-book for her children. Edward saw that the +Italian's idea smacked of originality and he asked the man where he got +his pictures. + +"From the cans I find on lots and in ash-barrels," was the reply. + +"If you had more pictures, you could make more books and so earn more +money, couldn't you?" asked Edward, as an idea struck him. + +"Yes," answered the Italian. + +"How much will you give me if I bring you a hundred pictures?" asked +Edward. + +"A cent apiece," said the Italian. + +"All right," agreed Edward. + +The boy went to work at once, and in three days he had collected the +first hundred pictures, gave them to the Italian, and received his +first dollar. + +"Now," said Edward, as he had visions of larger returns from his +efforts, "your books have pictures of only four or five kinds, like +apples, pears, tomatoes, and green peas. How much will you give me for +pictures of special fruit which you haven't got, like apricots, +green-gages, and pineapples?" + +"Two cents each," replied the Italian. + +"No," bargained Edward. "They're much harder to find than the others. +I'll get you some for three cents each." + +"All right," said the vender, realizing that the boy was stating the +case correctly. + +Edward had calculated that if he would search the vacant lots in back +of the homes of the well-to-do, where the servants followed the tidy +habit of throwing cans and refuse over the back fences, he would find +an assortment of canned-fruit labels different from those used by +persons of moderate means. He made a visit to those places and found +the less familiar pictures just as he thought he would. Thus he was +not only able to sell his labels to the Italian for three cents instead +of a cent apiece, but to give greater variety to the vender's +scrap-books. + +In this manner Edward Bok learned to make the most of his opportunities +even during his earliest years in America. + + + + +CHAPTER 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 put so much Dutch +energy into the cleaning of the large show-window that the baker +immediately arranged 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 window, 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 stomach--so +hungered! The baker watched him, saw how quickly and smilingly he +served the customer, and offered Edward an extra dollar per week if he +would come in afternoons and sell behind the counter. He immediately +entered into the bargain with the understanding that, in addition to +his salary of a dollar and a half per week, he should each afternoon +carry home from the good things unsold a moderate something as a +present to his mother. The baker agreed, 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 games, although, boy-like, that might be +his preference. + +Edward now took on for each Saturday morning--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 men jumped from +the open cars in summer, ran into the cigar-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 women and the children, who were forced to take the long 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 +shining new pail, screwed three hooks on the edge from which he hung +three clean shimmering glasses, 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 a most profitable day; and after going to +Sunday-school in the morning, he did a further Sabbath service for the +rest of the day by refreshing tired mothers and thirsty children on the +Coney Island cars--at a penny a glass! + +But the profit of six dollars which Edward was now reaping in his newly +found "bonanza" on Saturday and Sunday afternoons became apparent to +other boys, and one Saturday the young ice-water boy found that he had +a competitor; then two and soon three. Edward immediately met the +challenge; he squeezed half a dozen lemons into each pail of water, +added some sugar, tripled his charge, and continued his monopoly by +selling "Lemonade, three cents a glass." Soon more passengers were +asking for lemonade than for plain drinking-water! + +One evening Edward went to a party of young people, and his latent +journalistic sense whispered to him that his young hostess might like +to see her social affair in print. He went home, wrote up the party, +being careful to include the name of every boy and girl present, and +next morning took the account to the city editor of the _Brooklyn +Eagle_, with the sage observation that every name mentioned in that +paragraph represented a buyer of the paper, who would like to see his +or her name in print, and that if the editor had enough of these +reports he might very advantageously strengthen 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 +column, and decided that he would organize a corps of private reporters +himself. Forthwith, he saw every girl and boy he knew, got each to +promise to write for him an account of each party he or she attended or +gave, and laid great stress on a full recital of names. Within a few +weeks, Edward was turning in to _The Eagle_ from two to three columns a +week; his pay was raised to four dollars a column; the editor was +pleased in having started a department that no other paper carried, and +the "among those present" at the parties all bought the paper and were +immensely gratified 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 publishing business. The word +"curious" is used here because Edward is the first journalist in the +Bok family in all the centuries through 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 publishing 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 how wonderful 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 became a figure of importance in Edward's +eyes; many a morning the boy hastened from home long 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 the +momentous business of making books and periodicals. Edward would look +after the superintendent's form until it was lost to view; then, with a +sigh, he would go to school, forgetting all about the Elkins boy whom +he had told the father he had come to call for! + +But what with helping his mother, tending the 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 supreme +effort, he managed to hold his own in his class, but no more. +Instinctively, he felt that he was not getting all that he might from +his educational opportunities, yet the need for him to add to the +family income was, if anything, becoming greater. The idea of leaving +school was broached to his mother, but she rebelled. She told the boy +that he was earning something now and helping 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 himself with the Western Union Telegraph Company as +translator, a position for which his easy command of languages +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 as messenger in a lawyer's office; and when one evening Edward +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' department of +the Western Union Telegraph 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 time to his +desk to begin his work on that Monday morning, there had been born in +Boston, exactly twelve hours before, a girl-baby who was 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 became an +absorbing thought with Edward Bok. He had mastered a schoolboy's +English, 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 millionnaire and his companions were objects of great interest +to the young office boy. Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Edison +were also constant visitors to the department. He knew that some of +these men, too, had been deprived of the advantage 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, +determining to have only the best, he saved his luncheon money, walked +instead of riding the five miles to his Brooklyn home, and, after a +period of saving, had his reward in the first purchase from his own +earnings: a set of the _Encyclopaedia_. He now read about all the +successful men, and was encouraged to find that in many cases their +beginnings had been as modest as his own, and their opportunities of +education as limited. + +One day it occurred to him to test the accuracy of the biographies he +was reading. James A. Garfield was then spoken of for the presidency; +Edward wondered whether it was true that the man who was likely to be +President of the United States had once been a boy on the tow-path, and +with a simple directness characteristic of his Dutch training, wrote to +General Garfield, asking whether the boyhood episode was true, and +explaining why he asked. Of course any public man, no matter how large +his correspondence, is pleased to receive an earnest letter from an +information-seeking boy. General Garfield answered warmly and fully. +Edward showed the letter to his father, who told the boy that it was +valuable and he should keep it. This was a new idea. He followed it +further; if one such letter was valuable, how much more valuable would +be a hundred! If General Garfield answered him, would not other famous +men? Why not begin a collection of autograph letters? Everybody +collected something. + +Edward had collected postage-stamps, and the hobby had, incidentally, +helped him wonderfully in his study of geography. Why should not +autograph letters from famous persons be of equal service in his +struggle for self-education? Not simple autographs--they were +meaningless; but actual letters which might tell him something useful. +It never occurred to the boy that these men might not answer him. + +So he took his _Encyclopaedia_--its trustworthiness now established in +his mind by General Garfield's letter---and began to study the lives of +successful men and women. Then, with boyish frankness, he wrote on +some mooted question in one famous person's life; he asked about the +date of some important event in another's, not given in the +_Encyclopaedia_; or he asked one man why he did this or why some other +man did that. + +Most interesting were, of course, the replies. Thus General Grant +sketched on an improvised map the exact spot where General Lee +surrendered to him; Longfellow told him how he came to write +"Excelsior"; Whittier told the story of "The Barefoot Boy"; Tennyson +wrote out a stanza or two of "The Brook," upon condition that Edward +would not again use the word "awful," which the poet said "is slang for +'very,'" and "I hate slang." + +One day the boy received a letter from the Confederate general, Jubal +A. Early, giving the real reason why he burned Chambersburg. A friend +visiting Edward's father, happening to see the letter, recognized in it +a hitherto-missing bit of history, and suggested that it be published +in the _New York Tribune_. The letter attracted wide attention and +provoked national discussion. + +This suggested to the editor of _The Tribune_ that Edward might have +other equally interesting letters; so he despatched a reporter to the +boy's home. This reporter was Ripley Hitchcock, who afterward became +literary adviser for the Appletons and Harpers. Of course Hitchcock at +once saw a "story" in the boy's letters, and within a few days _The +Tribune_ appeared with a long article on its principal news page giving +an account of the Brooklyn boy's remarkable letters and how he had +secured them. The _Brooklyn Eagle_ quickly followed with a request for +an interview; the _Boston Globe_ followed suit; the _Philadelphia +Public Ledger_ sent its New York correspondent; and before Edward was +aware of it, newspapers in different parts of the country were writing +about "the well-known Brooklyn autograph collector." + +Edward Bok was quick to see the value of the publicity which had so +suddenly come to him. He received letters from other autograph +collectors all over the country who sought to "exchange" with him. +References began to creep into letters from famous persons to whom he +had written, saying they had read about his wonderful collection and +were proud to be included in it. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, +himself the possessor of probably one of the finest collections of +autograph letters in the country, asked Edward to come to Philadelphia +and bring his collection with him--which he did, on the following +Sunday, and brought it back greatly enriched. + +Several of the writers felt an interest in a boy who frankly told them +that he wanted to educate himself, and asked Edward to come and see +them. Accordingly, when they lived in New York or Brooklyn, or came to +these cities on a visit, he was quick to avail himself of their +invitations. He began to note each day in the newspapers the +"distinguished arrivals" at the New York hotels; and when any one with +whom he had corresponded arrived, Edward would, after business hours, +go up-town, pay his respects, and thank him in person for his letters. +No person was too high for Edward's boyish approach; President +Garfield, General Grant, General Sherman, President Hayes--all were +called upon, and all received the boy graciously and were interested in +the problem of his self-education. It was a veritable case of making +friends on every hand; friends who were to be of the greatest help and +value to the boy in his after-years, although he had no conception of +it at the time. + +The Fifth Avenue Hotel, in those days the stopping-place of the +majority of the famous men and women visiting New York, represented to +the young boy who came to see these celebrities the very pinnacle of +opulence. Often while waiting to be received by some dignitary, he +wondered how one could acquire enough means to live at a place of such +luxury. The main dining-room, to the boy's mind, was an object of +special interest. He would purposely sneak up-stairs and sit on one of +the soft sofas in the foyer simply to see the well-dressed diners go in +and come out. Edward would speculate on whether the time would ever +come when he could dine in that wonderful room just once! + +One evening he called, after the close of business, upon General and +Mrs. Grant, whom he had met before, and who had expressed a desire to +see his collection. It can readily be imagined what a red-letter day +it made in the boy's life to have General Grant say: "It might be +better for us all to go down to dinner first and see the collection +afterward." Edward had purposely killed time between five and seven +o'clock, thinking that the general's dinner-hour, like his own, was at +six. He had allowed an hour for the general to eat his dinner, only to +find that he was still to begin it. The boy could hardly believe his +ears, and unable to find his voice, he failed to apologize for his +modest suit or his general after-business appearance. + +As in a dream he went down in the elevator with his host and hostess, +and when the party of three faced toward the dining-room entrance, so +familiar to the boy, he felt as if his legs must give way under him. +There have since been other red-letter days in Edward Bok's life, but +the moment that still stands out pre-eminent is that when two colored +head waiters at the dining-room entrance, whom he had so often watched, +bowed low and escorted the party to their table. At last he was in +that sumptuous dining-hall. The entire room took on the picture of one +great eye, and that eye centred on the party of three--as, in fact, it +naturally would. But Edward felt that the eye was on him, wondering +why he should be there. + +What he ate and what he said he does not recall. General Grant, not a +voluble talker himself, gently drew the boy out, and Mrs. Grant +seconded him, until toward the close of the dinner he heard himself +talking. He remembers that he heard his voice, but what that voice +said is all dim to him. One act stamped itself on his mind. The +dinner ended with a wonderful dish of nuts and raisins, and just before +the party rose from the table Mrs. Grant asked the waiter to bring her +a paper bag. Into this she emptied the entire dish, and at the close +of the evening she gave it to Edward "to eat on the way home." It was +a wonderful evening, afterward up-stairs, General Grant smoking the +inevitable cigar, and telling stories as he read the letters of +different celebrities. Over those of Confederate generals he grew +reminiscent; and when he came to a letter from General Sherman, Edward +remembers that he chuckled audibly, reread it, and then turning to Mrs. +Grant, said: + +"Julia, listen to this from Sherman. Not bad." The letter he read was +this: + + +DEAR MR. BOK:-- + +I prefer not to make scraps of sentimental writing. When I write +anything I want it to be real and connected in form, as, for instance, +in your quotation from Lord Lytton's play of "Richelieu," "The pen is +mightier than the sword." Lord Lytton would never have put his +signature to so naked a sentiment. Surely I will not. + +In the text there was a prefix or qualification: + + Beneath the rule of men entirely great + The pen is mightier than the sword. + +Now, this world does not often present the condition of facts herein +described. Men entirely great are very rare indeed, and even +Washington, who approached greatness as near as any mortal, found good +use for the sword and the pen, each in its proper sphere. + +You and I have seen the day when a great and good man ruled this +country (Lincoln) who wielded a powerful and prolific pen, and yet had +to call to his assistance a million of flaming swords. + +No, I cannot subscribe to your sentiment, "The pen is mightier than the +sword," which you ask me to write, because it is not true. + +Rather, in the providence of God, there is a time for all things; a +time when the sword may cut the Gordian knot, and set free the +principles of right and justice, bound up in the meshes of hatred, +revenge, and tyranny, that the pens of mighty men like Clay, Webster, +Crittenden, and Lincoln were unable to disentangle. Wishing you all +success, I am, with respect, your friend, W. T. SHERMAN. + + +Mrs. Grant had asked Edward to send her a photograph of himself, and +after one had been taken, the boy took it to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, +intending to ask the clerk to send it to her room. Instead, he met +General and Mrs. Grant just coming from the elevator, going out to +dinner. The boy told them his errand, and said he would have the +photograph sent up-stairs. + +"I am so sorry we are just going out to dinner," said Mrs. Grant, "for +the general had some excellent photographs just taken of himself, and +he signed one for you, and put it aside, intending to send it to you +when yours came." Then, turning to the general, she said: "Ulysses, +send up for it. We have a few moments." + +"I'll go and get it. I know just where it is," returned the general. +"Let me have yours," he said, turning to Edward. "I am glad to +exchange photographs with you, boy." + +To Edward's surprise, when the general returned he brought with him, +not a duplicate of the small _carte-de-visite_ size which he had given +the general--all that he could afford--but a large, full cabinet size. + +"They make 'em too big," said the general, as he handed it to Edward. + +But the boy didn't think so! + +That evening was one that the boy was long to remember. It suddenly +came to him that he had read a few days before of Mrs. Abraham +Lincoln's arrival in New York at Doctor Holbrook's sanitarium. Thither +Edward went; and within half an hour from the time he had been talking +with General Grant he was sitting at the bedside of Mrs. Lincoln, +showing her the wonderful photograph just presented to him. Edward saw +that the widow of the great Lincoln did not mentally respond to his +pleasure in his possession. It was apparent even to the boy that +mental and physical illness had done their work with the frail frame. +But he had the memory, at least, of having got that close to the great +President. + +The eventful evening, however, was not yet over. Edward had boarded a +Broadway stage to take him to his Brooklyn home when, glancing at the +newspaper of a man sitting next to him, he saw the headline: "Jefferson +Davis arrives in New York." He read enough to see that the Confederate +President was stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel, in lower Broadway, +and as he looked out of the stage-window the sign "Metropolitan Hotel" +stared him in the face. In a moment he was out of the stage; he wrote +a little note, asked the clerk to send it to Mr. Davis, and within five +minutes was talking to the Confederate President and telling of his +remarkable evening. + +Mr. Davis was keenly interested in the coincidence and in the boy +before him. He asked about the famous collection, and promised to +secure for Edward a letter written by each member of the Confederate +Cabinet. This he subsequently did. Edward remained with Mr. Davis +until ten o'clock, and that evening brought about an interchange of +letters between the Brooklyn boy and Mr. Davis at Beauvoir, +Mississippi, that lasted until the latter passed away. + +Edward was fast absorbing a tremendous quantity of biographical +information about the most famous men and women of his time, and he was +compiling a collection of autograph letters that the newspapers had +made famous throughout the country. He was ruminating over his +possessions one day, and wondering to what practical use he could put +his collection; for while it was proving educative to a wonderful +degree, it was, after all, a hobby, and a hobby means expense. His +autograph quest cost him stationery, postage, car-fare--all outgo. But +it had brought him no income, save a rich mental revenue. And the boy +and his family needed money. He did not know, then, the value of a +background. + +He was thinking along this line in a restaurant when a man sitting next +to him opened a box of cigarettes, and taking a picture out of it threw +it on the floor. Edward picked it up, thinking it might be a +"prospect" for his collection of autograph letters. It was the picture +of a well-known actress. He then recalled an advertisement announcing +that this particular brand of cigarettes contained, in each package, a +lithographed portrait of some famous actor or actress, and that if the +purchaser would collect these he would, in the end, have a valuable +album of the greatest actors and actresses of the day. Edward turned +the picture over, only to find a blank reverse side. "All very well," +he thought, "but what does a purchaser have, after all, in the end, but +a lot of pictures? Why don't they use the back of each picture, and +tell what each did: a little biography? Then it would be worth +keeping." With his passion for self-education, the idea appealed very +strongly to him; and believing firmly that there were others possessed +of the same thirst, he set out the next day, in his luncheon hour, to +find out who made the picture. + +At the office of the cigarette company he learned that the making of +the pictures was in the hands of the Knapp Lithographic Company. The +following luncheon hour, Edward sought the offices of the company, and +explained his idea to Mr. Joseph P. Knapp, now the president of the +American Lithograph Company. + +"I'll give you ten dollars apiece if you will write me a +one-hundred-word biography of one hundred famous Americans," was Mr. +Knapp's instant reply. "Send me a list, and group them, as, for +instance: presidents and vice-presidents, famous soldiers, actors, +authors, etc." + +"And thus," says Mr. Knapp, as he tells the tale today, "I gave Edward +Bok his first literary commission, and started him off on his literary +career." + +And it is true. + +But Edward soon found the Lithograph Company calling for "copy," and, +write as he might, he could not supply the biographies fast enough. +He, at last, completed the first hundred, and so instantaneous was +their success that Mr. Knapp called for a second hundred, and then for +a third. Finding that one hand was not equal to the task, Edward +offered his brother five dollars for each biography; he made the same +offer to one or two journalists whom he knew and whose accuracy he +could trust; and he was speedily convinced that merely to edit +biographies written by others, at one-half the price paid to him, was +more profitable than to write himself. + +So with five journalists working at top speed to supply the hungry +lithograph presses, Mr. Knapp was likewise responsible for Edward Bok's +first adventure as an editor. It was commercial, if you will, but it +was a commercial editing that had a distinct educational value to a +large public. + +The important point is that Edward Bok was being led more and more to +writing and to editorship. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE + +Edward Bok had not been office boy long before he realized that if he +learned shorthand he would stand a better chance for advancement. So +he joined the Young Men's Christian Association in Brooklyn, and +entered the class in stenography. But as this class met only twice a +week, Edward, impatient to learn the art of "pothooks" as quickly as +possible, supplemented this instruction by a course given on two other +evenings at moderate cost by a Brooklyn business college. As the +system taught in both classes was the same, more rapid progress was +possible, and the two teachers were constantly surprised that he +acquired the art so much more quickly than the other students. + +Before many weeks Edward could "stenograph" fairly well, and as the +typewriter had not then come into its own, he was ready to put his +knowledge to practical use. + +An opportunity offered itself when the city editor of the _Brooklyn +Eagle_ asked him to report two speeches at a New England Society +dinner. The speakers were to be President Hayes, General Grant, +General Sherman, Mr. Evarts, and General Sheridan. Edward was to +report what General Grant and the President said, and was instructed to +give the President's speech verbatim. + +At the close of the dinner, the reporters came in and Edward was seated +directly in front of the President. In those days when a public dinner +included several kinds of wine, it was the custom to serve the +reporters with wine, and as the glasses were placed before Edward's +plate he realized that he had to make a decision then and there. He +had, of course, constantly seen wine on his father's table, as is the +European custom, but the boy had never tasted it. He decided he would +not begin then, when he needed a clear head. So, in order to get more +room for his notebook, he asked the waiter to remove the glasses. + +It was the first time he bad ever attempted to report a public address. +General Grant's remarks were few, as usual, and as he spoke slowly, he +gave the young reporter no trouble. But alas for his stenographic +knowledge, when President Hayes began to speak! Edward worked hard, +but the President was too rapid for him; he did not get the speech, and +he noticed that the reporters for the other papers fared no better. +Nothing daunted, however, after the speechmaking, Edward resolutely +sought the President, and as the latter turned to him, he told him his +plight, explained it was his first important "assignment," and asked if +he could possibly be given a copy of the speech so that he could "beat" +the other papers. + +The President looked at him curiously for a moment, and then said: "Can +you wait a few minutes?" + +Edward assured him that he could. + +After fifteen minutes or so the President came up to where the boy was +waiting, and said abruptly: + +"Tell me, my boy, why did you have the wine-glasses removed from your +place?" + +Edward was completely taken aback at the question, but he explained his +resolution as well as he could. + +"Did you make that decision this evening?" the President asked. + +He had. + +"What is your name?" the President next inquired. + +He was told. + +"And you live, where?" + +Edward told him. + +"Suppose you write your name and address on this card for me," said the +President, reaching for one of the placecards on the table. + +The boy did so. + +"Now, I am stopping with Mr. A. A. Low, on Columbia Heights. Is that +in the direction of your home?" + +It was. + +"Suppose you go with me, then, in my carriage," said the President, +"and I will give you my speech." + +Edward was not quite sure now whether he was on his head or his feet. + +As he drove along with the President and his host, the President asked +the boy about himself, what he was doing, etc. On arriving at Mr. +Low's house, the President went up-stairs, and in a few moments came +down with his speech in full, written in his own hand. Edward assured +him he would copy it, and return the manuscript in the morning. + +The President took out his watch. It was then after midnight. Musing +a moment, he said: "You say you are an office boy; what time must you +be at your office?" + +"Half past eight, sir." + +"Well, good night," he said, and then, as if it were a second thought: +"By the way, I can get another copy of the speech. Just turn that in +as it is, if they can read it." + +Afterward, Edward found out that, as a matter of fact, it was the +President's only copy. Though the boy did not then appreciate this act +of consideration, his instinct fortunately led him to copy the speech +and leave the original at the President's stopping-place in the morning. + +And for all his trouble, the young reporter was amply repaid by seeing +that _The Eagle_ was the only paper which had a verbatim report of the +President's speech. + +But the day was not yet done! + +That evening, upon reaching home, what was the boy's astonishment to +find the following note: + + +MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND:---- + +I have been telling Mrs. Hayes this morning of what you told me at the +dinner last evening, and she was very much interested. She would like +to see you, and joins me in asking if you will call upon us this +evening at eight-thirty. + +Very faithfully yours, + +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. + + +Edward had not risen to the possession of a suit of evening clothes, +and distinctly felt its lack for this occasion. But, dressed in the +best he had, he set out, at eight o'clock, to call on the President of +the United States and his wife! + +He had no sooner handed his card to the butler than that dignitary, +looking at it, announced: "The President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for +you!" The ring of those magic words still sounds in Edward's ears: +"The President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for you!"--and he a boy of +sixteen! + +Edward had not been in the room ten minutes before he was made to feel +as thoroughly at ease as if he were sitting in his own home before an +open fire with his father and mother. Skilfully the President drew +from him the story of his youthful hopes and ambitions, and before the +boy knew it he was telling the President and his wife all about his +precious _Encyclopaedia_, his evening with General Grant, and his +efforts to become something more than an office boy. No boy had ever +so gracious a listener before; no mother could have been more tenderly +motherly than the woman who sat opposite him and seemed so honestly +interested in all that he told. Not for a moment during all those two +hours was he allowed to remember that his host and hostess were the +President of the United States and the first lady of the land! + +That evening was the first of many thus spent as the years rolled by; +unexpected little courtesies came from the White House, and later from +"Spiegel Grove"; a constant and unflagging interest followed each +undertaking on which the boy embarked. Opportunities were opened to +him; acquaintances were made possible; a letter came almost every month +until that last little note, late in 1892: + + +MY DEAR FRIEND: + +I would write you more fully if I could. You are always thoughtful and +kind. + +Thankfully your friend, + +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. + +Thanks--thanks for your steady friendship. + + +The simple act of turning down his wine-glasses had won for Edward Bok +two gracious friends. + +The passion for autograph collecting was now leading Edward to read the +authors whom he read about. He had become attached to the works of the +New England group: Longfellow, Holmes, and, particularly, of Emerson. +The philosophy of the Concord sage made a peculiarly strong appeal to +the young mind, and a small copy of Emerson's essays was always in +Edward's pocket on his long stage or horse-car rides to his office and +back. + +He noticed that these New England authors rarely visited New York, or, +if they did, their presence was not heralded by the newspapers among +the "distinguished arrivals." He had a great desire personally to meet +these writers; and, having saved a little money, he decided to take his +week's summer vacation in the winter, when he knew he should be more +likely to find the people of his quest at home, and to spend his +savings on a trip to Boston. He had never been so far away from home, +so this trip was a momentous affair. + +He arrived in Boston on Sunday evening; and the first thing he did was +to despatch a note, by messenger, to Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, +announcing the important fact that he was there, and what his errand +was, and asking whether he might come up and see Doctor Holmes any time +the next day. Edward naïvely told him that he could come as early as +Doctor Holmes liked--by breakfast-time, he was assured, as Edward was +all alone! Doctor Holmes's amusement at this ingenuous note may be +imagined. + +Within the hour the messenger brought back this answer: + + +MY DEAR BOY: + +I shall certainly look for you to-morrow morning at eight o'clock to +have a piece of pie with me. That is real New England, you know. + +Very cordially yours, + +OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + + +Edward was there at eight o'clock. Strictly speaking, he was there at +seven-thirty, and found the author already at his desk in that room +overlooking the Charles River. + +"Well," was the cheery greeting, "you couldn't wait until eight for +your breakfast, could you? Neither could I when I was a boy. I used +to have my breakfast at seven," and then telling the boy all about his +boyhood, the cheery poet led him to the dining-room, and for the first +time he breakfasted away from home and ate pie--and that with "The +Autocrat" at his own breakfast-table! + +A cosier time no boy could have had. Just the two were there, and the +smiling face that looked out over the plates and cups gave the boy +courage to tell all that this trip was going to mean to him. + +"And you have come on just to see us, have you?" chuckled the poet. +"Now, tell me, what good do you think you will get out of it?" + +He was told what the idea was: that every successful man had something +to tell a boy, that would be likely to help him, and that Edward wanted +to see the men who had written the books that people enjoyed. Doctor +Holmes could not conceal his amusement at all this. + +When breakfast was finished, Doctor Holmes said: "Do you know that I am +a full-fledged carpenter? No? Well, I am. Come into my +carpenter-shop." + +And he led the way into a front-basement room where was a complete +carpenter's outfit. + +"You know I am a doctor," he explained, "and this shop is my medicine. +I believe that every man must have a hobby that is as different from +his regular work as it is possible to be. It is not good for a man to +work all the time at one thing. So this is my hobby. This is my +change. I like to putter away at these things. Every day I try to +come down here for an hour or so. It rests me because it gives my mind +a complete change. For, whether you believe it or not," he added with +his inimitable chuckle, "to make a poem and to make a chair are two +very different things. + +"Now," he continued, "if you think you can learn something from me, +learn that and remember it when you are a man. Don't keep always at +your business, whatever it may be. It makes no difference how much you +like it. The more you like it, the more dangerous it is. When you +grow up you will understand what I mean by an 'outlet'--a hobby, that +is--in your life, and it must be so different from your regular work +that it will take your thoughts into an entirely different direction. +We doctors call it a safety-valve, and it is. I would much rather," +concluded the poet, "you would forget all that I have ever written than +that you should forget what I tell you about having a safety-valve." + +"And now do you know," smilingly said the poet, "about the Charles +River here?" as they returned to his study and stood before the large +bay window. "I love this river," he said. "Yes, I love it," he +repeated; "love it in summer or in winter." And then he was quiet for +a minute or so. + +Edward asked him which of his poems were his favorites. + +"Well," he said musingly, "I think 'The Chambered Nautilus' is my most +finished piece of work, and I suppose it is my favorite. But there are +also 'The Voiceless,' 'My Aviary,' written at this window, 'The Battle +of Bunker Hill,' and 'Dorothy Q,' written to the portrait of my +great-grandmother which you see on the wall there. All these I have a +liking for, and when I speak of the poems I like best there are two +others that ought to be included--'The Silent Melody' and 'The Last +Leaf.' I think these are among my best."' + +"What is the history of 'The Chambered Nautilus'?" Edward asked. + +"It has none," came the reply, "it wrote itself. So, too, did 'The +One-Hoss Shay.' That was one of those random conceptions that gallop +through the brain, and that you catch by the bridle. I caught it and +reined it. That is all." + +Just then a maid brought in a parcel, and as Doctor Holmes opened it on +his desk he smiled over at the boy and said: + +"Well, I declare, if you haven't come just at the right time. See +those little books? Aren't they wee?" and he handed the boy a set of +three little books, six inches by four in size, beautifully bound in +half levant. They were his "Autocrat" in one volume, and his +better-known poems in two volumes. + +"This is a little fancy of mine," he said. "My publishers, to please +me, have gotten out this tiny wee set. And here," as he counted the +little sets, "they have sent me six sets. Are they not exquisite +little things?" and he fondled them with loving glee. "Lucky, too, for +me that they should happen to come now, for I have been wondering what +I could give you as a souvenir of your visit to me, and here it is, +sure enough! My publishers must have guessed you were here and my mind +at the same time. Now, if you would like it, you shall carry home one +of these little sets, and I'll just write a piece from one of my poems +and your name on the fly-leaf of each volume. You say you like that +little verse: + + "'A few can touch the magic string.' + +"Then I'll write those four lines in this volume." And he did. + + "A few can touch the magic string, + And noisy Fame is proud to win them,-- + Alas for those who never sing, + But die with all their music in them!" + OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + +As each little volume went under the poet's pen Edward said, as his +heart swelled in gratitude: + +"Doctor Holmes, you are a man of the rarest sort to be so good to a +boy." + +The pen stopped, the poet looked out on the Charles a moment, and then, +turning to the boy with a little moisture in his eye, he said: + +"No, my boy, I am not; but it does an old man's heart good to hear you +say it. It means much to those on the down-hill side to be well +thought of by the young who are coming up." + +As he wiped his gold pen, with its swan-quill holder, and laid it down, +he said: + +"That's the pen with which I wrote 'Elsie Venner' and the 'Autocrat' +papers. I try to take care of it." + +"You say you are going from me over to see Longfellow?" he continued, +as he reached out once more for the pen. "Well, then, would you mind +if I gave you a letter for him? I have something to send him." + +Sly but kindly old gentleman! The "something" he had to send +Longfellow was Edward himself, although the boy did not see through the +subterfuge at that time. + +"And now, if you are going, I'll walk along with you if you don't mind, +for I'm going down to Park Street to thank my publishers for these +little books, and that lies along your way to the Cambridge car." + +As the two walked along Beacon Street, Doctor Holmes pointed out the +residences where lived people of interest, and when they reached the +Public Garden he said: + +"You must come over in the spring some time, and see the tulips and +croci and hyacinths here. They are so beautiful. + +"Now, here is your car," he said as he hailed a coming horse-car. +"Before you go back you must come and see me and tell me all the people +you have seen, will you? I should like to hear about them. I may not +have more books coming in, but I might have a very good-looking +photograph of a very old-looking little man," he said as his eyes +twinkled. "Give my love to Longfellow when you see him, and don't +forget to give him my letter, you know. It is about a very important +matter." + +And when the boy had ridden a mile or so with his fare in his hand he +held it out to the conductor, who grinned and said: + +"That's all right. Doctor Holmes paid me your fare, and I'm going to +keep that nickel if I lose my job for it." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW + +When Edward Bok stood before the home of Longfellow, he realized that +he was to see the man around whose head the boy's youthful reading had +cast a sort of halo. And when he saw the head itself he had a feeling +that he could see the halo. No kindlier pair of eyes ever looked at a +boy, as, with a smile, "the white Mr. Longfellow," as Mr. Howells had +called him, held out his hand. + +"I am very glad to see you, my boy," were his first words, and with +them he won the boy. Edward smiled back at the poet, and immediately +the two were friends. + +"I have been taking a walk this beautiful morning," he said next, "and +am a little late getting at my mail. Suppose you come in and sit at my +desk with me, and we will see what the postman has brought. He brings +me so many good things, you know." + +"Now, here is a little girl," he said, as he sat down at the desk with +the boy beside him, "who wants my autograph and a 'sentiment.' What +sentiment, I wonder, shall I send her?" + +"Why not send her 'Let us, then, be up and doing'?" suggested the boy. +"That's what I should like if I were she." + +"Should you, indeed?" said Longfellow. "That is a good suggestion. +Now, suppose you recite it off to me, so that I shall not have to look +it up in my books, and I will write as you recite. But slowly; you, +know I am an old man, and write slowly." + +Edward thought it strange that Longfellow himself should not know his +own great words without looking them up. But he recited the four +lines, so familiar to every schoolboy, and when the poet had finished +writing them, he said: + +"Good! I see you have a memory. Now, suppose I copy these lines once +more for the little girl, and give you this copy? Then you can say, +you know, that you dictated my own poetry to me." + +Of course Edward was delighted, and Longfellow gave him the sheet on +which he had written: + + Let us, then, be up and doing, + With a heart, for any fate; + Still achieving, still pursuing, + Learn to labor and to wait. + HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + +Then, as the fine head bent down to copy the lines once more, Edward +ventured to say to him; + +"I should think it would keep you busy if you did this for every one +who asked you." + +"Well," said the poet, "you see, I am not so busy a man as I was some +years ago, and I shouldn't like to disappoint a little girl, should +you?" + +As he took up his letters again, he discovered five more requests for +his autograph. At each one he reached into a drawer in his desk, took +a card, and wrote his name on it. + +"There are a good many of these every day," said Longfellow, "but I +always like to do this little favor. It is so little to do, to write +your name on a card; and if I didn't do it some boy or girl might be +looking, day by day, for the postman and be disappointed. I only wish +I could write my name better for them. You see how I break my letters? +That's because I never took pains with my writing when I was a boy. I +don't think I should get a high mark for penmanship if I were at +school, do you?" + +"I see you get letters from Europe," said the boy, as Longfellow opened +an envelope with a foreign stamp on it. + +"Yes, from all over the world," said the poet. Then, looking at the +boy quickly, he said: "Do you collect postage-stamps?" + +Edward said he did. + +"Well, I have some right here, then;" and going to a drawer in a desk +he took out a bundle of letters, and cut out the postage-stamps and +gave them to the boy. + +"There's one from the Netherlands. There's where I was born," Edward +ventured to say. + +"In the Netherlands? Then you are a real Dutchman. Well! Well!" he +said, laying down his pen. "Can you read Dutch?" + +The boy said he could. + +"Then," said the poet, "you are just the boy I am looking for." And +going to a bookcase behind him he brought out a book, and handing it to +the boy, he said, his eyes laughing: "Can you read that?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Edward. "These are your poems in Dutch." + +"That's right," he said. "Now, this is delightful. I am so glad you +came. I received this book last week, and although I have been in the +Netherlands, I cannot speak or read Dutch. I wonder whether you would +read a poem to me and let me hear how it sounds." + +So Edward took "The Old Clock on the Stairs," and read it to him. + +The poet's face beamed with delight. "That's beautiful," he said, and +then quickly added: "I mean the language, not the poem." + +"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you what we'll do: we'll strike a +bargain. We Yankees are great for bargains, you know. If you will +read me 'The Village Blacksmith' you can sit in that chair there made +out of the wood of the old spreading chestnut-tree, and I'll take you +out and show you where the old shop stood. Is that a bargain?" + +Edward assured him it was. He sat in the chair of wood and leather, +and read to the poet several of his own poems in a language in which, +when he wrote them, he never dreamed they would ever be printed. He +was very quiet. Finally he said: "It seems so odd, so very odd, to +hear something you know so well sound so strange." + +"It's a great compliment, though, isn't it, sir?" asked the boy. + +"Ye-es," said the poet slowly. "Yes, yes," he added quickly. "It is, +my boy, a very great compliment." + +"Ah," he said, rousing himself, as a maid appeared, "that means +luncheon, or rather, it means dinner, for we have dinner in the old New +England fashion, in the middle of the day. I am all alone to-day, and +you must keep me company, will you? Then afterward we'll go and take a +walk, and I'll show you Cambridge. It is such a beautiful old town, +even more beautiful, I sometimes think, when the leaves are off the +trees." + +[Illustration: Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands. In the +foreground is one of the typical Dutch canals; at the end of the garden +in the rear is one of the famous Dutch dykes and just beyond is the +North Sea. The house now belongs to the Dutch Government.] + +"Come," he said, "I'll take you up-stairs, and you can wash your hands +in the room where George Washington slept. And comb your hair, too, if +you want to," he added; "only it isn't the same comb that he used." + +To the boyish mind it was an historic breaking of bread, that midday +meal with Longfellow. + +"Can you say grace in Dutch?" he asked, as they sat down; and the boy +did. + +"Well," the poet declared, "I never expected to hear that at my table. +I like the sound of it." + +Then while the boy told all that he knew about the Netherlands, the +poet told the boy all about his poems. Edward said he liked "Hiawatha." + +"So do I," he said. "But I think I like 'Evangeline' better. Still, +neither one is as good as it should be. But those are the things you +see afterward so much better than you do at the time." + +It was a great event for Edward when, with the poet nodding and smiling +to every boy and man he met, and lifting his hat to every woman and +little girl, he walked through the fine old streets of Cambridge with +Longfellow. At one point of the walk they came to a theatrical +billboard announcing an attraction that evening at the Boston Theatre. +Skilfully the old poet drew out from Edward that sometimes he went to +the theatre with his parents. As they returned to the gate of "Craigie +House" Edward said he thought he would go back to Boston. + +"And what have you on hand for this evening?" asked Longfellow. + +Edward told him he was going to his hotel to think over the day's +events. + +The poet laughed and said: + +"Now, listen to my plan. Boston is strange to you. Now we're going to +the theatre this evening, and my plan is that you come in now, have a +little supper with us, and then go with us to see the play. It is a +funny play, and a good laugh will do you more good than to sit in a +hotel all by yourself. Now, what do you think?" + +Of course the boy thought as Longfellow did, and it was a very happy +boy that evening who, in full view of the large audience in the immense +theatre, sat in that box. It was, as Longfellow had said, a play of +laughter, and just who laughed louder, the poet or the boy, neither +ever knew. + +Between the acts there came into the box a man of courtly presence, +dignified and yet gently courteous. + +"Ah! Phillips," said the poet, "how are you? You must know my young +friend here. This is Wendell Phillips, my boy. Here is a young man +who told me to-day that he was going to call on you and on Phillips +Brooks to-morrow. Now you know him before he comes to you." + +"I shall be glad to see you, my boy," said Mr. Phillips. "And so you +are going to see Phillips Brooks? Let me tell you something about +Brooks. He has a great many books in his library which are full of his +marks and comments. Now, when you go to see him you ask him to let you +see some of those books, and then, when he isn't looking, you put a +couple of them in your pocket. They would make splendid souvenirs, and +he has so many he would never miss them. You do it, and then when you +come to see me tell me all about it." + +And he and Longfellow smiled broadly. + +An hour later, when Longfellow dropped Edward at his hotel, he had not +only a wonderful day to think over but another wonderful day to look +forward to as well! + +He had breakfasted with Oliver Wendell Holmes; dined, supped, and been +to the theatre with Longfellow; and tomorrow he was to spend with +Phillips Brooks. + +Boston was a great place, Edward Bok thought, as he fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST + +No one who called at Phillips Brooks's house was ever told that the +master of the house was out when he was in. That was a rule laid down +by Doctor Brooks: a maid was not to perjure herself for her master's +comfort or convenience. Therefore, when Edward was told that Doctor +Brooks was out, he knew he was out. The boy waited, and as he waited +he had a chance to look around the library and into the books. The +rector's faithful housekeeper said he might when he repeated what +Wendell Phillips had told him of the interest that was to be found in +her master's books. Edward did not tell her of Mr. Phillips's advice, +to "borrow" a couple of books. He reserved that bit of information for +the rector of Trinity when he came in, an hour later. + +"Oh! did he?" laughingly said Doctor Brooks. "That is nice advice for +a man to give a boy. I am surprised at Wendell Phillips. He needs a +little talk: a ministerial visit. And have you followed his shameless +advice?" smilingly asked the huge man as he towered above the boy. +"No? And to think of the opportunity you had, too. Well, I am glad +you had such respect for my dumb friends. For they are my friends, +each one of them," he continued, as he looked fondly at the filled +shelves. "Yes, I know them all, and love each for its own sake. Take +this little volume," and he picked up a little volume of Shakespeare. +"Why, we are the best of friends: we have travelled miles together--all +over the world, as a matter of fact. It knows me in all my moods, and +responds to each, no matter how irritable I am. Yes, it is pretty +badly marked up now, for a fact, isn't it? Black; I never thought of +that before that it doesn't make a book look any better to the eye. +But it means more to me because of all that pencilling. + +"Now, some folks dislike my use of my books in this way. They love +their books so much that they think it nothing short of sacrilege to +mark up a book. But to me, that's like having a child so prettily +dressed that you can't romp and play with it. What is the good of a +book, I say, if it is too pretty for use? I like to have my books +speak to me, and then I like to talk back to them. + +"Take my Bible, here," he continued, as he took up an old and much-worn +copy of the book. "I have a number of copies of the Great Book: one +copy I preach from; another I minister from; but this is my own +personal copy, and into it I talk and talk. See how I talk," and he +opened the Book and showed interleaved pages full of comments in his +handwriting. "There's where St. Paul and I had an argument one day. +Yes, it was a long argument, and I don't know now who won," he added +smilingly. "But then, no one ever wins in an argument, anyway, do you +think so? + +"You see," went on the preacher, "I put into these books what other men +put into articles and essays for magazines and papers. I never write +for publications. I always think of my church when something comes to +me to say. There is always danger of a man spreading himself out thin +if he attempts too much, you know." + +Doctor Brooks, must have caught the boy's eye, which, as he said this, +naturally surveyed his great frame, for he regarded him in an amused +way, and putting his hands on his girth, he said laughingly; "You are +thinking I would have to do a great deal to spread myself out thin, +aren't you?" + +The boy confessed he was, and the preacher laughed one of those deep +laughs of his that were so infectious. + +"But here I am talking about myself. Tell me something about +_yourself_?" + +And when the boy told his object in coming to Boston, the rector of +Trinity Church was immensely amused. + +"Just to see us fellows! Well, and how do you like us so far?" + +And in the most comfortable way this true gentleman went on until the +boy mentioned that he must be keeping him from his work. + +"Not at all; not at all," was the quick and hearty response. "Not a +thing to do. I cleaned up all my mail before I had my breakfast this +morning. + +"These letters, you mean?" he said, as the boy pointed to some letters +on his desk unopened. "Oh, yes! They must have come in a later mail. +Well, if it will make you feel any better I'll go through them, and you +can go through my books if you like. I'll trust you," he added +laughingly, as Wendell Phillips's advice occurred to him. + +"You like books, you say?" he went on, as he opened his letters. +"Well, then, you must come into my library here at any time you are in +Boston, and spend a morning reading anything I have that you like. +Young men do that, you know, and I like to have them. What's the use +of good friends if you don't share them? There's where the pleasure +comes in." + +He asked the boy then about his newspaper work, how much it paid him, +and whether he felt it helped him in an educational way. The boy told +him he thought it did; that it furnished good lessons in the study of +human nature. "Yes," he said, "I, can believe that, so long as it is +good journalism." + +As he let the boy out of his house, at the end of that first, meeting, +he said to him: + +"And you're going from me now to see Emerson? I don't know," he added +reflectively, "whether you will see him at his best. Still, you may. +And even if you do not, to have seen him, even as you may see him, is +better, in a way, than not to have seen him at all." + +Edward did not know what Phillips Brooks meant. But he was, sadly, to +find out the next day. + + +A boy was pretty sure of a welcome from Louisa Alcott, and his greeting +from her was spontaneous and sincere. + +"Why, you good boy," she said, "to come all the way to Concord to see +us," quite for all the world as if she were the one favored. "Now take +your coat off, and come right in by the fire. Do tell me all about +your visit." + +Before that cozy fire they chatted. It was pleasant to the boy to sit +there with that sweet-faced woman with those kindly eyes! After a +while she said: "Now I shall put on my coat and hat, and we shall walk +over to Emerson's house. I am almost afraid to promise that you will +see him. He sees scarcely any one now. He is feeble, and--" She did +not finish the sentence. "But we'll walk over there, at any rate." + +She spoke mostly of her father as the two walked along, and it was easy +to see that his condition was now the one thought of her life. +Presently they reached Emerson's house, and Miss Emerson welcomed them +at the door. After a brief chat Miss Alcott told of the boy's hope. +Miss Emerson shook her head. + +"Father sees no one now," she said, "and I fear it might not be a +pleasure if you did see him." + +Then Edward told her what Phillips Brooks had said. + +"Well," she said, "I'll see." + +She had scarcely left the room when Miss Alcott rose and followed her, +saying to the boy: "You shall see Mr. Emerson if it is at all possible." + +In a few minutes Miss Alcott returned, her eyes moistened, and simply +said: "Come." + +The boy followed her through two rooms, and at the threshold of the +third, Miss Emerson stood, also with moistened eyes. + +"Father," she said simply, and there, at his desk, sat Emerson--the man +whose words had already won Edward Bok's boyish interest, and who was +destined to impress himself upon his life more deeply than any other +writer. + +Slowly, at the daughter's spoken word, Emerson rose with a wonderful +quiet dignity, extended his hand, and as the boy's hand rested in his, +looked him full in the eyes. + +No light of welcome came from those sad yet tender eyes. The boy +closed upon the hand in his with a loving pressure, and for a single +moment the eyelids rose, a different look came into those eyes, and +Edward felt a slight, perceptible response of the hand. But that was +all! + +Quietly he motioned the boy to a chair beside the desk. Edward sat +down and was about to say something, when, instead of seating himself, +Emerson walked away to the window and stood there softly whistling and +looking out as if there were no one in the room. Edward's eyes had +followed Emerson's every footstep, when the boy was aroused by hearing +a suppressed sob, and as he looked around he saw that it came from Miss +Emerson. Slowly she walked out of the room. The boy looked at Miss +Alcott, and she put her finger to her mouth, indicating silence. He +was nonplussed. + +Edward looked toward Emerson standing in that window, and wondered what +it all meant. Presently Emerson left the window and, crossing the +room, came to his desk, bowing to the boy as he passed, and seated +himself, not speaking a word and ignoring the presence of the two +persons in the room. + +Suddenly the boy heard Miss Alcott say: "Have you read this new book by +Ruskin yet?" + +Slowly the great master of thought lifted his eyes from his desk, +turned toward the speaker, rose with stately courtesy from his chair, +and, bowing to Miss Alcott, said with great deliberation: "Did you +speak to me, madam?" + +The boy was dumfounded! Louisa Alcott, his Louisa! And he did not +know her! Suddenly the whole sad truth flashed upon the boy. Tears +sprang into Miss Alcott's eyes, and she walked to the other side of the +room. The boy did not know what to say or do, so he sat silent. With +a deliberate movement Emerson resumed his seat, and slowly his eyes +roamed over the boy sitting at the side of the desk. He felt he should +say something. + +"I thought, perhaps, Mr. Emerson," he said, "that you might be able to +favor me with a letter from Carlyle." + +At the mention of the name Carlyle his eyes lifted, and he asked: +"Carlyle, did you say, sir, Carlyle?" + +"Yes," said the boy, "Thomas Carlyle." + +"Ye-es," Emerson answered slowly. "To be sure, Carlyle. Yes, he was +here this morning. He will be here again to-morrow morning," he added +gleefully, almost like a child. + +Then suddenly: "You were saying----" + +Edward repeated his request. + +"Oh, I think so, I think so," said Emerson, to the boy's astonishment. +"Let me see. Yes, here in this drawer I have many letters from +Carlyle." + +At these words Miss Alcott came from the other part of the room, her +wet eyes dancing with pleasure and her face wreathed in smiles. + +"I think we can help this young man; do you not think so, Louisa?" said +Emerson, smiling toward Miss Alcott. The whole atmosphere of the room +had changed. How different the expression of his eyes as now Emerson +looked at the boy! "And you have come all the way from New York to ask +me that!" he said smilingly as the boy told him of his trip. "Now, let +us see," he said, as he delved in a drawer full of letters. + +For a moment he groped among letters and papers, and then, softly +closing the drawer, he began that ominous low whistle once more, looked +inquiringly at each, and dropped his eyes straightway to the papers +before him on his desk. It was to be only for a few moments, then! +Miss Alcott turned away. + +The boy felt the interview could not last much longer. So, anxious to +have some personal souvenir of the meeting, he said: "Mr. Emerson, will +you be so good as to write your name in this book for me?" and he +brought out an album he had in his pocket. + +"Name?" he asked vaguely. + +"Yes, please," said the boy, "your name: Ralph Waldo Emerson." + +But the sound of the name brought no response from the eyes. + +"Please write out the name you want," he said finally, "and I will copy +it for you if I can." + +It was hard for the boy to believe his own senses. But picking up a +pen he wrote: "Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord; November 22, 1881." + +Emerson looked at it, and said mournfully: "Thank you." Then he picked +up the pen, and writing the single letter "R" stopped, followed his +finger until it reached the "W" of Waldo, and studiously copied letter +by letter! At the word "Concord" he seemed to hesitate, as if the task +were too great, but finally copied again, letter by letter, until the +second "c" was reached. "Another 'o,'" he said, and interpolated an +extra letter in the name of the town which he had done so much to make +famous the world over. When he had finished he handed back the book, +in which there was written: + +[Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson's signature.] + +The boy put the book into his pocket; and as he did so Emerson's eye +caught the slip on his desk, in the boy's handwriting, and, with a +smile of absolute enlightenment, he turned and said; + +"You wish me to write my name? With pleasure. Have you a book with +you?" + +Overcome with astonishment, Edward mechanically handed him the album +once more from his pocket. Quickly turning over the leaves, Emerson +picked up the pen, and pushing aside the slip, wrote without a moment's +hesitation: + +[Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson's second signature.] + +The boy was almost dazed at the instantaneous transformation in the man! + +Miss Alcott now grasped this moment to say: "Well, we must be going!" + +"So soon?" said Emerson, rising and smiling. Then turning to Miss +Alcott he said: "It was very kind of you, Louisa, to run over this +morning and bring your young friend." + +Then turning to the boy he said: "Thank you so much for coming to see +me. You must come over again while you are with the Alcotts. Good +morning! Isn't it a beautiful day out?" he said, and as he shook the +boy's hand there was a warm grasp in it, the fingers closed around +those of the boy, and as Edward looked into those deep eyes they +twinkled and smiled back. + +The going was all so different from the coming. The boy was grateful +that his last impression was of a moment when the eye kindled and the +hand pulsated. + +The two walked back to the Alcott home in an almost unbroken silence. +Once Edward ventured to remark: + +"You can have no idea, Miss Alcott, how grateful I am to you." + +"Well, my boy," she answered, "Phillips Brooks may be right: that it is +something 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 +following morning he spent with Wendell Phillips, who presented him +with letters from William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and other +famous persons; and then, writing a letter of introduction to Charles +Francis Adams, whom he enjoined to give the boy autograph letters from +his two presidential forbears, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, sent +Edward on his way rejoicing. Mr. Adams received the boy with equal +graciousness and liberality. Wonderful letters from the two Adamses +were his when he left. + +And then, taking the train for New York, Edward Bok went home, sitting +up all night 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 away when Edward was 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 problem of supporting the mother on their meagre income. +They determined to have but one goal: to put their mother back to that +life of comfort to which she had been brought up and was formerly +accustomed. But that was not possible on their income. It was evident +that other employment must be taken on during the evenings. + +The city editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_ had given Edward the assignment +of covering the news of the theatres; he was to ascertain "coming +attractions" and any other dramatic items of news interest. One Monday +evening, when a multiplicity of events crowded the reportorial corps, +Edward was 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 dramatic criticism. Yet _The +Eagle_ wanted to cover it. It so happened that Edward had made another +appointment for that evening which he considered more important, and +yet not wishing to disappoint his editor he accepted the assignment. +He had seen Miss Coghlan in the play; so he kept his other engagement, +and without approaching 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 next morning on 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 performance +had been given and the audience dismissed. All this was duly commented +upon by the New York morning newspapers. Edward read this bit of news +on the ferry-boat, but his notice was in the hands of the city editor. + +On reaching home that evening he found a summons from _The Eagle_, and +the next morning he received a rebuke, and was informed that his +chances with the paper were over. The ready acknowledgment and evident +regret 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 impression. It was always a cause of profound gratitude with +Edward Bok that his first attempt at "faking" occurred so early in his +journalistic career that he could take the experience to heart and +profit by it. + +One evening when Edward was attending a theatrical performance, he +noticed the restlessness of the women in the audience between the acts. +In those days it was, even more than at present, the custom for the men +to go out between the acts, leaving the women alone. Edward looked at +the programme in his hands. It was a large eleven-by-nine sheet, four +pages, badly printed, with nothing in it save the cast, a few +advertisements, and an announcement of some coming attraction. The boy +mechanically folded the programme, turned it long side up and wondered +whether a programme of this smaller size, easier to handle, with an +attractive cover and some reading-matter, would not be profitable. + +When he reached home he made up an eight-page "dummy," pasted an +attractive picture on the cover, indicated the material to go inside, +and the next morning showed it to the manager of the theatre. The +programme as issued was an item of considerable expense to the +management; Edward offered to supply his new programme without cost, +provided he was given the exclusive right, and the manager at once +accepted the offer. Edward then sought a friend, Frederic L. Colver, +who had a larger experience in publishing and advertising, with whom he +formed a partnership. Deciding that immediately upon the issuance of +their first programme the idea was likely to be taken up by the other +theatres, Edward proceeded to secure the exclusive rights to them all. +The two young publishers solicited their advertisements on the way to +and from business mornings and evenings, and shortly the first +smaller-sized theatre programme, now in use in all theatres, appeared. +The venture was successful from the start, returning a comfortable +profit each week. Such advertisements as they could not secure for +cash they accepted in trade; and this latter arrangement assisted +materially in maintaining the households of the two publishers. + +Edward's partner now introduced him into a debating society called The +Philomathean Society, made up of young men connected with Plymouth +Church, of which Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. The debates took the +form of a miniature congress, each member representing 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 +became intensely interested in the society's doings, and it was not +long before he was elected president. + +The society derived its revenue from the dues of its members and from +an annual concert given 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 +promise to come and speak; he secured the gratuitous services of Emma +C. Thursby, Annie Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg, and Evelyn Lyon +Hegeman, all of the first rank of concert-singers of that day, with the +result that the church could not accommodate the crowd which naturally +was attracted by such a programme. + +It now entered into the minds of the two young theatre-programme +publishers to extend their publishing 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 more general character, so that its +circulation might extend over a larger portion of Brooklyn. With this +extension came a further broadening of its contents, which now began to +take on a literary character, and it was not long before its two +projectors realized that the periodical had outgrown its name. It was +decided--late in 1884--to change the name to _The Brooklyn Magazine_. + +There was a periodical called _The Plymouth Pulpit_, which presented +verbatim reports of the sermons of Mr. Beecher, and Edward got 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 +parishioners, with the result that the pair soon had a sufficient +financial backing by some of the leading men of Brooklyn, like H. B. +Claflin, Seth Low, Rossiter W. Raymond, Horatio C. King, and others. + +The young publishers could now go on. Understanding that Mr. Beecher's +sermons might give a partial and denominational tone to the magazine, +Edward arranged to publish also in its pages verbatim reports of the +sermons of the Reverend T. De Witt Talmage, whose reputation was then +at its zenith. The young editor now realized that he had a rather +heavy cargo of sermons to carry each month; accordingly, in order that +his magazine might not appear to be exclusively religious, he +determined that its literary contents should be of a high 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 him in good +stead. He went in turn to each noted person he had met, explained his +plight and stated his ambitions, with the result that very soon the +magazine 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 time the unwritten rule that a +President's writings 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 +women of the day, some of whom had never written for magazines--began +to appear in the young editor's contents. Editors wondered how the +publishers could afford it, whereas, in fact, not a single name +represented an honorarium. Each contributor had come gratuitously to +the aid of the editor. + +At first, the circulation of the magazine 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 them late at night on the front +platform of the streetcars, and take them to the post-office. Thus the +boys absolutely knew the growth of their circulation by the weight of +their bundles and the number of their front-platform trips each month. +Soon a baker's hand-cart was leased for an evening, and that was added +to the capacity of the front platforms. Then one eventful month it was +seen that a horse-truck would have to be employed. Within three weeks, +a double horse-truck was necessary, and three trips had to be made. + +By this time Edward Bok had become so intensely interested in the +editorial problem, and his partner in the periodical publishing part, +that they decided to sell out their theatre-programme interests and +devote themselves to the magazine and its rapidly increasing +circulation. All of Edward's editorial work had naturally to be done +outside of his business hours, in other words, in the evenings and on +Sundays; and the young editor found himself fully occupied. He now +revived the old idea of selecting a subject and having ten or twenty +writers express their views on it. It was the old symposium idea, but +it had not been presented in American journalism for a number of years. +He conceived the topic "Should America Have a Westminster Abbey?" and +induced some twenty of the foremost men and women of the day to discuss +it. When the discussion was presented in the magazine, the form being +new and the theme novel, Edward was careful to send advance sheets to +the newspapers, which treated it at length in reviews and editorials, +with marked effect upon the circulation of the magazine. + +All this time, while Edward Bok was an editor in his evenings he was, +during the day, a stenographer and clerk of the Western Union Telegraph +Company. The two occupations were hardly compatible, but each meant a +source of revenue to the boy, and he felt he must hold on to both. + +After his father passed away, the position of the boy's desk--next to +the empty desk of his father--was a cause of constant depression to +him. This was understood by the attorney for the company, Mr. Clarence +Cary, who sought the head of Edward's department, with the result that +Edward was transferred to Mr. Cary's department as the attorney's +private stenographer. + +Edward had been much attracted to Mr. Cary, and the attorney believed +in the boy, and decided to show his interest by pushing him along. He +had heard of the dual role which Edward was playing; he bought a copy +of the magazine, and was interested. Edward now worked with new zest +for his employer and friend; while in every free moment he read law, +feeling that, as almost all his forbears had been lawyers, he might +perhaps be destined for the bar. This acquaintance with the +fundamental basis of law, cursory as it was, became like a gospel to +Edward Bok. In later years, he was taught its value by repeated +experience in his contact with corporate laws, contracts, property +leases, and other matters; and he determined that, whatever the +direction of activity taken by his sons, each should spend at least a +year in the study of law. + +The control of the Western Union Telegraph Company had now passed into +the hands of Jay Gould and his companions, and in the many legal +matters arising therefrom, Edward saw much, in his office, of "the +little wizard of Wall Street." One day, the financier had to dictate a +contract, and, coming into Mr. Cary's office, decided to dictate it +then and there. An hour afterward Edward delivered the copy of the +contract to Mr. Gould, and the financier was so struck by its accuracy +and by the legibility of the handwriting that afterward he almost daily +"happened in" to dictate to Mr. Cary's stenographer. Mr. Gould's +private stenographer was in his own office in lower Broadway; but on +his way down-town in the morning Mr. Gould invariably stopped at the +Western Union Building, at 195 Broadway; and the habit resulted in the +installation of a private office there. He borrowed Edward to do his +stenography. The boy found himself taking not only letters from Mr. +Gould's dictation, but, what interested him particularly, the +financier's orders to buy and sell stock. + +Edward watched the effects on the stock-market of these little notes +which he wrote out and then shot through a pneumatic tube to Mr. +Gould's brokers. Naturally, the results enthralled the boy, and he +told Mr. Cary about his discoveries. This, in turn, interested Mr. +Cary; Mr. Gould's dictations were frequently given in Mr. Cary's own +office, where, as his desk was not ten feet from that of his +stenographer, the attorney heard them, and began to buy and sell +according to the magnate's decisions. + +Edward had now become tremendously interested in the stock game which +he saw constantly played by the great financier; and having a little +money saved up, he concluded that he would follow in the wake of Mr. +Gould's orders. One day, he naïvely mentioned his desire to Mr. Gould, +when the financier seemed in a particularly favorable frame of mind; +but Edward did not succeed in drawing out the advice he hoped for. "At +least," reasoned Edward, "he knew of my intention; and if he considered +it a violation of confidence he would have said as much." + +Construing the financier's silence to mean at least not a prohibition, +Edward went to his Sunday-school teacher, who was a member of a Wall +Street brokerage firm, laid the facts before him, and asked him if he +would buy for him some Western Union stock. Edward explained, however, +that somehow he did not like the gambling idea of buying "on margin," +and preferred to purchase the stock outright. He was shown that this +would mean smaller profits; but the boy had in mind the loss of his +father's fortune, brought about largely by "stock margins," and he did +not intend to follow that example. So, prudently, under the brokerage +of his Sunday-school teacher, and guided by the tips of no less a man +than the controlling factor of stock-market finance, Edward Bok took +his first plunge in Wall Street! + +Of course the boy's buying and selling tallied precisely with the rise +and fall of Western Union stock. It could scarcely have been +otherwise. Jay Gould had the cards all in his hands; and as he bought +and sold, so Edward bought and sold. The trouble was, the combination +did not end there, as Edward might have foreseen had he been older and +thus wiser. For as Edward bought and sold, so did his Sunday-school +teacher, and all his customers who had seen the wonderful acumen of +their broker in choosing exactly the right time to buy and sell Western +Union. But Edward did not know this. + +One day a rumor became current on the Street that an agreement had been +reached by the Western Union Company and its bitter rival, the American +Union Telegraph Company, whereby the former was to absorb the latter. +Naturally; the report affected Western Union stock. But Mr. Gould +denied it in toto; said the report was not true, no such consolidation +was in view or had even been considered. Down tumbled the stock, of +course. + +But it so happened that Edward knew the rumor was true, because Mr. +Gould, some time before, had personally given him the contract of +consolidation to copy. The next day a rumor to the effect that the +American Union was to absorb the Western Union appeared on the first +page of every New York newspaper. Edward knew exactly whence this +rumor emanated. He had heard it talked over. Again, Western Union +stock dropped several points. Then he noticed that Mr. Gould became a +heavy buyer. So became Edward--as heavy as he could. Jay Gould +pooh-poohed the latest rumor. The boy awaited developments. + +On Sunday afternoon, Edward's Sunday-school teacher asked the boy to +walk home with him, and on reaching the house took him into the study +and asked him whether he felt justified in putting all his savings in +Western Union just at that time when the price was tumbling so fast and +the market was so unsteady. Edward assured his teacher that he was +right, although he explained that he could not disclose the basis of +his assurance. + +Edward thought his teacher looked worried, and after a little there +came the revelation that he, seeing that Edward was buying to his +limit, had likewise done so. But the broker had bought on margin, and +had his margin wiped out by the decline in the stock caused by the +rumors. He explained to Edward that he could recoup his losses, heavy +though they were--in fact, he explained that nearly everything he +possessed was involved--if Edward's basis was sure and the stock would +recover. + +Edward keenly felt the responsibility placed upon him. He could never +clearly diagnose his feelings when he saw his teacher in this new +light. The broker's "customers" had been hinted at, and the boy of +eighteen wondered how far his responsibility went, and how many persons +were involved. But the deal came out all right, for when, three days +afterward, the contract was made public, Western Union, of course, +skyrocketed, Jay Gould sold out, Edward sold out, the teacher-broker +sold out, and all the customers sold out! + +How long a string it was Edward never discovered, but he determined +there and then to end his Wall Street experience; his original amount +had multiplied; he was content to let well enough alone, and from that +day to this Edward Bok has kept out of Wall Street. He had seen enough +of its manipulations; and, although on "the inside," he decided that +the combination of his teacher and his customers was a responsibility +too great for him to carry. + +Furthermore, Edward decided to leave the Western Union. The longer he +remained, the less he liked its atmosphere. And the closer his contact +with Jay Gould the more doubtful he became of the wisdom of such an +association and perhaps its unconscious influence upon his own life in +its formative period. + +In fact, it was an experience with Mr. Gould that definitely fixed +Edward's determination. The financier decided one Saturday to leave on +a railroad inspection tour on the following Monday. It was necessary +that a special meeting of one of his railroad interests should be held +before his departure, and he fixed the meeting for Sunday at +eleven-thirty at his residence on Fifth Avenue. He asked Edward to be +there to take the notes of the meeting. + +The meeting was protracted, and at one o'clock Mr. Gould suggested an +adjournment for luncheon, the meeting to reconvene at two. Turning to +Edward, the financier said: "You may go out to luncheon and return in +an hour." So, on Sunday afternoon, with the Windsor Hotel on the +opposite corner as the only visible place to get something to eat, but +where he could not afford to go, Edward, with just fifteen cents in his +pocket, was turned out to find a luncheon place. + +He bought three apples for five cents--all that he could afford to +spend, and even this meant that he must walk home from the ferry to his +house in Brooklyn--and these he ate as he walked up and down Fifth +Avenue until his hour was over. When the meeting ended at three +o'clock, Mr. Gould said that, as he was leaving for the West early next +morning, he would like Edward to write out his notes, and have them at +his house by eight o'clock. There were over forty note-book pages of +minutes. The remainder of Edward's Sunday afternoon and evening was +spent in transcribing the notes. By rising at half past five the next +morning he reached Mr. Gould's house at a quarter to eight, handed him +the minutes, and was dismissed without so much as a word of thanks or a +nod of approval from the financier. + +Edward felt that this exceeded the limit of fair treatment by employer +of employee. He spoke of it to Mr. Cary, and asked whether he would +object if he tried to get away from such influence and secure another +position. His employer asked the boy in which direction he would like +to go, and Edward unhesitatingly suggested the publishing business. He +talked it over from every angle with his employer, and Mr. Cary not +only agreed with him that his decision was wise, but promised to find +him a position such as he had in mind. + +It was not long before Mr. Cary made good his word, and told Edward +that his friend Henry Holt, the publisher, would like to give him a +trial. + +The day before he was to leave the Western Union Telegraph Company the +fact of his resignation became known to Mr. Gould. The financier told +the boy there was no reason for his leaving, and that he would +personally see to it that a substantial increase was made in his +salary. Edward explained that the salary, while of importance to him, +did not influence him so much as securing a position in a business in +which he felt he would be happier. + +"And what business is that?" asked the financier. + +"The publishing of books," replied the boy. + +"You are making a great mistake," answered the little man, fixing his +keen gray eyes on the boy. "Books are a luxury. The public spends its +largest money on necessities: on what it can't do without. It must +telegraph; it need not read. It can read in libraries. A promising +boy such as you are, with his life before him, should choose the right +sort of business, not the wrong one." + +But, as facts proved, the "little wizard of Wall Street" was wrong in +his prediction; Edward Bok was not choosing the wrong business. + +Years afterward when Edward was cruising up the Hudson with a yachting +party one Saturday afternoon, the sight of Jay Gould's mansion, upon +approaching Irvington, awakened the desire of the women on board to see +his wonderful orchid collection. Edward explained his previous +association with the financier and offered to recall himself to him, if +the party wished to take the chance of recognition. A note was written +to Mr. Gould, and sent ashore, and the answer came back that they were +welcome to visit the orchid houses. Jay Gould, in person, received the +party, and, placing it under the personal conduct of his gardener, +turned to Edward and, indicating a bench, said: + +"Come and sit down here with me." + +"Well," said the financier, who was in his domestic mood, quite +different from his Wall Street aspect, "I see in the papers that you +seem to be making your way in the publishing business." + +Edward expressed surprise that the Wall Street magnate had followed his +work. + +"I have because I always felt you had it in you to make a successful +man. But not in that business," he added quickly. "You were born for +the Street. You would have made a great success there, and that is +what I had in mind for you. In the publishing business you will go +just so far; in the Street you could have gone as far as you liked. +There is room there; there is none in the publishing business. It's +not too late now, for that matter," continued the "little wizard," +fastening his steel eyes on the young man beside him! + +And Edward Bok has often speculated whither Jay Gould might have led +him. To many a young man, a suggestion from such a source would have +seemed the one to heed and follow. But Edward Bok's instinct never +failed him. He felt that his path lay far apart from that of Jay +Gould--and the farther the better! + +In 1882 Edward, with a feeling of distinct relief, left the employ of +the Western Union Telegraph Company and associated himself with the +publishing business in which he had correctly divined that his future +lay. + +His chief regret on leaving his position was in severing the close +relations, almost as of father and son, between Mr. Cary and himself. +When Edward was left alone, with the passing away of his father, +Clarence Cary had put his sheltering arm around the lonely boy, and +with the tremendous encouragement of the phrase that the boy never +forgot, "I think you have it in you, Edward, to make a successful man," +he took him under his wing. It was a turning-point in Edward Bok's +life, as he felt at the time and as he saw more clearly afterward. + +He remained in touch with his friend, however, keeping him advised of +his progress in everything he did, not only at that time, but all +through his later years. And it was given to Edward to feel the deep +satisfaction of having Mr. Cary say, before he passed away, that the +boy had more than justified the confidence reposed in him. Mr. Cary +lived to see him well on his way, until, indeed, Edward had had the +proud happiness of introducing to his benefactor the son who bore his +name, Cary William Bok. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE + +Edward felt that his daytime hours, spent in a publishing atmosphere as +stenographer with Henry Holt and Company, were more in line with his +editorial duties during the evenings. _The Brooklyn Magazine_ was soon +earning a comfortable income for its two young proprietors, and their +backers were entirely satisfied with the way it was being conducted. +In fact, one of these backers, Mr. Rufus T. Bush, associated with the +Standard Oil Company, who became especially interested, thought he saw +in the success of the magazine a possible opening for one of his sons, +who was shortly to be graduated from college. He talked to the +publisher and editor about the idea, but the boys showed by their books +that while there was a reasonable income for them, not wholly dependent +on the magazine, there was no room for a third. + +Mr. Bush now suggested that he buy the magazine for his son, alter its +name, enlarge its scope, and make of it a national periodical. +Arrangements were concluded, those who had financially backed the +venture were fully paid, and the two boys received a satisfactory +amount for their work in building up the magazine. Mr. Bush asked +Edward to suggest a name for the new periodical, and in the following +month of May, 1887, _The Brooklyn Magazine_ became _The American +Magazine_, with its publication office in New York. But, though a +great deal of money was spent on the new magazine, it did not succeed. +Mr. Bush sold his interest in the periodical, which, once more changing +its name, became _The Cosmopolitan Magazine_. Since then it has passed +through the hands of several owners, but the name has remained the +same. Before Mr. Bush sold _The American Magazine_ he had urged Edward +to come back to it as its editor, with promise of financial support; +but the young man felt instinctively that his return would not be wise. +The magazine had been _The Cosmopolitan_ only a short time when the new +owners, Mr. Paul J. Slicht and Mr. E. D. Walker, also solicited the +previous editor to accept reappointment. But Edward, feeling that his +baby had been rechristened too often for him to father it again, +declined the proposition. He had not heard the last of it, however, +for, by a curious coincidence, its subsequent owner, entirely ignorant +of Edward's previous association with the magazine, invited him to +connect himself with it. Thus three times could Edward Bok have +returned to the magazine for whose creation he was responsible. + +Edward was now without editorial cares; but he had already, even before +disposing of the magazine, embarked on another line of endeavor. In +sending to a number of newspapers the advance sheets of a particularly +striking "feature" in one of his numbers of _The Brooklyn Magazine_, it +occurred to him that he was furnishing a good deal of valuable material +to these papers without cost. It is true his magazine was receiving +the advertising value of editorial comment; but he wondered whether the +newspapers would not be willing to pay for the privilege of +simultaneous publication. An inquiry or two proved that they would. +Thus Edward stumbled upon the "syndicate" plan of furnishing the same +article to a group of newspapers, one in each city, for simultaneous +publication. He looked over the ground, and found that while his idea +was not a new one, since two "syndicate" agencies already existed, the +field was by no means fully covered, and that the success of a third +agency would depend entirely upon its ability to furnish the newspapers +with material equally good or better than they received from the +others. After following the material furnished by these agencies for +two or three weeks, Edward decided that there was plenty of room for +his new ideas. + +He discussed the matter with his former magazine partner, Colver, and +suggested that if they could induce Mr. Beecher to write a weekly +comment on current events for the newspapers it would make an +auspicious beginning. They decided to talk it over with the famous +preacher. For to be a "Plymouth boy"--that is, to go to the Plymouth +Church Sunday-school and to attend church there--was to know personally +and become devoted to Henry Ward Beecher. And the two were synonymous. +There was no distance between Mr. Beecher and his "Plymouth boys." +Each understood the other. The tie was that of absolute comradeship. + +"I don't believe in it, boys," said Mr. Beecher when Edward and his +friend broached the syndicate letter to him. "No one yet ever made a +cent out of my supposed literary work." + +All the more reason, was the argument, why some one should. + +Mr. Beecher smiled! How well he knew the youthful enthusiasm that +rushes in, etc. + +"Well, all right! I like your pluck," he finally said. "I'll help you +if I can." + +The young editors agreed to pay Mr. Beecher a weekly sum of two hundred +and fifty dollars--which he knew was considerable for them. + +When the first article had been written they took him their first +check. He looked at it quizzically, and then at the boys. Then he +said simply: "Thank you." He took a pin and pinned the check to his +desk. There it remained, much to their curiosity. + +The following week he had written the second article and the boys gave +him another check. He pinned that up over the other. "I like to look +at them," was his only explanation, as he saw Edward's inquiring glance +one morning. + +The third check was treated the same way. When they handed him the +fourth, one morning, as he was pinning it up over the others, he asked: +"When do you get your money from the newspapers?" + +He was told that the bills were going out that morning for the four +letters constituting a month's service. + +"I see," he remarked. + +A fortnight passed, then one day Mr. Beecher asked: "Well, how are the +checks coming in?" + +"Very well," he was assured. + +"Suppose you let me see how much you've got in," he suggested, and the +boys brought the accounts to him. + +After looking at them he said: "That's very interesting. How much have +you in the bank?" + +He was told the balance, less the checks given to him. "But I haven't +turned them in yet," he explained. "Anyhow, you have enough in bank to +meet the checks you have given me, and a profit besides, haven't you?" + +He was assured they had. + +Then, taking his bank-book from a drawer; he unpinned the six checks on +his desk, indorsed each, wrote a deposit slip, and, handing the book to +Edward, said: + +"Just hand that in at the bank as you go by, will you?" + +Edward was very young then, and Mr. Beecher's methods of financiering +seemed to him quite in line with current notions of the Plymouth +pastor's lack of business knowledge. But as the years rolled on the +incident appeared in a new light--a striking example of the great +preacher's wonderful considerateness. + +Edward had offered to help Mr. Beecher with his correspondence; at the +close of one afternoon, while he was with the Plymouth pastor at work, +an organ-grinder and a little girl came under the study window. A +cold, driving rain was pelting down. In a moment Mr. Beecher noticed +the girl's bare toes sticking out of her worn shoes. + +He got up, went into the hall, and called for one of his granddaughters. + +"Got any good, strong rain boots?" he asked when she appeared. + +"Why, yes, grandfather. Why?" was the answer. + +"More than one pair?" Mr. Beecher asked. + +"Yes, two or three, I think." + +"Bring me your strongest pair, will you, dear?" he asked. And as the +girl looked at him with surprise he said: "Just one of my notions." + +"Now, just bring that child into the house and put them on her feet for +me, will you?" he said when the shoes came. "I'll be able to work so +much better." + +One rainy day, as Edward was coming up from Fulton Ferry with Mr. +Beecher, they met an old woman soaked with the rain. "Here, you take +this, my good woman," said the clergyman, putting his umbrella over her +head and thrusting the handle into the astonished woman's hand. "Let's +get into this," he said to Edward simply, as he hailed a passing car. + +"There is a good deal of fraud about beggars," he remarked as he waved +a sot away from him one day; "but that doesn't apply to women and +children," he added; and he never passed such mendicants without +stopping. All the stories about their being tools in the hands of +accomplices failed to convince him. "They're women and children," he +would say, and that settled it for him. + +"What's the matter, son? Stuck?" he said once to a newsboy who was +crying with a heavy bundle of papers under his arm. + +"Come along with me, then," said Mr. Beecher, taking the boy's hand and +leading him into the newspaper office a few doors up the street. + +"This boy is stuck," he simply said to the man behind the counter. +"Guess _The Eagle_ can stand it better than this boy; don't you think +so?" + +To the grown man Mr. Beecher rarely gave charity. + +He believed in a return for his alms. + +"Why don't you go to work?" he asked of a man who approached him one +day in the street. + +"Can't find any," said the man. + +"Looked hard for it?" was the next question. + +"I have," and the man looked Mr. Beecher in the eye. + +"Want some?" asked Mr. Beecher. + +"I do," said the man. + +"Come with me," said the preacher. And then to Edward, as they walked +along with the man following behind, he added: "That man is honest." + +"Let this man sweep out the church," he said to the sexton when they +had reached Plymouth Church. + +"But, Mr. Beecher," replied the sexton with wounded pride, "it doesn't +need it." + +"Don't tell him so, though," said Mr. Beecher with a merry twinkle of +the eye; and the sexton understood. + +Mr. Beecher was constantly thoughtful of a struggling young man's +welfare, even at the expense of his own material comfort. Anxious to +save him from the labor of writing out the newspaper articles, Edward, +himself employed during the daylight hours which Mr. Beecher preferred +for his original work, suggested a stenographer. The idea appealed to +Mr. Beecher, for he was very busy just then. He hesitated, but as +Edward persisted, he said: "All right; let him come to-morrow." + +The next day he said: "I asked that stenographer friend of yours not to +come again. No use of my trying to dictate. I am too old to learn new +tricks. Much easier for me to write myself." + +Shortly after that, however, Mr. Beecher dictated to Edward some +material for a book he was writing. Edward naturally wondered at this, +and asked the stenographer what had happened. + +"Nothing," he said. "Only Mr. Beecher asked me how much it would cost +you to have me come to him each week. I told him, and then he sent me +away." + +That was Henry Ward Beecher! + + +Edward Bok was in the formative period between boyhood and young +manhood when impressions meant lessons, and associations meant ideals. +Mr. Beecher never disappointed. The closer one got to him, the greater +he became--in striking contrast to most public men, as Edward had +already learned. + +Then, his interests and sympathies were enormously wide. He took in so +much! One day Edward was walking past Fulton Market, in New York City, +with Mr. Beecher. + +"Never skirt a market," the latter said; "always go through it. It's +the next best thing, in the winter, to going South." + +Of course all the marketmen knew him, and they knew, too, his love for +green things. + +"What do you think of these apples, Mr. Beecher?" one marketman would +stop to ask. + +Mr. Beecher would answer heartily: "Fine! Don't see how you grow them. +All that my trees bear is a crop of scale. Still, the blossoms are +beautiful in the spring, and I like an apple-leaf. Ever examine one?" +The marketman never had. "Well, now, do, the next time you come across +an apple-tree in the spring." + +And thus he would spread abroad an interest in the beauties of nature +which were commonly passed over. + +"Wonderful man, Beecher is," said a market dealer in green goods once. +"I had handled thousands of bunches of celery in my life and never +noticed how beautiful its top leaves were until he picked up a bunch +once and told me all about it. Now I haven't the heart to cut the +leaves off when a customer asks me." + +His idea of his own vegetable-gardening at Boscobel, his Peekskill +home, was very amusing. One day Edward was having a hurried dinner, +preparatory to catching the New York train. Mr. Beecher sat beside the +boy, telling him of some things he wished done in Brooklyn. + +"No, I thank you," said Edward, as the maid offered him some potatoes. + +"Look here, young man," said Mr. Beecher, "don't pass those potatoes so +lightly. They're of my own raising--and I reckon they cost me about a +dollar a piece," he added with a twinkle in his eye. + +He was an education in so many ways! One instance taught Edward the +great danger of passionate speech that might unconsciously wound; and +the manliness of instant recognition of the error. Swayed by an +occasion, or by the responsiveness of an audience, Mr. Beecher would +sometimes say something which was not meant as it sounded. One +evening, at a great political meeting at Cooper Union, Mr. Beecher was +at his brightest and wittiest. In the course of his remarks he had +occasion to refer to ex-President Hayes; some one in the audience +called out: "He was a softy!" + +"No," was Mr. Beecher's quick response. "The country needed a poultice +at that time, and got it." + +"He's dead now, anyhow," responded the voice. + +"Not dead, my friend; he only sleepeth." + +It convulsed the audience, of course, and the reporters took it down in +their books. + +After the meeting Edward drove home with Mr. Beecher. + +After a while he asked: "Well, how do you think it went?" + +Edward replied he thought it went very well, except that he did not +like the reference to ex-President Hayes. + +"What reference? What did I say?" + +Edward repeated it. + +"Did I say that?" he asked. Edward looked at him. Mr. Beecher's face +was tense. After a few moments he said: "That's generally the way with +extemporaneous remarks: they are always dangerous. The best impromptu +speeches and remarks are the carefully prepared kind," he added. + +Edward told him he regretted the reference because he knew that General +Hayes would read it in the New York papers, and he would be nonplussed +to understand it, considering the cordial relations which existed +between the two men. Mr. Beecher knew of Edward's relations with the +ex-President, and they had often talked of him together. + +Nothing more was said of the incident. When the Beecher home was +reached Mr. Beecher said: "Just come in a minute." He went straight to +his desk, and wrote and wrote. It seemed as if he would never stop. +At last he handed Edward an eight-page letter, closely written, +addressed to General Hayes. + +"Read that, and mail it, please, on your way home. Then it'll get +there just as quickly as the New York papers will." + +It was a superbly fine letter,--one of those letters which only Henry +Ward Beecher could write in his tenderest moods. And the reply which +came from Fremont, Ohio, was no less fine! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES," AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S + +Edward had been in the employ of Henry Holt and Company as clerk and +stenographer for two years when Mr. Cary sent for him and told him that +there was an opening in the publishing house of Charles Scribner's +Sons, if he wanted to make a change. Edward saw at once the larger +opportunities possible in a house of the importance of the Scribners, +and he immediately placed himself in communication with Mr. Charles +Scribner, with the result that in January, 1884, he entered the employ +of these publishers as stenographer to the two members of the firm and +to Mr. Edward L. Burlingame, literary adviser to the house. He was to +receive a salary of eighteen dollars and thirty-three cents per week, +which was then considered a fair wage for stenographic work. The +typewriter had at that time not come into use, and all letters were +written in long-hand. Once more his legible handwriting had secured +for him a position. + +Edward Bok was now twenty-one years of age. He had already done a +prodigious amount of work for his years. He was always busy. Every +spare moment of his evenings was devoted either to writing his literary +letter, to the steady acquirement of autograph letters in which he +still persisted, or to helping Mr. Beecher in his literary work. The +Plymouth pastor was particularly pleased with Edward's successful +exploitation of his pen work; and he afterward wrote: "Bok is the only +man who ever seemed to make my literary work go and get money out of +it." + +Enterprise and energy the boy unquestionably possessed, but one need +only think back even thus far in his life to see the continuous good +fortune which had followed him in the friendships he had made, and in +the men with whom his life, at its most formative period, had come into +close contact. If we are inclined to credit young Bok with an +ever-willingness to work and a certain quality of initiative, the +influences which played upon him must also be taken into account. + +Take, for example, the peculiarly fortuitous circumstances under which +he entered the Scribner publishing house. As stenographer to the two +members of the firm, Bok was immediately brought into touch with the +leading authors of the day, their works as they were discussed in the +correspondence dictated to him, and the authors' terms upon which books +were published. In fact, he was given as close an insight as it was +possible for a young man to get into the inner workings of one of the +large publishing houses in the United States, with a list peculiarly +noted for the distinction of its authors and the broad scope of its +books. + +The Scribners had the foremost theological list of all the publishing +houses; its educational list was exceptionally strong; its musical list +excelled; its fiction represented the leading writers of the day; its +general list was particularly noteworthy; and its foreign department, +importing the leading books brought out in Great Britain and Europe, +was an outstanding feature of the business. The correspondence +dictated to Bok covered, naturally, all these fields, and a more +remarkable opportunity for self-education was never offered a +stenographer. + +Mr. Burlingame was known in the publishing world for his singularly +keen literary appreciation, and was accepted as one of the best judges +of good fiction. Bok entered the Scribner employ as Mr. Burlingame was +selecting the best short stories published within a decade for a set of +books to be called "Short Stories by American Authors." The +correspondence for this series was dictated to Bok, and he decided to +read after Mr. Burlingame and thus get an idea of the best fiction of +the day. So whenever his chief wrote to an author asking for +permission to include his story in the proposed series, Bok immediately +hunted up the story and read it. + +Later, when the house decided to start _Scribner's Magazine_, and Mr. +Burlingame was selected to be its editor, all the preliminary +correspondence was dictated to Bok through his employers, and he +received a first-hand education in the setting up of the machinery +necessary for the publication of a magazine. All this he eagerly +absorbed. + +He was again fortunate in that his desk was placed in the advertising +department of the house; and here he found, as manager, an old-time +Brooklyn boy friend with whom he had gone to school, Frank N. +Doubleday, to-day the senior partner of Doubleday, Page and Company. +Bok had been attracted to advertising through his theatre programme and +_Brooklyn Magazine_ experience, and here was presented a chance to +learn the art at first hand and according to the best traditions. So, +whenever his stenographic work permitted, he assisted Mr. Doubleday in +preparing and placing the advertisements of the books of the house. + +Mr. Doubleday was just reviving the publication of a house-organ called +_The Book Buyer_, and, given a chance to help in this, Bok felt he was +getting back into the periodical field, especially since, under Mr. +Doubleday's guidance, the little monthly soon developed into a literary +magazine of very respectable size and generally bookish contents. + +The house also issued another periodical, _The Presbyterian Review_, a +quarterly under the editorship of a board of professors connected with +the Princeton and Union Theological Seminaries. This ponderous-looking +magazine was not composed of what one might, call "light reading," and +as the price of a single copy was eighty cents, and the advertisements +it could reasonably expect were necessarily limited in number, the +periodical was rather difficult to move. Thus the whole situation at +the Scribners' was adapted to give Edward an all-round training in the +publishing business. It was an exceptional opportunity. + +He worked early and late. An increase in his salary soon told him that +he was satisfying his employers, and then, when the new _Scribner's +Magazine_ appeared, and a little later Mr. Doubleday was delegated to +take charge of the business end of it, Bok himself was placed in charge +of the advertising department, with the publishing details of the two +periodicals on his hands. + +He suddenly found himself directing a stenographer instead of being a +stenographer himself. Evidently his apprentice days were over. He +had, in addition, the charge of sending all the editorial copies of the +new books to the press for review, and of keeping a record of those +reviews. This naturally brought to his desk the authors of the house +who wished to see how the press received their works. + +The study of the writers who were interested in following the press +notices of their books, and those who were indifferent to them became a +fascinating game to young Bok. He soon discovered that the greater the +author the less he seemed to care about his books once they a were +published. Bok noticed this, particularly, in the case of Robert Louis +Stevenson, whose work had attracted him, but, although he used the most +subtle means to inveigle the author into the office to read the press +notices, he never succeeded. Stevenson never seemed to have the +slightest interest in what the press said of his books. + +One day Mr. Burlingame asked Bok to take some proofs to Stevenson at +his home; thinking it might be a propitious moment to interest the +author in the popular acclaim that followed the publication of _Doctor +Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_, Bok put a bunch of press notices in his pocket. +He found the author in bed, smoking his inevitable cigarette. + +As the proofs were to be brought back, Bok waited, and thus had an +opportunity for nearly two hours to see the author at work. No man +ever went over his proofs more carefully than did Stevenson; his +corrections were numerous; and sometimes for ten minutes at a time he +would sit smoking and thinking over a single sentence, which, when he +had satisfactorily shaped it in his mind, he would recast on the proof. + +Stevenson was not a prepossessing figure at these times. With his +sallow skin and his black dishevelled hair, with finger-nails which had +been allowed to grow very long, with fingers discolored by tobacco--in +short, with a general untidiness that was all his own, Stevenson, so +Bok felt, was an author whom it was better to read than to see. And +yet his kindliness and gentleness more than offset the unattractiveness +of his physical appearance. + +After one or two visits from Bok, having grown accustomed to him, +Stevenson would discuss some sentence in an article, or read some +amended paragraph out loud and ask whether Bok though it sounded +better. To pass upon Stevenson as a stylist was, of course, hardly +within Bok's mental reach, so he kept discreetly silent when Stevenson +asked his opinion. + +In fact, Bok reasoned it out that the novelist did not really expect an +answer or an opinion, but was at such times thinking aloud. The mental +process, however, was immensely interesting, particularly when +Stevenson would ask Bok to hand him a book on words lying on an +adjacent table. "So hard to find just the right word," Stevenson would +say, and Bok got his first realization of the truth of the maxim: "Easy +writing, hard reading; hard writing, easy reading." + +On this particular occasion when Stevenson finished, Bok pulled out his +clippings, told the author how his book was being received, and was +selling, what the house was doing to advertise it, explained the +forthcoming play by Richard Mansfield, and then offered the press +notices. + +Stevenson took the bundle and held it in his hand. + +"That's very nice to tell me all you have," he said, "and I have been +greatly interested. But you have really told me all about it, haven't +you, so why should I read these notices? Hadn't I better get busy on +another paper for Mr. Burlingame for the next magazine, else he'll be +after me? You know how impatient these editors are." And he handed +back the notices. + +Bok saw it was of no use: Stevenson was interested in his work, but, +beyond a certain point, not in the world's reception of it. Bok's +estimate of the author rose immeasurably. His attitude was in such +sharp contrast to that of others who came almost daily into the office +to see what the papers said, often causing discomfiture to the young +advertising director by insisting upon taking the notices with them. +But Bok always countered this desire by reminding the author that, of +course, in that case he could not quote from these desirable notices in +his advertisements of the book. And, invariably, the notices were left +behind! + +It now fell to the lot of the young advertiser to arouse the interest +of the public in what were to be some of the most widely read and +best-known books of the day: Robert Louis Stevenson's _Dr. Jekyll and +Mr. Hyde_; Frances Hodgson Burnett's _Little Lord Fauntleroy_; Andrew +Carnegie's _Triumphant Democracy_; Frank R. Stockton's _The Lady, or +the Tiger?_ and his _Rudder Grange_, and a succession of other books. + +The advertising of these books keenly sharpened the publicity sense of +the developing advertising director. One book could best be advertised +by the conventional means of the display advertisement; another, like +_Triumphant Democracy_, was best served by sending out to the +newspapers a "broadside" of pungent extracts; public curiosity in a +story like _The Lady, or the Tiger?_ was, of course, whetted by the +publication of literary notes as to the real dénouement the author had +in mind in writing the story. Whenever Mr. Stockton came into the +office Bok pumped him dry as to his experiences with the story, such as +when, at a dinner party, his hostess served an ice-cream lady and a +tiger to the author, and the whole company watched which he chose. + +"And which did you choose?" asked the advertising director. + +"_Et tu, Brute?_" Stockton smilingly replied. "Well, I'll tell you. I +asked the butler to bring me another spoon, and then, with a spoon in +each hand, I attacked both the lady and the tiger at the same time." + +Once, when Stockton was going to Boston by the night boat, every room +was taken. The ticket agent recognized the author, and promised to get +him a desirable room if the author would tell which he had had in mind, +the lady or the tiger. + +"Produce the room," answered Stockton. + +The man did. Stockton paid for it, and then said: + +"To tell you the truth, my friend, I don't know." + +And that was the truth, as Mr. Stockton confessed to his friends. The +idea of the story had fascinated him; when he began it he purposed to +give it a definite ending. But when he reached the end he didn't know +himself which to produce out of the open door, the lady or the tiger, +"and so," he used to explain, "I made up my mind to leave it hanging in +the air." + +When the stories of _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ and _Little Lord +Fauntleroy_ were made into plays, Bok was given an opportunity for an +entirely different kind of publicity. Both plays were highly +successful; they ran for weeks in succession, and each evening Bok had +circulars of the books in every seat of the theatre; he had a table +filled with the books in the foyer of each theatre; and he bombarded +the newspapers with stories of Mr. Mansfield's method of making the +quick change from one character to the other in the dual role of the +Stevenson play, and with anecdotes about the boy Tommy Russell in Mrs. +Burnett's play. The sale of the books went merrily on, and kept pace +with the success of the plays. And it all sharpened the initiative of +the young advertiser and developed his sense for publicity. + +One day while waiting in the anteroom of a publishing house to see a +member of the firm, he picked up a book and began to read it. Since he +had to wait for nearly an hour, he had read a large part of the volume +when he was at last admitted to the private office. When his business +was finished, Bok asked the publisher why this book was not selling. + +"I don't know," replied the publisher. "We had great hopes for it, but +somehow or other the public has not responded to it." + +"Are you sure you are telling the public about it in the right way?" +ventured Bok. + +The Scribner advertising had by this time attracted the attention of +the publishing world, and this publisher was entirely ready to listen +to a suggestion from his youthful caller. + +"I wish we published it," said Bok. "I think I could make it a go. +It's all in the book." + +"How would you advertise it?" asked the publisher. + +Bok promised the publisher he would let him know. He carried with him +a copy of the book, wrote some advertisements for it, prepared an +attractive "broadside" of extracts, to which the book easily lent +itself, wrote some literary notes about it, and sent the whole +collection to the publisher. Every particle of "copy" which Bok had +prepared was used, the book began to sell, and within three months it +was the most discussed book of the day. + +The book was Edward Bellamy's _Looking Backward_. + + +Meanwhile, Mr. Beecher's weekly newspaper "syndicate" letter was not +only successful in itself, it made liberal money for the writer and for +its two young publishers, but it served to introduce Edward Bok's +proposed agency to the newspapers under the most favorable conditions. +With one stroke, the attention of newspaper editors had been attracted, +and Edward concluded to take quick advantage of it. He organized the +Bok Syndicate Press, with offices in New York, and his brother, William +J. Bok, as partner and active manager. + +Edward's attention was now turned, for the first time, to women and +their reading habits. He became interested in the fact that the +American woman was not a newspaper reader. He tried to find out the +psychology of this, and finally reached the conclusion, on looking over +the newspapers, that the absence of any distinctive material for women +was a factor. He talked the matter over with several prominent New +York editors, who frankly acknowledged that they would like nothing +better than to interest women, and make them readers of their papers. +But they were equally frank in confessing that they were ignorant both +of what women wanted, and, even if they knew, of where such material +was to be had. Edward at once saw that here was an open field. It was +a productive field, since, as woman was the purchasing power, it would +benefit the newspaper enormously in its advertising if it could offer a +feminine clientele. + +There was a bright letter of New York gossip published in the _New York +Star_, called "Bab's Babble." Edward had read it, and saw the +possibility of syndicating this item as a woman's letter from New York. +He instinctively realized that women all over the country would read +it. He sought out the author, made arrangements with her and with +former Governor Dorscheimer, owner of the paper, and the letter was +sent out to a group of papers. It was an instantaneous success, and a +syndicate of ninety newspapers was quickly organized. + +Edward followed this up by engaging Ella Wheeler Wilcox, then at the +height of her career, to write a weekly letter on women's topics. This +he syndicated in conjunction with the other letter, and the editors +invariably grouped the two letters. This, in turn, naturally led to +the idea of supplying an entire page of matter of interest to women. +The plan was proposed to a number of editors, who at once saw the +possibilities in it and promised support. The young syndicator now +laid under contribution all the famous women writers of the day; he +chose the best of the men writers to write on women's topics; and it +was not long before the syndicate was supplying a page of women's +material. The newspapers played up the innovation, and thus was +introduced into the newspaper press of the United States the "Woman's +Page." + +The material supplied by the Bok Syndicate Press was of the best; the +standard was kept high; the writers were selected from among the most +popular authors of the day; and readability was the cardinal note. The +women bought the newspapers containing the new page, the advertiser +began to feel the presence of the new reader, and every newspaper that +could not get the rights for the "Bok Page," as it came to be known, +started a "Woman's Page" of its own. Naturally, the material so +obtained was of an inferior character. No single newspaper could +afford what the syndicate, with the expense divided among a hundred +newspapers, could pay. Nor had the editors of these woman's pages +either a standard or a policy. In desperation they engaged any person +they could to "get a lot of woman's stuff." It was stuff, and of the +trashiest kind. So that almost coincident with the birth of the idea +began its abuse and disintegration; the result we see in the +meaningless presentations which pass for "woman's pages" in the +newspaper of to-day. + +This is true even of the woman's material in the leading newspapers, +and the reason is not difficult to find. The average editor has, as a +rule, no time to study the changing conditions of women's interests; +his time is and must be engrossed by the news and editorial pages. He +usually delegates the Sunday "specials" to some editor who, again, has +little time to study the everchanging women's problems, particularly in +these days, and he relies upon unintelligent advice, or he places his +"woman's page" in the hands of some woman with the comfortable +assurance that, being a woman, she ought to know what interests her sex. + +But having given the subject little thought, he attaches minor +importance to the woman's "stuff," regarding it rather in the light of +something that he "must carry to catch the women"; and forthwith he +either forgets it or refuses to give the editor of his woman's page +even a reasonable allowance to spend on her material. The result is, +of course, inevitable: pages of worthless material. There is, in fact, +no part of the Sunday newspaper of to-day upon which so much good and +now expensive white paper is wasted as upon the pages marked for the +home, for women, and for children. + +Edward Bok now became convinced, from his book-publishing association, +that if the American women were not reading the newspapers, the +American public, as a whole, was not reading the number of books that +it should, considering the intelligence and wealth of the people, and +the cheap prices at which books were sold. He concluded to see whether +he could not induce the newspapers to give larger and more prominent +space to the news of the book world. + +Owing to his constant contact with authors, he was in a peculiarly +fortunate position to know their plans in advance of execution, and he +was beginning to learn the ins and outs of the book-publishing world. +He canvassed the newspapers subscribing to his syndicate features, but +found a disinclination to give space to literary news. To the average +editor, purely literary features held less of an appeal than did the +features for women. Fewer persons were interested in books, they +declared; besides, the publishing houses were not so liberal +advertisers as the department stores. The whole question rested on a +commercial basis. + +Edward believed he could convince editors of the public interest in a +newsy, readable New York literary letter, and he prevailed upon the +editor of the _New York Star_ to allow him to supplement the book +reviews of George Parsons Lathrop in that paper by a column of literary +chat called "Literary Leaves." For a number of weeks he continued to +write this department, and confine it to the New York paper, feeling +that he needed the experience for the acquirement of a readable style, +and he wanted to be sure that he had opened a sufficient number of +productive news channels to ensure a continuous flow of readable +literary information. + +Occasionally he sent to an editor here and there what he thought was a +particularly newsy letter just "for his information, not for sale." +The editor of the _Philadelphia Times_ was the first to discover that +his paper wanted the letter, and the _Boston Journal_ followed suit. +Then the editor of the _Cincinnati Times-Star_ discovered the letter in +the _New York Star_, and asked that it be supplied weekly with the +letter. These newspapers renamed the letter "Bok's Literary Leaves," +and the feature started on its successful career. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS + +Edward Bok does not now remember whether the mental picture had been +given him, or whether he had conjured it up for himself; but he +certainly was possessed of the idea, as are so many young men entering +business, that the path which led to success was very difficult: that +it was overfilled with a jostling, bustling, panting crowd, each eager +to reach the goal; and all ready to dispute every step that a young man +should take; and that favoritism only could bring one to the top. + +After Bok had been in the world of affairs, he wondered where were +these choked avenues, these struggling masses, these competitors for +every inch of vantage. Then he gradually discovered that they did not +exist. + +In the first place, he found every avenue leading to success wide open +and certainly not overpeopled. He was surprised how few there were who +really stood in a young man's way. He found that favoritism was not +the factor that he had been led to suppose. He realized it existed in +a few isolated cases, but to these every one had pointed and about +these every one had talked until, in the public mind, they had +multiplied in number and assumed a proportion that the facts did not +bear out. + +Here and there a relative "played a favorite," but even with the push +and influence behind him "the lucky one," as he was termed, did not +seem to make progress, unless he had merit. It was not long before Bok +discovered that the possession of sheer merit was the only real factor +that actually counted in any of the places where he had been employed +or in others which he had watched; that business was so constructed and +conducted that nothing else, in the face of competition, could act as +current coin. And the amazing part of it all to Bok was how little +merit there was. Nothing astonished him more than the low average +ability of those with whom he worked or came into contact. + +He looked at the top, and instead of finding it over-crowded, he was +surprised at the few who had reached there; the top fairly begged for +more to climb its heights. + +For every young man, earnest, eager to serve, willing to do more than +he was paid for, he found ten trying to solve the problem of how little +they could actually do for the pay received. + +It interested Bok to listen to the talk of his fellow-workers during +luncheon hours and at all other times outside of office hours. When +the talk did turn on the business with which they were concerned, it +consisted almost entirely of wages, and he soon found that, with +scarcely an exception, every young man was terribly underpaid, and that +his employer absolutely failed to appreciate his work. It was +interesting, later, when Bok happened to get the angle of the employer, +to discover that, invariably, these same lamenting young men were those +who, from the employer's point of view, were either greatly overpaid or +so entirely worthless as to be marked for early decapitation. + +Bok felt that this constant thought of the wages earned or deserved was +putting the cart before the horse; he had schooled himself into the +belief that if he did his work well, and accomplished more than was +expected of him, the question of wages would take care of itself. But, +according to the talk on every side, it was he who had the cart before +the horse. Bok had not only tried always to fill the particular job +set for him, but had made it a rule at the same time to study the +position just ahead, to see what it was like, what it demanded, and +then, as the opportunity presented itself, do a part of that job in +addition to his own. As a stenographer, he tried always to clear off +the day's work before he closed his desk. This was not always +possible, but he kept it before him as a rule to be followed rather +than violated. + +One morning Bok's employer happened to come to the office earlier than +usual, to find the letters he had dictated late in the afternoon before +lying on his desk ready to be signed. + +"These are the letters I gave you late yesterday afternoon, are they +not?" asked the employer. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Must have started early this morning, didn't you?^ + +"No, sir," answered Bok. "I wrote them out last evening before I left." + +"Like to get your notes written out before they get stale?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Good idea," said the employer. + +"Yes, sir," answered Bok, "and I think it is even a better idea to get +a day's work off before I take my apron off." + +"Well said," answered the employer, and the following payday Bok found +an increase in his weekly envelope. + +It is only fair, however, to add here, parenthetically, that it is +neither just nor considerate to a conscientious stenographer for an +employer to delay his dictation until the end of the day's work, when, +merely by judicious management of his affairs and time, he can give his +dictation directly after opening his morning mail. There are two sides +to every question; but sometimes the side of the stenographer is not +kept in mind by the employer. + +Bok found it a uniform rule among his fellow-workers to do exactly the +opposite to his own idea; there was an astonishing unanimity in working +by the clock; where the hour of closing was five o'clock the +preparations began five minutes before, with the hat and overcoat over +the back of the chair ready for the stroke of the hour. This concert +of action was curiously universal, no "overtime" was ever to be thought +of, and, as occasionally happened when the work did go over the hour, +it was not, to use the mildest term, done with care, neatness, or +accuracy; it was, to use a current phrase, "slammed off." Every moment +beyond five o'clock in which the worker was asked to do anything was by +just so much an imposition on the part of the employer, and so far as +it could be safely shown, this impression was gotten over to him. + +There was an entire unwillingness to let business interfere with any +anticipated pleasure or personal engagement. The office was all right +between nine and five; one had to be there to earn a living; but after +five, it was not to be thought of for one moment. The elevators which +ran on the stroke of five were never large enough to hold the throng +which besieged them. + +The talk during lunch hour rarely, if ever, turned toward business, +except as said before, when it dealt with underpaid services. In the +spring and summer it was invariably of baseball, and scores of young +men knew the batting averages of the different players and the standing +of the clubs with far greater accuracy than they knew the standing or +the discounts of the customers of their employers. In the winter the +talk was all of dancing, boxing, or plays. + +It soon became evident to Bok why scarcely five out of every hundred of +the young men whom he knew made any business progress. They were not +interested; it was a case of a day's work and a day's pay; it was not a +question of how much one could do but how little one could get away +with. The thought of how well one might do a given thing never seemed +to occur to the average mind. + +"Oh, what do you care?" was the favorite expression. "The boss won't +notice it if you break your back over his work; you won't get any more +pay." + +And there the subject was dismissed, and thoroughly dismissed, too. + +Eventually, then, Bok learned that the path that led to success was +wide open: the competition was negligible. There was no jostling. In +fact, travel on it was just a trifle lonely. One's fellow-travellers +were excellent company, but they were few! It was one of Edward Bok's +greatest surprises, but it was also one of his greatest stimulants. To +go where others could not go, or were loath to go, where at least they +were not, had a tang that savored of the freshest kind of adventure. +And the way was so simple, so much simpler, in fact, than its +avoidance, which called for so much argument, explanation, and +discussion. One had merely to do all that one could do, a little more +than one was asked or expected to do, and immediately one's head rose +above the crowd and one was in an employer's eye--where it is always so +satisfying for an employee to be! And as so few heads lifted +themselves above the many, there was never any danger that they would +not be seen. + +Of course, Edward Bok had to prove to himself that his conception of +conditions was right. He felt instinctively that it was, however, and +with this stimulus he bucked the line hard. When others played, he +worked, fully convinced that his play-time would come later. Where +others shirked, he assumed. Where others lagged, he accelerated his +pace. Where others were indifferent to things around them, he observed +and put away the results for possible use later. He did not make of +himself a pack-horse; what he undertook he did from interest in it, and +that made it a pleasure to him when to others it was a burden. He +instinctively reasoned it out that an unpleasant task is never +accomplished by stepping aside from it, but that, unerringly, it will +return later to be met and done. + +Obstacles, to Edward Bok, soon became merely difficulties to be +overcome, and he trusted to his instinct to show him the best way to +overcome them. He soon learned that the hardest kind of work was back +of every success; that nothing in the world of business just happened, +but that everything was brought about, and only in one way--by a +willingness of spirit and a determination to carry through. He soon +exploded for himself the misleading and comfortable theory of luck; the +only lucky people, he found, were those who worked hard. To them, luck +came in the shape of what they had earned. There were exceptions here +and there, as there are to every rule; but the majority of these, he +soon found, were more in the seeming than in the reality. Generally +speaking--and of course to this rule there are likewise exceptions, or +as the Frenchman said, "All generalizations are false, including this +one"--a man got in this world about what he worked for. + +And that became, for himself, the rule of Edward Bok's life. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK + +From his boyhood days (up to the present writing) Bok was a pronounced +baseball "fan," and there was, too, a baseball team among the Scribner +young men of which he was a part. This team played, each Saturday +afternoon, a team from another publishing house, and for two seasons it +was unbeatable. Not only was this baseball aggregation close to the +hearts of the Scribner employees, but, in an important game, the junior +member of the firm played on it and the senior member was a spectator. +Frank N. Doubleday played on first base; William D. Moffat, later of +Moffat, Yard & Company, and now editor of _The Mentor_, was behind the +bat; Bok pitched; Ernest Dressel North, the present authority on rare +editions of books, was in the field, as were also Ray Safford, now a +director in the Scribner corporation, and Owen W. Brewer, at present a +prominent figure in Chicago's book world. It was a happy group, all +closely banded together in their business interests and in their human +relations as well. + +With Scribner's Magazine now in the periodical field, Bok would be +asked on his trips to the publishing houses to have an eye open for +advertisements for that periodical as well. Hence his education in the +solicitation of advertisements became general, and gave him a +sympathetic understanding of the problems of the advertising solicitor +which was to stand him in good stead when, in his later experience, he +was called upon to view the business problems of a magazine from the +editor's position. His knowledge of the manufacture of the two +magazines in his charge was likewise educative, as was the fascinating +study of typography which always had, and has today, a wonderful +attraction for him. + +It was, however, in connection with the advertising of the general +books of the house, and in his relations with their authors, that Bok +found his greatest interest. It was for him to find the best manner in +which to introduce to the public the books issued by the house, and the +general study of the psychology of publicity which this called for +attracted Bok greatly. + +Although the Scribners did not publish Mark Twain's books, the humorist +was a frequent visitor to the retail store, and occasionally he would +wander back to the publishing department located at the rear of the +store, which was then at 743 Broadway. + +Smoking was not permitted in the Scribner offices, and, of course, Mark +Twain was always smoking. He generally smoked a granulated tobacco +which he kept in a long check bag made of silk and rubber. When he +sauntered to the back of the Scribner store, he would generally knock +the residue from the bowl of the pipe, take out the stem, place it in +his vest pocket, like a pencil, and drop the bowl into the bag +containing the granulated tobacco. When he wanted to smoke again +(which was usually five minutes later) he would fish out the bowl, now +automatically filled with tobacco, insert the stem, and strike a light. +One afternoon as he wandered into Bok's office, he was just putting his +pipe away. The pipe, of the corncob variety, was very aged and black. +Bok asked him whether it was the only pipe he had. + +"Oh, no," Mark answered, "I have several. But they're all like this. +I never smoke a new corncob pipe. A new pipe irritates the throat. No +corncob pipe is fit for anything until it has been used at least a +fortnight." + +"How do you break in a pipe, then?" asked Bok. + +"That's the trick," answered Mark Twain. "I get a cheap man--a man who +doesn't amount to much, anyhow: who would be as well, or better, +dead--and pay him a dollar to break in the pipe for me. I get him to +smoke the pipe for a couple of weeks, then put in a new stem, and +continue operations as long as the pipe holds together." + +Bok's newspaper syndicate work had brought him into contact with Fanny +Davenport, then at the zenith of her career as an actress. Miss +Davenport, or Mrs. Melbourne McDowell as she was in private life, had +never written for print; but Bok, seeing that she had something to say +about her art and the ability to say it, induced her to write for the +newspapers through his syndicate. The actress was overjoyed to have +revealed to her a hitherto unsuspected gift; Bok published her articles +successfully, and gave her a publicity that her press agent had never +dreamed of. Miss Davenport became interested in the young publisher, +and after watching the methods which he employed in successfully +publishing her writings, decided to try to obtain his services as her +assistant manager. She broached the subject, offered him a five years' +contract for forty weeks' service, with a minimum of fifteen weeks each +year to spend in or near New York, at a salary, for the first year, of +three thousand dollars, increasing annually until the fifth year, when +he was to receive sixty-four hundred dollars. + +Bok was attracted to the work: he had never seen the United States, was +anxious to do so, and looked upon the chance as a good opportunity. +Miss Davenport had the contract made out, executed it, and then, in +high glee, Bok took it home to show it to his mother. He had reckoned +without question upon her approval, only to meet with an immediate and +decided negative to the proposition as a whole, general and specific. +She argued that the theatrical business was not for him; and she saw +ahead and pointed out so strongly the mistake he was making that he +sought Miss Davenport the next day and told her of his mother's stand. +The actress suggested that she see the mother; she did, that day, and +she came away from the interview a wiser if a sadder woman. Miss +Davenport frankly told Bok that with such an instinctive objection as +his mother seemed to have, he was right to follow her advice and the +contract was not to be thought of. + +It is difficult to say whether this was or was not for Bok the +turning-point which comes in the life of every young man. Where the +venture into theatrical life would have led him no one can, of course, +say. One thing is certain: Bok's instinct and reason both failed him +in this instance. He believes now that had his venture into the +theatrical field been temporary or permanent, the experiment, either +way, would have been disastrous. + +Looking back and viewing the theatrical profession even as it was in +that day (of a much higher order than now), he is convinced he would +never have been happy in it. He might have found this out in a year or +more, after the novelty of travelling had worn off, and asked release +from his contract; in that case he would have broken his line of +progress in the publishing business. From whatever viewpoint he has +looked back upon this, which he now believes to have been the crisis in +his life, he is convinced that his mother's instinct saved him from a +grievous mistake. + +The Scribner house, in its foreign-book department, had imported some +copies of Bourrienne's _Life of Napoleon_, and a set had found its way +to Bok's desk for advertising purposes. He took the books home to +glance them ever, found himself interested, and sat up half the night +to read them. Then he took the set to the editor of the New York Star, +and suggested that such a book warranted a special review, and offered +to leave the work for the literary editor. + +"You have read the books?" asked the editor. + +"Every word," returned Bok. + +"Then, why don't you write the review?" suggested the editor. + +This was a new thought to Bok. "Never wrote a review," he said. + +"Try it," answered the editor. "Write a column." + +"A column wouldn't scratch the surface of this book," suggested the +embryo reviewer. + +"Well, give it what it is worth," returned the editor. + +Bok did. He wrote a page of the paper. + +"Too much, too much," said the editor. "Heavens, man, we've got to get +some news into this paper." + +"Very well," returned the reviewer. "Read it, and cut it where you +like. That's the way I see the book." + +And next Sunday the review appeared, word for word, as Bok had written +it. His first review had successfully passed! + +But Bok was really happiest in that part of his work which concerned +itself with the writing of advertisements. The science of +advertisement writing, which meant to him the capacity to say much in +little space, appealed strongly. He found himself more honestly +attracted to this than to the writing of his literary letter, his +editorials, or his book reviewing, of which he was now doing a good +deal. He determined to follow where his bent led; he studied the +mechanics of unusual advertisements wherever he saw them; he eagerly +sought a knowledge of typography and its best handling in an +advertisement, and of the value and relation of illustrations to text. +He perceived that his work along these lines seemed to give +satisfaction to his employers, since they placed more of it in his +hands to do; and he sought in every way to become proficient in the art. + +To publishers whose advertisements he secured for the periodicals in +his charge, he made suggestions for the improvement of their +announcements, and found his suggestions accepted. He early saw the +value of white space as one of the most effective factors in +advertising; but this was a difficult argument, he soon found, to +convey successfully to others. A white space in an advertisement was +to the average publisher something to fill up; Bok saw in it something +to cherish for its effectiveness. But he never got very far with his +idea: he could not convince (perhaps because he failed to express his +ideas convincingly) his advertisers of what he felt and believed so +strongly. + +An occasion came in which he was permitted to prove his contention. +The Scribners had published Andrew Carnegie's volume, _Triumphant +Democracy_, and the author desired that some special advertising should +be done in addition to that allowed by the appropriation made by the +house. To Bok's grateful ears came the injunction from the steel +magnate: "Use plenty of white space." In conjunction with Mr. +Doubleday, Bok prepared and issued this extra advertising, and for +once, at least, the wisdom of using white space was demonstrated. But +it was only a flash in the pan. Publishers were unwilling to pay for +"unused space," as they termed it. Each book was a separate unit, +others argued: it was not like advertising one article continuously in +which money could be invested; and only a limited amount could be spent +on a book which ran its course, even at its best, in a very short time. + +And, rightly or wrongly, book advertising has continued much along the +same lines until the present day. In fact, in no department of +manufacturing or selling activity has there been so little progress +during the past fifty years as in bringing books to the notice of the +public. In all other lines, the producer has brought his wares to the +public, making it easier and still easier for it to obtain his goods, +while the public, if it wants a book, must still seek the book instead +of being sought by it. + +That there is a tremendous unsupplied book demand in this country there +is no doubt: the wider distribution and easier access given to +periodicals prove this point. Now and then there has been tried an +unsupported or not well-thought-out plan for bringing books to a public +not now reading them, but there seems little or no understanding of the +fact that there lies an uncultivated field of tremendous promise to the +publisher who will strike out on a new line and market his books, so +that the public will not have to ferret out a book-store or wind +through the maze of a department store. The American reading public is +not the book-reading public that it should be or could be made to be; +but the habit must be made easy for it to acquire. Books must be +placed where the public can readily get at them. It will not, of its +own volition, seek them. It did not do so with magazines; it will not +do so with books. + +In the meanwhile, Bok's literary letter had prospered until it was now +published in some forty-five newspapers, One of these was the +_Philadelphia Times_. In that paper, each week, the letter had been +read by Mr. Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the owner and publisher of _The Ladies' +Home Journal_. Mr. Curtis had decided that he needed an editor for his +magazine, in order to relieve his wife, who was then editing it, and he +fixed upon the writer of _Literary Leaves_ as his man. He came to New +York, consulted Will Carleton, the poet, and found that while the +letter was signed by William J. Bok, it was actually written by his +brother who was with the Scribners. So he sought Bok out there. + +The publishing house had been advertising in the Philadelphia magazine, +so that the visit of Mr. Curtis was not an occasion for surprise. Mr. +Curtis told Bok he had read his literary letter in the _Philadelphia +Times_, and suggested that perhaps he might write a similar department +for _The Ladies' Home Journal_. Bok saw no reason why he should not, +and told Mr. Curtis so, and promised to send over a trial instalment. +The Philadelphia publisher then deftly went on, explained editorial +conditions in his magazine, and, recognizing the ethics of the occasion +by not offering Bok another position while he was already occupying +one, asked him if he knew the man for the place. + +"Are you talking at me or through me?" asked Bok. + +"Both," replied Mr. Curtis. + +This was in April of 1889. + +Bok promised Mr. Curtis he would look over the field, and meanwhile he +sent over to Philadelphia the promised trial "literary gossip" +instalment. It pleased Mr. Curtis, who suggested a monthly department, +to which Bok consented. He also turned over in his mind the wisdom of +interrupting his line of progress with the Scribners, and in New York, +and began to contemplate the possibilities in Philadelphia and the work +there. + +He gathered a collection of domestic magazines then published, and +looked them over to see what was already in the field. Then he began +to study himself, his capacity for the work, and the possibility of +finding it congenial. He realized that it was absolutely foreign to +his Scribner work; that it meant a radical departure. But his work +with his newspaper syndicate naturally occurred to him, and he studied +it with a view of its adaptation to the field of the Philadelphia +magazine. + +His next step was to take into his confidence two or three friends +whose judgment he trusted and discuss the possible change. Without an +exception, they advised against it. The periodical had no standing, +they argued; Bok would be out of sympathy with its general atmosphere +after his Scribner environment; he was now in the direct line of +progress in New York publishing houses; and, to cap the climax, they +each argued in turn, he would be buried in Philadelphia: New York was +the centre, etc., etc. + +More than any other single argument, this last point destroyed Bok's +faith in the judgment of his friends. He had had experience enough to +realize that a man could not be buried in any city, provided he had the +ability to stand out from his fellow-men. He knew from his +biographical reading that cream will rise to the surface anywhere, in +Philadelphia as well as in New York: it all depended on whether the +cream was there: it was up to the man. Had he within him that +peculiar, subtle something that, for the want of a better phrase, we +call the editorial instinct? That was all there was to it, and that +decision had to be his and his alone! + +A business trip for the Scribners now calling him West, Bok decided to +stop at Philadelphia, have a talk with Mr. Curtis, and look over his +business plant. He did this, and found Mr. Curtis even more desirous +than before to have him consider the position. Bok's instinct was +strongly in favor of an acceptance. A natural impulse moved him, +without reasoning, to action. Reasoning led only to a cautious mental +state, and caution is a strong factor in the Dutch character. The +longer he pursued a conscious process of reasoning, the farther he got +from the position. But the instinct remained strong. + +On his way back from the West, he stopped in Philadelphia again to +consult his friend, George W. Childs; and here he found the only person +who was ready to encourage him to make the change. + +Bok now laid the matter before his mother, in whose feminine instinct +he had supreme confidence. With her, he met with instant +discouragement. But in subsequent talks he found that her opposition +was based not upon the possibilities inherent in the position, but on a +mother's natural disinclination to be separated from one of her sons. +In the case of Fanny Davenport's offer the mother's instinct was strong +against the proposition itself. But in the present instance it was the +mother's love that was speaking; not her instinct or judgment. + +Bok now consulted his business associates, and, to a man, they +discouraged the step, but almost invariably upon the argument that it +was suicidal to leave New York. He had now a glimpse of the truth that +there is no man so provincially narrow as the untravelled New Yorker +who believes in his heart that the sun rises in the East River and sets +in the North River. + +He realized more keenly than ever before that the decision rested with +him alone. On September 1, 1889, Bok wrote to Mr. Curtis, accepting +the position in Philadelphia; and on October 13 following he left the +Scribners, where he had been so fortunate and so happy, and, after a +week's vacation, followed where his instinct so strongly led, but where +his reason wavered. + +On October 20, 1889, Edward Bok became the editor of _The Ladies' Home +Journal_. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP + +There is a popular notion that the editor of a woman's magazine should +be a woman. At first thought, perhaps, this sounds logical. But it is +a curious fact that by far the larger number of periodicals for women, +the world over, are edited by men; and where, as in some cases, a woman +is the proclaimed editor, the direction of the editorial policy is +generally in the hands of a man, or group of men, in the background. +Why this is so has never been explained, any more than why the majority +of women's dressmakers are men; why music, with its larger appeal to +women, has been and is still being composed, largely, by men, and why +its greatest instrumental performers are likewise men; and why the +church, with its larger membership of women, still has, as it always +has had, men for its greatest preachers. + +In fact, we may well ponder whether the full editorial authority and +direction of a modern magazine, either essentially feminine in its +appeal or not, can safely be entrusted to a woman when one considers +how largely executive is the nature of such a position, and how +thoroughly sensitive the modern editor must be to the hundred and one +practical business matters which to-day enter into and form so large a +part of the editorial duties. We may question whether women have as +yet had sufficient experience in the world of business to cope +successfully with the material questions of a pivotal editorial +position. Then, again, it is absolutely essential in the conduct of a +magazine with a feminine or home appeal to have on the editorial staff +women who are experts in their line; and the truth is that women will +work infinitely better under the direction of a man than of a woman. + +It would seem from the present outlook that, for some time, at least, +the so-called woman's magazine of large purpose and wide vision is very +likely to be edited by a man. It is a question, however, whether the +day of the woman's magazine, as we have known it, is not passing. +Already the day has gone for the woman's magazine built on the old +lines which now seem so grotesque and feeble in the light of modern +growth. The interests of women and of men are being brought closer +with the years, and it will not be long before they will entirely +merge. This means a constantly diminishing necessity for the +distinctly feminine magazine. + +Naturally, there will always be a field in the essentially feminine +pursuits which have no place in the life of a man, but these are +rapidly being cared for by books, gratuitously distributed, issued by +the manufacturers of distinctly feminine and domestic wares; for such +publications the best talent is being employed, and the results are +placed within easy access of women, by means of newspaper +advertisement, the store-counter, or the mails. These will sooner or +later--and much sooner than later--supplant the practical portions of +the woman's magazine, leaving only the general contents, which are +equally interesting to men and to women. Hence the field for the +magazine with the essentially feminine appeal is contracting rather +than broadening, and it is likely to contract much more rapidly in the +future. + +The field was altogether different when Edward Bok entered it in 1889. +It was not only wide open, but fairly crying out to be filled. The day +of _Godey's Lady's Book_ had passed; _Peterson's Magazine_ was +breathing its last; and the home or women's magazines that had +attempted to take their place were sorry affairs. It was this +consciousness of a void ready to be filled that made the Philadelphia +experiment so attractive to the embryo editor. He looked over the +field and reasoned that if such magazines as did exist could be fairly +successful, if women were ready to buy such, how much greater response +would there be to a magazine of higher standards, of larger +initiative--a magazine that would be an authoritative clearing-house +for all the problems confronting women in the home, that brought itself +closely into contact with those problems and tried to solve them in an +entertaining and efficient way; and yet a magazine of uplift and +inspiration: a magazine, in other words, that would give light and +leading in the woman's world. + +The method of editorial expression in the magazines of 1889 was also +distinctly vague and prohibitively impersonal. The public knew the +name of scarcely a single editor of a magazine; there was no +personality that stood out in the mind: the accepted editorial +expression was the indefinite "we"; no one ventured to use the first +person singular and talk intimately to the reader. Edward Bok's +biographical reading had taught him that the American public loved a +personality; that it was always ready to recognize and follow a leader, +provided, of course, that the qualities of leadership were +demonstrated. He felt the time had come--the reference here and +elsewhere is always to the realm of popular magazine literature +appealing to a very wide audience--for the editor of some magazine to +project his personality through the printed page and to convince the +public that he was not an oracle removed from the people, but a real +human being who could talk and not merely write on paper. + +He saw, too, that the average popular magazine of 1889 failed of large +success because it wrote down to the public--a grievous mistake that so +many editors have made and still make. No one wants to be told, either +directly or indirectly, that he knows less than he does, or even that +he knows as little as he does; every one is benefited by the opposite +implication, and the public will always follow the leader who +comprehends this bit of psychology. There is always a happy medium +between shooting over the public's head and shooting too far under it. +And it is because of the latter aim that we find the modern popular +magazine the worthless thing that, in so many instances, it is to-day. + +It is the rare editor who rightly gauges his public psychology. +Perhaps that is why, in the enormous growth of the modern magazine, +there have been produced so few successful editors. The average editor +is obsessed with the idea of "giving the public what it wants," +whereas, in fact, the public, while it knows what it wants when it sees +it, cannot clearly express its wants, and never wants the thing that it +does ask for, although it thinks it does at the time. But woe to the +editor and his periodical if he heeds that siren voice! + +The editor has, therefore, no means of finding it out aforehand by +putting his ear to the ground. Only by the simplest rules of +psychology can he edit rightly so that he may lead, and to the average +editor of to-day, it is to be feared, psychology is a closed book. His +mind is all too often focussed on the circulation and advertising, and +all too little on the intangibles that will bring to his periodical the +results essential in these respects. + +The editor is the pivot of a magazine. On him everything turns. If +his gauge of the public is correct, readers will come: they cannot help +coming to the man who has something to say himself, or who presents +writers who have. And if the reader comes, the advertiser must come. +He must go where his largest market is: where the buyers are. The +advertiser, instead of being the most difficult factor in a magazine +proposition, as is so often mistakenly thought, is, in reality, the +simplest. He has no choice but to advertise in the successful +periodical. He must come along. The editor need never worry about +him. If the advertiser shuns the periodical's pages, the fault is +rarely that of the advertiser: the editor can generally look for the +reason nearer home. + +One of Edward Bok's first acts as editor was to offer a series of +prizes for the best answers to three questions he put to his readers: +what in the magazine did they like least and why; what did they like +best and why; and what omitted feature or department would they like to +see installed? Thousands of answers came, and these the editor +personally read carefully and classified. Then he gave his readers' +suggestions back to them in articles and departments, but never on the +level suggested by them. He gave them the subjects they asked for, but +invariably on a slightly higher plane; and each year he raised the +standard a notch. He always kept "a huckleberry or two" ahead of his +readers. His psychology was simple: come down to the level which the +public sets and it will leave you at the moment you do it. It always +expects of its leaders that they shall keep a notch above or a step +ahead. The American public always wants something a little better than +it asks for, and the successful man, in catering to it, is he who +follows this golden rule. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE + +Edward Bok has often been referred to as the one "who made _The Ladies' +Home Journal_ out of nothing," who "built it from the ground up," or, +in similar terms, implying that when he became its editor in 1889 the +magazine was practically non-existent. This is far from the fact. The +magazine was begun in 1883, and had been edited by Mrs. Cyrus H. K. +Curtis, for six years, under her maiden name of Louisa Knapp, before +Bok undertook its editorship. Mrs. Curtis had laid a solid foundation +of principle and policy for the magazine: it had achieved a circulation +of 440,000 copies a month when she transferred the editorship, and it +had already acquired such a standing in the periodical world as to +attract the advertisements of Charles Scribner's Sons, which Mr. +Doubleday, and later Bok himself, gave to the Philadelphia +magazine--advertising which was never given lightly, or without the +most careful investigation of the worth of the circulation of a +periodical. + +What every magazine publisher knows as the most troublous years in the +establishment of a periodical, the first half-dozen years of its +existence, had already been weathered by the editor and publisher. The +wife as editor and the husband as publisher had combined to lay a solid +basis upon which Bok had only to build: his task was simply to rear a +structure upon the foundation already laid. It is to the vision and to +the genius of the first editor of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ that the +unprecedented success of the magazine is primarily due. It was the +purpose and the policy of making a magazine of authoritative service +for the womanhood of America, a service which would visualize for +womanhood its highest domestic estate, that had won success for the +periodical from its inception. It is difficult to believe, in the +multiplicity of similar magazines today, that such a purpose was new; +that _The Ladies' Home Journal_ was a path-finder; but the convincing +proof is found in the fact that all the later magazines of this class +have followed in the wake of the periodical conceived by Mrs. Curtis, +and have ever since been its imitators. + +When Edward Bok succeeded Mrs. Curtis, he immediately encountered +another popular misconception of a woman's magazine--the conviction +that if a man is the editor of a periodical with a distinctly feminine +appeal, he must, as the term goes, "understand women." If Bok had +believed this to be true, he would never have assumed the position. +How deeply rooted is this belief was brought home to him on every hand +when his decision to accept the Philadelphia position was announced. +His mother, knowing her son better than did any one else, looked at him +with amazement. She could not believe that he was serious in his +decision to cater to women's needs when he knew so little about them. +His friends, too, were intensely amused, and took no pains to hide +their amusement from him. They knew him to be the very opposite of "a +lady's man," and when they were not convulsed with hilarity they were +incredulous and marvelled. + +No man, perhaps, could have been chosen for the position who had a less +intimate knowledge of women. Bok had no sister, no women confidantes: +he had lived with and for his mother. She was the only woman he really +knew or who really knew him. His boyhood days had been too full of +poverty and struggle to permit him to mingle with the opposite sex. +And it is a curious fact that Edward Bok's instinctive attitude toward +women was that of avoidance. He did not dislike women, but it could +not be said that he liked them. They had never interested him. Of +women, therefore, he knew little; of their needs less. Nor had he the +slightest desire, even as an editor, to know them better or to seek to +understand them. Even at that age, he knew that, as a man, he could +not, no matter what effort he might make, and he let it go at that. + +What he saw in the position was not the need to know women; he could +employ women for that purpose. He perceived clearly that the editor of +a magazine was largely an executive: his was principally the work of +direction; of studying currents and movements, watching their +formation, their tendency, their efficacy if advocated or translated +into actuality, and then selecting from the horizon those that were for +the best interests of the home. For a home was something which Edward +Bok did understand. He had always lived in one; had struggled to keep +it together, and he knew every inch of the hard road that makes for +domestic permanence amid adverse financial conditions. And at the home +he aimed rather than at the woman in it. + +And with his own limited knowledge of the sex, he needed, and none knew +it better than did he, the ablest women he could obtain to help him +realize his ideals. Their personal opinions of him did not matter so +long as he could command their best work. Sooner or later, when his +purposes were better understood, they might alter those opinions. For +that he could afford to wait. But he could not wait to get their work. + +By this time the editor had come to see that the power of a magazine +might lie more securely behind the printed page than in it. He had +begun to accustom his readers to writing to his editors upon all +conceivable problems. + +This he decided to encourage. He employed an expert in each line of +feminine endeavor, upon the distinct understanding that the most +scrupulous attention should be given to her correspondence: that every +letter, no matter how inconsequential, should be answered quickly, +fully, and courteously, with the questioner always encouraged to come +again if any problem of whatever nature came to her. He told his +editors that ignorance on any question was a misfortune, not a crime; +and he wished their correspondence treated in the most courteous and +helpful spirit. + +Step by step, the editor built up this service behind the magazine +until he had a staff of thirty-five editors on the monthly pay-roll; in +each issue, he proclaimed the willingness of these editors to answer +immediately any questions by mail, he encouraged and cajoled his +readers to form the habit of looking upon his magazine as a great +clearing-house of information. Before long, the letters streamed in by +the tens of thousands during a year. The editor still encouraged, and +the total ran into the hundreds of thousands, until during the last +year, before the service was finally stopped by the Great War in 1917, +the yearly correspondence totalled nearly a million letters. + +[Illustration: The Grandmother, who counselled each of her children to +make the world a better and more beautiful place to live in--a counsel +which is now being carried on by her grandchildren, one of whom is +Edward Bok.] + +The lack of opportunity for an education in Bok's own life led him to +cast about for some plan whereby an education might be obtained without +expense by any one who desired. He finally hit upon the simple plan of +substituting free scholarships for the premiums then so frequently +offered by periodicals for subscriptions secured. Free musical +education at the leading conservatories was first offered to any girl +who would secure a certain number of subscriptions to _The Ladies' Home +Journal_, the complete offer being a year's free tuition, with free +room, free board, free piano in her own room, and all travelling +expenses paid. The plan was an immediate success: the solicitation of +a subscription by a girl desirous of educating herself made an +irresistible appeal. + +This plan was soon extended, so as to include all the girls' colleges, +and finally all the men's colleges, so that a free education might be +possible at any educational institution. So comprehensive it became +that to the close of 1919, one thousand four hundred and fifty-five +free scholarships had been awarded. The plan has now been in operation +long enough to have produced some of the leading singers and +instrumental artists of the day, whose names are familiar to all, as +well as instructors in colleges and scores of teachers; and to have +sent several score of men into conspicuous positions in the business +and professional world. + +Edward Bok has always felt that but for his own inability to secure an +education, and his consequent desire for self-improvement, the +realization of the need in others might not have been so strongly felt +by him, and that his plan whereby thousands of others were benefited +might never have been realized. + +It was this comprehensive personal service, built up back of the +magazine from the start, that gave the periodical so firm and unique a +hold on its clientele. It was not the printed word that was its chief +power: scores of editors who have tried to study and diagnose the +appeal of the magazine from the printed page, have remained baffled at +the remarkable confidence elicited from its readers. They never looked +back of the magazine, and therefore failed to discover its secret. Bok +went through three financial panics with the magazine, and while other +periodicals severely suffered from diminished circulation at such +times, _The Ladies' Home Journal_ always held its own. Thousands of +women had been directly helped by the magazine; it had not remained an +inanimate printed thing, but had become a vital need in the personal +lives of its readers. + +So intimate had become this relation, so efficient was the service +rendered, that its readers could not be pried loose from it; where +women were willing and ready, when the domestic pinch came, to let go +of other reading matter, they explained to their husbands or fathers +that _The Ladies' Home Journal_ was a necessity--they did not feel that +they could do without it. The very quality for which the magazine had +been held up to ridicule by the unknowing and unthinking had become, +with hundreds of thousands of women, its source of power and the +bulwark of its success. + +Bok was beginning to realize the vision which had lured him from New +York: that of putting into the field of American magazines a periodical +that should become such a clearing-house as virtually to make it an +institution. + +He felt that, for the present at least, he had sufficiently established +the personal contact with his readers through the more intimate +departments, and decided to devote his efforts to the literary features +of the magazine. + +The newspaper paragraphers were now having a delightful time with +Edward Bok and his woman's magazine, and he was having a delightful +time with them. The editor's publicity sense made him realize how +valuable for his purposes was all this free advertising. The +paragraphers believed, in their hearts, that they were annoying the +young editor; they tried to draw his fire through their articles. But +he kept quiet, put his tongue in his cheek, and determined to give them +some choice morsels for their wit. + +He conceived the idea of making familiar to the public the women who +were back of the successful men of the day. He felt sure that his +readers wanted to know about these women. But to attract his newspaper +friends he labelled the series, "Unknown Wives of Well-Known Men" and +"Clever Daughters of Clever Men." + +The alliterative titles at once attracted the paragraphers; they fell +upon them like hungry trout, and a perfect fusillade of paragraphs +began. This is exactly what the editor wanted; and he followed these +two series immediately by inducing the daughter of Charles Dickens to +write of "My Father as I Knew Him," and Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, of +"Mr. Beecher as I Knew Him." Bok now felt that he had given the +newspapers enough ammunition to last for some time; and he turned his +attention to building up a more permanent basis for his magazine. + +The two authors of that day who commanded more attention than any +others were William Dean Howells and Rudyard Kipling. Bok knew that +these two would give to his magazine the literary quality that it +needed, and so he laid them both under contribution. He bought Mr. +Howells's new novel, "The Coast of Bohemia," and arranged that +Kipling's new novelette upon which he was working should come to the +magazine. Neither the public nor the magazine editors had expected Bok +to break out along these more permanent lines, and magazine publishers +began to realize that a new competitor had sprung up in Philadelphia. +Bok knew they would feel this; so before he announced Mr. Howells's new +novel, he contracted with the novelist to follow this with his +autobiography. This surprised the editors of the older magazines, for +they realized that the Philadelphia editor had completely tied up the +leading novelist of the day for his next two years' output. + +Meanwhile, in order that the newspapers might be well supplied with +barbs for their shafts, he published an entire number of his magazine +written by the daughters of famous men. This unique issue presented +contributions by the daughters of Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, +President Harrison, Horace Greeley, William M. Thackeray, William Dean +Howells, General Sherman, Jefferson Davis, Mr. Gladstone, and a score +of others. This issue simply filled the paragraphers with glee. Then +once more Bok turned to articles calculated to cement the foundation +for a more permanent structure. + +The material that the editor was publishing and the authors that he was +laying under contribution began to have marked effect upon the +circulation of the magazine, and it was not long before the original +figures were doubled, an edition--enormous for that day--of seven +hundred and fifty thousand copies was printed and sold each month, the +magical figure of a million was in sight, and the periodical was +rapidly taking its place as one of the largest successes of the day. + +Mr. Curtis's single proprietorship of the magazine had been changed +into a corporation called The Curtis Publishing Company, with a capital +of five hundred thousand dollars, with Mr. Curtis as president, and Bok +as vice-president. + +The magazine had by no means an easy road to travel financially. The +doubling of the subscription price to one dollar per year had +materially checked the income for the time being; the huge advertising +bills, sometimes exceeding three hundred thousand dollars a year, were +difficult to pay; large credit had to be obtained, and the banks were +carrying a considerable quantity of Mr. Curtis's notes. But Mr. Curtis +never wavered in his faith in his proposition and his editor. In the +first he invested all he had and could borrow, and to the latter he +gave his undivided support. The two men worked together rather as +father and son--as, curiously enough, they were to be later--than as +employer and employee. To Bok, the daily experience of seeing Mr. +Curtis finance his proposition in sums that made the publishing world +of that day gasp with sceptical astonishment was a wonderful +opportunity, of which the editor took full advantage so as to learn the +intricacies of a world which up to that time he had known only in a +limited way. + +What attracted Bok immensely to Mr. Curtis's methods was their perfect +simplicity and directness. He believed absolutely in the final outcome +of his proposition: where others saw mist and failure ahead, he saw +clear weather and the port of success. Never did he waver: never did +he deflect from his course. He knew no path save the direct one that +led straight to success, and, through his eyes, he made Bok see it with +equal clarity until Bok wondered why others could not see it. But they +could not. Cyrus Curtis would never be able, they said, to come out +from under the load he had piled up. Where they differed from Mr. +Curtis was in their lack of vision: they could not see what he saw! + +It has been said that Mr. Curtis banished patent-medicine +advertisements from his magazine only when he could afford to do so. +That is not true, as a simple incident will show. In the early days, +he and Bok were opening the mail one Friday full of anxiety because the +pay-roll was due that evening, and there was not enough money in the +bank to meet it. From one of the letters dropped a certified check for +five figures for a contract equal to five pages in the magazine. It +was a welcome sight, for it meant an easy meeting of the pay-roll for +that week and two succeeding weeks. But the check was from a +manufacturing patent-medicine company. Without a moment's hesitation, +Mr. Curtis slipped it back into the envelope, saying: "Of course, +_that_ we can't take." He returned the check, never gave the matter a +second thought, and went out and borrowed more money to meet his +pay-roll. + +With all respect to American publishers, there are very few who could +have done this--or indeed, would do it today, under similar +conditions--particularly in that day when it was the custom for all +magazines to accept patent-medicine advertising; _The Ladies' Home +Journal_ was practically the only publication of standing in the United +States refusing that class of business! + +Bok now saw advertising done on a large scale by a man who believed in +plenty of white space surrounding the announcement in the +advertisement. He paid Mr. Howells $10,000 for his autobiography, and +Mr. Curtis spent $50,000 in advertising it. "It is not expense," he +would explain to Bok, "it is investment. We are investing in a +trademark. It will all come back in time." And when the first +$100,000 did not come back as Mr. Curtis figured, he would send another +$100,000 after it, and then both came back. + +Bok's experience in advertisement writing was now to stand him in +excellent stead. He wrote all the advertisements, and from that day to +the day of his retirement, practically every advertisement of the +magazine was written by him. + +Mr. Curtis believed that the editor should write the advertisements of +a magazine's articles. "You are the one who knows them, what is in +them and your purpose," he said to Bok, who keenly enjoyed this +advertisement writing. He put less and less in his advertisements. +Mr. Curtis made them larger and larger in the space which they occupied +in the media used. In this way _The Ladies' Home Journal_ +advertisements became distinctive for their use of white space, and as +the advertising world began to say: "You can't miss them." Only one +feature was advertised at one time, but the "feature" was always +carefully selected for its wide popular appeal, and then Mr. Curtis +spared no expense to advertise it abundantly. As much as $400,000 was +spent in one year in advertising only a few features--a gigantic sum in +those days, approached by no other periodical. But Mr. Curtis believed +in showing the advertising world that he was willing to take his own +medicine. + +Naturally, such a campaign of publicity announcing the most popular +attractions offered by any magazine of the day had but one effect: the +circulation leaped forward by bounds, and the advertising columns of +the magazine rapidly filled up. + +The success of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ began to look like an assured +fact, even to the most sceptical. + +As a matter of fact, it was only at its beginning, as both publisher +and editor knew. But they desired to fill the particular field of the +magazine so quickly and fully that there would be small room for +competition. The woman's magazine field was to belong to them! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO + +With the hitherto unreached magazine circulation of a million copies a +month in sight, Edward Bok decided to give a broader scope to the +periodical. He was determined to lay under contribution not only the +most famous writers of the day, but also to seek out those well-known +persons who usually did not contribute to the magazines; always keeping +in mind the popular appeal of his material, but likewise aiming +constantly to widen its scope and gradually to lift its standard. + +The editor was very desirous of securing something for his magazine +that would delight children, and he hit upon the idea of trying to +induce Lewis Carroll to write another _Alice in Wonderland_ series. He +was told by English friends that this would be difficult, since the +author led a secluded life at Oxford and hardly ever admitted any one +into his confidence. But Bok wanted to beard the lion in his den, and +an Oxford graduate volunteered to introduce him to an Oxford don +through whom, if it were at all possible, he could reach the author. +The journey to Oxford was made, and Bok was introduced to the don, who +turned out to be no less a person than the original possessor of the +highly colored vocabulary of the "White Rabbit" of the Alice stories. + +"Impossible," immediately declared the don. "You couldn't persuade +Dodgson to consider it." Bok, however, persisted, and it so happened +that the don liked what he called "American perseverance." + +"Well, come along," he said. "We'll beard the lion in his den, as you +say, and see what happens. You know, of course, that it is the +Reverend Charles L. Dodgson that we are going to see, and I must +introduce you to that person, not to Lewis Carroll. He is a tutor in +mathematics here, as you doubtless know; lives a rigidly secluded life; +dislikes strangers; makes no friends; and yet withal is one of the most +delightful men in the world if he wants to be." + +But as it happened upon this special occasion when Bok was introduced +to him in his chambers in Tom Quad, Mr. Dodgson did not "want to be" +delightful. There was no doubt that back of the studied reserve was a +kindly, charming, gracious gentleman, but Bok's profession had been +mentioned and the author was on rigid guard. + +When Bok explained that one of the special reasons for his journey from +America was to see him, the Oxford mathematician sufficiently softened +to ask the editor to sit down. Bok then broached his mission. + +"You are quite in error, Mr. Bok," was the Dodgson comment. "You are +not speaking to the person you think you are addressing." + +For a moment Bok was taken aback. Then he decided to go right to the +point. + +"Do I understand, Mr. Dodgson, that you are not 'Lewis Carroll'; that +you did not write _Alice in Wonderland_?" + +For an answer the tutor rose, went into another room, and returned with +a book which he handed to Bok. "This is my book," he said simply. It +was entitled _An Elementary Treatise on Determinants_, by C. L. +Dodgson. When he looked up, Bok found the author's eyes riveted on him. + +"Yes," said Bok. "I know, Mr. Dodgson. If I remember correctly, this +is the same book of which you sent a copy to Her Majesty, Queen +Victoria, when she wrote to you for a personal copy of your _Alice_." + +Dodgson made no comment. The face was absolutely without expression +save a kindly compassion intended to convey to the editor that he was +making a terrible mistake. + +"As I said to you in the beginning, Mr. Bok, you are in error. You are +not speaking to 'Lewis Carroll.'" And then: "Is this the first time +you have visited Oxford?" + +Bok said it was; and there followed the most delightful two hours with +the Oxford mathematician and the Oxford don, walking about and into the +wonderful college buildings, and afterward the three had a bite of +lunch together. But all efforts to return to "Lewis Carroll" were +futile. While saying good-by to his host, Bok remarked: + +"I can't help expressing my disappointment, Mr. Dodgson, in my quest in +behalf of the thousands of American children who love you and who would +so gladly welcome 'Lewis Carroll' back." + +The mention of children and their love for him momentarily had its +effect. For an instant a different light came into the eyes, and Bok +instinctively realized Dodgson was about to say something. But he +checked himself. Bok had almost caught him off his guard. + +"I am sorry," he finally said at the parting at the door, "that you +should be disappointed, for the sake of the children as well as for +your own sake. I only regret that I cannot remove the disappointment." + +As they later walked to the station, the don said: "That is his +attitude toward all, even toward me. He is not 'Lewis Carroll' to any +one; is extremely sensitive on the point, and will not acknowledge his +identity. That is why he lives so much to himself. He is in daily +dread that some one will mention _Alice_ in his presence. Curious, but +there it is." + +Edward Bok's next quest was to be even more disappointing; he was never +even to reach the presence of the person he sought. This was Florence +Nightingale, the Crimean nurse. Bok was desirous of securing her own +story of her experiences, but on every hand he found an unwillingness +even to take him to her house. "No use," said everybody. "She won't +see any one. Hates publicity and all that sort of thing, and shuns the +public." Nevertheless, the editor journeyed to the famous nurse's home +on South Street, in the West End of London, only to be told that "Miss +Nightingale never receives strangers." + +"But I am not a stranger," insisted the editor. "I am one of her +friends from America. Please take my card to her." + +This mollified the faithful secretary, but the word instantly came back +that Miss Nightingale was not receiving any one that day. Bok wrote +her a letter asking for an appointment, which was never answered. Then +he wrote another, took it personally to the house, and awaited an +answer, only to receive the message that "Miss Nightingale says there +is no answer to the letter." + +Bok had with such remarkable uniformity secured whatever he sought, +that these experiences were new to him. Frankly, they puzzled him. He +was not easily baffled, but baffled he now was, and that twice in +succession. Turn as he might, he could find no way in which to reopen +an approach to either the Oxford tutor or the Crimean nurse. They were +plainly too much for him, and he had to acknowledge his defeat. The +experience was good for him; he did not realize this at the time, nor +did he enjoy the sensation of not getting what he wanted. +Nevertheless, a reverse or two was due. Not that his success was +having any undesirable effect upon him; his Dutch common sense saved +him from any such calamity. But at thirty years of age it is not good +for any one, no matter how well balanced, to have things come his way +too fast and too consistently. And here were breaks. He could not +have everything he wanted, and it was just as well that he should find +that out. + +In his next quest he found himself again opposed by his London friends. +Unable to secure a new _Alice in Wonderland_ for his child readers, he +determined to give them Kate Greenaway. But here he had selected +another recluse. Everybody discouraged him. The artist never saw +visitors, he was told, and she particularly shunned editors and +publishers. Her own publishers confessed that Miss Greenaway was +inaccessible to them. "We conduct all our business with her by +correspondence. I have never seen her personally myself," said a +member of the firm. + +Bok inwardly decided that two failures in two days were sufficient, and +he made up his mind that there should not be a third. He took a bus +for the long ride to Hampstead Heath, where the illustrator lived, and +finally stood before a picturesque Queen Anne house that one would have +recognized at once, with its lower story of red brick, its upper part +covered with red tiles, its windows of every size and shape, as the +inspiration of Kate Greenaway's pictures. As it turned out later, Miss +Greenaway's sister opened the door and told the visitor that Miss +Greenaway was not at home. + +"But, pardon me, has not Miss Greenaway returned? Is not that she?" +asked Bok, as he indicated a figure just coming down the stairs. And +as the sister turned to see, Bok stepped into the hall. At least he +was inside! Bok had never seen a photograph of Miss Greenaway, he did +not know that the figure coming down-stairs was the artist; but his +instinct had led him right, and good fortune was with him. + +He now introduced himself to Kate Greenaway, and explained that one of +his objects in coming to London was to see her on behalf of thousands +of American children. Naturally there was nothing for the illustrator +to do but to welcome her visitor. She took him into the garden, where +he saw at once that he was seated under the apple-tree of Miss +Greenaway's pictures. It was in full bloom, a veritable picture of +spring loveliness. Bok's love for nature pleased the artist and when +he recognized the cat that sauntered up, he could see that he was +making head-way. But when he explained his profession and stated his +errand, the atmosphere instantly changed. Miss Greenaway conveyed the +unmistakable impression that she had been trapped, and Bok realized at +once that he had a long and difficult road ahead. + +Still, negotiate it he must and he did! And after luncheon in the +garden, with the cat in his lap, Miss Greenaway perceptibly thawed out, +and when the editor left late that afternoon he had the promise of the +artist that she would do her first magazine work for him. That promise +was kept monthly, and for nearly two years her articles appeared, with +satisfaction to Miss Greenaway and with great success to the magazine. + +Bok now devoted his attention to strengthening the fiction in his +magazine. He sought Mark Twain, and bought his two new stories; he +secured from Bret Harte a tale which he had just finished, and then ran +the gamut of the best fiction writers of the day, and secured their +best output. Marion Crawford, Conan Doyle, Sarah Orne Jewett, John +Kendrick Bangs, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Hamlin Garland, Mrs. Burton +Harrison, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mary E. Wilkins, Jerome K. Jerome, +Anthony Hope, Joel Chandler Harris, and others followed in rapid +succession. + +He next turned for a moment to his religious department, decided that +it needed a freshening of interest, and secured Dwight L. Moody, whose +evangelical work was then so prominently in the public eye, to conduct +"Mr. Moody's Bible Class" in the magazine--practically a study of the +stated Bible lesson of the month with explanation in Moody's simple and +effective style. + +The authors for whom the _Journal_ was now publishing attracted the +attention of all the writers of the day, and the supply of good +material became too great for its capacity. Bok studied the mechanical +make-up, and felt that by some method he must find more room in the +front portion. He had allotted the first third of the magazine to the +general literary contents and the latter two-thirds to departmental +features. Toward the close of the number, the departments narrowed +down from full pages to single columns with advertisements on each side. + +One day Bok was handling a story by Rudyard Kipling which had overrun +the space allowed for it in the front. The story had come late, and +the rest of the front portion of the magazine had gone to press. The +editor was in a quandary what to do with the two remaining columns of +the Kipling tale. There were only two pages open, and these were at +the back. He remade those pages, and continued the story from pages 6 +and 7 to pages 38 and 39. + +At once Bok saw that this was an instance where "necessity was the +mother of invention." He realized that if he could run some of his +front material over to the back he would relieve the pressure at the +front, present a more varied contents there, and make his +advertisements more valuable by putting them next to the most expensive +material in the magazine. + +In the next issue he combined some of his smaller departments in the +back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugurated the method of "running over +into the back" which has now become a recognized principle in the +make-up of magazines of larger size. At first, Bok's readers objected, +but he explained why he did it; that they were the benefiters by the +plan; and, so far as readers can be satisfied with what is, at best, an +awkward method of presentation, they were content. To-day the practice +is undoubtedly followed to excess, some magazines carrying as much as +eighty and ninety columns over from the front to the back; from such +abuse it will, of course, free itself either by a return to the +original method of make-up or by the adoption of some other less +irritating plan. + +In his reading about the America of the past, Bok had been impressed by +the unusual amount of interesting personal material that constituted +what is termed unwritten history--original events of tremendous +personal appeal in which great personalities figured but which had not +sufficient historical importance to have been included in American +history. Bok determined to please his older readers by harking back to +the past and at the same time acquainting the younger generation with +the picturesque events which had preceded their time. + +He also believed that if he could "dress up" the past, he could arrest +the attention of a generation which was too likely to boast of its +interest only in the present and the future. He took a course of +reading and consulted with Mr. Charles A. Dana, editor of the _New York +Sun_, who had become interested in his work and had written him several +voluntary letters of commendation. Mr. Dana gave material help in the +selection of subjects and writers; and was intensely amused and +interested by the manner in which his youthful confrère "dressed up" +the titles of what might otherwise have looked like commonplace +articles. + +"I know," said Bok to the elder editor, "it smacks a little of the +sensational, Mr. Dana, but the purpose I have in mind of showing the +young people of to-day that some great things happened before they came +on the stage seems to me to make it worth while." + +Mr. Dana agreed with this view, supplemented every effort of the +Philadelphia editor in several subsequent talks, and in 1897 _The +Ladies' Home Journal_ began one of the most popular series it ever +published. It was called "Great Personal Events," and the picturesque +titles explained them. He first pictured the enthusiastic evening +"When Jenny Lind Sang in Castle Garden," and, as Bok added to pique +curiosity, "when people paid $20 to sit in rowboats to hear the Swedish +nightingale." + +This was followed by an account of the astonishing episode "When Henry +Ward Beecher Sold Slaves in Plymouth Pulpit"; the picturesque journey +"When Louis Kossuth Rode Up Broadway"; the triumphant tour "When +General Grant Went Round the World"; the forgotten story of "When an +Actress Was the Lady of the White House"; the sensational striking of +the rich silver vein "When Mackay Struck the Great Bonanza"; the +hitherto little-known instance "When Louis Philippe Taught School in +Philadelphia"; and even the lesser-known fact of the residence of the +brother of Napoleon Bonaparte in America, "When the King of Spain Lived +on the Banks of the Schuylkill"; while the story of "When John Wesley +Preached in Georgia" surprised nearly every Methodist, as so few had +known that the founder of their church had ever visited America. Each +month picturesque event followed graphic happening, and never was +unwritten history more readily read by the young, or the memories of +the older folk more catered to than in this series which won new +friends for the magazine on every hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS + +The influence of his grandfather and the injunction of his grandmother +to her sons that each "should make the world a better or a more +beautiful place to live in" now began to be manifest in the grandson. +Edward Bok was unconscious that it was this influence. What directly +led him to the signal piece of construction in which he engaged was the +wretched architecture of small houses. As he travelled through the +United States he was appalled by it. Where the houses were not +positively ugly, they were, to him, repellently ornate. Money was +wasted on useless turrets, filigree work, or machine-made +ornamentation. Bok found out that these small householders never +employed an architect, but that the houses were put up by builders from +their own plans. + +Bok turned to _The Ladies' Home Journal_ as his medium for making the +small-house architecture of America better. He realized the limitation +of space, but decided to do the best he could under the circumstances. +He believed he might serve thousands of his readers if he could make it +possible for them to secure, at moderate cost, plans for well-designed +houses by the leading domestic architects in the country. He consulted +a number of architects, only to find them unalterably opposed to the +idea. They disliked the publicity of magazine presentation; prices +differed too much in various parts of the country; and they did not +care to risk the criticism of their contemporaries. It was +"cheapening" their profession! + +Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and demonstrate the +futility of these arguments. At last he persuaded one architect to +co-operate with him, and in 1895 began the publication of a series of +houses which could be built, approximately, for from one thousand five +hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The idea attracted attention +at once, and the architect-author was swamped with letters and +inquiries regarding his plans. + +This proved Bok's instinct to be correct as to the public willingness +to accept such designs; upon this proof he succeeded in winning over +two additional architects to make plans. He offered his readers full +building specifications and plans to scale of the houses with estimates +from four builders in different parts of the United States for five +dollars a set. The plans and specifications were so complete in every +detail that any builder could build the house from them. + +A storm of criticism now arose from architects and builders all over +the country, the architects claiming that Bok was taking "the bread out +of their mouths" by the sale of plans, and local builders vigorously +questioned the accuracy of the estimates. But Bok knew he was right +and persevered. + +Slowly but surely he won the approval of the leading architects, who +saw that he was appealing to a class of house-builders who could not +afford to pay an architect's fee, and that, with his wide circulation, +he might become an influence for better architecture through these +small houses. The sets of plans and specifications sold by the +thousands. It was not long before the magazine was able to present +small-house plans by the foremost architects of the country, whose +services the average householder could otherwise never have dreamed of +securing. + +Bok not only saw an opportunity to better the exterior of the small +houses, but he determined that each plan published should provide for +two essentials; every servant's room should have two windows to insure +cross-ventilation, and contain twice the number of cubic feet usually +given to such rooms; and in place of the American parlor, which he +considered a useless room, should be substituted either a living-room +or a library. He did not point to these improvements, every plan +simply presented the larger servant's room and did not present a +parlor. It is a singular fact that of the tens of thousands of plans +sold, not a purchaser ever noticed the absence of a parlor except one +woman in Brookline, Mass., who, in erecting a group of twenty-five +"_Journal_ houses," discovered after she had built ten that not one +contained a parlor! + +For nearly twenty-five years Bok continued to publish pictures of +houses and plans. Entire colonies of "_Ladies' Home Journal_ houses" +have sprung up, and building promoters have built complete suburban +developments with them. How many of these homes have been erected it +is, of course, impossible to say; the number certainly runs into the +thousands. + +It was one of the most constructive and far-reaching pieces of work +that Bok did during his editorial career--a fact now recognized by all +architects. Shortly before Stanford White passed away, he wrote: "I +firmly believe that Edward Bok has more completely influenced American +domestic architecture for the better than any man in this generation. +When he began, I was short-sighted enough to discourage him, and +refused to co-operate with him. If Bok came to me now, I would not +only make plans for him, but I would waive any fee for them in +retribution for my early mistake." + +Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the small house, and +the development of the grounds around the homes which he had been +instrumental in putting on the earth. He encountered no opposition +here. The publication of small gardens for small houses finally ran +into hundreds of pages, the magazine supplying planting plans and full +directions as to when and how to plant--this time without cost. + +Next the editor decided to see what he could do for the better and +simpler furnishing of the small American home. Here was a field almost +limitless in possible improvement, but he wanted to approach it in a +new way. The best method baffled him until one day he met a woman +friend who told him that she was on her way to a funeral at a friend's +home. + +"I didn't know you were so well acquainted with Mrs. S----," said Bok. + +"I wasn't, as a matter of fact," replied the woman. + +"I'll be perfectly frank; I am going to the funeral just to see how +Mrs. S----'s house is furnished. She was always thought to have great +taste, you know, and, whether you know it or not, a woman is always +keen to look into another woman's home." + +Bok realized that he had found the method of presentation for his +interior-furnishing plan if he could secure photographs of the most +carefully furnished homes in America. He immediately employed the best +available expert, and within six months there came to him an assorted +collection of over a thousand photographs of well-furnished rooms. The +best were selected, and a series of photographic pages called "Inside +of 100 Homes" was begun. The editor's woman friend had correctly +pointed the way to him, for this series won for his magazine the +enviable distinction of being the first magazine of standing to reach +the then marvellous record of a circulation of one million copies a +month. The editions containing the series were sold out as fast as +they could be printed. + +The editor followed this up with another successful series, again +pictorial. He realized that to explain good taste in furnishing by +text was almost impossible. So he started a series of all-picture +pages called "Good Taste and Bad Taste." He presented a chair that was +bad in lines and either useless or uncomfortable to sit in, and +explained where and why it was bad; and then put a good chair next to +it, and explained where and why it was good. + +The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effective; the pictures +told their story as no printed word could have done, and furniture +manufacturers and dealers all over the country, feeling the pressure +from their customers, began to put on the market the tables, chairs, +divans, bedsteads, and dressing-tables which the magazine was +portraying as examples of good taste. It was amazing that, within five +years, the physical appearance of domestic furniture in the stores +completely changed. + +The next undertaking was a systematic plan for improving the pictures +on the walls of the American home. Bok was employing the best artists +of the day: Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, W. L. +Taylor, Albert Lynch, Will H. Low, W. T. Smedley, Irving R. Wiles, and +others. As his magazine was rolled to go through the mails, the +pictures naturally suffered; Bok therefore decided to print a special +edition of each important picture that he published, an edition on +plate-paper, without text, and offered to his readers at ten cents a +copy. Within a year he had sold nearly one hundred thousand copies, +such pictures as W. L. Taylor's "The Hanging of the Crane" and +"Home-Keeping Hearts" being particularly popular. + +But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of Bok's +cherished dream; the reproduction, in enormous numbers, of the greatest +pictures in the world in their original colors. The plan, however, was +not for the moment feasible; the cost of the four-color process was at +that time prohibitive, and Bok had to abandon it. But he never lost +sight of it. He knew the hour would come when he could carry it out, +and he bided his time. + +It was not until years later that his opportunity came, when he +immediately made up his mind to seize it. The magazine had installed a +battery of four-color presses; the color-work in the periodical was +attracting universal attention, and after all stages of experimentation +had been passed, Bok decided to make his dream a reality. He sought +the co-operation of the owners of the greatest private art galleries in +the country: J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry C. Frick, Joseph E. Widener, +George W. Elkins, John G. Johnson, Charles P. Taft, Mrs. John L. +Gardner, Charles L. Freer, Mrs. Havemeyer, and the owners of the +Benjamin Altman Collection, and sought permission to reproduce their +greatest paintings. + +Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any process adequately to +reproduce their masterpieces, the owners heartily co-operated with Bok. +But Bok's co-editors discouraged his plan, since it would involve +endless labor, the exclusive services of a corps of photographers and +engravers, and the employment of the most careful pressmen available in +the United States. The editor realized that the obstacles were +numerous and that the expense would be enormous; but he felt sure that +the American public was ready for his idea. And early in 1912 he +announced his series and began its publication. + +The most wonderful Rembrandt, Velasquez, Turner, Hobbema, Van Dyck, +Raphael, Frans Hals, Romney, Gainsborough, Whistler, Corot, Mauve, +Vermeer, Fragonard, Botticelli, and Titian reproductions followed in +such rapid succession as fairly to daze the magazine readers. Four +pictures were given in each number, and the faithfulness of the +reproductions astonished even their owners. The success of the series +was beyond Bok's own best hopes. He was printing and selling one and +three-quarter million copies of each issue of his magazine; and before +he was through he had presented to American homes throughout the +breadth of the country over seventy million reproductions of forty +separate masterpieces of art. + +The dream of years had come true. + +Bok had begun with the exterior of the small American house and made an +impression upon it; he had brought the love of flowers into the hearts +of thousands of small householders who had never thought they could +have an artistic garden within a small area; he had changed the lines +of furniture, and he had put better art on the walls of these homes. +He had conceived a full-rounded scheme, and he had carried it out. + +It was a peculiar satisfaction to Bok that Theodore Roosevelt once +summed up this piece of work in these words: "Bok is the only man I +ever heard of who changed, for the better, the architecture of an +entire nation, and he did it so quickly and yet so effectively that we +didn't know it was begun before it was finished. That is a mighty big +job for one man to have done." + + +In 1905 and in previous years the casualties resulting from fireworks +on the Fourth of July averaged from five to six thousand each year. +The humorous weekly _Life_ and the _Chicago Tribune_ had been for some +time agitating a restricted use of fireworks on the national fête day, +but nevertheless the list of casualties kept creeping to higher +figures. Bok decided to help by arousing the parents of America, in +whose hands, after all, lay the remedy. He began a series of articles +in the magazine, showing what had happened over a period of years, the +criminality of allowing so many young lives to be snuffed out, and +suggested how parents could help by prohibiting the deadly firecrackers +and cannon, and how organizations could assist by influencing the +passing of city ordinances. Each recurring January, _The Journal_ +returned to the subject, looking forward to the coming Fourth. It was +a deep-rooted custom to eradicate, and powerful influences, in the form +of thousands of small storekeepers, were at work upon local officials +to pay no heed to the agitation. Gradually public opinion changed. +The newspapers joined in the cry; women's organizations insisted upon +action from local municipal bodies. + +Finally, the civic spirit in Cleveland, Ohio, forced the passage of a +city ordinance prohibiting the sale or use of fireworks on the Fourth. +The following year when Cleveland reported no casualties as compared to +an ugly list for the previous Fourth, a distinct impression was made +upon other cities. Gradually, other municipalities took action, and +year by year the list of Fourth of July casualties grew perceptibly +shorter. New York City was now induced to join the list of prohibitive +cities, by a personal appeal made to its mayor by Bok, and on the +succeeding Fourth of July the city authorities, on behalf of the people +of New York City, conferred a gold medal upon Edward Bok for his +services in connection with the birth of the new Fourth in that city. + +There still remains much to be done in cities as yet unawakened; but a +comparison of the list of casualties of 1920 with that of 1905 proves +the growth in enlightened public sentiment in fifteen years to have +been steadily increasing. It is an instance not of Bok taking the +initiative--that had already been taken--but of throwing the whole +force of the magazine with those working in the field to help. It is +the American woman who is primarily responsible for the safe and sane +Fourth, so far as it already exists in this country to-day, and it is +the American woman who can make it universal. + + +Bok's interest and knowledge in civic matters had now peculiarly +prepared him for a personal adventure into community work. Merion, +where he lived, was one of the most beautiful of the many suburbs that +surround the Quaker City; but, like hundreds of similar communities, +there had been developed in it no civic interest. Some of the most +successful business men of Philadelphia lived in Merion; they had +beautiful estates, which they maintained without regard to expense, but +also without regard to the community as a whole. They were busy men; +they came home tired after a day in the city; they considered +themselves good citizens if they kept their own places sightly, but the +idea of devoting their evenings to the problems of their community had +never occurred to them before the evening when two of Bok's neighbors +called to ask his help in forming a civic association. + +A canvass of the sentiment of the neighborhood revealed the unanimous +opinion that the experiment, if attempted, would be a failure,--an +attitude not by any means confined to the residents of Merion! Bok +decided to test it out; he called together twenty of his neighbors, put +the suggestion before them and asked for two thousand dollars as a +start, so that a paid secretary might be engaged, since the men +themselves were too busy to attend to the details of the work. The +amount was immediately subscribed, and in 1913 The Merion Civic +Association applied for a charter and began its existence. + +The leading men in the community were elected as a Board of Directors, +and a salaried secretary was engaged to carry out the directions of the +Board. The association adopted the motto: "To be nation right, and +state right, we must first be community right." Three objectives were +selected "with which to attract community interest and membership; +safety to life, in the form of proper police protection; safety to +property, in the form of adequate hydrant and fire-engine service; and +safety to health, in careful supervision of the water and milk used in +the community. + +"The three S's," as they were called, brought an immediate response. +They were practical in their appeal, and members began to come in. The +police force was increased from one officer at night and none in the +day, to three at night and two during the day, and to this the +Association added two special night officers of its own. Private +detectives were intermittently brought in to "check up" and see that +the service was vigilant. A fire hydrant was placed within seven +hundred feet of every house, with the insurance rates reduced from +twelve and one-half to thirty per cent; the services of three +fire-engine companies was arranged for. Fire-gongs were introduced +into the community to guard against danger from interruption of +telephone service. The water supply was chemically analyzed each month +and the milk supply carefully scrutinized. One hundred and fifty new +electric-light posts specially designed, and pronounced by experts as +the most beautiful and practical road lamps ever introduced into any +community, were erected, making Merion the best-lighted community in +its vicinity. + +At every corner was erected an artistically designed cast-iron road +sign; instead of the unsightly wooden ones, cast-iron automobile +warnings were placed at every dangerous spot; community +bulletin-boards, to supplant the display of notices on trees and poles, +were placed at the railroad station; litter-cans were distributed over +the entire community; a new railroad station and post-office were +secured; the station grounds were laid out as a garden by a landscape +architect; new roads of permanent construction, from curb to curb, were +laid down; uniform tree-planting along the roads was introduced; +bird-houses were made and sold, so as to attract bird-life to the +community; toll-gates were abolished along the two main arteries of +travel; the removal of all telegraph and telephone poles was begun; an +efficient Boy Scout troop was organized, and an American Legion post; +the automobile speed limit was reduced from twenty-four to fifteen +miles as a protection to children; roads were regularly swept, cleaned, +and oiled, and uniform sidewalks advocated and secured. + +Within seven years so efficiently had the Association functioned that +its work attracted attention far beyond the immediate neighborhood of +Philadelphia, and caused Theodore Roosevelt voluntarily to select it as +a subject for a special magazine article in which he declared it to +"stand as a model in civic matters." To-day it may be conservatively +said of The Merion Civic Association that it is pointed out as one of +the most successful suburban civic efforts in the country; as Doctor +Lyman Abbott said in _The Outlook_, it has made "Merion a model suburb, +which may standardize ideal suburban life, certainly for Philadelphia, +possibly for the United States." + +When the armistice was signed in November, 1918, the Association +immediately canvassed the neighborhood to erect a suitable Tribute +House, as a memorial to the eighty-three Merion boys who had gone into +the Great War: a public building which would comprise a community +centre, with an American Legion Post room, a Boy Scout house, an +auditorium, and a meeting-place for the civic activities of Merion. A +subscription was raised, and plans were already drawn for the Tribute +House, when Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, president of the Victor Talking +Machine Company, one of the strong supporters of The Merion Civic +Association, presented his entire estate of twelve acres, the finest in +Merion, to the community, and agreed to build a Tribute House at his +own expense. The grounds represented a gift of two hundred thousand +dollars, and the building a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. This building, now about to be erected, will be one of the +most beautiful and complete community centres in the United States. + +Perhaps no other suburban civic effort proves the efficiency of +community co-operation so well as does the seven years' work of The +Merion Civic Association. It is a practical demonstration of what a +community can do for itself by concerted action. It preached, from the +very start, the gospel of united service; it translated into actual +practice the doctrine of being one's brother's keeper, and it taught +the invaluable habit of collective action. The Association has no +legal powers; it rules solely by persuasion; it accomplishes by the +power of combination; by a spirit of the community for the community. + +When The Merion Civic Association was conceived, the spirit of local +pride was seemingly not present in the community. As a matter of fact, +it was there as it is in practically every neighborhood; it was simply +dormant; it had to be awakened, and its value brought vividly to the +community consciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE + +When the virile figure of Theodore Roosevelt swung down the national +highway, Bok was one of thousands of young men who felt strongly the +attraction of his personality. Colonel Roosevelt was only five years +the senior of the editor; he spoke, therefore, as one of his own years. +The energy with which he said and did things appealed to Bok. He made +Americanism something more real, more stirring than Bok had ever felt +it; he explained national questions in a way that caught Bok's fancy +and came within his comprehension. Bok's lines had been cast with many +of the great men of the day, but he felt that there was something +distinctive about the personality of this man: his method of doing +things and his way of saying things. Bok observed everything Colonel +Roosevelt did and read everything he wrote. + +The editor now sought an opportunity to know personally the man whom he +admired. It came at a dinner at the University Club, and Colonel +Roosevelt suggested that they meet there the following day for a +"talk-fest." For three hours the two talked together. The fact that +Colonel Roosevelt was of Dutch ancestry interested Bok; that Bok was +actually of Dutch birth made a strong appeal to the Colonel. With his +tremendous breadth of interests, Roosevelt, Bok found, had followed him +quite closely in his work, and was familiar with "its high points," as +he called them. "We must work for the same ends," said the Colonel, +"you in your way, I in mine. But our lines are bound to cross. You +and I can each become good Americans by giving our best to make America +better. With the Dutch stock there is in both of us, there's no limit +to what we can do. Let's go to it." Naturally that talk left the two +firm friends. + +Bok felt somehow that he had been given a new draft of Americanism; the +word took on a new meaning for him; it stood for something different, +something deeper and finer than before. And every subsequent talk with +Roosevelt deepened the feeling and stirred Bok's deepest ambitions. +"Go to it, you Dutchman," Roosevelt would say, and Bok would go to it. +A talk with Roosevelt always left him feeling as if mountains were the +easiest things in the world to move. + +One of Theodore Roosevelt's arguments which made a deep impression upon +Bok was that no man had a right to devote his entire life to the making +of money. "You are in a peculiar position," said the man of Oyster Bay +one day to Bok; "you are in that happy position where you can make +money and do good at the same time. A man wields a tremendous power +for good or for evil who is welcomed into a million homes and read with +confidence. That's fine, and is all right so far as it goes, and in +your case it goes very far. Still, there remains more for you to do. +The public has built up for you a personality: now give that +personality to whatever interests you in contact with your immediate +fellow-men: something in your neighborhood, your city, or your State. +With one hand work and write to your national audience: let no fads +sway you. Hew close to the line. But, with the other hand, swing into +the life immediately around you. Think it over." + +Bok did think it over. He was now realizing the dream of his life for +which he had worked: his means were sufficient to give his mother every +comfort; to install her in the most comfortable surroundings wherever +she chose to live; to make it possible for her to spend the winters in +the United States and the summers in the Netherlands, and thus to keep +in touch with her family and friends in both countries. He had for +years toiled unceasingly to reach this point: he felt he had now +achieved at least one goal. + +He had now turned instinctively to the making of a home for himself. +After an engagement of four years he had been married, on October 22, +1896, to Mary Louise Curtis, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus H. K. +Curtis; two sons had been born to them; he had built and was occupying +a house at Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb six miles from the +Philadelphia City Hall. When she was in this country his mother lived +with him, and also his brother, and, with a strong belief in life +insurance, he had seen to it that his family was provided for in case +of personal incapacity or of his demise. In other words, he felt that +he had put his own house in order; he had carried out what he felt is +every man's duty: to be, first of all, a careful and adequate provider +for his family. He was now at the point where he could begin to work +for another goal, the goal that he felt so few American men saw: the +point in his life where he could retire from the call of duty and +follow the call of inclination. + +At the age of forty he tried to look ahead and plan out his life as far +as he could. Barring unforeseen obstacles, he determined to retire +from active business when he reached his fiftieth year, and give the +remainder of his life over to those interests and influences which he +assumed now as part of his life, and which, at fifty, should seem to +him best worth while. He realized that in order to do this he must do +two things: he must husband his financial resources and he must begin +to accumulate a mental reserve. + +The wide public acceptance of the periodical which he edited naturally +brought a share of financial success to him. He had experienced +poverty, and as he subsequently wrote, in an article called "Why I +Believe in Poverty," he was deeply grateful for his experience. He had +known what it was to be poor; he had seen others dear to him suffer for +the bare necessities; there was, in fact, not a single step on that +hard road that he had not travelled. He could, therefore, sympathize +with the fullest understanding with those similarly situated, could +help as one who knew from practice and not from theory. He realized +what a marvellous blessing poverty can be; but as a condition to +experience, to derive from it poignant lessons, and then to get out of; +not as a condition to stay in. + +Of course many said to Bok when he wrote the article in which he +expressed these beliefs: "That's all very well; easy enough to say, but +how can you get out of it?" Bok realized that he could not definitely +show any one the way. No one had shown him. No two persons can find +the same way out. Bok determined to lift himself out of poverty +because his mother was not born in it, did not belong in it, and could +not stand it. That gave him the first essential: a purpose. Then he +backed up the purpose with effort and an ever-ready willingness to +work, and to work at anything that came his way, no matter what it was, +so long as it meant "the way out." He did not pick and choose; he took +what came, and did it in the best way he knew how; and when he did not +like what he was doing he still did it as well as he could while he was +doing it, but always with an eye single to the purpose not to do it any +longer than was strictly necessary. He used every rung in the ladder +as a rung to the one above. He always gave more than his particular +position or salary asked for. He never worked by the clock; always by +the job; and saw that it was well done regardless of the time it took +to do it. This meant effort, of course, untiring, ceaseless, +unsparing; and it meant work, hard as nails. + +He was particularly careful never to live up to his income; and as his +income increased he increased not the percentage of expenditure but the +percentage of saving. Thrift was, of course, inborn with him as a +Dutchman, but the necessity for it as a prime factor in life was burned +into him by his experience with poverty. But he interpreted thrift not +as a trait of niggardliness, but as Theodore Roosevelt interpreted it: +common sense applied to spending. + +At forty, therefore, he felt he had learned the first essential to +carrying out his idea of retirement at fifty. + +The second essential--varied interests outside of his business upon +which he could rely on relinquishing his duties--he had not cultivated. +He had quite naturally, in line with his belief that concentration +means success, immersed himself in his business to the exclusion of +almost everything else. He felt that he could now spare a certain +percentage of his time to follow Theodore Roosevelt's ideas and let the +breezes of other worlds blow over him. In that way he could do as +Roosevelt suggested and as Bok now firmly believed was right: he could +develop himself along broader lines, albeit the lines of his daily work +were broadening in and of themselves, and he could so develop a new set +of inner resources upon which he could draw when the time came to +relinquish his editorial position. + +He saw, on every side, the pathetic figures of men who could not let go +after their greatest usefulness was past; of other men who dropped +before they realized their arrival at the end of the road; and, most +pathetic of all, of men who having retired, but because of lack of +inner resources did not know what to do with themselves, had become a +trial to themselves, their families, and their communities. + +Bok decided that, given health and mental freshness, he would say +good-by to his public before his public might decide to say good-by to +him. So, at forty, he candidly faced the facts of life and began to +prepare himself for his retirement at fifty under circumstances that +would be of his own making and not those of others. + +And thereby Edward Bok proved that he was still, by instinct, a +Dutchman, and had not in his thirty-four years of residence in the +United States become so thoroughly Americanized as he believed. + +However, it was an American, albeit of Dutch extraction, one whom he +believed to be the greatest American in his own day, who had set him +thinking and shown him the way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY + +One of the incidents connected with Edward Bok that Theodore Roosevelt +never forgot was when Bok's eldest boy chose the Colonel as a Christmas +present. And no incident better portrays the wonderful character of +the Colonel than did his remarkable response to the compliment. + +A vicious attack of double pneumonia had left the heart of the boy very +weak--and Christmas was close by! So the father said: + +"It's a quiet Christmas for you this year, boy. Suppose you do this: +think of the one thing in the world that you would rather have than +anything else and I'll give you that, and that will have to be your +Christmas." + +"I know now," came the instant reply. + +"But the world is a big place, and there are lots of things in it, you +know." + +"I know that," said the boy, "but this is something I have wanted for a +long time, and would rather have than anything else in the world." And +he looked as if he meant it. + +"Well, out with it, then, if you're so sure." + +And to the father's astonished ears came this request: + +"Take me to Washington as soon as my heart is all right, introduce me +to President Roosevelt, and let me shake hands with him." + +"All right," said the father, after recovering from his surprise. +"I'll see whether I can fix it." And that morning a letter went to the +President saying that he had been chosen as a Christmas present. +Naturally, any man would have felt pleased, no matter how high his +station, and for Theodore Roosevelt, father of boys, the message had a +special appeal. + +The letter had no sooner reached Washington than back came an answer, +addressed not to the father but to the boy! It read: + + +The White House, Washington. + +November 13th, 1907. + +DEAR CURTIS: + +Your father has just written me, and I want him to bring you on and +shake hands with me as soon as you are well enough to travel. Then I +am going to give you, myself, a copy of the book containing my hunting +trips since I have been President; unless you will wait until the new +edition, which contains two more chapters, is out. If so, I will send +it to you, as this new edition probably won't be ready when you come on +here. + +Give my warm regards to your father and mother. + +Sincerely yours, + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + +Here was joy serene! But the boy's heart had acted queerly for a few +days, and so the father wrote, thanked the President, and said that as +soon as the heart moderated a bit the letter would be given the boy. +It was a rare bit of consideration that now followed. No sooner had +the father's letter reached the White House than an answer came back by +first post--this time with a special-delivery stamp on it. It was +Theodore Roosevelt, the father, who wrote this time; his mind and time +filled with affairs of state, and yet full of tender thoughtfulness for +a little boy: + + +DEAR MR. BOK:-- + +I have your letter of the 16th instant. I hope the little fellow will +soon be all right. Instead of giving him my letter, give him a message +from me based on the letter, if that will be better for him. Tell Mrs. +Bok how deeply Mrs. Roosevelt and I sympathize with her. We know just +how she feels. + +Sincerely yours, + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + +"That's pretty fine consideration," said the father. He got the letter +during a business conference and he read it aloud to the group of +business men. Some there were in that group who keenly differed with +the President on national issues, but they were all fathers, and two of +the sturdiest turned and walked to the window as they said: + +"Yes, that is fine!" + +Then came the boy's pleasure when he was handed the letter; the next +few days were spent inditing an answer to "my friend, the President." +At last the momentous epistle seemed satisfactory, and off to the busy +presidential desk went the boyish note, full of thanks and assurances +that he would come just as soon as he could, and that Mr. Roosevelt +must not get impatient! + +The "soon as he could" time, however, did not come as quickly as all +had hoped!--a little heart pumped for days full of oxygen and +accelerated by hypodermic injections is slow to mend. But the +President's framed letter, hanging on the spot on the wall first seen +in the morning, was a daily consolation. + +Then, in March, although four months after the promise--and it would +not have been strange, in his busy life, for the President to have +forgotten or at least overlooked it--on the very day that the book was +published came a special "large-paper" copy of _The Outdoor Pastimes of +an American Hunter_, and on the fly-leaf there greeted the boy, in the +President's own hand: + + +To MASTER CURTIS BOK, + +With the best wishes of his friend, + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +March 11, 1908. + + +The boy's cup was now full, and so said his letter to the President. +And the President wrote back to the father: "I am really immensely +amused and interested, and shall be mighty glad to see the little +fellow." + +In the spring, on a beautiful May day, came the great moment. The +mother had to go along, the boy insisted, to see the great event, and +so the trio found themselves shaking the hand of the President's +secretary at the White House. + +"Oh, the President is looking for you, all right," he said to the boy, +and then the next moment the three were in a large room. Mr. +Roosevelt, with beaming face, was already striding across the room, and +with a "Well, well, and so this is my friend Curtis!" the two stood +looking into each other's faces, each fairly wreathed in smiles, and +each industriously shaking the hand of the other. + +"Yes, Mr. President, I'm mighty glad to see you!" said the boy. + +"I am glad to see you, Curtis," returned Mr. Roosevelt. + +Then there came a white rose from the presidential desk for the mother, +but after that father and mother might as well have faded away. Nobody +existed save the President and the boy. The anteroom was full; in the +Cabinet-room a delegation waited to be addressed. But affairs of state +were at a complete standstill as, with boyish zeal, the President +became oblivious to all but the boy before him. + +"Now, Curtis, I've got some pictures here of bears that a friend of +mine has just shot. Look at that whopper, fifteen hundred +pounds--that's as much as a horse weighs, you know. Now, my friend +shot him"--and it was a toss-up who was the more keenly interested, the +real boy or the man-boy, as picture after picture came out and bear +adventure crowded upon the heels of bear adventure. + +"Gee, he's a corker, all right!" came from the boy at one point, and +then, from the President: "That's right, he is a corker. Now you see +his head here"--and then both were off again. + +The private secretary came in at this point and whispered in the +President's ear. + +"I know, I know. I'll see him later. Say that I am very busy now." +And the face beamed with smiles. + +"Now, Mr. President--" began the father. + +"No, sir; no, sir; not at all. Affairs can wait. This is a +long-standing engagement between Curtis and me, and that must come +first. Isn't that so, Curtis?" + +Of course the boy agreed. + +Suddenly the boy looked around the room and said: + +"Where's your gun, Mr. President? Got it here?" + +"No," laughingly came from the President, "but I'll tell you"--and then +the two heads were together again. + +A moment for breath-taking came, and the boy said: + +"Aren't you ever afraid of being shot?" + +"You mean while I am hunting?" + +"Oh, no. I mean as President." + +"No," replied the smiling President. "I'll tell you, Curtis; I'm too +busy to think about that. I have too many things to do to bother about +anything of that sort. When I was in battle I was always too anxious +to get to the front to think about the shots. And here--well, here I'm +too busy too. Never think about it. But I'll tell you, Curtis, there +are some men down there," pointing out of the window in the direction +of the capitol, "called the Congress, and if they would only give me +the four battleships I want, I'd be perfectly willing to have any one +take a crack at me." Then, for the first time recognizing the +existence of the parents, the President said: "And I don't know but if +they did pick me off I'd be pretty well ahead of the game." + +Just in that moment only did the boy-knowing President get a single +inch above the boy-interest. It was astonishing to see the natural +accuracy with which the man gauged the boy-level. + +"Now, how would you like to see a bear, Curtis?" came next, "I know +where there's a beauty, twelve hundred pounds." + +"Must be some bear!" interjected the boy. + +"That's what it is," put in the President. "Regular cinnamon-brown +type"--and then off went the talk to the big bear at the Washington +"Zoo" where the President was to send the boy. + +Then, after a little; "Now, Curtis, see those men over there in that +room. They've travelled from all parts of the country to come here at +my invitation, and I've got to make a little speech to them, and I'll +do that while you go off to see the bear." + +And then the hand came forth to say good-by. The boy put his in it, +each looked into the other's face, and on neither was there a place big +enough to put a ten-cent piece that was not wreathed in smiles. "He +certainly is all right," said the boy to the father, looking wistfully +after the President. + +Almost to the other room had the President gone when he, too, +instinctively looked back to find the boy following him with his eyes. +He stopped, wheeled around, and then the two instinctively sought each +other again. The President came back, the boy went forward. This +time each held out both hands, and as each looked once more into the +other's eyes a world of complete understanding was in both faces, and +every looker-on smiled with them. + +"Good-by, Curtis," came at last from the President. + +"Good-by, Mr. President," came from the boy. Then, with another +pump-handly shake and with a "Gee, but he's great, all right!" the boy +went out to see the cinnamon-bear at the "Zoo," and to live it all over +in the days to come. + +Two boy-hearts had met, although one of them belonged to the President +of the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ADVENTURES IN MUSIC + +One of the misfortunes of Edward Bok's training, which he realized more +clearly as time went on, was that music had little or no place in his +life. His mother did not play; and aside from the fact that his father +and mother were patrons of the opera during their residence in The +Netherlands, the musical atmosphere was lacking in his home. He +realized how welcome an outlet music might be in his now busy life. So +what he lacked himself and realized as a distinct omission in his own +life he decided to make possible for others. + +_The Ladies' Home Journal_ began to strike a definite musical note. It +first caught the eye and ear of its public by presenting the popular +new marches by John Philip Sousa; and when the comic opera of "Robin +Hood" became the favorite of the day, it secured all the new +compositions by Reginald de Koven. Following these, it introduced its +readers to new compositions by Sir Arthur Sullivan, Tosti, Moszkowski, +Richard Strauss, Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, Edouard Strauss, and +Mascagni. Bok induced Josef Hofmann to give a series of piano lessons +in his magazine, and Madame Marchesi a series of vocal lessons. _The +Journal_ introduced its readers to all the great instrumental and vocal +artists of the day through articles; it offered prizes for the best +piano and vocal compositions; it had the leading critics of New York, +Boston, and Chicago write articles explanatory of orchestral music and +how to listen to music. + +Bok was early attracted by the abilities of Josef Hofmann. In 1898, he +met the pianist, who was then twenty-two years old. Of his musical +ability Bok could not judge, but he was much impressed by his unusual +mentality, and soon both learned and felt that Hofmann's art was deeply +and firmly rooted. Hofmann had a wider knowledge of affairs than other +musicians whom Bok had met; he had not narrowed his interests to his +own art. He was striving to achieve a position in his art, and, +finding that he had literary ability, Bok asked him to write a +reminiscent article on his famous master, Rubinstein. + +This was followed by other articles; the publication of his new +mazurka; still further articles; and then, in 1907, Bok offered him a +regular department in the magazine and a salaried editorship on his +staff. + +Bok's musical friends and the music critics tried to convince the +editor that Hofmann's art lay not so deep as Bok imagined; that he had +been a child prodigy, and would end where all child prodigies +invariably end--opinions which make curious reading now in view of +Hofmann's commanding position in the world of music. But while Bok +lacked musical knowledge, his instinct led him to adhere to his belief +in Hofmann; and for twelve years, until Bok's retirement as editor, the +pianist was a regular contributor to the magazine. His success was, of +course, unquestioned. He answered hundreds of questions sent him by +his readers, and these answers furnished such valuable advice for piano +students that two volumes were made in book form and are to-day used by +piano teachers and students as authoritative guides. + +Meanwhile, Bok's marriage had brought music directly into his domestic +circle. Mrs. Bok loved music, was a pianist herself, and sought to +acquaint her husband with what his former training had omitted. +Hofmann and Bok had become strong friends outside of the editorial +relation, and the pianist frequently visited the Bok home. But it was +some time, even with these influences surrounding him, before music +began to play any real part in Bok's own life. + +He attended the opera occasionally; more or less under protest, because +of its length, and because his mind was too practical for the indirect +operatic form. He could not remain patient at a recital; the effort to +listen to one performer for an hour and a half was too severe a tax +upon his restless nature. The Philadelphia Orchestra gave a symphony +concert each Saturday evening, and Bok dreaded the coming of that +evening in each week for fear of being taken to hear music which he was +convinced was "over his head." + +Like many men of his practical nature, he had made up his mind on this +point without ever having heard such a concert. The word "symphony" +was enough; it conveyed to him a form of the highest music quite beyond +his comprehension. Then, too, in the back of his mind there was the +feeling that, while he was perfectly willing to offer the best that the +musical world afforded in his magazine, his readers were primarily +women, and the appeal of music, after all, he felt was largely, if not +wholly, to the feminine nature. It was very satisfying to him to hear +his wife play in the evening; but when it came to public concerts, they +were not for his masculine nature. In other words, Bok shared the all +too common masculine notion that music is for women and has little +place in the lives of men. + +One day Josef Hofmann gave Bok an entirely new point of view. The +artist was rehearsing in Philadelphia for an appearance with the +orchestra, and the pianist was telling Bok and his wife of the desire +of Leopold Stokowski, who had recently become conductor of the +Philadelphia Orchestra, to eliminate encores from his symphonic +programmes; he wanted to begin the experiment with Hofmann's appearance +that week. This was a novel thought to Bok: why eliminate encores from +any concert? If he liked the way any performer played, he had always +done his share to secure an encore. Why should not the public have an +encore if it desired it, and why should a conductor or a performer +object? Hofmann explained to him the entity of a symphonic programme; +that it was made up with one composition in relation to the others as a +sympathetic unit, and that an encore was an intrusion, disturbing the +harmony of the whole. + +"I wish you would let Stokowski come out and explain to you what he is +trying to do," said Hofmann. "He knows what he wants, and he is right +in his efforts; but he doesn't know how to educate the public. There +is where you could help him." + +But Bok had no desire to meet Stokowski. He mentally pictured the +conductor: long hair; feet never touching the earth; temperament +galore; he knew them! And he had no wish to introduce the type into +his home life. + +Mrs. Bok, however, ably seconded Josef Hofmann, and endeavored to +dissipate Bok's preconceived notion, with the result that Stokowski +came to the Bok home. + +Bok was not slow to see Stokowski was quite the reverse of his mental +picture, and became intensely interested in the youthful conductor's +practical way of looking at things. It was agreed that the encore +"bull" was to be taken by the horns that week; that no matter what the +ovation to Hofmann might be, however the public might clamor, no encore +was to be forthcoming; and Bok was to give the public an explanation +during the following week. The next concert was to present Mischa +Elman, and his co-operation was assured so that continuity of effort +might be counted upon. + +In order to have first-hand information, Bok attended the concert that +Saturday evening. The symphony, Dvorak's "New World Symphony," amazed +Bok by its beauty; he was more astonished that he could so easily grasp +any music in symphonic form. He was equally surprised at the simple +beauty of the other numbers on the programme, and wondered not a little +at his own perfectly absorbed attention during Hofmann's playing of a +rather long concerto. + +The pianist's performance was so beautiful that the audience was +uproarious in its approval; it had calculated, of course, upon an +encore, and recalled the pianist again and again until he had appeared +and bowed his thanks several times. But there was no encore; the stage +hands appeared and moved the piano to one side, and the audience +relapsed into unsatisfied and rather bewildered silence. + +Then followed Bok's publicity work in the newspapers, beginning the +next day, exonerating Hofmann and explaining the situation. The +following week, with Mischa Elman as soloist, the audience once more +tried to have its way and its cherished encore, but again none was +forthcoming. Once more the newspapers explained; the battle was won, +and the no-encore rule has prevailed at the Philadelphia Orchestra +concerts from that day to this, with the public entirely resigned to +the idea and satisfied with the reason therefor. + +But the bewildered Bok could not make out exactly what had happened to +his preconceived notion about symphonic music. He attended the +following Saturday evening concert; listened to a Brahms symphony that +pleased him even more than had "The New World," and when, two weeks +later, he heard the Tschaikowski "Pathetique" and later the +"Unfinished" symphony, by Schubert, and a Beethoven symphony, attracted +by each in turn, he realized that his prejudice against the whole +question of symphonic music had been both wrongly conceived and +baseless. + +He now began to see the possibility of a whole world of beauty which up +to that time had been closed to him, and he made up his mind that he +would enter it. Somehow or other, he found the appeal of music did not +confine itself to women; it seemed to have a message for men. Then, +too, instead of dreading the approach of Saturday evenings, he was +looking forward to them, and invariably so arranged his engagements +that they might not interfere with his attendance at the orchestra +concerts. + +After a busy week, he discovered that nothing he had ever experienced +served to quiet him so much as these end-of-the-week concerts. They +were not too long, an hour and a half at the utmost; and, above all, +except now and then, when the conductor would take a flight into the +world of Bach, he found he followed him with at least a moderate degree +of intelligence; certainly with personal pleasure and inner +satisfaction. + +Bok concluded he would not read the articles he had published on the +meaning of the different "sections" of a symphony orchestra, or the +books issued on that subject. He would try to solve the mechanism of +an orchestra for himself, and ascertain as he went along the relation +that each portion bore to the other. When, therefore, in 1913, the +president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association asked him to become +a member of its Board of Directors, his acceptance was a natural step +in the gradual development of his interest in orchestral music. + +The public support given to orchestras now greatly interested Bok. He +was surprised to find that every symphony orchestra had a yearly +deficit. This he immediately attributed to faulty management; but on +investigating the whole question he learned that a symphony orchestra +could not possibly operate, at a profit or even on a self-sustaining +basis, because of its weekly change of programme, the incessant +rehearsals required, and the limited number of times it could actually +play within a contracted season. An annual deficit was inevitable. + +He found that the Philadelphia Orchestra had a small but faithful group +of guarantors who each year made good the deficit in addition to paying +for its concert seats. This did not seem to Bok a sound business plan; +it made of the orchestra a necessarily exclusive organization, +maintained by a few; and it gave out this impression to the general +public, which felt that it did not "belong," whereas the true relation +of public and orchestra was that of mutual dependence. Other +orchestras, he found, as, for example, the Boston Symphony and the New +York Philharmonic had their deficits met by one individual patron in +each case. This, to Bok's mind, was an even worse system, since it +entirely excluded the public, making the orchestra dependent on the +continued interest and life of a single man. + +In 1916 Bok sought Mr. Alexander Van Rensselaer, the president of the +Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and proposed that he, himself, +should guarantee the deficit of the orchestra for five years, provided +that during that period an endowment fund should be raised, contributed +by a large number of subscribers, and sufficient in amount to meet, +from its interest, the annual deficit. It was agreed that the donor +should remain in strict anonymity, an understanding which has been +adhered to until the present writing. + +The offer from the "anonymous donor," presented by the president, was +accepted by the Orchestra Association. A subscription to an endowment +fund was shortly afterward begun; and the amount had been brought to +eight hundred thousand dollars when the Great War interrupted any +further additions. In the autumn of 1919, however, a city-wide +campaign for an addition of one million dollars to the endowment fund +was launched. The amount was not only secured, but oversubscribed. +Thus, instead of a guarantee fund, contributed by thirteen hundred +subscribers, with the necessity for annual collection, an endowment +fund of one million eight hundred thousand dollars, contributed by +fourteen thousand subscribers, has been secured; and the Philadelphia +Orchestra has been promoted from a privately maintained organization to +a public institution in which fourteen thousand residents of +Philadelphia feel a proprietary interest. It has become in fact, as +well as in name, "our orchestra." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES + +The success of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ went steadily forward. The +circulation had passed the previously unheard-of figure for a monthly +magazine of a million and a half copies per month; it had now touched a +million and three-quarters. + +And not only was the figure so high, but the circulation itself was +absolutely free from "water." The public could not obtain the magazine +through what are known as clubbing-rates, since no subscriber was +permitted to include any other magazine with it; years ago it had +abandoned the practice of offering premiums or consideration of any +kind to induce subscriptions; and the newsdealers were not allowed to +return unsold copies of the periodical. Hence every copy was either +purchased by the public at the full price at a news stand, or +subscribed for at its stated subscription price. It was, in short, an +authoritative circulation. And on every hand the question was being +asked: "How is it done? How is such a high circulation obtained?" + +Bok's invariable answer was that he gave his readers the very best of +the class of reading that he believed would interest them, and that he +spared neither effort nor expense to obtain it for them. When Mr. +Howells once asked him how he classified his audience, Bok replied: "We +appeal to the intelligent American woman rather than to the +intellectual type." And he gave her the best he could obtain. As he +knew her to be fond of the personal type of literature, he gave her in +succession Jane Addams's story of "My Fifteen Years at Hull House," and +the remarkable narration of Helen Keller's "Story of My Life"; he +invited Henry Van Dyke, who had never been in the Holy Land, to go +there, camp out in a tent, and then write a series of sketches, "Out of +Doors in the Holy Land"; he induced Lyman Abbott to tell the story of +"My Fifty Years as a Minister." He asked Gene Stratton Porter to tell +of her bird-experiences in the series: "What I Have Done with Birds"; +he persuaded Dean Hodges to turn from his work of training young +clergymen at the Episcopal Seminary, at Cambridge, and write one of the +most successful series of Bible stories for children ever printed; and +then he supplemented this feature for children by publishing Rudyard +Kipling's "Just So" stories and his "Puck of Pook's Hill." He induced +F. Hopkinson Smith to tell the best stories he had ever heard in his +wide travels in "The Man in the Arm Chair"; he got Kate Douglas Wiggin +to tell a country church experience of hers in "The Old Peabody Pew"; +and Jean Webster her knowledge of almshouse life in "Daddy Long Legs." + +The readers of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ realized that it searched the +whole field of endeavor in literature and art to secure what would +interest them, and they responded with their support. + +Another of Bok's methods in editing was to do the common thing in an +uncommon way. He had the faculty of putting old wine in new bottles +and the public liked it. His ideas were not new; he knew there were no +new ideas, but he presented his ideas in such a way that they seemed +new. It is a significant fact, too, that a large public will respond +more quickly to an idea than it will to a name. + + +When, early in 1917, events began so to shape themselves as directly to +point to the entrance of the United States into the Great War, Edward +Bok set himself to formulate a policy for _The Ladies' Home Journal_. +He knew that he was in an almost insurmountably difficult position. +The huge edition necessitated going to press fully six weeks in advance +of publication, and the preparation of material fully four weeks +previous to that. He could not, therefore, get much closer than ten +weeks to the date when his readers received the magazine. And he knew +that events, in war time, had a way of moving rapidly. + +Late in January he went to Washington, consulted those authorities who +could indicate possibilities to him better than any one else, and +found, as he had suspected, that the entry of the United States into +the war was a practical certainty; it was only a question of time. + +Bok went South for a month's holiday to get ready for the fray, and in +the saddle and on the golf links he formulated a policy. The +newspapers and weeklies would send innumerable correspondents to the +front, and obviously, with the necessity for going to press so far in +advance, _The Journal_ could not compete with them. They would depict +every activity in the field. There was but one logical thing for him +to do: ignore the "front" entirely, refuse all the offers of +correspondents, men and women, who wanted to go with the armies for his +magazine, and cover fully and practically the results of the war as +they would affect the women left behind. He went carefully over the +ground to see what these would be, along what particular lines women's +activities would be most likely to go, and then went back to Washington. + +It was now March. He conferred with the President, had his fears +confirmed, and offered all the resources of his magazine to the +government. His diagnosis of the situation was verified in every +detail by the authorities whom he consulted. _The Ladies' Home +Journal_ could best serve by keeping up the morale at home and by +helping to meet the problems that would confront the women; as the +President said: "Give help in the second line of defense." + +A year before, Bok had opened a separate editorial office in Washington +and had secured Dudley Hannon, the Washington correspondent for the +_New York Sun_, as his editor-in-charge. The purpose was to bring the +women of the country into a clearer understanding of their government +and a closer relation with it. This work had been so successful as to +necessitate a force of four offices and twenty stenographers. Bok now +placed this Washington office on a war-basis, bringing it into close +relation with every department of the government that would be +connected with the war activities. By this means, he had an editor and +an organized force on the spot, devoting full time to the preparation +of war material, with Mr. Hannon in daily conference with the +department chiefs to secure the newest developments. + +Bok learned that the country's first act would be to recruit for the +navy, so as to get this branch of the service into a state of +preparedness. He therefore secured Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant +secretary of the navy, to write an article explaining to mothers why +they should let their boys volunteer for the Navy and what it would +mean to them. + +He made arrangements at the American Red Cross Headquarters for an +official department to begin at once in the magazine, telling women the +first steps that would be taken by the Red Cross and how they could +help. He secured former President William Howard Taft, as chairman of +the Central Committee of the Red Cross, for the editor of this +department. + +He cabled to Viscount Northcliffe and Ian Hay for articles showing what +the English women had done at the outbreak of the war, the mistakes +they had made, what errors the American women should avoid, the right +lines along which English women had worked and how their American +sisters could adapt these methods to trans-atlantic conditions. + +And so it happened that when the first war issue of _The Journal_ +appeared on April 20th, only three weeks after the President's +declaration, it was the only monthly that recognized the existence of +war, and its pages had already begun to indicate practical lines along +which women could help. + +The editor had been told that the question of food would come to be of +paramount importance; he knew that Herbert Hoover had been asked to +return to America as soon as he could close his work abroad, and he +cabled over to his English representative to arrange that the proposed +Food Administrator should know, at first hand, of the magazine and its +possibilities for the furtherance of the proposed Food Administration +work. + +The Food Administration was no sooner organized than Bok made +arrangements for an authoritative department to be conducted in his +magazine, reflecting the plans and desires of the Food Administration, +and Herbert Hoover's first public declaration to the women of America +as food administrator was published in _The Ladies' Home Journal_. Bok +now placed all the resources of his four-color press-work at Mr. +Hoover's disposal; and the Food Administration's domestic experts, in +conjunction with the full culinary staff of the magazine, prepared the +new war dishes and presented them appetizingly in full colors under the +personal endorsement of Mr. Hoover and the Food Administration. From +six to sixteen articles per month were now coming from Mr. Hoover's +department alone. + +Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo interpreted the first Liberty Loan +"drive" to the women; the President of the United States, in a special +message to women, wrote in behalf of the subsequent Loan; Bernard +Baruch, as chairman of the War Industries Board, made clear the need +for war-time thrift; the recalled ambassador to Germany, James W. +Gerard, told of the ingenious plans resorted to by German women which +American women could profitably copy; and Elizabeth, Queen of the +Belgians, explained the plight of the babies and children of Belgium, +and made a plea to the women of the magazine to help. So straight to +the point did the Queen write, and so well did she present her case +that within six months there had been sent to her, through _The Ladies' +Home Journal_, two hundred and forty-eight thousand cans of condensed +milk, seventy-two thousand cans of pork and beans, five thousand cans +of infants' prepared food, eighty thousand cans of beef soup, and +nearly four thousand bushels of wheat, purchased with the money donated +by the magazine readers. + +Considering the difficulties to be surmounted, due to the advance +preparation of material, and considering that, at the best, most of its +advance information, even by the highest authorities, could only be in +the nature of surmise, the comprehensive manner in which _The Ladies' +Home Journal_ covered every activity of women during the Great War, +will always remain one of the magazine's most note-worthy achievements. +This can be said without reserve here, since the credit is due to no +single person; it was the combined, careful work of its entire staff, +weighing every step before it was taken, looking as clearly into the +future as circumstances made possible, and always seeking the most +authoritative sources of information. + +It was in the summer of 1918 that Edward Bok received from the British +Government, through its department of public information, of which Lord +Beaverbrook was the minister, an invitation to join a party of thirteen +American editors to visit Great Britain and France. The British +Government, not versed in publicity methods, was anxious that selected +parties of American publicists should see, personally, what Great +Britain had done, and was doing in the war; and it had decided to ask a +few individuals to pay personal visits to its munition factories, its +great aerodromes, its Great Fleet, which then lay in the Firth of +Forth, and to the battle-fields. It was understood that no specific +obligation rested upon any member of the party to write of what he saw: +he was asked simply to observe and then, with discretion, use his +observations for his own guidance and information in future writing. +In fact, each member was explicitly told that much of what he would see +could not be revealed either personally or in print. + +The party embarked in August amid all the attendant secrecy of war +conditions. The steamer was known only by a number, although later it +turned out to be the White Star liner, _Adriatic_. Preceded by a +powerful United States cruiser, flanked by destroyers, guided overhead +by observation balloons, the _Adriatic_ was found to be the first ship +in a convoy of sixteen other ships with thirty thousand United States +troops on board. + +It was a veritable Armada that steamed out of lower New York harbor on +that early August morning, headed straight into the rising sun. But it +was a voyage of unpleasant war reminders, with life-savers carried +every moment of the day, with every light out at night, with every +window and door as if hermetically sealed so that the stuffy cabins +deprived of sleep those accustomed to fresh air, with over sixty army +men and civilians on watch at night, with life-drills each day, with +lessons as to behavior in life-boats; and with a fleet of eighteen +British destroyers meeting the convoy upon its approach to the Irish +Coast after a thirteen days' voyage of constant anxiety. No one could +say he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean in war days for pleasure, +and no one did. + +Once ashore, the party began a series of inspections of munition +plants, ship-yards, aeroplane factories and of meetings with the +different members of the English War Cabinet. Luncheons and dinners +were the order of each day until broken by a journey to Edinburgh to +see the amazing Great Fleet, with the addition of six of the foremost +fighting machines of the United States Navy, all straining like dogs at +leash, awaiting an expected dash from the bottled-up German fleet. It +was a formidable sight, perhaps never equalled: those lines of huge, +menacing, and yet protecting fighting machines stretching down the +river for miles, all conveying the single thought of the power and +extent of the British Navy and its formidable character as a fighting +unit. + +[Illustration: Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden.] + +It was upon his return to London that Bok learned, through the +confidence of a member of the British "inner circle," the amazing news +that the war was practically over: that Bulgaria had capitulated and +was suing for peace; that two of the Central Power provinces had +indicated their strong desire that the war should end; and that the +first peace intimations had gone to the President of the United States. +All diplomatic eyes were turned toward Washington. Yet not a hint of +the impending events had reached the public. The Germans were being +beaten back, that was known; it was evident that the morale of the +German army was broken; that Foch had turned the tide toward victory; +but even the best-informed military authorities outside of the inner +diplomatic circles, predicted that the war would last until the spring +of 1919, when a final "drive" would end it. Yet, at that very moment, +the end of the war was in sight! + +Next Bok went to France to visit the battle-fields. It was arranged +that the party should first, under guidance of British officers, visit +back of the British lines; and then, successively, be turned over to +the American and French Governments, and visit the operations back of +their armies. + +It is an amusing fact that although each detail of officers delegated +to escort the party "to the front" received the most explicit +instructions from their superior officers to take the party only to the +quiet sectors where there was no fighting going on, each detail from +the three governments successively brought the party directly under +shell-fire, and each on the first day of the "inspection." It was +unconsciously done: the officers were as much amazed to find themselves +under fire as were the members of the party, except that the latter did +not feel the responsibility to an equal degree. The officers, in each +case, were plainly worried: the editors were intensely interested. + +They were depressing trips through miles and miles of devastated +villages and small cities. From two to three days each were spent in +front-line posts on the Amiens-Bethune, Albert-Peronne, +Bapaume-Soissons, St. Mihiel, and back of the Argonne sectors. Often, +the party was the first civilian group to enter a town evacuated only a +week before, and all the horrible evidence of bloody warfare was fresh +and plain. Bodies of German soldiers lay in the trenches where they +had fallen; wired bombs were on every hand, so that no object could be +touched that lay on the battle-fields; the streets of some of the towns +were still mined, so that no automobiles could enter; the towns were +deserted, the streets desolate. It was an appalling panorama of the +most frightful results of war. + +The picturesqueness and romance of the war of picture books were +missing. To stand beside an English battery of thirty guns laying a +barrage as they fired their shells to a point ten miles distant, made +one feel as if one were an actual part of real warfare, and yet far +removed from it, until the battery was located from the enemy's +"sausage observation"; then the shells from the enemy fired a return +salvo, and the better part of valor was discretion a few miles farther +back. + +Bok was standing talking to the commandant of one of the great French +army supply depots one morning. He was a man of forty; a colonel in +the regular French army. An erect, sturdy-looking man with white hair +and mustache, and who wore the single star of a subaltern on his +sleeve, came up, saluted, delivered a message, and then asked: + +"Are there any more orders, sir?" + +"No," was the reply. + +He brought his heels together with a click, saluted again, and went +away. + +The commandant turned to Bok with a peculiar smile on his face and +asked: + +"Do you know who that man is?" + +"No," was the reply. + +"That is my father," was the answer. + +The father was then exactly seventy-two years old. He was a retired +business man when the war broke out. After two years of the heroic +struggle he decided that he couldn't keep out of it. He was too old to +fight, but after long insistence he secured a commission. By one of +the many curious coincidences of the war he was assigned to serve under +his own son. + +When under the most trying conditions, the Americans never lost their +sense of fun. On the staff of a prison hospital in Germany, where a +number of captured American soldiers were being treated, a German +sergeant became quite friendly with the prisoners under his care. One +day he told them that he had been ordered to active service on the +front. He felt convinced that he would be captured by the English, and +asked the Americans if they would not, give him some sort of +testimonial which he could show if he were taken prisoner, so that he +would not be ill-treated. + +The Americans were much amused at this idea, and concocted a note of +introduction, written in English. The German sergeant knew no English +and could not understand his testimonial, but he tucked it in his +pocket, well satisfied. + +In due time, he was sent to the front and was captured by "the ladies +from hell," as the Germans called the Scotch kilties. He at once +presented his introduction, and his captors laughed heartily when they +read: + +"This is L----. He is not a bad sort of chap. Don't shoot him; +torture him slowly to death." + + +The amazing part of the "show," however, was the American doughboy. +Never was there a more cheerful, laughing, good-natured set of boys in +the world; never a more homesick, lonely, and complaining set. But +good nature predominated, and the smile was always upper-most, even +when the moment looked the blackest, the privations were worst, and the +longing for home the deepest. + +Bok had been talking to a boy who lived near his own home, who was on +his way to the front and "over the top" in the Argonne mess. Three +days afterward, at a hospital base where a hospital train was just +discharging its load of wounded, Bok walked among the boys as they lay +on their stretchers on the railroad platform waiting for bearers to +carry them into the huts. As he approached one stretcher, a cheery +voice called, "Hello, Mr. Bok. Here I am again." + +It was the boy he had left just seventy-two hours before hearty and +well. + +"Well, my boy, you weren't in it long, were you?" + +"No, sir," answered the boy; "Fritzie sure got me first thing. Hadn't +gone a hundred yards over the top. Got a cigarette?" (the invariable +question). + +Bok handed a cigarette to the boy, who then said: "Mind sticking it in +my mouth?" Bok did so and then offered him a light; the boy continued, +all with his wonderful smile: "If you don't mind, would you just light +it? You see, Fritzie kept both of my hooks as souvenirs." + +With both arms amputated, the boy could still jest and smile! + +It was the same boy who on his hospital cot the next day said: "Don't +you think you could do something for the chap next to me, there on my +left? He's really suffering: cried like hell all last night. It would +be a God-send if you could get Doc to do something." + +A promise was given that the surgeon should be seen at once, but the +boy was asked: "How about you?" + +"Oh," came the cheerful answer, "I'm all right. I haven't anything to +hurt. My wounded members are gone--just plain gone. But that chap has +got something--he got the real thing!" + +What was the real thing according to such a boy's idea? + +Bok had had enough of war in all its aspects; he felt a sigh of relief +when, a few days thereafter, he boarded _The Empress of Asia_ for home, +after a ten-weeks' absence. He hoped never again to see, at first +hand, what war meant! + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE THIRD PERIOD + +On the voyage home, Edward Bok decided that, now the war was over, he +would ask his company to release him from the editorship of _The +Ladies' Home Journal_. His original plan had been to retire at the end +of a quarter of a century of editorship, when in his fiftieth year. He +was, therefore, six years behind his schedule. In October, 1919, he +would reach his thirtieth anniversary as editor, and he fixed upon this +as an appropriate time for the relinquishment of his duties. + +He felt he had carried out the conditions under which the editorship of +the magazine had been transferred to him by Mrs. Curtis, that he had +brought them to fruition, and that any further carrying on of the +periodical by him would be of a supplementary character. He had, too, +realized his hope of helping to create a national institution of +service to the American woman, and he felt that his part in the work +was done. + +He considered carefully where he would leave an institution which the +public had so thoroughly associated with his personality, and he felt +that at no point in its history could he so safely transfer it to other +hands. The position of the magazine in the public estimation was +unquestioned; it had never been so strong. Its circulation not only +had outstripped that of any other monthly periodical, but it was still +growing so rapidly that it was only a question of a few months when it +would reach the almost incredible mark of two million copies per month. +With its advertising patronage exceeding that of any other monthly, the +periodical had become, probably, the most valuable and profitable piece +of magazine property in the world. + +The time might never come again when all conditions would be equally +favorable to a change of editorship. The position of the magazine was +so thoroughly assured that its progress could hardly be affected by the +retirement of one editor, and the accession of another. There was a +competent editorial staff, the members of which had been with the +periodical from ten to thirty years each. This staff had been a very +large factor in the success of the magazine. While Bok had furnished +the initiative and supplied the directing power, a large part of the +editorial success of the magazine was due to the staff. It could carry +on the magazine without his guidance. + +Moreover, Bok wished to say good-by to his public before it decided, +for some reason or other, to say good-by to him. He had no desire to +outstay his welcome. That public had been wonderfully indulgent toward +his shortcomings, lenient with his errors, and tremendously inspiring +to his best endeavor. He would not ask too much of it. Thirty years +was a long tenure of office, one of the longest, in point of +consecutively active editorship, in the history of American magazines. + +He had helped to create and to put into the life of the American home a +magazine of peculiar distinction. From its beginning it had been +unlike any other periodical; it had always retained its individuality +as a magazine apart from the others. It had sought to be something +more than a mere assemblage of stories and articles. It had +consistently stood for ideals; and, save in one or two instances, it +had carried through what it undertook to achieve. It had a record of +worthy accomplishment; a more fruitful record than many imagined. It +had become a national institution such as no other magazine had ever +been. It was indisputably accepted by the public and by business +interests alike as the recognized avenue of approach to the intelligent +homes of America. + +Edward Bok was content to leave it at this point. + +He explained all this in December, 1918, to the Board of Directors, and +asked that his resignation be considered. It was understood that he +was to serve out his thirty years, thus remaining with the magazine for +the best part of another year. + +In the material which _The Journal_ now included in its contents, it +began to point the way to the problems which would face women during +the reconstruction period. Bok scanned the rather crowded field of +thought very carefully, and selected for discussion in the magazine +such questions as seemed to him most important for the public to +understand in order to face and solve its impending problems. The +outstanding question he saw which would immediately face men and women +of the country was the problem of Americanization. The war and its +after-effects had clearly demonstrated this to be the most vital need +in the life of the nation, not only for the foreign-born but for the +American as well. + +The more one studied the problem the clearer it became that the vast +majority of American-born needed a refreshing, and, in many cases, a +new conception of American ideals as much as did the foreign-born, and +that the latter could never be taught what America and its institutions +stood for until they were more clearly defined in the mind of the men +and women of American birth. + +Bok went to Washington, consulted with Franklin K. Lane, secretary of +the interior, of whose department the Government Bureau of +Americanization was a part. A comprehensive series of articles was +outlined; the most expert writer, Esther Everett Lape, who had several +years of actual experience in Americanization work, was selected; +Secretary Lane agreed personally to read and pass upon the material, +and to assume the responsibility for its publication. + +With the full and direct co-operation of the Federal Bureau of +Americanization, the material was assembled and worked up with the +result that, in the opinion of the director of the Federal Bureau, the +series proved to be the most comprehensive exposition of practical +Americanization adapted to city, town, and village, thus far published. + +The work on this series was one of the last acts of Edward Bok's +editorship; and it was peculiarly gratifying to him that his editorial +work should end with the exposition of that Americanization of which he +himself was a product. It seemed a fitting close to the career of a +foreign-born Americanized editor. + +The scope of the reconstruction articles now published, and the clarity +of vision shown in the selection of the subjects, gave a fresh impetus +to the circulation of the magazine; and now that the government's +embargo on the use of paper had been removed, the full editions of the +periodical could again be printed. The public responded instantly. + +The result reached phenomenal figures. The last number under Bok's +full editorial control was the issue of October, 1919. This number was +oversold with a printed edition of two million copies--a record never +before achieved by any magazine. This same issue presented another +record unattained in any single number of any periodical in the world. +It carried between its covers the amazing total of over one million +dollars in advertisements. + +This was the psychological point at which to stop. And Edward Bok did. +Although his official relation as editor did not terminate until +January, 1920, when the number which contained his valedictory +editorial was issued, his actual editorship ceased on September 22, +1919. On that day he handed over the reins to his successor. + + +The announcement of Edward Bok's retirement came as a great surprise to +his friends. Save for one here and there, who had a clearer vision, +the feeling was general that he had made a mistake. He was fifty-six, +in the prime of life, never in better health, with "success lying +easily upon him"--said one; "at the very summit of his career," said +another--and all agreed it was "queer," "strange,"--unless, they +argued, he was really ill. Even the most acute students of human +affairs among his friends wondered. It seemed incomprehensible that +any man should want to give up before he was, for some reason, +compelled to do so. A man should go on until he "dropped in the +harness," they argued. + +Bok agreed that any man had a perfect right to work until he _did_ +"drop in the harness." But, he argued, if he conceded this right to +others, why should they not concede to him the privilege of dropping +with the blinders off? + +"But," continued the argument, "a man degenerates when he retires from +active affairs." And then, instances were pointed out as notable +examples. "A year of retirement and he was through," was the picture +given of one retired man. "In two years, he was glad to come back," +and so the examples ran on. "No big man ever retired from active +business and did great work afterwards," Bok was told. + +"No?" he answered. "Not even Cyrus W. Field or Herbert Hoover?" + +And all this time Edward Bok's failure to be entirely Americanized was +brought home to his consciousness. After fifty years, he was still not +an American! He had deliberately planned, and then had carried out his +plan, to retire while he still had the mental and physical capacity to +enjoy the fruits of his years of labor! For foreign to the American +way of thinking it certainly was: the protestations and arguments of +his friends proved that to him. After all, he was still Dutch; he had +held on to the lesson which his people had learned years ago; that the +people of other European countries had learned; that the English had +discovered: that the Great Adventure of Life was something more than +material work, and that the time to go is while the going is good! + +For it cannot be denied that the pathetic picture we so often see is +found in American business life more frequently than in that of any +other land: men unable to let go--not only for their own good, but to +give the younger men behind them an opportunity. Not that a man should +stop work, for man was born to work, and in work he should find his +greatest refreshment. But so often it does not occur to the man in a +pivotal position to question the possibility that at sixty or seventy +he can keep steadily in touch with a generation whose ideas are +controlled by men twenty years younger. Unconsciously he hangs on +beyond his greatest usefulness and efficiency: he convinces himself +that he is indispensable to his business, while, in scores of cases, +the business would be distinctly benefited by his retirement and the +consequent coming to the front of the younger blood. + +Such a man in a position of importance seems often not to see that he +has it within his power to advance the fortunes of younger men by +stepping out when he has served his time, while by refusing to let go +he often works dire injustice and even disaster to his younger +associates. + +The sad fact is that in all too many instances the average American +business man is actually afraid to let go because he realizes that out +of business he should not know what to do. For years he has so +excluded all other interests that at fifty or sixty or seventy he finds +himself a slave to his business, with positively no inner resources. +Retirement from the one thing he does know would naturally leave such a +man useless to himself and his family, and his community: worse than +useless, as a matter of fact, for he would become a burden to himself, +a nuisance to his family, and, when he would begin to write "letters" +to the newspapers, a bore to the community. + +It is significant that a European or English business man rarely +reaches middle age devoid of acquaintance with other matters; he always +lets the breezes from other worlds of thought blow through his ideas, +with the result that when he is ready to retire from business he has +other interests to fall back upon. Fortunately it is becoming less +uncommon for American men to retire from business and devote themselves +to other pursuits; and their number will undoubtedly increase as time +goes on, and we learn the lessons of life with a richer background. +But one cannot help feeling regretful that the custom is not growing +more rapidly. + +A man must unquestionably prepare years ahead for his retirement, not +alone financially, but mentally as well. Bok noticed as a curious fact +that nearly every business man who told him he had made a mistake in +his retirement, and that the proper life for a man is to stick to the +game and see it through--"hold her nozzle agin the bank" as Jim Bludso +would say--was a man with no resources outside his business. +Naturally, a retirement is a mistake in the eyes of such a man; but oh, +the pathos of such a position: that in a world of so much interest, in +an age so fascinatingly full of things worth doing, a man should have +allowed himself to become a slave to his business, and should imagine +no other man happy without the same claims! + +It is this lesson that the American business man has still to learn; +that no man can be wholly efficient in his life, that he is not living +a four-squared existence, if he concentrates every waking thought on +his material affairs. He has still to learn that man cannot live by +bread alone. The making of money, the accumulation of material power, +is not all there is to living. Life is something more than these, and +the man who misses this truth misses the greatest joy and satisfaction +that can come into his life--service for others. + +Some men argue that they can give this service and be in business, too. +But service with such men generally means drawing a check for some +worthy cause, and nothing more. Edward Bok never belittled the giving +of contributions--he solicited too much money himself for the causes in +which he was interested--but it is a poor nature that can satisfy +itself that it is serving humanity by merely signing checks. There is +no form of service more comfortable or so cheap. Real service, +however, demands that a man give himself with his check. And that the +average man cannot do if he remains in affairs. + +Particularly true is this to-day, when every problem of business is so +engrossing, demanding a man's full time and thought. It is the rare +man who can devote himself to business and be fresh for the service of +others afterward. No man can, with efficiency, serve two masters so +exacting as are these. Besides, if his business has seemed important +enough to demand his entire attention, are not the great uplift +questions equally worth his exclusive thought? Are they easier of +solution than the material problems? + +A man can live a life full-square only when he divides it into three +periods: + +First: that of education, acquiring the fullest and best within his +reach and power; + +Second: that of achievement: achieving for himself and his family, and +discharging the first duty of any man, that in case of his incapacity +those who are closest to him are provided for. But such provision does +not mean an accumulation that becomes to those he leaves behind him an +embarrassment rather than a protection. To prevent this, the next +period confronts him: + +Third: Service for others. That is the acid test where many a man +falls short: to know when he has enough, and to be willing not only to +let well enough alone, but to give a helping hand to the other fellow; +to recognize, in a practical way, that we are our brother's keeper; +that a brotherhood of man does exist outside after-dinner speeches. +Too many men make the mistake, when they reach the point of enough, of +going on pursuing the same old game: accumulating more money, grasping +for more power until either a nervous breakdown overtakes them and a +sad incapacity results, or they drop "in the harness," which is, of +course; only calling an early grave by another name. They cannot seem +to get the truth into their heads that as they have been helped by +others so should they now help others: as their means have come from +the public, so now they owe something in turn to that public. + +No man has a right to leave the world no better than he found it. He +must add something to it: either he must make its people better and +happier, or he must make the face of the world fairer to look at. And +the one really means the other. + +"Idealism," immediately say some. Of course, it is. But what is the +matter with idealism? What really is idealism? Do one-tenth of those +who use the phrase so glibly know its true meaning, the part it has +played in the world? The worthy interpretation of an ideal is that it +embodies an idea--a conception of the imagination. All ideas are at +first ideals. They must be. The producer brings forth an idea, but +some dreamer has dreamed it before him either in whole or in part. + +Where would the human race be were it not for the ideals of men? It is +idealists, in a large sense, that this old world needs to-day. Its +soil is sadly in need of new seed. Washington, in his day, was decried +as an idealist. So was Jefferson. It was commonly remarked of Lincoln +that he was a "rank idealist." Morse, Watt, Marconi, Edison--all were, +at first, adjudged idealists. We say of the League of Nations that it +is ideal, and we use the term in a derogatory sense. But that was +exactly what was said of the Constitution of the United States. +"Insanely ideal" was the term used of it. + +The idealist, particularly to-day when there is so great need of him, +is not to be scoffed at. It is through him and only through him that +the world will see a new and clear vision of what is right. It is he +who has the power of going out of himself--that self in which too many +are nowadays so deeply imbedded; it is he who, in seeking the ideal, +will, through his own clearer perception or that of others, transform +the ideal into the real. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." + +It was his remark that he retired because he wanted "to play" that +Edward Bok's friends most completely misunderstood. "Play" in their +minds meant tennis, golf, horseback, polo, travel, etc.--(curious that +scarcely one mentioned reading!). It so happens that no one enjoys +some of these play-forms more than Bok; but "God forbid," he said, +"that I should spend the rest of my days in a bunker or in the saddle. +In moderation," he added, "yes; most decidedly." But the phrase of +"play" meant more to him than all this. Play is diversion: exertion of +the mind as well as of the body. There is such a thing as mental play +as well as physical play. We ask of play that it shall rest, refresh, +exhilarate. Is there any form of mental activity that secures all +these ends so thoroughly and so directly as doing something that a man +really likes to do, doing it with all his heart, all the time conscious +that he is helping to make the world better for some one else? + +A man's "play" can take many forms. If his life has been barren of +books or travel, let him read or see the world. But he reaches his +high estate by either of these roads only when he reads or travels to +enrich himself in order to give out what he gets to enrich the lives of +others. He owes it to himself to get his own refreshment, his own +pleasure, but he need not make that pure self-indulgence. + +Other men, more active in body and mind, feel drawn to the modern arena +of the great questions that puzzle. It matters not in which direction +a man goes in these matters any more than the length of a step matters +so much as does the direction in which the step is taken. He should +seek those questions which engross his deepest interest, whether +literary, musical, artistic, civic, economic, or what not. + +Our cities, towns, communities of all sizes and kinds, urban and rural, +cry out for men to solve their problems. There is room and to spare +for the man of any bent. The old Romans looked forward, on coming to +the age of retirement, which was definitely fixed by rule, to a rural +life, when they hied themselves to a little home in the country, had +open house for their friends, and "kept bees." While bee-keeping is +unquestionably interesting, there are today other and more vital +occupations awaiting the retired American. + +The main thing is to secure that freedom of movement that lets a man go +where he will and do what he thinks he can do best, and prove to +himself and to others that the acquirement of the dollar is not all +there is to life. No man can realize, until on awakening some morning +he feels the exhilaration, the sense of freedom that comes from knowing +he can choose his own doings and control his own goings. Time is of +more value than money, and it is that which the man who retires feels +that he possesses. Hamilton Mabie once said, after his retirement from +an active editorial position: "I am so happy that the time has come +when I elect what I shall do," which is true; but then he added: "I +have rubbed out the word 'must' from my vocabulary," which was not +true. No man ever reaches that point. Duty of some sort confronts a +man in business or out of business, and duty spells "must." But there +is less "must" in the vocabulary of the retired man; and it is this +lessened quantity that gives the tang of joy to the new day. + +It is a wonderful inner personal satisfaction to reach the point when a +man can say: "I have enough." His soul and character are refreshed by +it: he is made over by it. He begins a new life! he gets a sense of a +new joy; he feels, for the first time, what a priceless possession is +that thing that he never knew before, freedom. And if he seeks that +freedom at the right time, when he is at the summit of his years and +powers and at the most opportune moment in his affairs, he has that +supreme satisfaction denied to so many men, the opposite of which comes +home with such cruel force to them; that they have overstayed their +time: they have worn out their welcome. + +There is no satisfaction that so thoroughly satisfies as that of going +while the going is good. + +Still---- + +The friends of Edward Bok may be right when they said he made a mistake +in his retirement. + +However---- + +As Mr. Dooley says: "It's a good thing, sometimes, to have people size +ye up wrong, Hinnessey: it's whin they've got ye'er measure ye're in +danger." + +Edward Bok's friends have failed to get his measure,--yet! + +They still have to learn what he has learned and is learning every day: +"the joy," as Charles Lamb so aptly put it upon his retirement, "of +walking about and around instead of to and fro." + + * * * * * + +The question now naturally arises, having read this record thus far: To +what extent, with his unusual opportunities of fifty years, has the +Americanization of Edward Bok gone? How far is he, to-day, an +American? These questions, so direct and personal in their nature, are +perhaps best answered in a way more direct and personal than the method +thus far adopted in this chronicle. We will, therefore, let Edward Bok +answer these questions for himself, in closing this record of his +Americanization. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME + +When I came to the United States as a lad of six, the most needful +lesson for me, as a boy, was the necessity for thrift. I had been +taught in my home across the sea that thrift was one of the +fundamentals in a successful life. My family had come from a land (the +Netherlands) noted for its thrift; but we had been in the United States +only a few days before the realization came home strongly to my father +and mother that they had brought their children to a land of waste. + +Where the Dutchman saved, the American wasted. There was waste, and +the most prodigal waste, on every hand. In every street-car and on +every ferry-boat the floors and seats were littered with newspapers +that had been read and thrown away or left behind. If I went to a +grocery store to buy a peck of potatoes, and a potato rolled off the +heaping measure, the groceryman, instead of picking it up, kicked it +into the gutter for the wheels of his wagon to run over. The butcher's +waste filled my mother's soul with dismay. If I bought a scuttle of +coal at the corner grocery, the coal that missed the scuttle, instead +of being shovelled up and put back into the bin, was swept into the +street. My young eyes quickly saw this; in the evening I gathered up +the coal thus swept away, and during the course of a week I collected a +scuttleful. The first time my mother saw the garbage pail of a family +almost as poor as our own, with the wife and husband constantly +complaining that they could not get along, she could scarcely believe +her eyes. A half pan of hominy of the preceding day's breakfast lay in +the pail next to a third of a loaf of bread. In later years, when I +saw, daily, a scow loaded with the garbage of Brooklyn householders +being towed through New York harbor out to sea, it was an easy +calculation that what was thrown away in a week's time from Brooklyn +homes would feed the poor of the Netherlands. + +At school, I quickly learned that to "save money" was to be "stingy"; +as a young man, I soon found that the American disliked the word +"economy," and on every hand as plenty grew spending grew. There was +literally nothing in American life to teach me thrift or economy; +everything to teach me to spend and to waste. + +I saw men who had earned good salaries in their prime, reach the years +of incapacity as dependents. I saw families on every hand either +living quite up to their means or beyond them; rarely within them. The +more a man earned, the more he--or his wife--spent. I saw fathers and +mothers and their children dressed beyond their incomes. The +proportion of families who ran into debt was far greater than those who +saved. When a panic came, the families "pulled in"; when the panic was +over, they "let out." But the end of one year found them precisely +where they were at the close of the previous year, unless they were +deeper in debt. + +It was in this atmosphere of prodigal expenditure and culpable waste +that I was to practise thrift: a fundamental in life! And it is into +this atmosphere that the foreign-born comes now, with every inducement +to spend and no encouragement to save. For as it was in the days of my +boyhood, so it is to-day--only worse. One need only go over the +experiences of the past two years, to compare the receipts of merchants +who cater to the working-classes and the statements of savings-banks +throughout the country, to read the story of how the foreign-born are +learning the habit of criminal wastefulness as taught them by the +American. + +Is it any wonder, then, that in this, one of the essentials in life and +in all success, America fell short with me, as it is continuing to fall +short with every foreign-born who comes to its shores? + + +As a Dutch boy, one of the cardinal truths taught me was that whatever +was worth doing was worth doing well: that next to honesty come +thoroughness as a factor in success. It was not enough that anything +should be done: it was not done at all if it was not done well. I came +to America to be taught exactly the opposite. The two infernal +Americanisms "That's good enough" and "That will do" were early taught +me, together with the maxim of quantity rather than quality. + +It was not the boy at school who could write the words in his copy-book +best who received the praise of the teacher; it was the boy who could +write the largest number of words in a given time. The acid test in +arithmetic was not the mastery of the method, but the number of minutes +required to work out an example. If a boy abbreviated the month +January to "Jan." and the word Company to "Co." he received a hundred +per cent mark, as did the boy who spelled out the words and who could +not make the teacher see that "Co." did not spell "Company." + +As I grew into young manhood, and went into business, I found on every +hand that quantity counted for more than quality. The emphasis was +almost always placed on how much work one could do in a day, rather +than upon how well the work was done. Thoroughness was at a discount +on every hand; production at a premium. It made no difference in what +direction I went, the result was the same: the cry was always for +quantity, quantity! And into this atmosphere of almost utter disregard +for quality I brought my ideas of Dutch thoroughness and my conviction +that doing well whatever I did was to count as a cardinal principle in +life. + +During my years of editorship, save in one or two conspicuous +instances, I was never able to assign to an American writer, work which +called for painstaking research. In every instance, the work came back +to me either incorrect in statement, or otherwise obviously lacking in +careful preparation. + +One of the most successful departments I ever conducted in _The Ladies' +Home Journal_ called for infinite reading and patient digging, with the +actual results sometimes almost negligible. I made a study of my +associates by turning the department over to one after another, and +always with the same result: absolute lack of a capacity for patient +research. As one of my editors, typically American, said to me: "It +isn't worth all the trouble that you put into it." Yet no single +department ever repaid the searcher more for his pains. Save for +assistance derived from a single person, I had to do the work myself +for all the years that the department continued. It was apparently +impossible for the American to work with sufficient patience and care +to achieve a result. + +We all have our pet notions as to the particular evil which is "the +curse of America," but I always think that Theodore Roosevelt came +closest to the real curse when he classed it as a lack of thoroughness. + +Here again, in one of the most important matters in life, did America +fall short with me; and, what is more important, she is falling short +with every foreigner that comes to her shores. + + +In the matter of education, America fell far short in what should be +the strongest of all her institutions: the public school. A more +inadequate, incompetent method of teaching, as I look back over my +seven years of attendance at three different public schools, it is +difficult to conceive. If there is one thing that I, as a foreign-born +child, should have been carefully taught, it is the English language. +The individual effort to teach this, if effort there was, and I +remember none, was negligible. It was left for my father to teach me, +or for me to dig it out for myself. There was absolutely no indication +on the part of teacher or principal of responsibility for seeing that a +foreign-born boy should acquire the English language correctly. I was +taught as if I were American-born, and, of course, I was left dangling +in the air, with no conception of what I was trying to do. + +My father worked with me evening after evening; I plunged my young mind +deep into the bewildering confusions of the language--and no one +realizes the confusions of the English language as does the +foreign-born--and got what I could through these joint efforts. But I +gained nothing from the much-vaunted public-school system which the +United States had borrowed from my own country, and then had rendered +incompetent--either by a sheer disregard for the thoroughness that +makes the Dutch public schools the admiration of the world, or by too +close a regard for politics. + +Thus, in her most important institution to the foreign-born, America +fell short. And while I am ready to believe that the public school may +have increased in efficiency since that day, it is, indeed, a question +for the American to ponder, just how far the system is efficient for +the education of the child who comes to its school without a knowledge +of the first word in the English language. Without a detailed +knowledge of the subject, I know enough of conditions in the average +public school to-day to warrant at least the suspicion that Americans +would not be particularly proud of the system, and of what it gives for +which annually they pay millions of dollars in taxes. + +I am aware in making this statement that I shall be met with convincing +instances of intelligent effort being made with the foreign-born +children in special classes. No one has a higher respect for those +efforts than I have--few, other than educators, know of them better +than I do, since I did not make my five-year study of the American +public school system for naught. But I am not referring to the +exceptional instance here and there. I merely ask of the American, +interested as he is or should be in the Americanization of the +strangers within his gates, how far the public school system, as a +whole, urban and rural, adapts itself, with any true efficiency, to the +foreign-born child. I venture to color his opinion in no wise; I +simply ask that he will inquire and ascertain for himself, as he should +do if he is interested in the future welfare of his country and his +institutions; for what happens in America in the years to come depends, +in large measure, on what is happening to-day in the public schools of +this country. + + +As a Dutch boy I was taught a wholesome respect for law and for +authority. The fact was impressed upon me that laws of themselves were +futile unless the people for whom they were made respected them, and +obeyed them in spirit more even than in the letter. I came to America +to feel, on every hand, that exactly the opposite was true. Laws were +passed, but were not enforced; the spirit to enforce them was lacking +in the people. There was little respect for the law; there was +scarcely any for those appointed to enforce it. + +The nearest that a boy gets to the law is through the policeman. In +the Netherlands a boy is taught that a policeman is for the protection +of life and property; that he is the natural friend of every boy and +man who behaves himself. The Dutch boy and the policeman are, +naturally, friendly in their relations. I came to America to be told +that a policeman is a boy's natural enemy; that he is eager to arrest +him if he can find the slightest reason for doing so. A policeman, I +was informed, was a being to hold in fear, not in respect. He was to +be avoided, not to be made friends with. The result was that, as did +all boys, I came to regard the policeman on our beat as a distinct +enemy. His presence meant that we should "stiffen up"; his +disappearance was the signal for us to "let loose." + +So long as one was not caught, it did not matter. I heard mothers tell +their little children that if they did not behave themselves, the +policeman would put them into a bag and carry them off, or cut their +ears off. Of course, the policeman became to them an object of terror; +the law he represented, a cruel thing that stood for punishment. Not a +note of respect did I ever hear for the law in my boyhood days. A law +was something to be broken, to be evaded, to call down upon others as a +source of punishment, but never to be regarded in the light of a +safeguard. + +And as I grew into manhood, the newspapers rang on every side with +disrespect for those in authority. Under the special dispensation of +the liberty of the press, which was construed into the license of the +press, no man was too high to escape editorial vituperation if his +politics did not happen to suit the management, or if his action ran +counter to what the proprietors believed it should be. It was not +criticism of his acts, it was personal attack upon the official; +whether supervisor, mayor, governor, or president, it mattered not. + +It is a very unfortunate impression that this American lack of respect +for those in authority makes upon the foreign-born mind. It is +difficult for the foreigner to square up the arrest and deportation of +a man who, through an incendiary address, seeks to overthrow +governmental authority, with the ignoring of an expression of exactly +the same sentiments by the editor of his next morning's newspaper. In +other words, the man who writes is immune, but the man who reads, +imbibes, and translates the editor's words into action is immediately +marked as a culprit, and America will not harbor him. But why harbor +the original cause? Is the man who speaks with type less dangerous +than he who speaks with his mouth or with a bomb? + +At the most vital part of my life, when I was to become an American +citizen and exercise the right of suffrage, America fell entirely +short. It reached out not even the suggestion of a hand. + +When the Presidential Conventions had been held in the year I reached +my legal majority, and I knew I could vote, I endeavored to find out +whether, being foreign-born, I was entitled to the suffrage. No one +could tell me; and not until I had visited six different municipal +departments, being referred from one to another, was it explained that, +through my father's naturalization, I became, automatically, as his +son, an American citizen. I decided to read up on the platforms of the +Republican and Democratic parties, but I could not secure copies +anywhere, although a week had passed since they had been adopted in +convention. + +I was told the newspapers had printed them. It occurred to me there +must be many others besides myself who were anxious to secure the +platforms of the two parties in some more convenient form. With the +eye of necessity ever upon a chance to earn an honest penny, I went to +a newspaper office, cut out from its files the two platforms, had them +printed in a small pocket edition, sold one edition to the American +News Company and another to the News Company controlling the Elevated +Railroad bookstands in New York City, where they sold at ten cents +each. So great was the demand which I had only partially guessed, that +within three weeks I had sold such huge editions of the little books +that I had cleared over a thousand dollars. + +But it seemed to me strange that it should depend on a foreign-born +American to supply an eager public with what should have been supplied +through the agency of the political parties or through some educational +source. + +I now tried to find out what a vote actually meant. It must be +recalled that I was only twenty-one years old, with scant education, +and with no civic agency offering me the information I was seeking. I +went to the headquarters of each of the political parties and put my +query. I was regarded with puzzled looks. + +"What does it mean to vote?" asked one chairman. "Why, on Election Day +you go up to the ballot-box and put your ballot in, and that's all +there is to it." + +But I knew very well that that was not all there was to it, and was +determined to find out the significance of the franchise. I met with +dense ignorance on every hand. I went to the Brooklyn Library, and was +frankly told by the librarian that he did not know of a book that would +tell me what I wanted to know. This was in 1884. + +As the campaign increased in intensity, I found myself a desired person +in the eyes of the local campaign managers, but not one of them could +tell me the significance and meaning of the privilege I was for the +first time to exercise. + +Finally, I spent an evening with Seth Low, and, of course, got the +desired information. + +But fancy the quest I had been compelled to make to acquire the simple +information that should have been placed in my hands or made readily +accessible to me. And how many foreign-born would take equal pains to +ascertain what I was determined to find out? + +Surely America fell short here at the moment most sacred to me: that of +my first vote! + +Is it any easier to-day for the foreign citizen to acquire this +information when he approaches his first vote? I wonder! Not that I +do not believe there are agencies for this purpose. You know there +are, and so do I. But how about the foreign-born? Does he know it? +Is it not perhaps like the owner of the bulldog who assured the friend +calling on him that it never attacked friends of the family? "Yes," +said the friend, "that's all right. You know and I know that I am a +friend of the family; but does the dog know?" + +Is it to-day made known to the foreign-born, about to exercise his +privilege of suffrage for the first time, where he can be told what +that privilege means: is the means to know made readily accessible to +him: is it, in fact, as it should be, brought to him? + +It was not to me; is it to him? + +One fundamental trouble with the present desire for Americanization is +that the American is anxious to Americanize two classes--if he is a +reformer, the foreign-born; if he is an employer, his employees. It +never occurs to him that he himself may be in need of Americanization. +He seems to take it for granted that because he is American-born, he is +an American in spirit and has a right understanding of American ideals. +But that, by no means, always follows. There are thousands of the +American-born who need Americanization just as much as do the +foreign-born. There are hundreds of American employers who know far +less of American ideals than do some of their employees. In fact, +there are those actually engaged today in the work of Americanization, +men at the top of the movement, who sadly need a better conception of +true Americanism. + +An excellent illustration of this came to my knowledge when I attended +a large Americanization Conference in Washington. One of the principal +speakers was an educator of high standing and considerable influence in +one of the most important sections of the United States. In a speech +setting forth his ideas of Americanization, he dwelt with much emphasis +and at considerable length upon instilling into the mind of the +foreign-born the highest respect for American institutions. + +After the Conference he asked me whether he could see me that afternoon +at my hotel; he wanted to talk about contributing to the magazine. +When he came, before approaching the object of his talk, he launched +out on a tirade against the President of the United States; the +weakness of the Cabinet, the inefficiency of the Congress, and the +stupidity of the Senate. If words could have killed, there would have +not remained a single living member of the Administration at Washington. + +After fifteen minutes of this, I reminded him of his speech and the +emphasis which he had placed upon the necessity of inculcating in the +foreign-born respect for American institutions. + +Yet this man was a power in his community, a strong influence upon +others; he believed he could Americanize others, when he himself, +according to his own statements, lacked the fundamental principle of +Americanization. What is true of this man is, in lesser or greater +degree, true of hundreds of others. Their Americanization consists of +lip-service; the real spirit, the only factor which counts in the +successful teaching of any doctrine, is absolutely missing. We +certainly cannot teach anything approaching a true Americanism until we +ourselves feel and believe and practise in our own lives what we are +teaching to others. No law, no lip-service, no effort, however +well-intentioned, will amount to anything worth while in inculcating +the true American spirit in our foreign-born citizens until we are sure +that the American spirit is understood by ourselves and is warp and +woof of our own being. + + +To the American, part and parcel of his country, these particulars in +which his country falls short with the foreign-born are, perhaps, not +so evident; they may even seem not so very important. But to the +foreign-born they seem distinct lacks; they loom large; they form +serious handicaps which, in many cases, are never surmounted; they are +a menace to that Americanization which is, to-day, more than ever our +fondest dream, and which we now realize more keenly than before is our +most vital need. + +It is for this reason that I have put them down here as a concrete +instance of where and how America fell short in my own Americanization, +and, what is far more serious to me, where she is falling short in her +Americanization of thousands of other foreign-born. + +"Yet you succeeded," it will be argued. + +That may be; but you, on the other hand, must admit that I did not +succeed by reason of these shortcomings: it was in spite of them, by +overcoming them--a result that all might not achieve. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA + +Whatever shortcomings I may have found during my fifty-year period of +Americanization; however America may have failed to help my transition +from a foreigner into an American, I owe to her the most priceless gift +that any nation can offer, and that is opportunity. + +As the world stands to-day, no nation offers opportunity in the degree +that America does to the foreign-born. Russia may, in the future, as I +like to believe she will, prove a second United States of America in +this respect. She has the same limitless area; her people the same +potentialities. But, as things are to-day, the United States offers, +as does no other nation, a limitless opportunity: here a man can go as +far as his abilities will carry him. It may be that the foreign-born, +as in my own case, must hold on to some of the ideals and ideas of the +land of his birth; it may be that he must develop and mould his +character by overcoming the habits resulting from national +shortcomings. But into the best that the foreign-born can retain, +America can graft such a wealth of inspiration, so high a national +idealism, so great an opportunity for the highest endeavor, as to make +him the fortunate man of the earth to-day. + +He can go where he will; no traditions hamper him; no limitations are +set except those within himself. The larger the area he chooses in +which to work, the larger the vision he demonstrates, the more eager +the people are to give support to his undertakings if they are +convinced that he has their best welfare as his goal. There is no +public confidence equal to that of the American public, once it is +obtained. It is fickle, of course, as are all publics, but fickle only +toward the man who cannot maintain an achieved success. + +A man in America cannot complacently lean back upon victories won, as +he can in the older European countries, and depend upon the glamour of +the past to sustain him or the momentum of success to carry him. +Probably the most alert public in the world, it requires of its leaders +that they be alert. Its appetite for variety is insatiable, but its +appreciation, when given, is full-handed and whole-hearted. The +American public never holds back from the man to whom it gives; it +never bestows in a niggardly way; it gives all or nothing. + +What is not generally understood of the American people is their +wonderful idealism. Nothing so completely surprises the foreign-born +as the discovery of this trait in the American character. The +impression is current in European countries--perhaps less generally +since the war--that America is given over solely to a worship of the +American dollar. While between nations as between individuals, +comparisons are valueless, it may not be amiss to say, from personal +knowledge, that the Dutch worship the gulden infinitely more than do +the Americans the dollar. + +I do not claim that the American is always conscious of this idealism; +often he is not. But let a great convulsion touching moral questions +occur, and the result always shows how close to the surface is his +idealism. And the fact that so frequently he puts over it a thick +veneer of materialism does not affect its quality. The truest +approach, the only approach in fact, to the American character is, as +Viscount Bryce has so well said, through its idealism. + +It is this quality which gives the truest inspiration to the +foreign-born in his endeavor to serve the people of his adopted +country. He is mentally sluggish, indeed, who does not discover that +America will make good with him if he makes good with her. + +But he must play fair. It is essentially the straight game that the +true American plays, and he insists that you shall play it too. +Evidence there is, of course, to the contrary in American life, +experiences that seem to give ground for the belief that the man +succeeds who is not scrupulous in playing his cards. But never is this +true in the long run. Sooner or later--sometimes, unfortunately, later +than sooner--the public discovers the trickery. In no other country in +the world is the moral conception so clear and true as in America, and +no people will give a larger and more permanent reward to the man whose +effort for that public has its roots in honor and truth. + +"The sky is the limit" to the foreign-born who comes to America endowed +with honest endeavor, ceaseless industry, and the ability to carry +through. In any honest endeavor, the way is wide open to the will to +succeed. Every path beckons, every vista invites, every talent is +called forth, and every efficient effort finds its due reward. In no +land is the way so clear and so free. + +How good an American has the process of Americanization made me? That +I cannot say. Who can say that of himself? But when I look around me +at the American-born I have come to know as my close friends, I wonder +whether, after all, the foreign-born does not make in some sense a +better American--whether he is not able to get a truer perspective; +whether his is not the deeper desire to see America greater; whether he +is not less content to let its faulty institutions be as they are; +whether in seeing faults more clearly he does not make a more decided +effort to have America reach those ideals or those fundamentals of his +own land which he feels are in his nature, and the best of which he is +anxious to graft into the character of his adopted land? + +It is naturally with a feeling of deep satisfaction that I remember two +Presidents of the United States considered me a sufficiently typical +American to wish to send me to my native land as the accredited +minister of my adopted country. And yet when I analyze the reasons for +my choice in both these instances, I derive a deeper satisfaction from +the fact that my strong desire to work in America for America led me to +ask to be permitted to remain here. + +It is this strong impulse that my Americanization has made the driving +power of my life. And I ask no greater privilege than to be allowed to +live to see my potential America become actual: the America that I like +to think of as the America of Abraham Lincoln and of Theodore +Roosevelt--not faultless, but less faulty. It is a part in trying to +shape that America, and an opportunity to work in that America when it +comes, that I ask in return for what I owe to her. A greater privilege +no man could have. + + + + + EDWARD WILLIAM BOK + + BIOGRAPHICAL DATA + + 1863: October 9: Born at Helder, Netherlands. + + 1870; September 20: Arrived in the United States. + + 1870: Entered public schools of Brooklyn, New York. + + 1873: Obtained first position in Frost's Bakery, Smith Street, + Brooklyn, at 50 cents per week. + + 1876: August 7: Entered employ of the Western Union Telegraph + Company as office-boy. + + 1882: Entered employ of Henry Holt & Company as stenographer. + + 1884: Entered employ of Charles Scribner's Sons as stenographer. + + 1884: Became editor of _The Brooklyn Magazine_. + + 1886: Founded the Bok Syndicate Press. + + 1887: Published Henry Ward Beecher Memorial (privately printed). + + 1889: October 20: Became editor of _The Ladies' Home Journal_. + + 1890: Published _Successward_: Doubleday, McClure & Company. + + 1894: Published _Before He Is Twenty_: Fleming H. Revell Company. + + 1896: October 22: Married Mary Louise Curtis. + + 1897: September 7: Son born; William Curtis Bok. + + 1900: Published _The Young Man in Business_: L. G. Page & Company. + + 1905: January 25: Son born: Cary William Bok. + + 1906: Published _Her Brother's Letters_ (Anonymous): Moffat, + Yard & Company. + + 1907: Degree of LL.D. of Order of Augustinian Fathers conferred + by order of Pope Pius X., by the Most Reverend Diomede + Falconio, D.D., Apostolic Delegate to the United States, + at Villanova College. + + 1910: Degree of LL.D. conferred, in absentia, by Hope College, + Holland, Michigan (the only Dutch college in the United + States). + + 1911: Founded, with others. The Child Federation of + Philadelphia. + + 1912: Published _The Edward Bok Books of Self-Knowledge_; + five volumes: Fleming H. Revell Company. + + 1913: Founded, with others, The Merion Civic Association, at + Merion, Pennsylvania. + + 1915: Published _Why I Believe in Poverty_: Houghton, Mifflin + Company. + + 1916: Published poem, _God's Hand_, set to music by Josef + Hofmann: Schirmer & Company. + + 1917: Vice-president Philadelphia Belgian Relief Commission. + + 1917: Member of National Y. M. C. A. War Work Council. + + 1917: State chairman for Pennsylvania of Y. M. C. A. War Work + Council. + + 1918: Member of Executive Committee and chairman of Publicity + Committee, Philadelphia War Chest. + + 1918: Chairman of Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. Recruiting Committee. + + 1918: State chairman for Pennsylvania of United War Work + Campaign. + + 1918: August-November: visited the battle-fronts in France as + guest of the British Government. + + 1918: September 22: Relinquished editorship of _The Ladies' + Home Journal_, completing thirty years of service. + + 1920: September 20: Upon the 50th anniversary of arrival in + the United States, published _The Americanization of + Edward Bok_. + + 1921: May 30: Awarded the one thousand dollar Joseph Pulitzer + Prize for _The Americanization of Edward Bok_. + + + + +THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL PLEASURE + +I cannot close this record of a boy's development without an attempt to +suggest the sense of deep personal pleasure which I feel that the +imprint on the title-page of this book should be that of the publishing +house which, thirty-six years ago, I entered as stenographer. It was +there I received my start; it was there I laid the foundation of that +future career then so hidden from me. The happiest days of my young +manhood were spent in the employ of this house; I there began +friendships which have grown closer with each passing year. And one of +my deepest sources of satisfaction is, that during all the thirty-one +years which have followed my resignation from the Scribner house, it +has been my good fortune to hold the friendship, and, as I have been +led to believe, the respect of my former employers. That they should +now be my publishers demonstrates, in a striking manner, the curious +turning of the wheel of time, and gives me a sense of gratification +difficult of expression. + +Edward W. Bok + + + + + INDEX + + Abbey, Edwin A., 138 + Abbott, Lyman, 144, 169 + Adams, Charles F., 52 + Adams, John, 52 + Adams, John Quincy, 52 + Addams, Jane, 168 + _Adriatic_, 174 + Alcott, Louisa, 46-51 + Altman Collection, 139 + American Lithographic Co., 24 + _American Magazine_, 68 + Antin, Mary, v + Appleton's _Encyclopaedia_, 15, 16, 29 + + Bakery shop, 9 + Bangs, John Kendrick, 130 + Baruch, Bernard, 173 + Beaverbrook, Lord, 174 + Beecher, Henry Ward, 55, 70-77 + Bell, Alexander Graham, 15 + Bellamy, Edward, 86 + Bok, Cary William (son), 67 + Bok, Edward William, arrival, 1; + schooldays, 2-7; + house-work, 8-9; + first money earned, 9; + first newspaper work, 11; + self-education, 15-25; + autograph collecting, 16-29; + study of shorthand, 26; + as a reporter, 26-29; + a visit to Boston, 31-46; + a visit to Concord, 46-52; + adventures in the stock-market, 59-67; + in the publishing business, 68-77; + employment with Scribner's, 78-86; + the Bok Syndicate Press, 86-90; + last years in New York, 97-107; + editorship of _The Ladies' Home Journal_, 103-107; + building up a magazine, 113-123; + visit to Oxford, 124-127; + adventures in art and civics, 134-146; + adventures in music, 160-167; + war time experiences, 168-180; + retirement as editor, 181-185 + Bok, Mrs. Edward William, _see_ Curtis, Mary Louise + Bok, Sieke Gertrude (mother), 1, 99, 100, 106 + Bok Syndicate Press, 87, 88 + Bok, William (brother), 1, 87 + Bok, William Curtis (son), 153-159 + Bok, William J. H. (father), 1, 6, 8, 53, 59, 66 + _Book Buyer_, 80 + Boston, 31-46 + _Boston Globe_, 17 + _Boston Journal_, 90 + Bourrienne, 100 + Boy Scouts, 144, 145 + Brewer, Owen W., 97 + _Brooklyn Magazine_, 56-59, 68-71 + _Brooklyn Eagle_, viii, 11, 17, 26, 53 + Brooks, Phillips, 42-46, 57 + Burlingame, Edward L., 78, 80 + Burnett, Frances H., 84 + Bush, Rufus T., 68 + + Carlyle, Thomas, 48 + Carnegie, Andrew, v, 84, 102 + Carroll, Lewis, 124-127 + Cary, Anna Louise, 56 + Cary, Clarence, 59-67, 78. + Chase, William M., xix + _Chicago Tribune_, 141 + Childs, George W., 18, 106 + _Cincinnati Times-Star_, 90 + Claflin, H. B., 57 + Coghlan, Rose, 53, 54 + Colver, Frederic L., 55, 56, 70 + Concord, 46-52 + Coney Island, 10 + _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, 69 + Crawford, Marion, 130 + Curtis, Cyrus H. K., 103-107, 120-123, 149 + Curtis, Mrs. Cyrus H. K., 113, 149, 181 + Curtis, Mary Louise, 14, 149, 161, 163 + Curtis Publishing Company, 120 + + Dana, Charles A., 130 + Davenport, Fanny, 99, 100 + Davis, Jefferson, 22 + De Koven, Reginald, 160 + Dodgson, Charles L., _see_ Carroll, Lewis + Doubleday, Frank M., 80, 81, 97 + Doyle, Conan, 130 + + Early, General Jubal, 17 + Edison, Thomas A., 15 + Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, 173 + Elkius, George W., 139 + Elman, Mischa, 164 + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 30, 46-51 + _Empress of Asia_, 180 + Evarts, William M., 26 + + Farrar, Canon, 57 + Field, Cyrus W., 186 + Fifth Avenue Hotel, 18 + Fourth of July, 140-142 + Freer, Charles L., 139 + Frick, Henry C., 139 + Fulton Market, 74 + + Gardner, Mrs. John L., 139 + Garfield, James A., 16, 18 + Garland, Hamlin, 130 + Garrison, William Lloyd, 52 + Gerard, James W., 173 + Gibbons, Cardinal, 57 + Gibson, Charles Dana, 138 + _Godey's Lady's Book_, 110 + Gould, Jay, 59-67 + Grant, Ulysses S., 17-22, 26, 57 + Great War, 169-180 + Greenaway, Kate, 128-129 + + Harland, Marion, 57 + Harmon, Dudley, 171 + Harper and Bros., 12 + _Harper's Magazine_, 12 + _Harper's Weekly_, 12 + _Harper's Young People_, 12 + Harris, Joel Chandler, 130 + Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 130 + Harte, Bret, 129 + Hay, Ian, 172 + Hayes, Rutherford B., 18, 26-30, 76 + Hegeman, Evelyn Lyon, 56 + Hitchcock, Ripley, 17 + Hodges, Dean, 169 + Hofman, Josef, 160-164 + Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 30-36 + Holt, Henry, and Company, 68, 78 + Hoover, Herbert, 172, 186 + Hope, Anthony, 130 + Howells, William Dean, 57, 119, 122, 168 + + Jerome, Jerome K., 130 + Jewett, Sarah Orne, 130 + Johnson, Eldridge R., 146 + Johnson, John G., 139 + + Keller, Helen, 169 + Kellogg, Clara Louise, 56 + King, Horatio, 67 + Kipling, Rudyard, 119, 130, 169 + Knapp, Joseph P., 24 + + _Ladies' Home Journal_, 103-107, 113-123, 134, 160, 168-173, + 181-185 + Lane, Franklin K., 184 + Lape, Esther Everett, 184 + Lathrop, George P., 90 + Lee, Robert E., 17 + _Life_, 141 + Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, 22 + _Literary Leaves_, 90, 104 + Longfellow, Henry W., 17, 30, 37-42 + Low, A. A., 28 + Low, Seth, 57 + Low, Will H., 138 + Lynch, Albert, 138 + + McAdoo, William, 173 + Mansfield, Richard, 85 + Marchesi, Madame, 160 + Mascagni, 160 + Merion, 142-146, 149 + Merion Civic Association, 143-146 + Moffat, William D., 97 + Moffat, Yard & Co., 97 + Moody, Dwight L., 130 + Morgan, J. Pierpont, 139 + Moszkowski, 160 + Mott, Lucretia, 52 + + Netherlands, 1, 3, 39, 194 + _New York Star_, 90, 101 + _New York Sun_, 171 + _New York Tribune_, 17 + Nightingale, Florence, 127 + North, Ernest Dressel, 97 + Northcliffe, Viscount, 172 + + _Outlook, The_, 144 + + Paderewski, 160 + _Peterson's Magazine_, 110 + Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 130 + Philadelphia Orchestra, 162-167 + _Philadelphia Public Ledger_, 17 + _Philadelphia Times_, 90, 103 + Phillips, Wendell, 42, 43 + _Philomathean Review_, 56 + Philomathean Society, 55 + Plymouth Church, 55, 70 + _Plymouth Pulpit_, 56 + Porter, Gene Stratton, 169 + _Presbyterian Review_, 81 + Pulitzer Prize, v + Pyle, Howard, 138 + + _Queen, The_, 1 + + Raymond, Rossiter W., 57 + Riis, Jacob, v + Roosevelt, Franklin D., 171 + Roosevelt, Theodore, 147-159 + + Safford, Ray, 97 + Sangster, Margaret, 57 + Schlicht, Paul J., 69 + Scribner, Charles, 78 + Scribner's Sons, Charles, 78-86, 106, 213 + _Scribner's Magazine_, 80, 81, 97 + Sheridan, Philip H., 26, 57 + Sherman, William T., 18, 20, 21, 30, 57 + Smedley, W. T., 138 + Smith, F. Hopkinson, 169 + Sousa, John Philip, 160 + _South Brooklyn Advocate_, 10 + Stevenson, Robert Louis, 82, 83 + Stockton, Frank R., 84, 85 + Stokowski, Leopold, 163 + Strauss, Edouard, 160 + Strauss, Richard, 160 + Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 160 + + Taft, Charles P., 139 + Taft, William H., 171 + Talmage, T. DeWitt, 57 + Taylor, W. L., 138 + Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 17 + Thursby, Emma C., 56 + Tosti, 160 + Twain, Mark, 98, 99, 129 + + Vanderbilt, William H.,15 + Van Dyke, Henry, 169 + Van Rensselaer, Alexander, 166 + Victor Talking Machine Co., 145 + + Walker, E. D., 69 + Washington, George, 40 + Webster, Jean, 169 + Western Union Telegraph Co., 13, 14, 59-67 + Whittier, John Greenleaf, 17 + Widener, Joseph E., 139 + Wiggin, Kate Douglas, 130, 169 + Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 87, 88 + Wiles, Irving R., 138 + Wilkins, Mary E., 130 + Wilson, Woodrow, 170 + + Young Men's Christian Association, 26 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER*** + + +******* This file should be named 15930-8.txt or 15930-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After</p> +<p>Author: Edward Bok</p> +<p>Editor: John Louis Haney</p> +<p>Release Date: May 28, 2005 [eBook #15930]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Frontispiece" BORDER="2" WIDTH="398" HEIGHT="670"> +<H5> +[Frontispiece: Photograph of Edward Bok.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER +</H1> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +EDWARD BOK +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ADAPTED FROM +<BR><BR> +"THE AMERICANIZATION OF EDWARD BOK" +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +</H5> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +JOHN LOUIS HANEY, PH.D. +</H4> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +PRESIDENT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL PHILADELPHIA +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK + +CHICAGO + +BOSTON +<BR><BR> +ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO +</H4> + +<h4 align="center">1921</h4> +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TO +<BR><BR> +THE SCHOOLBOYS AND SCHOOLGIRLS OF AMERICA +<BR><BR> +I DEDICATE THIS STORY OF A BOY +<BR> +WHO BELIEVED THAT AN OBSTACLE IS NOT SOMETHING +<BR> +TO BE AFRAID OF +<BR> +BUT IS ONLY A DIFFICULTY TO BE OVERCOME +<BR><BR> +AND WHO TOOK FOR HIS MOTTO +<BR> +AS I HOPE EVERY ONE WHO READS THESE PAGES WILL DO +<BR> +THESE LINES BY MADELINE S. BRIDGES: +<BR><BR> +"<I>Give to the world the best you have<BR> +And the best will come back to you</I>." +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00a"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H2> + +<P> +In recent years American literature has been enriched by certain +autobiographies of men and women who had been born abroad, but who had +been brought to this country, where they grew up as loyal citizens of +our great nation. Such assimilated Americans had to face not only the +usual conditions confronting a stranger in a strange land, but had to +develop within themselves the noble conception of Americanism that was +later to become for them a flaming gospel. Andrew Carnegie, the canny +Scotch lad who began as a cotton weaver's assistant, became a steel +magnate and an eminent constructive philanthropist. Jacob Riis, the +ambitious Dane, told in <I>The Making of an American</I> the story of his +rise to prominence as a social and civic worker in New York. Mary +Antin, who was brought from a Russian ghetto at the age of thirteen, +gave us in <I>The Promised Land</I> a most impressive interpretation of +America's significance to the foreign-born. The very title of her book +was a flash of inspiration. +</P> + +<P> +To this group of notable autobiographies belongs <I>The Americanization +of Edward Bok</I>, which received, from Columbia University, the Joseph +Pulitzer Prize of one thousand dollars as "the best American biography +teaching patriotic and unselfish service to the Nation and at the same +time illustrating an eminent example." The judges who framed that +decision could not have stated more aptly the scope and value of the +book. It is the story of an unusual education, a conspicuous +achievement, and an ideal now in course of realization. +</P> + +<P> +At the age of six Edward Bok was brought to America by his parents, who +had met with financial reverses in their native country of the +Netherlands. He spent six years in the public schools of Brooklyn, but +even while getting the rudiments of a formal education he had to work +during his spare hours to bring home a few more dollars to aid his +needy family. His first job was cleaning the show-window of a small +bakery for fifty cents a week. At twelve he became an office boy in +the Western Union Telegraph Company; at nineteen he was a stenographer; +at twenty-six he became editor of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I>, which +during the thirty years of his supervision achieved the remarkable +circulation of two million copies and reached every month an audience +of perhaps ten million persons. Such is the bare outline of a career +that has the essential characteristics of struggle and achievement, of +intimate contact with eminent men and women, and, most interesting of +all, is not a fulfilled career, but a life still in the making. +</P> + +<P> +The significance of <I>The Americanization of Edward Bok</I> is threefold +and is clearly indicated by the author's own conception of the three +periods that should constitute a well-rounded life.. These he +characterizes as education, achievement, and service for others. +Conceived in this ideal spirit, the autobiography has a message for +every American schoolboy or schoolgirl who is looking forward to the +years of achievement and who should be made to understand that there is +a finer duty beyond. It has an equally important message for those of +us who in the turmoil of a busy world are struggling to achieve, in +many instances with no vision beyond the desire to provide as best we +can for the welfare of ourselves and our families. Lastly, it has an +inspiring, constructive message for those who are now in a position to +render altruistic service and thus contribute their share toward making +the world in general and America in particular a better place in which +to live. +</P> + +<P> +Because of the recognized value of Edward Bok's life-story, the present +abridged edition, which is re-named <I>A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After</I>, +has been undertaken. The chapters here brought together, with the +approval of Mr. Bok, tell the story of the Dutch boy in the American +school, his earnest efforts to help his parents, his journalistic and +literary experiences, his wide-spread influence as editor, and a vision +of what he still hopes to accomplish for the land of his adoption. +</P> + +<P> +Our boys and girls who become familiar with the story of this +resourceful Dutch lad should note that he is not ashamed to tell us he +helped his mother by building the fire, preparing the breakfast, and +washing the dishes before he went to school, and when he returned from +school he did not play but swept, scrubbed, and washed more dishes +after the evening meal. He did not whine and mope because his parents +could no longer keep the retinue of servants to which they had been +accustomed in the Netherlands. He simply pitched in and helped. The +same spirit impelled him to clean the baker's windows for fifty cents a +week, to deliver a newspaper over a regular route, to sell ice water on +the Coney Island horse-cars--in short, to do any honorable work to +overcome the burden of poverty. Meanwhile he strove to acquire what +little education he could, but he probably learned more from his +association with the prominent persons whom he met as a result of his +early passion for autograph collecting. Such a boyhood brings home the +important truth that necessity is the mother of self-reliance. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Bok's story indicates the road to success and gives encouragement +to those who would tread that pleasant way, but it also sounds a frank +warning against the pitfalls that beset ambitious youth. When he was +sent by the city editor of the <I>Brooklyn Eagle</I> to review a theatrical +performance and decided to write his review without going to the +theatre, he had, of course, no warning that the performance would not +take place. He took what many a more experienced reporter would +consider a reasonable chance and he suffered keen humiliation when the +lesson was forced home that it does not pay to attempt deception. He +tells us that the incident left a lasting impression and he felt +grateful because it happened so early in life that he could take the +experience to heart and profit by it. With equal candor he tells of +the stock-market "tips" that resulted from his intimacy with Jay Gould. +Wisely he records that he resolved to keep out of Wall Street +thereafter, in spite of his initial success in speculation. When he +gave up an association that probably would have led to his becoming a +stock-broker, and somewhat later, when he declined an offer to be the +business manager for a popular American actress, Edward Bok was called +upon to make fateful decisions. In this story he lays ample stress +upon the need for careful and deliberate consideration at such crucial +moments. +</P> + +<P> +The account of his long and successful editorship of <I>The Ladies' Home +Journal</I> reveals the extent of his influence on American social and +domestic conditions. He broadened the scope of <I>The Journal</I> until it +touched the life of the nation at many points. The earlier women's +magazines had devoted most attention to fashions, needle-work, and +cookery, printing a few sentimental stories and poems to give the +necessary literary atmosphere. <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> took up a +great variety of problems concerning the American home and those who +dwelled therein. A corps of editors was assembled to conduct +departments and to answer questions either by mail or in the pages of +<I>The Journal</I>. Free scholarships in colleges and in musical +conservatories were given in place of the usual magazine premiums. +Series of articles were published to foster our national appreciation +for better architecture, better furniture, better pictures--in brief, +for better homes in every respect. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Bok discouraged the taking of patent medicines, the wearing of +aigrettes, the use of the public drinking-cup, the disfiguring of +American scenery with glaring signs and bill-posting, the use of +fireworks on the Fourth of July, and many similar matters that were not +to our credit or advantage. He printed convincing photographs taken in +various "dirty cities" that tolerated refuse and other evidences of +untidiness on their streets and literally shamed those communities into +cleaning up the plague-spots. Had he been a commonplace editor with +his main thought on the subscription list he would have avoided +controversy by confining his leading articles to subjects unlikely to +offend any one, but he would not pursue any policy that meant a +surrender of his ideals. When occasion demanded he did not hesitate to +hit squarely from the shoulder. Whether the public agreed with him or +not, it knew that <I>The Journal</I> was very much in earnest whenever it +espoused any cause. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Bok's last important service as editor of <I>The Journal</I> was a +direct outcome of our participation in the Great War. The problems +raised by that world cataclysm called for a restatement of American +ideals and aspirations. He therefore arranged for a number of articles +adapted to the needs of every community, whether large or small, and +these were soon acclaimed as the most comprehensive exposition of +practical Americanization that had yet been published. As a +far-sighted editor with a long experience behind him he knew that many +of the immigrants coming to this country were ready to enjoy our +privileges without undertaking to share our responsibilities. The +newcomer could realize a freedom unknown in Europe, he had a chance to +achieve higher standards of living and to establish a better home for +himself and his family; what were we asking in return? We did not +subject him to a political confession of faith and we did not fix his +social caste; were we justified in asking him to accept our language +and to uphold our institutions? The intelligent immigrant knows that +the culture of America is a transplanted European culture, but he +quickly realizes that it has become something distinctive because it +developed under conditions where social barriers or racial jealousies +are of slight importance. The person who grasps this truth, as did +Edward Bok, knows well that America stands ready to accept any man, +whether native-born or alien, at his true worth and will give him +unequalled opportunity to make the most of his abilities. +</P> + +<P> +In accomplishing his Americanization, Mr. Bok learned much from us and +he has given his fellow-Americans a chance to learn something from him. +He is aware of our pride in what we have achieved, but he points the +way to still greater triumphs in the years to come. He urges us to +give more regard to thrift, to be more painstaking and thorough in what +we do, and finally, to overcome our prevalent lack of respect for +authority. Such advice is especially appropriate at this time. During +the present critical period in the wake of the greatest and most +destructive of all wars, a prudent nation will follow the fundamental +political and economic virtues. It is no time for extravagance, for +slipshod service, or for defiance of established law. Our young people +need every incentive to make the most of their talents and of their +opportunities. If they observe closely the successive steps of Mr. +Bok's career they will understand why he did not continue to wash +shop-windows all his life or why the Western Union's office-boy did not +grow up to be a mere clerk or local manager. In the important chapters +entitled "The Chances for Success" and "What I Owe to America" they +will learn that ambition and industry must be supplemented by other +admirable qualities in the loyal American who is eager to serve his +country to the utmost. +</P> + +<P> +The concluding chapters of the autobiography have a most valuable +lesson for every American, young or old. In them Mr. Bok calls upon us +to give a helping hand to the other fellow and to accept in more +genuine spirit the gospel of the brotherhood of man. The civic pride +that urged him to join in the movement to beautify his home community +of Merion and that caused his activity in the raising of an endowment +fund of almost two million dollars for the Philadelphia Orchestra is +what we would expect of the idealist who sets out to observe the wise +precept of his Dutch grandparents: "Make you the world a bit more +beautiful and better because you have been in it." +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the book the observant reader will note the author's pride +in his Dutch ancestry and his consciousness of the fact that he owes so +much to the splendid qualities of his forbears. Such pride may be +shared by every other progressive American of foreign birth or +parentage who feels that he is bringing into our social and industrial +life certain commendable traits that characterize the best sons and +daughters of his fatherland, whatever that fatherland may be. +</P> + +<P> +The admirable dedication that Mr. Bok has prepared for this little +volume is addressed to American schoolboys and schoolgirls, but its +message is just as vital for the older reader. In the prime of life +and on the threshold of his Third Period, Mr. Bok has begun to give +practical demonstration of the kind of service that is possible for +those who are sincerely ready to serve. He is alive to the fact that +as a nation we are still young and eager to learn. We have made +serious mistakes in the past and our institutions are as yet far from +perfect, but with more of our intellectual leaders accepting the +watchword of altruistic service in the spirit of Mr. Bok's conception, +there can be virtually no limitations to the part that America seems +destined to play in the future. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +JOHN L. HANEY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL<BR> +PHILADELPHIA +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H3> + +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="80%"><a href="#chap00a">EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap00b">AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS</A><BR><BR></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"><B>Chapter</B></TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap01">THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap02">THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap03">THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap04">A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap05">GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap06">PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap07">A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap08">STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<a href="#chap09">THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES,"<BR> +AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap10">THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap11">LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap12">SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap13">BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap14">MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap15">ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap16">THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap17">THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap18">ADVENTURES IN MUSIC </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap19">A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap20">THE THIRD PERIOD </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap21">WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap22">WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap23"><BR><BR>EDWARD WILLIAM BOK: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA </A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><a href="#chap24">THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL PLEASURE </A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H1> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-front"> +Edward W. Bok . . . Frontispiece +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-004"> +Edward Bok at the age of six +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-040"> +Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-116"> +The grandmother +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +The Dutch grandfather [Transcriber's note: missing from book] +</H3> + +<H3> +<a href="#img-174"> +Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00b"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +IN WHOSE LIVES ARE FOUND THE SOURCE AND MAINSPRING OF SOME OF THE +EFFORTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK IN HIS LATER YEARS +</P> + +<BR> + +<P><I> +Along an island in the North Sea, five miles from the Dutch coast, +stretches a dangerous ledge of rocks that has proved the graveyard of +many a vessel sailing that turbulent sea. On this island once lived a +group of men who, as each vessel was wrecked, looted the vessel and +murdered those of the crew who reached shore. The government of the +Netherlands decided to exterminate the island pirates, and for the job +King William selected a young lawyer at The Hague. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +"I want you to clean up that island," was the royal order. It was a +formidable job for a young man of twenty-odd years. By royal +proclamation he was made mayor of the island, and within a year, a +court of law being established, the young attorney was appointed judge; +and in that dual capacity he "cleaned up" the island. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +The young man now decided to settle on the island, and began to look +around for a home. It was a grim place, barren of tree or living green +of any kind; it was as if a man had been exiled to Siberia. Still, +argued the young mayor, an ugly place is ugly only because it is not +beautiful. And beautiful he determined this island should be. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +One day the young mayor-judge called together his council. "We must +have trees," he said; "we can make this island a spot of beauty if we +will!" But the practical seafaring men demurred; the little money they +had was needed for matters far more urgent than trees. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +"Very well," was the mayor's decision--and little they guessed what the +words were destined to mean--"I will do it myself." And that year he +planted one hundred trees, the first the island had ever seen. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +"Too cold," said the islanders; "the severe north winds and storms will +kill them all." +</I></P> + +<P><I> +"Then I will plant more," said the unperturbed mayor. And for the +fifty years that he lived on the island he did so. He planted trees +each year; and, moreover, he had deeded to the island government land +which he turned into public squares and parks, and where each spring he +set out shrubs and plants. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +Moistened by the salt mist the trees did not wither, but grew +prodigiously. In all that expanse of turbulent sea--and only those who +have seen the North Sea in a storm know how turbulent it can be--there +had not been a foot of ground on which the birds, storm-driven across +the water-waste, could rest in their flight. Hundreds of dead birds +often covered the surface of the sea. Then one day the trees had grown +tall enough to look over the sea, and, spent and driven, the first +birds came and rested in their leafy shelter. And others came and +found protection, and gave their gratitude vent in song. Within a few +years so many birds had discovered the trees in this new island home +that they attracted the attention not only of the native islanders but +also of the people on the shore five miles distant, and the island +became famous as the home of the rarest and most beautiful birds. So +grateful were the birds for their resting-place that they chose one end +of the island as a special spot for the laying of their eggs and the +raising of their young, and they fairly peopled it. It was not long +before ornithologists from various parts of the world came to +"Egg-land," as the farthermost point of the island came to be known, to +see the marvellous sight, not of thousands but of hundreds of thousands +of bird-eggs. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +A pair of storm-driven nightingales had now found the island and mated +there; their wonderful notes thrilled even the souls of the natives; +and as dusk fell upon the seabound strip of land the women and children +would come to "the square" and listen to the evening notes of the birds +of golden song. The two nightingales soon grew into a colony, and +within a few years so rich was the island in its nightingales that over +to the Dutch coast and throughout the land and into other countries +spread the fame of "The Island of Nightingales." +</I></P> + +<P><I> +Meantime, the young mayor-judge, grown to manhood, had kept on planting +trees each year, setting out his shrubbery and plants, until their +verdure now beautifully shaded the quaint, narrow lanes, and +transformed into wooded roads what once had been only barren wastes. +Artists began to hear of the place and brought their canvases, and on +the walls of hundreds of homes throughout the world hang to-day bits of +the beautiful lanes and wooded spots of "The Island of Nightingales." +The American artist, William M. Chase, took his pupils there almost +annually. "In all the world to-day," he declared to his students, as +they exclaimed at the natural cool restfulness of the island, "there is +no more beautiful place." +</I></P> + +<P><I> +The trees are now majestic in their height of forty or more feet, for +it is nearly a hundred years since the young attorney went to the +island and planted the first tree; to-day the churchyard where he lies +is a bower of cool green, with the trees that he planted dropping their +moisture on the lichen-covered stone on his grave. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +This much did one man do. But he did more. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +After he had been on the barren island two years he went to the +mainland one day, and brought back with him a bride. It was a bleak +place for a bridal home, but the young wife had the qualities of the +husband. "While you raise your trees," she said, "I will raise our +children." And within a score of years the young bride sent thirteen +happy-faced, well-brought-up children over that island, and there was +reared a home such as is given to few. Said a man who subsequently +married a daughter of that home: "It was such a home that once you had +been in it you felt you must be of it, and that if you couldn't marry +one of the daughters you would have been glad to have married the cook." +</I></P> + +<P><I> +One day when the children had grown to man's and woman's estate the +mother called them all together and said to them, "I want to tell you +the story of your father and of this island," and she told them the +simple story that is written here. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +"And now," she said, "as you go out into the world I want each of you +to take with you the spirit of your father's work, and each, in your +own way and place, to do as he has done: make you the world a bit more +beautiful and better because you have been in it. That is your +mother's message to you." +</I></P> + +<P><I> +The first son to leave the island home went with a band of hardy men to +South Africa, where they settled and became known as "the Boers." +Tirelessly they worked at the colony until towns and cities sprang up +and a new nation came into being: The Transvaal Republic. The son +became secretary of state of the new country, and to-day the United +States of South Africa bears tribute, in part, to the mother's message +to "make the world a bit more beautiful and better." +</I></P> + +<P><I> +The second son left home for the Dutch mainland, where he took charge +of a small parish; and when he had finished his work he was mourned by +king and peasant as one of the leading clergymen of his time and people. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +A third son, scorning his own safety, plunged into the boiling surf on +one of those nights of terror so common to that coast, rescued a +half-dead sailor, carried him to his father's house, and brought him +back to a life of usefulness that gave the world a record of +imperishable value. For the half-drowned sailor was Heinrich +Schliemann, the famous explorer of the dead cities of Troy. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +The first daughter now left the island nest; to her inspiration her +husband owed, at his life's close, a shelf of works in philosophy which +to-day are among the standard books of their class. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +The second daughter worked beside her husband until she brought him to +be regarded as one of the ablest preachers of his land, speaking for +more than forty years the message of man's betterment. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +To another son it was given to sit wisely in the councils of his land; +another followed the footsteps of his father. Another daughter, +refusing marriage for duty, ministered unto and made a home for one +whose eyes could see not. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +So they went out into the world, the girls and boys of that island +home, each carrying the story of their father's simple but beautiful +work and the remembrance of their mother's message. Not one from that +home but did well his or her work in the world; some greater, some +smaller, but each left behind the traces of a life well spent. +</I></P> + +<P><I> +And, as all good work is immortal, so to-day all over the world goes on +the influence of this one man and one woman, whose life on that little +Dutch island changed its barren rocks to a bower of verdure, a home for +the birds and the song of the nightingale. The grandchildren have gone +to the four corners of the globe, and are now the generation of +workers--some in the far East Indies; others in Africa; still others in +our own land of America. But each has tried, according to the talents +given, to carry out the message of that day, to tell the story of the +grandfather's work; just as it is told here by the author of this book, +who, in the efforts of his later years, has tried to carry out, so far +as opportunity has come to him, the message of his grandmother: +</I></P> + +<P><I> +"Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have +been in it." +</I></P> + + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +EDWARD W. BOK +<BR><BR> +MERION +<BR> +PENNSYLVANIA +<BR> +1920 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA +</H3> + +<P> +The leviathan of the Atlantic Ocean, in 1870, was <I>The Queen</I>, and when +she was warped into her dock on September 20 of that year, she +discharged, among her passengers, a family of four from the Netherlands +who were to make an experiment of Americanization. +</P> + +<P> +The father, a man bearing one of the most respected names in the +Netherlands, had acquired wealth and position for himself; unwise +investments, however, had swept away his fortune, and in preference to +a new start in his own land, he had decided to make the new beginning +in the United States, where a favorite brother-in-law had gone several +years before. But that, never a simple matter for a man who has +reached forty-two, is particularly difficult for a foreigner in a +strange land. This fact he and his wife were to find out. The wife, +also carefully reared, had been accustomed to a scale of living which +she had now to abandon. Her Americanization experiment was to compel +her, for the first time in her life, to become a housekeeper without +domestic help. There were two boys: the elder, William, was eight and +a half years of age; the younger, in nineteen days from his +landing-date, was to celebrate his seventh birthday. +</P> + +<P> +This younger boy was Edward William Bok. He had, according to the +Dutch custom, two other names, but he had decided to leave those in the +Netherlands. And the American public was, in later years, to omit for +him the "William." +</P> + +<P> +Edward's first six days in the United States were spent in New York, +and then he was taken to Brooklyn, where he was destined to live for +nearly twenty years. +</P> + +<P> +Thanks to the linguistic sense inherent in the Dutch, and to an +educational system that compels the study of languages, English was +already familiar to the father and mother. But to the two sons, who +had barely learned the beginnings of their native tongue, the English +language was as a closed book. It seemed a cruel decision of the +father to put his two boys into a public-school in Brooklyn, but he +argued that if they were to become Americans, the sooner they became +part of the life of the country and learned its language for +themselves, the better. And so, without the ability to make known the +slightest want or to understand a single word, the morning after their +removal to Brooklyn, the two boys were taken by their father to a +public-school. +</P> + +<P> +The American public-school teacher was less well equipped in those days +than she is to-day to meet the needs of two Dutch boys who could not +understand a word she said, and who could only wonder what it was all +about. The brothers did not even have the comfort of each other's +company, for, graded by age, they were placed in separate classes. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was the American boy of 1870 a whit less cruel than is the American +boy of 1920; and he was none the less loath to show that cruelty. This +trait was evident at the first recess of the first day at school. At +the dismissal, the brothers naturally sought each other, only to find +themselves surrounded by a group of tormentors who were delighted to +have such promising objects for their fun. And of this opportunity +they made the most. There was no form of petty cruelty boys' minds +could devise that was not inflicted upon the two helpless strangers. +Edward seemed to look particularly inviting, and nicknaming him +"Dutchy" they devoted themselves at each noon recess and after school +to inflicting their cruelties upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Louis XIV may have been right when he said that "every new language +requires a new soul," but Edward Bok knew that while spoken languages +might differ, there is one language understood by boys the world over. +And with this language Edward decided to do some experimenting. After +a few days at school, he cast his eyes over the group of his +tormentors, picked out one who seemed to him the ringleader, and before +the boy was aware of what had happened, Edward Bok was in the full +swing of his first real experiment with Americanization. Of course the +American boy retaliated. But the boy from the Netherlands had not been +born and brought up in the muscle-building air of the Dutch dikes for +nothing, and after a few moments he found himself looking down on his +tormentor and into the eyes of a crowd of very respectful boys and +giggling girls, who readily made a passageway for his brother and +himself when they indicated a desire to leave the schoolyard and go +home. +</P> + +<P> +Edward now felt that his Americanization had begun; but, always +believing that a thing begun must be carried to a finish, he took, or +gave--it depends upon the point of view--two or three more lessons in +this particular phase of Americanization before he convinced these +American schoolboys that it might be best for them to call a halt upon +further excursions in torment. +</P> + +<P> +At the best, they were difficult days at school for a boy of seven who +could not speak English. Although the other children stopped teasing +Edward, they did not try to make the way easier for him. America is +essentially a land of fair play, but it is not fair play for American +boys and girls to take advantage of a foreign child's unfamiliarity +with the language or our customs to annoy that child or to place +difficulties in his way. When a foreign pupil with little knowledge of +the English language enters an American school the native-born boys and +girls in that school can accomplish a useful service in Americanization +by helping the newcomer, thus giving him a true idea of American +fairness at the start. No doubt many American boys and girls gladly do +this little kindness for the young foreigner, but Edward Bok and his +brother suffered tortures at the hands of those who should have helped +them. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the linguistic gift inherent in the Dutch race came to +Edward's rescue in his attempt to master the English language. He soon +noted many points of similarity between English and his native tongue; +by changing a vowel here and there he could make a familiar Dutch word +into a correct English word. As both languages had developed from the +old Frisian tongue, the conquest of English did not prove as difficult +as he had expected. At all events, he set out to master it. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-004"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-004.jpg" ALT="Edward Bok at the age of six" BORDER="2" WIDTH="350" HEIGHT="508"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Edward Bok at the age of six, upon his arrival in the United States.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Edward was now confronted by a three-cornered problem. Like all +healthy boys of his age he was fond of play and eager to join the boys +of his neighborhood in their pastimes after school hours. He also +wanted to help his mother, which meant the washing of dishes, cleaning +the rooms in which the family then lived, and running various errands +for the needed household supplies. Then, too, he was not progressing +as rapidly as he wished with his school studies, and he felt that he +ought to do everything in his power to take advantage of his +opportunity to get an education. +</P> + +<P> +Methodically he worked out a plan which made it possible to accomplish +all three objects. He planned that on one afternoon he should go +directly home from school to help his mother, and as soon as he had +finished the necessary chores that would make her life easier he would +be free to go out and play for the rest of that afternoon. On the +following day he would remain in school for an extra hour after the +class had been dismissed and would get the teacher's help on any +lessons that were not clear to him. When that task had been +accomplished he would still have part of that afternoon left for play. +He broached his plan for work at home and study at school on alternate +afternoons to his mother and his teacher. Both approved of the idea +and agreed that it had been well thought out. +</P> + +<P> +Thus Edward Bok learned early in life the valuable lesson of a wise +management of time. Instead of attempting to accomplish various +results in some haphazard fashion, he planned to do only one thing at a +time, yet his plan was so comprehensive that it provided for the +necessary housework, study, and play--the three things that he wanted +to do and felt he should do. +</P> + +<P> +As his evenings were also devoted to various tasks and duties, this +young American-to-be, by using each bit of spare time for some useful +purpose, became early in life the busy person that he has remained to +the present day. Of Edward Bok it may truly be said that he began to +work, and to work hard, almost from the day he set foot on American +soil. He has since realized that this is not the best thing for a +young boy, who should have liberal time for play in his life. Of +course, Edward made the most of the short period that remained each +afternoon after his household duties or his extra studies at school, +and when he played it was with the same vim and energy with which he +worked. He had little choice in the matter, but he often regrets +to-day that he did not have more time in his boyhood for play. +</P> + +<P> +Like most boys, Edward wanted a little money now and then for spending, +but his mother was not always able to spare the pennies that he +desired. So he had to fall back on his own resources to earn small +sums by running errands for neighbors and in other ways familiar to +boys of his age. One day he came across an Italian who was earning +money in a rather unusual way. This Italian would collect the +bright-colored pictures that adorned the labels of fruit and vegetable +cans. He would paste these pictures into a scrap-book and sell it to a +mother as a picture-book for her children. Edward saw that the +Italian's idea smacked of originality and he asked the man where he got +his pictures. +</P> + +<P> +"From the cans I find on lots and in ash-barrels," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +"If you had more pictures, you could make more books and so earn more +money, couldn't you?" asked Edward, as an idea struck him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered the Italian. +</P> + +<P> +"How much will you give me if I bring you a hundred pictures?" asked +Edward. +</P> + +<P> +"A cent apiece," said the Italian. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," agreed Edward. +</P> + +<P> +The boy went to work at once, and in three days he had collected the +first hundred pictures, gave them to the Italian, and received his +first dollar. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Edward, as he had visions of larger returns from his +efforts, "your books have pictures of only four or five kinds, like +apples, pears, tomatoes, and green peas. How much will you give me for +pictures of special fruit which you haven't got, like apricots, +green-gages, and pineapples?" +</P> + +<P> +"Two cents each," replied the Italian. +</P> + +<P> +"No," bargained Edward. "They're much harder to find than the others. +I'll get you some for three cents each." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said the vender, realizing that the boy was stating the +case correctly. +</P> + +<P> +Edward had calculated that if he would search the vacant lots in back +of the homes of the well-to-do, where the servants followed the tidy +habit of throwing cans and refuse over the back fences, he would find +an assortment of canned-fruit labels different from those used by +persons of moderate means. He made a visit to those places and found +the less familiar pictures just as he thought he would. Thus he was +not only able to sell his labels to the Italian for three cents instead +of a cent apiece, but to give greater variety to the vender's +scrap-books. +</P> + +<P> +In this manner Edward Bok learned to make the most of his opportunities +even during his earliest years in America. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK +</H3> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +"Look pretty good, don't they?" asked the baker. +</P> + +<P> +"They would," answered the Dutch boy with his national passion for +cleanliness, "if your window were clean." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, too," mused the baker. "Perhaps you'll clean it." +</P> + +<P> +"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 much Dutch +energy into the cleaning of the large show-window that the baker +immediately arranged with him to clean it every Tuesday and Friday +afternoon after school. The salary was to be fifty cents per week! +</P> + +<P> +But one day, after he had finished cleaning the window, 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 stomach--so +hungered! The baker watched him, saw how quickly and smilingly he +served the customer, and offered Edward an extra dollar per week if he +would come in afternoons and sell behind the counter. He immediately +entered into the bargain with the understanding that, in addition to +his salary of a dollar and a half per week, he should each afternoon +carry home from the good things unsold a moderate something as a +present to his mother. The baker agreed, and Edward promised to come +each afternoon except Saturday. +</P> + +<P> +"Want to play ball, hey?" said the baker. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I want to play ball," replied the boy, but he was not reserving +his Saturday afternoons for games, although, boy-like, that might be +his preference. +</P> + +<P> +Edward now took on for each Saturday morning--when, of course, there +was no school--the delivery route of a weekly paper called the <I>South +Brooklyn Advocate</I>. 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. +</P> + +<P> +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 men jumped from +the open cars in summer, ran into the cigar-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 women and the children, who were forced to take the long ride +without a drink. It was this that he had in mind when he reserved his +Saturday afternoon to "play ball." +</P> + +<P> +Here was an opening, and Edward decided to fill it. He bought a +shining new pail, screwed three hooks on the edge from which he hung +three clean shimmering glasses, 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 a most profitable day; and after going to +Sunday-school in the morning, he did a further Sabbath service for the +rest of the day by refreshing tired mothers and thirsty children on the +Coney Island cars--at a penny a glass! +</P> + +<P> +But the profit of six dollars which Edward was now reaping in his newly +found "bonanza" on Saturday and Sunday afternoons became apparent to +other boys, and one Saturday the young ice-water boy found that he had +a competitor; then two and soon three. Edward immediately met the +challenge; he squeezed half a dozen lemons into each pail of water, +added some sugar, tripled his charge, and continued his monopoly by +selling "Lemonade, three cents a glass." Soon more passengers were +asking for lemonade than for plain drinking-water! +</P> + +<P> +One evening Edward went to a party of young people, and his latent +journalistic sense whispered to him that his young hostess might like +to see her social affair in print. He went home, wrote up the party, +being careful to include the name of every boy and girl present, and +next morning took the account to the city editor of the <I>Brooklyn +Eagle</I>, with the sage observation that every name mentioned in that +paragraph represented a buyer of the paper, who would like to see his +or her name in print, and that if the editor had enough of these +reports he might very advantageously strengthen the circulation of <I>The +Eagle</I>. 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 +column, and decided that he would organize a corps of private reporters +himself. Forthwith, he saw every girl and boy he knew, got each to +promise to write for him an account of each party he or she attended or +gave, and laid great stress on a full recital of names. Within a few +weeks, Edward was turning in to <I>The Eagle</I> from two to three columns a +week; his pay was raised to four dollars a column; the editor was +pleased in having started a department that no other paper carried, and +the "among those present" at the parties all bought the paper and were +immensely gratified to see their names. +</P> + +<P> +So everybody was happy, and Edward Bok, as a full-fledged reporter, had +begun his journalistic career. +</P> + +<P> +It is curious how deeply embedded in his nature, even in his earliest +years, was the inclination toward the publishing business. The word +"curious" is used here because Edward is the first journalist in the +Bok family in all the centuries through 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. +</P> + +<P> +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 publishing house of Harper and Brothers. Edward had heard his +father speak of <I>Harper's Weekly</I> and of the great part it had played +in the Civil War; his father also brought home an occasional copy of +<I>Harper's Weekly</I> and of <I>Harper's Magazine</I>. He had seen <I>Harper's +Young People</I>; the name of Harper and Brothers was on some of his +school-books; and he pictured in his mind how wonderful 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 became a figure of importance in Edward's +eyes; many a morning the boy hastened from home long 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 the +momentous business of making books and periodicals. Edward would look +after the superintendent's form until it was lost to view; then, with a +sigh, he would go to school, forgetting all about the Elkins boy whom +he had told the father he had come to call for! +</P> + +<P> +But what with helping his mother, tending the 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 supreme +effort, he managed to hold his own in his class, but no more. +Instinctively, he felt that he was not getting all that he might from +his educational opportunities, yet the need for him to add to the +family income was, if anything, becoming greater. The idea of leaving +school was broached to his mother, but she rebelled. She told the boy +that he was earning something now and helping 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 himself with the Western Union Telegraph Company as +translator, a position for which his easy command of languages +admirably fitted him. Thus, for a time, the strain upon the family +exchequer was lessened. +</P> + +<P> +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 as messenger in a lawyer's office; and when one evening Edward +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. +</P> + +<P> +And so, at the age of twelve, Edward Bok left school, and on Monday, +August 7, 1876, he became office boy in the electricians' department of +the Western Union Telegraph Company at six dollars and twenty-five +cents per week. +</P> + +<P> +And, as such things will fall out in this curiously strange world, it +happened that as Edward drew up his chair for the first time to his +desk to begin his work on that Monday morning, there had been born in +Boston, exactly twelve hours before, a girl-baby who was destined to +become his wife. Thus at the earliest possible moment after her birth, +Edward Bok started to work for her! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION +</H3> + +<P> +With school-days ended, the question of self-education became an +absorbing thought with Edward Bok. He had mastered a schoolboy's +English, 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 millionnaire and his companions were objects of great interest +to the young office boy. Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Edison +were also constant visitors to the department. He knew that some of +these men, too, had been deprived of the advantage 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 <I>Encyclopaedia</I>, and, +determining to have only the best, he saved his luncheon money, walked +instead of riding the five miles to his Brooklyn home, and, after a +period of saving, had his reward in the first purchase from his own +earnings: a set of the <I>Encyclopaedia</I>. He now read about all the +successful men, and was encouraged to find that in many cases their +beginnings had been as modest as his own, and their opportunities of +education as limited. +</P> + +<P> +One day it occurred to him to test the accuracy of the biographies he +was reading. James A. Garfield was then spoken of for the presidency; +Edward wondered whether it was true that the man who was likely to be +President of the United States had once been a boy on the tow-path, and +with a simple directness characteristic of his Dutch training, wrote to +General Garfield, asking whether the boyhood episode was true, and +explaining why he asked. Of course any public man, no matter how large +his correspondence, is pleased to receive an earnest letter from an +information-seeking boy. General Garfield answered warmly and fully. +Edward showed the letter to his father, who told the boy that it was +valuable and he should keep it. This was a new idea. He followed it +further; if one such letter was valuable, how much more valuable would +be a hundred! If General Garfield answered him, would not other famous +men? Why not begin a collection of autograph letters? Everybody +collected something. +</P> + +<P> +Edward had collected postage-stamps, and the hobby had, incidentally, +helped him wonderfully in his study of geography. Why should not +autograph letters from famous persons be of equal service in his +struggle for self-education? Not simple autographs--they were +meaningless; but actual letters which might tell him something useful. +It never occurred to the boy that these men might not answer him. +</P> + +<P> +So he took his <I>Encyclopaedia</I>--its trustworthiness now established in +his mind by General Garfield's letter---and began to study the lives of +successful men and women. Then, with boyish frankness, he wrote on +some mooted question in one famous person's life; he asked about the +date of some important event in another's, not given in the +<I>Encyclopaedia</I>; or he asked one man why he did this or why some other +man did that. +</P> + +<P> +Most interesting were, of course, the replies. Thus General Grant +sketched on an improvised map the exact spot where General Lee +surrendered to him; Longfellow told him how he came to write +"Excelsior"; Whittier told the story of "The Barefoot Boy"; Tennyson +wrote out a stanza or two of "The Brook," upon condition that Edward +would not again use the word "awful," which the poet said "is slang for +'very,'" and "I hate slang." +</P> + +<P> +One day the boy received a letter from the Confederate general, Jubal +A. Early, giving the real reason why he burned Chambersburg. A friend +visiting Edward's father, happening to see the letter, recognized in it +a hitherto-missing bit of history, and suggested that it be published +in the <I>New York Tribune</I>. The letter attracted wide attention and +provoked national discussion. +</P> + +<P> +This suggested to the editor of <I>The Tribune</I> that Edward might have +other equally interesting letters; so he despatched a reporter to the +boy's home. This reporter was Ripley Hitchcock, who afterward became +literary adviser for the Appletons and Harpers. Of course Hitchcock at +once saw a "story" in the boy's letters, and within a few days <I>The +Tribune</I> appeared with a long article on its principal news page giving +an account of the Brooklyn boy's remarkable letters and how he had +secured them. The <I>Brooklyn Eagle</I> quickly followed with a request for +an interview; the <I>Boston Globe</I> followed suit; the <I>Philadelphia +Public Ledger</I> sent its New York correspondent; and before Edward was +aware of it, newspapers in different parts of the country were writing +about "the well-known Brooklyn autograph collector." +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok was quick to see the value of the publicity which had so +suddenly come to him. He received letters from other autograph +collectors all over the country who sought to "exchange" with him. +References began to creep into letters from famous persons to whom he +had written, saying they had read about his wonderful collection and +were proud to be included in it. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, +himself the possessor of probably one of the finest collections of +autograph letters in the country, asked Edward to come to Philadelphia +and bring his collection with him--which he did, on the following +Sunday, and brought it back greatly enriched. +</P> + +<P> +Several of the writers felt an interest in a boy who frankly told them +that he wanted to educate himself, and asked Edward to come and see +them. Accordingly, when they lived in New York or Brooklyn, or came to +these cities on a visit, he was quick to avail himself of their +invitations. He began to note each day in the newspapers the +"distinguished arrivals" at the New York hotels; and when any one with +whom he had corresponded arrived, Edward would, after business hours, +go up-town, pay his respects, and thank him in person for his letters. +No person was too high for Edward's boyish approach; President +Garfield, General Grant, General Sherman, President Hayes--all were +called upon, and all received the boy graciously and were interested in +the problem of his self-education. It was a veritable case of making +friends on every hand; friends who were to be of the greatest help and +value to the boy in his after-years, although he had no conception of +it at the time. +</P> + +<P> +The Fifth Avenue Hotel, in those days the stopping-place of the +majority of the famous men and women visiting New York, represented to +the young boy who came to see these celebrities the very pinnacle of +opulence. Often while waiting to be received by some dignitary, he +wondered how one could acquire enough means to live at a place of such +luxury. The main dining-room, to the boy's mind, was an object of +special interest. He would purposely sneak up-stairs and sit on one of +the soft sofas in the foyer simply to see the well-dressed diners go in +and come out. Edward would speculate on whether the time would ever +come when he could dine in that wonderful room just once! +</P> + +<P> +One evening he called, after the close of business, upon General and +Mrs. Grant, whom he had met before, and who had expressed a desire to +see his collection. It can readily be imagined what a red-letter day +it made in the boy's life to have General Grant say: "It might be +better for us all to go down to dinner first and see the collection +afterward." Edward had purposely killed time between five and seven +o'clock, thinking that the general's dinner-hour, like his own, was at +six. He had allowed an hour for the general to eat his dinner, only to +find that he was still to begin it. The boy could hardly believe his +ears, and unable to find his voice, he failed to apologize for his +modest suit or his general after-business appearance. +</P> + +<P> +As in a dream he went down in the elevator with his host and hostess, +and when the party of three faced toward the dining-room entrance, so +familiar to the boy, he felt as if his legs must give way under him. +There have since been other red-letter days in Edward Bok's life, but +the moment that still stands out pre-eminent is that when two colored +head waiters at the dining-room entrance, whom he had so often watched, +bowed low and escorted the party to their table. At last he was in +that sumptuous dining-hall. The entire room took on the picture of one +great eye, and that eye centred on the party of three--as, in fact, it +naturally would. But Edward felt that the eye was on him, wondering +why he should be there. +</P> + +<P> +What he ate and what he said he does not recall. General Grant, not a +voluble talker himself, gently drew the boy out, and Mrs. Grant +seconded him, until toward the close of the dinner he heard himself +talking. He remembers that he heard his voice, but what that voice +said is all dim to him. One act stamped itself on his mind. The +dinner ended with a wonderful dish of nuts and raisins, and just before +the party rose from the table Mrs. Grant asked the waiter to bring her +a paper bag. Into this she emptied the entire dish, and at the close +of the evening she gave it to Edward "to eat on the way home." It was +a wonderful evening, afterward up-stairs, General Grant smoking the +inevitable cigar, and telling stories as he read the letters of +different celebrities. Over those of Confederate generals he grew +reminiscent; and when he came to a letter from General Sherman, Edward +remembers that he chuckled audibly, reread it, and then turning to Mrs. +Grant, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Julia, listen to this from Sherman. Not bad." The letter he read was +this: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MR. BOK:-- +</P> + +<P> +I prefer not to make scraps of sentimental writing. When I write +anything I want it to be real and connected in form, as, for instance, +in your quotation from Lord Lytton's play of "Richelieu," "The pen is +mightier than the sword." Lord Lytton would never have put his +signature to so naked a sentiment. Surely I will not. +</P> + +<P> +In the text there was a prefix or qualification: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Beneath the rule of men entirely great<BR> + The pen is mightier than the sword. +</P> + +<P> +Now, this world does not often present the condition of facts herein +described. Men entirely great are very rare indeed, and even +Washington, who approached greatness as near as any mortal, found good +use for the sword and the pen, each in its proper sphere. +</P> + +<P> +You and I have seen the day when a great and good man ruled this +country (Lincoln) who wielded a powerful and prolific pen, and yet had +to call to his assistance a million of flaming swords. +</P> + +<P> +No, I cannot subscribe to your sentiment, "The pen is mightier than the +sword," which you ask me to write, because it is not true. +</P> + +<P> +Rather, in the providence of God, there is a time for all things; a +time when the sword may cut the Gordian knot, and set free the +principles of right and justice, bound up in the meshes of hatred, +revenge, and tyranny, that the pens of mighty men like Clay, Webster, +Crittenden, and Lincoln were unable to disentangle. Wishing you all +success, I am, with respect, your friend, +<BR><BR> W. T. SHERMAN. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mrs. Grant had asked Edward to send her a photograph of himself, and +after one had been taken, the boy took it to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, +intending to ask the clerk to send it to her room. Instead, he met +General and Mrs. Grant just coming from the elevator, going out to +dinner. The boy told them his errand, and said he would have the +photograph sent up-stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so sorry we are just going out to dinner," said Mrs. Grant, "for +the general had some excellent photographs just taken of himself, and +he signed one for you, and put it aside, intending to send it to you +when yours came." Then, turning to the general, she said: "Ulysses, +send up for it. We have a few moments." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go and get it. I know just where it is," returned the general. +"Let me have yours," he said, turning to Edward. "I am glad to +exchange photographs with you, boy." +</P> + +<P> +To Edward's surprise, when the general returned he brought with him, +not a duplicate of the small <I>carte-de-visite</I> size which he had given +the general--all that he could afford--but a large, full cabinet size. +</P> + +<P> +"They make 'em too big," said the general, as he handed it to Edward. +</P> + +<P> +But the boy didn't think so! +</P> + +<P> +That evening was one that the boy was long to remember. It suddenly +came to him that he had read a few days before of Mrs. Abraham +Lincoln's arrival in New York at Doctor Holbrook's sanitarium. Thither +Edward went; and within half an hour from the time he had been talking +with General Grant he was sitting at the bedside of Mrs. Lincoln, +showing her the wonderful photograph just presented to him. Edward saw +that the widow of the great Lincoln did not mentally respond to his +pleasure in his possession. It was apparent even to the boy that +mental and physical illness had done their work with the frail frame. +But he had the memory, at least, of having got that close to the great +President. +</P> + +<P> +The eventful evening, however, was not yet over. Edward had boarded a +Broadway stage to take him to his Brooklyn home when, glancing at the +newspaper of a man sitting next to him, he saw the headline: "Jefferson +Davis arrives in New York." He read enough to see that the Confederate +President was stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel, in lower Broadway, +and as he looked out of the stage-window the sign "Metropolitan Hotel" +stared him in the face. In a moment he was out of the stage; he wrote +a little note, asked the clerk to send it to Mr. Davis, and within five +minutes was talking to the Confederate President and telling of his +remarkable evening. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Davis was keenly interested in the coincidence and in the boy +before him. He asked about the famous collection, and promised to +secure for Edward a letter written by each member of the Confederate +Cabinet. This he subsequently did. Edward remained with Mr. Davis +until ten o'clock, and that evening brought about an interchange of +letters between the Brooklyn boy and Mr. Davis at Beauvoir, +Mississippi, that lasted until the latter passed away. +</P> + +<P> +Edward was fast absorbing a tremendous quantity of biographical +information about the most famous men and women of his time, and he was +compiling a collection of autograph letters that the newspapers had +made famous throughout the country. He was ruminating over his +possessions one day, and wondering to what practical use he could put +his collection; for while it was proving educative to a wonderful +degree, it was, after all, a hobby, and a hobby means expense. His +autograph quest cost him stationery, postage, car-fare--all outgo. But +it had brought him no income, save a rich mental revenue. And the boy +and his family needed money. He did not know, then, the value of a +background. +</P> + +<P> +He was thinking along this line in a restaurant when a man sitting next +to him opened a box of cigarettes, and taking a picture out of it threw +it on the floor. Edward picked it up, thinking it might be a +"prospect" for his collection of autograph letters. It was the picture +of a well-known actress. He then recalled an advertisement announcing +that this particular brand of cigarettes contained, in each package, a +lithographed portrait of some famous actor or actress, and that if the +purchaser would collect these he would, in the end, have a valuable +album of the greatest actors and actresses of the day. Edward turned +the picture over, only to find a blank reverse side. "All very well," +he thought, "but what does a purchaser have, after all, in the end, but +a lot of pictures? Why don't they use the back of each picture, and +tell what each did: a little biography? Then it would be worth +keeping." With his passion for self-education, the idea appealed very +strongly to him; and believing firmly that there were others possessed +of the same thirst, he set out the next day, in his luncheon hour, to +find out who made the picture. +</P> + +<P> +At the office of the cigarette company he learned that the making of +the pictures was in the hands of the Knapp Lithographic Company. The +following luncheon hour, Edward sought the offices of the company, and +explained his idea to Mr. Joseph P. Knapp, now the president of the +American Lithograph Company. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll give you ten dollars apiece if you will write me a +one-hundred-word biography of one hundred famous Americans," was Mr. +Knapp's instant reply. "Send me a list, and group them, as, for +instance: presidents and vice-presidents, famous soldiers, actors, +authors, etc." +</P> + +<P> +"And thus," says Mr. Knapp, as he tells the tale today, "I gave Edward +Bok his first literary commission, and started him off on his literary +career." +</P> + +<P> +And it is true. +</P> + +<P> +But Edward soon found the Lithograph Company calling for "copy," and, +write as he might, he could not supply the biographies fast enough. +He, at last, completed the first hundred, and so instantaneous was +their success that Mr. Knapp called for a second hundred, and then for +a third. Finding that one hand was not equal to the task, Edward +offered his brother five dollars for each biography; he made the same +offer to one or two journalists whom he knew and whose accuracy he +could trust; and he was speedily convinced that merely to edit +biographies written by others, at one-half the price paid to him, was +more profitable than to write himself. +</P> + +<P> +So with five journalists working at top speed to supply the hungry +lithograph presses, Mr. Knapp was likewise responsible for Edward Bok's +first adventure as an editor. It was commercial, if you will, but it +was a commercial editing that had a distinct educational value to a +large public. +</P> + +<P> +The important point is that Edward Bok was being led more and more to +writing and to editorship. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE +</H3> + +<P> +Edward Bok had not been office boy long before he realized that if he +learned shorthand he would stand a better chance for advancement. So +he joined the Young Men's Christian Association in Brooklyn, and +entered the class in stenography. But as this class met only twice a +week, Edward, impatient to learn the art of "pothooks" as quickly as +possible, supplemented this instruction by a course given on two other +evenings at moderate cost by a Brooklyn business college. As the +system taught in both classes was the same, more rapid progress was +possible, and the two teachers were constantly surprised that he +acquired the art so much more quickly than the other students. +</P> + +<P> +Before many weeks Edward could "stenograph" fairly well, and as the +typewriter had not then come into its own, he was ready to put his +knowledge to practical use. +</P> + +<P> +An opportunity offered itself when the city editor of the <I>Brooklyn +Eagle</I> asked him to report two speeches at a New England Society +dinner. The speakers were to be President Hayes, General Grant, +General Sherman, Mr. Evarts, and General Sheridan. Edward was to +report what General Grant and the President said, and was instructed to +give the President's speech verbatim. +</P> + +<P> +At the close of the dinner, the reporters came in and Edward was seated +directly in front of the President. In those days when a public dinner +included several kinds of wine, it was the custom to serve the +reporters with wine, and as the glasses were placed before Edward's +plate he realized that he had to make a decision then and there. He +had, of course, constantly seen wine on his father's table, as is the +European custom, but the boy had never tasted it. He decided he would +not begin then, when he needed a clear head. So, in order to get more +room for his notebook, he asked the waiter to remove the glasses. +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time he bad ever attempted to report a public address. +General Grant's remarks were few, as usual, and as he spoke slowly, he +gave the young reporter no trouble. But alas for his stenographic +knowledge, when President Hayes began to speak! Edward worked hard, +but the President was too rapid for him; he did not get the speech, and +he noticed that the reporters for the other papers fared no better. +Nothing daunted, however, after the speechmaking, Edward resolutely +sought the President, and as the latter turned to him, he told him his +plight, explained it was his first important "assignment," and asked if +he could possibly be given a copy of the speech so that he could "beat" +the other papers. +</P> + +<P> +The President looked at him curiously for a moment, and then said: "Can +you wait a few minutes?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward assured him that he could. +</P> + +<P> +After fifteen minutes or so the President came up to where the boy was +waiting, and said abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, my boy, why did you have the wine-glasses removed from your +place?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward was completely taken aback at the question, but he explained his +resolution as well as he could. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you make that decision this evening?" the President asked. +</P> + +<P> +He had. +</P> + +<P> +"What is your name?" the President next inquired. +</P> + +<P> +He was told. +</P> + +<P> +"And you live, where?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward told him. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you write your name and address on this card for me," said the +President, reaching for one of the placecards on the table. +</P> + +<P> +The boy did so. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I am stopping with Mr. A. A. Low, on Columbia Heights. Is that +in the direction of your home?" +</P> + +<P> +It was. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you go with me, then, in my carriage," said the President, +"and I will give you my speech." +</P> + +<P> +Edward was not quite sure now whether he was on his head or his feet. +</P> + +<P> +As he drove along with the President and his host, the President asked +the boy about himself, what he was doing, etc. On arriving at Mr. +Low's house, the President went up-stairs, and in a few moments came +down with his speech in full, written in his own hand. Edward assured +him he would copy it, and return the manuscript in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +The President took out his watch. It was then after midnight. Musing +a moment, he said: "You say you are an office boy; what time must you +be at your office?" +</P> + +<P> +"Half past eight, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good night," he said, and then, as if it were a second thought: +"By the way, I can get another copy of the speech. Just turn that in +as it is, if they can read it." +</P> + +<P> +Afterward, Edward found out that, as a matter of fact, it was the +President's only copy. Though the boy did not then appreciate this act +of consideration, his instinct fortunately led him to copy the speech +and leave the original at the President's stopping-place in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +And for all his trouble, the young reporter was amply repaid by seeing +that <I>The Eagle</I> was the only paper which had a verbatim report of the +President's speech. +</P> + +<P> +But the day was not yet done! +</P> + +<P> +That evening, upon reaching home, what was the boy's astonishment to +find the following note: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND:---- +</P> + +<P> +I have been telling Mrs. Hayes this morning of what you told me at the +dinner last evening, and she was very much interested. She would like +to see you, and joins me in asking if you will call upon us this +evening at eight-thirty. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Very faithfully yours, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Edward had not risen to the possession of a suit of evening clothes, +and distinctly felt its lack for this occasion. But, dressed in the +best he had, he set out, at eight o'clock, to call on the President of +the United States and his wife! +</P> + +<P> +He had no sooner handed his card to the butler than that dignitary, +looking at it, announced: "The President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for +you!" The ring of those magic words still sounds in Edward's ears: +"The President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for you!"--and he a boy of +sixteen! +</P> + +<P> +Edward had not been in the room ten minutes before he was made to feel +as thoroughly at ease as if he were sitting in his own home before an +open fire with his father and mother. Skilfully the President drew +from him the story of his youthful hopes and ambitions, and before the +boy knew it he was telling the President and his wife all about his +precious <I>Encyclopaedia</I>, his evening with General Grant, and his +efforts to become something more than an office boy. No boy had ever +so gracious a listener before; no mother could have been more tenderly +motherly than the woman who sat opposite him and seemed so honestly +interested in all that he told. Not for a moment during all those two +hours was he allowed to remember that his host and hostess were the +President of the United States and the first lady of the land! +</P> + +<P> +That evening was the first of many thus spent as the years rolled by; +unexpected little courtesies came from the White House, and later from +"Spiegel Grove"; a constant and unflagging interest followed each +undertaking on which the boy embarked. Opportunities were opened to +him; acquaintances were made possible; a letter came almost every month +until that last little note, late in 1892: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR FRIEND: +</P> + +<P> +I would write you more fully if I could. You are always thoughtful and +kind. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Thankfully your friend, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. +</P> + +<P> +Thanks--thanks for your steady friendship. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The simple act of turning down his wine-glasses had won for Edward Bok +two gracious friends. +</P> + +<P> +The passion for autograph collecting was now leading Edward to read the +authors whom he read about. He had become attached to the works of the +New England group: Longfellow, Holmes, and, particularly, of Emerson. +The philosophy of the Concord sage made a peculiarly strong appeal to +the young mind, and a small copy of Emerson's essays was always in +Edward's pocket on his long stage or horse-car rides to his office and +back. +</P> + +<P> +He noticed that these New England authors rarely visited New York, or, +if they did, their presence was not heralded by the newspapers among +the "distinguished arrivals." He had a great desire personally to meet +these writers; and, having saved a little money, he decided to take his +week's summer vacation in the winter, when he knew he should be more +likely to find the people of his quest at home, and to spend his +savings on a trip to Boston. He had never been so far away from home, +so this trip was a momentous affair. +</P> + +<P> +He arrived in Boston on Sunday evening; and the first thing he did was +to despatch a note, by messenger, to Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, +announcing the important fact that he was there, and what his errand +was, and asking whether he might come up and see Doctor Holmes any time +the next day. Edward naïvely told him that he could come as early as +Doctor Holmes liked--by breakfast-time, he was assured, as Edward was +all alone! Doctor Holmes's amusement at this ingenuous note may be +imagined. +</P> + +<P> +Within the hour the messenger brought back this answer: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR BOY: +</P> + +<P> +I shall certainly look for you to-morrow morning at eight o'clock to +have a piece of pie with me. That is real New England, you know. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Very cordially yours, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Edward was there at eight o'clock. Strictly speaking, he was there at +seven-thirty, and found the author already at his desk in that room +overlooking the Charles River. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," was the cheery greeting, "you couldn't wait until eight for +your breakfast, could you? Neither could I when I was a boy. I used +to have my breakfast at seven," and then telling the boy all about his +boyhood, the cheery poet led him to the dining-room, and for the first +time he breakfasted away from home and ate pie--and that with "The +Autocrat" at his own breakfast-table! +</P> + +<P> +A cosier time no boy could have had. Just the two were there, and the +smiling face that looked out over the plates and cups gave the boy +courage to tell all that this trip was going to mean to him. +</P> + +<P> +"And you have come on just to see us, have you?" chuckled the poet. +"Now, tell me, what good do you think you will get out of it?" +</P> + +<P> +He was told what the idea was: that every successful man had something +to tell a boy, that would be likely to help him, and that Edward wanted +to see the men who had written the books that people enjoyed. Doctor +Holmes could not conceal his amusement at all this. +</P> + +<P> +When breakfast was finished, Doctor Holmes said: "Do you know that I am +a full-fledged carpenter? No? Well, I am. Come into my +carpenter-shop." +</P> + +<P> +And he led the way into a front-basement room where was a complete +carpenter's outfit. +</P> + +<P> +"You know I am a doctor," he explained, "and this shop is my medicine. +I believe that every man must have a hobby that is as different from +his regular work as it is possible to be. It is not good for a man to +work all the time at one thing. So this is my hobby. This is my +change. I like to putter away at these things. Every day I try to +come down here for an hour or so. It rests me because it gives my mind +a complete change. For, whether you believe it or not," he added with +his inimitable chuckle, "to make a poem and to make a chair are two +very different things. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he continued, "if you think you can learn something from me, +learn that and remember it when you are a man. Don't keep always at +your business, whatever it may be. It makes no difference how much you +like it. The more you like it, the more dangerous it is. When you +grow up you will understand what I mean by an 'outlet'--a hobby, that +is--in your life, and it must be so different from your regular work +that it will take your thoughts into an entirely different direction. +We doctors call it a safety-valve, and it is. I would much rather," +concluded the poet, "you would forget all that I have ever written than +that you should forget what I tell you about having a safety-valve." +</P> + +<P> +"And now do you know," smilingly said the poet, "about the Charles +River here?" as they returned to his study and stood before the large +bay window. "I love this river," he said. "Yes, I love it," he +repeated; "love it in summer or in winter." And then he was quiet for +a minute or so. +</P> + +<P> +Edward asked him which of his poems were his favorites. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said musingly, "I think 'The Chambered Nautilus' is my most +finished piece of work, and I suppose it is my favorite. But there are +also 'The Voiceless,' 'My Aviary,' written at this window, 'The Battle +of Bunker Hill,' and 'Dorothy Q,' written to the portrait of my +great-grandmother which you see on the wall there. All these I have a +liking for, and when I speak of the poems I like best there are two +others that ought to be included--'The Silent Melody' and 'The Last +Leaf.' I think these are among my best."' +</P> + +<P> +"What is the history of 'The Chambered Nautilus'?" Edward asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It has none," came the reply, "it wrote itself. So, too, did 'The +One-Hoss Shay.' That was one of those random conceptions that gallop +through the brain, and that you catch by the bridle. I caught it and +reined it. That is all." +</P> + +<P> +Just then a maid brought in a parcel, and as Doctor Holmes opened it on +his desk he smiled over at the boy and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I declare, if you haven't come just at the right time. See +those little books? Aren't they wee?" and he handed the boy a set of +three little books, six inches by four in size, beautifully bound in +half levant. They were his "Autocrat" in one volume, and his +better-known poems in two volumes. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a little fancy of mine," he said. "My publishers, to please +me, have gotten out this tiny wee set. And here," as he counted the +little sets, "they have sent me six sets. Are they not exquisite +little things?" and he fondled them with loving glee. "Lucky, too, for +me that they should happen to come now, for I have been wondering what +I could give you as a souvenir of your visit to me, and here it is, +sure enough! My publishers must have guessed you were here and my mind +at the same time. Now, if you would like it, you shall carry home one +of these little sets, and I'll just write a piece from one of my poems +and your name on the fly-leaf of each volume. You say you like that +little verse: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + "'A few can touch the magic string.' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Then I'll write those four lines in this volume." And he did. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + "A few can touch the magic string,<BR> + And noisy Fame is proud to win them,--<BR> + Alas for those who never sing,<BR> + But die with all their music in them!"<BR> + OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As each little volume went under the poet's pen Edward said, as his +heart swelled in gratitude: +</P> + +<P> +"Doctor Holmes, you are a man of the rarest sort to be so good to a +boy." +</P> + +<P> +The pen stopped, the poet looked out on the Charles a moment, and then, +turning to the boy with a little moisture in his eye, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"No, my boy, I am not; but it does an old man's heart good to hear you +say it. It means much to those on the down-hill side to be well +thought of by the young who are coming up." +</P> + +<P> +As he wiped his gold pen, with its swan-quill holder, and laid it down, +he said: +</P> + +<P> +"That's the pen with which I wrote 'Elsie Venner' and the 'Autocrat' +papers. I try to take care of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You say you are going from me over to see Longfellow?" he continued, +as he reached out once more for the pen. "Well, then, would you mind +if I gave you a letter for him? I have something to send him." +</P> + +<P> +Sly but kindly old gentleman! The "something" he had to send +Longfellow was Edward himself, although the boy did not see through the +subterfuge at that time. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, if you are going, I'll walk along with you if you don't mind, +for I'm going down to Park Street to thank my publishers for these +little books, and that lies along your way to the Cambridge car." +</P> + +<P> +As the two walked along Beacon Street, Doctor Holmes pointed out the +residences where lived people of interest, and when they reached the +Public Garden he said: +</P> + +<P> +"You must come over in the spring some time, and see the tulips and +croci and hyacinths here. They are so beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, here is your car," he said as he hailed a coming horse-car. +"Before you go back you must come and see me and tell me all the people +you have seen, will you? I should like to hear about them. I may not +have more books coming in, but I might have a very good-looking +photograph of a very old-looking little man," he said as his eyes +twinkled. "Give my love to Longfellow when you see him, and don't +forget to give him my letter, you know. It is about a very important +matter." +</P> + +<P> +And when the boy had ridden a mile or so with his fare in his hand he +held it out to the conductor, who grinned and said: +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. Doctor Holmes paid me your fare, and I'm going to +keep that nickel if I lose my job for it." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW +</H3> + +<P> +When Edward Bok stood before the home of Longfellow, he realized that +he was to see the man around whose head the boy's youthful reading had +cast a sort of halo. And when he saw the head itself he had a feeling +that he could see the halo. No kindlier pair of eyes ever looked at a +boy, as, with a smile, "the white Mr. Longfellow," as Mr. Howells had +called him, held out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I am very glad to see you, my boy," were his first words, and with +them he won the boy. Edward smiled back at the poet, and immediately +the two were friends. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been taking a walk this beautiful morning," he said next, "and +am a little late getting at my mail. Suppose you come in and sit at my +desk with me, and we will see what the postman has brought. He brings +me so many good things, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, here is a little girl," he said, as he sat down at the desk with +the boy beside him, "who wants my autograph and a 'sentiment.' What +sentiment, I wonder, shall I send her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not send her 'Let us, then, be up and doing'?" suggested the boy. +"That's what I should like if I were she." +</P> + +<P> +"Should you, indeed?" said Longfellow. "That is a good suggestion. +Now, suppose you recite it off to me, so that I shall not have to look +it up in my books, and I will write as you recite. But slowly; you, +know I am an old man, and write slowly." +</P> + +<P> +Edward thought it strange that Longfellow himself should not know his +own great words without looking them up. But he recited the four +lines, so familiar to every schoolboy, and when the poet had finished +writing them, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Good! I see you have a memory. Now, suppose I copy these lines once +more for the little girl, and give you this copy? Then you can say, +you know, that you dictated my own poetry to me." +</P> + +<P> +Of course Edward was delighted, and Longfellow gave him the sheet on +which he had written: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Let us, then, be up and doing,<BR> + With a heart, for any fate;<BR> + Still achieving, still pursuing,<BR> + Learn to labor and to wait.<BR> + HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Then, as the fine head bent down to copy the lines once more, Edward +ventured to say to him; +</P> + +<P> +"I should think it would keep you busy if you did this for every one +who asked you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the poet, "you see, I am not so busy a man as I was some +years ago, and I shouldn't like to disappoint a little girl, should +you?" +</P> + +<P> +As he took up his letters again, he discovered five more requests for +his autograph. At each one he reached into a drawer in his desk, took +a card, and wrote his name on it. +</P> + +<P> +"There are a good many of these every day," said Longfellow, "but I +always like to do this little favor. It is so little to do, to write +your name on a card; and if I didn't do it some boy or girl might be +looking, day by day, for the postman and be disappointed. I only wish +I could write my name better for them. You see how I break my letters? +That's because I never took pains with my writing when I was a boy. I +don't think I should get a high mark for penmanship if I were at +school, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I see you get letters from Europe," said the boy, as Longfellow opened +an envelope with a foreign stamp on it. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, from all over the world," said the poet. Then, looking at the +boy quickly, he said: "Do you collect postage-stamps?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward said he did. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I have some right here, then;" and going to a drawer in a desk +he took out a bundle of letters, and cut out the postage-stamps and +gave them to the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"There's one from the Netherlands. There's where I was born," Edward +ventured to say. +</P> + +<P> +"In the Netherlands? Then you are a real Dutchman. Well! Well!" he +said, laying down his pen. "Can you read Dutch?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy said he could. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said the poet, "you are just the boy I am looking for." And +going to a bookcase behind him he brought out a book, and handing it to +the boy, he said, his eyes laughing: "Can you read that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed," said Edward. "These are your poems in Dutch." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," he said. "Now, this is delightful. I am so glad you +came. I received this book last week, and although I have been in the +Netherlands, I cannot speak or read Dutch. I wonder whether you would +read a poem to me and let me hear how it sounds." +</P> + +<P> +So Edward took "The Old Clock on the Stairs," and read it to him. +</P> + +<P> +The poet's face beamed with delight. "That's beautiful," he said, and +then quickly added: "I mean the language, not the poem." +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you what we'll do: we'll strike a +bargain. We Yankees are great for bargains, you know. If you will +read me 'The Village Blacksmith' you can sit in that chair there made +out of the wood of the old spreading chestnut-tree, and I'll take you +out and show you where the old shop stood. Is that a bargain?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward assured him it was. He sat in the chair of wood and leather, +and read to the poet several of his own poems in a language in which, +when he wrote them, he never dreamed they would ever be printed. He +was very quiet. Finally he said: "It seems so odd, so very odd, to +hear something you know so well sound so strange." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a great compliment, though, isn't it, sir?" asked the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es," said the poet slowly. "Yes, yes," he added quickly. "It is, +my boy, a very great compliment." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," he said, rousing himself, as a maid appeared, "that means +luncheon, or rather, it means dinner, for we have dinner in the old New +England fashion, in the middle of the day. I am all alone to-day, and +you must keep me company, will you? Then afterward we'll go and take a +walk, and I'll show you Cambridge. It is such a beautiful old town, +even more beautiful, I sometimes think, when the leaves are off the +trees." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-040"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-040.jpg" ALT="Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands" BORDER="2" WIDTH="577" HEIGHT="436"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands.<BR> +In the foreground is one of the typical Dutch canals; <BR> +at the end of the garden in the rear is one of the famous Dutch dykes <BR> +and just beyond is the North Sea. <BR> +The house now belongs to the Dutch Government.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Come," he said, "I'll take you up-stairs, and you can wash your hands +in the room where George Washington slept. And comb your hair, too, if +you want to," he added; "only it isn't the same comb that he used." +</P> + +<P> +To the boyish mind it was an historic breaking of bread, that midday +meal with Longfellow. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you say grace in Dutch?" he asked, as they sat down; and the boy +did. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," the poet declared, "I never expected to hear that at my table. +I like the sound of it." +</P> + +<P> +Then while the boy told all that he knew about the Netherlands, the +poet told the boy all about his poems. Edward said he liked "Hiawatha." +</P> + +<P> +"So do I," he said. "But I think I like 'Evangeline' better. Still, +neither one is as good as it should be. But those are the things you +see afterward so much better than you do at the time." +</P> + +<P> +It was a great event for Edward when, with the poet nodding and smiling +to every boy and man he met, and lifting his hat to every woman and +little girl, he walked through the fine old streets of Cambridge with +Longfellow. At one point of the walk they came to a theatrical +billboard announcing an attraction that evening at the Boston Theatre. +Skilfully the old poet drew out from Edward that sometimes he went to +the theatre with his parents. As they returned to the gate of "Craigie +House" Edward said he thought he would go back to Boston. +</P> + +<P> +"And what have you on hand for this evening?" asked Longfellow. +</P> + +<P> +Edward told him he was going to his hotel to think over the day's +events. +</P> + +<P> +The poet laughed and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Now, listen to my plan. Boston is strange to you. Now we're going to +the theatre this evening, and my plan is that you come in now, have a +little supper with us, and then go with us to see the play. It is a +funny play, and a good laugh will do you more good than to sit in a +hotel all by yourself. Now, what do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +Of course the boy thought as Longfellow did, and it was a very happy +boy that evening who, in full view of the large audience in the immense +theatre, sat in that box. It was, as Longfellow had said, a play of +laughter, and just who laughed louder, the poet or the boy, neither +ever knew. +</P> + +<P> +Between the acts there came into the box a man of courtly presence, +dignified and yet gently courteous. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Phillips," said the poet, "how are you? You must know my young +friend here. This is Wendell Phillips, my boy. Here is a young man +who told me to-day that he was going to call on you and on Phillips +Brooks to-morrow. Now you know him before he comes to you." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be glad to see you, my boy," said Mr. Phillips. "And so you +are going to see Phillips Brooks? Let me tell you something about +Brooks. He has a great many books in his library which are full of his +marks and comments. Now, when you go to see him you ask him to let you +see some of those books, and then, when he isn't looking, you put a +couple of them in your pocket. They would make splendid souvenirs, and +he has so many he would never miss them. You do it, and then when you +come to see me tell me all about it." +</P> + +<P> +And he and Longfellow smiled broadly. +</P> + +<P> +An hour later, when Longfellow dropped Edward at his hotel, he had not +only a wonderful day to think over but another wonderful day to look +forward to as well! +</P> + +<P> +He had breakfasted with Oliver Wendell Holmes; dined, supped, and been +to the theatre with Longfellow; and tomorrow he was to spend with +Phillips Brooks. +</P> + +<P> +Boston was a great place, Edward Bok thought, as he fell asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST +</H3> + +<P> +No one who called at Phillips Brooks's house was ever told that the +master of the house was out when he was in. That was a rule laid down +by Doctor Brooks: a maid was not to perjure herself for her master's +comfort or convenience. Therefore, when Edward was told that Doctor +Brooks was out, he knew he was out. The boy waited, and as he waited +he had a chance to look around the library and into the books. The +rector's faithful housekeeper said he might when he repeated what +Wendell Phillips had told him of the interest that was to be found in +her master's books. Edward did not tell her of Mr. Phillips's advice, +to "borrow" a couple of books. He reserved that bit of information for +the rector of Trinity when he came in, an hour later. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! did he?" laughingly said Doctor Brooks. "That is nice advice for +a man to give a boy. I am surprised at Wendell Phillips. He needs a +little talk: a ministerial visit. And have you followed his shameless +advice?" smilingly asked the huge man as he towered above the boy. +"No? And to think of the opportunity you had, too. Well, I am glad +you had such respect for my dumb friends. For they are my friends, +each one of them," he continued, as he looked fondly at the filled +shelves. "Yes, I know them all, and love each for its own sake. Take +this little volume," and he picked up a little volume of Shakespeare. +"Why, we are the best of friends: we have travelled miles together--all +over the world, as a matter of fact. It knows me in all my moods, and +responds to each, no matter how irritable I am. Yes, it is pretty +badly marked up now, for a fact, isn't it? Black; I never thought of +that before that it doesn't make a book look any better to the eye. +But it means more to me because of all that pencilling. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, some folks dislike my use of my books in this way. They love +their books so much that they think it nothing short of sacrilege to +mark up a book. But to me, that's like having a child so prettily +dressed that you can't romp and play with it. What is the good of a +book, I say, if it is too pretty for use? I like to have my books +speak to me, and then I like to talk back to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Take my Bible, here," he continued, as he took up an old and much-worn +copy of the book. "I have a number of copies of the Great Book: one +copy I preach from; another I minister from; but this is my own +personal copy, and into it I talk and talk. See how I talk," and he +opened the Book and showed interleaved pages full of comments in his +handwriting. "There's where St. Paul and I had an argument one day. +Yes, it was a long argument, and I don't know now who won," he added +smilingly. "But then, no one ever wins in an argument, anyway, do you +think so? +</P> + +<P> +"You see," went on the preacher, "I put into these books what other men +put into articles and essays for magazines and papers. I never write +for publications. I always think of my church when something comes to +me to say. There is always danger of a man spreading himself out thin +if he attempts too much, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Doctor Brooks, must have caught the boy's eye, which, as he said this, +naturally surveyed his great frame, for he regarded him in an amused +way, and putting his hands on his girth, he said laughingly; "You are +thinking I would have to do a great deal to spread myself out thin, +aren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy confessed he was, and the preacher laughed one of those deep +laughs of his that were so infectious. +</P> + +<P> +"But here I am talking about myself. Tell me something about +<I>yourself</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +And when the boy told his object in coming to Boston, the rector of +Trinity Church was immensely amused. +</P> + +<P> +"Just to see us fellows! Well, and how do you like us so far?" +</P> + +<P> +And in the most comfortable way this true gentleman went on until the +boy mentioned that he must be keeping him from his work. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all; not at all," was the quick and hearty response. "Not a +thing to do. I cleaned up all my mail before I had my breakfast this +morning. +</P> + +<P> +"These letters, you mean?" he said, as the boy pointed to some letters +on his desk unopened. "Oh, yes! They must have come in a later mail. +Well, if it will make you feel any better I'll go through them, and you +can go through my books if you like. I'll trust you," he added +laughingly, as Wendell Phillips's advice occurred to him. +</P> + +<P> +"You like books, you say?" he went on, as he opened his letters. +"Well, then, you must come into my library here at any time you are in +Boston, and spend a morning reading anything I have that you like. +Young men do that, you know, and I like to have them. What's the use +of good friends if you don't share them? There's where the pleasure +comes in." +</P> + +<P> +He asked the boy then about his newspaper work, how much it paid him, +and whether he felt it helped him in an educational way. The boy told +him he thought it did; that it furnished good lessons in the study of +human nature. "Yes," he said, "I, can believe that, so long as it is +good journalism." +</P> + +<P> +As he let the boy out of his house, at the end of that first, meeting, +he said to him: +</P> + +<P> +"And you're going from me now to see Emerson? I don't know," he added +reflectively, "whether you will see him at his best. Still, you may. +And even if you do not, to have seen him, even as you may see him, is +better, in a way, than not to have seen him at all." +</P> + +<P> +Edward did not know what Phillips Brooks meant. But he was, sadly, to +find out the next day. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A boy was pretty sure of a welcome from Louisa Alcott, and his greeting +from her was spontaneous and sincere. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you good boy," she said, "to come all the way to Concord to see +us," quite for all the world as if she were the one favored. "Now take +your coat off, and come right in by the fire. Do tell me all about +your visit." +</P> + +<P> +Before that cozy fire they chatted. It was pleasant to the boy to sit +there with that sweet-faced woman with those kindly eyes! After a +while she said: "Now I shall put on my coat and hat, and we shall walk +over to Emerson's house. I am almost afraid to promise that you will +see him. He sees scarcely any one now. He is feeble, and--" She did +not finish the sentence. "But we'll walk over there, at any rate." +</P> + +<P> +She spoke mostly of her father as the two walked along, and it was easy +to see that his condition was now the one thought of her life. +Presently they reached Emerson's house, and Miss Emerson welcomed them +at the door. After a brief chat Miss Alcott told of the boy's hope. +Miss Emerson shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Father sees no one now," she said, "and I fear it might not be a +pleasure if you did see him." +</P> + +<P> +Then Edward told her what Phillips Brooks had said. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," she said, "I'll see." +</P> + +<P> +She had scarcely left the room when Miss Alcott rose and followed her, +saying to the boy: "You shall see Mr. Emerson if it is at all possible." +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes Miss Alcott returned, her eyes moistened, and simply +said: "Come." +</P> + +<P> +The boy followed her through two rooms, and at the threshold of the +third, Miss Emerson stood, also with moistened eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Father," she said simply, and there, at his desk, sat Emerson--the man +whose words had already won Edward Bok's boyish interest, and who was +destined to impress himself upon his life more deeply than any other +writer. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, at the daughter's spoken word, Emerson rose with a wonderful +quiet dignity, extended his hand, and as the boy's hand rested in his, +looked him full in the eyes. +</P> + +<P> +No light of welcome came from those sad yet tender eyes. The boy +closed upon the hand in his with a loving pressure, and for a single +moment the eyelids rose, a different look came into those eyes, and +Edward felt a slight, perceptible response of the hand. But that was +all! +</P> + +<P> +Quietly he motioned the boy to a chair beside the desk. Edward sat +down and was about to say something, when, instead of seating himself, +Emerson walked away to the window and stood there softly whistling and +looking out as if there were no one in the room. Edward's eyes had +followed Emerson's every footstep, when the boy was aroused by hearing +a suppressed sob, and as he looked around he saw that it came from Miss +Emerson. Slowly she walked out of the room. The boy looked at Miss +Alcott, and she put her finger to her mouth, indicating silence. He +was nonplussed. +</P> + +<P> +Edward looked toward Emerson standing in that window, and wondered what +it all meant. Presently Emerson left the window and, crossing the +room, came to his desk, bowing to the boy as he passed, and seated +himself, not speaking a word and ignoring the presence of the two +persons in the room. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the boy heard Miss Alcott say: "Have you read this new book by +Ruskin yet?" +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the great master of thought lifted his eyes from his desk, +turned toward the speaker, rose with stately courtesy from his chair, +and, bowing to Miss Alcott, said with great deliberation: "Did you +speak to me, madam?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy was dumfounded! Louisa Alcott, his Louisa! And he did not +know her! Suddenly the whole sad truth flashed upon the boy. Tears +sprang into Miss Alcott's eyes, and she walked to the other side of the +room. The boy did not know what to say or do, so he sat silent. With +a deliberate movement Emerson resumed his seat, and slowly his eyes +roamed over the boy sitting at the side of the desk. He felt he should +say something. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought, perhaps, Mr. Emerson," he said, "that you might be able to +favor me with a letter from Carlyle." +</P> + +<P> +At the mention of the name Carlyle his eyes lifted, and he asked: +"Carlyle, did you say, sir, Carlyle?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the boy, "Thomas Carlyle." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es," Emerson answered slowly. "To be sure, Carlyle. Yes, he was +here this morning. He will be here again to-morrow morning," he added +gleefully, almost like a child. +</P> + +<P> +Then suddenly: "You were saying----" +</P> + +<P> +Edward repeated his request. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think so, I think so," said Emerson, to the boy's astonishment. +"Let me see. Yes, here in this drawer I have many letters from +Carlyle." +</P> + +<P> +At these words Miss Alcott came from the other part of the room, her +wet eyes dancing with pleasure and her face wreathed in smiles. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we can help this young man; do you not think so, Louisa?" said +Emerson, smiling toward Miss Alcott. The whole atmosphere of the room +had changed. How different the expression of his eyes as now Emerson +looked at the boy! "And you have come all the way from New York to ask +me that!" he said smilingly as the boy told him of his trip. "Now, let +us see," he said, as he delved in a drawer full of letters. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he groped among letters and papers, and then, softly +closing the drawer, he began that ominous low whistle once more, looked +inquiringly at each, and dropped his eyes straightway to the papers +before him on his desk. It was to be only for a few moments, then! +Miss Alcott turned away. +</P> + +<P> +The boy felt the interview could not last much longer. So, anxious to +have some personal souvenir of the meeting, he said: "Mr. Emerson, will +you be so good as to write your name in this book for me?" and he +brought out an album he had in his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Name?" he asked vaguely. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, please," said the boy, "your name: Ralph Waldo Emerson." +</P> + +<P> +But the sound of the name brought no response from the eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Please write out the name you want," he said finally, "and I will copy +it for you if I can." +</P> + +<P> +It was hard for the boy to believe his own senses. But picking up a +pen he wrote: "Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord; November 22, 1881." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-050"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-050.jpg" ALT="Ralph Waldo Emerson's signature" BORDER="2" WIDTH="346" HEIGHT="142"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson's signature.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Emerson looked at it, and said mournfully: "Thank you." Then he picked +up the pen, and writing the single letter "R" stopped, followed his +finger until it reached the "W" of Waldo, and studiously copied letter +by letter! At the word "Concord" he seemed to hesitate, as if the task +were too great, but finally copied again, letter by letter, until the +second "c" was reached. "Another 'o,'" he said, and interpolated an +extra letter in the name of the town which he had done so much to make +famous the world over. When he had finished he handed back the book, +in which there was written: +</P> + +<P> +The boy put the book into his pocket; and as he did so Emerson's eye +caught the slip on his desk, in the boy's handwriting, and, with a +smile of absolute enlightenment, he turned and said; +</P> + +<P> +"You wish me to write my name? With pleasure. Have you a book with +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Overcome with astonishment, Edward mechanically handed him the album +once more from his pocket. Quickly turning over the leaves, Emerson +picked up the pen, and pushing aside the slip, wrote without a moment's +hesitation: +</P> + +<A NAME="img-051"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-051.jpg" ALT="Ralph Waldo Emerson's second signature" BORDER="2" WIDTH="336" HEIGHT="76"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson's second signature.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The boy was almost dazed at the instantaneous transformation in the man! +</P> + +<P> +Miss Alcott now grasped this moment to say: "Well, we must be going!" +</P> + +<P> +"So soon?" said Emerson, rising and smiling. Then turning to Miss +Alcott he said: "It was very kind of you, Louisa, to run over this +morning and bring your young friend." +</P> + +<P> +Then turning to the boy he said: "Thank you so much for coming to see +me. You must come over again while you are with the Alcotts. Good +morning! Isn't it a beautiful day out?" he said, and as he shook the +boy's hand there was a warm grasp in it, the fingers closed around +those of the boy, and as Edward looked into those deep eyes they +twinkled and smiled back. +</P> + +<P> +The going was all so different from the coming. The boy was grateful +that his last impression was of a moment when the eye kindled and the +hand pulsated. +</P> + +<P> +The two walked back to the Alcott home in an almost unbroken silence. +Once Edward ventured to remark: +</P> + +<P> +"You can have no idea, Miss Alcott, how grateful I am to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my boy," she answered, "Phillips Brooks may be right: that it is +something 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." +</P> + +<P> +And so it proved--just five months afterward. +</P> + +<P> +Eventful day after eventful day followed in Edward's Boston visit. The +following morning he spent with Wendell Phillips, who presented him +with letters from William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and other +famous persons; and then, writing a letter of introduction to Charles +Francis Adams, whom he enjoined to give the boy autograph letters from +his two presidential forbears, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, sent +Edward on his way rejoicing. Mr. Adams received the boy with equal +graciousness and liberality. Wonderful letters from the two Adamses +were his when he left. +</P> + +<P> +And then, taking the train for New York, Edward Bok went home, sitting +up all night 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! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET +</H3> + +<P> +The father of Edward Bok passed away when Edward was 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 problem of supporting the mother on their meagre income. +They determined to have but one goal: to put their mother back to that +life of comfort to which she had been brought up and was formerly +accustomed. But that was not possible on their income. It was evident +that other employment must be taken on during the evenings. +</P> + +<P> +The city editor of the <I>Brooklyn Eagle</I> had given Edward the assignment +of covering the news of the theatres; he was to ascertain "coming +attractions" and any other dramatic items of news interest. One Monday +evening, when a multiplicity of events crowded the reportorial corps, +Edward was 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 dramatic criticism. Yet <I>The +Eagle</I> wanted to cover it. It so happened that Edward had made another +appointment for that evening which he considered more important, and +yet not wishing to disappoint his editor he accepted the assignment. +He had seen Miss Coghlan in the play; so he kept his other engagement, +and without approaching 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 next morning on his way to business. +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately, however, Miss Coghlan had been taken ill just before the +raising of the curtain, and, there being no understudy, no performance +had been given and the audience dismissed. All this was duly commented +upon by the New York morning newspapers. Edward read this bit of news +on the ferry-boat, but his notice was in the hands of the city editor. +</P> + +<P> +On reaching home that evening he found a summons from <I>The Eagle</I>, and +the next morning he received a rebuke, and was informed that his +chances with the paper were over. The ready acknowledgment and evident +regret 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 impression. It was always a cause of profound gratitude with +Edward Bok that his first attempt at "faking" occurred so early in his +journalistic career that he could take the experience to heart and +profit by it. +</P> + +<P> +One evening when Edward was attending a theatrical performance, he +noticed the restlessness of the women in the audience between the acts. +In those days it was, even more than at present, the custom for the men +to go out between the acts, leaving the women alone. Edward looked at +the programme in his hands. It was a large eleven-by-nine sheet, four +pages, badly printed, with nothing in it save the cast, a few +advertisements, and an announcement of some coming attraction. The boy +mechanically folded the programme, turned it long side up and wondered +whether a programme of this smaller size, easier to handle, with an +attractive cover and some reading-matter, would not be profitable. +</P> + +<P> +When he reached home he made up an eight-page "dummy," pasted an +attractive picture on the cover, indicated the material to go inside, +and the next morning showed it to the manager of the theatre. The +programme as issued was an item of considerable expense to the +management; Edward offered to supply his new programme without cost, +provided he was given the exclusive right, and the manager at once +accepted the offer. Edward then sought a friend, Frederic L. Colver, +who had a larger experience in publishing and advertising, with whom he +formed a partnership. Deciding that immediately upon the issuance of +their first programme the idea was likely to be taken up by the other +theatres, Edward proceeded to secure the exclusive rights to them all. +The two young publishers solicited their advertisements on the way to +and from business mornings and evenings, and shortly the first +smaller-sized theatre programme, now in use in all theatres, appeared. +The venture was successful from the start, returning a comfortable +profit each week. Such advertisements as they could not secure for +cash they accepted in trade; and this latter arrangement assisted +materially in maintaining the households of the two publishers. +</P> + +<P> +Edward's partner now introduced him into a debating society called The +Philomathean Society, made up of young men connected with Plymouth +Church, of which Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. The debates took the +form of a miniature congress, each member representing 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 +became intensely interested in the society's doings, and it was not +long before he was elected president. +</P> + +<P> +The society derived its revenue from the dues of its members and from +an annual concert given 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 +promise to come and speak; he secured the gratuitous services of Emma +C. Thursby, Annie Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg, and Evelyn Lyon +Hegeman, all of the first rank of concert-singers of that day, with the +result that the church could not accommodate the crowd which naturally +was attracted by such a programme. +</P> + +<P> +It now entered into the minds of the two young theatre-programme +publishers to extend their publishing interests by issuing an "organ" +for their society, and the first issue of <I>The Philomathean Review</I> +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 more general character, so that its +circulation might extend over a larger portion of Brooklyn. With this +extension came a further broadening of its contents, which now began to +take on a literary character, and it was not long before its two +projectors realized that the periodical had outgrown its name. It was +decided--late in 1884--to change the name to <I>The Brooklyn Magazine</I>. +</P> + +<P> +There was a periodical called <I>The Plymouth Pulpit</I>, which presented +verbatim reports of the sermons of Mr. Beecher, and Edward got the idea +of absorbing the <I>Pulpit</I> in the <I>Magazine</I>. 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 +parishioners, with the result that the pair soon had a sufficient +financial backing by some of the leading men of Brooklyn, like H. B. +Claflin, Seth Low, Rossiter W. Raymond, Horatio C. King, and others. +</P> + +<P> +The young publishers could now go on. Understanding that Mr. Beecher's +sermons might give a partial and denominational tone to the magazine, +Edward arranged to publish also in its pages verbatim reports of the +sermons of the Reverend T. De Witt Talmage, whose reputation was then +at its zenith. The young editor now realized that he had a rather +heavy cargo of sermons to carry each month; accordingly, in order that +his magazine might not appear to be exclusively religious, he +determined that its literary contents should be of a high order and +equal in interest to the sermons. But this called for additional +capital, and the capital furnished was not for that purpose. +</P> + +<P> +It is here that Edward's autographic acquaintances stood him in good +stead. He went in turn to each noted person he had met, explained his +plight and stated his ambitions, with the result that very soon the +magazine and the public were surprised at the distinction of the +contributors to <I>The Brooklyn Magazine</I>. 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 time the unwritten rule that a +President's writings 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 +women of the day, some of whom had never written for magazines--began +to appear in the young editor's contents. Editors wondered how the +publishers could afford it, whereas, in fact, not a single name +represented an honorarium. Each contributor had come gratuitously to +the aid of the editor. +</P> + +<P> +At first, the circulation of the magazine 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 them late at night on the front +platform of the streetcars, and take them to the post-office. Thus the +boys absolutely knew the growth of their circulation by the weight of +their bundles and the number of their front-platform trips each month. +Soon a baker's hand-cart was leased for an evening, and that was added +to the capacity of the front platforms. Then one eventful month it was +seen that a horse-truck would have to be employed. Within three weeks, +a double horse-truck was necessary, and three trips had to be made. +</P> + +<P> +By this time Edward Bok had become so intensely interested in the +editorial problem, and his partner in the periodical publishing part, +that they decided to sell out their theatre-programme interests and +devote themselves to the magazine and its rapidly increasing +circulation. All of Edward's editorial work had naturally to be done +outside of his business hours, in other words, in the evenings and on +Sundays; and the young editor found himself fully occupied. He now +revived the old idea of selecting a subject and having ten or twenty +writers express their views on it. It was the old symposium idea, but +it had not been presented in American journalism for a number of years. +He conceived the topic "Should America Have a Westminster Abbey?" and +induced some twenty of the foremost men and women of the day to discuss +it. When the discussion was presented in the magazine, the form being +new and the theme novel, Edward was careful to send advance sheets to +the newspapers, which treated it at length in reviews and editorials, +with marked effect upon the circulation of the magazine. +</P> + +<P> +All this time, while Edward Bok was an editor in his evenings he was, +during the day, a stenographer and clerk of the Western Union Telegraph +Company. The two occupations were hardly compatible, but each meant a +source of revenue to the boy, and he felt he must hold on to both. +</P> + +<P> +After his father passed away, the position of the boy's desk--next to +the empty desk of his father--was a cause of constant depression to +him. This was understood by the attorney for the company, Mr. Clarence +Cary, who sought the head of Edward's department, with the result that +Edward was transferred to Mr. Cary's department as the attorney's +private stenographer. +</P> + +<P> +Edward had been much attracted to Mr. Cary, and the attorney believed +in the boy, and decided to show his interest by pushing him along. He +had heard of the dual role which Edward was playing; he bought a copy +of the magazine, and was interested. Edward now worked with new zest +for his employer and friend; while in every free moment he read law, +feeling that, as almost all his forbears had been lawyers, he might +perhaps be destined for the bar. This acquaintance with the +fundamental basis of law, cursory as it was, became like a gospel to +Edward Bok. In later years, he was taught its value by repeated +experience in his contact with corporate laws, contracts, property +leases, and other matters; and he determined that, whatever the +direction of activity taken by his sons, each should spend at least a +year in the study of law. +</P> + +<P> +The control of the Western Union Telegraph Company had now passed into +the hands of Jay Gould and his companions, and in the many legal +matters arising therefrom, Edward saw much, in his office, of "the +little wizard of Wall Street." One day, the financier had to dictate a +contract, and, coming into Mr. Cary's office, decided to dictate it +then and there. An hour afterward Edward delivered the copy of the +contract to Mr. Gould, and the financier was so struck by its accuracy +and by the legibility of the handwriting that afterward he almost daily +"happened in" to dictate to Mr. Cary's stenographer. Mr. Gould's +private stenographer was in his own office in lower Broadway; but on +his way down-town in the morning Mr. Gould invariably stopped at the +Western Union Building, at 195 Broadway; and the habit resulted in the +installation of a private office there. He borrowed Edward to do his +stenography. The boy found himself taking not only letters from Mr. +Gould's dictation, but, what interested him particularly, the +financier's orders to buy and sell stock. +</P> + +<P> +Edward watched the effects on the stock-market of these little notes +which he wrote out and then shot through a pneumatic tube to Mr. +Gould's brokers. Naturally, the results enthralled the boy, and he +told Mr. Cary about his discoveries. This, in turn, interested Mr. +Cary; Mr. Gould's dictations were frequently given in Mr. Cary's own +office, where, as his desk was not ten feet from that of his +stenographer, the attorney heard them, and began to buy and sell +according to the magnate's decisions. +</P> + +<P> +Edward had now become tremendously interested in the stock game which +he saw constantly played by the great financier; and having a little +money saved up, he concluded that he would follow in the wake of Mr. +Gould's orders. One day, he naïvely mentioned his desire to Mr. Gould, +when the financier seemed in a particularly favorable frame of mind; +but Edward did not succeed in drawing out the advice he hoped for. "At +least," reasoned Edward, "he knew of my intention; and if he considered +it a violation of confidence he would have said as much." +</P> + +<P> +Construing the financier's silence to mean at least not a prohibition, +Edward went to his Sunday-school teacher, who was a member of a Wall +Street brokerage firm, laid the facts before him, and asked him if he +would buy for him some Western Union stock. Edward explained, however, +that somehow he did not like the gambling idea of buying "on margin," +and preferred to purchase the stock outright. He was shown that this +would mean smaller profits; but the boy had in mind the loss of his +father's fortune, brought about largely by "stock margins," and he did +not intend to follow that example. So, prudently, under the brokerage +of his Sunday-school teacher, and guided by the tips of no less a man +than the controlling factor of stock-market finance, Edward Bok took +his first plunge in Wall Street! +</P> + +<P> +Of course the boy's buying and selling tallied precisely with the rise +and fall of Western Union stock. It could scarcely have been +otherwise. Jay Gould had the cards all in his hands; and as he bought +and sold, so Edward bought and sold. The trouble was, the combination +did not end there, as Edward might have foreseen had he been older and +thus wiser. For as Edward bought and sold, so did his Sunday-school +teacher, and all his customers who had seen the wonderful acumen of +their broker in choosing exactly the right time to buy and sell Western +Union. But Edward did not know this. +</P> + +<P> +One day a rumor became current on the Street that an agreement had been +reached by the Western Union Company and its bitter rival, the American +Union Telegraph Company, whereby the former was to absorb the latter. +Naturally; the report affected Western Union stock. But Mr. Gould +denied it in toto; said the report was not true, no such consolidation +was in view or had even been considered. Down tumbled the stock, of +course. +</P> + +<P> +But it so happened that Edward knew the rumor was true, because Mr. +Gould, some time before, had personally given him the contract of +consolidation to copy. The next day a rumor to the effect that the +American Union was to absorb the Western Union appeared on the first +page of every New York newspaper. Edward knew exactly whence this +rumor emanated. He had heard it talked over. Again, Western Union +stock dropped several points. Then he noticed that Mr. Gould became a +heavy buyer. So became Edward--as heavy as he could. Jay Gould +pooh-poohed the latest rumor. The boy awaited developments. +</P> + +<P> +On Sunday afternoon, Edward's Sunday-school teacher asked the boy to +walk home with him, and on reaching the house took him into the study +and asked him whether he felt justified in putting all his savings in +Western Union just at that time when the price was tumbling so fast and +the market was so unsteady. Edward assured his teacher that he was +right, although he explained that he could not disclose the basis of +his assurance. +</P> + +<P> +Edward thought his teacher looked worried, and after a little there +came the revelation that he, seeing that Edward was buying to his +limit, had likewise done so. But the broker had bought on margin, and +had his margin wiped out by the decline in the stock caused by the +rumors. He explained to Edward that he could recoup his losses, heavy +though they were--in fact, he explained that nearly everything he +possessed was involved--if Edward's basis was sure and the stock would +recover. +</P> + +<P> +Edward keenly felt the responsibility placed upon him. He could never +clearly diagnose his feelings when he saw his teacher in this new +light. The broker's "customers" had been hinted at, and the boy of +eighteen wondered how far his responsibility went, and how many persons +were involved. But the deal came out all right, for when, three days +afterward, the contract was made public, Western Union, of course, +skyrocketed, Jay Gould sold out, Edward sold out, the teacher-broker +sold out, and all the customers sold out! +</P> + +<P> +How long a string it was Edward never discovered, but he determined +there and then to end his Wall Street experience; his original amount +had multiplied; he was content to let well enough alone, and from that +day to this Edward Bok has kept out of Wall Street. He had seen enough +of its manipulations; and, although on "the inside," he decided that +the combination of his teacher and his customers was a responsibility +too great for him to carry. +</P> + +<P> +Furthermore, Edward decided to leave the Western Union. The longer he +remained, the less he liked its atmosphere. And the closer his contact +with Jay Gould the more doubtful he became of the wisdom of such an +association and perhaps its unconscious influence upon his own life in +its formative period. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, it was an experience with Mr. Gould that definitely fixed +Edward's determination. The financier decided one Saturday to leave on +a railroad inspection tour on the following Monday. It was necessary +that a special meeting of one of his railroad interests should be held +before his departure, and he fixed the meeting for Sunday at +eleven-thirty at his residence on Fifth Avenue. He asked Edward to be +there to take the notes of the meeting. +</P> + +<P> +The meeting was protracted, and at one o'clock Mr. Gould suggested an +adjournment for luncheon, the meeting to reconvene at two. Turning to +Edward, the financier said: "You may go out to luncheon and return in +an hour." So, on Sunday afternoon, with the Windsor Hotel on the +opposite corner as the only visible place to get something to eat, but +where he could not afford to go, Edward, with just fifteen cents in his +pocket, was turned out to find a luncheon place. +</P> + +<P> +He bought three apples for five cents--all that he could afford to +spend, and even this meant that he must walk home from the ferry to his +house in Brooklyn--and these he ate as he walked up and down Fifth +Avenue until his hour was over. When the meeting ended at three +o'clock, Mr. Gould said that, as he was leaving for the West early next +morning, he would like Edward to write out his notes, and have them at +his house by eight o'clock. There were over forty note-book pages of +minutes. The remainder of Edward's Sunday afternoon and evening was +spent in transcribing the notes. By rising at half past five the next +morning he reached Mr. Gould's house at a quarter to eight, handed him +the minutes, and was dismissed without so much as a word of thanks or a +nod of approval from the financier. +</P> + +<P> +Edward felt that this exceeded the limit of fair treatment by employer +of employee. He spoke of it to Mr. Cary, and asked whether he would +object if he tried to get away from such influence and secure another +position. His employer asked the boy in which direction he would like +to go, and Edward unhesitatingly suggested the publishing business. He +talked it over from every angle with his employer, and Mr. Cary not +only agreed with him that his decision was wise, but promised to find +him a position such as he had in mind. + +It was not long before Mr. Cary made good his word, and told Edward +that his friend Henry Holt, the publisher, would like to give him a +trial. +</P> + +<P> +The day before he was to leave the Western Union Telegraph Company the +fact of his resignation became known to Mr. Gould. The financier told +the boy there was no reason for his leaving, and that he would +personally see to it that a substantial increase was made in his +salary. Edward explained that the salary, while of importance to him, +did not influence him so much as securing a position in a business in +which he felt he would be happier. +</P> + +<P> +"And what business is that?" asked the financier. +</P> + +<P> +"The publishing of books," replied the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"You are making a great mistake," answered the little man, fixing his +keen gray eyes on the boy. "Books are a luxury. The public spends its +largest money on necessities: on what it can't do without. It must +telegraph; it need not read. It can read in libraries. A promising +boy such as you are, with his life before him, should choose the right +sort of business, not the wrong one." +</P> + +<P> +But, as facts proved, the "little wizard of Wall Street" was wrong in +his prediction; Edward Bok was not choosing the wrong business. +</P> + +<P> +Years afterward when Edward was cruising up the Hudson with a yachting +party one Saturday afternoon, the sight of Jay Gould's mansion, upon +approaching Irvington, awakened the desire of the women on board to see +his wonderful orchid collection. Edward explained his previous +association with the financier and offered to recall himself to him, if +the party wished to take the chance of recognition. A note was written +to Mr. Gould, and sent ashore, and the answer came back that they were +welcome to visit the orchid houses. Jay Gould, in person, received the +party, and, placing it under the personal conduct of his gardener, +turned to Edward and, indicating a bench, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Come and sit down here with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the financier, who was in his domestic mood, quite +different from his Wall Street aspect, "I see in the papers that you +seem to be making your way in the publishing business." +</P> + +<P> +Edward expressed surprise that the Wall Street magnate had followed his +work. +</P> + +<P> +"I have because I always felt you had it in you to make a successful +man. But not in that business," he added quickly. "You were born for +the Street. You would have made a great success there, and that is +what I had in mind for you. In the publishing business you will go +just so far; in the Street you could have gone as far as you liked. +There is room there; there is none in the publishing business. It's +not too late now, for that matter," continued the "little wizard," +fastening his steel eyes on the young man beside him! +</P> + +<P> +And Edward Bok has often speculated whither Jay Gould might have led +him. To many a young man, a suggestion from such a source would have +seemed the one to heed and follow. But Edward Bok's instinct never +failed him. He felt that his path lay far apart from that of Jay +Gould--and the farther the better! +</P> + +<P> +In 1882 Edward, with a feeling of distinct relief, left the employ of +the Western Union Telegraph Company and associated himself with the +publishing business in which he had correctly divined that his future +lay. +</P> + +<P> +His chief regret on leaving his position was in severing the close +relations, almost as of father and son, between Mr. Cary and himself. +When Edward was left alone, with the passing away of his father, +Clarence Cary had put his sheltering arm around the lonely boy, and +with the tremendous encouragement of the phrase that the boy never +forgot, "I think you have it in you, Edward, to make a successful man," +he took him under his wing. It was a turning-point in Edward Bok's +life, as he felt at the time and as he saw more clearly afterward. +</P> + +<P> +He remained in touch with his friend, however, keeping him advised of +his progress in everything he did, not only at that time, but all +through his later years. And it was given to Edward to feel the deep +satisfaction of having Mr. Cary say, before he passed away, that the +boy had more than justified the confidence reposed in him. Mr. Cary +lived to see him well on his way, until, indeed, Edward had had the +proud happiness of introducing to his benefactor the son who bore his +name, Cary William Bok. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE +</H3> + +<P> +Edward felt that his daytime hours, spent in a publishing atmosphere as +stenographer with Henry Holt and Company, were more in line with his +editorial duties during the evenings. <I>The Brooklyn Magazine</I> was soon +earning a comfortable income for its two young proprietors, and their +backers were entirely satisfied with the way it was being conducted. +In fact, one of these backers, Mr. Rufus T. Bush, associated with the +Standard Oil Company, who became especially interested, thought he saw +in the success of the magazine a possible opening for one of his sons, +who was shortly to be graduated from college. He talked to the +publisher and editor about the idea, but the boys showed by their books +that while there was a reasonable income for them, not wholly dependent +on the magazine, there was no room for a third. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Bush now suggested that he buy the magazine for his son, alter its +name, enlarge its scope, and make of it a national periodical. +Arrangements were concluded, those who had financially backed the +venture were fully paid, and the two boys received a satisfactory +amount for their work in building up the magazine. Mr. Bush asked +Edward to suggest a name for the new periodical, and in the following +month of May, 1887, <I>The Brooklyn Magazine</I> became <I>The American +Magazine</I>, with its publication office in New York. But, though a +great deal of money was spent on the new magazine, it did not succeed. +Mr. Bush sold his interest in the periodical, which, once more changing +its name, became <I>The Cosmopolitan Magazine</I>. Since then it has passed +through the hands of several owners, but the name has remained the +same. Before Mr. Bush sold <I>The American Magazine</I> he had urged Edward +to come back to it as its editor, with promise of financial support; +but the young man felt instinctively that his return would not be wise. +The magazine had been <I>The Cosmopolitan</I> only a short time when the new +owners, Mr. Paul J. Slicht and Mr. E. D. Walker, also solicited the +previous editor to accept reappointment. But Edward, feeling that his +baby had been rechristened too often for him to father it again, +declined the proposition. He had not heard the last of it, however, +for, by a curious coincidence, its subsequent owner, entirely ignorant +of Edward's previous association with the magazine, invited him to +connect himself with it. Thus three times could Edward Bok have +returned to the magazine for whose creation he was responsible. +</P> + +<P> +Edward was now without editorial cares; but he had already, even before +disposing of the magazine, embarked on another line of endeavor. In +sending to a number of newspapers the advance sheets of a particularly +striking "feature" in one of his numbers of <I>The Brooklyn Magazine</I>, it +occurred to him that he was furnishing a good deal of valuable material +to these papers without cost. It is true his magazine was receiving +the advertising value of editorial comment; but he wondered whether the +newspapers would not be willing to pay for the privilege of +simultaneous publication. An inquiry or two proved that they would. +Thus Edward stumbled upon the "syndicate" plan of furnishing the same +article to a group of newspapers, one in each city, for simultaneous +publication. He looked over the ground, and found that while his idea +was not a new one, since two "syndicate" agencies already existed, the +field was by no means fully covered, and that the success of a third +agency would depend entirely upon its ability to furnish the newspapers +with material equally good or better than they received from the +others. After following the material furnished by these agencies for +two or three weeks, Edward decided that there was plenty of room for +his new ideas. +</P> + +<P> +He discussed the matter with his former magazine partner, Colver, and +suggested that if they could induce Mr. Beecher to write a weekly +comment on current events for the newspapers it would make an +auspicious beginning. They decided to talk it over with the famous +preacher. For to be a "Plymouth boy"--that is, to go to the Plymouth +Church Sunday-school and to attend church there--was to know personally +and become devoted to Henry Ward Beecher. And the two were synonymous. +There was no distance between Mr. Beecher and his "Plymouth boys." +Each understood the other. The tie was that of absolute comradeship. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe in it, boys," said Mr. Beecher when Edward and his +friend broached the syndicate letter to him. "No one yet ever made a +cent out of my supposed literary work." +</P> + +<P> +All the more reason, was the argument, why some one should. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Beecher smiled! How well he knew the youthful enthusiasm that +rushes in, etc. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, all right! I like your pluck," he finally said. "I'll help you +if I can." +</P> + +<P> +The young editors agreed to pay Mr. Beecher a weekly sum of two hundred +and fifty dollars--which he knew was considerable for them. +</P> + +<P> +When the first article had been written they took him their first +check. He looked at it quizzically, and then at the boys. Then he +said simply: "Thank you." He took a pin and pinned the check to his +desk. There it remained, much to their curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +The following week he had written the second article and the boys gave +him another check. He pinned that up over the other. "I like to look +at them," was his only explanation, as he saw Edward's inquiring glance +one morning. +</P> + +<P> +The third check was treated the same way. When they handed him the +fourth, one morning, as he was pinning it up over the others, he asked: +"When do you get your money from the newspapers?" +</P> + +<P> +He was told that the bills were going out that morning for the four +letters constituting a month's service. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," he remarked. +</P> + +<P> +A fortnight passed, then one day Mr. Beecher asked: "Well, how are the +checks coming in?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," he was assured. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you let me see how much you've got in," he suggested, and the +boys brought the accounts to him. +</P> + +<P> +After looking at them he said: "That's very interesting. How much have +you in the bank?" +</P> + +<P> +He was told the balance, less the checks given to him. "But I haven't +turned them in yet," he explained. "Anyhow, you have enough in bank to +meet the checks you have given me, and a profit besides, haven't you?" +</P> + +<P> +He was assured they had. +</P> + +<P> +Then, taking his bank-book from a drawer; he unpinned the six checks on +his desk, indorsed each, wrote a deposit slip, and, handing the book to +Edward, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Just hand that in at the bank as you go by, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward was very young then, and Mr. Beecher's methods of financiering +seemed to him quite in line with current notions of the Plymouth +pastor's lack of business knowledge. But as the years rolled on the +incident appeared in a new light--a striking example of the great +preacher's wonderful considerateness. +</P> + +<P> +Edward had offered to help Mr. Beecher with his correspondence; at the +close of one afternoon, while he was with the Plymouth pastor at work, +an organ-grinder and a little girl came under the study window. A +cold, driving rain was pelting down. In a moment Mr. Beecher noticed +the girl's bare toes sticking out of her worn shoes. +</P> + +<P> +He got up, went into the hall, and called for one of his granddaughters. +</P> + +<P> +"Got any good, strong rain boots?" he asked when she appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, grandfather. Why?" was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"More than one pair?" Mr. Beecher asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, two or three, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"Bring me your strongest pair, will you, dear?" he asked. And as the +girl looked at him with surprise he said: "Just one of my notions." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, just bring that child into the house and put them on her feet for +me, will you?" he said when the shoes came. "I'll be able to work so +much better." +</P> + +<P> +One rainy day, as Edward was coming up from Fulton Ferry with Mr. +Beecher, they met an old woman soaked with the rain. "Here, you take +this, my good woman," said the clergyman, putting his umbrella over her +head and thrusting the handle into the astonished woman's hand. "Let's +get into this," he said to Edward simply, as he hailed a passing car. +</P> + +<P> +"There is a good deal of fraud about beggars," he remarked as he waved +a sot away from him one day; "but that doesn't apply to women and +children," he added; and he never passed such mendicants without +stopping. All the stories about their being tools in the hands of +accomplices failed to convince him. "They're women and children," he +would say, and that settled it for him. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, son? Stuck?" he said once to a newsboy who was +crying with a heavy bundle of papers under his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along with me, then," said Mr. Beecher, taking the boy's hand and +leading him into the newspaper office a few doors up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"This boy is stuck," he simply said to the man behind the counter. +"Guess <I>The Eagle</I> can stand it better than this boy; don't you think +so?" +</P> + +<P> +To the grown man Mr. Beecher rarely gave charity. +</P> + +<P> +He believed in a return for his alms. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you go to work?" he asked of a man who approached him one +day in the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't find any," said the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Looked hard for it?" was the next question. +</P> + +<P> +"I have," and the man looked Mr. Beecher in the eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Want some?" asked Mr. Beecher. +</P> + +<P> +"I do," said the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me," said the preacher. And then to Edward, as they walked +along with the man following behind, he added: "That man is honest." +</P> + +<P> +"Let this man sweep out the church," he said to the sexton when they +had reached Plymouth Church. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Mr. Beecher," replied the sexton with wounded pride, "it doesn't +need it." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell him so, though," said Mr. Beecher with a merry twinkle of +the eye; and the sexton understood. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Beecher was constantly thoughtful of a struggling young man's +welfare, even at the expense of his own material comfort. Anxious to +save him from the labor of writing out the newspaper articles, Edward, +himself employed during the daylight hours which Mr. Beecher preferred +for his original work, suggested a stenographer. The idea appealed to +Mr. Beecher, for he was very busy just then. He hesitated, but as +Edward persisted, he said: "All right; let him come to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +The next day he said: "I asked that stenographer friend of yours not to +come again. No use of my trying to dictate. I am too old to learn new +tricks. Much easier for me to write myself." +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after that, however, Mr. Beecher dictated to Edward some +material for a book he was writing. Edward naturally wondered at this, +and asked the stenographer what had happened. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," he said. "Only Mr. Beecher asked me how much it would cost +you to have me come to him each week. I told him, and then he sent me +away." +</P> + +<P> +That was Henry Ward Beecher! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Edward Bok was in the formative period between boyhood and young +manhood when impressions meant lessons, and associations meant ideals. +Mr. Beecher never disappointed. The closer one got to him, the greater +he became--in striking contrast to most public men, as Edward had +already learned. +</P> + +<P> +Then, his interests and sympathies were enormously wide. He took in so +much! One day Edward was walking past Fulton Market, in New York City, +with Mr. Beecher. +</P> + +<P> +"Never skirt a market," the latter said; "always go through it. It's +the next best thing, in the winter, to going South." +</P> + +<P> +Of course all the marketmen knew him, and they knew, too, his love for +green things. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of these apples, Mr. Beecher?" one marketman would +stop to ask. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Beecher would answer heartily: "Fine! Don't see how you grow them. +All that my trees bear is a crop of scale. Still, the blossoms are +beautiful in the spring, and I like an apple-leaf. Ever examine one?" +The marketman never had. "Well, now, do, the next time you come across +an apple-tree in the spring." +</P> + +<P> +And thus he would spread abroad an interest in the beauties of nature +which were commonly passed over. +</P> + +<P> +"Wonderful man, Beecher is," said a market dealer in green goods once. +"I had handled thousands of bunches of celery in my life and never +noticed how beautiful its top leaves were until he picked up a bunch +once and told me all about it. Now I haven't the heart to cut the +leaves off when a customer asks me." +</P> + +<P> +His idea of his own vegetable-gardening at Boscobel, his Peekskill +home, was very amusing. One day Edward was having a hurried dinner, +preparatory to catching the New York train. Mr. Beecher sat beside the +boy, telling him of some things he wished done in Brooklyn. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I thank you," said Edward, as the maid offered him some potatoes. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, young man," said Mr. Beecher, "don't pass those potatoes so +lightly. They're of my own raising--and I reckon they cost me about a +dollar a piece," he added with a twinkle in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +He was an education in so many ways! One instance taught Edward the +great danger of passionate speech that might unconsciously wound; and +the manliness of instant recognition of the error. Swayed by an +occasion, or by the responsiveness of an audience, Mr. Beecher would +sometimes say something which was not meant as it sounded. One +evening, at a great political meeting at Cooper Union, Mr. Beecher was +at his brightest and wittiest. In the course of his remarks he had +occasion to refer to ex-President Hayes; some one in the audience +called out: "He was a softy!" +</P> + +<P> +"No," was Mr. Beecher's quick response. "The country needed a poultice +at that time, and got it." +</P> + +<P> +"He's dead now, anyhow," responded the voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Not dead, my friend; he only sleepeth." +</P> + +<P> +It convulsed the audience, of course, and the reporters took it down in +their books. +</P> + +<P> +After the meeting Edward drove home with Mr. Beecher. +</P> + +<P> +After a while he asked: "Well, how do you think it went?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward replied he thought it went very well, except that he did not +like the reference to ex-President Hayes. +</P> + +<P> +"What reference? What did I say?" +</P> + +<P> +Edward repeated it. +</P> + +<P> +"Did I say that?" he asked. Edward looked at him. Mr. Beecher's face +was tense. After a few moments he said: "That's generally the way with +extemporaneous remarks: they are always dangerous. The best impromptu +speeches and remarks are the carefully prepared kind," he added. +</P> + +<P> +Edward told him he regretted the reference because he knew that General +Hayes would read it in the New York papers, and he would be nonplussed +to understand it, considering the cordial relations which existed +between the two men. Mr. Beecher knew of Edward's relations with the +ex-President, and they had often talked of him together. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing more was said of the incident. When the Beecher home was +reached Mr. Beecher said: "Just come in a minute." He went straight to +his desk, and wrote and wrote. It seemed as if he would never stop. +At last he handed Edward an eight-page letter, closely written, +addressed to General Hayes. +</P> + +<P> +"Read that, and mail it, please, on your way home. Then it'll get +there just as quickly as the New York papers will." +</P> + +<P> +It was a superbly fine letter,--one of those letters which only Henry +Ward Beecher could write in his tenderest moods. And the reply which +came from Fremont, Ohio, was no less fine! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES," AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S +</H3> + +<P> +Edward had been in the employ of Henry Holt and Company as clerk and +stenographer for two years when Mr. Cary sent for him and told him that +there was an opening in the publishing house of Charles Scribner's +Sons, if he wanted to make a change. Edward saw at once the larger +opportunities possible in a house of the importance of the Scribners, +and he immediately placed himself in communication with Mr. Charles +Scribner, with the result that in January, 1884, he entered the employ +of these publishers as stenographer to the two members of the firm and +to Mr. Edward L. Burlingame, literary adviser to the house. He was to +receive a salary of eighteen dollars and thirty-three cents per week, +which was then considered a fair wage for stenographic work. The +typewriter had at that time not come into use, and all letters were +written in long-hand. Once more his legible handwriting had secured +for him a position. +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok was now twenty-one years of age. He had already done a +prodigious amount of work for his years. He was always busy. Every +spare moment of his evenings was devoted either to writing his literary +letter, to the steady acquirement of autograph letters in which he +still persisted, or to helping Mr. Beecher in his literary work. The +Plymouth pastor was particularly pleased with Edward's successful +exploitation of his pen work; and he afterward wrote: "Bok is the only +man who ever seemed to make my literary work go and get money out of +it." +</P> + +<P> +Enterprise and energy the boy unquestionably possessed, but one need +only think back even thus far in his life to see the continuous good +fortune which had followed him in the friendships he had made, and in +the men with whom his life, at its most formative period, had come into +close contact. If we are inclined to credit young Bok with an +ever-willingness to work and a certain quality of initiative, the +influences which played upon him must also be taken into account. +</P> + +<P> +Take, for example, the peculiarly fortuitous circumstances under which +he entered the Scribner publishing house. As stenographer to the two +members of the firm, Bok was immediately brought into touch with the +leading authors of the day, their works as they were discussed in the +correspondence dictated to him, and the authors' terms upon which books +were published. In fact, he was given as close an insight as it was +possible for a young man to get into the inner workings of one of the +large publishing houses in the United States, with a list peculiarly +noted for the distinction of its authors and the broad scope of its +books. +</P> + +<P> +The Scribners had the foremost theological list of all the publishing +houses; its educational list was exceptionally strong; its musical list +excelled; its fiction represented the leading writers of the day; its +general list was particularly noteworthy; and its foreign department, +importing the leading books brought out in Great Britain and Europe, +was an outstanding feature of the business. The correspondence +dictated to Bok covered, naturally, all these fields, and a more +remarkable opportunity for self-education was never offered a +stenographer. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Burlingame was known in the publishing world for his singularly +keen literary appreciation, and was accepted as one of the best judges +of good fiction. Bok entered the Scribner employ as Mr. Burlingame was +selecting the best short stories published within a decade for a set of +books to be called "Short Stories by American Authors." The +correspondence for this series was dictated to Bok, and he decided to +read after Mr. Burlingame and thus get an idea of the best fiction of +the day. So whenever his chief wrote to an author asking for +permission to include his story in the proposed series, Bok immediately +hunted up the story and read it. +</P> + +<P> +Later, when the house decided to start <I>Scribner's Magazine</I>, and Mr. +Burlingame was selected to be its editor, all the preliminary +correspondence was dictated to Bok through his employers, and he +received a first-hand education in the setting up of the machinery +necessary for the publication of a magazine. All this he eagerly +absorbed. +</P> + +<P> +He was again fortunate in that his desk was placed in the advertising +department of the house; and here he found, as manager, an old-time +Brooklyn boy friend with whom he had gone to school, Frank N. +Doubleday, to-day the senior partner of Doubleday, Page and Company. +Bok had been attracted to advertising through his theatre programme and +<I>Brooklyn Magazine</I> experience, and here was presented a chance to +learn the art at first hand and according to the best traditions. So, +whenever his stenographic work permitted, he assisted Mr. Doubleday in +preparing and placing the advertisements of the books of the house. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Doubleday was just reviving the publication of a house-organ called +<I>The Book Buyer</I>, and, given a chance to help in this, Bok felt he was +getting back into the periodical field, especially since, under Mr. +Doubleday's guidance, the little monthly soon developed into a literary +magazine of very respectable size and generally bookish contents. +</P> + +<P> +The house also issued another periodical, <I>The Presbyterian Review</I>, a +quarterly under the editorship of a board of professors connected with +the Princeton and Union Theological Seminaries. This ponderous-looking +magazine was not composed of what one might, call "light reading," and +as the price of a single copy was eighty cents, and the advertisements +it could reasonably expect were necessarily limited in number, the +periodical was rather difficult to move. Thus the whole situation at +the Scribners' was adapted to give Edward an all-round training in the +publishing business. It was an exceptional opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +He worked early and late. An increase in his salary soon told him that +he was satisfying his employers, and then, when the new <I>Scribner's +Magazine</I> appeared, and a little later Mr. Doubleday was delegated to +take charge of the business end of it, Bok himself was placed in charge +of the advertising department, with the publishing details of the two +periodicals on his hands. +</P> + +<P> +He suddenly found himself directing a stenographer instead of being a +stenographer himself. Evidently his apprentice days were over. He +had, in addition, the charge of sending all the editorial copies of the +new books to the press for review, and of keeping a record of those +reviews. This naturally brought to his desk the authors of the house +who wished to see how the press received their works. +</P> + +<P> +The study of the writers who were interested in following the press +notices of their books, and those who were indifferent to them became a +fascinating game to young Bok. He soon discovered that the greater the +author the less he seemed to care about his books once they a were +published. Bok noticed this, particularly, in the case of Robert Louis +Stevenson, whose work had attracted him, but, although he used the most +subtle means to inveigle the author into the office to read the press +notices, he never succeeded. Stevenson never seemed to have the +slightest interest in what the press said of his books. +</P> + +<P> +One day Mr. Burlingame asked Bok to take some proofs to Stevenson at +his home; thinking it might be a propitious moment to interest the +author in the popular acclaim that followed the publication of <I>Doctor +Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</I>, Bok put a bunch of press notices in his pocket. +He found the author in bed, smoking his inevitable cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +As the proofs were to be brought back, Bok waited, and thus had an +opportunity for nearly two hours to see the author at work. No man +ever went over his proofs more carefully than did Stevenson; his +corrections were numerous; and sometimes for ten minutes at a time he +would sit smoking and thinking over a single sentence, which, when he +had satisfactorily shaped it in his mind, he would recast on the proof. +</P> + +<P> +Stevenson was not a prepossessing figure at these times. With his +sallow skin and his black dishevelled hair, with finger-nails which had +been allowed to grow very long, with fingers discolored by tobacco--in +short, with a general untidiness that was all his own, Stevenson, so +Bok felt, was an author whom it was better to read than to see. And +yet his kindliness and gentleness more than offset the unattractiveness +of his physical appearance. +</P> + +<P> +After one or two visits from Bok, having grown accustomed to him, +Stevenson would discuss some sentence in an article, or read some +amended paragraph out loud and ask whether Bok though it sounded +better. To pass upon Stevenson as a stylist was, of course, hardly +within Bok's mental reach, so he kept discreetly silent when Stevenson +asked his opinion. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, Bok reasoned it out that the novelist did not really expect an +answer or an opinion, but was at such times thinking aloud. The mental +process, however, was immensely interesting, particularly when +Stevenson would ask Bok to hand him a book on words lying on an +adjacent table. "So hard to find just the right word," Stevenson would +say, and Bok got his first realization of the truth of the maxim: "Easy +writing, hard reading; hard writing, easy reading." +</P> + +<P> +On this particular occasion when Stevenson finished, Bok pulled out his +clippings, told the author how his book was being received, and was +selling, what the house was doing to advertise it, explained the +forthcoming play by Richard Mansfield, and then offered the press +notices. +</P> + +<P> +Stevenson took the bundle and held it in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"That's very nice to tell me all you have," he said, "and I have been +greatly interested. But you have really told me all about it, haven't +you, so why should I read these notices? Hadn't I better get busy on +another paper for Mr. Burlingame for the next magazine, else he'll be +after me? You know how impatient these editors are." And he handed +back the notices. +</P> + +<P> +Bok saw it was of no use: Stevenson was interested in his work, but, +beyond a certain point, not in the world's reception of it. Bok's +estimate of the author rose immeasurably. His attitude was in such +sharp contrast to that of others who came almost daily into the office +to see what the papers said, often causing discomfiture to the young +advertising director by insisting upon taking the notices with them. +But Bok always countered this desire by reminding the author that, of +course, in that case he could not quote from these desirable notices in +his advertisements of the book. And, invariably, the notices were left +behind! +</P> + +<P> +It now fell to the lot of the young advertiser to arouse the interest +of the public in what were to be some of the most widely read and +best-known books of the day: Robert Louis Stevenson's <I>Dr. Jekyll and +Mr. Hyde</I>; Frances Hodgson Burnett's <I>Little Lord Fauntleroy</I>; Andrew +Carnegie's <I>Triumphant Democracy</I>; Frank R. Stockton's <I>The Lady, or +the Tiger?</I> and his <I>Rudder Grange</I>, and a succession of other books. +</P> + +<P> +The advertising of these books keenly sharpened the publicity sense of +the developing advertising director. One book could best be advertised +by the conventional means of the display advertisement; another, like +<I>Triumphant Democracy</I>, was best served by sending out to the +newspapers a "broadside" of pungent extracts; public curiosity in a +story like <I>The Lady, or the Tiger?</I> was, of course, whetted by the +publication of literary notes as to the real dénouement the author had +in mind in writing the story. Whenever Mr. Stockton came into the +office Bok pumped him dry as to his experiences with the story, such as +when, at a dinner party, his hostess served an ice-cream lady and a +tiger to the author, and the whole company watched which he chose. +</P> + +<P> +"And which did you choose?" asked the advertising director. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Et tu, Brute?</I>" Stockton smilingly replied. "Well, I'll tell you. I +asked the butler to bring me another spoon, and then, with a spoon in +each hand, I attacked both the lady and the tiger at the same time." +</P> + +<P> +Once, when Stockton was going to Boston by the night boat, every room +was taken. The ticket agent recognized the author, and promised to get +him a desirable room if the author would tell which he had had in mind, +the lady or the tiger. +</P> + +<P> +"Produce the room," answered Stockton. +</P> + +<P> +The man did. Stockton paid for it, and then said: +</P> + +<P> +"To tell you the truth, my friend, I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +And that was the truth, as Mr. Stockton confessed to his friends. The +idea of the story had fascinated him; when he began it he purposed to +give it a definite ending. But when he reached the end he didn't know +himself which to produce out of the open door, the lady or the tiger, +"and so," he used to explain, "I made up my mind to leave it hanging in +the air." +</P> + +<P> +When the stories of <I>Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</I> and <I>Little Lord +Fauntleroy</I> were made into plays, Bok was given an opportunity for an +entirely different kind of publicity. Both plays were highly +successful; they ran for weeks in succession, and each evening Bok had +circulars of the books in every seat of the theatre; he had a table +filled with the books in the foyer of each theatre; and he bombarded +the newspapers with stories of Mr. Mansfield's method of making the +quick change from one character to the other in the dual role of the +Stevenson play, and with anecdotes about the boy Tommy Russell in Mrs. +Burnett's play. The sale of the books went merrily on, and kept pace +with the success of the plays. And it all sharpened the initiative of +the young advertiser and developed his sense for publicity. +</P> + +<P> +One day while waiting in the anteroom of a publishing house to see a +member of the firm, he picked up a book and began to read it. Since he +had to wait for nearly an hour, he had read a large part of the volume +when he was at last admitted to the private office. When his business +was finished, Bok asked the publisher why this book was not selling. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," replied the publisher. "We had great hopes for it, but +somehow or other the public has not responded to it." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you are telling the public about it in the right way?" +ventured Bok. +</P> + +<P> +The Scribner advertising had by this time attracted the attention of +the publishing world, and this publisher was entirely ready to listen +to a suggestion from his youthful caller. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish we published it," said Bok. "I think I could make it a go. +It's all in the book." +</P> + +<P> +"How would you advertise it?" asked the publisher. +</P> + +<P> +Bok promised the publisher he would let him know. He carried with him +a copy of the book, wrote some advertisements for it, prepared an +attractive "broadside" of extracts, to which the book easily lent +itself, wrote some literary notes about it, and sent the whole +collection to the publisher. Every particle of "copy" which Bok had +prepared was used, the book began to sell, and within three months it +was the most discussed book of the day. +</P> + +<P> +The book was Edward Bellamy's <I>Looking Backward</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Mr. Beecher's weekly newspaper "syndicate" letter was not +only successful in itself, it made liberal money for the writer and for +its two young publishers, but it served to introduce Edward Bok's +proposed agency to the newspapers under the most favorable conditions. +With one stroke, the attention of newspaper editors had been attracted, +and Edward concluded to take quick advantage of it. He organized the +Bok Syndicate Press, with offices in New York, and his brother, William +J. Bok, as partner and active manager. +</P> + +<P> +Edward's attention was now turned, for the first time, to women and +their reading habits. He became interested in the fact that the +American woman was not a newspaper reader. He tried to find out the +psychology of this, and finally reached the conclusion, on looking over +the newspapers, that the absence of any distinctive material for women +was a factor. He talked the matter over with several prominent New +York editors, who frankly acknowledged that they would like nothing +better than to interest women, and make them readers of their papers. +But they were equally frank in confessing that they were ignorant both +of what women wanted, and, even if they knew, of where such material +was to be had. Edward at once saw that here was an open field. It was +a productive field, since, as woman was the purchasing power, it would +benefit the newspaper enormously in its advertising if it could offer a +feminine clientele. +</P> + +<P> +There was a bright letter of New York gossip published in the <I>New York +Star</I>, called "Bab's Babble." Edward had read it, and saw the +possibility of syndicating this item as a woman's letter from New York. +He instinctively realized that women all over the country would read +it. He sought out the author, made arrangements with her and with +former Governor Dorscheimer, owner of the paper, and the letter was +sent out to a group of papers. It was an instantaneous success, and a +syndicate of ninety newspapers was quickly organized. +</P> + +<P> +Edward followed this up by engaging Ella Wheeler Wilcox, then at the +height of her career, to write a weekly letter on women's topics. This +he syndicated in conjunction with the other letter, and the editors +invariably grouped the two letters. This, in turn, naturally led to +the idea of supplying an entire page of matter of interest to women. +The plan was proposed to a number of editors, who at once saw the +possibilities in it and promised support. The young syndicator now +laid under contribution all the famous women writers of the day; he +chose the best of the men writers to write on women's topics; and it +was not long before the syndicate was supplying a page of women's +material. The newspapers played up the innovation, and thus was +introduced into the newspaper press of the United States the "Woman's +Page." +</P> + +<P> +The material supplied by the Bok Syndicate Press was of the best; the +standard was kept high; the writers were selected from among the most +popular authors of the day; and readability was the cardinal note. The +women bought the newspapers containing the new page, the advertiser +began to feel the presence of the new reader, and every newspaper that +could not get the rights for the "Bok Page," as it came to be known, +started a "Woman's Page" of its own. Naturally, the material so +obtained was of an inferior character. No single newspaper could +afford what the syndicate, with the expense divided among a hundred +newspapers, could pay. Nor had the editors of these woman's pages +either a standard or a policy. In desperation they engaged any person +they could to "get a lot of woman's stuff." It was stuff, and of the +trashiest kind. So that almost coincident with the birth of the idea +began its abuse and disintegration; the result we see in the +meaningless presentations which pass for "woman's pages" in the +newspaper of to-day. +</P> + +<P> +This is true even of the woman's material in the leading newspapers, +and the reason is not difficult to find. The average editor has, as a +rule, no time to study the changing conditions of women's interests; +his time is and must be engrossed by the news and editorial pages. He +usually delegates the Sunday "specials" to some editor who, again, has +little time to study the everchanging women's problems, particularly in +these days, and he relies upon unintelligent advice, or he places his +"woman's page" in the hands of some woman with the comfortable +assurance that, being a woman, she ought to know what interests her sex. +</P> + +<P> +But having given the subject little thought, he attaches minor +importance to the woman's "stuff," regarding it rather in the light of +something that he "must carry to catch the women"; and forthwith he +either forgets it or refuses to give the editor of his woman's page +even a reasonable allowance to spend on her material. The result is, +of course, inevitable: pages of worthless material. There is, in fact, +no part of the Sunday newspaper of to-day upon which so much good and +now expensive white paper is wasted as upon the pages marked for the +home, for women, and for children. +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok now became convinced, from his book-publishing association, +that if the American women were not reading the newspapers, the +American public, as a whole, was not reading the number of books that +it should, considering the intelligence and wealth of the people, and +the cheap prices at which books were sold. He concluded to see whether +he could not induce the newspapers to give larger and more prominent +space to the news of the book world. +</P> + +<P> +Owing to his constant contact with authors, he was in a peculiarly +fortunate position to know their plans in advance of execution, and he +was beginning to learn the ins and outs of the book-publishing world. +He canvassed the newspapers subscribing to his syndicate features, but +found a disinclination to give space to literary news. To the average +editor, purely literary features held less of an appeal than did the +features for women. Fewer persons were interested in books, they +declared; besides, the publishing houses were not so liberal +advertisers as the department stores. The whole question rested on a +commercial basis. +</P> + +<P> +Edward believed he could convince editors of the public interest in a +newsy, readable New York literary letter, and he prevailed upon the +editor of the <I>New York Star</I> to allow him to supplement the book +reviews of George Parsons Lathrop in that paper by a column of literary +chat called "Literary Leaves." For a number of weeks he continued to +write this department, and confine it to the New York paper, feeling +that he needed the experience for the acquirement of a readable style, +and he wanted to be sure that he had opened a sufficient number of +productive news channels to ensure a continuous flow of readable +literary information. +</P> + +<P> +Occasionally he sent to an editor here and there what he thought was a +particularly newsy letter just "for his information, not for sale." +The editor of the <I>Philadelphia Times</I> was the first to discover that +his paper wanted the letter, and the <I>Boston Journal</I> followed suit. +Then the editor of the <I>Cincinnati Times-Star</I> discovered the letter in +the <I>New York Star</I>, and asked that it be supplied weekly with the +letter. These newspapers renamed the letter "Bok's Literary Leaves," +and the feature started on its successful career. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS +</H3> + +<P> +Edward Bok does not now remember whether the mental picture had been +given him, or whether he had conjured it up for himself; but he +certainly was possessed of the idea, as are so many young men entering +business, that the path which led to success was very difficult: that +it was overfilled with a jostling, bustling, panting crowd, each eager +to reach the goal; and all ready to dispute every step that a young man +should take; and that favoritism only could bring one to the top. +</P> + +<P> +After Bok had been in the world of affairs, he wondered where were +these choked avenues, these struggling masses, these competitors for +every inch of vantage. Then he gradually discovered that they did not +exist. +</P> + +<P> +In the first place, he found every avenue leading to success wide open +and certainly not overpeopled. He was surprised how few there were who +really stood in a young man's way. He found that favoritism was not +the factor that he had been led to suppose. He realized it existed in +a few isolated cases, but to these every one had pointed and about +these every one had talked until, in the public mind, they had +multiplied in number and assumed a proportion that the facts did not +bear out. +</P> + +<P> +Here and there a relative "played a favorite," but even with the push +and influence behind him "the lucky one," as he was termed, did not +seem to make progress, unless he had merit. It was not long before Bok +discovered that the possession of sheer merit was the only real factor +that actually counted in any of the places where he had been employed +or in others which he had watched; that business was so constructed and +conducted that nothing else, in the face of competition, could act as +current coin. And the amazing part of it all to Bok was how little +merit there was. Nothing astonished him more than the low average +ability of those with whom he worked or came into contact. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at the top, and instead of finding it over-crowded, he was +surprised at the few who had reached there; the top fairly begged for +more to climb its heights. +</P> + +<P> +For every young man, earnest, eager to serve, willing to do more than +he was paid for, he found ten trying to solve the problem of how little +they could actually do for the pay received. +</P> + +<P> +It interested Bok to listen to the talk of his fellow-workers during +luncheon hours and at all other times outside of office hours. When +the talk did turn on the business with which they were concerned, it +consisted almost entirely of wages, and he soon found that, with +scarcely an exception, every young man was terribly underpaid, and that +his employer absolutely failed to appreciate his work. It was +interesting, later, when Bok happened to get the angle of the employer, +to discover that, invariably, these same lamenting young men were those +who, from the employer's point of view, were either greatly overpaid or +so entirely worthless as to be marked for early decapitation. +</P> + +<P> +Bok felt that this constant thought of the wages earned or deserved was +putting the cart before the horse; he had schooled himself into the +belief that if he did his work well, and accomplished more than was +expected of him, the question of wages would take care of itself. But, +according to the talk on every side, it was he who had the cart before +the horse. Bok had not only tried always to fill the particular job +set for him, but had made it a rule at the same time to study the +position just ahead, to see what it was like, what it demanded, and +then, as the opportunity presented itself, do a part of that job in +addition to his own. As a stenographer, he tried always to clear off +the day's work before he closed his desk. This was not always +possible, but he kept it before him as a rule to be followed rather +than violated. +</P> + +<P> +One morning Bok's employer happened to come to the office earlier than +usual, to find the letters he had dictated late in the afternoon before +lying on his desk ready to be signed. +</P> + +<P> +"These are the letters I gave you late yesterday afternoon, are they +not?" asked the employer. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Must have started early this morning, didn't you?^ +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir," answered Bok. "I wrote them out last evening before I left." +</P> + +<P> +"Like to get your notes written out before they get stale?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Good idea," said the employer. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," answered Bok, "and I think it is even a better idea to get +a day's work off before I take my apron off." +</P> + +<P> +"Well said," answered the employer, and the following payday Bok found +an increase in his weekly envelope. +</P> + +<P> +It is only fair, however, to add here, parenthetically, that it is +neither just nor considerate to a conscientious stenographer for an +employer to delay his dictation until the end of the day's work, when, +merely by judicious management of his affairs and time, he can give his +dictation directly after opening his morning mail. There are two sides +to every question; but sometimes the side of the stenographer is not +kept in mind by the employer. +</P> + +<P> +Bok found it a uniform rule among his fellow-workers to do exactly the +opposite to his own idea; there was an astonishing unanimity in working +by the clock; where the hour of closing was five o'clock the +preparations began five minutes before, with the hat and overcoat over +the back of the chair ready for the stroke of the hour. This concert +of action was curiously universal, no "overtime" was ever to be thought +of, and, as occasionally happened when the work did go over the hour, +it was not, to use the mildest term, done with care, neatness, or +accuracy; it was, to use a current phrase, "slammed off." Every moment +beyond five o'clock in which the worker was asked to do anything was by +just so much an imposition on the part of the employer, and so far as +it could be safely shown, this impression was gotten over to him. +</P> + +<P> +There was an entire unwillingness to let business interfere with any +anticipated pleasure or personal engagement. The office was all right +between nine and five; one had to be there to earn a living; but after +five, it was not to be thought of for one moment. The elevators which +ran on the stroke of five were never large enough to hold the throng +which besieged them. +</P> + +<P> +The talk during lunch hour rarely, if ever, turned toward business, +except as said before, when it dealt with underpaid services. In the +spring and summer it was invariably of baseball, and scores of young +men knew the batting averages of the different players and the standing +of the clubs with far greater accuracy than they knew the standing or +the discounts of the customers of their employers. In the winter the +talk was all of dancing, boxing, or plays. +</P> + +<P> +It soon became evident to Bok why scarcely five out of every hundred of +the young men whom he knew made any business progress. They were not +interested; it was a case of a day's work and a day's pay; it was not a +question of how much one could do but how little one could get away +with. The thought of how well one might do a given thing never seemed +to occur to the average mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what do you care?" was the favorite expression. "The boss won't +notice it if you break your back over his work; you won't get any more +pay." +</P> + +<P> +And there the subject was dismissed, and thoroughly dismissed, too. +</P> + +<P> +Eventually, then, Bok learned that the path that led to success was +wide open: the competition was negligible. There was no jostling. In +fact, travel on it was just a trifle lonely. One's fellow-travellers +were excellent company, but they were few! It was one of Edward Bok's +greatest surprises, but it was also one of his greatest stimulants. To +go where others could not go, or were loath to go, where at least they +were not, had a tang that savored of the freshest kind of adventure. +And the way was so simple, so much simpler, in fact, than its +avoidance, which called for so much argument, explanation, and +discussion. One had merely to do all that one could do, a little more +than one was asked or expected to do, and immediately one's head rose +above the crowd and one was in an employer's eye--where it is always so +satisfying for an employee to be! And as so few heads lifted +themselves above the many, there was never any danger that they would +not be seen. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, Edward Bok had to prove to himself that his conception of +conditions was right. He felt instinctively that it was, however, and +with this stimulus he bucked the line hard. When others played, he +worked, fully convinced that his play-time would come later. Where +others shirked, he assumed. Where others lagged, he accelerated his +pace. Where others were indifferent to things around them, he observed +and put away the results for possible use later. He did not make of +himself a pack-horse; what he undertook he did from interest in it, and +that made it a pleasure to him when to others it was a burden. He +instinctively reasoned it out that an unpleasant task is never +accomplished by stepping aside from it, but that, unerringly, it will +return later to be met and done. +</P> + +<P> +Obstacles, to Edward Bok, soon became merely difficulties to be +overcome, and he trusted to his instinct to show him the best way to +overcome them. He soon learned that the hardest kind of work was back +of every success; that nothing in the world of business just happened, +but that everything was brought about, and only in one way--by a +willingness of spirit and a determination to carry through. He soon +exploded for himself the misleading and comfortable theory of luck; the +only lucky people, he found, were those who worked hard. To them, luck +came in the shape of what they had earned. There were exceptions here +and there, as there are to every rule; but the majority of these, he +soon found, were more in the seeming than in the reality. Generally +speaking--and of course to this rule there are likewise exceptions, or +as the Frenchman said, "All generalizations are false, including this +one"--a man got in this world about what he worked for. +</P> + +<P> +And that became, for himself, the rule of Edward Bok's life. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK +</H3> + +<P> +From his boyhood days (up to the present writing) Bok was a pronounced +baseball "fan," and there was, too, a baseball team among the Scribner +young men of which he was a part. This team played, each Saturday +afternoon, a team from another publishing house, and for two seasons it +was unbeatable. Not only was this baseball aggregation close to the +hearts of the Scribner employees, but, in an important game, the junior +member of the firm played on it and the senior member was a spectator. +Frank N. Doubleday played on first base; William D. Moffat, later of +Moffat, Yard & Company, and now editor of <I>The Mentor</I>, was behind the +bat; Bok pitched; Ernest Dressel North, the present authority on rare +editions of books, was in the field, as were also Ray Safford, now a +director in the Scribner corporation, and Owen W. Brewer, at present a +prominent figure in Chicago's book world. It was a happy group, all +closely banded together in their business interests and in their human +relations as well. +</P> + +<P> +With Scribner's Magazine now in the periodical field, Bok would be +asked on his trips to the publishing houses to have an eye open for +advertisements for that periodical as well. Hence his education in the +solicitation of advertisements became general, and gave him a +sympathetic understanding of the problems of the advertising solicitor +which was to stand him in good stead when, in his later experience, he +was called upon to view the business problems of a magazine from the +editor's position. His knowledge of the manufacture of the two +magazines in his charge was likewise educative, as was the fascinating +study of typography which always had, and has today, a wonderful +attraction for him. +</P> + +<P> +It was, however, in connection with the advertising of the general +books of the house, and in his relations with their authors, that Bok +found his greatest interest. It was for him to find the best manner in +which to introduce to the public the books issued by the house, and the +general study of the psychology of publicity which this called for +attracted Bok greatly. +</P> + +<P> +Although the Scribners did not publish Mark Twain's books, the humorist +was a frequent visitor to the retail store, and occasionally he would +wander back to the publishing department located at the rear of the +store, which was then at 743 Broadway. +</P> + +<P> +Smoking was not permitted in the Scribner offices, and, of course, Mark +Twain was always smoking. He generally smoked a granulated tobacco +which he kept in a long check bag made of silk and rubber. When he +sauntered to the back of the Scribner store, he would generally knock +the residue from the bowl of the pipe, take out the stem, place it in +his vest pocket, like a pencil, and drop the bowl into the bag +containing the granulated tobacco. When he wanted to smoke again +(which was usually five minutes later) he would fish out the bowl, now +automatically filled with tobacco, insert the stem, and strike a light. +One afternoon as he wandered into Bok's office, he was just putting his +pipe away. The pipe, of the corncob variety, was very aged and black. +Bok asked him whether it was the only pipe he had. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no," Mark answered, "I have several. But they're all like this. +I never smoke a new corncob pipe. A new pipe irritates the throat. No +corncob pipe is fit for anything until it has been used at least a +fortnight." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you break in a pipe, then?" asked Bok. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the trick," answered Mark Twain. "I get a cheap man--a man who +doesn't amount to much, anyhow: who would be as well, or better, +dead--and pay him a dollar to break in the pipe for me. I get him to +smoke the pipe for a couple of weeks, then put in a new stem, and +continue operations as long as the pipe holds together." +</P> + +<P> +Bok's newspaper syndicate work had brought him into contact with Fanny +Davenport, then at the zenith of her career as an actress. Miss +Davenport, or Mrs. Melbourne McDowell as she was in private life, had +never written for print; but Bok, seeing that she had something to say +about her art and the ability to say it, induced her to write for the +newspapers through his syndicate. The actress was overjoyed to have +revealed to her a hitherto unsuspected gift; Bok published her articles +successfully, and gave her a publicity that her press agent had never +dreamed of. Miss Davenport became interested in the young publisher, +and after watching the methods which he employed in successfully +publishing her writings, decided to try to obtain his services as her +assistant manager. She broached the subject, offered him a five years' +contract for forty weeks' service, with a minimum of fifteen weeks each +year to spend in or near New York, at a salary, for the first year, of +three thousand dollars, increasing annually until the fifth year, when +he was to receive sixty-four hundred dollars. +</P> + +<P> +Bok was attracted to the work: he had never seen the United States, was +anxious to do so, and looked upon the chance as a good opportunity. +Miss Davenport had the contract made out, executed it, and then, in +high glee, Bok took it home to show it to his mother. He had reckoned +without question upon her approval, only to meet with an immediate and +decided negative to the proposition as a whole, general and specific. +She argued that the theatrical business was not for him; and she saw +ahead and pointed out so strongly the mistake he was making that he +sought Miss Davenport the next day and told her of his mother's stand. +The actress suggested that she see the mother; she did, that day, and +she came away from the interview a wiser if a sadder woman. Miss +Davenport frankly told Bok that with such an instinctive objection as +his mother seemed to have, he was right to follow her advice and the +contract was not to be thought of. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult to say whether this was or was not for Bok the +turning-point which comes in the life of every young man. Where the +venture into theatrical life would have led him no one can, of course, +say. One thing is certain: Bok's instinct and reason both failed him +in this instance. He believes now that had his venture into the +theatrical field been temporary or permanent, the experiment, either +way, would have been disastrous. +</P> + +<P> +Looking back and viewing the theatrical profession even as it was in +that day (of a much higher order than now), he is convinced he would +never have been happy in it. He might have found this out in a year or +more, after the novelty of travelling had worn off, and asked release +from his contract; in that case he would have broken his line of +progress in the publishing business. From whatever viewpoint he has +looked back upon this, which he now believes to have been the crisis in +his life, he is convinced that his mother's instinct saved him from a +grievous mistake. +</P> + +<P> +The Scribner house, in its foreign-book department, had imported some +copies of Bourrienne's <I>Life of Napoleon</I>, and a set had found its way +to Bok's desk for advertising purposes. He took the books home to +glance them ever, found himself interested, and sat up half the night +to read them. Then he took the set to the editor of the New York Star, +and suggested that such a book warranted a special review, and offered +to leave the work for the literary editor. +</P> + +<P> +"You have read the books?" asked the editor. +</P> + +<P> +"Every word," returned Bok. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, why don't you write the review?" suggested the editor. +</P> + +<P> +This was a new thought to Bok. "Never wrote a review," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Try it," answered the editor. "Write a column." +</P> + +<P> +"A column wouldn't scratch the surface of this book," suggested the +embryo reviewer. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, give it what it is worth," returned the editor. +</P> + +<P> +Bok did. He wrote a page of the paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Too much, too much," said the editor. "Heavens, man, we've got to get +some news into this paper." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," returned the reviewer. "Read it, and cut it where you +like. That's the way I see the book." +</P> + +<P> +And next Sunday the review appeared, word for word, as Bok had written +it. His first review had successfully passed! +</P> + +<P> +But Bok was really happiest in that part of his work which concerned +itself with the writing of advertisements. The science of +advertisement writing, which meant to him the capacity to say much in +little space, appealed strongly. He found himself more honestly +attracted to this than to the writing of his literary letter, his +editorials, or his book reviewing, of which he was now doing a good +deal. He determined to follow where his bent led; he studied the +mechanics of unusual advertisements wherever he saw them; he eagerly +sought a knowledge of typography and its best handling in an +advertisement, and of the value and relation of illustrations to text. +He perceived that his work along these lines seemed to give +satisfaction to his employers, since they placed more of it in his +hands to do; and he sought in every way to become proficient in the art. +</P> + +<P> +To publishers whose advertisements he secured for the periodicals in +his charge, he made suggestions for the improvement of their +announcements, and found his suggestions accepted. He early saw the +value of white space as one of the most effective factors in +advertising; but this was a difficult argument, he soon found, to +convey successfully to others. A white space in an advertisement was +to the average publisher something to fill up; Bok saw in it something +to cherish for its effectiveness. But he never got very far with his +idea: he could not convince (perhaps because he failed to express his +ideas convincingly) his advertisers of what he felt and believed so +strongly. +</P> + +<P> +An occasion came in which he was permitted to prove his contention. +The Scribners had published Andrew Carnegie's volume, <I>Triumphant +Democracy</I>, and the author desired that some special advertising should +be done in addition to that allowed by the appropriation made by the +house. To Bok's grateful ears came the injunction from the steel +magnate: "Use plenty of white space." In conjunction with Mr. +Doubleday, Bok prepared and issued this extra advertising, and for +once, at least, the wisdom of using white space was demonstrated. But +it was only a flash in the pan. Publishers were unwilling to pay for +"unused space," as they termed it. Each book was a separate unit, +others argued: it was not like advertising one article continuously in +which money could be invested; and only a limited amount could be spent +on a book which ran its course, even at its best, in a very short time. +</P> + +<P> +And, rightly or wrongly, book advertising has continued much along the +same lines until the present day. In fact, in no department of +manufacturing or selling activity has there been so little progress +during the past fifty years as in bringing books to the notice of the +public. In all other lines, the producer has brought his wares to the +public, making it easier and still easier for it to obtain his goods, +while the public, if it wants a book, must still seek the book instead +of being sought by it. +</P> + +<P> +That there is a tremendous unsupplied book demand in this country there +is no doubt: the wider distribution and easier access given to +periodicals prove this point. Now and then there has been tried an +unsupported or not well-thought-out plan for bringing books to a public +not now reading them, but there seems little or no understanding of the +fact that there lies an uncultivated field of tremendous promise to the +publisher who will strike out on a new line and market his books, so +that the public will not have to ferret out a book-store or wind +through the maze of a department store. The American reading public is +not the book-reading public that it should be or could be made to be; +but the habit must be made easy for it to acquire. Books must be +placed where the public can readily get at them. It will not, of its +own volition, seek them. It did not do so with magazines; it will not +do so with books. +</P> + +<P> +In the meanwhile, Bok's literary letter had prospered until it was now +published in some forty-five newspapers, One of these was the +<I>Philadelphia Times</I>. In that paper, each week, the letter had been +read by Mr. Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the owner and publisher of <I>The Ladies' +Home Journal</I>. Mr. Curtis had decided that he needed an editor for his +magazine, in order to relieve his wife, who was then editing it, and he +fixed upon the writer of <I>Literary Leaves</I> as his man. He came to New +York, consulted Will Carleton, the poet, and found that while the +letter was signed by William J. Bok, it was actually written by his +brother who was with the Scribners. So he sought Bok out there. +</P> + +<P> +The publishing house had been advertising in the Philadelphia magazine, +so that the visit of Mr. Curtis was not an occasion for surprise. Mr. +Curtis told Bok he had read his literary letter in the <I>Philadelphia +Times</I>, and suggested that perhaps he might write a similar department +for <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I>. Bok saw no reason why he should not, +and told Mr. Curtis so, and promised to send over a trial instalment. +The Philadelphia publisher then deftly went on, explained editorial +conditions in his magazine, and, recognizing the ethics of the occasion +by not offering Bok another position while he was already occupying +one, asked him if he knew the man for the place. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you talking at me or through me?" asked Bok. +</P> + +<P> +"Both," replied Mr. Curtis. +</P> + +<P> +This was in April of 1889. +</P> + +<P> +Bok promised Mr. Curtis he would look over the field, and meanwhile he +sent over to Philadelphia the promised trial "literary gossip" +instalment. It pleased Mr. Curtis, who suggested a monthly department, +to which Bok consented. He also turned over in his mind the wisdom of +interrupting his line of progress with the Scribners, and in New York, +and began to contemplate the possibilities in Philadelphia and the work +there. +</P> + +<P> +He gathered a collection of domestic magazines then published, and +looked them over to see what was already in the field. Then he began +to study himself, his capacity for the work, and the possibility of +finding it congenial. He realized that it was absolutely foreign to +his Scribner work; that it meant a radical departure. But his work +with his newspaper syndicate naturally occurred to him, and he studied +it with a view of its adaptation to the field of the Philadelphia +magazine. +</P> + +<P> +His next step was to take into his confidence two or three friends +whose judgment he trusted and discuss the possible change. Without an +exception, they advised against it. The periodical had no standing, +they argued; Bok would be out of sympathy with its general atmosphere +after his Scribner environment; he was now in the direct line of +progress in New York publishing houses; and, to cap the climax, they +each argued in turn, he would be buried in Philadelphia: New York was +the centre, etc., etc. +</P> + +<P> +More than any other single argument, this last point destroyed Bok's +faith in the judgment of his friends. He had had experience enough to +realize that a man could not be buried in any city, provided he had the +ability to stand out from his fellow-men. He knew from his +biographical reading that cream will rise to the surface anywhere, in +Philadelphia as well as in New York: it all depended on whether the +cream was there: it was up to the man. Had he within him that +peculiar, subtle something that, for the want of a better phrase, we +call the editorial instinct? That was all there was to it, and that +decision had to be his and his alone! +</P> + +<P> +A business trip for the Scribners now calling him West, Bok decided to +stop at Philadelphia, have a talk with Mr. Curtis, and look over his +business plant. He did this, and found Mr. Curtis even more desirous +than before to have him consider the position. Bok's instinct was +strongly in favor of an acceptance. A natural impulse moved him, +without reasoning, to action. Reasoning led only to a cautious mental +state, and caution is a strong factor in the Dutch character. The +longer he pursued a conscious process of reasoning, the farther he got +from the position. But the instinct remained strong. +</P> + +<P> +On his way back from the West, he stopped in Philadelphia again to +consult his friend, George W. Childs; and here he found the only person +who was ready to encourage him to make the change. +</P> + +<P> +Bok now laid the matter before his mother, in whose feminine instinct +he had supreme confidence. With her, he met with instant +discouragement. But in subsequent talks he found that her opposition +was based not upon the possibilities inherent in the position, but on a +mother's natural disinclination to be separated from one of her sons. +In the case of Fanny Davenport's offer the mother's instinct was strong +against the proposition itself. But in the present instance it was the +mother's love that was speaking; not her instinct or judgment. +</P> + +<P> +Bok now consulted his business associates, and, to a man, they +discouraged the step, but almost invariably upon the argument that it +was suicidal to leave New York. He had now a glimpse of the truth that +there is no man so provincially narrow as the untravelled New Yorker +who believes in his heart that the sun rises in the East River and sets +in the North River. +</P> + +<P> +He realized more keenly than ever before that the decision rested with +him alone. On September 1, 1889, Bok wrote to Mr. Curtis, accepting +the position in Philadelphia; and on October 13 following he left the +Scribners, where he had been so fortunate and so happy, and, after a +week's vacation, followed where his instinct so strongly led, but where +his reason wavered. +</P> + +<P> +On October 20, 1889, Edward Bok became the editor of <I>The Ladies' Home +Journal</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP +</H3> + +<P> +There is a popular notion that the editor of a woman's magazine should +be a woman. At first thought, perhaps, this sounds logical. But it is +a curious fact that by far the larger number of periodicals for women, +the world over, are edited by men; and where, as in some cases, a woman +is the proclaimed editor, the direction of the editorial policy is +generally in the hands of a man, or group of men, in the background. +Why this is so has never been explained, any more than why the majority +of women's dressmakers are men; why music, with its larger appeal to +women, has been and is still being composed, largely, by men, and why +its greatest instrumental performers are likewise men; and why the +church, with its larger membership of women, still has, as it always +has had, men for its greatest preachers. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, we may well ponder whether the full editorial authority and +direction of a modern magazine, either essentially feminine in its +appeal or not, can safely be entrusted to a woman when one considers +how largely executive is the nature of such a position, and how +thoroughly sensitive the modern editor must be to the hundred and one +practical business matters which to-day enter into and form so large a +part of the editorial duties. We may question whether women have as +yet had sufficient experience in the world of business to cope +successfully with the material questions of a pivotal editorial +position. Then, again, it is absolutely essential in the conduct of a +magazine with a feminine or home appeal to have on the editorial staff +women who are experts in their line; and the truth is that women will +work infinitely better under the direction of a man than of a woman. +</P> + +<P> +It would seem from the present outlook that, for some time, at least, +the so-called woman's magazine of large purpose and wide vision is very +likely to be edited by a man. It is a question, however, whether the +day of the woman's magazine, as we have known it, is not passing. +Already the day has gone for the woman's magazine built on the old +lines which now seem so grotesque and feeble in the light of modern +growth. The interests of women and of men are being brought closer +with the years, and it will not be long before they will entirely +merge. This means a constantly diminishing necessity for the +distinctly feminine magazine. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, there will always be a field in the essentially feminine +pursuits which have no place in the life of a man, but these are +rapidly being cared for by books, gratuitously distributed, issued by +the manufacturers of distinctly feminine and domestic wares; for such +publications the best talent is being employed, and the results are +placed within easy access of women, by means of newspaper +advertisement, the store-counter, or the mails. These will sooner or +later--and much sooner than later--supplant the practical portions of +the woman's magazine, leaving only the general contents, which are +equally interesting to men and to women. Hence the field for the +magazine with the essentially feminine appeal is contracting rather +than broadening, and it is likely to contract much more rapidly in the +future. +</P> + +<P> +The field was altogether different when Edward Bok entered it in 1889. +It was not only wide open, but fairly crying out to be filled. The day +of <I>Godey's Lady's Book</I> had passed; <I>Peterson's Magazine</I> was +breathing its last; and the home or women's magazines that had +attempted to take their place were sorry affairs. It was this +consciousness of a void ready to be filled that made the Philadelphia +experiment so attractive to the embryo editor. He looked over the +field and reasoned that if such magazines as did exist could be fairly +successful, if women were ready to buy such, how much greater response +would there be to a magazine of higher standards, of larger +initiative--a magazine that would be an authoritative clearing-house +for all the problems confronting women in the home, that brought itself +closely into contact with those problems and tried to solve them in an +entertaining and efficient way; and yet a magazine of uplift and +inspiration: a magazine, in other words, that would give light and +leading in the woman's world. +</P> + +<P> +The method of editorial expression in the magazines of 1889 was also +distinctly vague and prohibitively impersonal. The public knew the +name of scarcely a single editor of a magazine; there was no +personality that stood out in the mind: the accepted editorial +expression was the indefinite "we"; no one ventured to use the first +person singular and talk intimately to the reader. Edward Bok's +biographical reading had taught him that the American public loved a +personality; that it was always ready to recognize and follow a leader, +provided, of course, that the qualities of leadership were +demonstrated. He felt the time had come--the reference here and +elsewhere is always to the realm of popular magazine literature +appealing to a very wide audience--for the editor of some magazine to +project his personality through the printed page and to convince the +public that he was not an oracle removed from the people, but a real +human being who could talk and not merely write on paper. +</P> + +<P> +He saw, too, that the average popular magazine of 1889 failed of large +success because it wrote down to the public--a grievous mistake that so +many editors have made and still make. No one wants to be told, either +directly or indirectly, that he knows less than he does, or even that +he knows as little as he does; every one is benefited by the opposite +implication, and the public will always follow the leader who +comprehends this bit of psychology. There is always a happy medium +between shooting over the public's head and shooting too far under it. +And it is because of the latter aim that we find the modern popular +magazine the worthless thing that, in so many instances, it is to-day. +</P> + +<P> +It is the rare editor who rightly gauges his public psychology. +Perhaps that is why, in the enormous growth of the modern magazine, +there have been produced so few successful editors. The average editor +is obsessed with the idea of "giving the public what it wants," +whereas, in fact, the public, while it knows what it wants when it sees +it, cannot clearly express its wants, and never wants the thing that it +does ask for, although it thinks it does at the time. But woe to the +editor and his periodical if he heeds that siren voice! +</P> + +<P> +The editor has, therefore, no means of finding it out aforehand by +putting his ear to the ground. Only by the simplest rules of +psychology can he edit rightly so that he may lead, and to the average +editor of to-day, it is to be feared, psychology is a closed book. His +mind is all too often focussed on the circulation and advertising, and +all too little on the intangibles that will bring to his periodical the +results essential in these respects. +</P> + +<P> +The editor is the pivot of a magazine. On him everything turns. If +his gauge of the public is correct, readers will come: they cannot help +coming to the man who has something to say himself, or who presents +writers who have. And if the reader comes, the advertiser must come. +He must go where his largest market is: where the buyers are. The +advertiser, instead of being the most difficult factor in a magazine +proposition, as is so often mistakenly thought, is, in reality, the +simplest. He has no choice but to advertise in the successful +periodical. He must come along. The editor need never worry about +him. If the advertiser shuns the periodical's pages, the fault is +rarely that of the advertiser: the editor can generally look for the +reason nearer home. +</P> + +<P> +One of Edward Bok's first acts as editor was to offer a series of +prizes for the best answers to three questions he put to his readers: +what in the magazine did they like least and why; what did they like +best and why; and what omitted feature or department would they like to +see installed? Thousands of answers came, and these the editor +personally read carefully and classified. Then he gave his readers' +suggestions back to them in articles and departments, but never on the +level suggested by them. He gave them the subjects they asked for, but +invariably on a slightly higher plane; and each year he raised the +standard a notch. He always kept "a huckleberry or two" ahead of his +readers. His psychology was simple: come down to the level which the +public sets and it will leave you at the moment you do it. It always +expects of its leaders that they shall keep a notch above or a step +ahead. The American public always wants something a little better than +it asks for, and the successful man, in catering to it, is he who +follows this golden rule. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE +</H3> + +<P> +Edward Bok has often been referred to as the one "who made <I>The Ladies' +Home Journal</I> out of nothing," who "built it from the ground up," or, +in similar terms, implying that when he became its editor in 1889 the +magazine was practically non-existent. This is far from the fact. The +magazine was begun in 1883, and had been edited by Mrs. Cyrus H. K. +Curtis, for six years, under her maiden name of Louisa Knapp, before +Bok undertook its editorship. Mrs. Curtis had laid a solid foundation +of principle and policy for the magazine: it had achieved a circulation +of 440,000 copies a month when she transferred the editorship, and it +had already acquired such a standing in the periodical world as to +attract the advertisements of Charles Scribner's Sons, which Mr. +Doubleday, and later Bok himself, gave to the Philadelphia +magazine--advertising which was never given lightly, or without the +most careful investigation of the worth of the circulation of a +periodical. +</P> + +<P> +What every magazine publisher knows as the most troublous years in the +establishment of a periodical, the first half-dozen years of its +existence, had already been weathered by the editor and publisher. The +wife as editor and the husband as publisher had combined to lay a solid +basis upon which Bok had only to build: his task was simply to rear a +structure upon the foundation already laid. It is to the vision and to +the genius of the first editor of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> that the +unprecedented success of the magazine is primarily due. It was the +purpose and the policy of making a magazine of authoritative service +for the womanhood of America, a service which would visualize for +womanhood its highest domestic estate, that had won success for the +periodical from its inception. It is difficult to believe, in the +multiplicity of similar magazines today, that such a purpose was new; +that <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> was a path-finder; but the convincing +proof is found in the fact that all the later magazines of this class +have followed in the wake of the periodical conceived by Mrs. Curtis, +and have ever since been its imitators. +</P> + +<P> +When Edward Bok succeeded Mrs. Curtis, he immediately encountered +another popular misconception of a woman's magazine--the conviction +that if a man is the editor of a periodical with a distinctly feminine +appeal, he must, as the term goes, "understand women." If Bok had +believed this to be true, he would never have assumed the position. +How deeply rooted is this belief was brought home to him on every hand +when his decision to accept the Philadelphia position was announced. +His mother, knowing her son better than did any one else, looked at him +with amazement. She could not believe that he was serious in his +decision to cater to women's needs when he knew so little about them. +His friends, too, were intensely amused, and took no pains to hide +their amusement from him. They knew him to be the very opposite of "a +lady's man," and when they were not convulsed with hilarity they were +incredulous and marvelled. +</P> + +<P> +No man, perhaps, could have been chosen for the position who had a less +intimate knowledge of women. Bok had no sister, no women confidantes: +he had lived with and for his mother. She was the only woman he really +knew or who really knew him. His boyhood days had been too full of +poverty and struggle to permit him to mingle with the opposite sex. +And it is a curious fact that Edward Bok's instinctive attitude toward +women was that of avoidance. He did not dislike women, but it could +not be said that he liked them. They had never interested him. Of +women, therefore, he knew little; of their needs less. Nor had he the +slightest desire, even as an editor, to know them better or to seek to +understand them. Even at that age, he knew that, as a man, he could +not, no matter what effort he might make, and he let it go at that. +</P> + +<P> +What he saw in the position was not the need to know women; he could +employ women for that purpose. He perceived clearly that the editor of +a magazine was largely an executive: his was principally the work of +direction; of studying currents and movements, watching their +formation, their tendency, their efficacy if advocated or translated +into actuality, and then selecting from the horizon those that were for +the best interests of the home. For a home was something which Edward +Bok did understand. He had always lived in one; had struggled to keep +it together, and he knew every inch of the hard road that makes for +domestic permanence amid adverse financial conditions. And at the home +he aimed rather than at the woman in it. +</P> + +<P> +And with his own limited knowledge of the sex, he needed, and none knew +it better than did he, the ablest women he could obtain to help him +realize his ideals. Their personal opinions of him did not matter so +long as he could command their best work. Sooner or later, when his +purposes were better understood, they might alter those opinions. For +that he could afford to wait. But he could not wait to get their work. +</P> + +<P> +By this time the editor had come to see that the power of a magazine +might lie more securely behind the printed page than in it. He had +begun to accustom his readers to writing to his editors upon all +conceivable problems. +</P> + +<P> +This he decided to encourage. He employed an expert in each line of +feminine endeavor, upon the distinct understanding that the most +scrupulous attention should be given to her correspondence: that every +letter, no matter how inconsequential, should be answered quickly, +fully, and courteously, with the questioner always encouraged to come +again if any problem of whatever nature came to her. He told his +editors that ignorance on any question was a misfortune, not a crime; +and he wished their correspondence treated in the most courteous and +helpful spirit. +</P> + +<P> +Step by step, the editor built up this service behind the magazine +until he had a staff of thirty-five editors on the monthly pay-roll; in +each issue, he proclaimed the willingness of these editors to answer +immediately any questions by mail, he encouraged and cajoled his +readers to form the habit of looking upon his magazine as a great +clearing-house of information. Before long, the letters streamed in by +the tens of thousands during a year. The editor still encouraged, and +the total ran into the hundreds of thousands, until during the last +year, before the service was finally stopped by the Great War in 1917, +the yearly correspondence totalled nearly a million letters. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-116"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-116.jpg" ALT="The Grandmother" BORDER="2" WIDTH="429" HEIGHT="608"> +<H5> +[Illustration: The Grandmother, who counselled each of her children <BR> +to make the world a better and more beautiful place to live in--<BR> +a counsel which is now being carried on by her grandchildren, <BR> +one of whom is Edward Bok.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The lack of opportunity for an education in Bok's own life led him to +cast about for some plan whereby an education might be obtained without +expense by any one who desired. He finally hit upon the simple plan of +substituting free scholarships for the premiums then so frequently +offered by periodicals for subscriptions secured. Free musical +education at the leading conservatories was first offered to any girl +who would secure a certain number of subscriptions to <I>The Ladies' Home +Journal</I>, the complete offer being a year's free tuition, with free +room, free board, free piano in her own room, and all travelling +expenses paid. The plan was an immediate success: the solicitation of +a subscription by a girl desirous of educating herself made an +irresistible appeal. +</P> + +<P> +This plan was soon extended, so as to include all the girls' colleges, +and finally all the men's colleges, so that a free education might be +possible at any educational institution. So comprehensive it became +that to the close of 1919, one thousand four hundred and fifty-five +free scholarships had been awarded. The plan has now been in operation +long enough to have produced some of the leading singers and +instrumental artists of the day, whose names are familiar to all, as +well as instructors in colleges and scores of teachers; and to have +sent several score of men into conspicuous positions in the business +and professional world. +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok has always felt that but for his own inability to secure an +education, and his consequent desire for self-improvement, the +realization of the need in others might not have been so strongly felt +by him, and that his plan whereby thousands of others were benefited +might never have been realized. +</P> + +<P> +It was this comprehensive personal service, built up back of the +magazine from the start, that gave the periodical so firm and unique a +hold on its clientele. It was not the printed word that was its chief +power: scores of editors who have tried to study and diagnose the +appeal of the magazine from the printed page, have remained baffled at +the remarkable confidence elicited from its readers. They never looked +back of the magazine, and therefore failed to discover its secret. Bok +went through three financial panics with the magazine, and while other +periodicals severely suffered from diminished circulation at such +times, <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> always held its own. Thousands of +women had been directly helped by the magazine; it had not remained an +inanimate printed thing, but had become a vital need in the personal +lives of its readers. +</P> + +<P> +So intimate had become this relation, so efficient was the service +rendered, that its readers could not be pried loose from it; where +women were willing and ready, when the domestic pinch came, to let go +of other reading matter, they explained to their husbands or fathers +that <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> was a necessity--they did not feel that +they could do without it. The very quality for which the magazine had +been held up to ridicule by the unknowing and unthinking had become, +with hundreds of thousands of women, its source of power and the +bulwark of its success. +</P> + +<P> +Bok was beginning to realize the vision which had lured him from New +York: that of putting into the field of American magazines a periodical +that should become such a clearing-house as virtually to make it an +institution. +</P> + +<P> +He felt that, for the present at least, he had sufficiently established +the personal contact with his readers through the more intimate +departments, and decided to devote his efforts to the literary features +of the magazine. +</P> + +<P> +The newspaper paragraphers were now having a delightful time with +Edward Bok and his woman's magazine, and he was having a delightful +time with them. The editor's publicity sense made him realize how +valuable for his purposes was all this free advertising. The +paragraphers believed, in their hearts, that they were annoying the +young editor; they tried to draw his fire through their articles. But +he kept quiet, put his tongue in his cheek, and determined to give them +some choice morsels for their wit. +</P> + +<P> +He conceived the idea of making familiar to the public the women who +were back of the successful men of the day. He felt sure that his +readers wanted to know about these women. But to attract his newspaper +friends he labelled the series, "Unknown Wives of Well-Known Men" and +"Clever Daughters of Clever Men." +</P> + +<P> +The alliterative titles at once attracted the paragraphers; they fell +upon them like hungry trout, and a perfect fusillade of paragraphs +began. This is exactly what the editor wanted; and he followed these +two series immediately by inducing the daughter of Charles Dickens to +write of "My Father as I Knew Him," and Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, of +"Mr. Beecher as I Knew Him." Bok now felt that he had given the +newspapers enough ammunition to last for some time; and he turned his +attention to building up a more permanent basis for his magazine. +</P> + +<P> +The two authors of that day who commanded more attention than any +others were William Dean Howells and Rudyard Kipling. Bok knew that +these two would give to his magazine the literary quality that it +needed, and so he laid them both under contribution. He bought Mr. +Howells's new novel, "The Coast of Bohemia," and arranged that +Kipling's new novelette upon which he was working should come to the +magazine. Neither the public nor the magazine editors had expected Bok +to break out along these more permanent lines, and magazine publishers +began to realize that a new competitor had sprung up in Philadelphia. +Bok knew they would feel this; so before he announced Mr. Howells's new +novel, he contracted with the novelist to follow this with his +autobiography. This surprised the editors of the older magazines, for +they realized that the Philadelphia editor had completely tied up the +leading novelist of the day for his next two years' output. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, in order that the newspapers might be well supplied with +barbs for their shafts, he published an entire number of his magazine +written by the daughters of famous men. This unique issue presented +contributions by the daughters of Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, +President Harrison, Horace Greeley, William M. Thackeray, William Dean +Howells, General Sherman, Jefferson Davis, Mr. Gladstone, and a score +of others. This issue simply filled the paragraphers with glee. Then +once more Bok turned to articles calculated to cement the foundation +for a more permanent structure. +</P> + +<P> +The material that the editor was publishing and the authors that he was +laying under contribution began to have marked effect upon the +circulation of the magazine, and it was not long before the original +figures were doubled, an edition--enormous for that day--of seven +hundred and fifty thousand copies was printed and sold each month, the +magical figure of a million was in sight, and the periodical was +rapidly taking its place as one of the largest successes of the day. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Curtis's single proprietorship of the magazine had been changed +into a corporation called The Curtis Publishing Company, with a capital +of five hundred thousand dollars, with Mr. Curtis as president, and Bok +as vice-president. +</P> + +<P> +The magazine had by no means an easy road to travel financially. The +doubling of the subscription price to one dollar per year had +materially checked the income for the time being; the huge advertising +bills, sometimes exceeding three hundred thousand dollars a year, were +difficult to pay; large credit had to be obtained, and the banks were +carrying a considerable quantity of Mr. Curtis's notes. But Mr. Curtis +never wavered in his faith in his proposition and his editor. In the +first he invested all he had and could borrow, and to the latter he +gave his undivided support. The two men worked together rather as +father and son--as, curiously enough, they were to be later--than as +employer and employee. To Bok, the daily experience of seeing Mr. +Curtis finance his proposition in sums that made the publishing world +of that day gasp with sceptical astonishment was a wonderful +opportunity, of which the editor took full advantage so as to learn the +intricacies of a world which up to that time he had known only in a +limited way. +</P> + +<P> +What attracted Bok immensely to Mr. Curtis's methods was their perfect +simplicity and directness. He believed absolutely in the final outcome +of his proposition: where others saw mist and failure ahead, he saw +clear weather and the port of success. Never did he waver: never did +he deflect from his course. He knew no path save the direct one that +led straight to success, and, through his eyes, he made Bok see it with +equal clarity until Bok wondered why others could not see it. But they +could not. Cyrus Curtis would never be able, they said, to come out +from under the load he had piled up. Where they differed from Mr. +Curtis was in their lack of vision: they could not see what he saw! +</P> + +<P> +It has been said that Mr. Curtis banished patent-medicine +advertisements from his magazine only when he could afford to do so. +That is not true, as a simple incident will show. In the early days, +he and Bok were opening the mail one Friday full of anxiety because the +pay-roll was due that evening, and there was not enough money in the +bank to meet it. From one of the letters dropped a certified check for +five figures for a contract equal to five pages in the magazine. It +was a welcome sight, for it meant an easy meeting of the pay-roll for +that week and two succeeding weeks. But the check was from a +manufacturing patent-medicine company. Without a moment's hesitation, +Mr. Curtis slipped it back into the envelope, saying: "Of course, +<I>that</I> we can't take." He returned the check, never gave the matter a +second thought, and went out and borrowed more money to meet his +pay-roll. +</P> + +<P> +With all respect to American publishers, there are very few who could +have done this--or indeed, would do it today, under similar +conditions--particularly in that day when it was the custom for all +magazines to accept patent-medicine advertising; <I>The Ladies' Home +Journal</I> was practically the only publication of standing in the United +States refusing that class of business! +</P> + +<P> +Bok now saw advertising done on a large scale by a man who believed in +plenty of white space surrounding the announcement in the +advertisement. He paid Mr. Howells $10,000 for his autobiography, and +Mr. Curtis spent $50,000 in advertising it. "It is not expense," he +would explain to Bok, "it is investment. We are investing in a +trademark. It will all come back in time." And when the first +$100,000 did not come back as Mr. Curtis figured, he would send another +$100,000 after it, and then both came back. +</P> + +<P> +Bok's experience in advertisement writing was now to stand him in +excellent stead. He wrote all the advertisements, and from that day to +the day of his retirement, practically every advertisement of the +magazine was written by him. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Curtis believed that the editor should write the advertisements of +a magazine's articles. "You are the one who knows them, what is in +them and your purpose," he said to Bok, who keenly enjoyed this +advertisement writing. He put less and less in his advertisements. +Mr. Curtis made them larger and larger in the space which they occupied +in the media used. In this way <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> +advertisements became distinctive for their use of white space, and as +the advertising world began to say: "You can't miss them." Only one +feature was advertised at one time, but the "feature" was always +carefully selected for its wide popular appeal, and then Mr. Curtis +spared no expense to advertise it abundantly. As much as $400,000 was +spent in one year in advertising only a few features--a gigantic sum in +those days, approached by no other periodical. But Mr. Curtis believed +in showing the advertising world that he was willing to take his own +medicine. +</P> + +<P> +Naturally, such a campaign of publicity announcing the most popular +attractions offered by any magazine of the day had but one effect: the +circulation leaped forward by bounds, and the advertising columns of +the magazine rapidly filled up. +</P> + +<P> +The success of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> began to look like an assured +fact, even to the most sceptical. +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of fact, it was only at its beginning, as both publisher +and editor knew. But they desired to fill the particular field of the +magazine so quickly and fully that there would be small room for +competition. The woman's magazine field was to belong to them! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO +</H3> + +<P> +With the hitherto unreached magazine circulation of a million copies a +month in sight, Edward Bok decided to give a broader scope to the +periodical. He was determined to lay under contribution not only the +most famous writers of the day, but also to seek out those well-known +persons who usually did not contribute to the magazines; always keeping +in mind the popular appeal of his material, but likewise aiming +constantly to widen its scope and gradually to lift its standard. +</P> + +<P> +The editor was very desirous of securing something for his magazine +that would delight children, and he hit upon the idea of trying to +induce Lewis Carroll to write another <I>Alice in Wonderland</I> series. He +was told by English friends that this would be difficult, since the +author led a secluded life at Oxford and hardly ever admitted any one +into his confidence. But Bok wanted to beard the lion in his den, and +an Oxford graduate volunteered to introduce him to an Oxford don +through whom, if it were at all possible, he could reach the author. +The journey to Oxford was made, and Bok was introduced to the don, who +turned out to be no less a person than the original possessor of the +highly colored vocabulary of the "White Rabbit" of the Alice stories. +</P> + +<P> +"Impossible," immediately declared the don. "You couldn't persuade +Dodgson to consider it." Bok, however, persisted, and it so happened +that the don liked what he called "American perseverance." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come along," he said. "We'll beard the lion in his den, as you +say, and see what happens. You know, of course, that it is the +Reverend Charles L. Dodgson that we are going to see, and I must +introduce you to that person, not to Lewis Carroll. He is a tutor in +mathematics here, as you doubtless know; lives a rigidly secluded life; +dislikes strangers; makes no friends; and yet withal is one of the most +delightful men in the world if he wants to be." +</P> + +<P> +But as it happened upon this special occasion when Bok was introduced +to him in his chambers in Tom Quad, Mr. Dodgson did not "want to be" +delightful. There was no doubt that back of the studied reserve was a +kindly, charming, gracious gentleman, but Bok's profession had been +mentioned and the author was on rigid guard. +</P> + +<P> +When Bok explained that one of the special reasons for his journey from +America was to see him, the Oxford mathematician sufficiently softened +to ask the editor to sit down. Bok then broached his mission. +</P> + +<P> +"You are quite in error, Mr. Bok," was the Dodgson comment. "You are +not speaking to the person you think you are addressing." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Bok was taken aback. Then he decided to go right to the +point. +</P> + +<P> +"Do I understand, Mr. Dodgson, that you are not 'Lewis Carroll'; that +you did not write <I>Alice in Wonderland</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +For an answer the tutor rose, went into another room, and returned with +a book which he handed to Bok. "This is my book," he said simply. It +was entitled <I>An Elementary Treatise on Determinants</I>, by C. L. +Dodgson. When he looked up, Bok found the author's eyes riveted on him. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Bok. "I know, Mr. Dodgson. If I remember correctly, this +is the same book of which you sent a copy to Her Majesty, Queen +Victoria, when she wrote to you for a personal copy of your <I>Alice</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Dodgson made no comment. The face was absolutely without expression +save a kindly compassion intended to convey to the editor that he was +making a terrible mistake. +</P> + +<P> +"As I said to you in the beginning, Mr. Bok, you are in error. You are +not speaking to 'Lewis Carroll.'" And then: "Is this the first time +you have visited Oxford?" +</P> + +<P> +Bok said it was; and there followed the most delightful two hours with +the Oxford mathematician and the Oxford don, walking about and into the +wonderful college buildings, and afterward the three had a bite of +lunch together. But all efforts to return to "Lewis Carroll" were +futile. While saying good-by to his host, Bok remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"I can't help expressing my disappointment, Mr. Dodgson, in my quest in +behalf of the thousands of American children who love you and who would +so gladly welcome 'Lewis Carroll' back." +</P> + +<P> +The mention of children and their love for him momentarily had its +effect. For an instant a different light came into the eyes, and Bok +instinctively realized Dodgson was about to say something. But he +checked himself. Bok had almost caught him off his guard. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," he finally said at the parting at the door, "that you +should be disappointed, for the sake of the children as well as for +your own sake. I only regret that I cannot remove the disappointment." +</P> + +<P> +As they later walked to the station, the don said: "That is his +attitude toward all, even toward me. He is not 'Lewis Carroll' to any +one; is extremely sensitive on the point, and will not acknowledge his +identity. That is why he lives so much to himself. He is in daily +dread that some one will mention <I>Alice</I> in his presence. Curious, but +there it is." +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok's next quest was to be even more disappointing; he was never +even to reach the presence of the person he sought. This was Florence +Nightingale, the Crimean nurse. Bok was desirous of securing her own +story of her experiences, but on every hand he found an unwillingness +even to take him to her house. "No use," said everybody. "She won't +see any one. Hates publicity and all that sort of thing, and shuns the +public." Nevertheless, the editor journeyed to the famous nurse's home +on South Street, in the West End of London, only to be told that "Miss +Nightingale never receives strangers." +</P> + +<P> +"But I am not a stranger," insisted the editor. "I am one of her +friends from America. Please take my card to her." +</P> + +<P> +This mollified the faithful secretary, but the word instantly came back +that Miss Nightingale was not receiving any one that day. Bok wrote +her a letter asking for an appointment, which was never answered. Then +he wrote another, took it personally to the house, and awaited an +answer, only to receive the message that "Miss Nightingale says there +is no answer to the letter." +</P> + +<P> +Bok had with such remarkable uniformity secured whatever he sought, +that these experiences were new to him. Frankly, they puzzled him. He +was not easily baffled, but baffled he now was, and that twice in +succession. Turn as he might, he could find no way in which to reopen +an approach to either the Oxford tutor or the Crimean nurse. They were +plainly too much for him, and he had to acknowledge his defeat. The +experience was good for him; he did not realize this at the time, nor +did he enjoy the sensation of not getting what he wanted. +Nevertheless, a reverse or two was due. Not that his success was +having any undesirable effect upon him; his Dutch common sense saved +him from any such calamity. But at thirty years of age it is not good +for any one, no matter how well balanced, to have things come his way +too fast and too consistently. And here were breaks. He could not +have everything he wanted, and it was just as well that he should find +that out. +</P> + +<P> +In his next quest he found himself again opposed by his London friends. +Unable to secure a new <I>Alice in Wonderland</I> for his child readers, he +determined to give them Kate Greenaway. But here he had selected +another recluse. Everybody discouraged him. The artist never saw +visitors, he was told, and she particularly shunned editors and +publishers. Her own publishers confessed that Miss Greenaway was +inaccessible to them. "We conduct all our business with her by +correspondence. I have never seen her personally myself," said a +member of the firm. +</P> + +<P> +Bok inwardly decided that two failures in two days were sufficient, and +he made up his mind that there should not be a third. He took a bus +for the long ride to Hampstead Heath, where the illustrator lived, and +finally stood before a picturesque Queen Anne house that one would have +recognized at once, with its lower story of red brick, its upper part +covered with red tiles, its windows of every size and shape, as the +inspiration of Kate Greenaway's pictures. As it turned out later, Miss +Greenaway's sister opened the door and told the visitor that Miss +Greenaway was not at home. +</P> + +<P> +"But, pardon me, has not Miss Greenaway returned? Is not that she?" +asked Bok, as he indicated a figure just coming down the stairs. And +as the sister turned to see, Bok stepped into the hall. At least he +was inside! Bok had never seen a photograph of Miss Greenaway, he did +not know that the figure coming down-stairs was the artist; but his +instinct had led him right, and good fortune was with him. +</P> + +<P> +He now introduced himself to Kate Greenaway, and explained that one of +his objects in coming to London was to see her on behalf of thousands +of American children. Naturally there was nothing for the illustrator +to do but to welcome her visitor. She took him into the garden, where +he saw at once that he was seated under the apple-tree of Miss +Greenaway's pictures. It was in full bloom, a veritable picture of +spring loveliness. Bok's love for nature pleased the artist and when +he recognized the cat that sauntered up, he could see that he was +making head-way. But when he explained his profession and stated his +errand, the atmosphere instantly changed. Miss Greenaway conveyed the +unmistakable impression that she had been trapped, and Bok realized at +once that he had a long and difficult road ahead. +</P> + +<P> +Still, negotiate it he must and he did! And after luncheon in the +garden, with the cat in his lap, Miss Greenaway perceptibly thawed out, +and when the editor left late that afternoon he had the promise of the +artist that she would do her first magazine work for him. That promise +was kept monthly, and for nearly two years her articles appeared, with +satisfaction to Miss Greenaway and with great success to the magazine. +</P> + +<P> +Bok now devoted his attention to strengthening the fiction in his +magazine. He sought Mark Twain, and bought his two new stories; he +secured from Bret Harte a tale which he had just finished, and then ran +the gamut of the best fiction writers of the day, and secured their +best output. Marion Crawford, Conan Doyle, Sarah Orne Jewett, John +Kendrick Bangs, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Hamlin Garland, Mrs. Burton +Harrison, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mary E. Wilkins, Jerome K. Jerome, +Anthony Hope, Joel Chandler Harris, and others followed in rapid +succession. +</P> + +<P> +He next turned for a moment to his religious department, decided that +it needed a freshening of interest, and secured Dwight L. Moody, whose +evangelical work was then so prominently in the public eye, to conduct +"Mr. Moody's Bible Class" in the magazine--practically a study of the +stated Bible lesson of the month with explanation in Moody's simple and +effective style. +</P> + +<P> +The authors for whom the <I>Journal</I> was now publishing attracted the +attention of all the writers of the day, and the supply of good +material became too great for its capacity. Bok studied the mechanical +make-up, and felt that by some method he must find more room in the +front portion. He had allotted the first third of the magazine to the +general literary contents and the latter two-thirds to departmental +features. Toward the close of the number, the departments narrowed +down from full pages to single columns with advertisements on each side. +</P> + +<P> +One day Bok was handling a story by Rudyard Kipling which had overrun +the space allowed for it in the front. The story had come late, and +the rest of the front portion of the magazine had gone to press. The +editor was in a quandary what to do with the two remaining columns of +the Kipling tale. There were only two pages open, and these were at +the back. He remade those pages, and continued the story from pages 6 +and 7 to pages 38 and 39. +</P> + +<P> +At once Bok saw that this was an instance where "necessity was the +mother of invention." He realized that if he could run some of his +front material over to the back he would relieve the pressure at the +front, present a more varied contents there, and make his +advertisements more valuable by putting them next to the most expensive +material in the magazine. +</P> + +<P> +In the next issue he combined some of his smaller departments in the +back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugurated the method of "running over +into the back" which has now become a recognized principle in the +make-up of magazines of larger size. At first, Bok's readers objected, +but he explained why he did it; that they were the benefiters by the +plan; and, so far as readers can be satisfied with what is, at best, an +awkward method of presentation, they were content. To-day the practice +is undoubtedly followed to excess, some magazines carrying as much as +eighty and ninety columns over from the front to the back; from such +abuse it will, of course, free itself either by a return to the +original method of make-up or by the adoption of some other less +irritating plan. +</P> + +<P> +In his reading about the America of the past, Bok had been impressed by +the unusual amount of interesting personal material that constituted +what is termed unwritten history--original events of tremendous +personal appeal in which great personalities figured but which had not +sufficient historical importance to have been included in American +history. Bok determined to please his older readers by harking back to +the past and at the same time acquainting the younger generation with +the picturesque events which had preceded their time. +</P> + +<P> +He also believed that if he could "dress up" the past, he could arrest +the attention of a generation which was too likely to boast of its +interest only in the present and the future. He took a course of +reading and consulted with Mr. Charles A. Dana, editor of the <I>New York +Sun</I>, who had become interested in his work and had written him several +voluntary letters of commendation. Mr. Dana gave material help in the +selection of subjects and writers; and was intensely amused and +interested by the manner in which his youthful confrère "dressed up" +the titles of what might otherwise have looked like commonplace +articles. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," said Bok to the elder editor, "it smacks a little of the +sensational, Mr. Dana, but the purpose I have in mind of showing the +young people of to-day that some great things happened before they came +on the stage seems to me to make it worth while." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Dana agreed with this view, supplemented every effort of the +Philadelphia editor in several subsequent talks, and in 1897 <I>The +Ladies' Home Journal</I> began one of the most popular series it ever +published. It was called "Great Personal Events," and the picturesque +titles explained them. He first pictured the enthusiastic evening +"When Jenny Lind Sang in Castle Garden," and, as Bok added to pique +curiosity, "when people paid $20 to sit in rowboats to hear the Swedish +nightingale." + +This was followed by an account of the astonishing episode "When Henry +Ward Beecher Sold Slaves in Plymouth Pulpit"; the picturesque journey +"When Louis Kossuth Rode Up Broadway"; the triumphant tour "When +General Grant Went Round the World"; the forgotten story of "When an +Actress Was the Lady of the White House"; the sensational striking of +the rich silver vein "When Mackay Struck the Great Bonanza"; the +hitherto little-known instance "When Louis Philippe Taught School in +Philadelphia"; and even the lesser-known fact of the residence of the +brother of Napoleon Bonaparte in America, "When the King of Spain Lived +on the Banks of the Schuylkill"; while the story of "When John Wesley +Preached in Georgia" surprised nearly every Methodist, as so few had +known that the founder of their church had ever visited America. Each +month picturesque event followed graphic happening, and never was +unwritten history more readily read by the young, or the memories of +the older folk more catered to than in this series which won new +friends for the magazine on every hand. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS +</H3> + +<P> +The influence of his grandfather and the injunction of his grandmother +to her sons that each "should make the world a better or a more +beautiful place to live in" now began to be manifest in the grandson. +Edward Bok was unconscious that it was this influence. What directly +led him to the signal piece of construction in which he engaged was the +wretched architecture of small houses. As he travelled through the +United States he was appalled by it. Where the houses were not +positively ugly, they were, to him, repellently ornate. Money was +wasted on useless turrets, filigree work, or machine-made +ornamentation. Bok found out that these small householders never +employed an architect, but that the houses were put up by builders from +their own plans. +</P> + +<P> +Bok turned to <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> as his medium for making the +small-house architecture of America better. He realized the limitation +of space, but decided to do the best he could under the circumstances. +He believed he might serve thousands of his readers if he could make it +possible for them to secure, at moderate cost, plans for well-designed +houses by the leading domestic architects in the country. He consulted +a number of architects, only to find them unalterably opposed to the +idea. They disliked the publicity of magazine presentation; prices +differed too much in various parts of the country; and they did not +care to risk the criticism of their contemporaries. It was +"cheapening" their profession! +</P> + +<P> +Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and demonstrate the +futility of these arguments. At last he persuaded one architect to +co-operate with him, and in 1895 began the publication of a series of +houses which could be built, approximately, for from one thousand five +hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The idea attracted attention +at once, and the architect-author was swamped with letters and +inquiries regarding his plans. +</P> + +<P> +This proved Bok's instinct to be correct as to the public willingness +to accept such designs; upon this proof he succeeded in winning over +two additional architects to make plans. He offered his readers full +building specifications and plans to scale of the houses with estimates +from four builders in different parts of the United States for five +dollars a set. The plans and specifications were so complete in every +detail that any builder could build the house from them. +</P> + +<P> +A storm of criticism now arose from architects and builders all over +the country, the architects claiming that Bok was taking "the bread out +of their mouths" by the sale of plans, and local builders vigorously +questioned the accuracy of the estimates. But Bok knew he was right +and persevered. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly but surely he won the approval of the leading architects, who +saw that he was appealing to a class of house-builders who could not +afford to pay an architect's fee, and that, with his wide circulation, +he might become an influence for better architecture through these +small houses. The sets of plans and specifications sold by the +thousands. It was not long before the magazine was able to present +small-house plans by the foremost architects of the country, whose +services the average householder could otherwise never have dreamed of +securing. +</P> + +<P> +Bok not only saw an opportunity to better the exterior of the small +houses, but he determined that each plan published should provide for +two essentials; every servant's room should have two windows to insure +cross-ventilation, and contain twice the number of cubic feet usually +given to such rooms; and in place of the American parlor, which he +considered a useless room, should be substituted either a living-room +or a library. He did not point to these improvements, every plan +simply presented the larger servant's room and did not present a +parlor. It is a singular fact that of the tens of thousands of plans +sold, not a purchaser ever noticed the absence of a parlor except one +woman in Brookline, Mass., who, in erecting a group of twenty-five +"<I>Journal</I> houses," discovered after she had built ten that not one +contained a parlor! +</P> + +<P> +For nearly twenty-five years Bok continued to publish pictures of +houses and plans. Entire colonies of "<I>Ladies' Home Journal</I> houses" +have sprung up, and building promoters have built complete suburban +developments with them. How many of these homes have been erected it +is, of course, impossible to say; the number certainly runs into the +thousands. +</P> + +<P> +It was one of the most constructive and far-reaching pieces of work +that Bok did during his editorial career--a fact now recognized by all +architects. Shortly before Stanford White passed away, he wrote: "I +firmly believe that Edward Bok has more completely influenced American +domestic architecture for the better than any man in this generation. +When he began, I was short-sighted enough to discourage him, and +refused to co-operate with him. If Bok came to me now, I would not +only make plans for him, but I would waive any fee for them in +retribution for my early mistake." +</P> + +<P> +Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the small house, and +the development of the grounds around the homes which he had been +instrumental in putting on the earth. He encountered no opposition +here. The publication of small gardens for small houses finally ran +into hundreds of pages, the magazine supplying planting plans and full +directions as to when and how to plant--this time without cost. +</P> + +<P> +Next the editor decided to see what he could do for the better and +simpler furnishing of the small American home. Here was a field almost +limitless in possible improvement, but he wanted to approach it in a +new way. The best method baffled him until one day he met a woman +friend who told him that she was on her way to a funeral at a friend's +home. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know you were so well acquainted with Mrs. S----," said Bok. +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't, as a matter of fact," replied the woman. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be perfectly frank; I am going to the funeral just to see how +Mrs. S----'s house is furnished. She was always thought to have great +taste, you know, and, whether you know it or not, a woman is always +keen to look into another woman's home." +</P> + +<P> +Bok realized that he had found the method of presentation for his +interior-furnishing plan if he could secure photographs of the most +carefully furnished homes in America. He immediately employed the best +available expert, and within six months there came to him an assorted +collection of over a thousand photographs of well-furnished rooms. The +best were selected, and a series of photographic pages called "Inside +of 100 Homes" was begun. The editor's woman friend had correctly +pointed the way to him, for this series won for his magazine the +enviable distinction of being the first magazine of standing to reach +the then marvellous record of a circulation of one million copies a +month. The editions containing the series were sold out as fast as +they could be printed. +</P> + +<P> +The editor followed this up with another successful series, again +pictorial. He realized that to explain good taste in furnishing by +text was almost impossible. So he started a series of all-picture +pages called "Good Taste and Bad Taste." He presented a chair that was +bad in lines and either useless or uncomfortable to sit in, and +explained where and why it was bad; and then put a good chair next to +it, and explained where and why it was good. +</P> + +<P> +The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effective; the pictures +told their story as no printed word could have done, and furniture +manufacturers and dealers all over the country, feeling the pressure +from their customers, began to put on the market the tables, chairs, +divans, bedsteads, and dressing-tables which the magazine was +portraying as examples of good taste. It was amazing that, within five +years, the physical appearance of domestic furniture in the stores +completely changed. +</P> + +<P> +The next undertaking was a systematic plan for improving the pictures +on the walls of the American home. Bok was employing the best artists +of the day: Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, W. L. +Taylor, Albert Lynch, Will H. Low, W. T. Smedley, Irving R. Wiles, and +others. As his magazine was rolled to go through the mails, the +pictures naturally suffered; Bok therefore decided to print a special +edition of each important picture that he published, an edition on +plate-paper, without text, and offered to his readers at ten cents a +copy. Within a year he had sold nearly one hundred thousand copies, +such pictures as W. L. Taylor's "The Hanging of the Crane" and +"Home-Keeping Hearts" being particularly popular. +</P> + +<P> +But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of Bok's +cherished dream; the reproduction, in enormous numbers, of the greatest +pictures in the world in their original colors. The plan, however, was +not for the moment feasible; the cost of the four-color process was at +that time prohibitive, and Bok had to abandon it. But he never lost +sight of it. He knew the hour would come when he could carry it out, +and he bided his time. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until years later that his opportunity came, when he +immediately made up his mind to seize it. The magazine had installed a +battery of four-color presses; the color-work in the periodical was +attracting universal attention, and after all stages of experimentation +had been passed, Bok decided to make his dream a reality. He sought +the co-operation of the owners of the greatest private art galleries in +the country: J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry C. Frick, Joseph E. Widener, +George W. Elkins, John G. Johnson, Charles P. Taft, Mrs. John L. +Gardner, Charles L. Freer, Mrs. Havemeyer, and the owners of the +Benjamin Altman Collection, and sought permission to reproduce their +greatest paintings. +</P> + +<P> +Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any process adequately to +reproduce their masterpieces, the owners heartily co-operated with Bok. +But Bok's co-editors discouraged his plan, since it would involve +endless labor, the exclusive services of a corps of photographers and +engravers, and the employment of the most careful pressmen available in +the United States. The editor realized that the obstacles were +numerous and that the expense would be enormous; but he felt sure that +the American public was ready for his idea. And early in 1912 he +announced his series and began its publication. +</P> + +<P> +The most wonderful Rembrandt, Velasquez, Turner, Hobbema, Van Dyck, +Raphael, Frans Hals, Romney, Gainsborough, Whistler, Corot, Mauve, +Vermeer, Fragonard, Botticelli, and Titian reproductions followed in +such rapid succession as fairly to daze the magazine readers. Four +pictures were given in each number, and the faithfulness of the +reproductions astonished even their owners. The success of the series +was beyond Bok's own best hopes. He was printing and selling one and +three-quarter million copies of each issue of his magazine; and before +he was through he had presented to American homes throughout the +breadth of the country over seventy million reproductions of forty +separate masterpieces of art. +</P> + +<P> +The dream of years had come true. +</P> + +<P> +Bok had begun with the exterior of the small American house and made an +impression upon it; he had brought the love of flowers into the hearts +of thousands of small householders who had never thought they could +have an artistic garden within a small area; he had changed the lines +of furniture, and he had put better art on the walls of these homes. +He had conceived a full-rounded scheme, and he had carried it out. +</P> + +<P> +It was a peculiar satisfaction to Bok that Theodore Roosevelt once +summed up this piece of work in these words: "Bok is the only man I +ever heard of who changed, for the better, the architecture of an +entire nation, and he did it so quickly and yet so effectively that we +didn't know it was begun before it was finished. That is a mighty big +job for one man to have done." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In 1905 and in previous years the casualties resulting from fireworks +on the Fourth of July averaged from five to six thousand each year. +The humorous weekly <I>Life</I> and the <I>Chicago Tribune</I> had been for some +time agitating a restricted use of fireworks on the national fête day, +but nevertheless the list of casualties kept creeping to higher +figures. Bok decided to help by arousing the parents of America, in +whose hands, after all, lay the remedy. He began a series of articles +in the magazine, showing what had happened over a period of years, the +criminality of allowing so many young lives to be snuffed out, and +suggested how parents could help by prohibiting the deadly firecrackers +and cannon, and how organizations could assist by influencing the +passing of city ordinances. Each recurring January, <I>The Journal</I> +returned to the subject, looking forward to the coming Fourth. It was +a deep-rooted custom to eradicate, and powerful influences, in the form +of thousands of small storekeepers, were at work upon local officials +to pay no heed to the agitation. Gradually public opinion changed. +The newspapers joined in the cry; women's organizations insisted upon +action from local municipal bodies. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, the civic spirit in Cleveland, Ohio, forced the passage of a +city ordinance prohibiting the sale or use of fireworks on the Fourth. +The following year when Cleveland reported no casualties as compared to +an ugly list for the previous Fourth, a distinct impression was made +upon other cities. Gradually, other municipalities took action, and +year by year the list of Fourth of July casualties grew perceptibly +shorter. New York City was now induced to join the list of prohibitive +cities, by a personal appeal made to its mayor by Bok, and on the +succeeding Fourth of July the city authorities, on behalf of the people +of New York City, conferred a gold medal upon Edward Bok for his +services in connection with the birth of the new Fourth in that city. +</P> + +<P> +There still remains much to be done in cities as yet unawakened; but a +comparison of the list of casualties of 1920 with that of 1905 proves +the growth in enlightened public sentiment in fifteen years to have +been steadily increasing. It is an instance not of Bok taking the +initiative--that had already been taken--but of throwing the whole +force of the magazine with those working in the field to help. It is +the American woman who is primarily responsible for the safe and sane +Fourth, so far as it already exists in this country to-day, and it is +the American woman who can make it universal. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Bok's interest and knowledge in civic matters had now peculiarly +prepared him for a personal adventure into community work. Merion, +where he lived, was one of the most beautiful of the many suburbs that +surround the Quaker City; but, like hundreds of similar communities, +there had been developed in it no civic interest. Some of the most +successful business men of Philadelphia lived in Merion; they had +beautiful estates, which they maintained without regard to expense, but +also without regard to the community as a whole. They were busy men; +they came home tired after a day in the city; they considered +themselves good citizens if they kept their own places sightly, but the +idea of devoting their evenings to the problems of their community had +never occurred to them before the evening when two of Bok's neighbors +called to ask his help in forming a civic association. +</P> + +<P> +A canvass of the sentiment of the neighborhood revealed the unanimous +opinion that the experiment, if attempted, would be a failure,--an +attitude not by any means confined to the residents of Merion! Bok +decided to test it out; he called together twenty of his neighbors, put +the suggestion before them and asked for two thousand dollars as a +start, so that a paid secretary might be engaged, since the men +themselves were too busy to attend to the details of the work. The +amount was immediately subscribed, and in 1913 The Merion Civic +Association applied for a charter and began its existence. +</P> + +<P> +The leading men in the community were elected as a Board of Directors, +and a salaried secretary was engaged to carry out the directions of the +Board. The association adopted the motto: "To be nation right, and +state right, we must first be community right." Three objectives were +selected "with which to attract community interest and membership; +safety to life, in the form of proper police protection; safety to +property, in the form of adequate hydrant and fire-engine service; and +safety to health, in careful supervision of the water and milk used in +the community. +</P> + +<P> +"The three S's," as they were called, brought an immediate response. +They were practical in their appeal, and members began to come in. The +police force was increased from one officer at night and none in the +day, to three at night and two during the day, and to this the +Association added two special night officers of its own. Private +detectives were intermittently brought in to "check up" and see that +the service was vigilant. A fire hydrant was placed within seven +hundred feet of every house, with the insurance rates reduced from +twelve and one-half to thirty per cent; the services of three +fire-engine companies was arranged for. Fire-gongs were introduced +into the community to guard against danger from interruption of +telephone service. The water supply was chemically analyzed each month +and the milk supply carefully scrutinized. One hundred and fifty new +electric-light posts specially designed, and pronounced by experts as +the most beautiful and practical road lamps ever introduced into any +community, were erected, making Merion the best-lighted community in +its vicinity. +</P> + +<P> +At every corner was erected an artistically designed cast-iron road +sign; instead of the unsightly wooden ones, cast-iron automobile +warnings were placed at every dangerous spot; community +bulletin-boards, to supplant the display of notices on trees and poles, +were placed at the railroad station; litter-cans were distributed over +the entire community; a new railroad station and post-office were +secured; the station grounds were laid out as a garden by a landscape +architect; new roads of permanent construction, from curb to curb, were +laid down; uniform tree-planting along the roads was introduced; +bird-houses were made and sold, so as to attract bird-life to the +community; toll-gates were abolished along the two main arteries of +travel; the removal of all telegraph and telephone poles was begun; an +efficient Boy Scout troop was organized, and an American Legion post; +the automobile speed limit was reduced from twenty-four to fifteen +miles as a protection to children; roads were regularly swept, cleaned, +and oiled, and uniform sidewalks advocated and secured. +</P> + +<P> +Within seven years so efficiently had the Association functioned that +its work attracted attention far beyond the immediate neighborhood of +Philadelphia, and caused Theodore Roosevelt voluntarily to select it as +a subject for a special magazine article in which he declared it to +"stand as a model in civic matters." To-day it may be conservatively +said of The Merion Civic Association that it is pointed out as one of +the most successful suburban civic efforts in the country; as Doctor +Lyman Abbott said in <I>The Outlook</I>, it has made "Merion a model suburb, +which may standardize ideal suburban life, certainly for Philadelphia, +possibly for the United States." +</P> + +<P> +When the armistice was signed in November, 1918, the Association +immediately canvassed the neighborhood to erect a suitable Tribute +House, as a memorial to the eighty-three Merion boys who had gone into +the Great War: a public building which would comprise a community +centre, with an American Legion Post room, a Boy Scout house, an +auditorium, and a meeting-place for the civic activities of Merion. A +subscription was raised, and plans were already drawn for the Tribute +House, when Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, president of the Victor Talking +Machine Company, one of the strong supporters of The Merion Civic +Association, presented his entire estate of twelve acres, the finest in +Merion, to the community, and agreed to build a Tribute House at his +own expense. The grounds represented a gift of two hundred thousand +dollars, and the building a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. This building, now about to be erected, will be one of the +most beautiful and complete community centres in the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps no other suburban civic effort proves the efficiency of +community co-operation so well as does the seven years' work of The +Merion Civic Association. It is a practical demonstration of what a +community can do for itself by concerted action. It preached, from the +very start, the gospel of united service; it translated into actual +practice the doctrine of being one's brother's keeper, and it taught +the invaluable habit of collective action. The Association has no +legal powers; it rules solely by persuasion; it accomplishes by the +power of combination; by a spirit of the community for the community. +</P> + +<P> +When The Merion Civic Association was conceived, the spirit of local +pride was seemingly not present in the community. As a matter of fact, +it was there as it is in practically every neighborhood; it was simply +dormant; it had to be awakened, and its value brought vividly to the +community consciousness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE +</H3> + +<P> +When the virile figure of Theodore Roosevelt swung down the national +highway, Bok was one of thousands of young men who felt strongly the +attraction of his personality. Colonel Roosevelt was only five years +the senior of the editor; he spoke, therefore, as one of his own years. +The energy with which he said and did things appealed to Bok. He made +Americanism something more real, more stirring than Bok had ever felt +it; he explained national questions in a way that caught Bok's fancy +and came within his comprehension. Bok's lines had been cast with many +of the great men of the day, but he felt that there was something +distinctive about the personality of this man: his method of doing +things and his way of saying things. Bok observed everything Colonel +Roosevelt did and read everything he wrote. +</P> + +<P> +The editor now sought an opportunity to know personally the man whom he +admired. It came at a dinner at the University Club, and Colonel +Roosevelt suggested that they meet there the following day for a +"talk-fest." For three hours the two talked together. The fact that +Colonel Roosevelt was of Dutch ancestry interested Bok; that Bok was +actually of Dutch birth made a strong appeal to the Colonel. With his +tremendous breadth of interests, Roosevelt, Bok found, had followed him +quite closely in his work, and was familiar with "its high points," as +he called them. "We must work for the same ends," said the Colonel, +"you in your way, I in mine. But our lines are bound to cross. You +and I can each become good Americans by giving our best to make America +better. With the Dutch stock there is in both of us, there's no limit +to what we can do. Let's go to it." Naturally that talk left the two +firm friends. +</P> + +<P> +Bok felt somehow that he had been given a new draft of Americanism; the +word took on a new meaning for him; it stood for something different, +something deeper and finer than before. And every subsequent talk with +Roosevelt deepened the feeling and stirred Bok's deepest ambitions. +"Go to it, you Dutchman," Roosevelt would say, and Bok would go to it. +A talk with Roosevelt always left him feeling as if mountains were the +easiest things in the world to move. +</P> + +<P> +One of Theodore Roosevelt's arguments which made a deep impression upon +Bok was that no man had a right to devote his entire life to the making +of money. "You are in a peculiar position," said the man of Oyster Bay +one day to Bok; "you are in that happy position where you can make +money and do good at the same time. A man wields a tremendous power +for good or for evil who is welcomed into a million homes and read with +confidence. That's fine, and is all right so far as it goes, and in +your case it goes very far. Still, there remains more for you to do. +The public has built up for you a personality: now give that +personality to whatever interests you in contact with your immediate +fellow-men: something in your neighborhood, your city, or your State. +With one hand work and write to your national audience: let no fads +sway you. Hew close to the line. But, with the other hand, swing into +the life immediately around you. Think it over." +</P> + +<P> +Bok did think it over. He was now realizing the dream of his life for +which he had worked: his means were sufficient to give his mother every +comfort; to install her in the most comfortable surroundings wherever +she chose to live; to make it possible for her to spend the winters in +the United States and the summers in the Netherlands, and thus to keep +in touch with her family and friends in both countries. He had for +years toiled unceasingly to reach this point: he felt he had now +achieved at least one goal. +</P> + +<P> +He had now turned instinctively to the making of a home for himself. +After an engagement of four years he had been married, on October 22, +1896, to Mary Louise Curtis, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus H. K. +Curtis; two sons had been born to them; he had built and was occupying +a house at Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb six miles from the +Philadelphia City Hall. When she was in this country his mother lived +with him, and also his brother, and, with a strong belief in life +insurance, he had seen to it that his family was provided for in case +of personal incapacity or of his demise. In other words, he felt that +he had put his own house in order; he had carried out what he felt is +every man's duty: to be, first of all, a careful and adequate provider +for his family. He was now at the point where he could begin to work +for another goal, the goal that he felt so few American men saw: the +point in his life where he could retire from the call of duty and +follow the call of inclination. +</P> + +<P> +At the age of forty he tried to look ahead and plan out his life as far +as he could. Barring unforeseen obstacles, he determined to retire +from active business when he reached his fiftieth year, and give the +remainder of his life over to those interests and influences which he +assumed now as part of his life, and which, at fifty, should seem to +him best worth while. He realized that in order to do this he must do +two things: he must husband his financial resources and he must begin +to accumulate a mental reserve. +</P> + +<P> +The wide public acceptance of the periodical which he edited naturally +brought a share of financial success to him. He had experienced +poverty, and as he subsequently wrote, in an article called "Why I +Believe in Poverty," he was deeply grateful for his experience. He had +known what it was to be poor; he had seen others dear to him suffer for +the bare necessities; there was, in fact, not a single step on that +hard road that he had not travelled. He could, therefore, sympathize +with the fullest understanding with those similarly situated, could +help as one who knew from practice and not from theory. He realized +what a marvellous blessing poverty can be; but as a condition to +experience, to derive from it poignant lessons, and then to get out of; +not as a condition to stay in. +</P> + +<P> +Of course many said to Bok when he wrote the article in which he +expressed these beliefs: "That's all very well; easy enough to say, but +how can you get out of it?" Bok realized that he could not definitely +show any one the way. No one had shown him. No two persons can find +the same way out. Bok determined to lift himself out of poverty +because his mother was not born in it, did not belong in it, and could +not stand it. That gave him the first essential: a purpose. Then he +backed up the purpose with effort and an ever-ready willingness to +work, and to work at anything that came his way, no matter what it was, +so long as it meant "the way out." He did not pick and choose; he took +what came, and did it in the best way he knew how; and when he did not +like what he was doing he still did it as well as he could while he was +doing it, but always with an eye single to the purpose not to do it any +longer than was strictly necessary. He used every rung in the ladder +as a rung to the one above. He always gave more than his particular +position or salary asked for. He never worked by the clock; always by +the job; and saw that it was well done regardless of the time it took +to do it. This meant effort, of course, untiring, ceaseless, +unsparing; and it meant work, hard as nails. +</P> + +<P> +He was particularly careful never to live up to his income; and as his +income increased he increased not the percentage of expenditure but the +percentage of saving. Thrift was, of course, inborn with him as a +Dutchman, but the necessity for it as a prime factor in life was burned +into him by his experience with poverty. But he interpreted thrift not +as a trait of niggardliness, but as Theodore Roosevelt interpreted it: +common sense applied to spending. +</P> + +<P> +At forty, therefore, he felt he had learned the first essential to +carrying out his idea of retirement at fifty. +</P> + +<P> +The second essential--varied interests outside of his business upon +which he could rely on relinquishing his duties--he had not cultivated. +He had quite naturally, in line with his belief that concentration +means success, immersed himself in his business to the exclusion of +almost everything else. He felt that he could now spare a certain +percentage of his time to follow Theodore Roosevelt's ideas and let the +breezes of other worlds blow over him. In that way he could do as +Roosevelt suggested and as Bok now firmly believed was right: he could +develop himself along broader lines, albeit the lines of his daily work +were broadening in and of themselves, and he could so develop a new set +of inner resources upon which he could draw when the time came to +relinquish his editorial position. +</P> + +<P> +He saw, on every side, the pathetic figures of men who could not let go +after their greatest usefulness was past; of other men who dropped +before they realized their arrival at the end of the road; and, most +pathetic of all, of men who having retired, but because of lack of +inner resources did not know what to do with themselves, had become a +trial to themselves, their families, and their communities. +</P> + +<P> +Bok decided that, given health and mental freshness, he would say +good-by to his public before his public might decide to say good-by to +him. So, at forty, he candidly faced the facts of life and began to +prepare himself for his retirement at fifty under circumstances that +would be of his own making and not those of others. +</P> + +<P> +And thereby Edward Bok proved that he was still, by instinct, a +Dutchman, and had not in his thirty-four years of residence in the +United States become so thoroughly Americanized as he believed. +</P> + +<P> +However, it was an American, albeit of Dutch extraction, one whom he +believed to be the greatest American in his own day, who had set him +thinking and shown him the way. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY +</H3> + +<P> +One of the incidents connected with Edward Bok that Theodore Roosevelt +never forgot was when Bok's eldest boy chose the Colonel as a Christmas +present. And no incident better portrays the wonderful character of +the Colonel than did his remarkable response to the compliment. +</P> + +<P> +A vicious attack of double pneumonia had left the heart of the boy very +weak--and Christmas was close by! So the father said: +</P> + +<P> +"It's a quiet Christmas for you this year, boy. Suppose you do this: +think of the one thing in the world that you would rather have than +anything else and I'll give you that, and that will have to be your +Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +"I know now," came the instant reply. +</P> + +<P> +"But the world is a big place, and there are lots of things in it, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"I know that," said the boy, "but this is something I have wanted for a +long time, and would rather have than anything else in the world." And +he looked as if he meant it. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, out with it, then, if you're so sure." +</P> + +<P> +And to the father's astonished ears came this request: +</P> + +<P> +"Take me to Washington as soon as my heart is all right, introduce me +to President Roosevelt, and let me shake hands with him." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said the father, after recovering from his surprise. +"I'll see whether I can fix it." And that morning a letter went to the +President saying that he had been chosen as a Christmas present. +Naturally, any man would have felt pleased, no matter how high his +station, and for Theodore Roosevelt, father of boys, the message had a +special appeal. +</P> + +<P> +The letter had no sooner reached Washington than back came an answer, +addressed not to the father but to the boy! It read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The White House, Washington. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +November 13th, 1907. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR CURTIS: +</P> + +<P> +Your father has just written me, and I want him to bring you on and +shake hands with me as soon as you are well enough to travel. Then I +am going to give you, myself, a copy of the book containing my hunting +trips since I have been President; unless you will wait until the new +edition, which contains two more chapters, is out. If so, I will send +it to you, as this new edition probably won't be ready when you come on +here. +</P> + +<P> +Give my warm regards to your father and mother. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sincerely yours, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here was joy serene! But the boy's heart had acted queerly for a few +days, and so the father wrote, thanked the President, and said that as +soon as the heart moderated a bit the letter would be given the boy. +It was a rare bit of consideration that now followed. No sooner had +the father's letter reached the White House than an answer came back by +first post--this time with a special-delivery stamp on it. It was +Theodore Roosevelt, the father, who wrote this time; his mind and time +filled with affairs of state, and yet full of tender thoughtfulness for +a little boy: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR MR. BOK:-- +</P> + +<P> +I have your letter of the 16th instant. I hope the little fellow will +soon be all right. Instead of giving him my letter, give him a message +from me based on the letter, if that will be better for him. Tell Mrs. +Bok how deeply Mrs. Roosevelt and I sympathize with her. We know just +how she feels. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sincerely yours, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"That's pretty fine consideration," said the father. He got the letter +during a business conference and he read it aloud to the group of +business men. Some there were in that group who keenly differed with +the President on national issues, but they were all fathers, and two of +the sturdiest turned and walked to the window as they said: +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that is fine!" +</P> + +<P> +Then came the boy's pleasure when he was handed the letter; the next +few days were spent inditing an answer to "my friend, the President." +At last the momentous epistle seemed satisfactory, and off to the busy +presidential desk went the boyish note, full of thanks and assurances +that he would come just as soon as he could, and that Mr. Roosevelt +must not get impatient! +</P> + +<P> +The "soon as he could" time, however, did not come as quickly as all +had hoped!--a little heart pumped for days full of oxygen and +accelerated by hypodermic injections is slow to mend. But the +President's framed letter, hanging on the spot on the wall first seen +in the morning, was a daily consolation. +</P> + +<P> +Then, in March, although four months after the promise--and it would +not have been strange, in his busy life, for the President to have +forgotten or at least overlooked it--on the very day that the book was +published came a special "large-paper" copy of <I>The Outdoor Pastimes of +an American Hunter</I>, and on the fly-leaf there greeted the boy, in the +President's own hand: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +To MASTER CURTIS BOK, +</P> + +<P> +With the best wishes of his friend, +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +March 11, 1908. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The boy's cup was now full, and so said his letter to the President. +And the President wrote back to the father: "I am really immensely +amused and interested, and shall be mighty glad to see the little +fellow." +</P> + +<P> +In the spring, on a beautiful May day, came the great moment. The +mother had to go along, the boy insisted, to see the great event, and +so the trio found themselves shaking the hand of the President's +secretary at the White House. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the President is looking for you, all right," he said to the boy, +and then the next moment the three were in a large room. Mr. +Roosevelt, with beaming face, was already striding across the room, and +with a "Well, well, and so this is my friend Curtis!" the two stood +looking into each other's faces, each fairly wreathed in smiles, and +each industriously shaking the hand of the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mr. President, I'm mighty glad to see you!" said the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad to see you, Curtis," returned Mr. Roosevelt. +</P> + +<P> +Then there came a white rose from the presidential desk for the mother, +but after that father and mother might as well have faded away. Nobody +existed save the President and the boy. The anteroom was full; in the +Cabinet-room a delegation waited to be addressed. But affairs of state +were at a complete standstill as, with boyish zeal, the President +became oblivious to all but the boy before him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Curtis, I've got some pictures here of bears that a friend of +mine has just shot. Look at that whopper, fifteen hundred +pounds--that's as much as a horse weighs, you know. Now, my friend +shot him"--and it was a toss-up who was the more keenly interested, the +real boy or the man-boy, as picture after picture came out and bear +adventure crowded upon the heels of bear adventure. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee, he's a corker, all right!" came from the boy at one point, and +then, from the President: "That's right, he is a corker. Now you see +his head here"--and then both were off again. +</P> + +<P> +The private secretary came in at this point and whispered in the +President's ear. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, I know. I'll see him later. Say that I am very busy now." +And the face beamed with smiles. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Mr. President--" began the father. +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir; no, sir; not at all. Affairs can wait. This is a +long-standing engagement between Curtis and me, and that must come +first. Isn't that so, Curtis?" +</P> + +<P> +Of course the boy agreed. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the boy looked around the room and said: +</P> + +<P> +"Where's your gun, Mr. President? Got it here?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," laughingly came from the President, "but I'll tell you"--and then +the two heads were together again. +</P> + +<P> +A moment for breath-taking came, and the boy said: +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you ever afraid of being shot?" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean while I am hunting?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no. I mean as President." +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the smiling President. "I'll tell you, Curtis; I'm too +busy to think about that. I have too many things to do to bother about +anything of that sort. When I was in battle I was always too anxious +to get to the front to think about the shots. And here--well, here I'm +too busy too. Never think about it. But I'll tell you, Curtis, there +are some men down there," pointing out of the window in the direction +of the capitol, "called the Congress, and if they would only give me +the four battleships I want, I'd be perfectly willing to have any one +take a crack at me." Then, for the first time recognizing the +existence of the parents, the President said: "And I don't know but if +they did pick me off I'd be pretty well ahead of the game." +</P> + +<P> +Just in that moment only did the boy-knowing President get a single +inch above the boy-interest. It was astonishing to see the natural +accuracy with which the man gauged the boy-level. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, how would you like to see a bear, Curtis?" came next, "I know +where there's a beauty, twelve hundred pounds." +</P> + +<P> +"Must be some bear!" interjected the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what it is," put in the President. "Regular cinnamon-brown +type"--and then off went the talk to the big bear at the Washington +"Zoo" where the President was to send the boy. +</P> + +<P> +Then, after a little; "Now, Curtis, see those men over there in that +room. They've travelled from all parts of the country to come here at +my invitation, and I've got to make a little speech to them, and I'll +do that while you go off to see the bear." +</P> + +<P> +And then the hand came forth to say good-by. The boy put his in it, +each looked into the other's face, and on neither was there a place big +enough to put a ten-cent piece that was not wreathed in smiles. "He +certainly is all right," said the boy to the father, looking wistfully +after the President. +</P> + +<P> +Almost to the other room had the President gone when he, too, +instinctively looked back to find the boy following him with his eyes. +He stopped, wheeled around, and then the two instinctively sought each +other again. The President came back, the boy went forward. This +time each held out both hands, and as each looked once more into the +other's eyes a world of complete understanding was in both faces, and +every looker-on smiled with them. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Curtis," came at last from the President. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Mr. President," came from the boy. Then, with another +pump-handly shake and with a "Gee, but he's great, all right!" the boy +went out to see the cinnamon-bear at the "Zoo," and to live it all over +in the days to come. +</P> + +<P> +Two boy-hearts had met, although one of them belonged to the President +of the United States. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ADVENTURES IN MUSIC +</H3> + +<P> +One of the misfortunes of Edward Bok's training, which he realized more +clearly as time went on, was that music had little or no place in his +life. His mother did not play; and aside from the fact that his father +and mother were patrons of the opera during their residence in The +Netherlands, the musical atmosphere was lacking in his home. He +realized how welcome an outlet music might be in his now busy life. So +what he lacked himself and realized as a distinct omission in his own +life he decided to make possible for others. +</P> + +<P> +<I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> began to strike a definite musical note. It +first caught the eye and ear of its public by presenting the popular +new marches by John Philip Sousa; and when the comic opera of "Robin +Hood" became the favorite of the day, it secured all the new +compositions by Reginald de Koven. Following these, it introduced its +readers to new compositions by Sir Arthur Sullivan, Tosti, Moszkowski, +Richard Strauss, Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, Edouard Strauss, and +Mascagni. Bok induced Josef Hofmann to give a series of piano lessons +in his magazine, and Madame Marchesi a series of vocal lessons. <I>The +Journal</I> introduced its readers to all the great instrumental and vocal +artists of the day through articles; it offered prizes for the best +piano and vocal compositions; it had the leading critics of New York, +Boston, and Chicago write articles explanatory of orchestral music and +how to listen to music. +</P> + +<P> +Bok was early attracted by the abilities of Josef Hofmann. In 1898, he +met the pianist, who was then twenty-two years old. Of his musical +ability Bok could not judge, but he was much impressed by his unusual +mentality, and soon both learned and felt that Hofmann's art was deeply +and firmly rooted. Hofmann had a wider knowledge of affairs than other +musicians whom Bok had met; he had not narrowed his interests to his +own art. He was striving to achieve a position in his art, and, +finding that he had literary ability, Bok asked him to write a +reminiscent article on his famous master, Rubinstein. +</P> + +<P> +This was followed by other articles; the publication of his new +mazurka; still further articles; and then, in 1907, Bok offered him a +regular department in the magazine and a salaried editorship on his +staff. +</P> + +<P> +Bok's musical friends and the music critics tried to convince the +editor that Hofmann's art lay not so deep as Bok imagined; that he had +been a child prodigy, and would end where all child prodigies +invariably end--opinions which make curious reading now in view of +Hofmann's commanding position in the world of music. But while Bok +lacked musical knowledge, his instinct led him to adhere to his belief +in Hofmann; and for twelve years, until Bok's retirement as editor, the +pianist was a regular contributor to the magazine. His success was, of +course, unquestioned. He answered hundreds of questions sent him by +his readers, and these answers furnished such valuable advice for piano +students that two volumes were made in book form and are to-day used by +piano teachers and students as authoritative guides. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Bok's marriage had brought music directly into his domestic +circle. Mrs. Bok loved music, was a pianist herself, and sought to +acquaint her husband with what his former training had omitted. +Hofmann and Bok had become strong friends outside of the editorial +relation, and the pianist frequently visited the Bok home. But it was +some time, even with these influences surrounding him, before music +began to play any real part in Bok's own life. +</P> + +<P> +He attended the opera occasionally; more or less under protest, because +of its length, and because his mind was too practical for the indirect +operatic form. He could not remain patient at a recital; the effort to +listen to one performer for an hour and a half was too severe a tax +upon his restless nature. The Philadelphia Orchestra gave a symphony +concert each Saturday evening, and Bok dreaded the coming of that +evening in each week for fear of being taken to hear music which he was +convinced was "over his head." +</P> + +<P> +Like many men of his practical nature, he had made up his mind on this +point without ever having heard such a concert. The word "symphony" +was enough; it conveyed to him a form of the highest music quite beyond +his comprehension. Then, too, in the back of his mind there was the +feeling that, while he was perfectly willing to offer the best that the +musical world afforded in his magazine, his readers were primarily +women, and the appeal of music, after all, he felt was largely, if not +wholly, to the feminine nature. It was very satisfying to him to hear +his wife play in the evening; but when it came to public concerts, they +were not for his masculine nature. In other words, Bok shared the all +too common masculine notion that music is for women and has little +place in the lives of men. +</P> + +<P> +One day Josef Hofmann gave Bok an entirely new point of view. The +artist was rehearsing in Philadelphia for an appearance with the +orchestra, and the pianist was telling Bok and his wife of the desire +of Leopold Stokowski, who had recently become conductor of the +Philadelphia Orchestra, to eliminate encores from his symphonic +programmes; he wanted to begin the experiment with Hofmann's appearance +that week. This was a novel thought to Bok: why eliminate encores from +any concert? If he liked the way any performer played, he had always +done his share to secure an encore. Why should not the public have an +encore if it desired it, and why should a conductor or a performer +object? Hofmann explained to him the entity of a symphonic programme; +that it was made up with one composition in relation to the others as a +sympathetic unit, and that an encore was an intrusion, disturbing the +harmony of the whole. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would let Stokowski come out and explain to you what he is +trying to do," said Hofmann. "He knows what he wants, and he is right +in his efforts; but he doesn't know how to educate the public. There +is where you could help him." +</P> + +<P> +But Bok had no desire to meet Stokowski. He mentally pictured the +conductor: long hair; feet never touching the earth; temperament +galore; he knew them! And he had no wish to introduce the type into +his home life. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Bok, however, ably seconded Josef Hofmann, and endeavored to +dissipate Bok's preconceived notion, with the result that Stokowski +came to the Bok home. +</P> + +<P> +Bok was not slow to see Stokowski was quite the reverse of his mental +picture, and became intensely interested in the youthful conductor's +practical way of looking at things. It was agreed that the encore +"bull" was to be taken by the horns that week; that no matter what the +ovation to Hofmann might be, however the public might clamor, no encore +was to be forthcoming; and Bok was to give the public an explanation +during the following week. The next concert was to present Mischa +Elman, and his co-operation was assured so that continuity of effort +might be counted upon. +</P> + +<P> +In order to have first-hand information, Bok attended the concert that +Saturday evening. The symphony, Dvorak's "New World Symphony," amazed +Bok by its beauty; he was more astonished that he could so easily grasp +any music in symphonic form. He was equally surprised at the simple +beauty of the other numbers on the programme, and wondered not a little +at his own perfectly absorbed attention during Hofmann's playing of a +rather long concerto. +</P> + +<P> +The pianist's performance was so beautiful that the audience was +uproarious in its approval; it had calculated, of course, upon an +encore, and recalled the pianist again and again until he had appeared +and bowed his thanks several times. But there was no encore; the stage +hands appeared and moved the piano to one side, and the audience +relapsed into unsatisfied and rather bewildered silence. +</P> + +<P> +Then followed Bok's publicity work in the newspapers, beginning the +next day, exonerating Hofmann and explaining the situation. The +following week, with Mischa Elman as soloist, the audience once more +tried to have its way and its cherished encore, but again none was +forthcoming. Once more the newspapers explained; the battle was won, +and the no-encore rule has prevailed at the Philadelphia Orchestra +concerts from that day to this, with the public entirely resigned to +the idea and satisfied with the reason therefor. +</P> + +<P> +But the bewildered Bok could not make out exactly what had happened to +his preconceived notion about symphonic music. He attended the +following Saturday evening concert; listened to a Brahms symphony that +pleased him even more than had "The New World," and when, two weeks +later, he heard the Tschaikowski "Pathetique" and later the +"Unfinished" symphony, by Schubert, and a Beethoven symphony, attracted +by each in turn, he realized that his prejudice against the whole +question of symphonic music had been both wrongly conceived and +baseless. +</P> + +<P> +He now began to see the possibility of a whole world of beauty which up +to that time had been closed to him, and he made up his mind that he +would enter it. Somehow or other, he found the appeal of music did not +confine itself to women; it seemed to have a message for men. Then, +too, instead of dreading the approach of Saturday evenings, he was +looking forward to them, and invariably so arranged his engagements +that they might not interfere with his attendance at the orchestra +concerts. +</P> + +<P> +After a busy week, he discovered that nothing he had ever experienced +served to quiet him so much as these end-of-the-week concerts. They +were not too long, an hour and a half at the utmost; and, above all, +except now and then, when the conductor would take a flight into the +world of Bach, he found he followed him with at least a moderate degree +of intelligence; certainly with personal pleasure and inner +satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +Bok concluded he would not read the articles he had published on the +meaning of the different "sections" of a symphony orchestra, or the +books issued on that subject. He would try to solve the mechanism of +an orchestra for himself, and ascertain as he went along the relation +that each portion bore to the other. When, therefore, in 1913, the +president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association asked him to become +a member of its Board of Directors, his acceptance was a natural step +in the gradual development of his interest in orchestral music. +</P> + +<P> +The public support given to orchestras now greatly interested Bok. He +was surprised to find that every symphony orchestra had a yearly +deficit. This he immediately attributed to faulty management; but on +investigating the whole question he learned that a symphony orchestra +could not possibly operate, at a profit or even on a self-sustaining +basis, because of its weekly change of programme, the incessant +rehearsals required, and the limited number of times it could actually +play within a contracted season. An annual deficit was inevitable. +</P> + +<P> +He found that the Philadelphia Orchestra had a small but faithful group +of guarantors who each year made good the deficit in addition to paying +for its concert seats. This did not seem to Bok a sound business plan; +it made of the orchestra a necessarily exclusive organization, +maintained by a few; and it gave out this impression to the general +public, which felt that it did not "belong," whereas the true relation +of public and orchestra was that of mutual dependence. Other +orchestras, he found, as, for example, the Boston Symphony and the New +York Philharmonic had their deficits met by one individual patron in +each case. This, to Bok's mind, was an even worse system, since it +entirely excluded the public, making the orchestra dependent on the +continued interest and life of a single man. +</P> + +<P> +In 1916 Bok sought Mr. Alexander Van Rensselaer, the president of the +Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and proposed that he, himself, +should guarantee the deficit of the orchestra for five years, provided +that during that period an endowment fund should be raised, contributed +by a large number of subscribers, and sufficient in amount to meet, +from its interest, the annual deficit. It was agreed that the donor +should remain in strict anonymity, an understanding which has been +adhered to until the present writing. +</P> + +<P> +The offer from the "anonymous donor," presented by the president, was +accepted by the Orchestra Association. A subscription to an endowment +fund was shortly afterward begun; and the amount had been brought to +eight hundred thousand dollars when the Great War interrupted any +further additions. In the autumn of 1919, however, a city-wide +campaign for an addition of one million dollars to the endowment fund +was launched. The amount was not only secured, but oversubscribed. +Thus, instead of a guarantee fund, contributed by thirteen hundred +subscribers, with the necessity for annual collection, an endowment +fund of one million eight hundred thousand dollars, contributed by +fourteen thousand subscribers, has been secured; and the Philadelphia +Orchestra has been promoted from a privately maintained organization to +a public institution in which fourteen thousand residents of +Philadelphia feel a proprietary interest. It has become in fact, as +well as in name, "our orchestra." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES +</H3> + +<P> +The success of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> went steadily forward. The +circulation had passed the previously unheard-of figure for a monthly +magazine of a million and a half copies per month; it had now touched a +million and three-quarters. +</P> + +<P> +And not only was the figure so high, but the circulation itself was +absolutely free from "water." The public could not obtain the magazine +through what are known as clubbing-rates, since no subscriber was +permitted to include any other magazine with it; years ago it had +abandoned the practice of offering premiums or consideration of any +kind to induce subscriptions; and the newsdealers were not allowed to +return unsold copies of the periodical. Hence every copy was either +purchased by the public at the full price at a news stand, or +subscribed for at its stated subscription price. It was, in short, an +authoritative circulation. And on every hand the question was being +asked: "How is it done? How is such a high circulation obtained?" +</P> + +<P> +Bok's invariable answer was that he gave his readers the very best of +the class of reading that he believed would interest them, and that he +spared neither effort nor expense to obtain it for them. When Mr. +Howells once asked him how he classified his audience, Bok replied: "We +appeal to the intelligent American woman rather than to the +intellectual type." And he gave her the best he could obtain. As he +knew her to be fond of the personal type of literature, he gave her in +succession Jane Addams's story of "My Fifteen Years at Hull House," and +the remarkable narration of Helen Keller's "Story of My Life"; he +invited Henry Van Dyke, who had never been in the Holy Land, to go +there, camp out in a tent, and then write a series of sketches, "Out of +Doors in the Holy Land"; he induced Lyman Abbott to tell the story of +"My Fifty Years as a Minister." He asked Gene Stratton Porter to tell +of her bird-experiences in the series: "What I Have Done with Birds"; +he persuaded Dean Hodges to turn from his work of training young +clergymen at the Episcopal Seminary, at Cambridge, and write one of the +most successful series of Bible stories for children ever printed; and +then he supplemented this feature for children by publishing Rudyard +Kipling's "Just So" stories and his "Puck of Pook's Hill." He induced +F. Hopkinson Smith to tell the best stories he had ever heard in his +wide travels in "The Man in the Arm Chair"; he got Kate Douglas Wiggin +to tell a country church experience of hers in "The Old Peabody Pew"; +and Jean Webster her knowledge of almshouse life in "Daddy Long Legs." +</P> + +<P> +The readers of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I> realized that it searched the +whole field of endeavor in literature and art to secure what would +interest them, and they responded with their support. +</P> + +<P> +Another of Bok's methods in editing was to do the common thing in an +uncommon way. He had the faculty of putting old wine in new bottles +and the public liked it. His ideas were not new; he knew there were no +new ideas, but he presented his ideas in such a way that they seemed +new. It is a significant fact, too, that a large public will respond +more quickly to an idea than it will to a name. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When, early in 1917, events began so to shape themselves as directly to +point to the entrance of the United States into the Great War, Edward +Bok set himself to formulate a policy for <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I>. +He knew that he was in an almost insurmountably difficult position. +The huge edition necessitated going to press fully six weeks in advance +of publication, and the preparation of material fully four weeks +previous to that. He could not, therefore, get much closer than ten +weeks to the date when his readers received the magazine. And he knew +that events, in war time, had a way of moving rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +Late in January he went to Washington, consulted those authorities who +could indicate possibilities to him better than any one else, and +found, as he had suspected, that the entry of the United States into +the war was a practical certainty; it was only a question of time. +</P> + +<P> +Bok went South for a month's holiday to get ready for the fray, and in +the saddle and on the golf links he formulated a policy. The +newspapers and weeklies would send innumerable correspondents to the +front, and obviously, with the necessity for going to press so far in +advance, <I>The Journal</I> could not compete with them. They would depict +every activity in the field. There was but one logical thing for him +to do: ignore the "front" entirely, refuse all the offers of +correspondents, men and women, who wanted to go with the armies for his +magazine, and cover fully and practically the results of the war as +they would affect the women left behind. He went carefully over the +ground to see what these would be, along what particular lines women's +activities would be most likely to go, and then went back to Washington. +</P> + +<P> +It was now March. He conferred with the President, had his fears +confirmed, and offered all the resources of his magazine to the +government. His diagnosis of the situation was verified in every +detail by the authorities whom he consulted. <I>The Ladies' Home +Journal</I> could best serve by keeping up the morale at home and by +helping to meet the problems that would confront the women; as the +President said: "Give help in the second line of defense." +</P> + +<P> +A year before, Bok had opened a separate editorial office in Washington +and had secured Dudley Hannon, the Washington correspondent for the +<I>New York Sun</I>, as his editor-in-charge. The purpose was to bring the +women of the country into a clearer understanding of their government +and a closer relation with it. This work had been so successful as to +necessitate a force of four offices and twenty stenographers. Bok now +placed this Washington office on a war-basis, bringing it into close +relation with every department of the government that would be +connected with the war activities. By this means, he had an editor and +an organized force on the spot, devoting full time to the preparation +of war material, with Mr. Hannon in daily conference with the +department chiefs to secure the newest developments. +</P> + +<P> +Bok learned that the country's first act would be to recruit for the +navy, so as to get this branch of the service into a state of +preparedness. He therefore secured Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant +secretary of the navy, to write an article explaining to mothers why +they should let their boys volunteer for the Navy and what it would +mean to them. +</P> + +<P> +He made arrangements at the American Red Cross Headquarters for an +official department to begin at once in the magazine, telling women the +first steps that would be taken by the Red Cross and how they could +help. He secured former President William Howard Taft, as chairman of +the Central Committee of the Red Cross, for the editor of this +department. +</P> + +<P> +He cabled to Viscount Northcliffe and Ian Hay for articles showing what +the English women had done at the outbreak of the war, the mistakes +they had made, what errors the American women should avoid, the right +lines along which English women had worked and how their American +sisters could adapt these methods to trans-atlantic conditions. +</P> + +<P> +And so it happened that when the first war issue of <I>The Journal</I> +appeared on April 20th, only three weeks after the President's +declaration, it was the only monthly that recognized the existence of +war, and its pages had already begun to indicate practical lines along +which women could help. +</P> + +<P> +The editor had been told that the question of food would come to be of +paramount importance; he knew that Herbert Hoover had been asked to +return to America as soon as he could close his work abroad, and he +cabled over to his English representative to arrange that the proposed +Food Administrator should know, at first hand, of the magazine and its +possibilities for the furtherance of the proposed Food Administration +work. +</P> + +<P> +The Food Administration was no sooner organized than Bok made +arrangements for an authoritative department to be conducted in his +magazine, reflecting the plans and desires of the Food Administration, +and Herbert Hoover's first public declaration to the women of America +as food administrator was published in <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I>. Bok +now placed all the resources of his four-color press-work at Mr. +Hoover's disposal; and the Food Administration's domestic experts, in +conjunction with the full culinary staff of the magazine, prepared the +new war dishes and presented them appetizingly in full colors under the +personal endorsement of Mr. Hoover and the Food Administration. From +six to sixteen articles per month were now coming from Mr. Hoover's +department alone. +</P> + +<P> +Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo interpreted the first Liberty Loan +"drive" to the women; the President of the United States, in a special +message to women, wrote in behalf of the subsequent Loan; Bernard +Baruch, as chairman of the War Industries Board, made clear the need +for war-time thrift; the recalled ambassador to Germany, James W. +Gerard, told of the ingenious plans resorted to by German women which +American women could profitably copy; and Elizabeth, Queen of the +Belgians, explained the plight of the babies and children of Belgium, +and made a plea to the women of the magazine to help. So straight to +the point did the Queen write, and so well did she present her case +that within six months there had been sent to her, through <I>The Ladies' +Home Journal</I>, two hundred and forty-eight thousand cans of condensed +milk, seventy-two thousand cans of pork and beans, five thousand cans +of infants' prepared food, eighty thousand cans of beef soup, and +nearly four thousand bushels of wheat, purchased with the money donated +by the magazine readers. +</P> + +<P> +Considering the difficulties to be surmounted, due to the advance +preparation of material, and considering that, at the best, most of its +advance information, even by the highest authorities, could only be in +the nature of surmise, the comprehensive manner in which <I>The Ladies' +Home Journal</I> covered every activity of women during the Great War, +will always remain one of the magazine's most note-worthy achievements. +This can be said without reserve here, since the credit is due to no +single person; it was the combined, careful work of its entire staff, +weighing every step before it was taken, looking as clearly into the +future as circumstances made possible, and always seeking the most +authoritative sources of information. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the summer of 1918 that Edward Bok received from the British +Government, through its department of public information, of which Lord +Beaverbrook was the minister, an invitation to join a party of thirteen +American editors to visit Great Britain and France. The British +Government, not versed in publicity methods, was anxious that selected +parties of American publicists should see, personally, what Great +Britain had done, and was doing in the war; and it had decided to ask a +few individuals to pay personal visits to its munition factories, its +great aerodromes, its Great Fleet, which then lay in the Firth of +Forth, and to the battle-fields. It was understood that no specific +obligation rested upon any member of the party to write of what he saw: +he was asked simply to observe and then, with discretion, use his +observations for his own guidance and information in future writing. +In fact, each member was explicitly told that much of what he would see +could not be revealed either personally or in print. +</P> + +<P> +The party embarked in August amid all the attendant secrecy of war +conditions. The steamer was known only by a number, although later it +turned out to be the White Star liner, <I>Adriatic</I>. Preceded by a +powerful United States cruiser, flanked by destroyers, guided overhead +by observation balloons, the <I>Adriatic</I> was found to be the first ship +in a convoy of sixteen other ships with thirty thousand United States +troops on board. +</P> + +<P> +It was a veritable Armada that steamed out of lower New York harbor on +that early August morning, headed straight into the rising sun. But it +was a voyage of unpleasant war reminders, with life-savers carried +every moment of the day, with every light out at night, with every +window and door as if hermetically sealed so that the stuffy cabins +deprived of sleep those accustomed to fresh air, with over sixty army +men and civilians on watch at night, with life-drills each day, with +lessons as to behavior in life-boats; and with a fleet of eighteen +British destroyers meeting the convoy upon its approach to the Irish +Coast after a thirteen days' voyage of constant anxiety. No one could +say he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean in war days for pleasure, +and no one did. +</P> + +<P> +Once ashore, the party began a series of inspections of munition +plants, ship-yards, aeroplane factories and of meetings with the +different members of the English War Cabinet. Luncheons and dinners +were the order of each day until broken by a journey to Edinburgh to +see the amazing Great Fleet, with the addition of six of the foremost +fighting machines of the United States Navy, all straining like dogs at +leash, awaiting an expected dash from the bottled-up German fleet. It +was a formidable sight, perhaps never equalled: those lines of huge, +menacing, and yet protecting fighting machines stretching down the +river for miles, all conveying the single thought of the power and +extent of the British Navy and its formidable character as a fighting +unit. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-174"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-174.jpg" ALT="Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden" BORDER="2" WIDTH="512" HEIGHT="419"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +It was upon his return to London that Bok learned, through the +confidence of a member of the British "inner circle," the amazing news +that the war was practically over: that Bulgaria had capitulated and +was suing for peace; that two of the Central Power provinces had +indicated their strong desire that the war should end; and that the +first peace intimations had gone to the President of the United States. +All diplomatic eyes were turned toward Washington. Yet not a hint of +the impending events had reached the public. The Germans were being +beaten back, that was known; it was evident that the morale of the +German army was broken; that Foch had turned the tide toward victory; +but even the best-informed military authorities outside of the inner +diplomatic circles, predicted that the war would last until the spring +of 1919, when a final "drive" would end it. Yet, at that very moment, +the end of the war was in sight! +</P> + +<P> +Next Bok went to France to visit the battle-fields. It was arranged +that the party should first, under guidance of British officers, visit +back of the British lines; and then, successively, be turned over to +the American and French Governments, and visit the operations back of +their armies. +</P> + +<P> +It is an amusing fact that although each detail of officers delegated +to escort the party "to the front" received the most explicit +instructions from their superior officers to take the party only to the +quiet sectors where there was no fighting going on, each detail from +the three governments successively brought the party directly under +shell-fire, and each on the first day of the "inspection." It was +unconsciously done: the officers were as much amazed to find themselves +under fire as were the members of the party, except that the latter did +not feel the responsibility to an equal degree. The officers, in each +case, were plainly worried: the editors were intensely interested. +</P> + +<P> +They were depressing trips through miles and miles of devastated +villages and small cities. From two to three days each were spent in +front-line posts on the Amiens-Bethune, Albert-Peronne, +Bapaume-Soissons, St. Mihiel, and back of the Argonne sectors. Often, +the party was the first civilian group to enter a town evacuated only a +week before, and all the horrible evidence of bloody warfare was fresh +and plain. Bodies of German soldiers lay in the trenches where they +had fallen; wired bombs were on every hand, so that no object could be +touched that lay on the battle-fields; the streets of some of the towns +were still mined, so that no automobiles could enter; the towns were +deserted, the streets desolate. It was an appalling panorama of the +most frightful results of war. +</P> + +<P> +The picturesqueness and romance of the war of picture books were +missing. To stand beside an English battery of thirty guns laying a +barrage as they fired their shells to a point ten miles distant, made +one feel as if one were an actual part of real warfare, and yet far +removed from it, until the battery was located from the enemy's +"sausage observation"; then the shells from the enemy fired a return +salvo, and the better part of valor was discretion a few miles farther +back. +</P> + +<P> +Bok was standing talking to the commandant of one of the great French +army supply depots one morning. He was a man of forty; a colonel in +the regular French army. An erect, sturdy-looking man with white hair +and mustache, and who wore the single star of a subaltern on his +sleeve, came up, saluted, delivered a message, and then asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Are there any more orders, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +He brought his heels together with a click, saluted again, and went +away. +</P> + +<P> +The commandant turned to Bok with a peculiar smile on his face and +asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know who that man is?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +"That is my father," was the answer. +</P> + +<P> +The father was then exactly seventy-two years old. He was a retired +business man when the war broke out. After two years of the heroic +struggle he decided that he couldn't keep out of it. He was too old to +fight, but after long insistence he secured a commission. By one of +the many curious coincidences of the war he was assigned to serve under +his own son. +</P> + +<P> +When under the most trying conditions, the Americans never lost their +sense of fun. On the staff of a prison hospital in Germany, where a +number of captured American soldiers were being treated, a German +sergeant became quite friendly with the prisoners under his care. One +day he told them that he had been ordered to active service on the +front. He felt convinced that he would be captured by the English, and +asked the Americans if they would not, give him some sort of +testimonial which he could show if he were taken prisoner, so that he +would not be ill-treated. +</P> + +<P> +The Americans were much amused at this idea, and concocted a note of +introduction, written in English. The German sergeant knew no English +and could not understand his testimonial, but he tucked it in his +pocket, well satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +In due time, he was sent to the front and was captured by "the ladies +from hell," as the Germans called the Scotch kilties. He at once +presented his introduction, and his captors laughed heartily when they +read: +</P> + +<P> +"This is L----. He is not a bad sort of chap. Don't shoot him; +torture him slowly to death." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The amazing part of the "show," however, was the American doughboy. +Never was there a more cheerful, laughing, good-natured set of boys in +the world; never a more homesick, lonely, and complaining set. But +good nature predominated, and the smile was always upper-most, even +when the moment looked the blackest, the privations were worst, and the +longing for home the deepest. +</P> + +<P> +Bok had been talking to a boy who lived near his own home, who was on +his way to the front and "over the top" in the Argonne mess. Three +days afterward, at a hospital base where a hospital train was just +discharging its load of wounded, Bok walked among the boys as they lay +on their stretchers on the railroad platform waiting for bearers to +carry them into the huts. As he approached one stretcher, a cheery +voice called, "Hello, Mr. Bok. Here I am again." +</P> + +<P> +It was the boy he had left just seventy-two hours before hearty and +well. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my boy, you weren't in it long, were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir," answered the boy; "Fritzie sure got me first thing. Hadn't +gone a hundred yards over the top. Got a cigarette?" (the invariable +question). +</P> + +<P> +Bok handed a cigarette to the boy, who then said: "Mind sticking it in +my mouth?" Bok did so and then offered him a light; the boy continued, +all with his wonderful smile: "If you don't mind, would you just light +it? You see, Fritzie kept both of my hooks as souvenirs." +</P> + +<P> +With both arms amputated, the boy could still jest and smile! +</P> + +<P> +It was the same boy who on his hospital cot the next day said: "Don't +you think you could do something for the chap next to me, there on my +left? He's really suffering: cried like hell all last night. It would +be a God-send if you could get Doc to do something." +</P> + +<P> +A promise was given that the surgeon should be seen at once, but the +boy was asked: "How about you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," came the cheerful answer, "I'm all right. I haven't anything to +hurt. My wounded members are gone--just plain gone. But that chap has +got something--he got the real thing!" +</P> + +<P> +What was the real thing according to such a boy's idea? +</P> + +<P> +Bok had had enough of war in all its aspects; he felt a sigh of relief +when, a few days thereafter, he boarded <I>The Empress of Asia</I> for home, +after a ten-weeks' absence. He hoped never again to see, at first +hand, what war meant! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE THIRD PERIOD +</H3> + +<P> +On the voyage home, Edward Bok decided that, now the war was over, he +would ask his company to release him from the editorship of <I>The +Ladies' Home Journal</I>. His original plan had been to retire at the end +of a quarter of a century of editorship, when in his fiftieth year. He +was, therefore, six years behind his schedule. In October, 1919, he +would reach his thirtieth anniversary as editor, and he fixed upon this +as an appropriate time for the relinquishment of his duties. +</P> + +<P> +He felt he had carried out the conditions under which the editorship of +the magazine had been transferred to him by Mrs. Curtis, that he had +brought them to fruition, and that any further carrying on of the +periodical by him would be of a supplementary character. He had, too, +realized his hope of helping to create a national institution of +service to the American woman, and he felt that his part in the work +was done. +</P> + +<P> +He considered carefully where he would leave an institution which the +public had so thoroughly associated with his personality, and he felt +that at no point in its history could he so safely transfer it to other +hands. The position of the magazine in the public estimation was +unquestioned; it had never been so strong. Its circulation not only +had outstripped that of any other monthly periodical, but it was still +growing so rapidly that it was only a question of a few months when it +would reach the almost incredible mark of two million copies per month. +With its advertising patronage exceeding that of any other monthly, the +periodical had become, probably, the most valuable and profitable piece +of magazine property in the world. +</P> + +<P> +The time might never come again when all conditions would be equally +favorable to a change of editorship. The position of the magazine was +so thoroughly assured that its progress could hardly be affected by the +retirement of one editor, and the accession of another. There was a +competent editorial staff, the members of which had been with the +periodical from ten to thirty years each. This staff had been a very +large factor in the success of the magazine. While Bok had furnished +the initiative and supplied the directing power, a large part of the +editorial success of the magazine was due to the staff. It could carry +on the magazine without his guidance. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, Bok wished to say good-by to his public before it decided, +for some reason or other, to say good-by to him. He had no desire to +outstay his welcome. That public had been wonderfully indulgent toward +his shortcomings, lenient with his errors, and tremendously inspiring +to his best endeavor. He would not ask too much of it. Thirty years +was a long tenure of office, one of the longest, in point of +consecutively active editorship, in the history of American magazines. +</P> + +<P> +He had helped to create and to put into the life of the American home a +magazine of peculiar distinction. From its beginning it had been +unlike any other periodical; it had always retained its individuality +as a magazine apart from the others. It had sought to be something +more than a mere assemblage of stories and articles. It had +consistently stood for ideals; and, save in one or two instances, it +had carried through what it undertook to achieve. It had a record of +worthy accomplishment; a more fruitful record than many imagined. It +had become a national institution such as no other magazine had ever +been. It was indisputably accepted by the public and by business +interests alike as the recognized avenue of approach to the intelligent +homes of America. +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok was content to leave it at this point. +</P> + +<P> +He explained all this in December, 1918, to the Board of Directors, and +asked that his resignation be considered. It was understood that he +was to serve out his thirty years, thus remaining with the magazine for +the best part of another year. +</P> + +<P> +In the material which <I>The Journal</I> now included in its contents, it +began to point the way to the problems which would face women during +the reconstruction period. Bok scanned the rather crowded field of +thought very carefully, and selected for discussion in the magazine +such questions as seemed to him most important for the public to +understand in order to face and solve its impending problems. The +outstanding question he saw which would immediately face men and women +of the country was the problem of Americanization. The war and its +after-effects had clearly demonstrated this to be the most vital need +in the life of the nation, not only for the foreign-born but for the +American as well. +</P> + +<P> +The more one studied the problem the clearer it became that the vast +majority of American-born needed a refreshing, and, in many cases, a +new conception of American ideals as much as did the foreign-born, and +that the latter could never be taught what America and its institutions +stood for until they were more clearly defined in the mind of the men +and women of American birth. +</P> + +<P> +Bok went to Washington, consulted with Franklin K. Lane, secretary of +the interior, of whose department the Government Bureau of +Americanization was a part. A comprehensive series of articles was +outlined; the most expert writer, Esther Everett Lape, who had several +years of actual experience in Americanization work, was selected; +Secretary Lane agreed personally to read and pass upon the material, +and to assume the responsibility for its publication. +</P> + +<P> +With the full and direct co-operation of the Federal Bureau of +Americanization, the material was assembled and worked up with the +result that, in the opinion of the director of the Federal Bureau, the +series proved to be the most comprehensive exposition of practical +Americanization adapted to city, town, and village, thus far published. +</P> + +<P> +The work on this series was one of the last acts of Edward Bok's +editorship; and it was peculiarly gratifying to him that his editorial +work should end with the exposition of that Americanization of which he +himself was a product. It seemed a fitting close to the career of a +foreign-born Americanized editor. +</P> + +<P> +The scope of the reconstruction articles now published, and the clarity +of vision shown in the selection of the subjects, gave a fresh impetus +to the circulation of the magazine; and now that the government's +embargo on the use of paper had been removed, the full editions of the +periodical could again be printed. The public responded instantly. +</P> + +<P> +The result reached phenomenal figures. The last number under Bok's +full editorial control was the issue of October, 1919. This number was +oversold with a printed edition of two million copies--a record never +before achieved by any magazine. This same issue presented another +record unattained in any single number of any periodical in the world. +It carried between its covers the amazing total of over one million +dollars in advertisements. +</P> + +<P> +This was the psychological point at which to stop. And Edward Bok did. +Although his official relation as editor did not terminate until +January, 1920, when the number which contained his valedictory +editorial was issued, his actual editorship ceased on September 22, +1919. On that day he handed over the reins to his successor. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The announcement of Edward Bok's retirement came as a great surprise to +his friends. Save for one here and there, who had a clearer vision, +the feeling was general that he had made a mistake. He was fifty-six, +in the prime of life, never in better health, with "success lying +easily upon him"--said one; "at the very summit of his career," said +another--and all agreed it was "queer," "strange,"--unless, they +argued, he was really ill. Even the most acute students of human +affairs among his friends wondered. It seemed incomprehensible that +any man should want to give up before he was, for some reason, +compelled to do so. A man should go on until he "dropped in the +harness," they argued. +</P> + +<P> +Bok agreed that any man had a perfect right to work until he <I>did</I> +"drop in the harness." But, he argued, if he conceded this right to +others, why should they not concede to him the privilege of dropping +with the blinders off? +</P> + +<P> +"But," continued the argument, "a man degenerates when he retires from +active affairs." And then, instances were pointed out as notable +examples. "A year of retirement and he was through," was the picture +given of one retired man. "In two years, he was glad to come back," +and so the examples ran on. "No big man ever retired from active +business and did great work afterwards," Bok was told. +</P> + +<P> +"No?" he answered. "Not even Cyrus W. Field or Herbert Hoover?" +</P> + +<P> +And all this time Edward Bok's failure to be entirely Americanized was +brought home to his consciousness. After fifty years, he was still not +an American! He had deliberately planned, and then had carried out his +plan, to retire while he still had the mental and physical capacity to +enjoy the fruits of his years of labor! For foreign to the American +way of thinking it certainly was: the protestations and arguments of +his friends proved that to him. After all, he was still Dutch; he had +held on to the lesson which his people had learned years ago; that the +people of other European countries had learned; that the English had +discovered: that the Great Adventure of Life was something more than +material work, and that the time to go is while the going is good! +</P> + +<P> +For it cannot be denied that the pathetic picture we so often see is +found in American business life more frequently than in that of any +other land: men unable to let go--not only for their own good, but to +give the younger men behind them an opportunity. Not that a man should +stop work, for man was born to work, and in work he should find his +greatest refreshment. But so often it does not occur to the man in a +pivotal position to question the possibility that at sixty or seventy +he can keep steadily in touch with a generation whose ideas are +controlled by men twenty years younger. Unconsciously he hangs on +beyond his greatest usefulness and efficiency: he convinces himself +that he is indispensable to his business, while, in scores of cases, +the business would be distinctly benefited by his retirement and the +consequent coming to the front of the younger blood. +</P> + +<P> +Such a man in a position of importance seems often not to see that he +has it within his power to advance the fortunes of younger men by +stepping out when he has served his time, while by refusing to let go +he often works dire injustice and even disaster to his younger +associates. +</P> + +<P> +The sad fact is that in all too many instances the average American +business man is actually afraid to let go because he realizes that out +of business he should not know what to do. For years he has so +excluded all other interests that at fifty or sixty or seventy he finds +himself a slave to his business, with positively no inner resources. +Retirement from the one thing he does know would naturally leave such a +man useless to himself and his family, and his community: worse than +useless, as a matter of fact, for he would become a burden to himself, +a nuisance to his family, and, when he would begin to write "letters" +to the newspapers, a bore to the community. +</P> + +<P> +It is significant that a European or English business man rarely +reaches middle age devoid of acquaintance with other matters; he always +lets the breezes from other worlds of thought blow through his ideas, +with the result that when he is ready to retire from business he has +other interests to fall back upon. Fortunately it is becoming less +uncommon for American men to retire from business and devote themselves +to other pursuits; and their number will undoubtedly increase as time +goes on, and we learn the lessons of life with a richer background. +But one cannot help feeling regretful that the custom is not growing +more rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +A man must unquestionably prepare years ahead for his retirement, not +alone financially, but mentally as well. Bok noticed as a curious fact +that nearly every business man who told him he had made a mistake in +his retirement, and that the proper life for a man is to stick to the +game and see it through--"hold her nozzle agin the bank" as Jim Bludso +would say--was a man with no resources outside his business. +Naturally, a retirement is a mistake in the eyes of such a man; but oh, +the pathos of such a position: that in a world of so much interest, in +an age so fascinatingly full of things worth doing, a man should have +allowed himself to become a slave to his business, and should imagine +no other man happy without the same claims! +</P> + +<P> +It is this lesson that the American business man has still to learn; +that no man can be wholly efficient in his life, that he is not living +a four-squared existence, if he concentrates every waking thought on +his material affairs. He has still to learn that man cannot live by +bread alone. The making of money, the accumulation of material power, +is not all there is to living. Life is something more than these, and +the man who misses this truth misses the greatest joy and satisfaction +that can come into his life--service for others. +</P> + +<P> +Some men argue that they can give this service and be in business, too. +But service with such men generally means drawing a check for some +worthy cause, and nothing more. Edward Bok never belittled the giving +of contributions--he solicited too much money himself for the causes in +which he was interested--but it is a poor nature that can satisfy +itself that it is serving humanity by merely signing checks. There is +no form of service more comfortable or so cheap. Real service, +however, demands that a man give himself with his check. And that the +average man cannot do if he remains in affairs. +</P> + +<P> +Particularly true is this to-day, when every problem of business is so +engrossing, demanding a man's full time and thought. It is the rare +man who can devote himself to business and be fresh for the service of +others afterward. No man can, with efficiency, serve two masters so +exacting as are these. Besides, if his business has seemed important +enough to demand his entire attention, are not the great uplift +questions equally worth his exclusive thought? Are they easier of +solution than the material problems? +</P> + +<P> +A man can live a life full-square only when he divides it into three +periods: +</P> + +<P> +First: that of education, acquiring the fullest and best within his +reach and power; +</P> + +<P> +Second: that of achievement: achieving for himself and his family, and +discharging the first duty of any man, that in case of his incapacity +those who are closest to him are provided for. But such provision does +not mean an accumulation that becomes to those he leaves behind him an +embarrassment rather than a protection. To prevent this, the next +period confronts him: +</P> + +<P> +Third: Service for others. That is the acid test where many a man +falls short: to know when he has enough, and to be willing not only to +let well enough alone, but to give a helping hand to the other fellow; +to recognize, in a practical way, that we are our brother's keeper; +that a brotherhood of man does exist outside after-dinner speeches. +Too many men make the mistake, when they reach the point of enough, of +going on pursuing the same old game: accumulating more money, grasping +for more power until either a nervous breakdown overtakes them and a +sad incapacity results, or they drop "in the harness," which is, of +course; only calling an early grave by another name. They cannot seem +to get the truth into their heads that as they have been helped by +others so should they now help others: as their means have come from +the public, so now they owe something in turn to that public. +</P> + +<P> +No man has a right to leave the world no better than he found it. He +must add something to it: either he must make its people better and +happier, or he must make the face of the world fairer to look at. And +the one really means the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Idealism," immediately say some. Of course, it is. But what is the +matter with idealism? What really is idealism? Do one-tenth of those +who use the phrase so glibly know its true meaning, the part it has +played in the world? The worthy interpretation of an ideal is that it +embodies an idea--a conception of the imagination. All ideas are at +first ideals. They must be. The producer brings forth an idea, but +some dreamer has dreamed it before him either in whole or in part. +</P> + +<P> +Where would the human race be were it not for the ideals of men? It is +idealists, in a large sense, that this old world needs to-day. Its +soil is sadly in need of new seed. Washington, in his day, was decried +as an idealist. So was Jefferson. It was commonly remarked of Lincoln +that he was a "rank idealist." Morse, Watt, Marconi, Edison--all were, +at first, adjudged idealists. We say of the League of Nations that it +is ideal, and we use the term in a derogatory sense. But that was +exactly what was said of the Constitution of the United States. +"Insanely ideal" was the term used of it. +</P> + +<P> +The idealist, particularly to-day when there is so great need of him, +is not to be scoffed at. It is through him and only through him that +the world will see a new and clear vision of what is right. It is he +who has the power of going out of himself--that self in which too many +are nowadays so deeply imbedded; it is he who, in seeking the ideal, +will, through his own clearer perception or that of others, transform +the ideal into the real. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." +</P> + +<P> +It was his remark that he retired because he wanted "to play" that +Edward Bok's friends most completely misunderstood. "Play" in their +minds meant tennis, golf, horseback, polo, travel, etc.--(curious that +scarcely one mentioned reading!). It so happens that no one enjoys +some of these play-forms more than Bok; but "God forbid," he said, +"that I should spend the rest of my days in a bunker or in the saddle. +In moderation," he added, "yes; most decidedly." But the phrase of +"play" meant more to him than all this. Play is diversion: exertion of +the mind as well as of the body. There is such a thing as mental play +as well as physical play. We ask of play that it shall rest, refresh, +exhilarate. Is there any form of mental activity that secures all +these ends so thoroughly and so directly as doing something that a man +really likes to do, doing it with all his heart, all the time conscious +that he is helping to make the world better for some one else? +</P> + +<P> +A man's "play" can take many forms. If his life has been barren of +books or travel, let him read or see the world. But he reaches his +high estate by either of these roads only when he reads or travels to +enrich himself in order to give out what he gets to enrich the lives of +others. He owes it to himself to get his own refreshment, his own +pleasure, but he need not make that pure self-indulgence. +</P> + +<P> +Other men, more active in body and mind, feel drawn to the modern arena +of the great questions that puzzle. It matters not in which direction +a man goes in these matters any more than the length of a step matters +so much as does the direction in which the step is taken. He should +seek those questions which engross his deepest interest, whether +literary, musical, artistic, civic, economic, or what not. +</P> + +<P> +Our cities, towns, communities of all sizes and kinds, urban and rural, +cry out for men to solve their problems. There is room and to spare +for the man of any bent. The old Romans looked forward, on coming to +the age of retirement, which was definitely fixed by rule, to a rural +life, when they hied themselves to a little home in the country, had +open house for their friends, and "kept bees." While bee-keeping is +unquestionably interesting, there are today other and more vital +occupations awaiting the retired American. +</P> + +<P> +The main thing is to secure that freedom of movement that lets a man go +where he will and do what he thinks he can do best, and prove to +himself and to others that the acquirement of the dollar is not all +there is to life. No man can realize, until on awakening some morning +he feels the exhilaration, the sense of freedom that comes from knowing +he can choose his own doings and control his own goings. Time is of +more value than money, and it is that which the man who retires feels +that he possesses. Hamilton Mabie once said, after his retirement from +an active editorial position: "I am so happy that the time has come +when I elect what I shall do," which is true; but then he added: "I +have rubbed out the word 'must' from my vocabulary," which was not +true. No man ever reaches that point. Duty of some sort confronts a +man in business or out of business, and duty spells "must." But there +is less "must" in the vocabulary of the retired man; and it is this +lessened quantity that gives the tang of joy to the new day. +</P> + +<P> +It is a wonderful inner personal satisfaction to reach the point when a +man can say: "I have enough." His soul and character are refreshed by +it: he is made over by it. He begins a new life! he gets a sense of a +new joy; he feels, for the first time, what a priceless possession is +that thing that he never knew before, freedom. And if he seeks that +freedom at the right time, when he is at the summit of his years and +powers and at the most opportune moment in his affairs, he has that +supreme satisfaction denied to so many men, the opposite of which comes +home with such cruel force to them; that they have overstayed their +time: they have worn out their welcome. +</P> + +<P> +There is no satisfaction that so thoroughly satisfies as that of going +while the going is good. +</P> + +<P> +Still---- +</P> + +<P> +The friends of Edward Bok may be right when they said he made a mistake +in his retirement. +</P> + +<P> +However---- +</P> + +<P> +As Mr. Dooley says: "It's a good thing, sometimes, to have people size +ye up wrong, Hinnessey: it's whin they've got ye'er measure ye're in +danger." +</P> + +<P> +Edward Bok's friends have failed to get his measure,--yet! +</P> + +<P> +They still have to learn what he has learned and is learning every day: +"the joy," as Charles Lamb so aptly put it upon his retirement, "of +walking about and around instead of to and fro." +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +The question now naturally arises, having read this record thus far: To +what extent, with his unusual opportunities of fifty years, has the +Americanization of Edward Bok gone? How far is he, to-day, an +American? These questions, so direct and personal in their nature, are +perhaps best answered in a way more direct and personal than the method +thus far adopted in this chronicle. We will, therefore, let Edward Bok +answer these questions for himself, in closing this record of his +Americanization. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME +</H3> + +<P> +When I came to the United States as a lad of six, the most needful +lesson for me, as a boy, was the necessity for thrift. I had been +taught in my home across the sea that thrift was one of the +fundamentals in a successful life. My family had come from a land (the +Netherlands) noted for its thrift; but we had been in the United States +only a few days before the realization came home strongly to my father +and mother that they had brought their children to a land of waste. +</P> + +<P> +Where the Dutchman saved, the American wasted. There was waste, and +the most prodigal waste, on every hand. In every street-car and on +every ferry-boat the floors and seats were littered with newspapers +that had been read and thrown away or left behind. If I went to a +grocery store to buy a peck of potatoes, and a potato rolled off the +heaping measure, the groceryman, instead of picking it up, kicked it +into the gutter for the wheels of his wagon to run over. The butcher's +waste filled my mother's soul with dismay. If I bought a scuttle of +coal at the corner grocery, the coal that missed the scuttle, instead +of being shovelled up and put back into the bin, was swept into the +street. My young eyes quickly saw this; in the evening I gathered up +the coal thus swept away, and during the course of a week I collected a +scuttleful. The first time my mother saw the garbage pail of a family +almost as poor as our own, with the wife and husband constantly +complaining that they could not get along, she could scarcely believe +her eyes. A half pan of hominy of the preceding day's breakfast lay in +the pail next to a third of a loaf of bread. In later years, when I +saw, daily, a scow loaded with the garbage of Brooklyn householders +being towed through New York harbor out to sea, it was an easy +calculation that what was thrown away in a week's time from Brooklyn +homes would feed the poor of the Netherlands. +</P> + +<P> +At school, I quickly learned that to "save money" was to be "stingy"; +as a young man, I soon found that the American disliked the word +"economy," and on every hand as plenty grew spending grew. There was +literally nothing in American life to teach me thrift or economy; +everything to teach me to spend and to waste. +</P> + +<P> +I saw men who had earned good salaries in their prime, reach the years +of incapacity as dependents. I saw families on every hand either +living quite up to their means or beyond them; rarely within them. The +more a man earned, the more he--or his wife--spent. I saw fathers and +mothers and their children dressed beyond their incomes. The +proportion of families who ran into debt was far greater than those who +saved. When a panic came, the families "pulled in"; when the panic was +over, they "let out." But the end of one year found them precisely +where they were at the close of the previous year, unless they were +deeper in debt. +</P> + +<P> +It was in this atmosphere of prodigal expenditure and culpable waste +that I was to practise thrift: a fundamental in life! And it is into +this atmosphere that the foreign-born comes now, with every inducement +to spend and no encouragement to save. For as it was in the days of my +boyhood, so it is to-day--only worse. One need only go over the +experiences of the past two years, to compare the receipts of merchants +who cater to the working-classes and the statements of savings-banks +throughout the country, to read the story of how the foreign-born are +learning the habit of criminal wastefulness as taught them by the +American. +</P> + +<P> +Is it any wonder, then, that in this, one of the essentials in life and +in all success, America fell short with me, as it is continuing to fall +short with every foreign-born who comes to its shores? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As a Dutch boy, one of the cardinal truths taught me was that whatever +was worth doing was worth doing well: that next to honesty come +thoroughness as a factor in success. It was not enough that anything +should be done: it was not done at all if it was not done well. I came +to America to be taught exactly the opposite. The two infernal +Americanisms "That's good enough" and "That will do" were early taught +me, together with the maxim of quantity rather than quality. +</P> + +<P> +It was not the boy at school who could write the words in his copy-book +best who received the praise of the teacher; it was the boy who could +write the largest number of words in a given time. The acid test in +arithmetic was not the mastery of the method, but the number of minutes +required to work out an example. If a boy abbreviated the month +January to "Jan." and the word Company to "Co." he received a hundred +per cent mark, as did the boy who spelled out the words and who could +not make the teacher see that "Co." did not spell "Company." +</P> + +<P> +As I grew into young manhood, and went into business, I found on every +hand that quantity counted for more than quality. The emphasis was +almost always placed on how much work one could do in a day, rather +than upon how well the work was done. Thoroughness was at a discount +on every hand; production at a premium. It made no difference in what +direction I went, the result was the same: the cry was always for +quantity, quantity! And into this atmosphere of almost utter disregard +for quality I brought my ideas of Dutch thoroughness and my conviction +that doing well whatever I did was to count as a cardinal principle in +life. +</P> + +<P> +During my years of editorship, save in one or two conspicuous +instances, I was never able to assign to an American writer, work which +called for painstaking research. In every instance, the work came back +to me either incorrect in statement, or otherwise obviously lacking in +careful preparation. +</P> + +<P> +One of the most successful departments I ever conducted in <I>The Ladies' +Home Journal</I> called for infinite reading and patient digging, with the +actual results sometimes almost negligible. I made a study of my +associates by turning the department over to one after another, and +always with the same result: absolute lack of a capacity for patient +research. As one of my editors, typically American, said to me: "It +isn't worth all the trouble that you put into it." Yet no single +department ever repaid the searcher more for his pains. Save for +assistance derived from a single person, I had to do the work myself +for all the years that the department continued. It was apparently +impossible for the American to work with sufficient patience and care +to achieve a result. +</P> + +<P> +We all have our pet notions as to the particular evil which is "the +curse of America," but I always think that Theodore Roosevelt came +closest to the real curse when he classed it as a lack of thoroughness. +</P> + +<P> +Here again, in one of the most important matters in life, did America +fall short with me; and, what is more important, she is falling short +with every foreigner that comes to her shores. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the matter of education, America fell far short in what should be +the strongest of all her institutions: the public school. A more +inadequate, incompetent method of teaching, as I look back over my +seven years of attendance at three different public schools, it is +difficult to conceive. If there is one thing that I, as a foreign-born +child, should have been carefully taught, it is the English language. +The individual effort to teach this, if effort there was, and I +remember none, was negligible. It was left for my father to teach me, +or for me to dig it out for myself. There was absolutely no indication +on the part of teacher or principal of responsibility for seeing that a +foreign-born boy should acquire the English language correctly. I was +taught as if I were American-born, and, of course, I was left dangling +in the air, with no conception of what I was trying to do. +</P> + +<P> +My father worked with me evening after evening; I plunged my young mind +deep into the bewildering confusions of the language--and no one +realizes the confusions of the English language as does the +foreign-born--and got what I could through these joint efforts. But I +gained nothing from the much-vaunted public-school system which the +United States had borrowed from my own country, and then had rendered +incompetent--either by a sheer disregard for the thoroughness that +makes the Dutch public schools the admiration of the world, or by too +close a regard for politics. +</P> + +<P> +Thus, in her most important institution to the foreign-born, America +fell short. And while I am ready to believe that the public school may +have increased in efficiency since that day, it is, indeed, a question +for the American to ponder, just how far the system is efficient for +the education of the child who comes to its school without a knowledge +of the first word in the English language. Without a detailed +knowledge of the subject, I know enough of conditions in the average +public school to-day to warrant at least the suspicion that Americans +would not be particularly proud of the system, and of what it gives for +which annually they pay millions of dollars in taxes. +</P> + +<P> +I am aware in making this statement that I shall be met with convincing +instances of intelligent effort being made with the foreign-born +children in special classes. No one has a higher respect for those +efforts than I have--few, other than educators, know of them better +than I do, since I did not make my five-year study of the American +public school system for naught. But I am not referring to the +exceptional instance here and there. I merely ask of the American, +interested as he is or should be in the Americanization of the +strangers within his gates, how far the public school system, as a +whole, urban and rural, adapts itself, with any true efficiency, to the +foreign-born child. I venture to color his opinion in no wise; I +simply ask that he will inquire and ascertain for himself, as he should +do if he is interested in the future welfare of his country and his +institutions; for what happens in America in the years to come depends, +in large measure, on what is happening to-day in the public schools of +this country. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As a Dutch boy I was taught a wholesome respect for law and for +authority. The fact was impressed upon me that laws of themselves were +futile unless the people for whom they were made respected them, and +obeyed them in spirit more even than in the letter. I came to America +to feel, on every hand, that exactly the opposite was true. Laws were +passed, but were not enforced; the spirit to enforce them was lacking +in the people. There was little respect for the law; there was +scarcely any for those appointed to enforce it. +</P> + +<P> +The nearest that a boy gets to the law is through the policeman. In +the Netherlands a boy is taught that a policeman is for the protection +of life and property; that he is the natural friend of every boy and +man who behaves himself. The Dutch boy and the policeman are, +naturally, friendly in their relations. I came to America to be told +that a policeman is a boy's natural enemy; that he is eager to arrest +him if he can find the slightest reason for doing so. A policeman, I +was informed, was a being to hold in fear, not in respect. He was to +be avoided, not to be made friends with. The result was that, as did +all boys, I came to regard the policeman on our beat as a distinct +enemy. His presence meant that we should "stiffen up"; his +disappearance was the signal for us to "let loose." +</P> + +<P> +So long as one was not caught, it did not matter. I heard mothers tell +their little children that if they did not behave themselves, the +policeman would put them into a bag and carry them off, or cut their +ears off. Of course, the policeman became to them an object of terror; +the law he represented, a cruel thing that stood for punishment. Not a +note of respect did I ever hear for the law in my boyhood days. A law +was something to be broken, to be evaded, to call down upon others as a +source of punishment, but never to be regarded in the light of a +safeguard. +</P> + +<P> +And as I grew into manhood, the newspapers rang on every side with +disrespect for those in authority. Under the special dispensation of +the liberty of the press, which was construed into the license of the +press, no man was too high to escape editorial vituperation if his +politics did not happen to suit the management, or if his action ran +counter to what the proprietors believed it should be. It was not +criticism of his acts, it was personal attack upon the official; +whether supervisor, mayor, governor, or president, it mattered not. +</P> + +<P> +It is a very unfortunate impression that this American lack of respect +for those in authority makes upon the foreign-born mind. It is +difficult for the foreigner to square up the arrest and deportation of +a man who, through an incendiary address, seeks to overthrow +governmental authority, with the ignoring of an expression of exactly +the same sentiments by the editor of his next morning's newspaper. In +other words, the man who writes is immune, but the man who reads, +imbibes, and translates the editor's words into action is immediately +marked as a culprit, and America will not harbor him. But why harbor +the original cause? Is the man who speaks with type less dangerous +than he who speaks with his mouth or with a bomb? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At the most vital part of my life, when I was to become an American +citizen and exercise the right of suffrage, America fell entirely +short. It reached out not even the suggestion of a hand. +</P> + +<P> +When the Presidential Conventions had been held in the year I reached +my legal majority, and I knew I could vote, I endeavored to find out +whether, being foreign-born, I was entitled to the suffrage. No one +could tell me; and not until I had visited six different municipal +departments, being referred from one to another, was it explained that, +through my father's naturalization, I became, automatically, as his +son, an American citizen. I decided to read up on the platforms of the +Republican and Democratic parties, but I could not secure copies +anywhere, although a week had passed since they had been adopted in +convention. +</P> + +<P> +I was told the newspapers had printed them. It occurred to me there +must be many others besides myself who were anxious to secure the +platforms of the two parties in some more convenient form. With the +eye of necessity ever upon a chance to earn an honest penny, I went to +a newspaper office, cut out from its files the two platforms, had them +printed in a small pocket edition, sold one edition to the American +News Company and another to the News Company controlling the Elevated +Railroad bookstands in New York City, where they sold at ten cents +each. So great was the demand which I had only partially guessed, that +within three weeks I had sold such huge editions of the little books +that I had cleared over a thousand dollars. +</P> + +<P> +But it seemed to me strange that it should depend on a foreign-born +American to supply an eager public with what should have been supplied +through the agency of the political parties or through some educational +source. +</P> + +<P> +I now tried to find out what a vote actually meant. It must be +recalled that I was only twenty-one years old, with scant education, +and with no civic agency offering me the information I was seeking. I +went to the headquarters of each of the political parties and put my +query. I was regarded with puzzled looks. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it mean to vote?" asked one chairman. "Why, on Election Day +you go up to the ballot-box and put your ballot in, and that's all +there is to it." +</P> + +<P> +But I knew very well that that was not all there was to it, and was +determined to find out the significance of the franchise. I met with +dense ignorance on every hand. I went to the Brooklyn Library, and was +frankly told by the librarian that he did not know of a book that would +tell me what I wanted to know. This was in 1884. +</P> + +<P> +As the campaign increased in intensity, I found myself a desired person +in the eyes of the local campaign managers, but not one of them could +tell me the significance and meaning of the privilege I was for the +first time to exercise. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, I spent an evening with Seth Low, and, of course, got the +desired information. +</P> + +<P> +But fancy the quest I had been compelled to make to acquire the simple +information that should have been placed in my hands or made readily +accessible to me. And how many foreign-born would take equal pains to +ascertain what I was determined to find out? +</P> + +<P> +Surely America fell short here at the moment most sacred to me: that of +my first vote! +</P> + +<P> +Is it any easier to-day for the foreign citizen to acquire this +information when he approaches his first vote? I wonder! Not that I +do not believe there are agencies for this purpose. You know there +are, and so do I. But how about the foreign-born? Does he know it? +Is it not perhaps like the owner of the bulldog who assured the friend +calling on him that it never attacked friends of the family? "Yes," +said the friend, "that's all right. You know and I know that I am a +friend of the family; but does the dog know?" +</P> + +<P> +Is it to-day made known to the foreign-born, about to exercise his +privilege of suffrage for the first time, where he can be told what +that privilege means: is the means to know made readily accessible to +him: is it, in fact, as it should be, brought to him? +</P> + +<P> +It was not to me; is it to him? +</P> + +<P> +One fundamental trouble with the present desire for Americanization is +that the American is anxious to Americanize two classes--if he is a +reformer, the foreign-born; if he is an employer, his employees. It +never occurs to him that he himself may be in need of Americanization. +He seems to take it for granted that because he is American-born, he is +an American in spirit and has a right understanding of American ideals. +But that, by no means, always follows. There are thousands of the +American-born who need Americanization just as much as do the +foreign-born. There are hundreds of American employers who know far +less of American ideals than do some of their employees. In fact, +there are those actually engaged today in the work of Americanization, +men at the top of the movement, who sadly need a better conception of +true Americanism. +</P> + +<P> +An excellent illustration of this came to my knowledge when I attended +a large Americanization Conference in Washington. One of the principal +speakers was an educator of high standing and considerable influence in +one of the most important sections of the United States. In a speech +setting forth his ideas of Americanization, he dwelt with much emphasis +and at considerable length upon instilling into the mind of the +foreign-born the highest respect for American institutions. +</P> + +<P> +After the Conference he asked me whether he could see me that afternoon +at my hotel; he wanted to talk about contributing to the magazine. +When he came, before approaching the object of his talk, he launched +out on a tirade against the President of the United States; the +weakness of the Cabinet, the inefficiency of the Congress, and the +stupidity of the Senate. If words could have killed, there would have +not remained a single living member of the Administration at Washington. +</P> + +<P> +After fifteen minutes of this, I reminded him of his speech and the +emphasis which he had placed upon the necessity of inculcating in the +foreign-born respect for American institutions. +</P> + +<P> +Yet this man was a power in his community, a strong influence upon +others; he believed he could Americanize others, when he himself, +according to his own statements, lacked the fundamental principle of +Americanization. What is true of this man is, in lesser or greater +degree, true of hundreds of others. Their Americanization consists of +lip-service; the real spirit, the only factor which counts in the +successful teaching of any doctrine, is absolutely missing. We +certainly cannot teach anything approaching a true Americanism until we +ourselves feel and believe and practise in our own lives what we are +teaching to others. No law, no lip-service, no effort, however +well-intentioned, will amount to anything worth while in inculcating +the true American spirit in our foreign-born citizens until we are sure +that the American spirit is understood by ourselves and is warp and +woof of our own being. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +To the American, part and parcel of his country, these particulars in +which his country falls short with the foreign-born are, perhaps, not +so evident; they may even seem not so very important. But to the +foreign-born they seem distinct lacks; they loom large; they form +serious handicaps which, in many cases, are never surmounted; they are +a menace to that Americanization which is, to-day, more than ever our +fondest dream, and which we now realize more keenly than before is our +most vital need. +</P> + +<P> +It is for this reason that I have put them down here as a concrete +instance of where and how America fell short in my own Americanization, +and, what is far more serious to me, where she is falling short in her +Americanization of thousands of other foreign-born. +</P> + +<P> +"Yet you succeeded," it will be argued. +</P> + +<P> +That may be; but you, on the other hand, must admit that I did not +succeed by reason of these shortcomings: it was in spite of them, by +overcoming them--a result that all might not achieve. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA +</H3> + +<P> +Whatever shortcomings I may have found during my fifty-year period of +Americanization; however America may have failed to help my transition +from a foreigner into an American, I owe to her the most priceless gift +that any nation can offer, and that is opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +As the world stands to-day, no nation offers opportunity in the degree +that America does to the foreign-born. Russia may, in the future, as I +like to believe she will, prove a second United States of America in +this respect. She has the same limitless area; her people the same +potentialities. But, as things are to-day, the United States offers, +as does no other nation, a limitless opportunity: here a man can go as +far as his abilities will carry him. It may be that the foreign-born, +as in my own case, must hold on to some of the ideals and ideas of the +land of his birth; it may be that he must develop and mould his +character by overcoming the habits resulting from national +shortcomings. But into the best that the foreign-born can retain, +America can graft such a wealth of inspiration, so high a national +idealism, so great an opportunity for the highest endeavor, as to make +him the fortunate man of the earth to-day. +</P> + +<P> +He can go where he will; no traditions hamper him; no limitations are +set except those within himself. The larger the area he chooses in +which to work, the larger the vision he demonstrates, the more eager +the people are to give support to his undertakings if they are +convinced that he has their best welfare as his goal. There is no +public confidence equal to that of the American public, once it is +obtained. It is fickle, of course, as are all publics, but fickle only +toward the man who cannot maintain an achieved success. +</P> + +<P> +A man in America cannot complacently lean back upon victories won, as +he can in the older European countries, and depend upon the glamour of +the past to sustain him or the momentum of success to carry him. +Probably the most alert public in the world, it requires of its leaders +that they be alert. Its appetite for variety is insatiable, but its +appreciation, when given, is full-handed and whole-hearted. The +American public never holds back from the man to whom it gives; it +never bestows in a niggardly way; it gives all or nothing. +</P> + +<P> +What is not generally understood of the American people is their +wonderful idealism. Nothing so completely surprises the foreign-born +as the discovery of this trait in the American character. The +impression is current in European countries--perhaps less generally +since the war--that America is given over solely to a worship of the +American dollar. While between nations as between individuals, +comparisons are valueless, it may not be amiss to say, from personal +knowledge, that the Dutch worship the gulden infinitely more than do +the Americans the dollar. +</P> + +<P> +I do not claim that the American is always conscious of this idealism; +often he is not. But let a great convulsion touching moral questions +occur, and the result always shows how close to the surface is his +idealism. And the fact that so frequently he puts over it a thick +veneer of materialism does not affect its quality. The truest +approach, the only approach in fact, to the American character is, as +Viscount Bryce has so well said, through its idealism. +</P> + +<P> +It is this quality which gives the truest inspiration to the +foreign-born in his endeavor to serve the people of his adopted +country. He is mentally sluggish, indeed, who does not discover that +America will make good with him if he makes good with her. +</P> + +<P> +But he must play fair. It is essentially the straight game that the +true American plays, and he insists that you shall play it too. +Evidence there is, of course, to the contrary in American life, +experiences that seem to give ground for the belief that the man +succeeds who is not scrupulous in playing his cards. But never is this +true in the long run. Sooner or later--sometimes, unfortunately, later +than sooner--the public discovers the trickery. In no other country in +the world is the moral conception so clear and true as in America, and +no people will give a larger and more permanent reward to the man whose +effort for that public has its roots in honor and truth. +</P> + +<P> +"The sky is the limit" to the foreign-born who comes to America endowed +with honest endeavor, ceaseless industry, and the ability to carry +through. In any honest endeavor, the way is wide open to the will to +succeed. Every path beckons, every vista invites, every talent is +called forth, and every efficient effort finds its due reward. In no +land is the way so clear and so free. +</P> + +<P> +How good an American has the process of Americanization made me? That +I cannot say. Who can say that of himself? But when I look around me +at the American-born I have come to know as my close friends, I wonder +whether, after all, the foreign-born does not make in some sense a +better American--whether he is not able to get a truer perspective; +whether his is not the deeper desire to see America greater; whether he +is not less content to let its faulty institutions be as they are; +whether in seeing faults more clearly he does not make a more decided +effort to have America reach those ideals or those fundamentals of his +own land which he feels are in his nature, and the best of which he is +anxious to graft into the character of his adopted land? +</P> + +<P> +It is naturally with a feeling of deep satisfaction that I remember two +Presidents of the United States considered me a sufficiently typical +American to wish to send me to my native land as the accredited +minister of my adopted country. And yet when I analyze the reasons for +my choice in both these instances, I derive a deeper satisfaction from +the fact that my strong desire to work in America for America led me to +ask to be permitted to remain here. +</P> + +<P> +It is this strong impulse that my Americanization has made the driving +power of my life. And I ask no greater privilege than to be allowed to +live to see my potential America become actual: the America that I like +to think of as the America of Abraham Lincoln and of Theodore +Roosevelt--not faultless, but less faulty. It is a part in trying to +shape that America, and an opportunity to work in that America when it +comes, that I ask in return for what I owe to her. A greater privilege +no man could have. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +EDWARD WILLIAM BOK +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BIOGRAPHICAL DATA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1863: October 9: Born at Helder, Netherlands. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1870; September 20: Arrived in the United States. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1870: Entered public schools of Brooklyn, New York. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1873: Obtained first position in Frost's Bakery, Smith Street, + Brooklyn, at 50 cents per week. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1876: August 7: Entered employ of the Western Union Telegraph + Company as office-boy. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1882: Entered employ of Henry Holt & Company as stenographer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1884: Entered employ of Charles Scribner's Sons as stenographer. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1884: Became editor of <I>The Brooklyn Magazine</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1886: Founded the Bok Syndicate Press. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1887: Published Henry Ward Beecher Memorial (privately printed). +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1889: October 20: Became editor of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1890: Published <I>Successward</I>: Doubleday, McClure & Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1894: Published <I>Before He Is Twenty</I>: Fleming H. Revell Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1896: October 22: Married Mary Louise Curtis. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1897: September 7: Son born; William Curtis Bok. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1900: Published <I>The Young Man in Business</I>: L. G. Page & Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1905: January 25: Son born: Cary William Bok. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1906: Published <I>Her Brother's Letters</I> (Anonymous): Moffat, + Yard & Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1907: Degree of LL.D. of Order of Augustinian Fathers conferred + by order of Pope Pius X., by the Most Reverend Diomede + Falconio, D.D., Apostolic Delegate to the United States, + at Villanova College. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1910: Degree of LL.D. conferred, in absentia, by Hope College, + Holland, Michigan (the only Dutch college in the United + States). +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1911: Founded, with others. The Child Federation of + Philadelphia. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1912: Published <I>The Edward Bok Books of Self-Knowledge</I>; + five volumes: Fleming H. Revell Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1913: Founded, with others, The Merion Civic Association, at + Merion, Pennsylvania. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1915: Published <I>Why I Believe in Poverty</I>: Houghton, Mifflin + Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1916: Published poem, <I>God's Hand</I>, set to music by Josef + Hofmann: Schirmer & Company. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1917: Vice-president Philadelphia Belgian Relief Commission. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1917: Member of National Y. M. C. A. War Work Council. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1917: State chairman for Pennsylvania of Y. M. C. A. War Work + Council. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1918: Member of Executive Committee and chairman of Publicity + Committee, Philadelphia War Chest. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1918: Chairman of Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. Recruiting Committee. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1918: State chairman for Pennsylvania of United War Work + Campaign. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1918: August-November: visited the battle-fronts in France as + guest of the British Government. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1918: September 22: Relinquished editorship of <I>The Ladies' + Home Journal</I>, completing thirty years of service. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1920: September 20: Upon the 50th anniversary of arrival in + the United States, published <I>The Americanization of + Edward Bok</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1921: May 30: Awarded the one thousand dollar Joseph Pulitzer + Prize for <I>The Americanization of Edward Bok</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL PLEASURE +</H2> + +<P> +I cannot close this record of a boy's development without an attempt to +suggest the sense of deep personal pleasure which I feel that the +imprint on the title-page of this book should be that of the publishing +house which, thirty-six years ago, I entered as stenographer. It was +there I received my start; it was there I laid the foundation of that +future career then so hidden from me. The happiest days of my young +manhood were spent in the employ of this house; I there began +friendships which have grown closer with each passing year. And one of +my deepest sources of satisfaction is, that during all the thirty-one +years which have followed my resignation from the Scribner house, it +has been my good fortune to hold the friendship, and, as I have been +led to believe, the respect of my former employers. That they should +now be my publishers demonstrates, in a striking manner, the curious +turning of the wheel of time, and gives me a sense of gratification +difficult of expression. +</P> + +<P> +Edward W. Bok +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +INDEX +</H2> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Abbey, Edwin A., 138<BR> + Abbott, Lyman, 144, 169<BR> + Adams, Charles F., 52<BR> + Adams, John, 52<BR> + Adams, John Quincy, 52<BR> + Addams, Jane, 168<BR> + <I>Adriatic</I>, 174<BR> + Alcott, Louisa, 46-51<BR> + Altman Collection, 139<BR> + American Lithographic Co., 24<BR> + <I>American Magazine</I>, 68<BR> + Antin, Mary, v<BR> + Appleton's <I>Encyclopaedia</I>, 15, 16, 29 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Bakery shop, 9<BR> + Bangs, John Kendrick, 130<BR> + Baruch, Bernard, 173<BR> + Beaverbrook, Lord, 174<BR> + Beecher, Henry Ward, 55, 70-77<BR> + Bell, Alexander Graham, 15<BR> + Bellamy, Edward, 86<BR> + Bok, Cary William (son), 67<BR> + Bok, Edward William, arrival, 1;<BR> + schooldays, 2-7;<BR> + house-work, 8-9;<BR> + first money earned, 9;<BR> + first newspaper work, 11;<BR> + self-education, 15-25;<BR> + autograph collecting, 16-29;<BR> + study of shorthand, 26;<BR> + as a reporter, 26-29;<BR> + a visit to Boston, 31-46;<BR> + a visit to Concord, 46-52;<BR> + adventures in the stock-market, 59-67;<BR> + in the publishing business, 68-77;<BR> + employment with Scribner's, 78-86;<BR> + the Bok Syndicate Press, 86-90;<BR> + last years in New York, 97-107;<BR> + editorship of <I>The Ladies' Home Journal</I>, 103-107;<BR> + building up a magazine, 113-123;<BR> + visit to Oxford, 124-127;<BR> + adventures in art and civics, 134-146;<BR> + adventures in music, 160-167;<BR> + war time experiences, 168-180;<BR> + retirement as editor, 181-185<BR> + Bok, Mrs. Edward William, <I>see</I> Curtis, Mary Louise<BR> + Bok, Sieke Gertrude (mother), 1, 99, 100, 106<BR> + Bok Syndicate Press, 87, 88<BR> + Bok, William (brother), 1, 87<BR> + Bok, William Curtis (son), 153-159<BR> + Bok, William J. H. (father), 1, 6, 8, 53, 59, 66<BR> + <I>Book Buyer</I>, 80<BR> + Boston, 31-46<BR> + <I>Boston Globe</I>, 17<BR> + <I>Boston Journal</I>, 90<BR> + Bourrienne, 100<BR> + Boy Scouts, 144, 145<BR> + Brewer, Owen W., 97<BR> + <I>Brooklyn Magazine</I>, 56-59, 68-71<BR> + <I>Brooklyn Eagle</I>, viii, 11, 17, 26, 53<BR> + Brooks, Phillips, 42-46, 57<BR> + Burlingame, Edward L., 78, 80<BR> + Burnett, Frances H., 84<BR> + Bush, Rufus T., 68 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Carlyle, Thomas, 48<BR> + Carnegie, Andrew, v, 84, 102<BR> + Carroll, Lewis, 124-127<BR> + Cary, Anna Louise, 56<BR> + Cary, Clarence, 59-67, 78.<BR> + Chase, William M., xix<BR> + <I>Chicago Tribune</I>, 141<BR> + Childs, George W., 18, 106<BR> + <I>Cincinnati Times-Star</I>, 90<BR> + Claflin, H. B., 57<BR> + Coghlan, Rose, 53, 54<BR> + Colver, Frederic L., 55, 56, 70<BR> + Concord, 46-52<BR> + Coney Island, 10<BR> + <I>Cosmopolitan Magazine</I>, 69<BR> + Crawford, Marion, 130<BR> + Curtis, Cyrus H. K., 103-107, 120-123, 149<BR> + Curtis, Mrs. Cyrus H. K., 113, 149, 181<BR> + Curtis, Mary Louise, 14, 149, 161, 163<BR> + Curtis Publishing Company, 120 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Dana, Charles A., 130<BR> + Davenport, Fanny, 99, 100<BR> + Davis, Jefferson, 22<BR> + De Koven, Reginald, 160<BR> + Dodgson, Charles L., <I>see</I> Carroll, Lewis<BR> + Doubleday, Frank M., 80, 81, 97<BR> + Doyle, Conan, 130 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Early, General Jubal, 17<BR> + Edison, Thomas A., 15<BR> + Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, 173<BR> + Elkius, George W., 139<BR> + Elman, Mischa, 164<BR> + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 30, 46-51<BR> + <I>Empress of Asia</I>, 180<BR> + Evarts, William M., 26 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Farrar, Canon, 57<BR> + Field, Cyrus W., 186<BR> + Fifth Avenue Hotel, 18<BR> + Fourth of July, 140-142<BR> + Freer, Charles L., 139<BR> + Frick, Henry C., 139<BR> + Fulton Market, 74 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Gardner, Mrs. John L., 139<BR> + Garfield, James A., 16, 18<BR> + Garland, Hamlin, 130<BR> + Garrison, William Lloyd, 52<BR> + Gerard, James W., 173<BR> + Gibbons, Cardinal, 57<BR> + Gibson, Charles Dana, 138<BR> + <I>Godey's Lady's Book</I>, 110<BR> + Gould, Jay, 59-67<BR> + Grant, Ulysses S., 17-22, 26, 57<BR> + Great War, 169-180<BR> + Greenaway, Kate, 128-129 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Harland, Marion, 57<BR> + Harmon, Dudley, 171<BR> + Harper and Bros., 12<BR> + <I>Harper's Magazine</I>, 12<BR> + <I>Harper's Weekly</I>, 12<BR> + <I>Harper's Young People</I>, 12<BR> + Harris, Joel Chandler, 130<BR> + Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 130<BR> + Harte, Bret, 129<BR> + Hay, Ian, 172 + Hayes, Rutherford B., 18, 26-30, 76<BR> + Hegeman, Evelyn Lyon, 56<BR> + Hitchcock, Ripley, 17<BR> + Hodges, Dean, 169<BR> + Hofman, Josef, 160-164<BR> + Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 30-36<BR> + Holt, Henry, and Company, 68, 78<BR> + Hoover, Herbert, 172, 186<BR> + Hope, Anthony, 130<BR> + Howells, William Dean, 57, 119, 122, 168 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Jerome, Jerome K., 130<BR> + Jewett, Sarah Orne, 130<BR> + Johnson, Eldridge R., 146<BR> + Johnson, John G., 139 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Keller, Helen, 169<BR> + Kellogg, Clara Louise, 56<BR> + King, Horatio, 67<BR> + Kipling, Rudyard, 119, 130, 169<BR> + Knapp, Joseph P., 24 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + <I>Ladies' Home Journal</I>, 103-107, 113-123, 134, 160, 168-173, 181-185<BR> + Lane, Franklin K., 184<BR> + Lape, Esther Everett, 184<BR> + Lathrop, George P., 90<BR> + Lee, Robert E., 17<BR> + <I>Life</I>, 141<BR> + Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, 22<BR> + <I>Literary Leaves</I>, 90, 104<BR> + Longfellow, Henry W., 17, 30, 37-42<BR> + Low, A. A., 28<BR> + Low, Seth, 57<BR> + Low, Will H., 138<BR> + Lynch, Albert, 138 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + McAdoo, William, 173<BR> + Mansfield, Richard, 85<BR> + Marchesi, Madame, 160<BR> + Mascagni, 160<BR> + Merion, 142-146, 149<BR> + Merion Civic Association, 143-146<BR> + Moffat, William D., 97<BR> + Moffat, Yard & Co., 97<BR> + Moody, Dwight L., 130<BR> + Morgan, J. Pierpont, 139<BR> + Moszkowski, 160<BR> + Mott, Lucretia, 52 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Netherlands, 1, 3, 39, 194<BR> + <I>New York Star</I>, 90, 101<BR> + <I>New York Sun</I>, 171<BR> + <I>New York Tribune</I>, 17<BR> + Nightingale, Florence, 127<BR> + North, Ernest Dressel, 97<BR> + Northcliffe, Viscount, 172 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + <I>Outlook, The</I>, 144 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Paderewski, 160<BR> + <I>Peterson's Magazine</I>, 110<BR> + Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 130<BR> + Philadelphia Orchestra, 162-167<BR> + <I>Philadelphia Public Ledger</I>, 17<BR> + <I>Philadelphia Times</I>, 90, 103<BR> + Phillips, Wendell, 42, 43<BR> + <I>Philomathean Review</I>, 56<BR> + Philomathean Society, 55<BR> + Plymouth Church, 55, 70<BR> + <I>Plymouth Pulpit</I>, 56<BR> + Porter, Gene Stratton, 169<BR> + <I>Presbyterian Review</I>, 81<BR> + Pulitzer Prize, v<BR> + Pyle, Howard, 138 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + <I>Queen, The</I>, 1 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Raymond, Rossiter W., 57<BR> + Riis, Jacob, v<BR> + Roosevelt, Franklin D., 171<BR> + Roosevelt, Theodore, 147-159 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Safford, Ray, 97<BR> + Sangster, Margaret, 57<BR> + Schlicht, Paul J., 69<BR> + Scribner, Charles, 78<BR> + Scribner's Sons, Charles, 78-86, 106, 213<BR> + <I>Scribner's Magazine</I>, 80, 81, 97<BR> + Sheridan, Philip H., 26, 57<BR> + Sherman, William T., 18, 20, 21, 30, 57<BR> + Smedley, W. T., 138<BR> + Smith, F. Hopkinson, 169<BR> + Sousa, John Philip, 160<BR> + <I>South Brooklyn Advocate</I>, 10<BR> + Stevenson, Robert Louis, 82, 83<BR> + Stockton, Frank R., 84, 85<BR> + Stokowski, Leopold, 163<BR> + Strauss, Edouard, 160<BR> + Strauss, Richard, 160<BR> + Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 160 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Taft, Charles P., 139<BR> + Taft, William H., 171<BR> + Talmage, T. DeWitt, 57<BR> + Taylor, W. L., 138<BR> + Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 17<BR> + Thursby, Emma C., 56<BR> + Tosti, 160<BR> + Twain, Mark, 98, 99, 129 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Vanderbilt, William H.,15<BR> + Van Dyke, Henry, 169<BR> + Van Rensselaer, Alexander, 166<BR> + Victor Talking Machine Co., 145 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Walker, E. D., 69<BR> + Washington, George, 40<BR> + Webster, Jean, 169<BR> + Western Union Telegraph Co., 13, 14, 59-67<BR> + Whittier, John Greenleaf, 17<BR> + Widener, Joseph E., 139<BR> + Wiggin, Kate Douglas, 130, 169<BR> + Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 87, 88<BR> + Wiles, Irving R., 138<BR> + Wilkins, Mary E., 130<BR> + Wilson, Woodrow, 170 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Young Men's Christian Association, 26 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15930-h.txt or 15930-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/3/15930</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After + + +Author: Edward Bok + +Editor: John Louis Haney + +Release Date: May 28, 2005 [eBook #15930] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 15930-h.htm or 15930-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930/15930-h/15930-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930/15930-h.zip) + + + + + +A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER + +by + +EDWARD BOK + +Adapted from _The Americanization of Edward Bok_ + +Edited with an Introduction by John Louis Haney, Ph.D. +President, Central High School, Philadelphia + +Charles Scribner's Sons +New York Chicago Boston +Atlanta San Francisco + +1921 + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Photograph of Edward Bok.] + + + + +TO + +THE SCHOOLBOYS AND SCHOOLGIRLS OF AMERICA + +I DEDICATE THIS STORY OF A BOY + +WHO BELIEVED THAT AN OBSTACLE IS NOT SOMETHING + +TO BE AFRAID OF + +BUT IS ONLY A DIFFICULTY TO BE OVERCOME + +AND WHO TOOK FOR HIS MOTTO + +AS I HOPE EVERY ONE WHO READS THESE PAGES WILL DO + +THESE LINES BY MADELINE S. BRIDGES: + + + "Give to the world the best you have + And the best will come back to you." + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +In recent years American literature has been enriched by certain +autobiographies of men and women who had been born abroad, but who had +been brought to this country, where they grew up as loyal citizens of +our great nation. Such assimilated Americans had to face not only the +usual conditions confronting a stranger in a strange land, but had to +develop within themselves the noble conception of Americanism that was +later to become for them a flaming gospel. Andrew Carnegie, the canny +Scotch lad who began as a cotton weaver's assistant, became a steel +magnate and an eminent constructive philanthropist. Jacob Riis, the +ambitious Dane, told in _The Making of an American_ the story of his +rise to prominence as a social and civic worker in New York. Mary +Antin, who was brought from a Russian ghetto at the age of thirteen, +gave us in _The Promised Land_ a most impressive interpretation of +America's significance to the foreign-born. The very title of her book +was a flash of inspiration. + +To this group of notable autobiographies belongs _The Americanization +of Edward Bok_, which received, from Columbia University, the Joseph +Pulitzer Prize of one thousand dollars as "the best American biography +teaching patriotic and unselfish service to the Nation and at the same +time illustrating an eminent example." The judges who framed that +decision could not have stated more aptly the scope and value of the +book. It is the story of an unusual education, a conspicuous +achievement, and an ideal now in course of realization. + +At the age of six Edward Bok was brought to America by his parents, who +had met with financial reverses in their native country of the +Netherlands. He spent six years in the public schools of Brooklyn, but +even while getting the rudiments of a formal education he had to work +during his spare hours to bring home a few more dollars to aid his +needy family. His first job was cleaning the show-window of a small +bakery for fifty cents a week. At twelve he became an office boy in +the Western Union Telegraph Company; at nineteen he was a stenographer; +at twenty-six he became editor of _The Ladies' Home Journal_, which +during the thirty years of his supervision achieved the remarkable +circulation of two million copies and reached every month an audience +of perhaps ten million persons. Such is the bare outline of a career +that has the essential characteristics of struggle and achievement, of +intimate contact with eminent men and women, and, most interesting of +all, is not a fulfilled career, but a life still in the making. + +The significance of _The Americanization of Edward Bok_ is threefold +and is clearly indicated by the author's own conception of the three +periods that should constitute a well-rounded life.. These he +characterizes as education, achievement, and service for others. +Conceived in this ideal spirit, the autobiography has a message for +every American schoolboy or schoolgirl who is looking forward to the +years of achievement and who should be made to understand that there is +a finer duty beyond. It has an equally important message for those of +us who in the turmoil of a busy world are struggling to achieve, in +many instances with no vision beyond the desire to provide as best we +can for the welfare of ourselves and our families. Lastly, it has an +inspiring, constructive message for those who are now in a position to +render altruistic service and thus contribute their share toward making +the world in general and America in particular a better place in which +to live. + +Because of the recognized value of Edward Bok's life-story, the present +abridged edition, which is re-named _A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After_, +has been undertaken. The chapters here brought together, with the +approval of Mr. Bok, tell the story of the Dutch boy in the American +school, his earnest efforts to help his parents, his journalistic and +literary experiences, his wide-spread influence as editor, and a vision +of what he still hopes to accomplish for the land of his adoption. + +Our boys and girls who become familiar with the story of this +resourceful Dutch lad should note that he is not ashamed to tell us he +helped his mother by building the fire, preparing the breakfast, and +washing the dishes before he went to school, and when he returned from +school he did not play but swept, scrubbed, and washed more dishes +after the evening meal. He did not whine and mope because his parents +could no longer keep the retinue of servants to which they had been +accustomed in the Netherlands. He simply pitched in and helped. The +same spirit impelled him to clean the baker's windows for fifty cents a +week, to deliver a newspaper over a regular route, to sell ice water on +the Coney Island horse-cars--in short, to do any honorable work to +overcome the burden of poverty. Meanwhile he strove to acquire what +little education he could, but he probably learned more from his +association with the prominent persons whom he met as a result of his +early passion for autograph collecting. Such a boyhood brings home the +important truth that necessity is the mother of self-reliance. + +Mr. Bok's story indicates the road to success and gives encouragement +to those who would tread that pleasant way, but it also sounds a frank +warning against the pitfalls that beset ambitious youth. When he was +sent by the city editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_ to review a theatrical +performance and decided to write his review without going to the +theatre, he had, of course, no warning that the performance would not +take place. He took what many a more experienced reporter would +consider a reasonable chance and he suffered keen humiliation when the +lesson was forced home that it does not pay to attempt deception. He +tells us that the incident left a lasting impression and he felt +grateful because it happened so early in life that he could take the +experience to heart and profit by it. With equal candor he tells of +the stock-market "tips" that resulted from his intimacy with Jay Gould. +Wisely he records that he resolved to keep out of Wall Street +thereafter, in spite of his initial success in speculation. When he +gave up an association that probably would have led to his becoming a +stock-broker, and somewhat later, when he declined an offer to be the +business manager for a popular American actress, Edward Bok was called +upon to make fateful decisions. In this story he lays ample stress +upon the need for careful and deliberate consideration at such crucial +moments. + +The account of his long and successful editorship of _The Ladies' Home +Journal_ reveals the extent of his influence on American social and +domestic conditions. He broadened the scope of _The Journal_ until it +touched the life of the nation at many points. The earlier women's +magazines had devoted most attention to fashions, needle-work, and +cookery, printing a few sentimental stories and poems to give the +necessary literary atmosphere. _The Ladies' Home Journal_ took up a +great variety of problems concerning the American home and those who +dwelled therein. A corps of editors was assembled to conduct +departments and to answer questions either by mail or in the pages of +_The Journal_. Free scholarships in colleges and in musical +conservatories were given in place of the usual magazine premiums. +Series of articles were published to foster our national appreciation +for better architecture, better furniture, better pictures--in brief, +for better homes in every respect. + +Mr. Bok discouraged the taking of patent medicines, the wearing of +aigrettes, the use of the public drinking-cup, the disfiguring of +American scenery with glaring signs and bill-posting, the use of +fireworks on the Fourth of July, and many similar matters that were not +to our credit or advantage. He printed convincing photographs taken in +various "dirty cities" that tolerated refuse and other evidences of +untidiness on their streets and literally shamed those communities into +cleaning up the plague-spots. Had he been a commonplace editor with +his main thought on the subscription list he would have avoided +controversy by confining his leading articles to subjects unlikely to +offend any one, but he would not pursue any policy that meant a +surrender of his ideals. When occasion demanded he did not hesitate to +hit squarely from the shoulder. Whether the public agreed with him or +not, it knew that _The Journal_ was very much in earnest whenever it +espoused any cause. + +Mr. Bok's last important service as editor of _The Journal_ was a +direct outcome of our participation in the Great War. The problems +raised by that world cataclysm called for a restatement of American +ideals and aspirations. He therefore arranged for a number of articles +adapted to the needs of every community, whether large or small, and +these were soon acclaimed as the most comprehensive exposition of +practical Americanization that had yet been published. As a +far-sighted editor with a long experience behind him he knew that many +of the immigrants coming to this country were ready to enjoy our +privileges without undertaking to share our responsibilities. The +newcomer could realize a freedom unknown in Europe, he had a chance to +achieve higher standards of living and to establish a better home for +himself and his family; what were we asking in return? We did not +subject him to a political confession of faith and we did not fix his +social caste; were we justified in asking him to accept our language +and to uphold our institutions? The intelligent immigrant knows that +the culture of America is a transplanted European culture, but he +quickly realizes that it has become something distinctive because it +developed under conditions where social barriers or racial jealousies +are of slight importance. The person who grasps this truth, as did +Edward Bok, knows well that America stands ready to accept any man, +whether native-born or alien, at his true worth and will give him +unequalled opportunity to make the most of his abilities. + +In accomplishing his Americanization, Mr. Bok learned much from us and +he has given his fellow-Americans a chance to learn something from him. +He is aware of our pride in what we have achieved, but he points the +way to still greater triumphs in the years to come. He urges us to +give more regard to thrift, to be more painstaking and thorough in what +we do, and finally, to overcome our prevalent lack of respect for +authority. Such advice is especially appropriate at this time. During +the present critical period in the wake of the greatest and most +destructive of all wars, a prudent nation will follow the fundamental +political and economic virtues. It is no time for extravagance, for +slipshod service, or for defiance of established law. Our young people +need every incentive to make the most of their talents and of their +opportunities. If they observe closely the successive steps of Mr. +Bok's career they will understand why he did not continue to wash +shop-windows all his life or why the Western Union's office-boy did not +grow up to be a mere clerk or local manager. In the important chapters +entitled "The Chances for Success" and "What I Owe to America" they +will learn that ambition and industry must be supplemented by other +admirable qualities in the loyal American who is eager to serve his +country to the utmost. + +The concluding chapters of the autobiography have a most valuable +lesson for every American, young or old. In them Mr. Bok calls upon us +to give a helping hand to the other fellow and to accept in more +genuine spirit the gospel of the brotherhood of man. The civic pride +that urged him to join in the movement to beautify his home community +of Merion and that caused his activity in the raising of an endowment +fund of almost two million dollars for the Philadelphia Orchestra is +what we would expect of the idealist who sets out to observe the wise +precept of his Dutch grandparents: "Make you the world a bit more +beautiful and better because you have been in it." + +Throughout the book the observant reader will note the author's pride +in his Dutch ancestry and his consciousness of the fact that he owes so +much to the splendid qualities of his forbears. Such pride may be +shared by every other progressive American of foreign birth or +parentage who feels that he is bringing into our social and industrial +life certain commendable traits that characterize the best sons and +daughters of his fatherland, whatever that fatherland may be. + +The admirable dedication that Mr. Bok has prepared for this little +volume is addressed to American schoolboys and schoolgirls, but its +message is just as vital for the older reader. In the prime of life +and on the threshold of his Third Period, Mr. Bok has begun to give +practical demonstration of the kind of service that is possible for +those who are sincerely ready to serve. He is alive to the fact that +as a nation we are still young and eager to learn. We have made +serious mistakes in the past and our institutions are as yet far from +perfect, but with more of our intellectual leaders accepting the +watchword of altruistic service in the spirit of Mr. Bok's conception, +there can be virtually no limitations to the part that America seems +destined to play in the future. + +JOHN L. HANEY + + +CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL + +PHILADELPHIA + + + + +CONTENTS + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + +AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA + + II. THE FIRST JOB: FIFTY CENTS A WEEK + + III. THE HUNGER FOR SELF-EDUCATION + + IV. A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE + + V. GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW + + VI. PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST + + VII. A PLUNGE INTO WALL STREET + + VIII. STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE + + IX. THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES," + AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S + + X. THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS + + XI. LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK + + XII. SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP + + XIII. BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE + + XIV. MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO + + XV. ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS + + XVI. THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE + + XVII. THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY + + XVIII. ADVENTURES IN MUSIC + + XIX. A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES + + XX. THE THIRD PERIOD + + XXI. WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME + + XXII. WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA + +EDWARD WILLIAM BOK: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA + +THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL PLEASURE + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Edward W. Bok . . . Frontispiece + +Edward Bok at the age of six + +Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands + +The grandmother + +The Dutch grandfather [Transcriber's note: missing from book] + +Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden + + + + +AN INTRODUCTION OF TWO PERSONS + + +IN WHOSE LIVES ARE FOUND THE SOURCE AND MAINSPRING OF SOME OF THE +EFFORTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK IN HIS LATER YEARS + + +Along an island in the North Sea, five miles from the Dutch coast, +stretches a dangerous ledge of rocks that has proved the graveyard of +many a vessel sailing that turbulent sea. On this island once lived a +group of men who, as each vessel was wrecked, looted the vessel and +murdered those of the crew who reached shore. The government of the +Netherlands decided to exterminate the island pirates, and for the job +King William selected a young lawyer at The Hague. + +"I want you to clean up that island," was the royal order. It was a +formidable job for a young man of twenty-odd years. By royal +proclamation he was made mayor of the island, and within a year, a +court of law being established, the young attorney was appointed judge; +and in that dual capacity he "cleaned up" the island. + +The young man now decided to settle on the island, and began to look +around for a home. It was a grim place, barren of tree or living green +of any kind; it was as if a man had been exiled to Siberia. Still, +argued the young mayor, an ugly place is ugly only because it is not +beautiful. And beautiful he determined this island should be. + +One day the young mayor-judge called together his council. "We must +have trees," he said; "we can make this island a spot of beauty if we +will!" But the practical seafaring men demurred; the little money they +had was needed for matters far more urgent than trees. + +"Very well," was the mayor's decision--and little they guessed what the +words were destined to mean--"I will do it myself." And that year he +planted one hundred trees, the first the island had ever seen. + +"Too cold," said the islanders; "the severe north winds and storms will +kill them all." + +"Then I will plant more," said the unperturbed mayor. And for the +fifty years that he lived on the island he did so. He planted trees +each year; and, moreover, he had deeded to the island government land +which he turned into public squares and parks, and where each spring he +set out shrubs and plants. + +Moistened by the salt mist the trees did not wither, but grew +prodigiously. In all that expanse of turbulent sea--and only those who +have seen the North Sea in a storm know how turbulent it can be--there +had not been a foot of ground on which the birds, storm-driven across +the water-waste, could rest in their flight. Hundreds of dead birds +often covered the surface of the sea. Then one day the trees had grown +tall enough to look over the sea, and, spent and driven, the first +birds came and rested in their leafy shelter. And others came and +found protection, and gave their gratitude vent in song. Within a few +years so many birds had discovered the trees in this new island home +that they attracted the attention not only of the native islanders but +also of the people on the shore five miles distant, and the island +became famous as the home of the rarest and most beautiful birds. So +grateful were the birds for their resting-place that they chose one end +of the island as a special spot for the laying of their eggs and the +raising of their young, and they fairly peopled it. It was not long +before ornithologists from various parts of the world came to +"Egg-land," as the farthermost point of the island came to be known, to +see the marvellous sight, not of thousands but of hundreds of thousands +of bird-eggs. + +A pair of storm-driven nightingales had now found the island and mated +there; their wonderful notes thrilled even the souls of the natives; +and as dusk fell upon the seabound strip of land the women and children +would come to "the square" and listen to the evening notes of the birds +of golden song. The two nightingales soon grew into a colony, and +within a few years so rich was the island in its nightingales that over +to the Dutch coast and throughout the land and into other countries +spread the fame of "The Island of Nightingales." + +Meantime, the young mayor-judge, grown to manhood, had kept on planting +trees each year, setting out his shrubbery and plants, until their +verdure now beautifully shaded the quaint, narrow lanes, and +transformed into wooded roads what once had been only barren wastes. +Artists began to hear of the place and brought their canvases, and on +the walls of hundreds of homes throughout the world hang to-day bits of +the beautiful lanes and wooded spots of "The Island of Nightingales." +The American artist, William M. Chase, took his pupils there almost +annually. "In all the world to-day," he declared to his students, as +they exclaimed at the natural cool restfulness of the island, "there is +no more beautiful place." + +The trees are now majestic in their height of forty or more feet, for +it is nearly a hundred years since the young attorney went to the +island and planted the first tree; to-day the churchyard where he lies +is a bower of cool green, with the trees that he planted dropping their +moisture on the lichen-covered stone on his grave. + +This much did one man do. But he did more. + +After he had been on the barren island two years he went to the +mainland one day, and brought back with him a bride. It was a bleak +place for a bridal home, but the young wife had the qualities of the +husband. "While you raise your trees," she said, "I will raise our +children." And within a score of years the young bride sent thirteen +happy-faced, well-brought-up children over that island, and there was +reared a home such as is given to few. Said a man who subsequently +married a daughter of that home: "It was such a home that once you had +been in it you felt you must be of it, and that if you couldn't marry +one of the daughters you would have been glad to have married the cook." + +One day when the children had grown to man's and woman's estate the +mother called them all together and said to them, "I want to tell you +the story of your father and of this island," and she told them the +simple story that is written here. + +"And now," she said, "as you go out into the world I want each of you +to take with you the spirit of your father's work, and each, in your +own way and place, to do as he has done: make you the world a bit more +beautiful and better because you have been in it. That is your +mother's message to you." + +The first son to leave the island home went with a band of hardy men to +South Africa, where they settled and became known as "the Boers." +Tirelessly they worked at the colony until towns and cities sprang up +and a new nation came into being: The Transvaal Republic. The son +became secretary of state of the new country, and to-day the United +States of South Africa bears tribute, in part, to the mother's message +to "make the world a bit more beautiful and better." + +The second son left home for the Dutch mainland, where he took charge +of a small parish; and when he had finished his work he was mourned by +king and peasant as one of the leading clergymen of his time and people. + +A third son, scorning his own safety, plunged into the boiling surf on +one of those nights of terror so common to that coast, rescued a +half-dead sailor, carried him to his father's house, and brought him +back to a life of usefulness that gave the world a record of +imperishable value. For the half-drowned sailor was Heinrich +Schliemann, the famous explorer of the dead cities of Troy. + +The first daughter now left the island nest; to her inspiration her +husband owed, at his life's close, a shelf of works in philosophy which +to-day are among the standard books of their class. + +The second daughter worked beside her husband until she brought him to +be regarded as one of the ablest preachers of his land, speaking for +more than forty years the message of man's betterment. + +To another son it was given to sit wisely in the councils of his land; +another followed the footsteps of his father. Another daughter, +refusing marriage for duty, ministered unto and made a home for one +whose eyes could see not. + +So they went out into the world, the girls and boys of that island +home, each carrying the story of their father's simple but beautiful +work and the remembrance of their mother's message. Not one from that +home but did well his or her work in the world; some greater, some +smaller, but each left behind the traces of a life well spent. + +And, as all good work is immortal, so to-day all over the world goes on +the influence of this one man and one woman, whose life on that little +Dutch island changed its barren rocks to a bower of verdure, a home for +the birds and the song of the nightingale. The grandchildren have gone +to the four corners of the globe, and are now the generation of +workers--some in the far East Indies; others in Africa; still others in +our own land of America. But each has tried, according to the talents +given, to carry out the message of that day, to tell the story of the +grandfather's work; just as it is told here by the author of this book, +who, in the efforts of his later years, has tried to carry out, so far +as opportunity has come to him, the message of his grandmother: + +"Make you the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have +been in it." + + +EDWARD W. BOK + +MERION + +PENNSYLVANIA + +A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FIRST DAYS IN AMERICA + +The leviathan of the Atlantic Ocean, in 1870, was _The Queen_, and when +she was warped into her dock on September 20 of that year, she +discharged, among her passengers, a family of four from the Netherlands +who were to make an experiment of Americanization. + +The father, a man bearing one of the most respected names in the +Netherlands, had acquired wealth and position for himself; unwise +investments, however, had swept away his fortune, and in preference to +a new start in his own land, he had decided to make the new beginning +in the United States, where a favorite brother-in-law had gone several +years before. But that, never a simple matter for a man who has +reached forty-two, is particularly difficult for a foreigner in a +strange land. This fact he and his wife were to find out. The wife, +also carefully reared, had been accustomed to a scale of living which +she had now to abandon. Her Americanization experiment was to compel +her, for the first time in her life, to become a housekeeper without +domestic help. There were two boys: the elder, William, was eight and +a half years of age; the younger, in nineteen days from his +landing-date, was to celebrate his seventh birthday. + +This younger boy was Edward William Bok. He had, according to the +Dutch custom, two other names, but he had decided to leave those in the +Netherlands. And the American public was, in later years, to omit for +him the "William." + +Edward's first six days in the United States were spent in New York, +and then he was taken to Brooklyn, where he was destined to live for +nearly twenty years. + +Thanks to the linguistic sense inherent in the Dutch, and to an +educational system that compels the study of languages, English was +already familiar to the father and mother. But to the two sons, who +had barely learned the beginnings of their native tongue, the English +language was as a closed book. It seemed a cruel decision of the +father to put his two boys into a public-school in Brooklyn, but he +argued that if they were to become Americans, the sooner they became +part of the life of the country and learned its language for +themselves, the better. And so, without the ability to make known the +slightest want or to understand a single word, the morning after their +removal to Brooklyn, the two boys were taken by their father to a +public-school. + +The American public-school teacher was less well equipped in those days +than she is to-day to meet the needs of two Dutch boys who could not +understand a word she said, and who could only wonder what it was all +about. The brothers did not even have the comfort of each other's +company, for, graded by age, they were placed in separate classes. + +Nor was the American boy of 1870 a whit less cruel than is the American +boy of 1920; and he was none the less loath to show that cruelty. This +trait was evident at the first recess of the first day at school. At +the dismissal, the brothers naturally sought each other, only to find +themselves surrounded by a group of tormentors who were delighted to +have such promising objects for their fun. And of this opportunity +they made the most. There was no form of petty cruelty boys' minds +could devise that was not inflicted upon the two helpless strangers. +Edward seemed to look particularly inviting, and nicknaming him +"Dutchy" they devoted themselves at each noon recess and after school +to inflicting their cruelties upon him. + +Louis XIV may have been right when he said that "every new language +requires a new soul," but Edward Bok knew that while spoken languages +might differ, there is one language understood by boys the world over. +And with this language Edward decided to do some experimenting. After +a few days at school, he cast his eyes over the group of his +tormentors, picked out one who seemed to him the ringleader, and before +the boy was aware of what had happened, Edward Bok was in the full +swing of his first real experiment with Americanization. Of course the +American boy retaliated. But the boy from the Netherlands had not been +born and brought up in the muscle-building air of the Dutch dikes for +nothing, and after a few moments he found himself looking down on his +tormentor and into the eyes of a crowd of very respectful boys and +giggling girls, who readily made a passageway for his brother and +himself when they indicated a desire to leave the schoolyard and go +home. + +Edward now felt that his Americanization had begun; but, always +believing that a thing begun must be carried to a finish, he took, or +gave--it depends upon the point of view--two or three more lessons in +this particular phase of Americanization before he convinced these +American schoolboys that it might be best for them to call a halt upon +further excursions in torment. + +At the best, they were difficult days at school for a boy of seven who +could not speak English. Although the other children stopped teasing +Edward, they did not try to make the way easier for him. America is +essentially a land of fair play, but it is not fair play for American +boys and girls to take advantage of a foreign child's unfamiliarity +with the language or our customs to annoy that child or to place +difficulties in his way. When a foreign pupil with little knowledge of +the English language enters an American school the native-born boys and +girls in that school can accomplish a useful service in Americanization +by helping the newcomer, thus giving him a true idea of American +fairness at the start. No doubt many American boys and girls gladly do +this little kindness for the young foreigner, but Edward Bok and his +brother suffered tortures at the hands of those who should have helped +them. + +Fortunately the linguistic gift inherent in the Dutch race came to +Edward's rescue in his attempt to master the English language. He soon +noted many points of similarity between English and his native tongue; +by changing a vowel here and there he could make a familiar Dutch word +into a correct English word. As both languages had developed from the +old Frisian tongue, the conquest of English did not prove as difficult +as he had expected. At all events, he set out to master it. + +[Illustration: Edward Bok at the age of six, upon his arrival in the +United States.] + +Edward was now confronted by a three-cornered problem. Like all +healthy boys of his age he was fond of play and eager to join the boys +of his neighborhood in their pastimes after school hours. He also +wanted to help his mother, which meant the washing of dishes, cleaning +the rooms in which the family then lived, and running various errands +for the needed household supplies. Then, too, he was not progressing +as rapidly as he wished with his school studies, and he felt that he +ought to do everything in his power to take advantage of his +opportunity to get an education. + +Methodically he worked out a plan which made it possible to accomplish +all three objects. He planned that on one afternoon he should go +directly home from school to help his mother, and as soon as he had +finished the necessary chores that would make her life easier he would +be free to go out and play for the rest of that afternoon. On the +following day he would remain in school for an extra hour after the +class had been dismissed and would get the teacher's help on any +lessons that were not clear to him. When that task had been +accomplished he would still have part of that afternoon left for play. +He broached his plan for work at home and study at school on alternate +afternoons to his mother and his teacher. Both approved of the idea +and agreed that it had been well thought out. + +Thus Edward Bok learned early in life the valuable lesson of a wise +management of time. Instead of attempting to accomplish various +results in some haphazard fashion, he planned to do only one thing at a +time, yet his plan was so comprehensive that it provided for the +necessary housework, study, and play--the three things that he wanted +to do and felt he should do. + +As his evenings were also devoted to various tasks and duties, this +young American-to-be, by using each bit of spare time for some useful +purpose, became early in life the busy person that he has remained to +the present day. Of Edward Bok it may truly be said that he began to +work, and to work hard, almost from the day he set foot on American +soil. He has since realized that this is not the best thing for a +young boy, who should have liberal time for play in his life. Of +course, Edward made the most of the short period that remained each +afternoon after his household duties or his extra studies at school, +and when he played it was with the same vim and energy with which he +worked. He had little choice in the matter, but he often regrets +to-day that he did not have more time in his boyhood for play. + +Like most boys, Edward wanted a little money now and then for spending, +but his mother was not always able to spare the pennies that he +desired. So he had to fall back on his own resources to earn small +sums by running errands for neighbors and in other ways familiar to +boys of his age. One day he came across an Italian who was earning +money in a rather unusual way. This Italian would collect the +bright-colored pictures that adorned the labels of fruit and vegetable +cans. He would paste these pictures into a scrap-book and sell it to a +mother as a picture-book for her children. Edward saw that the +Italian's idea smacked of originality and he asked the man where he got +his pictures. + +"From the cans I find on lots and in ash-barrels," was the reply. + +"If you had more pictures, you could make more books and so earn more +money, couldn't you?" asked Edward, as an idea struck him. + +"Yes," answered the Italian. + +"How much will you give me if I bring you a hundred pictures?" asked +Edward. + +"A cent apiece," said the Italian. + +"All right," agreed Edward. + +The boy went to work at once, and in three days he had collected the +first hundred pictures, gave them to the Italian, and received his +first dollar. + +"Now," said Edward, as he had visions of larger returns from his +efforts, "your books have pictures of only four or five kinds, like +apples, pears, tomatoes, and green peas. How much will you give me for +pictures of special fruit which you haven't got, like apricots, +green-gages, and pineapples?" + +"Two cents each," replied the Italian. + +"No," bargained Edward. "They're much harder to find than the others. +I'll get you some for three cents each." + +"All right," said the vender, realizing that the boy was stating the +case correctly. + +Edward had calculated that if he would search the vacant lots in back +of the homes of the well-to-do, where the servants followed the tidy +habit of throwing cans and refuse over the back fences, he would find +an assortment of canned-fruit labels different from those used by +persons of moderate means. He made a visit to those places and found +the less familiar pictures just as he thought he would. Thus he was +not only able to sell his labels to the Italian for three cents instead +of a cent apiece, but to give greater variety to the vender's +scrap-books. + +In this manner Edward Bok learned to make the most of his opportunities +even during his earliest years in America. + + + + +CHAPTER 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 put so much Dutch +energy into the cleaning of the large show-window that the baker +immediately arranged 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 window, 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 stomach--so +hungered! The baker watched him, saw how quickly and smilingly he +served the customer, and offered Edward an extra dollar per week if he +would come in afternoons and sell behind the counter. He immediately +entered into the bargain with the understanding that, in addition to +his salary of a dollar and a half per week, he should each afternoon +carry home from the good things unsold a moderate something as a +present to his mother. The baker agreed, 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 games, although, boy-like, that might be +his preference. + +Edward now took on for each Saturday morning--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 men jumped from +the open cars in summer, ran into the cigar-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 women and the children, who were forced to take the long 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 +shining new pail, screwed three hooks on the edge from which he hung +three clean shimmering glasses, 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 a most profitable day; and after going to +Sunday-school in the morning, he did a further Sabbath service for the +rest of the day by refreshing tired mothers and thirsty children on the +Coney Island cars--at a penny a glass! + +But the profit of six dollars which Edward was now reaping in his newly +found "bonanza" on Saturday and Sunday afternoons became apparent to +other boys, and one Saturday the young ice-water boy found that he had +a competitor; then two and soon three. Edward immediately met the +challenge; he squeezed half a dozen lemons into each pail of water, +added some sugar, tripled his charge, and continued his monopoly by +selling "Lemonade, three cents a glass." Soon more passengers were +asking for lemonade than for plain drinking-water! + +One evening Edward went to a party of young people, and his latent +journalistic sense whispered to him that his young hostess might like +to see her social affair in print. He went home, wrote up the party, +being careful to include the name of every boy and girl present, and +next morning took the account to the city editor of the _Brooklyn +Eagle_, with the sage observation that every name mentioned in that +paragraph represented a buyer of the paper, who would like to see his +or her name in print, and that if the editor had enough of these +reports he might very advantageously strengthen 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 +column, and decided that he would organize a corps of private reporters +himself. Forthwith, he saw every girl and boy he knew, got each to +promise to write for him an account of each party he or she attended or +gave, and laid great stress on a full recital of names. Within a few +weeks, Edward was turning in to _The Eagle_ from two to three columns a +week; his pay was raised to four dollars a column; the editor was +pleased in having started a department that no other paper carried, and +the "among those present" at the parties all bought the paper and were +immensely gratified 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 publishing business. The word +"curious" is used here because Edward is the first journalist in the +Bok family in all the centuries through 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 publishing 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 how wonderful 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 became a figure of importance in Edward's +eyes; many a morning the boy hastened from home long 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 the +momentous business of making books and periodicals. Edward would look +after the superintendent's form until it was lost to view; then, with a +sigh, he would go to school, forgetting all about the Elkins boy whom +he had told the father he had come to call for! + +But what with helping his mother, tending the 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 supreme +effort, he managed to hold his own in his class, but no more. +Instinctively, he felt that he was not getting all that he might from +his educational opportunities, yet the need for him to add to the +family income was, if anything, becoming greater. The idea of leaving +school was broached to his mother, but she rebelled. She told the boy +that he was earning something now and helping 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 himself with the Western Union Telegraph Company as +translator, a position for which his easy command of languages +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 as messenger in a lawyer's office; and when one evening Edward +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' department of +the Western Union Telegraph 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 time to his +desk to begin his work on that Monday morning, there had been born in +Boston, exactly twelve hours before, a girl-baby who was 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 became an +absorbing thought with Edward Bok. He had mastered a schoolboy's +English, 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 millionnaire and his companions were objects of great interest +to the young office boy. Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Edison +were also constant visitors to the department. He knew that some of +these men, too, had been deprived of the advantage 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, +determining to have only the best, he saved his luncheon money, walked +instead of riding the five miles to his Brooklyn home, and, after a +period of saving, had his reward in the first purchase from his own +earnings: a set of the _Encyclopaedia_. He now read about all the +successful men, and was encouraged to find that in many cases their +beginnings had been as modest as his own, and their opportunities of +education as limited. + +One day it occurred to him to test the accuracy of the biographies he +was reading. James A. Garfield was then spoken of for the presidency; +Edward wondered whether it was true that the man who was likely to be +President of the United States had once been a boy on the tow-path, and +with a simple directness characteristic of his Dutch training, wrote to +General Garfield, asking whether the boyhood episode was true, and +explaining why he asked. Of course any public man, no matter how large +his correspondence, is pleased to receive an earnest letter from an +information-seeking boy. General Garfield answered warmly and fully. +Edward showed the letter to his father, who told the boy that it was +valuable and he should keep it. This was a new idea. He followed it +further; if one such letter was valuable, how much more valuable would +be a hundred! If General Garfield answered him, would not other famous +men? Why not begin a collection of autograph letters? Everybody +collected something. + +Edward had collected postage-stamps, and the hobby had, incidentally, +helped him wonderfully in his study of geography. Why should not +autograph letters from famous persons be of equal service in his +struggle for self-education? Not simple autographs--they were +meaningless; but actual letters which might tell him something useful. +It never occurred to the boy that these men might not answer him. + +So he took his _Encyclopaedia_--its trustworthiness now established in +his mind by General Garfield's letter---and began to study the lives of +successful men and women. Then, with boyish frankness, he wrote on +some mooted question in one famous person's life; he asked about the +date of some important event in another's, not given in the +_Encyclopaedia_; or he asked one man why he did this or why some other +man did that. + +Most interesting were, of course, the replies. Thus General Grant +sketched on an improvised map the exact spot where General Lee +surrendered to him; Longfellow told him how he came to write +"Excelsior"; Whittier told the story of "The Barefoot Boy"; Tennyson +wrote out a stanza or two of "The Brook," upon condition that Edward +would not again use the word "awful," which the poet said "is slang for +'very,'" and "I hate slang." + +One day the boy received a letter from the Confederate general, Jubal +A. Early, giving the real reason why he burned Chambersburg. A friend +visiting Edward's father, happening to see the letter, recognized in it +a hitherto-missing bit of history, and suggested that it be published +in the _New York Tribune_. The letter attracted wide attention and +provoked national discussion. + +This suggested to the editor of _The Tribune_ that Edward might have +other equally interesting letters; so he despatched a reporter to the +boy's home. This reporter was Ripley Hitchcock, who afterward became +literary adviser for the Appletons and Harpers. Of course Hitchcock at +once saw a "story" in the boy's letters, and within a few days _The +Tribune_ appeared with a long article on its principal news page giving +an account of the Brooklyn boy's remarkable letters and how he had +secured them. The _Brooklyn Eagle_ quickly followed with a request for +an interview; the _Boston Globe_ followed suit; the _Philadelphia +Public Ledger_ sent its New York correspondent; and before Edward was +aware of it, newspapers in different parts of the country were writing +about "the well-known Brooklyn autograph collector." + +Edward Bok was quick to see the value of the publicity which had so +suddenly come to him. He received letters from other autograph +collectors all over the country who sought to "exchange" with him. +References began to creep into letters from famous persons to whom he +had written, saying they had read about his wonderful collection and +were proud to be included in it. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, +himself the possessor of probably one of the finest collections of +autograph letters in the country, asked Edward to come to Philadelphia +and bring his collection with him--which he did, on the following +Sunday, and brought it back greatly enriched. + +Several of the writers felt an interest in a boy who frankly told them +that he wanted to educate himself, and asked Edward to come and see +them. Accordingly, when they lived in New York or Brooklyn, or came to +these cities on a visit, he was quick to avail himself of their +invitations. He began to note each day in the newspapers the +"distinguished arrivals" at the New York hotels; and when any one with +whom he had corresponded arrived, Edward would, after business hours, +go up-town, pay his respects, and thank him in person for his letters. +No person was too high for Edward's boyish approach; President +Garfield, General Grant, General Sherman, President Hayes--all were +called upon, and all received the boy graciously and were interested in +the problem of his self-education. It was a veritable case of making +friends on every hand; friends who were to be of the greatest help and +value to the boy in his after-years, although he had no conception of +it at the time. + +The Fifth Avenue Hotel, in those days the stopping-place of the +majority of the famous men and women visiting New York, represented to +the young boy who came to see these celebrities the very pinnacle of +opulence. Often while waiting to be received by some dignitary, he +wondered how one could acquire enough means to live at a place of such +luxury. The main dining-room, to the boy's mind, was an object of +special interest. He would purposely sneak up-stairs and sit on one of +the soft sofas in the foyer simply to see the well-dressed diners go in +and come out. Edward would speculate on whether the time would ever +come when he could dine in that wonderful room just once! + +One evening he called, after the close of business, upon General and +Mrs. Grant, whom he had met before, and who had expressed a desire to +see his collection. It can readily be imagined what a red-letter day +it made in the boy's life to have General Grant say: "It might be +better for us all to go down to dinner first and see the collection +afterward." Edward had purposely killed time between five and seven +o'clock, thinking that the general's dinner-hour, like his own, was at +six. He had allowed an hour for the general to eat his dinner, only to +find that he was still to begin it. The boy could hardly believe his +ears, and unable to find his voice, he failed to apologize for his +modest suit or his general after-business appearance. + +As in a dream he went down in the elevator with his host and hostess, +and when the party of three faced toward the dining-room entrance, so +familiar to the boy, he felt as if his legs must give way under him. +There have since been other red-letter days in Edward Bok's life, but +the moment that still stands out pre-eminent is that when two colored +head waiters at the dining-room entrance, whom he had so often watched, +bowed low and escorted the party to their table. At last he was in +that sumptuous dining-hall. The entire room took on the picture of one +great eye, and that eye centred on the party of three--as, in fact, it +naturally would. But Edward felt that the eye was on him, wondering +why he should be there. + +What he ate and what he said he does not recall. General Grant, not a +voluble talker himself, gently drew the boy out, and Mrs. Grant +seconded him, until toward the close of the dinner he heard himself +talking. He remembers that he heard his voice, but what that voice +said is all dim to him. One act stamped itself on his mind. The +dinner ended with a wonderful dish of nuts and raisins, and just before +the party rose from the table Mrs. Grant asked the waiter to bring her +a paper bag. Into this she emptied the entire dish, and at the close +of the evening she gave it to Edward "to eat on the way home." It was +a wonderful evening, afterward up-stairs, General Grant smoking the +inevitable cigar, and telling stories as he read the letters of +different celebrities. Over those of Confederate generals he grew +reminiscent; and when he came to a letter from General Sherman, Edward +remembers that he chuckled audibly, reread it, and then turning to Mrs. +Grant, said: + +"Julia, listen to this from Sherman. Not bad." The letter he read was +this: + + +DEAR MR. BOK:-- + +I prefer not to make scraps of sentimental writing. When I write +anything I want it to be real and connected in form, as, for instance, +in your quotation from Lord Lytton's play of "Richelieu," "The pen is +mightier than the sword." Lord Lytton would never have put his +signature to so naked a sentiment. Surely I will not. + +In the text there was a prefix or qualification: + + Beneath the rule of men entirely great + The pen is mightier than the sword. + +Now, this world does not often present the condition of facts herein +described. Men entirely great are very rare indeed, and even +Washington, who approached greatness as near as any mortal, found good +use for the sword and the pen, each in its proper sphere. + +You and I have seen the day when a great and good man ruled this +country (Lincoln) who wielded a powerful and prolific pen, and yet had +to call to his assistance a million of flaming swords. + +No, I cannot subscribe to your sentiment, "The pen is mightier than the +sword," which you ask me to write, because it is not true. + +Rather, in the providence of God, there is a time for all things; a +time when the sword may cut the Gordian knot, and set free the +principles of right and justice, bound up in the meshes of hatred, +revenge, and tyranny, that the pens of mighty men like Clay, Webster, +Crittenden, and Lincoln were unable to disentangle. Wishing you all +success, I am, with respect, your friend, W. T. SHERMAN. + + +Mrs. Grant had asked Edward to send her a photograph of himself, and +after one had been taken, the boy took it to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, +intending to ask the clerk to send it to her room. Instead, he met +General and Mrs. Grant just coming from the elevator, going out to +dinner. The boy told them his errand, and said he would have the +photograph sent up-stairs. + +"I am so sorry we are just going out to dinner," said Mrs. Grant, "for +the general had some excellent photographs just taken of himself, and +he signed one for you, and put it aside, intending to send it to you +when yours came." Then, turning to the general, she said: "Ulysses, +send up for it. We have a few moments." + +"I'll go and get it. I know just where it is," returned the general. +"Let me have yours," he said, turning to Edward. "I am glad to +exchange photographs with you, boy." + +To Edward's surprise, when the general returned he brought with him, +not a duplicate of the small _carte-de-visite_ size which he had given +the general--all that he could afford--but a large, full cabinet size. + +"They make 'em too big," said the general, as he handed it to Edward. + +But the boy didn't think so! + +That evening was one that the boy was long to remember. It suddenly +came to him that he had read a few days before of Mrs. Abraham +Lincoln's arrival in New York at Doctor Holbrook's sanitarium. Thither +Edward went; and within half an hour from the time he had been talking +with General Grant he was sitting at the bedside of Mrs. Lincoln, +showing her the wonderful photograph just presented to him. Edward saw +that the widow of the great Lincoln did not mentally respond to his +pleasure in his possession. It was apparent even to the boy that +mental and physical illness had done their work with the frail frame. +But he had the memory, at least, of having got that close to the great +President. + +The eventful evening, however, was not yet over. Edward had boarded a +Broadway stage to take him to his Brooklyn home when, glancing at the +newspaper of a man sitting next to him, he saw the headline: "Jefferson +Davis arrives in New York." He read enough to see that the Confederate +President was stopping at the Metropolitan Hotel, in lower Broadway, +and as he looked out of the stage-window the sign "Metropolitan Hotel" +stared him in the face. In a moment he was out of the stage; he wrote +a little note, asked the clerk to send it to Mr. Davis, and within five +minutes was talking to the Confederate President and telling of his +remarkable evening. + +Mr. Davis was keenly interested in the coincidence and in the boy +before him. He asked about the famous collection, and promised to +secure for Edward a letter written by each member of the Confederate +Cabinet. This he subsequently did. Edward remained with Mr. Davis +until ten o'clock, and that evening brought about an interchange of +letters between the Brooklyn boy and Mr. Davis at Beauvoir, +Mississippi, that lasted until the latter passed away. + +Edward was fast absorbing a tremendous quantity of biographical +information about the most famous men and women of his time, and he was +compiling a collection of autograph letters that the newspapers had +made famous throughout the country. He was ruminating over his +possessions one day, and wondering to what practical use he could put +his collection; for while it was proving educative to a wonderful +degree, it was, after all, a hobby, and a hobby means expense. His +autograph quest cost him stationery, postage, car-fare--all outgo. But +it had brought him no income, save a rich mental revenue. And the boy +and his family needed money. He did not know, then, the value of a +background. + +He was thinking along this line in a restaurant when a man sitting next +to him opened a box of cigarettes, and taking a picture out of it threw +it on the floor. Edward picked it up, thinking it might be a +"prospect" for his collection of autograph letters. It was the picture +of a well-known actress. He then recalled an advertisement announcing +that this particular brand of cigarettes contained, in each package, a +lithographed portrait of some famous actor or actress, and that if the +purchaser would collect these he would, in the end, have a valuable +album of the greatest actors and actresses of the day. Edward turned +the picture over, only to find a blank reverse side. "All very well," +he thought, "but what does a purchaser have, after all, in the end, but +a lot of pictures? Why don't they use the back of each picture, and +tell what each did: a little biography? Then it would be worth +keeping." With his passion for self-education, the idea appealed very +strongly to him; and believing firmly that there were others possessed +of the same thirst, he set out the next day, in his luncheon hour, to +find out who made the picture. + +At the office of the cigarette company he learned that the making of +the pictures was in the hands of the Knapp Lithographic Company. The +following luncheon hour, Edward sought the offices of the company, and +explained his idea to Mr. Joseph P. Knapp, now the president of the +American Lithograph Company. + +"I'll give you ten dollars apiece if you will write me a +one-hundred-word biography of one hundred famous Americans," was Mr. +Knapp's instant reply. "Send me a list, and group them, as, for +instance: presidents and vice-presidents, famous soldiers, actors, +authors, etc." + +"And thus," says Mr. Knapp, as he tells the tale today, "I gave Edward +Bok his first literary commission, and started him off on his literary +career." + +And it is true. + +But Edward soon found the Lithograph Company calling for "copy," and, +write as he might, he could not supply the biographies fast enough. +He, at last, completed the first hundred, and so instantaneous was +their success that Mr. Knapp called for a second hundred, and then for +a third. Finding that one hand was not equal to the task, Edward +offered his brother five dollars for each biography; he made the same +offer to one or two journalists whom he knew and whose accuracy he +could trust; and he was speedily convinced that merely to edit +biographies written by others, at one-half the price paid to him, was +more profitable than to write himself. + +So with five journalists working at top speed to supply the hungry +lithograph presses, Mr. Knapp was likewise responsible for Edward Bok's +first adventure as an editor. It was commercial, if you will, but it +was a commercial editing that had a distinct educational value to a +large public. + +The important point is that Edward Bok was being led more and more to +writing and to editorship. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A PRESIDENTIAL FRIEND AND A BOSTON PILGRIMAGE + +Edward Bok had not been office boy long before he realized that if he +learned shorthand he would stand a better chance for advancement. So +he joined the Young Men's Christian Association in Brooklyn, and +entered the class in stenography. But as this class met only twice a +week, Edward, impatient to learn the art of "pothooks" as quickly as +possible, supplemented this instruction by a course given on two other +evenings at moderate cost by a Brooklyn business college. As the +system taught in both classes was the same, more rapid progress was +possible, and the two teachers were constantly surprised that he +acquired the art so much more quickly than the other students. + +Before many weeks Edward could "stenograph" fairly well, and as the +typewriter had not then come into its own, he was ready to put his +knowledge to practical use. + +An opportunity offered itself when the city editor of the _Brooklyn +Eagle_ asked him to report two speeches at a New England Society +dinner. The speakers were to be President Hayes, General Grant, +General Sherman, Mr. Evarts, and General Sheridan. Edward was to +report what General Grant and the President said, and was instructed to +give the President's speech verbatim. + +At the close of the dinner, the reporters came in and Edward was seated +directly in front of the President. In those days when a public dinner +included several kinds of wine, it was the custom to serve the +reporters with wine, and as the glasses were placed before Edward's +plate he realized that he had to make a decision then and there. He +had, of course, constantly seen wine on his father's table, as is the +European custom, but the boy had never tasted it. He decided he would +not begin then, when he needed a clear head. So, in order to get more +room for his notebook, he asked the waiter to remove the glasses. + +It was the first time he bad ever attempted to report a public address. +General Grant's remarks were few, as usual, and as he spoke slowly, he +gave the young reporter no trouble. But alas for his stenographic +knowledge, when President Hayes began to speak! Edward worked hard, +but the President was too rapid for him; he did not get the speech, and +he noticed that the reporters for the other papers fared no better. +Nothing daunted, however, after the speechmaking, Edward resolutely +sought the President, and as the latter turned to him, he told him his +plight, explained it was his first important "assignment," and asked if +he could possibly be given a copy of the speech so that he could "beat" +the other papers. + +The President looked at him curiously for a moment, and then said: "Can +you wait a few minutes?" + +Edward assured him that he could. + +After fifteen minutes or so the President came up to where the boy was +waiting, and said abruptly: + +"Tell me, my boy, why did you have the wine-glasses removed from your +place?" + +Edward was completely taken aback at the question, but he explained his +resolution as well as he could. + +"Did you make that decision this evening?" the President asked. + +He had. + +"What is your name?" the President next inquired. + +He was told. + +"And you live, where?" + +Edward told him. + +"Suppose you write your name and address on this card for me," said the +President, reaching for one of the placecards on the table. + +The boy did so. + +"Now, I am stopping with Mr. A. A. Low, on Columbia Heights. Is that +in the direction of your home?" + +It was. + +"Suppose you go with me, then, in my carriage," said the President, +"and I will give you my speech." + +Edward was not quite sure now whether he was on his head or his feet. + +As he drove along with the President and his host, the President asked +the boy about himself, what he was doing, etc. On arriving at Mr. +Low's house, the President went up-stairs, and in a few moments came +down with his speech in full, written in his own hand. Edward assured +him he would copy it, and return the manuscript in the morning. + +The President took out his watch. It was then after midnight. Musing +a moment, he said: "You say you are an office boy; what time must you +be at your office?" + +"Half past eight, sir." + +"Well, good night," he said, and then, as if it were a second thought: +"By the way, I can get another copy of the speech. Just turn that in +as it is, if they can read it." + +Afterward, Edward found out that, as a matter of fact, it was the +President's only copy. Though the boy did not then appreciate this act +of consideration, his instinct fortunately led him to copy the speech +and leave the original at the President's stopping-place in the morning. + +And for all his trouble, the young reporter was amply repaid by seeing +that _The Eagle_ was the only paper which had a verbatim report of the +President's speech. + +But the day was not yet done! + +That evening, upon reaching home, what was the boy's astonishment to +find the following note: + + +MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND:---- + +I have been telling Mrs. Hayes this morning of what you told me at the +dinner last evening, and she was very much interested. She would like +to see you, and joins me in asking if you will call upon us this +evening at eight-thirty. + +Very faithfully yours, + +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. + + +Edward had not risen to the possession of a suit of evening clothes, +and distinctly felt its lack for this occasion. But, dressed in the +best he had, he set out, at eight o'clock, to call on the President of +the United States and his wife! + +He had no sooner handed his card to the butler than that dignitary, +looking at it, announced: "The President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for +you!" The ring of those magic words still sounds in Edward's ears: +"The President and Mrs. Hayes are waiting for you!"--and he a boy of +sixteen! + +Edward had not been in the room ten minutes before he was made to feel +as thoroughly at ease as if he were sitting in his own home before an +open fire with his father and mother. Skilfully the President drew +from him the story of his youthful hopes and ambitions, and before the +boy knew it he was telling the President and his wife all about his +precious _Encyclopaedia_, his evening with General Grant, and his +efforts to become something more than an office boy. No boy had ever +so gracious a listener before; no mother could have been more tenderly +motherly than the woman who sat opposite him and seemed so honestly +interested in all that he told. Not for a moment during all those two +hours was he allowed to remember that his host and hostess were the +President of the United States and the first lady of the land! + +That evening was the first of many thus spent as the years rolled by; +unexpected little courtesies came from the White House, and later from +"Spiegel Grove"; a constant and unflagging interest followed each +undertaking on which the boy embarked. Opportunities were opened to +him; acquaintances were made possible; a letter came almost every month +until that last little note, late in 1892: + + +MY DEAR FRIEND: + +I would write you more fully if I could. You are always thoughtful and +kind. + +Thankfully your friend, + +RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. + +Thanks--thanks for your steady friendship. + + +The simple act of turning down his wine-glasses had won for Edward Bok +two gracious friends. + +The passion for autograph collecting was now leading Edward to read the +authors whom he read about. He had become attached to the works of the +New England group: Longfellow, Holmes, and, particularly, of Emerson. +The philosophy of the Concord sage made a peculiarly strong appeal to +the young mind, and a small copy of Emerson's essays was always in +Edward's pocket on his long stage or horse-car rides to his office and +back. + +He noticed that these New England authors rarely visited New York, or, +if they did, their presence was not heralded by the newspapers among +the "distinguished arrivals." He had a great desire personally to meet +these writers; and, having saved a little money, he decided to take his +week's summer vacation in the winter, when he knew he should be more +likely to find the people of his quest at home, and to spend his +savings on a trip to Boston. He had never been so far away from home, +so this trip was a momentous affair. + +He arrived in Boston on Sunday evening; and the first thing he did was +to despatch a note, by messenger, to Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes, +announcing the important fact that he was there, and what his errand +was, and asking whether he might come up and see Doctor Holmes any time +the next day. Edward naively told him that he could come as early as +Doctor Holmes liked--by breakfast-time, he was assured, as Edward was +all alone! Doctor Holmes's amusement at this ingenuous note may be +imagined. + +Within the hour the messenger brought back this answer: + + +MY DEAR BOY: + +I shall certainly look for you to-morrow morning at eight o'clock to +have a piece of pie with me. That is real New England, you know. + +Very cordially yours, + +OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + + +Edward was there at eight o'clock. Strictly speaking, he was there at +seven-thirty, and found the author already at his desk in that room +overlooking the Charles River. + +"Well," was the cheery greeting, "you couldn't wait until eight for +your breakfast, could you? Neither could I when I was a boy. I used +to have my breakfast at seven," and then telling the boy all about his +boyhood, the cheery poet led him to the dining-room, and for the first +time he breakfasted away from home and ate pie--and that with "The +Autocrat" at his own breakfast-table! + +A cosier time no boy could have had. Just the two were there, and the +smiling face that looked out over the plates and cups gave the boy +courage to tell all that this trip was going to mean to him. + +"And you have come on just to see us, have you?" chuckled the poet. +"Now, tell me, what good do you think you will get out of it?" + +He was told what the idea was: that every successful man had something +to tell a boy, that would be likely to help him, and that Edward wanted +to see the men who had written the books that people enjoyed. Doctor +Holmes could not conceal his amusement at all this. + +When breakfast was finished, Doctor Holmes said: "Do you know that I am +a full-fledged carpenter? No? Well, I am. Come into my +carpenter-shop." + +And he led the way into a front-basement room where was a complete +carpenter's outfit. + +"You know I am a doctor," he explained, "and this shop is my medicine. +I believe that every man must have a hobby that is as different from +his regular work as it is possible to be. It is not good for a man to +work all the time at one thing. So this is my hobby. This is my +change. I like to putter away at these things. Every day I try to +come down here for an hour or so. It rests me because it gives my mind +a complete change. For, whether you believe it or not," he added with +his inimitable chuckle, "to make a poem and to make a chair are two +very different things. + +"Now," he continued, "if you think you can learn something from me, +learn that and remember it when you are a man. Don't keep always at +your business, whatever it may be. It makes no difference how much you +like it. The more you like it, the more dangerous it is. When you +grow up you will understand what I mean by an 'outlet'--a hobby, that +is--in your life, and it must be so different from your regular work +that it will take your thoughts into an entirely different direction. +We doctors call it a safety-valve, and it is. I would much rather," +concluded the poet, "you would forget all that I have ever written than +that you should forget what I tell you about having a safety-valve." + +"And now do you know," smilingly said the poet, "about the Charles +River here?" as they returned to his study and stood before the large +bay window. "I love this river," he said. "Yes, I love it," he +repeated; "love it in summer or in winter." And then he was quiet for +a minute or so. + +Edward asked him which of his poems were his favorites. + +"Well," he said musingly, "I think 'The Chambered Nautilus' is my most +finished piece of work, and I suppose it is my favorite. But there are +also 'The Voiceless,' 'My Aviary,' written at this window, 'The Battle +of Bunker Hill,' and 'Dorothy Q,' written to the portrait of my +great-grandmother which you see on the wall there. All these I have a +liking for, and when I speak of the poems I like best there are two +others that ought to be included--'The Silent Melody' and 'The Last +Leaf.' I think these are among my best."' + +"What is the history of 'The Chambered Nautilus'?" Edward asked. + +"It has none," came the reply, "it wrote itself. So, too, did 'The +One-Hoss Shay.' That was one of those random conceptions that gallop +through the brain, and that you catch by the bridle. I caught it and +reined it. That is all." + +Just then a maid brought in a parcel, and as Doctor Holmes opened it on +his desk he smiled over at the boy and said: + +"Well, I declare, if you haven't come just at the right time. See +those little books? Aren't they wee?" and he handed the boy a set of +three little books, six inches by four in size, beautifully bound in +half levant. They were his "Autocrat" in one volume, and his +better-known poems in two volumes. + +"This is a little fancy of mine," he said. "My publishers, to please +me, have gotten out this tiny wee set. And here," as he counted the +little sets, "they have sent me six sets. Are they not exquisite +little things?" and he fondled them with loving glee. "Lucky, too, for +me that they should happen to come now, for I have been wondering what +I could give you as a souvenir of your visit to me, and here it is, +sure enough! My publishers must have guessed you were here and my mind +at the same time. Now, if you would like it, you shall carry home one +of these little sets, and I'll just write a piece from one of my poems +and your name on the fly-leaf of each volume. You say you like that +little verse: + + "'A few can touch the magic string.' + +"Then I'll write those four lines in this volume." And he did. + + "A few can touch the magic string, + And noisy Fame is proud to win them,-- + Alas for those who never sing, + But die with all their music in them!" + OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + +As each little volume went under the poet's pen Edward said, as his +heart swelled in gratitude: + +"Doctor Holmes, you are a man of the rarest sort to be so good to a +boy." + +The pen stopped, the poet looked out on the Charles a moment, and then, +turning to the boy with a little moisture in his eye, he said: + +"No, my boy, I am not; but it does an old man's heart good to hear you +say it. It means much to those on the down-hill side to be well +thought of by the young who are coming up." + +As he wiped his gold pen, with its swan-quill holder, and laid it down, +he said: + +"That's the pen with which I wrote 'Elsie Venner' and the 'Autocrat' +papers. I try to take care of it." + +"You say you are going from me over to see Longfellow?" he continued, +as he reached out once more for the pen. "Well, then, would you mind +if I gave you a letter for him? I have something to send him." + +Sly but kindly old gentleman! The "something" he had to send +Longfellow was Edward himself, although the boy did not see through the +subterfuge at that time. + +"And now, if you are going, I'll walk along with you if you don't mind, +for I'm going down to Park Street to thank my publishers for these +little books, and that lies along your way to the Cambridge car." + +As the two walked along Beacon Street, Doctor Holmes pointed out the +residences where lived people of interest, and when they reached the +Public Garden he said: + +"You must come over in the spring some time, and see the tulips and +croci and hyacinths here. They are so beautiful. + +"Now, here is your car," he said as he hailed a coming horse-car. +"Before you go back you must come and see me and tell me all the people +you have seen, will you? I should like to hear about them. I may not +have more books coming in, but I might have a very good-looking +photograph of a very old-looking little man," he said as his eyes +twinkled. "Give my love to Longfellow when you see him, and don't +forget to give him my letter, you know. It is about a very important +matter." + +And when the boy had ridden a mile or so with his fare in his hand he +held it out to the conductor, who grinned and said: + +"That's all right. Doctor Holmes paid me your fare, and I'm going to +keep that nickel if I lose my job for it." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GOING TO THE THEATRE WITH LONGFELLOW + +When Edward Bok stood before the home of Longfellow, he realized that +he was to see the man around whose head the boy's youthful reading had +cast a sort of halo. And when he saw the head itself he had a feeling +that he could see the halo. No kindlier pair of eyes ever looked at a +boy, as, with a smile, "the white Mr. Longfellow," as Mr. Howells had +called him, held out his hand. + +"I am very glad to see you, my boy," were his first words, and with +them he won the boy. Edward smiled back at the poet, and immediately +the two were friends. + +"I have been taking a walk this beautiful morning," he said next, "and +am a little late getting at my mail. Suppose you come in and sit at my +desk with me, and we will see what the postman has brought. He brings +me so many good things, you know." + +"Now, here is a little girl," he said, as he sat down at the desk with +the boy beside him, "who wants my autograph and a 'sentiment.' What +sentiment, I wonder, shall I send her?" + +"Why not send her 'Let us, then, be up and doing'?" suggested the boy. +"That's what I should like if I were she." + +"Should you, indeed?" said Longfellow. "That is a good suggestion. +Now, suppose you recite it off to me, so that I shall not have to look +it up in my books, and I will write as you recite. But slowly; you, +know I am an old man, and write slowly." + +Edward thought it strange that Longfellow himself should not know his +own great words without looking them up. But he recited the four +lines, so familiar to every schoolboy, and when the poet had finished +writing them, he said: + +"Good! I see you have a memory. Now, suppose I copy these lines once +more for the little girl, and give you this copy? Then you can say, +you know, that you dictated my own poetry to me." + +Of course Edward was delighted, and Longfellow gave him the sheet on +which he had written: + + Let us, then, be up and doing, + With a heart, for any fate; + Still achieving, still pursuing, + Learn to labor and to wait. + HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + +Then, as the fine head bent down to copy the lines once more, Edward +ventured to say to him; + +"I should think it would keep you busy if you did this for every one +who asked you." + +"Well," said the poet, "you see, I am not so busy a man as I was some +years ago, and I shouldn't like to disappoint a little girl, should +you?" + +As he took up his letters again, he discovered five more requests for +his autograph. At each one he reached into a drawer in his desk, took +a card, and wrote his name on it. + +"There are a good many of these every day," said Longfellow, "but I +always like to do this little favor. It is so little to do, to write +your name on a card; and if I didn't do it some boy or girl might be +looking, day by day, for the postman and be disappointed. I only wish +I could write my name better for them. You see how I break my letters? +That's because I never took pains with my writing when I was a boy. I +don't think I should get a high mark for penmanship if I were at +school, do you?" + +"I see you get letters from Europe," said the boy, as Longfellow opened +an envelope with a foreign stamp on it. + +"Yes, from all over the world," said the poet. Then, looking at the +boy quickly, he said: "Do you collect postage-stamps?" + +Edward said he did. + +"Well, I have some right here, then;" and going to a drawer in a desk +he took out a bundle of letters, and cut out the postage-stamps and +gave them to the boy. + +"There's one from the Netherlands. There's where I was born," Edward +ventured to say. + +"In the Netherlands? Then you are a real Dutchman. Well! Well!" he +said, laying down his pen. "Can you read Dutch?" + +The boy said he could. + +"Then," said the poet, "you are just the boy I am looking for." And +going to a bookcase behind him he brought out a book, and handing it to +the boy, he said, his eyes laughing: "Can you read that?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Edward. "These are your poems in Dutch." + +"That's right," he said. "Now, this is delightful. I am so glad you +came. I received this book last week, and although I have been in the +Netherlands, I cannot speak or read Dutch. I wonder whether you would +read a poem to me and let me hear how it sounds." + +So Edward took "The Old Clock on the Stairs," and read it to him. + +The poet's face beamed with delight. "That's beautiful," he said, and +then quickly added: "I mean the language, not the poem." + +"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you what we'll do: we'll strike a +bargain. We Yankees are great for bargains, you know. If you will +read me 'The Village Blacksmith' you can sit in that chair there made +out of the wood of the old spreading chestnut-tree, and I'll take you +out and show you where the old shop stood. Is that a bargain?" + +Edward assured him it was. He sat in the chair of wood and leather, +and read to the poet several of his own poems in a language in which, +when he wrote them, he never dreamed they would ever be printed. He +was very quiet. Finally he said: "It seems so odd, so very odd, to +hear something you know so well sound so strange." + +"It's a great compliment, though, isn't it, sir?" asked the boy. + +"Ye-es," said the poet slowly. "Yes, yes," he added quickly. "It is, +my boy, a very great compliment." + +"Ah," he said, rousing himself, as a maid appeared, "that means +luncheon, or rather, it means dinner, for we have dinner in the old New +England fashion, in the middle of the day. I am all alone to-day, and +you must keep me company, will you? Then afterward we'll go and take a +walk, and I'll show you Cambridge. It is such a beautiful old town, +even more beautiful, I sometimes think, when the leaves are off the +trees." + +[Illustration: Edward Bok's birthplace at Helder, Netherlands. In the +foreground is one of the typical Dutch canals; at the end of the garden +in the rear is one of the famous Dutch dykes and just beyond is the +North Sea. The house now belongs to the Dutch Government.] + +"Come," he said, "I'll take you up-stairs, and you can wash your hands +in the room where George Washington slept. And comb your hair, too, if +you want to," he added; "only it isn't the same comb that he used." + +To the boyish mind it was an historic breaking of bread, that midday +meal with Longfellow. + +"Can you say grace in Dutch?" he asked, as they sat down; and the boy +did. + +"Well," the poet declared, "I never expected to hear that at my table. +I like the sound of it." + +Then while the boy told all that he knew about the Netherlands, the +poet told the boy all about his poems. Edward said he liked "Hiawatha." + +"So do I," he said. "But I think I like 'Evangeline' better. Still, +neither one is as good as it should be. But those are the things you +see afterward so much better than you do at the time." + +It was a great event for Edward when, with the poet nodding and smiling +to every boy and man he met, and lifting his hat to every woman and +little girl, he walked through the fine old streets of Cambridge with +Longfellow. At one point of the walk they came to a theatrical +billboard announcing an attraction that evening at the Boston Theatre. +Skilfully the old poet drew out from Edward that sometimes he went to +the theatre with his parents. As they returned to the gate of "Craigie +House" Edward said he thought he would go back to Boston. + +"And what have you on hand for this evening?" asked Longfellow. + +Edward told him he was going to his hotel to think over the day's +events. + +The poet laughed and said: + +"Now, listen to my plan. Boston is strange to you. Now we're going to +the theatre this evening, and my plan is that you come in now, have a +little supper with us, and then go with us to see the play. It is a +funny play, and a good laugh will do you more good than to sit in a +hotel all by yourself. Now, what do you think?" + +Of course the boy thought as Longfellow did, and it was a very happy +boy that evening who, in full view of the large audience in the immense +theatre, sat in that box. It was, as Longfellow had said, a play of +laughter, and just who laughed louder, the poet or the boy, neither +ever knew. + +Between the acts there came into the box a man of courtly presence, +dignified and yet gently courteous. + +"Ah! Phillips," said the poet, "how are you? You must know my young +friend here. This is Wendell Phillips, my boy. Here is a young man +who told me to-day that he was going to call on you and on Phillips +Brooks to-morrow. Now you know him before he comes to you." + +"I shall be glad to see you, my boy," said Mr. Phillips. "And so you +are going to see Phillips Brooks? Let me tell you something about +Brooks. He has a great many books in his library which are full of his +marks and comments. Now, when you go to see him you ask him to let you +see some of those books, and then, when he isn't looking, you put a +couple of them in your pocket. They would make splendid souvenirs, and +he has so many he would never miss them. You do it, and then when you +come to see me tell me all about it." + +And he and Longfellow smiled broadly. + +An hour later, when Longfellow dropped Edward at his hotel, he had not +only a wonderful day to think over but another wonderful day to look +forward to as well! + +He had breakfasted with Oliver Wendell Holmes; dined, supped, and been +to the theatre with Longfellow; and tomorrow he was to spend with +Phillips Brooks. + +Boston was a great place, Edward Bok thought, as he fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PHILLIPS BROOKS'S BOOKS AND EMERSON'S MENTAL MIST + +No one who called at Phillips Brooks's house was ever told that the +master of the house was out when he was in. That was a rule laid down +by Doctor Brooks: a maid was not to perjure herself for her master's +comfort or convenience. Therefore, when Edward was told that Doctor +Brooks was out, he knew he was out. The boy waited, and as he waited +he had a chance to look around the library and into the books. The +rector's faithful housekeeper said he might when he repeated what +Wendell Phillips had told him of the interest that was to be found in +her master's books. Edward did not tell her of Mr. Phillips's advice, +to "borrow" a couple of books. He reserved that bit of information for +the rector of Trinity when he came in, an hour later. + +"Oh! did he?" laughingly said Doctor Brooks. "That is nice advice for +a man to give a boy. I am surprised at Wendell Phillips. He needs a +little talk: a ministerial visit. And have you followed his shameless +advice?" smilingly asked the huge man as he towered above the boy. +"No? And to think of the opportunity you had, too. Well, I am glad +you had such respect for my dumb friends. For they are my friends, +each one of them," he continued, as he looked fondly at the filled +shelves. "Yes, I know them all, and love each for its own sake. Take +this little volume," and he picked up a little volume of Shakespeare. +"Why, we are the best of friends: we have travelled miles together--all +over the world, as a matter of fact. It knows me in all my moods, and +responds to each, no matter how irritable I am. Yes, it is pretty +badly marked up now, for a fact, isn't it? Black; I never thought of +that before that it doesn't make a book look any better to the eye. +But it means more to me because of all that pencilling. + +"Now, some folks dislike my use of my books in this way. They love +their books so much that they think it nothing short of sacrilege to +mark up a book. But to me, that's like having a child so prettily +dressed that you can't romp and play with it. What is the good of a +book, I say, if it is too pretty for use? I like to have my books +speak to me, and then I like to talk back to them. + +"Take my Bible, here," he continued, as he took up an old and much-worn +copy of the book. "I have a number of copies of the Great Book: one +copy I preach from; another I minister from; but this is my own +personal copy, and into it I talk and talk. See how I talk," and he +opened the Book and showed interleaved pages full of comments in his +handwriting. "There's where St. Paul and I had an argument one day. +Yes, it was a long argument, and I don't know now who won," he added +smilingly. "But then, no one ever wins in an argument, anyway, do you +think so? + +"You see," went on the preacher, "I put into these books what other men +put into articles and essays for magazines and papers. I never write +for publications. I always think of my church when something comes to +me to say. There is always danger of a man spreading himself out thin +if he attempts too much, you know." + +Doctor Brooks, must have caught the boy's eye, which, as he said this, +naturally surveyed his great frame, for he regarded him in an amused +way, and putting his hands on his girth, he said laughingly; "You are +thinking I would have to do a great deal to spread myself out thin, +aren't you?" + +The boy confessed he was, and the preacher laughed one of those deep +laughs of his that were so infectious. + +"But here I am talking about myself. Tell me something about +_yourself_?" + +And when the boy told his object in coming to Boston, the rector of +Trinity Church was immensely amused. + +"Just to see us fellows! Well, and how do you like us so far?" + +And in the most comfortable way this true gentleman went on until the +boy mentioned that he must be keeping him from his work. + +"Not at all; not at all," was the quick and hearty response. "Not a +thing to do. I cleaned up all my mail before I had my breakfast this +morning. + +"These letters, you mean?" he said, as the boy pointed to some letters +on his desk unopened. "Oh, yes! They must have come in a later mail. +Well, if it will make you feel any better I'll go through them, and you +can go through my books if you like. I'll trust you," he added +laughingly, as Wendell Phillips's advice occurred to him. + +"You like books, you say?" he went on, as he opened his letters. +"Well, then, you must come into my library here at any time you are in +Boston, and spend a morning reading anything I have that you like. +Young men do that, you know, and I like to have them. What's the use +of good friends if you don't share them? There's where the pleasure +comes in." + +He asked the boy then about his newspaper work, how much it paid him, +and whether he felt it helped him in an educational way. The boy told +him he thought it did; that it furnished good lessons in the study of +human nature. "Yes," he said, "I, can believe that, so long as it is +good journalism." + +As he let the boy out of his house, at the end of that first, meeting, +he said to him: + +"And you're going from me now to see Emerson? I don't know," he added +reflectively, "whether you will see him at his best. Still, you may. +And even if you do not, to have seen him, even as you may see him, is +better, in a way, than not to have seen him at all." + +Edward did not know what Phillips Brooks meant. But he was, sadly, to +find out the next day. + + +A boy was pretty sure of a welcome from Louisa Alcott, and his greeting +from her was spontaneous and sincere. + +"Why, you good boy," she said, "to come all the way to Concord to see +us," quite for all the world as if she were the one favored. "Now take +your coat off, and come right in by the fire. Do tell me all about +your visit." + +Before that cozy fire they chatted. It was pleasant to the boy to sit +there with that sweet-faced woman with those kindly eyes! After a +while she said: "Now I shall put on my coat and hat, and we shall walk +over to Emerson's house. I am almost afraid to promise that you will +see him. He sees scarcely any one now. He is feeble, and--" She did +not finish the sentence. "But we'll walk over there, at any rate." + +She spoke mostly of her father as the two walked along, and it was easy +to see that his condition was now the one thought of her life. +Presently they reached Emerson's house, and Miss Emerson welcomed them +at the door. After a brief chat Miss Alcott told of the boy's hope. +Miss Emerson shook her head. + +"Father sees no one now," she said, "and I fear it might not be a +pleasure if you did see him." + +Then Edward told her what Phillips Brooks had said. + +"Well," she said, "I'll see." + +She had scarcely left the room when Miss Alcott rose and followed her, +saying to the boy: "You shall see Mr. Emerson if it is at all possible." + +In a few minutes Miss Alcott returned, her eyes moistened, and simply +said: "Come." + +The boy followed her through two rooms, and at the threshold of the +third, Miss Emerson stood, also with moistened eyes. + +"Father," she said simply, and there, at his desk, sat Emerson--the man +whose words had already won Edward Bok's boyish interest, and who was +destined to impress himself upon his life more deeply than any other +writer. + +Slowly, at the daughter's spoken word, Emerson rose with a wonderful +quiet dignity, extended his hand, and as the boy's hand rested in his, +looked him full in the eyes. + +No light of welcome came from those sad yet tender eyes. The boy +closed upon the hand in his with a loving pressure, and for a single +moment the eyelids rose, a different look came into those eyes, and +Edward felt a slight, perceptible response of the hand. But that was +all! + +Quietly he motioned the boy to a chair beside the desk. Edward sat +down and was about to say something, when, instead of seating himself, +Emerson walked away to the window and stood there softly whistling and +looking out as if there were no one in the room. Edward's eyes had +followed Emerson's every footstep, when the boy was aroused by hearing +a suppressed sob, and as he looked around he saw that it came from Miss +Emerson. Slowly she walked out of the room. The boy looked at Miss +Alcott, and she put her finger to her mouth, indicating silence. He +was nonplussed. + +Edward looked toward Emerson standing in that window, and wondered what +it all meant. Presently Emerson left the window and, crossing the +room, came to his desk, bowing to the boy as he passed, and seated +himself, not speaking a word and ignoring the presence of the two +persons in the room. + +Suddenly the boy heard Miss Alcott say: "Have you read this new book by +Ruskin yet?" + +Slowly the great master of thought lifted his eyes from his desk, +turned toward the speaker, rose with stately courtesy from his chair, +and, bowing to Miss Alcott, said with great deliberation: "Did you +speak to me, madam?" + +The boy was dumfounded! Louisa Alcott, his Louisa! And he did not +know her! Suddenly the whole sad truth flashed upon the boy. Tears +sprang into Miss Alcott's eyes, and she walked to the other side of the +room. The boy did not know what to say or do, so he sat silent. With +a deliberate movement Emerson resumed his seat, and slowly his eyes +roamed over the boy sitting at the side of the desk. He felt he should +say something. + +"I thought, perhaps, Mr. Emerson," he said, "that you might be able to +favor me with a letter from Carlyle." + +At the mention of the name Carlyle his eyes lifted, and he asked: +"Carlyle, did you say, sir, Carlyle?" + +"Yes," said the boy, "Thomas Carlyle." + +"Ye-es," Emerson answered slowly. "To be sure, Carlyle. Yes, he was +here this morning. He will be here again to-morrow morning," he added +gleefully, almost like a child. + +Then suddenly: "You were saying----" + +Edward repeated his request. + +"Oh, I think so, I think so," said Emerson, to the boy's astonishment. +"Let me see. Yes, here in this drawer I have many letters from +Carlyle." + +At these words Miss Alcott came from the other part of the room, her +wet eyes dancing with pleasure and her face wreathed in smiles. + +"I think we can help this young man; do you not think so, Louisa?" said +Emerson, smiling toward Miss Alcott. The whole atmosphere of the room +had changed. How different the expression of his eyes as now Emerson +looked at the boy! "And you have come all the way from New York to ask +me that!" he said smilingly as the boy told him of his trip. "Now, let +us see," he said, as he delved in a drawer full of letters. + +For a moment he groped among letters and papers, and then, softly +closing the drawer, he began that ominous low whistle once more, looked +inquiringly at each, and dropped his eyes straightway to the papers +before him on his desk. It was to be only for a few moments, then! +Miss Alcott turned away. + +The boy felt the interview could not last much longer. So, anxious to +have some personal souvenir of the meeting, he said: "Mr. Emerson, will +you be so good as to write your name in this book for me?" and he +brought out an album he had in his pocket. + +"Name?" he asked vaguely. + +"Yes, please," said the boy, "your name: Ralph Waldo Emerson." + +But the sound of the name brought no response from the eyes. + +"Please write out the name you want," he said finally, "and I will copy +it for you if I can." + +It was hard for the boy to believe his own senses. But picking up a +pen he wrote: "Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord; November 22, 1881." + +Emerson looked at it, and said mournfully: "Thank you." Then he picked +up the pen, and writing the single letter "R" stopped, followed his +finger until it reached the "W" of Waldo, and studiously copied letter +by letter! At the word "Concord" he seemed to hesitate, as if the task +were too great, but finally copied again, letter by letter, until the +second "c" was reached. "Another 'o,'" he said, and interpolated an +extra letter in the name of the town which he had done so much to make +famous the world over. When he had finished he handed back the book, +in which there was written: + +[Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson's signature.] + +The boy put the book into his pocket; and as he did so Emerson's eye +caught the slip on his desk, in the boy's handwriting, and, with a +smile of absolute enlightenment, he turned and said; + +"You wish me to write my name? With pleasure. Have you a book with +you?" + +Overcome with astonishment, Edward mechanically handed him the album +once more from his pocket. Quickly turning over the leaves, Emerson +picked up the pen, and pushing aside the slip, wrote without a moment's +hesitation: + +[Illustration: Ralph Waldo Emerson's second signature.] + +The boy was almost dazed at the instantaneous transformation in the man! + +Miss Alcott now grasped this moment to say: "Well, we must be going!" + +"So soon?" said Emerson, rising and smiling. Then turning to Miss +Alcott he said: "It was very kind of you, Louisa, to run over this +morning and bring your young friend." + +Then turning to the boy he said: "Thank you so much for coming to see +me. You must come over again while you are with the Alcotts. Good +morning! Isn't it a beautiful day out?" he said, and as he shook the +boy's hand there was a warm grasp in it, the fingers closed around +those of the boy, and as Edward looked into those deep eyes they +twinkled and smiled back. + +The going was all so different from the coming. The boy was grateful +that his last impression was of a moment when the eye kindled and the +hand pulsated. + +The two walked back to the Alcott home in an almost unbroken silence. +Once Edward ventured to remark: + +"You can have no idea, Miss Alcott, how grateful I am to you." + +"Well, my boy," she answered, "Phillips Brooks may be right: that it is +something 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 +following morning he spent with Wendell Phillips, who presented him +with letters from William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and other +famous persons; and then, writing a letter of introduction to Charles +Francis Adams, whom he enjoined to give the boy autograph letters from +his two presidential forbears, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, sent +Edward on his way rejoicing. Mr. Adams received the boy with equal +graciousness and liberality. Wonderful letters from the two Adamses +were his when he left. + +And then, taking the train for New York, Edward Bok went home, sitting +up all night 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 away when Edward was 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 problem of supporting the mother on their meagre income. +They determined to have but one goal: to put their mother back to that +life of comfort to which she had been brought up and was formerly +accustomed. But that was not possible on their income. It was evident +that other employment must be taken on during the evenings. + +The city editor of the _Brooklyn Eagle_ had given Edward the assignment +of covering the news of the theatres; he was to ascertain "coming +attractions" and any other dramatic items of news interest. One Monday +evening, when a multiplicity of events crowded the reportorial corps, +Edward was 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 dramatic criticism. Yet _The +Eagle_ wanted to cover it. It so happened that Edward had made another +appointment for that evening which he considered more important, and +yet not wishing to disappoint his editor he accepted the assignment. +He had seen Miss Coghlan in the play; so he kept his other engagement, +and without approaching 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 next morning on 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 performance +had been given and the audience dismissed. All this was duly commented +upon by the New York morning newspapers. Edward read this bit of news +on the ferry-boat, but his notice was in the hands of the city editor. + +On reaching home that evening he found a summons from _The Eagle_, and +the next morning he received a rebuke, and was informed that his +chances with the paper were over. The ready acknowledgment and evident +regret 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 impression. It was always a cause of profound gratitude with +Edward Bok that his first attempt at "faking" occurred so early in his +journalistic career that he could take the experience to heart and +profit by it. + +One evening when Edward was attending a theatrical performance, he +noticed the restlessness of the women in the audience between the acts. +In those days it was, even more than at present, the custom for the men +to go out between the acts, leaving the women alone. Edward looked at +the programme in his hands. It was a large eleven-by-nine sheet, four +pages, badly printed, with nothing in it save the cast, a few +advertisements, and an announcement of some coming attraction. The boy +mechanically folded the programme, turned it long side up and wondered +whether a programme of this smaller size, easier to handle, with an +attractive cover and some reading-matter, would not be profitable. + +When he reached home he made up an eight-page "dummy," pasted an +attractive picture on the cover, indicated the material to go inside, +and the next morning showed it to the manager of the theatre. The +programme as issued was an item of considerable expense to the +management; Edward offered to supply his new programme without cost, +provided he was given the exclusive right, and the manager at once +accepted the offer. Edward then sought a friend, Frederic L. Colver, +who had a larger experience in publishing and advertising, with whom he +formed a partnership. Deciding that immediately upon the issuance of +their first programme the idea was likely to be taken up by the other +theatres, Edward proceeded to secure the exclusive rights to them all. +The two young publishers solicited their advertisements on the way to +and from business mornings and evenings, and shortly the first +smaller-sized theatre programme, now in use in all theatres, appeared. +The venture was successful from the start, returning a comfortable +profit each week. Such advertisements as they could not secure for +cash they accepted in trade; and this latter arrangement assisted +materially in maintaining the households of the two publishers. + +Edward's partner now introduced him into a debating society called The +Philomathean Society, made up of young men connected with Plymouth +Church, of which Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. The debates took the +form of a miniature congress, each member representing 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 +became intensely interested in the society's doings, and it was not +long before he was elected president. + +The society derived its revenue from the dues of its members and from +an annual concert given 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 +promise to come and speak; he secured the gratuitous services of Emma +C. Thursby, Annie Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg, and Evelyn Lyon +Hegeman, all of the first rank of concert-singers of that day, with the +result that the church could not accommodate the crowd which naturally +was attracted by such a programme. + +It now entered into the minds of the two young theatre-programme +publishers to extend their publishing 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 more general character, so that its +circulation might extend over a larger portion of Brooklyn. With this +extension came a further broadening of its contents, which now began to +take on a literary character, and it was not long before its two +projectors realized that the periodical had outgrown its name. It was +decided--late in 1884--to change the name to _The Brooklyn Magazine_. + +There was a periodical called _The Plymouth Pulpit_, which presented +verbatim reports of the sermons of Mr. Beecher, and Edward got 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 +parishioners, with the result that the pair soon had a sufficient +financial backing by some of the leading men of Brooklyn, like H. B. +Claflin, Seth Low, Rossiter W. Raymond, Horatio C. King, and others. + +The young publishers could now go on. Understanding that Mr. Beecher's +sermons might give a partial and denominational tone to the magazine, +Edward arranged to publish also in its pages verbatim reports of the +sermons of the Reverend T. De Witt Talmage, whose reputation was then +at its zenith. The young editor now realized that he had a rather +heavy cargo of sermons to carry each month; accordingly, in order that +his magazine might not appear to be exclusively religious, he +determined that its literary contents should be of a high 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 him in good +stead. He went in turn to each noted person he had met, explained his +plight and stated his ambitions, with the result that very soon the +magazine 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 time the unwritten rule that a +President's writings 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 +women of the day, some of whom had never written for magazines--began +to appear in the young editor's contents. Editors wondered how the +publishers could afford it, whereas, in fact, not a single name +represented an honorarium. Each contributor had come gratuitously to +the aid of the editor. + +At first, the circulation of the magazine 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 them late at night on the front +platform of the streetcars, and take them to the post-office. Thus the +boys absolutely knew the growth of their circulation by the weight of +their bundles and the number of their front-platform trips each month. +Soon a baker's hand-cart was leased for an evening, and that was added +to the capacity of the front platforms. Then one eventful month it was +seen that a horse-truck would have to be employed. Within three weeks, +a double horse-truck was necessary, and three trips had to be made. + +By this time Edward Bok had become so intensely interested in the +editorial problem, and his partner in the periodical publishing part, +that they decided to sell out their theatre-programme interests and +devote themselves to the magazine and its rapidly increasing +circulation. All of Edward's editorial work had naturally to be done +outside of his business hours, in other words, in the evenings and on +Sundays; and the young editor found himself fully occupied. He now +revived the old idea of selecting a subject and having ten or twenty +writers express their views on it. It was the old symposium idea, but +it had not been presented in American journalism for a number of years. +He conceived the topic "Should America Have a Westminster Abbey?" and +induced some twenty of the foremost men and women of the day to discuss +it. When the discussion was presented in the magazine, the form being +new and the theme novel, Edward was careful to send advance sheets to +the newspapers, which treated it at length in reviews and editorials, +with marked effect upon the circulation of the magazine. + +All this time, while Edward Bok was an editor in his evenings he was, +during the day, a stenographer and clerk of the Western Union Telegraph +Company. The two occupations were hardly compatible, but each meant a +source of revenue to the boy, and he felt he must hold on to both. + +After his father passed away, the position of the boy's desk--next to +the empty desk of his father--was a cause of constant depression to +him. This was understood by the attorney for the company, Mr. Clarence +Cary, who sought the head of Edward's department, with the result that +Edward was transferred to Mr. Cary's department as the attorney's +private stenographer. + +Edward had been much attracted to Mr. Cary, and the attorney believed +in the boy, and decided to show his interest by pushing him along. He +had heard of the dual role which Edward was playing; he bought a copy +of the magazine, and was interested. Edward now worked with new zest +for his employer and friend; while in every free moment he read law, +feeling that, as almost all his forbears had been lawyers, he might +perhaps be destined for the bar. This acquaintance with the +fundamental basis of law, cursory as it was, became like a gospel to +Edward Bok. In later years, he was taught its value by repeated +experience in his contact with corporate laws, contracts, property +leases, and other matters; and he determined that, whatever the +direction of activity taken by his sons, each should spend at least a +year in the study of law. + +The control of the Western Union Telegraph Company had now passed into +the hands of Jay Gould and his companions, and in the many legal +matters arising therefrom, Edward saw much, in his office, of "the +little wizard of Wall Street." One day, the financier had to dictate a +contract, and, coming into Mr. Cary's office, decided to dictate it +then and there. An hour afterward Edward delivered the copy of the +contract to Mr. Gould, and the financier was so struck by its accuracy +and by the legibility of the handwriting that afterward he almost daily +"happened in" to dictate to Mr. Cary's stenographer. Mr. Gould's +private stenographer was in his own office in lower Broadway; but on +his way down-town in the morning Mr. Gould invariably stopped at the +Western Union Building, at 195 Broadway; and the habit resulted in the +installation of a private office there. He borrowed Edward to do his +stenography. The boy found himself taking not only letters from Mr. +Gould's dictation, but, what interested him particularly, the +financier's orders to buy and sell stock. + +Edward watched the effects on the stock-market of these little notes +which he wrote out and then shot through a pneumatic tube to Mr. +Gould's brokers. Naturally, the results enthralled the boy, and he +told Mr. Cary about his discoveries. This, in turn, interested Mr. +Cary; Mr. Gould's dictations were frequently given in Mr. Cary's own +office, where, as his desk was not ten feet from that of his +stenographer, the attorney heard them, and began to buy and sell +according to the magnate's decisions. + +Edward had now become tremendously interested in the stock game which +he saw constantly played by the great financier; and having a little +money saved up, he concluded that he would follow in the wake of Mr. +Gould's orders. One day, he naively mentioned his desire to Mr. Gould, +when the financier seemed in a particularly favorable frame of mind; +but Edward did not succeed in drawing out the advice he hoped for. "At +least," reasoned Edward, "he knew of my intention; and if he considered +it a violation of confidence he would have said as much." + +Construing the financier's silence to mean at least not a prohibition, +Edward went to his Sunday-school teacher, who was a member of a Wall +Street brokerage firm, laid the facts before him, and asked him if he +would buy for him some Western Union stock. Edward explained, however, +that somehow he did not like the gambling idea of buying "on margin," +and preferred to purchase the stock outright. He was shown that this +would mean smaller profits; but the boy had in mind the loss of his +father's fortune, brought about largely by "stock margins," and he did +not intend to follow that example. So, prudently, under the brokerage +of his Sunday-school teacher, and guided by the tips of no less a man +than the controlling factor of stock-market finance, Edward Bok took +his first plunge in Wall Street! + +Of course the boy's buying and selling tallied precisely with the rise +and fall of Western Union stock. It could scarcely have been +otherwise. Jay Gould had the cards all in his hands; and as he bought +and sold, so Edward bought and sold. The trouble was, the combination +did not end there, as Edward might have foreseen had he been older and +thus wiser. For as Edward bought and sold, so did his Sunday-school +teacher, and all his customers who had seen the wonderful acumen of +their broker in choosing exactly the right time to buy and sell Western +Union. But Edward did not know this. + +One day a rumor became current on the Street that an agreement had been +reached by the Western Union Company and its bitter rival, the American +Union Telegraph Company, whereby the former was to absorb the latter. +Naturally; the report affected Western Union stock. But Mr. Gould +denied it in toto; said the report was not true, no such consolidation +was in view or had even been considered. Down tumbled the stock, of +course. + +But it so happened that Edward knew the rumor was true, because Mr. +Gould, some time before, had personally given him the contract of +consolidation to copy. The next day a rumor to the effect that the +American Union was to absorb the Western Union appeared on the first +page of every New York newspaper. Edward knew exactly whence this +rumor emanated. He had heard it talked over. Again, Western Union +stock dropped several points. Then he noticed that Mr. Gould became a +heavy buyer. So became Edward--as heavy as he could. Jay Gould +pooh-poohed the latest rumor. The boy awaited developments. + +On Sunday afternoon, Edward's Sunday-school teacher asked the boy to +walk home with him, and on reaching the house took him into the study +and asked him whether he felt justified in putting all his savings in +Western Union just at that time when the price was tumbling so fast and +the market was so unsteady. Edward assured his teacher that he was +right, although he explained that he could not disclose the basis of +his assurance. + +Edward thought his teacher looked worried, and after a little there +came the revelation that he, seeing that Edward was buying to his +limit, had likewise done so. But the broker had bought on margin, and +had his margin wiped out by the decline in the stock caused by the +rumors. He explained to Edward that he could recoup his losses, heavy +though they were--in fact, he explained that nearly everything he +possessed was involved--if Edward's basis was sure and the stock would +recover. + +Edward keenly felt the responsibility placed upon him. He could never +clearly diagnose his feelings when he saw his teacher in this new +light. The broker's "customers" had been hinted at, and the boy of +eighteen wondered how far his responsibility went, and how many persons +were involved. But the deal came out all right, for when, three days +afterward, the contract was made public, Western Union, of course, +skyrocketed, Jay Gould sold out, Edward sold out, the teacher-broker +sold out, and all the customers sold out! + +How long a string it was Edward never discovered, but he determined +there and then to end his Wall Street experience; his original amount +had multiplied; he was content to let well enough alone, and from that +day to this Edward Bok has kept out of Wall Street. He had seen enough +of its manipulations; and, although on "the inside," he decided that +the combination of his teacher and his customers was a responsibility +too great for him to carry. + +Furthermore, Edward decided to leave the Western Union. The longer he +remained, the less he liked its atmosphere. And the closer his contact +with Jay Gould the more doubtful he became of the wisdom of such an +association and perhaps its unconscious influence upon his own life in +its formative period. + +In fact, it was an experience with Mr. Gould that definitely fixed +Edward's determination. The financier decided one Saturday to leave on +a railroad inspection tour on the following Monday. It was necessary +that a special meeting of one of his railroad interests should be held +before his departure, and he fixed the meeting for Sunday at +eleven-thirty at his residence on Fifth Avenue. He asked Edward to be +there to take the notes of the meeting. + +The meeting was protracted, and at one o'clock Mr. Gould suggested an +adjournment for luncheon, the meeting to reconvene at two. Turning to +Edward, the financier said: "You may go out to luncheon and return in +an hour." So, on Sunday afternoon, with the Windsor Hotel on the +opposite corner as the only visible place to get something to eat, but +where he could not afford to go, Edward, with just fifteen cents in his +pocket, was turned out to find a luncheon place. + +He bought three apples for five cents--all that he could afford to +spend, and even this meant that he must walk home from the ferry to his +house in Brooklyn--and these he ate as he walked up and down Fifth +Avenue until his hour was over. When the meeting ended at three +o'clock, Mr. Gould said that, as he was leaving for the West early next +morning, he would like Edward to write out his notes, and have them at +his house by eight o'clock. There were over forty note-book pages of +minutes. The remainder of Edward's Sunday afternoon and evening was +spent in transcribing the notes. By rising at half past five the next +morning he reached Mr. Gould's house at a quarter to eight, handed him +the minutes, and was dismissed without so much as a word of thanks or a +nod of approval from the financier. + +Edward felt that this exceeded the limit of fair treatment by employer +of employee. He spoke of it to Mr. Cary, and asked whether he would +object if he tried to get away from such influence and secure another +position. His employer asked the boy in which direction he would like +to go, and Edward unhesitatingly suggested the publishing business. He +talked it over from every angle with his employer, and Mr. Cary not +only agreed with him that his decision was wise, but promised to find +him a position such as he had in mind. + +It was not long before Mr. Cary made good his word, and told Edward +that his friend Henry Holt, the publisher, would like to give him a +trial. + +The day before he was to leave the Western Union Telegraph Company the +fact of his resignation became known to Mr. Gould. The financier told +the boy there was no reason for his leaving, and that he would +personally see to it that a substantial increase was made in his +salary. Edward explained that the salary, while of importance to him, +did not influence him so much as securing a position in a business in +which he felt he would be happier. + +"And what business is that?" asked the financier. + +"The publishing of books," replied the boy. + +"You are making a great mistake," answered the little man, fixing his +keen gray eyes on the boy. "Books are a luxury. The public spends its +largest money on necessities: on what it can't do without. It must +telegraph; it need not read. It can read in libraries. A promising +boy such as you are, with his life before him, should choose the right +sort of business, not the wrong one." + +But, as facts proved, the "little wizard of Wall Street" was wrong in +his prediction; Edward Bok was not choosing the wrong business. + +Years afterward when Edward was cruising up the Hudson with a yachting +party one Saturday afternoon, the sight of Jay Gould's mansion, upon +approaching Irvington, awakened the desire of the women on board to see +his wonderful orchid collection. Edward explained his previous +association with the financier and offered to recall himself to him, if +the party wished to take the chance of recognition. A note was written +to Mr. Gould, and sent ashore, and the answer came back that they were +welcome to visit the orchid houses. Jay Gould, in person, received the +party, and, placing it under the personal conduct of his gardener, +turned to Edward and, indicating a bench, said: + +"Come and sit down here with me." + +"Well," said the financier, who was in his domestic mood, quite +different from his Wall Street aspect, "I see in the papers that you +seem to be making your way in the publishing business." + +Edward expressed surprise that the Wall Street magnate had followed his +work. + +"I have because I always felt you had it in you to make a successful +man. But not in that business," he added quickly. "You were born for +the Street. You would have made a great success there, and that is +what I had in mind for you. In the publishing business you will go +just so far; in the Street you could have gone as far as you liked. +There is room there; there is none in the publishing business. It's +not too late now, for that matter," continued the "little wizard," +fastening his steel eyes on the young man beside him! + +And Edward Bok has often speculated whither Jay Gould might have led +him. To many a young man, a suggestion from such a source would have +seemed the one to heed and follow. But Edward Bok's instinct never +failed him. He felt that his path lay far apart from that of Jay +Gould--and the farther the better! + +In 1882 Edward, with a feeling of distinct relief, left the employ of +the Western Union Telegraph Company and associated himself with the +publishing business in which he had correctly divined that his future +lay. + +His chief regret on leaving his position was in severing the close +relations, almost as of father and son, between Mr. Cary and himself. +When Edward was left alone, with the passing away of his father, +Clarence Cary had put his sheltering arm around the lonely boy, and +with the tremendous encouragement of the phrase that the boy never +forgot, "I think you have it in you, Edward, to make a successful man," +he took him under his wing. It was a turning-point in Edward Bok's +life, as he felt at the time and as he saw more clearly afterward. + +He remained in touch with his friend, however, keeping him advised of +his progress in everything he did, not only at that time, but all +through his later years. And it was given to Edward to feel the deep +satisfaction of having Mr. Cary say, before he passed away, that the +boy had more than justified the confidence reposed in him. Mr. Cary +lived to see him well on his way, until, indeed, Edward had had the +proud happiness of introducing to his benefactor the son who bore his +name, Cary William Bok. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +STARTING A NEWSPAPER SYNDICATE + +Edward felt that his daytime hours, spent in a publishing atmosphere as +stenographer with Henry Holt and Company, were more in line with his +editorial duties during the evenings. _The Brooklyn Magazine_ was soon +earning a comfortable income for its two young proprietors, and their +backers were entirely satisfied with the way it was being conducted. +In fact, one of these backers, Mr. Rufus T. Bush, associated with the +Standard Oil Company, who became especially interested, thought he saw +in the success of the magazine a possible opening for one of his sons, +who was shortly to be graduated from college. He talked to the +publisher and editor about the idea, but the boys showed by their books +that while there was a reasonable income for them, not wholly dependent +on the magazine, there was no room for a third. + +Mr. Bush now suggested that he buy the magazine for his son, alter its +name, enlarge its scope, and make of it a national periodical. +Arrangements were concluded, those who had financially backed the +venture were fully paid, and the two boys received a satisfactory +amount for their work in building up the magazine. Mr. Bush asked +Edward to suggest a name for the new periodical, and in the following +month of May, 1887, _The Brooklyn Magazine_ became _The American +Magazine_, with its publication office in New York. But, though a +great deal of money was spent on the new magazine, it did not succeed. +Mr. Bush sold his interest in the periodical, which, once more changing +its name, became _The Cosmopolitan Magazine_. Since then it has passed +through the hands of several owners, but the name has remained the +same. Before Mr. Bush sold _The American Magazine_ he had urged Edward +to come back to it as its editor, with promise of financial support; +but the young man felt instinctively that his return would not be wise. +The magazine had been _The Cosmopolitan_ only a short time when the new +owners, Mr. Paul J. Slicht and Mr. E. D. Walker, also solicited the +previous editor to accept reappointment. But Edward, feeling that his +baby had been rechristened too often for him to father it again, +declined the proposition. He had not heard the last of it, however, +for, by a curious coincidence, its subsequent owner, entirely ignorant +of Edward's previous association with the magazine, invited him to +connect himself with it. Thus three times could Edward Bok have +returned to the magazine for whose creation he was responsible. + +Edward was now without editorial cares; but he had already, even before +disposing of the magazine, embarked on another line of endeavor. In +sending to a number of newspapers the advance sheets of a particularly +striking "feature" in one of his numbers of _The Brooklyn Magazine_, it +occurred to him that he was furnishing a good deal of valuable material +to these papers without cost. It is true his magazine was receiving +the advertising value of editorial comment; but he wondered whether the +newspapers would not be willing to pay for the privilege of +simultaneous publication. An inquiry or two proved that they would. +Thus Edward stumbled upon the "syndicate" plan of furnishing the same +article to a group of newspapers, one in each city, for simultaneous +publication. He looked over the ground, and found that while his idea +was not a new one, since two "syndicate" agencies already existed, the +field was by no means fully covered, and that the success of a third +agency would depend entirely upon its ability to furnish the newspapers +with material equally good or better than they received from the +others. After following the material furnished by these agencies for +two or three weeks, Edward decided that there was plenty of room for +his new ideas. + +He discussed the matter with his former magazine partner, Colver, and +suggested that if they could induce Mr. Beecher to write a weekly +comment on current events for the newspapers it would make an +auspicious beginning. They decided to talk it over with the famous +preacher. For to be a "Plymouth boy"--that is, to go to the Plymouth +Church Sunday-school and to attend church there--was to know personally +and become devoted to Henry Ward Beecher. And the two were synonymous. +There was no distance between Mr. Beecher and his "Plymouth boys." +Each understood the other. The tie was that of absolute comradeship. + +"I don't believe in it, boys," said Mr. Beecher when Edward and his +friend broached the syndicate letter to him. "No one yet ever made a +cent out of my supposed literary work." + +All the more reason, was the argument, why some one should. + +Mr. Beecher smiled! How well he knew the youthful enthusiasm that +rushes in, etc. + +"Well, all right! I like your pluck," he finally said. "I'll help you +if I can." + +The young editors agreed to pay Mr. Beecher a weekly sum of two hundred +and fifty dollars--which he knew was considerable for them. + +When the first article had been written they took him their first +check. He looked at it quizzically, and then at the boys. Then he +said simply: "Thank you." He took a pin and pinned the check to his +desk. There it remained, much to their curiosity. + +The following week he had written the second article and the boys gave +him another check. He pinned that up over the other. "I like to look +at them," was his only explanation, as he saw Edward's inquiring glance +one morning. + +The third check was treated the same way. When they handed him the +fourth, one morning, as he was pinning it up over the others, he asked: +"When do you get your money from the newspapers?" + +He was told that the bills were going out that morning for the four +letters constituting a month's service. + +"I see," he remarked. + +A fortnight passed, then one day Mr. Beecher asked: "Well, how are the +checks coming in?" + +"Very well," he was assured. + +"Suppose you let me see how much you've got in," he suggested, and the +boys brought the accounts to him. + +After looking at them he said: "That's very interesting. How much have +you in the bank?" + +He was told the balance, less the checks given to him. "But I haven't +turned them in yet," he explained. "Anyhow, you have enough in bank to +meet the checks you have given me, and a profit besides, haven't you?" + +He was assured they had. + +Then, taking his bank-book from a drawer; he unpinned the six checks on +his desk, indorsed each, wrote a deposit slip, and, handing the book to +Edward, said: + +"Just hand that in at the bank as you go by, will you?" + +Edward was very young then, and Mr. Beecher's methods of financiering +seemed to him quite in line with current notions of the Plymouth +pastor's lack of business knowledge. But as the years rolled on the +incident appeared in a new light--a striking example of the great +preacher's wonderful considerateness. + +Edward had offered to help Mr. Beecher with his correspondence; at the +close of one afternoon, while he was with the Plymouth pastor at work, +an organ-grinder and a little girl came under the study window. A +cold, driving rain was pelting down. In a moment Mr. Beecher noticed +the girl's bare toes sticking out of her worn shoes. + +He got up, went into the hall, and called for one of his granddaughters. + +"Got any good, strong rain boots?" he asked when she appeared. + +"Why, yes, grandfather. Why?" was the answer. + +"More than one pair?" Mr. Beecher asked. + +"Yes, two or three, I think." + +"Bring me your strongest pair, will you, dear?" he asked. And as the +girl looked at him with surprise he said: "Just one of my notions." + +"Now, just bring that child into the house and put them on her feet for +me, will you?" he said when the shoes came. "I'll be able to work so +much better." + +One rainy day, as Edward was coming up from Fulton Ferry with Mr. +Beecher, they met an old woman soaked with the rain. "Here, you take +this, my good woman," said the clergyman, putting his umbrella over her +head and thrusting the handle into the astonished woman's hand. "Let's +get into this," he said to Edward simply, as he hailed a passing car. + +"There is a good deal of fraud about beggars," he remarked as he waved +a sot away from him one day; "but that doesn't apply to women and +children," he added; and he never passed such mendicants without +stopping. All the stories about their being tools in the hands of +accomplices failed to convince him. "They're women and children," he +would say, and that settled it for him. + +"What's the matter, son? Stuck?" he said once to a newsboy who was +crying with a heavy bundle of papers under his arm. + +"Come along with me, then," said Mr. Beecher, taking the boy's hand and +leading him into the newspaper office a few doors up the street. + +"This boy is stuck," he simply said to the man behind the counter. +"Guess _The Eagle_ can stand it better than this boy; don't you think +so?" + +To the grown man Mr. Beecher rarely gave charity. + +He believed in a return for his alms. + +"Why don't you go to work?" he asked of a man who approached him one +day in the street. + +"Can't find any," said the man. + +"Looked hard for it?" was the next question. + +"I have," and the man looked Mr. Beecher in the eye. + +"Want some?" asked Mr. Beecher. + +"I do," said the man. + +"Come with me," said the preacher. And then to Edward, as they walked +along with the man following behind, he added: "That man is honest." + +"Let this man sweep out the church," he said to the sexton when they +had reached Plymouth Church. + +"But, Mr. Beecher," replied the sexton with wounded pride, "it doesn't +need it." + +"Don't tell him so, though," said Mr. Beecher with a merry twinkle of +the eye; and the sexton understood. + +Mr. Beecher was constantly thoughtful of a struggling young man's +welfare, even at the expense of his own material comfort. Anxious to +save him from the labor of writing out the newspaper articles, Edward, +himself employed during the daylight hours which Mr. Beecher preferred +for his original work, suggested a stenographer. The idea appealed to +Mr. Beecher, for he was very busy just then. He hesitated, but as +Edward persisted, he said: "All right; let him come to-morrow." + +The next day he said: "I asked that stenographer friend of yours not to +come again. No use of my trying to dictate. I am too old to learn new +tricks. Much easier for me to write myself." + +Shortly after that, however, Mr. Beecher dictated to Edward some +material for a book he was writing. Edward naturally wondered at this, +and asked the stenographer what had happened. + +"Nothing," he said. "Only Mr. Beecher asked me how much it would cost +you to have me come to him each week. I told him, and then he sent me +away." + +That was Henry Ward Beecher! + + +Edward Bok was in the formative period between boyhood and young +manhood when impressions meant lessons, and associations meant ideals. +Mr. Beecher never disappointed. The closer one got to him, the greater +he became--in striking contrast to most public men, as Edward had +already learned. + +Then, his interests and sympathies were enormously wide. He took in so +much! One day Edward was walking past Fulton Market, in New York City, +with Mr. Beecher. + +"Never skirt a market," the latter said; "always go through it. It's +the next best thing, in the winter, to going South." + +Of course all the marketmen knew him, and they knew, too, his love for +green things. + +"What do you think of these apples, Mr. Beecher?" one marketman would +stop to ask. + +Mr. Beecher would answer heartily: "Fine! Don't see how you grow them. +All that my trees bear is a crop of scale. Still, the blossoms are +beautiful in the spring, and I like an apple-leaf. Ever examine one?" +The marketman never had. "Well, now, do, the next time you come across +an apple-tree in the spring." + +And thus he would spread abroad an interest in the beauties of nature +which were commonly passed over. + +"Wonderful man, Beecher is," said a market dealer in green goods once. +"I had handled thousands of bunches of celery in my life and never +noticed how beautiful its top leaves were until he picked up a bunch +once and told me all about it. Now I haven't the heart to cut the +leaves off when a customer asks me." + +His idea of his own vegetable-gardening at Boscobel, his Peekskill +home, was very amusing. One day Edward was having a hurried dinner, +preparatory to catching the New York train. Mr. Beecher sat beside the +boy, telling him of some things he wished done in Brooklyn. + +"No, I thank you," said Edward, as the maid offered him some potatoes. + +"Look here, young man," said Mr. Beecher, "don't pass those potatoes so +lightly. They're of my own raising--and I reckon they cost me about a +dollar a piece," he added with a twinkle in his eye. + +He was an education in so many ways! One instance taught Edward the +great danger of passionate speech that might unconsciously wound; and +the manliness of instant recognition of the error. Swayed by an +occasion, or by the responsiveness of an audience, Mr. Beecher would +sometimes say something which was not meant as it sounded. One +evening, at a great political meeting at Cooper Union, Mr. Beecher was +at his brightest and wittiest. In the course of his remarks he had +occasion to refer to ex-President Hayes; some one in the audience +called out: "He was a softy!" + +"No," was Mr. Beecher's quick response. "The country needed a poultice +at that time, and got it." + +"He's dead now, anyhow," responded the voice. + +"Not dead, my friend; he only sleepeth." + +It convulsed the audience, of course, and the reporters took it down in +their books. + +After the meeting Edward drove home with Mr. Beecher. + +After a while he asked: "Well, how do you think it went?" + +Edward replied he thought it went very well, except that he did not +like the reference to ex-President Hayes. + +"What reference? What did I say?" + +Edward repeated it. + +"Did I say that?" he asked. Edward looked at him. Mr. Beecher's face +was tense. After a few moments he said: "That's generally the way with +extemporaneous remarks: they are always dangerous. The best impromptu +speeches and remarks are the carefully prepared kind," he added. + +Edward told him he regretted the reference because he knew that General +Hayes would read it in the New York papers, and he would be nonplussed +to understand it, considering the cordial relations which existed +between the two men. Mr. Beecher knew of Edward's relations with the +ex-President, and they had often talked of him together. + +Nothing more was said of the incident. When the Beecher home was +reached Mr. Beecher said: "Just come in a minute." He went straight to +his desk, and wrote and wrote. It seemed as if he would never stop. +At last he handed Edward an eight-page letter, closely written, +addressed to General Hayes. + +"Read that, and mail it, please, on your way home. Then it'll get +there just as quickly as the New York papers will." + +It was a superbly fine letter,--one of those letters which only Henry +Ward Beecher could write in his tenderest moods. And the reply which +came from Fremont, Ohio, was no less fine! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FIRST "WOMAN'S PAGE," "LITERARY LEAVES," AND ENTERING SCRIBNER'S + +Edward had been in the employ of Henry Holt and Company as clerk and +stenographer for two years when Mr. Cary sent for him and told him that +there was an opening in the publishing house of Charles Scribner's +Sons, if he wanted to make a change. Edward saw at once the larger +opportunities possible in a house of the importance of the Scribners, +and he immediately placed himself in communication with Mr. Charles +Scribner, with the result that in January, 1884, he entered the employ +of these publishers as stenographer to the two members of the firm and +to Mr. Edward L. Burlingame, literary adviser to the house. He was to +receive a salary of eighteen dollars and thirty-three cents per week, +which was then considered a fair wage for stenographic work. The +typewriter had at that time not come into use, and all letters were +written in long-hand. Once more his legible handwriting had secured +for him a position. + +Edward Bok was now twenty-one years of age. He had already done a +prodigious amount of work for his years. He was always busy. Every +spare moment of his evenings was devoted either to writing his literary +letter, to the steady acquirement of autograph letters in which he +still persisted, or to helping Mr. Beecher in his literary work. The +Plymouth pastor was particularly pleased with Edward's successful +exploitation of his pen work; and he afterward wrote: "Bok is the only +man who ever seemed to make my literary work go and get money out of +it." + +Enterprise and energy the boy unquestionably possessed, but one need +only think back even thus far in his life to see the continuous good +fortune which had followed him in the friendships he had made, and in +the men with whom his life, at its most formative period, had come into +close contact. If we are inclined to credit young Bok with an +ever-willingness to work and a certain quality of initiative, the +influences which played upon him must also be taken into account. + +Take, for example, the peculiarly fortuitous circumstances under which +he entered the Scribner publishing house. As stenographer to the two +members of the firm, Bok was immediately brought into touch with the +leading authors of the day, their works as they were discussed in the +correspondence dictated to him, and the authors' terms upon which books +were published. In fact, he was given as close an insight as it was +possible for a young man to get into the inner workings of one of the +large publishing houses in the United States, with a list peculiarly +noted for the distinction of its authors and the broad scope of its +books. + +The Scribners had the foremost theological list of all the publishing +houses; its educational list was exceptionally strong; its musical list +excelled; its fiction represented the leading writers of the day; its +general list was particularly noteworthy; and its foreign department, +importing the leading books brought out in Great Britain and Europe, +was an outstanding feature of the business. The correspondence +dictated to Bok covered, naturally, all these fields, and a more +remarkable opportunity for self-education was never offered a +stenographer. + +Mr. Burlingame was known in the publishing world for his singularly +keen literary appreciation, and was accepted as one of the best judges +of good fiction. Bok entered the Scribner employ as Mr. Burlingame was +selecting the best short stories published within a decade for a set of +books to be called "Short Stories by American Authors." The +correspondence for this series was dictated to Bok, and he decided to +read after Mr. Burlingame and thus get an idea of the best fiction of +the day. So whenever his chief wrote to an author asking for +permission to include his story in the proposed series, Bok immediately +hunted up the story and read it. + +Later, when the house decided to start _Scribner's Magazine_, and Mr. +Burlingame was selected to be its editor, all the preliminary +correspondence was dictated to Bok through his employers, and he +received a first-hand education in the setting up of the machinery +necessary for the publication of a magazine. All this he eagerly +absorbed. + +He was again fortunate in that his desk was placed in the advertising +department of the house; and here he found, as manager, an old-time +Brooklyn boy friend with whom he had gone to school, Frank N. +Doubleday, to-day the senior partner of Doubleday, Page and Company. +Bok had been attracted to advertising through his theatre programme and +_Brooklyn Magazine_ experience, and here was presented a chance to +learn the art at first hand and according to the best traditions. So, +whenever his stenographic work permitted, he assisted Mr. Doubleday in +preparing and placing the advertisements of the books of the house. + +Mr. Doubleday was just reviving the publication of a house-organ called +_The Book Buyer_, and, given a chance to help in this, Bok felt he was +getting back into the periodical field, especially since, under Mr. +Doubleday's guidance, the little monthly soon developed into a literary +magazine of very respectable size and generally bookish contents. + +The house also issued another periodical, _The Presbyterian Review_, a +quarterly under the editorship of a board of professors connected with +the Princeton and Union Theological Seminaries. This ponderous-looking +magazine was not composed of what one might, call "light reading," and +as the price of a single copy was eighty cents, and the advertisements +it could reasonably expect were necessarily limited in number, the +periodical was rather difficult to move. Thus the whole situation at +the Scribners' was adapted to give Edward an all-round training in the +publishing business. It was an exceptional opportunity. + +He worked early and late. An increase in his salary soon told him that +he was satisfying his employers, and then, when the new _Scribner's +Magazine_ appeared, and a little later Mr. Doubleday was delegated to +take charge of the business end of it, Bok himself was placed in charge +of the advertising department, with the publishing details of the two +periodicals on his hands. + +He suddenly found himself directing a stenographer instead of being a +stenographer himself. Evidently his apprentice days were over. He +had, in addition, the charge of sending all the editorial copies of the +new books to the press for review, and of keeping a record of those +reviews. This naturally brought to his desk the authors of the house +who wished to see how the press received their works. + +The study of the writers who were interested in following the press +notices of their books, and those who were indifferent to them became a +fascinating game to young Bok. He soon discovered that the greater the +author the less he seemed to care about his books once they a were +published. Bok noticed this, particularly, in the case of Robert Louis +Stevenson, whose work had attracted him, but, although he used the most +subtle means to inveigle the author into the office to read the press +notices, he never succeeded. Stevenson never seemed to have the +slightest interest in what the press said of his books. + +One day Mr. Burlingame asked Bok to take some proofs to Stevenson at +his home; thinking it might be a propitious moment to interest the +author in the popular acclaim that followed the publication of _Doctor +Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_, Bok put a bunch of press notices in his pocket. +He found the author in bed, smoking his inevitable cigarette. + +As the proofs were to be brought back, Bok waited, and thus had an +opportunity for nearly two hours to see the author at work. No man +ever went over his proofs more carefully than did Stevenson; his +corrections were numerous; and sometimes for ten minutes at a time he +would sit smoking and thinking over a single sentence, which, when he +had satisfactorily shaped it in his mind, he would recast on the proof. + +Stevenson was not a prepossessing figure at these times. With his +sallow skin and his black dishevelled hair, with finger-nails which had +been allowed to grow very long, with fingers discolored by tobacco--in +short, with a general untidiness that was all his own, Stevenson, so +Bok felt, was an author whom it was better to read than to see. And +yet his kindliness and gentleness more than offset the unattractiveness +of his physical appearance. + +After one or two visits from Bok, having grown accustomed to him, +Stevenson would discuss some sentence in an article, or read some +amended paragraph out loud and ask whether Bok though it sounded +better. To pass upon Stevenson as a stylist was, of course, hardly +within Bok's mental reach, so he kept discreetly silent when Stevenson +asked his opinion. + +In fact, Bok reasoned it out that the novelist did not really expect an +answer or an opinion, but was at such times thinking aloud. The mental +process, however, was immensely interesting, particularly when +Stevenson would ask Bok to hand him a book on words lying on an +adjacent table. "So hard to find just the right word," Stevenson would +say, and Bok got his first realization of the truth of the maxim: "Easy +writing, hard reading; hard writing, easy reading." + +On this particular occasion when Stevenson finished, Bok pulled out his +clippings, told the author how his book was being received, and was +selling, what the house was doing to advertise it, explained the +forthcoming play by Richard Mansfield, and then offered the press +notices. + +Stevenson took the bundle and held it in his hand. + +"That's very nice to tell me all you have," he said, "and I have been +greatly interested. But you have really told me all about it, haven't +you, so why should I read these notices? Hadn't I better get busy on +another paper for Mr. Burlingame for the next magazine, else he'll be +after me? You know how impatient these editors are." And he handed +back the notices. + +Bok saw it was of no use: Stevenson was interested in his work, but, +beyond a certain point, not in the world's reception of it. Bok's +estimate of the author rose immeasurably. His attitude was in such +sharp contrast to that of others who came almost daily into the office +to see what the papers said, often causing discomfiture to the young +advertising director by insisting upon taking the notices with them. +But Bok always countered this desire by reminding the author that, of +course, in that case he could not quote from these desirable notices in +his advertisements of the book. And, invariably, the notices were left +behind! + +It now fell to the lot of the young advertiser to arouse the interest +of the public in what were to be some of the most widely read and +best-known books of the day: Robert Louis Stevenson's _Dr. Jekyll and +Mr. Hyde_; Frances Hodgson Burnett's _Little Lord Fauntleroy_; Andrew +Carnegie's _Triumphant Democracy_; Frank R. Stockton's _The Lady, or +the Tiger?_ and his _Rudder Grange_, and a succession of other books. + +The advertising of these books keenly sharpened the publicity sense of +the developing advertising director. One book could best be advertised +by the conventional means of the display advertisement; another, like +_Triumphant Democracy_, was best served by sending out to the +newspapers a "broadside" of pungent extracts; public curiosity in a +story like _The Lady, or the Tiger?_ was, of course, whetted by the +publication of literary notes as to the real denouement the author had +in mind in writing the story. Whenever Mr. Stockton came into the +office Bok pumped him dry as to his experiences with the story, such as +when, at a dinner party, his hostess served an ice-cream lady and a +tiger to the author, and the whole company watched which he chose. + +"And which did you choose?" asked the advertising director. + +"_Et tu, Brute?_" Stockton smilingly replied. "Well, I'll tell you. I +asked the butler to bring me another spoon, and then, with a spoon in +each hand, I attacked both the lady and the tiger at the same time." + +Once, when Stockton was going to Boston by the night boat, every room +was taken. The ticket agent recognized the author, and promised to get +him a desirable room if the author would tell which he had had in mind, +the lady or the tiger. + +"Produce the room," answered Stockton. + +The man did. Stockton paid for it, and then said: + +"To tell you the truth, my friend, I don't know." + +And that was the truth, as Mr. Stockton confessed to his friends. The +idea of the story had fascinated him; when he began it he purposed to +give it a definite ending. But when he reached the end he didn't know +himself which to produce out of the open door, the lady or the tiger, +"and so," he used to explain, "I made up my mind to leave it hanging in +the air." + +When the stories of _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ and _Little Lord +Fauntleroy_ were made into plays, Bok was given an opportunity for an +entirely different kind of publicity. Both plays were highly +successful; they ran for weeks in succession, and each evening Bok had +circulars of the books in every seat of the theatre; he had a table +filled with the books in the foyer of each theatre; and he bombarded +the newspapers with stories of Mr. Mansfield's method of making the +quick change from one character to the other in the dual role of the +Stevenson play, and with anecdotes about the boy Tommy Russell in Mrs. +Burnett's play. The sale of the books went merrily on, and kept pace +with the success of the plays. And it all sharpened the initiative of +the young advertiser and developed his sense for publicity. + +One day while waiting in the anteroom of a publishing house to see a +member of the firm, he picked up a book and began to read it. Since he +had to wait for nearly an hour, he had read a large part of the volume +when he was at last admitted to the private office. When his business +was finished, Bok asked the publisher why this book was not selling. + +"I don't know," replied the publisher. "We had great hopes for it, but +somehow or other the public has not responded to it." + +"Are you sure you are telling the public about it in the right way?" +ventured Bok. + +The Scribner advertising had by this time attracted the attention of +the publishing world, and this publisher was entirely ready to listen +to a suggestion from his youthful caller. + +"I wish we published it," said Bok. "I think I could make it a go. +It's all in the book." + +"How would you advertise it?" asked the publisher. + +Bok promised the publisher he would let him know. He carried with him +a copy of the book, wrote some advertisements for it, prepared an +attractive "broadside" of extracts, to which the book easily lent +itself, wrote some literary notes about it, and sent the whole +collection to the publisher. Every particle of "copy" which Bok had +prepared was used, the book began to sell, and within three months it +was the most discussed book of the day. + +The book was Edward Bellamy's _Looking Backward_. + + +Meanwhile, Mr. Beecher's weekly newspaper "syndicate" letter was not +only successful in itself, it made liberal money for the writer and for +its two young publishers, but it served to introduce Edward Bok's +proposed agency to the newspapers under the most favorable conditions. +With one stroke, the attention of newspaper editors had been attracted, +and Edward concluded to take quick advantage of it. He organized the +Bok Syndicate Press, with offices in New York, and his brother, William +J. Bok, as partner and active manager. + +Edward's attention was now turned, for the first time, to women and +their reading habits. He became interested in the fact that the +American woman was not a newspaper reader. He tried to find out the +psychology of this, and finally reached the conclusion, on looking over +the newspapers, that the absence of any distinctive material for women +was a factor. He talked the matter over with several prominent New +York editors, who frankly acknowledged that they would like nothing +better than to interest women, and make them readers of their papers. +But they were equally frank in confessing that they were ignorant both +of what women wanted, and, even if they knew, of where such material +was to be had. Edward at once saw that here was an open field. It was +a productive field, since, as woman was the purchasing power, it would +benefit the newspaper enormously in its advertising if it could offer a +feminine clientele. + +There was a bright letter of New York gossip published in the _New York +Star_, called "Bab's Babble." Edward had read it, and saw the +possibility of syndicating this item as a woman's letter from New York. +He instinctively realized that women all over the country would read +it. He sought out the author, made arrangements with her and with +former Governor Dorscheimer, owner of the paper, and the letter was +sent out to a group of papers. It was an instantaneous success, and a +syndicate of ninety newspapers was quickly organized. + +Edward followed this up by engaging Ella Wheeler Wilcox, then at the +height of her career, to write a weekly letter on women's topics. This +he syndicated in conjunction with the other letter, and the editors +invariably grouped the two letters. This, in turn, naturally led to +the idea of supplying an entire page of matter of interest to women. +The plan was proposed to a number of editors, who at once saw the +possibilities in it and promised support. The young syndicator now +laid under contribution all the famous women writers of the day; he +chose the best of the men writers to write on women's topics; and it +was not long before the syndicate was supplying a page of women's +material. The newspapers played up the innovation, and thus was +introduced into the newspaper press of the United States the "Woman's +Page." + +The material supplied by the Bok Syndicate Press was of the best; the +standard was kept high; the writers were selected from among the most +popular authors of the day; and readability was the cardinal note. The +women bought the newspapers containing the new page, the advertiser +began to feel the presence of the new reader, and every newspaper that +could not get the rights for the "Bok Page," as it came to be known, +started a "Woman's Page" of its own. Naturally, the material so +obtained was of an inferior character. No single newspaper could +afford what the syndicate, with the expense divided among a hundred +newspapers, could pay. Nor had the editors of these woman's pages +either a standard or a policy. In desperation they engaged any person +they could to "get a lot of woman's stuff." It was stuff, and of the +trashiest kind. So that almost coincident with the birth of the idea +began its abuse and disintegration; the result we see in the +meaningless presentations which pass for "woman's pages" in the +newspaper of to-day. + +This is true even of the woman's material in the leading newspapers, +and the reason is not difficult to find. The average editor has, as a +rule, no time to study the changing conditions of women's interests; +his time is and must be engrossed by the news and editorial pages. He +usually delegates the Sunday "specials" to some editor who, again, has +little time to study the everchanging women's problems, particularly in +these days, and he relies upon unintelligent advice, or he places his +"woman's page" in the hands of some woman with the comfortable +assurance that, being a woman, she ought to know what interests her sex. + +But having given the subject little thought, he attaches minor +importance to the woman's "stuff," regarding it rather in the light of +something that he "must carry to catch the women"; and forthwith he +either forgets it or refuses to give the editor of his woman's page +even a reasonable allowance to spend on her material. The result is, +of course, inevitable: pages of worthless material. There is, in fact, +no part of the Sunday newspaper of to-day upon which so much good and +now expensive white paper is wasted as upon the pages marked for the +home, for women, and for children. + +Edward Bok now became convinced, from his book-publishing association, +that if the American women were not reading the newspapers, the +American public, as a whole, was not reading the number of books that +it should, considering the intelligence and wealth of the people, and +the cheap prices at which books were sold. He concluded to see whether +he could not induce the newspapers to give larger and more prominent +space to the news of the book world. + +Owing to his constant contact with authors, he was in a peculiarly +fortunate position to know their plans in advance of execution, and he +was beginning to learn the ins and outs of the book-publishing world. +He canvassed the newspapers subscribing to his syndicate features, but +found a disinclination to give space to literary news. To the average +editor, purely literary features held less of an appeal than did the +features for women. Fewer persons were interested in books, they +declared; besides, the publishing houses were not so liberal +advertisers as the department stores. The whole question rested on a +commercial basis. + +Edward believed he could convince editors of the public interest in a +newsy, readable New York literary letter, and he prevailed upon the +editor of the _New York Star_ to allow him to supplement the book +reviews of George Parsons Lathrop in that paper by a column of literary +chat called "Literary Leaves." For a number of weeks he continued to +write this department, and confine it to the New York paper, feeling +that he needed the experience for the acquirement of a readable style, +and he wanted to be sure that he had opened a sufficient number of +productive news channels to ensure a continuous flow of readable +literary information. + +Occasionally he sent to an editor here and there what he thought was a +particularly newsy letter just "for his information, not for sale." +The editor of the _Philadelphia Times_ was the first to discover that +his paper wanted the letter, and the _Boston Journal_ followed suit. +Then the editor of the _Cincinnati Times-Star_ discovered the letter in +the _New York Star_, and asked that it be supplied weekly with the +letter. These newspapers renamed the letter "Bok's Literary Leaves," +and the feature started on its successful career. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CHANCES FOR SUCCESS + +Edward Bok does not now remember whether the mental picture had been +given him, or whether he had conjured it up for himself; but he +certainly was possessed of the idea, as are so many young men entering +business, that the path which led to success was very difficult: that +it was overfilled with a jostling, bustling, panting crowd, each eager +to reach the goal; and all ready to dispute every step that a young man +should take; and that favoritism only could bring one to the top. + +After Bok had been in the world of affairs, he wondered where were +these choked avenues, these struggling masses, these competitors for +every inch of vantage. Then he gradually discovered that they did not +exist. + +In the first place, he found every avenue leading to success wide open +and certainly not overpeopled. He was surprised how few there were who +really stood in a young man's way. He found that favoritism was not +the factor that he had been led to suppose. He realized it existed in +a few isolated cases, but to these every one had pointed and about +these every one had talked until, in the public mind, they had +multiplied in number and assumed a proportion that the facts did not +bear out. + +Here and there a relative "played a favorite," but even with the push +and influence behind him "the lucky one," as he was termed, did not +seem to make progress, unless he had merit. It was not long before Bok +discovered that the possession of sheer merit was the only real factor +that actually counted in any of the places where he had been employed +or in others which he had watched; that business was so constructed and +conducted that nothing else, in the face of competition, could act as +current coin. And the amazing part of it all to Bok was how little +merit there was. Nothing astonished him more than the low average +ability of those with whom he worked or came into contact. + +He looked at the top, and instead of finding it over-crowded, he was +surprised at the few who had reached there; the top fairly begged for +more to climb its heights. + +For every young man, earnest, eager to serve, willing to do more than +he was paid for, he found ten trying to solve the problem of how little +they could actually do for the pay received. + +It interested Bok to listen to the talk of his fellow-workers during +luncheon hours and at all other times outside of office hours. When +the talk did turn on the business with which they were concerned, it +consisted almost entirely of wages, and he soon found that, with +scarcely an exception, every young man was terribly underpaid, and that +his employer absolutely failed to appreciate his work. It was +interesting, later, when Bok happened to get the angle of the employer, +to discover that, invariably, these same lamenting young men were those +who, from the employer's point of view, were either greatly overpaid or +so entirely worthless as to be marked for early decapitation. + +Bok felt that this constant thought of the wages earned or deserved was +putting the cart before the horse; he had schooled himself into the +belief that if he did his work well, and accomplished more than was +expected of him, the question of wages would take care of itself. But, +according to the talk on every side, it was he who had the cart before +the horse. Bok had not only tried always to fill the particular job +set for him, but had made it a rule at the same time to study the +position just ahead, to see what it was like, what it demanded, and +then, as the opportunity presented itself, do a part of that job in +addition to his own. As a stenographer, he tried always to clear off +the day's work before he closed his desk. This was not always +possible, but he kept it before him as a rule to be followed rather +than violated. + +One morning Bok's employer happened to come to the office earlier than +usual, to find the letters he had dictated late in the afternoon before +lying on his desk ready to be signed. + +"These are the letters I gave you late yesterday afternoon, are they +not?" asked the employer. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Must have started early this morning, didn't you?^ + +"No, sir," answered Bok. "I wrote them out last evening before I left." + +"Like to get your notes written out before they get stale?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Good idea," said the employer. + +"Yes, sir," answered Bok, "and I think it is even a better idea to get +a day's work off before I take my apron off." + +"Well said," answered the employer, and the following payday Bok found +an increase in his weekly envelope. + +It is only fair, however, to add here, parenthetically, that it is +neither just nor considerate to a conscientious stenographer for an +employer to delay his dictation until the end of the day's work, when, +merely by judicious management of his affairs and time, he can give his +dictation directly after opening his morning mail. There are two sides +to every question; but sometimes the side of the stenographer is not +kept in mind by the employer. + +Bok found it a uniform rule among his fellow-workers to do exactly the +opposite to his own idea; there was an astonishing unanimity in working +by the clock; where the hour of closing was five o'clock the +preparations began five minutes before, with the hat and overcoat over +the back of the chair ready for the stroke of the hour. This concert +of action was curiously universal, no "overtime" was ever to be thought +of, and, as occasionally happened when the work did go over the hour, +it was not, to use the mildest term, done with care, neatness, or +accuracy; it was, to use a current phrase, "slammed off." Every moment +beyond five o'clock in which the worker was asked to do anything was by +just so much an imposition on the part of the employer, and so far as +it could be safely shown, this impression was gotten over to him. + +There was an entire unwillingness to let business interfere with any +anticipated pleasure or personal engagement. The office was all right +between nine and five; one had to be there to earn a living; but after +five, it was not to be thought of for one moment. The elevators which +ran on the stroke of five were never large enough to hold the throng +which besieged them. + +The talk during lunch hour rarely, if ever, turned toward business, +except as said before, when it dealt with underpaid services. In the +spring and summer it was invariably of baseball, and scores of young +men knew the batting averages of the different players and the standing +of the clubs with far greater accuracy than they knew the standing or +the discounts of the customers of their employers. In the winter the +talk was all of dancing, boxing, or plays. + +It soon became evident to Bok why scarcely five out of every hundred of +the young men whom he knew made any business progress. They were not +interested; it was a case of a day's work and a day's pay; it was not a +question of how much one could do but how little one could get away +with. The thought of how well one might do a given thing never seemed +to occur to the average mind. + +"Oh, what do you care?" was the favorite expression. "The boss won't +notice it if you break your back over his work; you won't get any more +pay." + +And there the subject was dismissed, and thoroughly dismissed, too. + +Eventually, then, Bok learned that the path that led to success was +wide open: the competition was negligible. There was no jostling. In +fact, travel on it was just a trifle lonely. One's fellow-travellers +were excellent company, but they were few! It was one of Edward Bok's +greatest surprises, but it was also one of his greatest stimulants. To +go where others could not go, or were loath to go, where at least they +were not, had a tang that savored of the freshest kind of adventure. +And the way was so simple, so much simpler, in fact, than its +avoidance, which called for so much argument, explanation, and +discussion. One had merely to do all that one could do, a little more +than one was asked or expected to do, and immediately one's head rose +above the crowd and one was in an employer's eye--where it is always so +satisfying for an employee to be! And as so few heads lifted +themselves above the many, there was never any danger that they would +not be seen. + +Of course, Edward Bok had to prove to himself that his conception of +conditions was right. He felt instinctively that it was, however, and +with this stimulus he bucked the line hard. When others played, he +worked, fully convinced that his play-time would come later. Where +others shirked, he assumed. Where others lagged, he accelerated his +pace. Where others were indifferent to things around them, he observed +and put away the results for possible use later. He did not make of +himself a pack-horse; what he undertook he did from interest in it, and +that made it a pleasure to him when to others it was a burden. He +instinctively reasoned it out that an unpleasant task is never +accomplished by stepping aside from it, but that, unerringly, it will +return later to be met and done. + +Obstacles, to Edward Bok, soon became merely difficulties to be +overcome, and he trusted to his instinct to show him the best way to +overcome them. He soon learned that the hardest kind of work was back +of every success; that nothing in the world of business just happened, +but that everything was brought about, and only in one way--by a +willingness of spirit and a determination to carry through. He soon +exploded for himself the misleading and comfortable theory of luck; the +only lucky people, he found, were those who worked hard. To them, luck +came in the shape of what they had earned. There were exceptions here +and there, as there are to every rule; but the majority of these, he +soon found, were more in the seeming than in the reality. Generally +speaking--and of course to this rule there are likewise exceptions, or +as the Frenchman said, "All generalizations are false, including this +one"--a man got in this world about what he worked for. + +And that became, for himself, the rule of Edward Bok's life. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LAST YEARS IN NEW YORK + +From his boyhood days (up to the present writing) Bok was a pronounced +baseball "fan," and there was, too, a baseball team among the Scribner +young men of which he was a part. This team played, each Saturday +afternoon, a team from another publishing house, and for two seasons it +was unbeatable. Not only was this baseball aggregation close to the +hearts of the Scribner employees, but, in an important game, the junior +member of the firm played on it and the senior member was a spectator. +Frank N. Doubleday played on first base; William D. Moffat, later of +Moffat, Yard & Company, and now editor of _The Mentor_, was behind the +bat; Bok pitched; Ernest Dressel North, the present authority on rare +editions of books, was in the field, as were also Ray Safford, now a +director in the Scribner corporation, and Owen W. Brewer, at present a +prominent figure in Chicago's book world. It was a happy group, all +closely banded together in their business interests and in their human +relations as well. + +With Scribner's Magazine now in the periodical field, Bok would be +asked on his trips to the publishing houses to have an eye open for +advertisements for that periodical as well. Hence his education in the +solicitation of advertisements became general, and gave him a +sympathetic understanding of the problems of the advertising solicitor +which was to stand him in good stead when, in his later experience, he +was called upon to view the business problems of a magazine from the +editor's position. His knowledge of the manufacture of the two +magazines in his charge was likewise educative, as was the fascinating +study of typography which always had, and has today, a wonderful +attraction for him. + +It was, however, in connection with the advertising of the general +books of the house, and in his relations with their authors, that Bok +found his greatest interest. It was for him to find the best manner in +which to introduce to the public the books issued by the house, and the +general study of the psychology of publicity which this called for +attracted Bok greatly. + +Although the Scribners did not publish Mark Twain's books, the humorist +was a frequent visitor to the retail store, and occasionally he would +wander back to the publishing department located at the rear of the +store, which was then at 743 Broadway. + +Smoking was not permitted in the Scribner offices, and, of course, Mark +Twain was always smoking. He generally smoked a granulated tobacco +which he kept in a long check bag made of silk and rubber. When he +sauntered to the back of the Scribner store, he would generally knock +the residue from the bowl of the pipe, take out the stem, place it in +his vest pocket, like a pencil, and drop the bowl into the bag +containing the granulated tobacco. When he wanted to smoke again +(which was usually five minutes later) he would fish out the bowl, now +automatically filled with tobacco, insert the stem, and strike a light. +One afternoon as he wandered into Bok's office, he was just putting his +pipe away. The pipe, of the corncob variety, was very aged and black. +Bok asked him whether it was the only pipe he had. + +"Oh, no," Mark answered, "I have several. But they're all like this. +I never smoke a new corncob pipe. A new pipe irritates the throat. No +corncob pipe is fit for anything until it has been used at least a +fortnight." + +"How do you break in a pipe, then?" asked Bok. + +"That's the trick," answered Mark Twain. "I get a cheap man--a man who +doesn't amount to much, anyhow: who would be as well, or better, +dead--and pay him a dollar to break in the pipe for me. I get him to +smoke the pipe for a couple of weeks, then put in a new stem, and +continue operations as long as the pipe holds together." + +Bok's newspaper syndicate work had brought him into contact with Fanny +Davenport, then at the zenith of her career as an actress. Miss +Davenport, or Mrs. Melbourne McDowell as she was in private life, had +never written for print; but Bok, seeing that she had something to say +about her art and the ability to say it, induced her to write for the +newspapers through his syndicate. The actress was overjoyed to have +revealed to her a hitherto unsuspected gift; Bok published her articles +successfully, and gave her a publicity that her press agent had never +dreamed of. Miss Davenport became interested in the young publisher, +and after watching the methods which he employed in successfully +publishing her writings, decided to try to obtain his services as her +assistant manager. She broached the subject, offered him a five years' +contract for forty weeks' service, with a minimum of fifteen weeks each +year to spend in or near New York, at a salary, for the first year, of +three thousand dollars, increasing annually until the fifth year, when +he was to receive sixty-four hundred dollars. + +Bok was attracted to the work: he had never seen the United States, was +anxious to do so, and looked upon the chance as a good opportunity. +Miss Davenport had the contract made out, executed it, and then, in +high glee, Bok took it home to show it to his mother. He had reckoned +without question upon her approval, only to meet with an immediate and +decided negative to the proposition as a whole, general and specific. +She argued that the theatrical business was not for him; and she saw +ahead and pointed out so strongly the mistake he was making that he +sought Miss Davenport the next day and told her of his mother's stand. +The actress suggested that she see the mother; she did, that day, and +she came away from the interview a wiser if a sadder woman. Miss +Davenport frankly told Bok that with such an instinctive objection as +his mother seemed to have, he was right to follow her advice and the +contract was not to be thought of. + +It is difficult to say whether this was or was not for Bok the +turning-point which comes in the life of every young man. Where the +venture into theatrical life would have led him no one can, of course, +say. One thing is certain: Bok's instinct and reason both failed him +in this instance. He believes now that had his venture into the +theatrical field been temporary or permanent, the experiment, either +way, would have been disastrous. + +Looking back and viewing the theatrical profession even as it was in +that day (of a much higher order than now), he is convinced he would +never have been happy in it. He might have found this out in a year or +more, after the novelty of travelling had worn off, and asked release +from his contract; in that case he would have broken his line of +progress in the publishing business. From whatever viewpoint he has +looked back upon this, which he now believes to have been the crisis in +his life, he is convinced that his mother's instinct saved him from a +grievous mistake. + +The Scribner house, in its foreign-book department, had imported some +copies of Bourrienne's _Life of Napoleon_, and a set had found its way +to Bok's desk for advertising purposes. He took the books home to +glance them ever, found himself interested, and sat up half the night +to read them. Then he took the set to the editor of the New York Star, +and suggested that such a book warranted a special review, and offered +to leave the work for the literary editor. + +"You have read the books?" asked the editor. + +"Every word," returned Bok. + +"Then, why don't you write the review?" suggested the editor. + +This was a new thought to Bok. "Never wrote a review," he said. + +"Try it," answered the editor. "Write a column." + +"A column wouldn't scratch the surface of this book," suggested the +embryo reviewer. + +"Well, give it what it is worth," returned the editor. + +Bok did. He wrote a page of the paper. + +"Too much, too much," said the editor. "Heavens, man, we've got to get +some news into this paper." + +"Very well," returned the reviewer. "Read it, and cut it where you +like. That's the way I see the book." + +And next Sunday the review appeared, word for word, as Bok had written +it. His first review had successfully passed! + +But Bok was really happiest in that part of his work which concerned +itself with the writing of advertisements. The science of +advertisement writing, which meant to him the capacity to say much in +little space, appealed strongly. He found himself more honestly +attracted to this than to the writing of his literary letter, his +editorials, or his book reviewing, of which he was now doing a good +deal. He determined to follow where his bent led; he studied the +mechanics of unusual advertisements wherever he saw them; he eagerly +sought a knowledge of typography and its best handling in an +advertisement, and of the value and relation of illustrations to text. +He perceived that his work along these lines seemed to give +satisfaction to his employers, since they placed more of it in his +hands to do; and he sought in every way to become proficient in the art. + +To publishers whose advertisements he secured for the periodicals in +his charge, he made suggestions for the improvement of their +announcements, and found his suggestions accepted. He early saw the +value of white space as one of the most effective factors in +advertising; but this was a difficult argument, he soon found, to +convey successfully to others. A white space in an advertisement was +to the average publisher something to fill up; Bok saw in it something +to cherish for its effectiveness. But he never got very far with his +idea: he could not convince (perhaps because he failed to express his +ideas convincingly) his advertisers of what he felt and believed so +strongly. + +An occasion came in which he was permitted to prove his contention. +The Scribners had published Andrew Carnegie's volume, _Triumphant +Democracy_, and the author desired that some special advertising should +be done in addition to that allowed by the appropriation made by the +house. To Bok's grateful ears came the injunction from the steel +magnate: "Use plenty of white space." In conjunction with Mr. +Doubleday, Bok prepared and issued this extra advertising, and for +once, at least, the wisdom of using white space was demonstrated. But +it was only a flash in the pan. Publishers were unwilling to pay for +"unused space," as they termed it. Each book was a separate unit, +others argued: it was not like advertising one article continuously in +which money could be invested; and only a limited amount could be spent +on a book which ran its course, even at its best, in a very short time. + +And, rightly or wrongly, book advertising has continued much along the +same lines until the present day. In fact, in no department of +manufacturing or selling activity has there been so little progress +during the past fifty years as in bringing books to the notice of the +public. In all other lines, the producer has brought his wares to the +public, making it easier and still easier for it to obtain his goods, +while the public, if it wants a book, must still seek the book instead +of being sought by it. + +That there is a tremendous unsupplied book demand in this country there +is no doubt: the wider distribution and easier access given to +periodicals prove this point. Now and then there has been tried an +unsupported or not well-thought-out plan for bringing books to a public +not now reading them, but there seems little or no understanding of the +fact that there lies an uncultivated field of tremendous promise to the +publisher who will strike out on a new line and market his books, so +that the public will not have to ferret out a book-store or wind +through the maze of a department store. The American reading public is +not the book-reading public that it should be or could be made to be; +but the habit must be made easy for it to acquire. Books must be +placed where the public can readily get at them. It will not, of its +own volition, seek them. It did not do so with magazines; it will not +do so with books. + +In the meanwhile, Bok's literary letter had prospered until it was now +published in some forty-five newspapers, One of these was the +_Philadelphia Times_. In that paper, each week, the letter had been +read by Mr. Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the owner and publisher of _The Ladies' +Home Journal_. Mr. Curtis had decided that he needed an editor for his +magazine, in order to relieve his wife, who was then editing it, and he +fixed upon the writer of _Literary Leaves_ as his man. He came to New +York, consulted Will Carleton, the poet, and found that while the +letter was signed by William J. Bok, it was actually written by his +brother who was with the Scribners. So he sought Bok out there. + +The publishing house had been advertising in the Philadelphia magazine, +so that the visit of Mr. Curtis was not an occasion for surprise. Mr. +Curtis told Bok he had read his literary letter in the _Philadelphia +Times_, and suggested that perhaps he might write a similar department +for _The Ladies' Home Journal_. Bok saw no reason why he should not, +and told Mr. Curtis so, and promised to send over a trial instalment. +The Philadelphia publisher then deftly went on, explained editorial +conditions in his magazine, and, recognizing the ethics of the occasion +by not offering Bok another position while he was already occupying +one, asked him if he knew the man for the place. + +"Are you talking at me or through me?" asked Bok. + +"Both," replied Mr. Curtis. + +This was in April of 1889. + +Bok promised Mr. Curtis he would look over the field, and meanwhile he +sent over to Philadelphia the promised trial "literary gossip" +instalment. It pleased Mr. Curtis, who suggested a monthly department, +to which Bok consented. He also turned over in his mind the wisdom of +interrupting his line of progress with the Scribners, and in New York, +and began to contemplate the possibilities in Philadelphia and the work +there. + +He gathered a collection of domestic magazines then published, and +looked them over to see what was already in the field. Then he began +to study himself, his capacity for the work, and the possibility of +finding it congenial. He realized that it was absolutely foreign to +his Scribner work; that it meant a radical departure. But his work +with his newspaper syndicate naturally occurred to him, and he studied +it with a view of its adaptation to the field of the Philadelphia +magazine. + +His next step was to take into his confidence two or three friends +whose judgment he trusted and discuss the possible change. Without an +exception, they advised against it. The periodical had no standing, +they argued; Bok would be out of sympathy with its general atmosphere +after his Scribner environment; he was now in the direct line of +progress in New York publishing houses; and, to cap the climax, they +each argued in turn, he would be buried in Philadelphia: New York was +the centre, etc., etc. + +More than any other single argument, this last point destroyed Bok's +faith in the judgment of his friends. He had had experience enough to +realize that a man could not be buried in any city, provided he had the +ability to stand out from his fellow-men. He knew from his +biographical reading that cream will rise to the surface anywhere, in +Philadelphia as well as in New York: it all depended on whether the +cream was there: it was up to the man. Had he within him that +peculiar, subtle something that, for the want of a better phrase, we +call the editorial instinct? That was all there was to it, and that +decision had to be his and his alone! + +A business trip for the Scribners now calling him West, Bok decided to +stop at Philadelphia, have a talk with Mr. Curtis, and look over his +business plant. He did this, and found Mr. Curtis even more desirous +than before to have him consider the position. Bok's instinct was +strongly in favor of an acceptance. A natural impulse moved him, +without reasoning, to action. Reasoning led only to a cautious mental +state, and caution is a strong factor in the Dutch character. The +longer he pursued a conscious process of reasoning, the farther he got +from the position. But the instinct remained strong. + +On his way back from the West, he stopped in Philadelphia again to +consult his friend, George W. Childs; and here he found the only person +who was ready to encourage him to make the change. + +Bok now laid the matter before his mother, in whose feminine instinct +he had supreme confidence. With her, he met with instant +discouragement. But in subsequent talks he found that her opposition +was based not upon the possibilities inherent in the position, but on a +mother's natural disinclination to be separated from one of her sons. +In the case of Fanny Davenport's offer the mother's instinct was strong +against the proposition itself. But in the present instance it was the +mother's love that was speaking; not her instinct or judgment. + +Bok now consulted his business associates, and, to a man, they +discouraged the step, but almost invariably upon the argument that it +was suicidal to leave New York. He had now a glimpse of the truth that +there is no man so provincially narrow as the untravelled New Yorker +who believes in his heart that the sun rises in the East River and sets +in the North River. + +He realized more keenly than ever before that the decision rested with +him alone. On September 1, 1889, Bok wrote to Mr. Curtis, accepting +the position in Philadelphia; and on October 13 following he left the +Scribners, where he had been so fortunate and so happy, and, after a +week's vacation, followed where his instinct so strongly led, but where +his reason wavered. + +On October 20, 1889, Edward Bok became the editor of _The Ladies' Home +Journal_. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SUCCESSFUL EDITORSHIP + +There is a popular notion that the editor of a woman's magazine should +be a woman. At first thought, perhaps, this sounds logical. But it is +a curious fact that by far the larger number of periodicals for women, +the world over, are edited by men; and where, as in some cases, a woman +is the proclaimed editor, the direction of the editorial policy is +generally in the hands of a man, or group of men, in the background. +Why this is so has never been explained, any more than why the majority +of women's dressmakers are men; why music, with its larger appeal to +women, has been and is still being composed, largely, by men, and why +its greatest instrumental performers are likewise men; and why the +church, with its larger membership of women, still has, as it always +has had, men for its greatest preachers. + +In fact, we may well ponder whether the full editorial authority and +direction of a modern magazine, either essentially feminine in its +appeal or not, can safely be entrusted to a woman when one considers +how largely executive is the nature of such a position, and how +thoroughly sensitive the modern editor must be to the hundred and one +practical business matters which to-day enter into and form so large a +part of the editorial duties. We may question whether women have as +yet had sufficient experience in the world of business to cope +successfully with the material questions of a pivotal editorial +position. Then, again, it is absolutely essential in the conduct of a +magazine with a feminine or home appeal to have on the editorial staff +women who are experts in their line; and the truth is that women will +work infinitely better under the direction of a man than of a woman. + +It would seem from the present outlook that, for some time, at least, +the so-called woman's magazine of large purpose and wide vision is very +likely to be edited by a man. It is a question, however, whether the +day of the woman's magazine, as we have known it, is not passing. +Already the day has gone for the woman's magazine built on the old +lines which now seem so grotesque and feeble in the light of modern +growth. The interests of women and of men are being brought closer +with the years, and it will not be long before they will entirely +merge. This means a constantly diminishing necessity for the +distinctly feminine magazine. + +Naturally, there will always be a field in the essentially feminine +pursuits which have no place in the life of a man, but these are +rapidly being cared for by books, gratuitously distributed, issued by +the manufacturers of distinctly feminine and domestic wares; for such +publications the best talent is being employed, and the results are +placed within easy access of women, by means of newspaper +advertisement, the store-counter, or the mails. These will sooner or +later--and much sooner than later--supplant the practical portions of +the woman's magazine, leaving only the general contents, which are +equally interesting to men and to women. Hence the field for the +magazine with the essentially feminine appeal is contracting rather +than broadening, and it is likely to contract much more rapidly in the +future. + +The field was altogether different when Edward Bok entered it in 1889. +It was not only wide open, but fairly crying out to be filled. The day +of _Godey's Lady's Book_ had passed; _Peterson's Magazine_ was +breathing its last; and the home or women's magazines that had +attempted to take their place were sorry affairs. It was this +consciousness of a void ready to be filled that made the Philadelphia +experiment so attractive to the embryo editor. He looked over the +field and reasoned that if such magazines as did exist could be fairly +successful, if women were ready to buy such, how much greater response +would there be to a magazine of higher standards, of larger +initiative--a magazine that would be an authoritative clearing-house +for all the problems confronting women in the home, that brought itself +closely into contact with those problems and tried to solve them in an +entertaining and efficient way; and yet a magazine of uplift and +inspiration: a magazine, in other words, that would give light and +leading in the woman's world. + +The method of editorial expression in the magazines of 1889 was also +distinctly vague and prohibitively impersonal. The public knew the +name of scarcely a single editor of a magazine; there was no +personality that stood out in the mind: the accepted editorial +expression was the indefinite "we"; no one ventured to use the first +person singular and talk intimately to the reader. Edward Bok's +biographical reading had taught him that the American public loved a +personality; that it was always ready to recognize and follow a leader, +provided, of course, that the qualities of leadership were +demonstrated. He felt the time had come--the reference here and +elsewhere is always to the realm of popular magazine literature +appealing to a very wide audience--for the editor of some magazine to +project his personality through the printed page and to convince the +public that he was not an oracle removed from the people, but a real +human being who could talk and not merely write on paper. + +He saw, too, that the average popular magazine of 1889 failed of large +success because it wrote down to the public--a grievous mistake that so +many editors have made and still make. No one wants to be told, either +directly or indirectly, that he knows less than he does, or even that +he knows as little as he does; every one is benefited by the opposite +implication, and the public will always follow the leader who +comprehends this bit of psychology. There is always a happy medium +between shooting over the public's head and shooting too far under it. +And it is because of the latter aim that we find the modern popular +magazine the worthless thing that, in so many instances, it is to-day. + +It is the rare editor who rightly gauges his public psychology. +Perhaps that is why, in the enormous growth of the modern magazine, +there have been produced so few successful editors. The average editor +is obsessed with the idea of "giving the public what it wants," +whereas, in fact, the public, while it knows what it wants when it sees +it, cannot clearly express its wants, and never wants the thing that it +does ask for, although it thinks it does at the time. But woe to the +editor and his periodical if he heeds that siren voice! + +The editor has, therefore, no means of finding it out aforehand by +putting his ear to the ground. Only by the simplest rules of +psychology can he edit rightly so that he may lead, and to the average +editor of to-day, it is to be feared, psychology is a closed book. His +mind is all too often focussed on the circulation and advertising, and +all too little on the intangibles that will bring to his periodical the +results essential in these respects. + +The editor is the pivot of a magazine. On him everything turns. If +his gauge of the public is correct, readers will come: they cannot help +coming to the man who has something to say himself, or who presents +writers who have. And if the reader comes, the advertiser must come. +He must go where his largest market is: where the buyers are. The +advertiser, instead of being the most difficult factor in a magazine +proposition, as is so often mistakenly thought, is, in reality, the +simplest. He has no choice but to advertise in the successful +periodical. He must come along. The editor need never worry about +him. If the advertiser shuns the periodical's pages, the fault is +rarely that of the advertiser: the editor can generally look for the +reason nearer home. + +One of Edward Bok's first acts as editor was to offer a series of +prizes for the best answers to three questions he put to his readers: +what in the magazine did they like least and why; what did they like +best and why; and what omitted feature or department would they like to +see installed? Thousands of answers came, and these the editor +personally read carefully and classified. Then he gave his readers' +suggestions back to them in articles and departments, but never on the +level suggested by them. He gave them the subjects they asked for, but +invariably on a slightly higher plane; and each year he raised the +standard a notch. He always kept "a huckleberry or two" ahead of his +readers. His psychology was simple: come down to the level which the +public sets and it will leave you at the moment you do it. It always +expects of its leaders that they shall keep a notch above or a step +ahead. The American public always wants something a little better than +it asks for, and the successful man, in catering to it, is he who +follows this golden rule. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BUILDING UP A MAGAZINE + +Edward Bok has often been referred to as the one "who made _The Ladies' +Home Journal_ out of nothing," who "built it from the ground up," or, +in similar terms, implying that when he became its editor in 1889 the +magazine was practically non-existent. This is far from the fact. The +magazine was begun in 1883, and had been edited by Mrs. Cyrus H. K. +Curtis, for six years, under her maiden name of Louisa Knapp, before +Bok undertook its editorship. Mrs. Curtis had laid a solid foundation +of principle and policy for the magazine: it had achieved a circulation +of 440,000 copies a month when she transferred the editorship, and it +had already acquired such a standing in the periodical world as to +attract the advertisements of Charles Scribner's Sons, which Mr. +Doubleday, and later Bok himself, gave to the Philadelphia +magazine--advertising which was never given lightly, or without the +most careful investigation of the worth of the circulation of a +periodical. + +What every magazine publisher knows as the most troublous years in the +establishment of a periodical, the first half-dozen years of its +existence, had already been weathered by the editor and publisher. The +wife as editor and the husband as publisher had combined to lay a solid +basis upon which Bok had only to build: his task was simply to rear a +structure upon the foundation already laid. It is to the vision and to +the genius of the first editor of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ that the +unprecedented success of the magazine is primarily due. It was the +purpose and the policy of making a magazine of authoritative service +for the womanhood of America, a service which would visualize for +womanhood its highest domestic estate, that had won success for the +periodical from its inception. It is difficult to believe, in the +multiplicity of similar magazines today, that such a purpose was new; +that _The Ladies' Home Journal_ was a path-finder; but the convincing +proof is found in the fact that all the later magazines of this class +have followed in the wake of the periodical conceived by Mrs. Curtis, +and have ever since been its imitators. + +When Edward Bok succeeded Mrs. Curtis, he immediately encountered +another popular misconception of a woman's magazine--the conviction +that if a man is the editor of a periodical with a distinctly feminine +appeal, he must, as the term goes, "understand women." If Bok had +believed this to be true, he would never have assumed the position. +How deeply rooted is this belief was brought home to him on every hand +when his decision to accept the Philadelphia position was announced. +His mother, knowing her son better than did any one else, looked at him +with amazement. She could not believe that he was serious in his +decision to cater to women's needs when he knew so little about them. +His friends, too, were intensely amused, and took no pains to hide +their amusement from him. They knew him to be the very opposite of "a +lady's man," and when they were not convulsed with hilarity they were +incredulous and marvelled. + +No man, perhaps, could have been chosen for the position who had a less +intimate knowledge of women. Bok had no sister, no women confidantes: +he had lived with and for his mother. She was the only woman he really +knew or who really knew him. His boyhood days had been too full of +poverty and struggle to permit him to mingle with the opposite sex. +And it is a curious fact that Edward Bok's instinctive attitude toward +women was that of avoidance. He did not dislike women, but it could +not be said that he liked them. They had never interested him. Of +women, therefore, he knew little; of their needs less. Nor had he the +slightest desire, even as an editor, to know them better or to seek to +understand them. Even at that age, he knew that, as a man, he could +not, no matter what effort he might make, and he let it go at that. + +What he saw in the position was not the need to know women; he could +employ women for that purpose. He perceived clearly that the editor of +a magazine was largely an executive: his was principally the work of +direction; of studying currents and movements, watching their +formation, their tendency, their efficacy if advocated or translated +into actuality, and then selecting from the horizon those that were for +the best interests of the home. For a home was something which Edward +Bok did understand. He had always lived in one; had struggled to keep +it together, and he knew every inch of the hard road that makes for +domestic permanence amid adverse financial conditions. And at the home +he aimed rather than at the woman in it. + +And with his own limited knowledge of the sex, he needed, and none knew +it better than did he, the ablest women he could obtain to help him +realize his ideals. Their personal opinions of him did not matter so +long as he could command their best work. Sooner or later, when his +purposes were better understood, they might alter those opinions. For +that he could afford to wait. But he could not wait to get their work. + +By this time the editor had come to see that the power of a magazine +might lie more securely behind the printed page than in it. He had +begun to accustom his readers to writing to his editors upon all +conceivable problems. + +This he decided to encourage. He employed an expert in each line of +feminine endeavor, upon the distinct understanding that the most +scrupulous attention should be given to her correspondence: that every +letter, no matter how inconsequential, should be answered quickly, +fully, and courteously, with the questioner always encouraged to come +again if any problem of whatever nature came to her. He told his +editors that ignorance on any question was a misfortune, not a crime; +and he wished their correspondence treated in the most courteous and +helpful spirit. + +Step by step, the editor built up this service behind the magazine +until he had a staff of thirty-five editors on the monthly pay-roll; in +each issue, he proclaimed the willingness of these editors to answer +immediately any questions by mail, he encouraged and cajoled his +readers to form the habit of looking upon his magazine as a great +clearing-house of information. Before long, the letters streamed in by +the tens of thousands during a year. The editor still encouraged, and +the total ran into the hundreds of thousands, until during the last +year, before the service was finally stopped by the Great War in 1917, +the yearly correspondence totalled nearly a million letters. + +[Illustration: The Grandmother, who counselled each of her children to +make the world a better and more beautiful place to live in--a counsel +which is now being carried on by her grandchildren, one of whom is +Edward Bok.] + +The lack of opportunity for an education in Bok's own life led him to +cast about for some plan whereby an education might be obtained without +expense by any one who desired. He finally hit upon the simple plan of +substituting free scholarships for the premiums then so frequently +offered by periodicals for subscriptions secured. Free musical +education at the leading conservatories was first offered to any girl +who would secure a certain number of subscriptions to _The Ladies' Home +Journal_, the complete offer being a year's free tuition, with free +room, free board, free piano in her own room, and all travelling +expenses paid. The plan was an immediate success: the solicitation of +a subscription by a girl desirous of educating herself made an +irresistible appeal. + +This plan was soon extended, so as to include all the girls' colleges, +and finally all the men's colleges, so that a free education might be +possible at any educational institution. So comprehensive it became +that to the close of 1919, one thousand four hundred and fifty-five +free scholarships had been awarded. The plan has now been in operation +long enough to have produced some of the leading singers and +instrumental artists of the day, whose names are familiar to all, as +well as instructors in colleges and scores of teachers; and to have +sent several score of men into conspicuous positions in the business +and professional world. + +Edward Bok has always felt that but for his own inability to secure an +education, and his consequent desire for self-improvement, the +realization of the need in others might not have been so strongly felt +by him, and that his plan whereby thousands of others were benefited +might never have been realized. + +It was this comprehensive personal service, built up back of the +magazine from the start, that gave the periodical so firm and unique a +hold on its clientele. It was not the printed word that was its chief +power: scores of editors who have tried to study and diagnose the +appeal of the magazine from the printed page, have remained baffled at +the remarkable confidence elicited from its readers. They never looked +back of the magazine, and therefore failed to discover its secret. Bok +went through three financial panics with the magazine, and while other +periodicals severely suffered from diminished circulation at such +times, _The Ladies' Home Journal_ always held its own. Thousands of +women had been directly helped by the magazine; it had not remained an +inanimate printed thing, but had become a vital need in the personal +lives of its readers. + +So intimate had become this relation, so efficient was the service +rendered, that its readers could not be pried loose from it; where +women were willing and ready, when the domestic pinch came, to let go +of other reading matter, they explained to their husbands or fathers +that _The Ladies' Home Journal_ was a necessity--they did not feel that +they could do without it. The very quality for which the magazine had +been held up to ridicule by the unknowing and unthinking had become, +with hundreds of thousands of women, its source of power and the +bulwark of its success. + +Bok was beginning to realize the vision which had lured him from New +York: that of putting into the field of American magazines a periodical +that should become such a clearing-house as virtually to make it an +institution. + +He felt that, for the present at least, he had sufficiently established +the personal contact with his readers through the more intimate +departments, and decided to devote his efforts to the literary features +of the magazine. + +The newspaper paragraphers were now having a delightful time with +Edward Bok and his woman's magazine, and he was having a delightful +time with them. The editor's publicity sense made him realize how +valuable for his purposes was all this free advertising. The +paragraphers believed, in their hearts, that they were annoying the +young editor; they tried to draw his fire through their articles. But +he kept quiet, put his tongue in his cheek, and determined to give them +some choice morsels for their wit. + +He conceived the idea of making familiar to the public the women who +were back of the successful men of the day. He felt sure that his +readers wanted to know about these women. But to attract his newspaper +friends he labelled the series, "Unknown Wives of Well-Known Men" and +"Clever Daughters of Clever Men." + +The alliterative titles at once attracted the paragraphers; they fell +upon them like hungry trout, and a perfect fusillade of paragraphs +began. This is exactly what the editor wanted; and he followed these +two series immediately by inducing the daughter of Charles Dickens to +write of "My Father as I Knew Him," and Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, of +"Mr. Beecher as I Knew Him." Bok now felt that he had given the +newspapers enough ammunition to last for some time; and he turned his +attention to building up a more permanent basis for his magazine. + +The two authors of that day who commanded more attention than any +others were William Dean Howells and Rudyard Kipling. Bok knew that +these two would give to his magazine the literary quality that it +needed, and so he laid them both under contribution. He bought Mr. +Howells's new novel, "The Coast of Bohemia," and arranged that +Kipling's new novelette upon which he was working should come to the +magazine. Neither the public nor the magazine editors had expected Bok +to break out along these more permanent lines, and magazine publishers +began to realize that a new competitor had sprung up in Philadelphia. +Bok knew they would feel this; so before he announced Mr. Howells's new +novel, he contracted with the novelist to follow this with his +autobiography. This surprised the editors of the older magazines, for +they realized that the Philadelphia editor had completely tied up the +leading novelist of the day for his next two years' output. + +Meanwhile, in order that the newspapers might be well supplied with +barbs for their shafts, he published an entire number of his magazine +written by the daughters of famous men. This unique issue presented +contributions by the daughters of Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, +President Harrison, Horace Greeley, William M. Thackeray, William Dean +Howells, General Sherman, Jefferson Davis, Mr. Gladstone, and a score +of others. This issue simply filled the paragraphers with glee. Then +once more Bok turned to articles calculated to cement the foundation +for a more permanent structure. + +The material that the editor was publishing and the authors that he was +laying under contribution began to have marked effect upon the +circulation of the magazine, and it was not long before the original +figures were doubled, an edition--enormous for that day--of seven +hundred and fifty thousand copies was printed and sold each month, the +magical figure of a million was in sight, and the periodical was +rapidly taking its place as one of the largest successes of the day. + +Mr. Curtis's single proprietorship of the magazine had been changed +into a corporation called The Curtis Publishing Company, with a capital +of five hundred thousand dollars, with Mr. Curtis as president, and Bok +as vice-president. + +The magazine had by no means an easy road to travel financially. The +doubling of the subscription price to one dollar per year had +materially checked the income for the time being; the huge advertising +bills, sometimes exceeding three hundred thousand dollars a year, were +difficult to pay; large credit had to be obtained, and the banks were +carrying a considerable quantity of Mr. Curtis's notes. But Mr. Curtis +never wavered in his faith in his proposition and his editor. In the +first he invested all he had and could borrow, and to the latter he +gave his undivided support. The two men worked together rather as +father and son--as, curiously enough, they were to be later--than as +employer and employee. To Bok, the daily experience of seeing Mr. +Curtis finance his proposition in sums that made the publishing world +of that day gasp with sceptical astonishment was a wonderful +opportunity, of which the editor took full advantage so as to learn the +intricacies of a world which up to that time he had known only in a +limited way. + +What attracted Bok immensely to Mr. Curtis's methods was their perfect +simplicity and directness. He believed absolutely in the final outcome +of his proposition: where others saw mist and failure ahead, he saw +clear weather and the port of success. Never did he waver: never did +he deflect from his course. He knew no path save the direct one that +led straight to success, and, through his eyes, he made Bok see it with +equal clarity until Bok wondered why others could not see it. But they +could not. Cyrus Curtis would never be able, they said, to come out +from under the load he had piled up. Where they differed from Mr. +Curtis was in their lack of vision: they could not see what he saw! + +It has been said that Mr. Curtis banished patent-medicine +advertisements from his magazine only when he could afford to do so. +That is not true, as a simple incident will show. In the early days, +he and Bok were opening the mail one Friday full of anxiety because the +pay-roll was due that evening, and there was not enough money in the +bank to meet it. From one of the letters dropped a certified check for +five figures for a contract equal to five pages in the magazine. It +was a welcome sight, for it meant an easy meeting of the pay-roll for +that week and two succeeding weeks. But the check was from a +manufacturing patent-medicine company. Without a moment's hesitation, +Mr. Curtis slipped it back into the envelope, saying: "Of course, +_that_ we can't take." He returned the check, never gave the matter a +second thought, and went out and borrowed more money to meet his +pay-roll. + +With all respect to American publishers, there are very few who could +have done this--or indeed, would do it today, under similar +conditions--particularly in that day when it was the custom for all +magazines to accept patent-medicine advertising; _The Ladies' Home +Journal_ was practically the only publication of standing in the United +States refusing that class of business! + +Bok now saw advertising done on a large scale by a man who believed in +plenty of white space surrounding the announcement in the +advertisement. He paid Mr. Howells $10,000 for his autobiography, and +Mr. Curtis spent $50,000 in advertising it. "It is not expense," he +would explain to Bok, "it is investment. We are investing in a +trademark. It will all come back in time." And when the first +$100,000 did not come back as Mr. Curtis figured, he would send another +$100,000 after it, and then both came back. + +Bok's experience in advertisement writing was now to stand him in +excellent stead. He wrote all the advertisements, and from that day to +the day of his retirement, practically every advertisement of the +magazine was written by him. + +Mr. Curtis believed that the editor should write the advertisements of +a magazine's articles. "You are the one who knows them, what is in +them and your purpose," he said to Bok, who keenly enjoyed this +advertisement writing. He put less and less in his advertisements. +Mr. Curtis made them larger and larger in the space which they occupied +in the media used. In this way _The Ladies' Home Journal_ +advertisements became distinctive for their use of white space, and as +the advertising world began to say: "You can't miss them." Only one +feature was advertised at one time, but the "feature" was always +carefully selected for its wide popular appeal, and then Mr. Curtis +spared no expense to advertise it abundantly. As much as $400,000 was +spent in one year in advertising only a few features--a gigantic sum in +those days, approached by no other periodical. But Mr. Curtis believed +in showing the advertising world that he was willing to take his own +medicine. + +Naturally, such a campaign of publicity announcing the most popular +attractions offered by any magazine of the day had but one effect: the +circulation leaped forward by bounds, and the advertising columns of +the magazine rapidly filled up. + +The success of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ began to look like an assured +fact, even to the most sceptical. + +As a matter of fact, it was only at its beginning, as both publisher +and editor knew. But they desired to fill the particular field of the +magazine so quickly and fully that there would be small room for +competition. The woman's magazine field was to belong to them! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +MEETING A REVERSE OR TWO + +With the hitherto unreached magazine circulation of a million copies a +month in sight, Edward Bok decided to give a broader scope to the +periodical. He was determined to lay under contribution not only the +most famous writers of the day, but also to seek out those well-known +persons who usually did not contribute to the magazines; always keeping +in mind the popular appeal of his material, but likewise aiming +constantly to widen its scope and gradually to lift its standard. + +The editor was very desirous of securing something for his magazine +that would delight children, and he hit upon the idea of trying to +induce Lewis Carroll to write another _Alice in Wonderland_ series. He +was told by English friends that this would be difficult, since the +author led a secluded life at Oxford and hardly ever admitted any one +into his confidence. But Bok wanted to beard the lion in his den, and +an Oxford graduate volunteered to introduce him to an Oxford don +through whom, if it were at all possible, he could reach the author. +The journey to Oxford was made, and Bok was introduced to the don, who +turned out to be no less a person than the original possessor of the +highly colored vocabulary of the "White Rabbit" of the Alice stories. + +"Impossible," immediately declared the don. "You couldn't persuade +Dodgson to consider it." Bok, however, persisted, and it so happened +that the don liked what he called "American perseverance." + +"Well, come along," he said. "We'll beard the lion in his den, as you +say, and see what happens. You know, of course, that it is the +Reverend Charles L. Dodgson that we are going to see, and I must +introduce you to that person, not to Lewis Carroll. He is a tutor in +mathematics here, as you doubtless know; lives a rigidly secluded life; +dislikes strangers; makes no friends; and yet withal is one of the most +delightful men in the world if he wants to be." + +But as it happened upon this special occasion when Bok was introduced +to him in his chambers in Tom Quad, Mr. Dodgson did not "want to be" +delightful. There was no doubt that back of the studied reserve was a +kindly, charming, gracious gentleman, but Bok's profession had been +mentioned and the author was on rigid guard. + +When Bok explained that one of the special reasons for his journey from +America was to see him, the Oxford mathematician sufficiently softened +to ask the editor to sit down. Bok then broached his mission. + +"You are quite in error, Mr. Bok," was the Dodgson comment. "You are +not speaking to the person you think you are addressing." + +For a moment Bok was taken aback. Then he decided to go right to the +point. + +"Do I understand, Mr. Dodgson, that you are not 'Lewis Carroll'; that +you did not write _Alice in Wonderland_?" + +For an answer the tutor rose, went into another room, and returned with +a book which he handed to Bok. "This is my book," he said simply. It +was entitled _An Elementary Treatise on Determinants_, by C. L. +Dodgson. When he looked up, Bok found the author's eyes riveted on him. + +"Yes," said Bok. "I know, Mr. Dodgson. If I remember correctly, this +is the same book of which you sent a copy to Her Majesty, Queen +Victoria, when she wrote to you for a personal copy of your _Alice_." + +Dodgson made no comment. The face was absolutely without expression +save a kindly compassion intended to convey to the editor that he was +making a terrible mistake. + +"As I said to you in the beginning, Mr. Bok, you are in error. You are +not speaking to 'Lewis Carroll.'" And then: "Is this the first time +you have visited Oxford?" + +Bok said it was; and there followed the most delightful two hours with +the Oxford mathematician and the Oxford don, walking about and into the +wonderful college buildings, and afterward the three had a bite of +lunch together. But all efforts to return to "Lewis Carroll" were +futile. While saying good-by to his host, Bok remarked: + +"I can't help expressing my disappointment, Mr. Dodgson, in my quest in +behalf of the thousands of American children who love you and who would +so gladly welcome 'Lewis Carroll' back." + +The mention of children and their love for him momentarily had its +effect. For an instant a different light came into the eyes, and Bok +instinctively realized Dodgson was about to say something. But he +checked himself. Bok had almost caught him off his guard. + +"I am sorry," he finally said at the parting at the door, "that you +should be disappointed, for the sake of the children as well as for +your own sake. I only regret that I cannot remove the disappointment." + +As they later walked to the station, the don said: "That is his +attitude toward all, even toward me. He is not 'Lewis Carroll' to any +one; is extremely sensitive on the point, and will not acknowledge his +identity. That is why he lives so much to himself. He is in daily +dread that some one will mention _Alice_ in his presence. Curious, but +there it is." + +Edward Bok's next quest was to be even more disappointing; he was never +even to reach the presence of the person he sought. This was Florence +Nightingale, the Crimean nurse. Bok was desirous of securing her own +story of her experiences, but on every hand he found an unwillingness +even to take him to her house. "No use," said everybody. "She won't +see any one. Hates publicity and all that sort of thing, and shuns the +public." Nevertheless, the editor journeyed to the famous nurse's home +on South Street, in the West End of London, only to be told that "Miss +Nightingale never receives strangers." + +"But I am not a stranger," insisted the editor. "I am one of her +friends from America. Please take my card to her." + +This mollified the faithful secretary, but the word instantly came back +that Miss Nightingale was not receiving any one that day. Bok wrote +her a letter asking for an appointment, which was never answered. Then +he wrote another, took it personally to the house, and awaited an +answer, only to receive the message that "Miss Nightingale says there +is no answer to the letter." + +Bok had with such remarkable uniformity secured whatever he sought, +that these experiences were new to him. Frankly, they puzzled him. He +was not easily baffled, but baffled he now was, and that twice in +succession. Turn as he might, he could find no way in which to reopen +an approach to either the Oxford tutor or the Crimean nurse. They were +plainly too much for him, and he had to acknowledge his defeat. The +experience was good for him; he did not realize this at the time, nor +did he enjoy the sensation of not getting what he wanted. +Nevertheless, a reverse or two was due. Not that his success was +having any undesirable effect upon him; his Dutch common sense saved +him from any such calamity. But at thirty years of age it is not good +for any one, no matter how well balanced, to have things come his way +too fast and too consistently. And here were breaks. He could not +have everything he wanted, and it was just as well that he should find +that out. + +In his next quest he found himself again opposed by his London friends. +Unable to secure a new _Alice in Wonderland_ for his child readers, he +determined to give them Kate Greenaway. But here he had selected +another recluse. Everybody discouraged him. The artist never saw +visitors, he was told, and she particularly shunned editors and +publishers. Her own publishers confessed that Miss Greenaway was +inaccessible to them. "We conduct all our business with her by +correspondence. I have never seen her personally myself," said a +member of the firm. + +Bok inwardly decided that two failures in two days were sufficient, and +he made up his mind that there should not be a third. He took a bus +for the long ride to Hampstead Heath, where the illustrator lived, and +finally stood before a picturesque Queen Anne house that one would have +recognized at once, with its lower story of red brick, its upper part +covered with red tiles, its windows of every size and shape, as the +inspiration of Kate Greenaway's pictures. As it turned out later, Miss +Greenaway's sister opened the door and told the visitor that Miss +Greenaway was not at home. + +"But, pardon me, has not Miss Greenaway returned? Is not that she?" +asked Bok, as he indicated a figure just coming down the stairs. And +as the sister turned to see, Bok stepped into the hall. At least he +was inside! Bok had never seen a photograph of Miss Greenaway, he did +not know that the figure coming down-stairs was the artist; but his +instinct had led him right, and good fortune was with him. + +He now introduced himself to Kate Greenaway, and explained that one of +his objects in coming to London was to see her on behalf of thousands +of American children. Naturally there was nothing for the illustrator +to do but to welcome her visitor. She took him into the garden, where +he saw at once that he was seated under the apple-tree of Miss +Greenaway's pictures. It was in full bloom, a veritable picture of +spring loveliness. Bok's love for nature pleased the artist and when +he recognized the cat that sauntered up, he could see that he was +making head-way. But when he explained his profession and stated his +errand, the atmosphere instantly changed. Miss Greenaway conveyed the +unmistakable impression that she had been trapped, and Bok realized at +once that he had a long and difficult road ahead. + +Still, negotiate it he must and he did! And after luncheon in the +garden, with the cat in his lap, Miss Greenaway perceptibly thawed out, +and when the editor left late that afternoon he had the promise of the +artist that she would do her first magazine work for him. That promise +was kept monthly, and for nearly two years her articles appeared, with +satisfaction to Miss Greenaway and with great success to the magazine. + +Bok now devoted his attention to strengthening the fiction in his +magazine. He sought Mark Twain, and bought his two new stories; he +secured from Bret Harte a tale which he had just finished, and then ran +the gamut of the best fiction writers of the day, and secured their +best output. Marion Crawford, Conan Doyle, Sarah Orne Jewett, John +Kendrick Bangs, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Hamlin Garland, Mrs. Burton +Harrison, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mary E. Wilkins, Jerome K. Jerome, +Anthony Hope, Joel Chandler Harris, and others followed in rapid +succession. + +He next turned for a moment to his religious department, decided that +it needed a freshening of interest, and secured Dwight L. Moody, whose +evangelical work was then so prominently in the public eye, to conduct +"Mr. Moody's Bible Class" in the magazine--practically a study of the +stated Bible lesson of the month with explanation in Moody's simple and +effective style. + +The authors for whom the _Journal_ was now publishing attracted the +attention of all the writers of the day, and the supply of good +material became too great for its capacity. Bok studied the mechanical +make-up, and felt that by some method he must find more room in the +front portion. He had allotted the first third of the magazine to the +general literary contents and the latter two-thirds to departmental +features. Toward the close of the number, the departments narrowed +down from full pages to single columns with advertisements on each side. + +One day Bok was handling a story by Rudyard Kipling which had overrun +the space allowed for it in the front. The story had come late, and +the rest of the front portion of the magazine had gone to press. The +editor was in a quandary what to do with the two remaining columns of +the Kipling tale. There were only two pages open, and these were at +the back. He remade those pages, and continued the story from pages 6 +and 7 to pages 38 and 39. + +At once Bok saw that this was an instance where "necessity was the +mother of invention." He realized that if he could run some of his +front material over to the back he would relieve the pressure at the +front, present a more varied contents there, and make his +advertisements more valuable by putting them next to the most expensive +material in the magazine. + +In the next issue he combined some of his smaller departments in the +back; and thus, in 1896, he inaugurated the method of "running over +into the back" which has now become a recognized principle in the +make-up of magazines of larger size. At first, Bok's readers objected, +but he explained why he did it; that they were the benefiters by the +plan; and, so far as readers can be satisfied with what is, at best, an +awkward method of presentation, they were content. To-day the practice +is undoubtedly followed to excess, some magazines carrying as much as +eighty and ninety columns over from the front to the back; from such +abuse it will, of course, free itself either by a return to the +original method of make-up or by the adoption of some other less +irritating plan. + +In his reading about the America of the past, Bok had been impressed by +the unusual amount of interesting personal material that constituted +what is termed unwritten history--original events of tremendous +personal appeal in which great personalities figured but which had not +sufficient historical importance to have been included in American +history. Bok determined to please his older readers by harking back to +the past and at the same time acquainting the younger generation with +the picturesque events which had preceded their time. + +He also believed that if he could "dress up" the past, he could arrest +the attention of a generation which was too likely to boast of its +interest only in the present and the future. He took a course of +reading and consulted with Mr. Charles A. Dana, editor of the _New York +Sun_, who had become interested in his work and had written him several +voluntary letters of commendation. Mr. Dana gave material help in the +selection of subjects and writers; and was intensely amused and +interested by the manner in which his youthful confrere "dressed up" +the titles of what might otherwise have looked like commonplace +articles. + +"I know," said Bok to the elder editor, "it smacks a little of the +sensational, Mr. Dana, but the purpose I have in mind of showing the +young people of to-day that some great things happened before they came +on the stage seems to me to make it worth while." + +Mr. Dana agreed with this view, supplemented every effort of the +Philadelphia editor in several subsequent talks, and in 1897 _The +Ladies' Home Journal_ began one of the most popular series it ever +published. It was called "Great Personal Events," and the picturesque +titles explained them. He first pictured the enthusiastic evening +"When Jenny Lind Sang in Castle Garden," and, as Bok added to pique +curiosity, "when people paid $20 to sit in rowboats to hear the Swedish +nightingale." + +This was followed by an account of the astonishing episode "When Henry +Ward Beecher Sold Slaves in Plymouth Pulpit"; the picturesque journey +"When Louis Kossuth Rode Up Broadway"; the triumphant tour "When +General Grant Went Round the World"; the forgotten story of "When an +Actress Was the Lady of the White House"; the sensational striking of +the rich silver vein "When Mackay Struck the Great Bonanza"; the +hitherto little-known instance "When Louis Philippe Taught School in +Philadelphia"; and even the lesser-known fact of the residence of the +brother of Napoleon Bonaparte in America, "When the King of Spain Lived +on the Banks of the Schuylkill"; while the story of "When John Wesley +Preached in Georgia" surprised nearly every Methodist, as so few had +known that the founder of their church had ever visited America. Each +month picturesque event followed graphic happening, and never was +unwritten history more readily read by the young, or the memories of +the older folk more catered to than in this series which won new +friends for the magazine on every hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS + +The influence of his grandfather and the injunction of his grandmother +to her sons that each "should make the world a better or a more +beautiful place to live in" now began to be manifest in the grandson. +Edward Bok was unconscious that it was this influence. What directly +led him to the signal piece of construction in which he engaged was the +wretched architecture of small houses. As he travelled through the +United States he was appalled by it. Where the houses were not +positively ugly, they were, to him, repellently ornate. Money was +wasted on useless turrets, filigree work, or machine-made +ornamentation. Bok found out that these small householders never +employed an architect, but that the houses were put up by builders from +their own plans. + +Bok turned to _The Ladies' Home Journal_ as his medium for making the +small-house architecture of America better. He realized the limitation +of space, but decided to do the best he could under the circumstances. +He believed he might serve thousands of his readers if he could make it +possible for them to secure, at moderate cost, plans for well-designed +houses by the leading domestic architects in the country. He consulted +a number of architects, only to find them unalterably opposed to the +idea. They disliked the publicity of magazine presentation; prices +differed too much in various parts of the country; and they did not +care to risk the criticism of their contemporaries. It was +"cheapening" their profession! + +Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and demonstrate the +futility of these arguments. At last he persuaded one architect to +co-operate with him, and in 1895 began the publication of a series of +houses which could be built, approximately, for from one thousand five +hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The idea attracted attention +at once, and the architect-author was swamped with letters and +inquiries regarding his plans. + +This proved Bok's instinct to be correct as to the public willingness +to accept such designs; upon this proof he succeeded in winning over +two additional architects to make plans. He offered his readers full +building specifications and plans to scale of the houses with estimates +from four builders in different parts of the United States for five +dollars a set. The plans and specifications were so complete in every +detail that any builder could build the house from them. + +A storm of criticism now arose from architects and builders all over +the country, the architects claiming that Bok was taking "the bread out +of their mouths" by the sale of plans, and local builders vigorously +questioned the accuracy of the estimates. But Bok knew he was right +and persevered. + +Slowly but surely he won the approval of the leading architects, who +saw that he was appealing to a class of house-builders who could not +afford to pay an architect's fee, and that, with his wide circulation, +he might become an influence for better architecture through these +small houses. The sets of plans and specifications sold by the +thousands. It was not long before the magazine was able to present +small-house plans by the foremost architects of the country, whose +services the average householder could otherwise never have dreamed of +securing. + +Bok not only saw an opportunity to better the exterior of the small +houses, but he determined that each plan published should provide for +two essentials; every servant's room should have two windows to insure +cross-ventilation, and contain twice the number of cubic feet usually +given to such rooms; and in place of the American parlor, which he +considered a useless room, should be substituted either a living-room +or a library. He did not point to these improvements, every plan +simply presented the larger servant's room and did not present a +parlor. It is a singular fact that of the tens of thousands of plans +sold, not a purchaser ever noticed the absence of a parlor except one +woman in Brookline, Mass., who, in erecting a group of twenty-five +"_Journal_ houses," discovered after she had built ten that not one +contained a parlor! + +For nearly twenty-five years Bok continued to publish pictures of +houses and plans. Entire colonies of "_Ladies' Home Journal_ houses" +have sprung up, and building promoters have built complete suburban +developments with them. How many of these homes have been erected it +is, of course, impossible to say; the number certainly runs into the +thousands. + +It was one of the most constructive and far-reaching pieces of work +that Bok did during his editorial career--a fact now recognized by all +architects. Shortly before Stanford White passed away, he wrote: "I +firmly believe that Edward Bok has more completely influenced American +domestic architecture for the better than any man in this generation. +When he began, I was short-sighted enough to discourage him, and +refused to co-operate with him. If Bok came to me now, I would not +only make plans for him, but I would waive any fee for them in +retribution for my early mistake." + +Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the small house, and +the development of the grounds around the homes which he had been +instrumental in putting on the earth. He encountered no opposition +here. The publication of small gardens for small houses finally ran +into hundreds of pages, the magazine supplying planting plans and full +directions as to when and how to plant--this time without cost. + +Next the editor decided to see what he could do for the better and +simpler furnishing of the small American home. Here was a field almost +limitless in possible improvement, but he wanted to approach it in a +new way. The best method baffled him until one day he met a woman +friend who told him that she was on her way to a funeral at a friend's +home. + +"I didn't know you were so well acquainted with Mrs. S----," said Bok. + +"I wasn't, as a matter of fact," replied the woman. + +"I'll be perfectly frank; I am going to the funeral just to see how +Mrs. S----'s house is furnished. She was always thought to have great +taste, you know, and, whether you know it or not, a woman is always +keen to look into another woman's home." + +Bok realized that he had found the method of presentation for his +interior-furnishing plan if he could secure photographs of the most +carefully furnished homes in America. He immediately employed the best +available expert, and within six months there came to him an assorted +collection of over a thousand photographs of well-furnished rooms. The +best were selected, and a series of photographic pages called "Inside +of 100 Homes" was begun. The editor's woman friend had correctly +pointed the way to him, for this series won for his magazine the +enviable distinction of being the first magazine of standing to reach +the then marvellous record of a circulation of one million copies a +month. The editions containing the series were sold out as fast as +they could be printed. + +The editor followed this up with another successful series, again +pictorial. He realized that to explain good taste in furnishing by +text was almost impossible. So he started a series of all-picture +pages called "Good Taste and Bad Taste." He presented a chair that was +bad in lines and either useless or uncomfortable to sit in, and +explained where and why it was bad; and then put a good chair next to +it, and explained where and why it was good. + +The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effective; the pictures +told their story as no printed word could have done, and furniture +manufacturers and dealers all over the country, feeling the pressure +from their customers, began to put on the market the tables, chairs, +divans, bedsteads, and dressing-tables which the magazine was +portraying as examples of good taste. It was amazing that, within five +years, the physical appearance of domestic furniture in the stores +completely changed. + +The next undertaking was a systematic plan for improving the pictures +on the walls of the American home. Bok was employing the best artists +of the day: Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, W. L. +Taylor, Albert Lynch, Will H. Low, W. T. Smedley, Irving R. Wiles, and +others. As his magazine was rolled to go through the mails, the +pictures naturally suffered; Bok therefore decided to print a special +edition of each important picture that he published, an edition on +plate-paper, without text, and offered to his readers at ten cents a +copy. Within a year he had sold nearly one hundred thousand copies, +such pictures as W. L. Taylor's "The Hanging of the Crane" and +"Home-Keeping Hearts" being particularly popular. + +But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of Bok's +cherished dream; the reproduction, in enormous numbers, of the greatest +pictures in the world in their original colors. The plan, however, was +not for the moment feasible; the cost of the four-color process was at +that time prohibitive, and Bok had to abandon it. But he never lost +sight of it. He knew the hour would come when he could carry it out, +and he bided his time. + +It was not until years later that his opportunity came, when he +immediately made up his mind to seize it. The magazine had installed a +battery of four-color presses; the color-work in the periodical was +attracting universal attention, and after all stages of experimentation +had been passed, Bok decided to make his dream a reality. He sought +the co-operation of the owners of the greatest private art galleries in +the country: J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry C. Frick, Joseph E. Widener, +George W. Elkins, John G. Johnson, Charles P. Taft, Mrs. John L. +Gardner, Charles L. Freer, Mrs. Havemeyer, and the owners of the +Benjamin Altman Collection, and sought permission to reproduce their +greatest paintings. + +Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any process adequately to +reproduce their masterpieces, the owners heartily co-operated with Bok. +But Bok's co-editors discouraged his plan, since it would involve +endless labor, the exclusive services of a corps of photographers and +engravers, and the employment of the most careful pressmen available in +the United States. The editor realized that the obstacles were +numerous and that the expense would be enormous; but he felt sure that +the American public was ready for his idea. And early in 1912 he +announced his series and began its publication. + +The most wonderful Rembrandt, Velasquez, Turner, Hobbema, Van Dyck, +Raphael, Frans Hals, Romney, Gainsborough, Whistler, Corot, Mauve, +Vermeer, Fragonard, Botticelli, and Titian reproductions followed in +such rapid succession as fairly to daze the magazine readers. Four +pictures were given in each number, and the faithfulness of the +reproductions astonished even their owners. The success of the series +was beyond Bok's own best hopes. He was printing and selling one and +three-quarter million copies of each issue of his magazine; and before +he was through he had presented to American homes throughout the +breadth of the country over seventy million reproductions of forty +separate masterpieces of art. + +The dream of years had come true. + +Bok had begun with the exterior of the small American house and made an +impression upon it; he had brought the love of flowers into the hearts +of thousands of small householders who had never thought they could +have an artistic garden within a small area; he had changed the lines +of furniture, and he had put better art on the walls of these homes. +He had conceived a full-rounded scheme, and he had carried it out. + +It was a peculiar satisfaction to Bok that Theodore Roosevelt once +summed up this piece of work in these words: "Bok is the only man I +ever heard of who changed, for the better, the architecture of an +entire nation, and he did it so quickly and yet so effectively that we +didn't know it was begun before it was finished. That is a mighty big +job for one man to have done." + + +In 1905 and in previous years the casualties resulting from fireworks +on the Fourth of July averaged from five to six thousand each year. +The humorous weekly _Life_ and the _Chicago Tribune_ had been for some +time agitating a restricted use of fireworks on the national fete day, +but nevertheless the list of casualties kept creeping to higher +figures. Bok decided to help by arousing the parents of America, in +whose hands, after all, lay the remedy. He began a series of articles +in the magazine, showing what had happened over a period of years, the +criminality of allowing so many young lives to be snuffed out, and +suggested how parents could help by prohibiting the deadly firecrackers +and cannon, and how organizations could assist by influencing the +passing of city ordinances. Each recurring January, _The Journal_ +returned to the subject, looking forward to the coming Fourth. It was +a deep-rooted custom to eradicate, and powerful influences, in the form +of thousands of small storekeepers, were at work upon local officials +to pay no heed to the agitation. Gradually public opinion changed. +The newspapers joined in the cry; women's organizations insisted upon +action from local municipal bodies. + +Finally, the civic spirit in Cleveland, Ohio, forced the passage of a +city ordinance prohibiting the sale or use of fireworks on the Fourth. +The following year when Cleveland reported no casualties as compared to +an ugly list for the previous Fourth, a distinct impression was made +upon other cities. Gradually, other municipalities took action, and +year by year the list of Fourth of July casualties grew perceptibly +shorter. New York City was now induced to join the list of prohibitive +cities, by a personal appeal made to its mayor by Bok, and on the +succeeding Fourth of July the city authorities, on behalf of the people +of New York City, conferred a gold medal upon Edward Bok for his +services in connection with the birth of the new Fourth in that city. + +There still remains much to be done in cities as yet unawakened; but a +comparison of the list of casualties of 1920 with that of 1905 proves +the growth in enlightened public sentiment in fifteen years to have +been steadily increasing. It is an instance not of Bok taking the +initiative--that had already been taken--but of throwing the whole +force of the magazine with those working in the field to help. It is +the American woman who is primarily responsible for the safe and sane +Fourth, so far as it already exists in this country to-day, and it is +the American woman who can make it universal. + + +Bok's interest and knowledge in civic matters had now peculiarly +prepared him for a personal adventure into community work. Merion, +where he lived, was one of the most beautiful of the many suburbs that +surround the Quaker City; but, like hundreds of similar communities, +there had been developed in it no civic interest. Some of the most +successful business men of Philadelphia lived in Merion; they had +beautiful estates, which they maintained without regard to expense, but +also without regard to the community as a whole. They were busy men; +they came home tired after a day in the city; they considered +themselves good citizens if they kept their own places sightly, but the +idea of devoting their evenings to the problems of their community had +never occurred to them before the evening when two of Bok's neighbors +called to ask his help in forming a civic association. + +A canvass of the sentiment of the neighborhood revealed the unanimous +opinion that the experiment, if attempted, would be a failure,--an +attitude not by any means confined to the residents of Merion! Bok +decided to test it out; he called together twenty of his neighbors, put +the suggestion before them and asked for two thousand dollars as a +start, so that a paid secretary might be engaged, since the men +themselves were too busy to attend to the details of the work. The +amount was immediately subscribed, and in 1913 The Merion Civic +Association applied for a charter and began its existence. + +The leading men in the community were elected as a Board of Directors, +and a salaried secretary was engaged to carry out the directions of the +Board. The association adopted the motto: "To be nation right, and +state right, we must first be community right." Three objectives were +selected "with which to attract community interest and membership; +safety to life, in the form of proper police protection; safety to +property, in the form of adequate hydrant and fire-engine service; and +safety to health, in careful supervision of the water and milk used in +the community. + +"The three S's," as they were called, brought an immediate response. +They were practical in their appeal, and members began to come in. The +police force was increased from one officer at night and none in the +day, to three at night and two during the day, and to this the +Association added two special night officers of its own. Private +detectives were intermittently brought in to "check up" and see that +the service was vigilant. A fire hydrant was placed within seven +hundred feet of every house, with the insurance rates reduced from +twelve and one-half to thirty per cent; the services of three +fire-engine companies was arranged for. Fire-gongs were introduced +into the community to guard against danger from interruption of +telephone service. The water supply was chemically analyzed each month +and the milk supply carefully scrutinized. One hundred and fifty new +electric-light posts specially designed, and pronounced by experts as +the most beautiful and practical road lamps ever introduced into any +community, were erected, making Merion the best-lighted community in +its vicinity. + +At every corner was erected an artistically designed cast-iron road +sign; instead of the unsightly wooden ones, cast-iron automobile +warnings were placed at every dangerous spot; community +bulletin-boards, to supplant the display of notices on trees and poles, +were placed at the railroad station; litter-cans were distributed over +the entire community; a new railroad station and post-office were +secured; the station grounds were laid out as a garden by a landscape +architect; new roads of permanent construction, from curb to curb, were +laid down; uniform tree-planting along the roads was introduced; +bird-houses were made and sold, so as to attract bird-life to the +community; toll-gates were abolished along the two main arteries of +travel; the removal of all telegraph and telephone poles was begun; an +efficient Boy Scout troop was organized, and an American Legion post; +the automobile speed limit was reduced from twenty-four to fifteen +miles as a protection to children; roads were regularly swept, cleaned, +and oiled, and uniform sidewalks advocated and secured. + +Within seven years so efficiently had the Association functioned that +its work attracted attention far beyond the immediate neighborhood of +Philadelphia, and caused Theodore Roosevelt voluntarily to select it as +a subject for a special magazine article in which he declared it to +"stand as a model in civic matters." To-day it may be conservatively +said of The Merion Civic Association that it is pointed out as one of +the most successful suburban civic efforts in the country; as Doctor +Lyman Abbott said in _The Outlook_, it has made "Merion a model suburb, +which may standardize ideal suburban life, certainly for Philadelphia, +possibly for the United States." + +When the armistice was signed in November, 1918, the Association +immediately canvassed the neighborhood to erect a suitable Tribute +House, as a memorial to the eighty-three Merion boys who had gone into +the Great War: a public building which would comprise a community +centre, with an American Legion Post room, a Boy Scout house, an +auditorium, and a meeting-place for the civic activities of Merion. A +subscription was raised, and plans were already drawn for the Tribute +House, when Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, president of the Victor Talking +Machine Company, one of the strong supporters of The Merion Civic +Association, presented his entire estate of twelve acres, the finest in +Merion, to the community, and agreed to build a Tribute House at his +own expense. The grounds represented a gift of two hundred thousand +dollars, and the building a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand +dollars. This building, now about to be erected, will be one of the +most beautiful and complete community centres in the United States. + +Perhaps no other suburban civic effort proves the efficiency of +community co-operation so well as does the seven years' work of The +Merion Civic Association. It is a practical demonstration of what a +community can do for itself by concerted action. It preached, from the +very start, the gospel of united service; it translated into actual +practice the doctrine of being one's brother's keeper, and it taught +the invaluable habit of collective action. The Association has no +legal powers; it rules solely by persuasion; it accomplishes by the +power of combination; by a spirit of the community for the community. + +When The Merion Civic Association was conceived, the spirit of local +pride was seemingly not present in the community. As a matter of fact, +it was there as it is in practically every neighborhood; it was simply +dormant; it had to be awakened, and its value brought vividly to the +community consciousness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S INFLUENCE + +When the virile figure of Theodore Roosevelt swung down the national +highway, Bok was one of thousands of young men who felt strongly the +attraction of his personality. Colonel Roosevelt was only five years +the senior of the editor; he spoke, therefore, as one of his own years. +The energy with which he said and did things appealed to Bok. He made +Americanism something more real, more stirring than Bok had ever felt +it; he explained national questions in a way that caught Bok's fancy +and came within his comprehension. Bok's lines had been cast with many +of the great men of the day, but he felt that there was something +distinctive about the personality of this man: his method of doing +things and his way of saying things. Bok observed everything Colonel +Roosevelt did and read everything he wrote. + +The editor now sought an opportunity to know personally the man whom he +admired. It came at a dinner at the University Club, and Colonel +Roosevelt suggested that they meet there the following day for a +"talk-fest." For three hours the two talked together. The fact that +Colonel Roosevelt was of Dutch ancestry interested Bok; that Bok was +actually of Dutch birth made a strong appeal to the Colonel. With his +tremendous breadth of interests, Roosevelt, Bok found, had followed him +quite closely in his work, and was familiar with "its high points," as +he called them. "We must work for the same ends," said the Colonel, +"you in your way, I in mine. But our lines are bound to cross. You +and I can each become good Americans by giving our best to make America +better. With the Dutch stock there is in both of us, there's no limit +to what we can do. Let's go to it." Naturally that talk left the two +firm friends. + +Bok felt somehow that he had been given a new draft of Americanism; the +word took on a new meaning for him; it stood for something different, +something deeper and finer than before. And every subsequent talk with +Roosevelt deepened the feeling and stirred Bok's deepest ambitions. +"Go to it, you Dutchman," Roosevelt would say, and Bok would go to it. +A talk with Roosevelt always left him feeling as if mountains were the +easiest things in the world to move. + +One of Theodore Roosevelt's arguments which made a deep impression upon +Bok was that no man had a right to devote his entire life to the making +of money. "You are in a peculiar position," said the man of Oyster Bay +one day to Bok; "you are in that happy position where you can make +money and do good at the same time. A man wields a tremendous power +for good or for evil who is welcomed into a million homes and read with +confidence. That's fine, and is all right so far as it goes, and in +your case it goes very far. Still, there remains more for you to do. +The public has built up for you a personality: now give that +personality to whatever interests you in contact with your immediate +fellow-men: something in your neighborhood, your city, or your State. +With one hand work and write to your national audience: let no fads +sway you. Hew close to the line. But, with the other hand, swing into +the life immediately around you. Think it over." + +Bok did think it over. He was now realizing the dream of his life for +which he had worked: his means were sufficient to give his mother every +comfort; to install her in the most comfortable surroundings wherever +she chose to live; to make it possible for her to spend the winters in +the United States and the summers in the Netherlands, and thus to keep +in touch with her family and friends in both countries. He had for +years toiled unceasingly to reach this point: he felt he had now +achieved at least one goal. + +He had now turned instinctively to the making of a home for himself. +After an engagement of four years he had been married, on October 22, +1896, to Mary Louise Curtis, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus H. K. +Curtis; two sons had been born to them; he had built and was occupying +a house at Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb six miles from the +Philadelphia City Hall. When she was in this country his mother lived +with him, and also his brother, and, with a strong belief in life +insurance, he had seen to it that his family was provided for in case +of personal incapacity or of his demise. In other words, he felt that +he had put his own house in order; he had carried out what he felt is +every man's duty: to be, first of all, a careful and adequate provider +for his family. He was now at the point where he could begin to work +for another goal, the goal that he felt so few American men saw: the +point in his life where he could retire from the call of duty and +follow the call of inclination. + +At the age of forty he tried to look ahead and plan out his life as far +as he could. Barring unforeseen obstacles, he determined to retire +from active business when he reached his fiftieth year, and give the +remainder of his life over to those interests and influences which he +assumed now as part of his life, and which, at fifty, should seem to +him best worth while. He realized that in order to do this he must do +two things: he must husband his financial resources and he must begin +to accumulate a mental reserve. + +The wide public acceptance of the periodical which he edited naturally +brought a share of financial success to him. He had experienced +poverty, and as he subsequently wrote, in an article called "Why I +Believe in Poverty," he was deeply grateful for his experience. He had +known what it was to be poor; he had seen others dear to him suffer for +the bare necessities; there was, in fact, not a single step on that +hard road that he had not travelled. He could, therefore, sympathize +with the fullest understanding with those similarly situated, could +help as one who knew from practice and not from theory. He realized +what a marvellous blessing poverty can be; but as a condition to +experience, to derive from it poignant lessons, and then to get out of; +not as a condition to stay in. + +Of course many said to Bok when he wrote the article in which he +expressed these beliefs: "That's all very well; easy enough to say, but +how can you get out of it?" Bok realized that he could not definitely +show any one the way. No one had shown him. No two persons can find +the same way out. Bok determined to lift himself out of poverty +because his mother was not born in it, did not belong in it, and could +not stand it. That gave him the first essential: a purpose. Then he +backed up the purpose with effort and an ever-ready willingness to +work, and to work at anything that came his way, no matter what it was, +so long as it meant "the way out." He did not pick and choose; he took +what came, and did it in the best way he knew how; and when he did not +like what he was doing he still did it as well as he could while he was +doing it, but always with an eye single to the purpose not to do it any +longer than was strictly necessary. He used every rung in the ladder +as a rung to the one above. He always gave more than his particular +position or salary asked for. He never worked by the clock; always by +the job; and saw that it was well done regardless of the time it took +to do it. This meant effort, of course, untiring, ceaseless, +unsparing; and it meant work, hard as nails. + +He was particularly careful never to live up to his income; and as his +income increased he increased not the percentage of expenditure but the +percentage of saving. Thrift was, of course, inborn with him as a +Dutchman, but the necessity for it as a prime factor in life was burned +into him by his experience with poverty. But he interpreted thrift not +as a trait of niggardliness, but as Theodore Roosevelt interpreted it: +common sense applied to spending. + +At forty, therefore, he felt he had learned the first essential to +carrying out his idea of retirement at fifty. + +The second essential--varied interests outside of his business upon +which he could rely on relinquishing his duties--he had not cultivated. +He had quite naturally, in line with his belief that concentration +means success, immersed himself in his business to the exclusion of +almost everything else. He felt that he could now spare a certain +percentage of his time to follow Theodore Roosevelt's ideas and let the +breezes of other worlds blow over him. In that way he could do as +Roosevelt suggested and as Bok now firmly believed was right: he could +develop himself along broader lines, albeit the lines of his daily work +were broadening in and of themselves, and he could so develop a new set +of inner resources upon which he could draw when the time came to +relinquish his editorial position. + +He saw, on every side, the pathetic figures of men who could not let go +after their greatest usefulness was past; of other men who dropped +before they realized their arrival at the end of the road; and, most +pathetic of all, of men who having retired, but because of lack of +inner resources did not know what to do with themselves, had become a +trial to themselves, their families, and their communities. + +Bok decided that, given health and mental freshness, he would say +good-by to his public before his public might decide to say good-by to +him. So, at forty, he candidly faced the facts of life and began to +prepare himself for his retirement at fifty under circumstances that +would be of his own making and not those of others. + +And thereby Edward Bok proved that he was still, by instinct, a +Dutchman, and had not in his thirty-four years of residence in the +United States become so thoroughly Americanized as he believed. + +However, it was an American, albeit of Dutch extraction, one whom he +believed to be the greatest American in his own day, who had set him +thinking and shown him the way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PRESIDENT AND THE BOY + +One of the incidents connected with Edward Bok that Theodore Roosevelt +never forgot was when Bok's eldest boy chose the Colonel as a Christmas +present. And no incident better portrays the wonderful character of +the Colonel than did his remarkable response to the compliment. + +A vicious attack of double pneumonia had left the heart of the boy very +weak--and Christmas was close by! So the father said: + +"It's a quiet Christmas for you this year, boy. Suppose you do this: +think of the one thing in the world that you would rather have than +anything else and I'll give you that, and that will have to be your +Christmas." + +"I know now," came the instant reply. + +"But the world is a big place, and there are lots of things in it, you +know." + +"I know that," said the boy, "but this is something I have wanted for a +long time, and would rather have than anything else in the world." And +he looked as if he meant it. + +"Well, out with it, then, if you're so sure." + +And to the father's astonished ears came this request: + +"Take me to Washington as soon as my heart is all right, introduce me +to President Roosevelt, and let me shake hands with him." + +"All right," said the father, after recovering from his surprise. +"I'll see whether I can fix it." And that morning a letter went to the +President saying that he had been chosen as a Christmas present. +Naturally, any man would have felt pleased, no matter how high his +station, and for Theodore Roosevelt, father of boys, the message had a +special appeal. + +The letter had no sooner reached Washington than back came an answer, +addressed not to the father but to the boy! It read: + + +The White House, Washington. + +November 13th, 1907. + +DEAR CURTIS: + +Your father has just written me, and I want him to bring you on and +shake hands with me as soon as you are well enough to travel. Then I +am going to give you, myself, a copy of the book containing my hunting +trips since I have been President; unless you will wait until the new +edition, which contains two more chapters, is out. If so, I will send +it to you, as this new edition probably won't be ready when you come on +here. + +Give my warm regards to your father and mother. + +Sincerely yours, + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + +Here was joy serene! But the boy's heart had acted queerly for a few +days, and so the father wrote, thanked the President, and said that as +soon as the heart moderated a bit the letter would be given the boy. +It was a rare bit of consideration that now followed. No sooner had +the father's letter reached the White House than an answer came back by +first post--this time with a special-delivery stamp on it. It was +Theodore Roosevelt, the father, who wrote this time; his mind and time +filled with affairs of state, and yet full of tender thoughtfulness for +a little boy: + + +DEAR MR. BOK:-- + +I have your letter of the 16th instant. I hope the little fellow will +soon be all right. Instead of giving him my letter, give him a message +from me based on the letter, if that will be better for him. Tell Mrs. +Bok how deeply Mrs. Roosevelt and I sympathize with her. We know just +how she feels. + +Sincerely yours, + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + +"That's pretty fine consideration," said the father. He got the letter +during a business conference and he read it aloud to the group of +business men. Some there were in that group who keenly differed with +the President on national issues, but they were all fathers, and two of +the sturdiest turned and walked to the window as they said: + +"Yes, that is fine!" + +Then came the boy's pleasure when he was handed the letter; the next +few days were spent inditing an answer to "my friend, the President." +At last the momentous epistle seemed satisfactory, and off to the busy +presidential desk went the boyish note, full of thanks and assurances +that he would come just as soon as he could, and that Mr. Roosevelt +must not get impatient! + +The "soon as he could" time, however, did not come as quickly as all +had hoped!--a little heart pumped for days full of oxygen and +accelerated by hypodermic injections is slow to mend. But the +President's framed letter, hanging on the spot on the wall first seen +in the morning, was a daily consolation. + +Then, in March, although four months after the promise--and it would +not have been strange, in his busy life, for the President to have +forgotten or at least overlooked it--on the very day that the book was +published came a special "large-paper" copy of _The Outdoor Pastimes of +an American Hunter_, and on the fly-leaf there greeted the boy, in the +President's own hand: + + +To MASTER CURTIS BOK, + +With the best wishes of his friend, + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + +March 11, 1908. + + +The boy's cup was now full, and so said his letter to the President. +And the President wrote back to the father: "I am really immensely +amused and interested, and shall be mighty glad to see the little +fellow." + +In the spring, on a beautiful May day, came the great moment. The +mother had to go along, the boy insisted, to see the great event, and +so the trio found themselves shaking the hand of the President's +secretary at the White House. + +"Oh, the President is looking for you, all right," he said to the boy, +and then the next moment the three were in a large room. Mr. +Roosevelt, with beaming face, was already striding across the room, and +with a "Well, well, and so this is my friend Curtis!" the two stood +looking into each other's faces, each fairly wreathed in smiles, and +each industriously shaking the hand of the other. + +"Yes, Mr. President, I'm mighty glad to see you!" said the boy. + +"I am glad to see you, Curtis," returned Mr. Roosevelt. + +Then there came a white rose from the presidential desk for the mother, +but after that father and mother might as well have faded away. Nobody +existed save the President and the boy. The anteroom was full; in the +Cabinet-room a delegation waited to be addressed. But affairs of state +were at a complete standstill as, with boyish zeal, the President +became oblivious to all but the boy before him. + +"Now, Curtis, I've got some pictures here of bears that a friend of +mine has just shot. Look at that whopper, fifteen hundred +pounds--that's as much as a horse weighs, you know. Now, my friend +shot him"--and it was a toss-up who was the more keenly interested, the +real boy or the man-boy, as picture after picture came out and bear +adventure crowded upon the heels of bear adventure. + +"Gee, he's a corker, all right!" came from the boy at one point, and +then, from the President: "That's right, he is a corker. Now you see +his head here"--and then both were off again. + +The private secretary came in at this point and whispered in the +President's ear. + +"I know, I know. I'll see him later. Say that I am very busy now." +And the face beamed with smiles. + +"Now, Mr. President--" began the father. + +"No, sir; no, sir; not at all. Affairs can wait. This is a +long-standing engagement between Curtis and me, and that must come +first. Isn't that so, Curtis?" + +Of course the boy agreed. + +Suddenly the boy looked around the room and said: + +"Where's your gun, Mr. President? Got it here?" + +"No," laughingly came from the President, "but I'll tell you"--and then +the two heads were together again. + +A moment for breath-taking came, and the boy said: + +"Aren't you ever afraid of being shot?" + +"You mean while I am hunting?" + +"Oh, no. I mean as President." + +"No," replied the smiling President. "I'll tell you, Curtis; I'm too +busy to think about that. I have too many things to do to bother about +anything of that sort. When I was in battle I was always too anxious +to get to the front to think about the shots. And here--well, here I'm +too busy too. Never think about it. But I'll tell you, Curtis, there +are some men down there," pointing out of the window in the direction +of the capitol, "called the Congress, and if they would only give me +the four battleships I want, I'd be perfectly willing to have any one +take a crack at me." Then, for the first time recognizing the +existence of the parents, the President said: "And I don't know but if +they did pick me off I'd be pretty well ahead of the game." + +Just in that moment only did the boy-knowing President get a single +inch above the boy-interest. It was astonishing to see the natural +accuracy with which the man gauged the boy-level. + +"Now, how would you like to see a bear, Curtis?" came next, "I know +where there's a beauty, twelve hundred pounds." + +"Must be some bear!" interjected the boy. + +"That's what it is," put in the President. "Regular cinnamon-brown +type"--and then off went the talk to the big bear at the Washington +"Zoo" where the President was to send the boy. + +Then, after a little; "Now, Curtis, see those men over there in that +room. They've travelled from all parts of the country to come here at +my invitation, and I've got to make a little speech to them, and I'll +do that while you go off to see the bear." + +And then the hand came forth to say good-by. The boy put his in it, +each looked into the other's face, and on neither was there a place big +enough to put a ten-cent piece that was not wreathed in smiles. "He +certainly is all right," said the boy to the father, looking wistfully +after the President. + +Almost to the other room had the President gone when he, too, +instinctively looked back to find the boy following him with his eyes. +He stopped, wheeled around, and then the two instinctively sought each +other again. The President came back, the boy went forward. This +time each held out both hands, and as each looked once more into the +other's eyes a world of complete understanding was in both faces, and +every looker-on smiled with them. + +"Good-by, Curtis," came at last from the President. + +"Good-by, Mr. President," came from the boy. Then, with another +pump-handly shake and with a "Gee, but he's great, all right!" the boy +went out to see the cinnamon-bear at the "Zoo," and to live it all over +in the days to come. + +Two boy-hearts had met, although one of them belonged to the President +of the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ADVENTURES IN MUSIC + +One of the misfortunes of Edward Bok's training, which he realized more +clearly as time went on, was that music had little or no place in his +life. His mother did not play; and aside from the fact that his father +and mother were patrons of the opera during their residence in The +Netherlands, the musical atmosphere was lacking in his home. He +realized how welcome an outlet music might be in his now busy life. So +what he lacked himself and realized as a distinct omission in his own +life he decided to make possible for others. + +_The Ladies' Home Journal_ began to strike a definite musical note. It +first caught the eye and ear of its public by presenting the popular +new marches by John Philip Sousa; and when the comic opera of "Robin +Hood" became the favorite of the day, it secured all the new +compositions by Reginald de Koven. Following these, it introduced its +readers to new compositions by Sir Arthur Sullivan, Tosti, Moszkowski, +Richard Strauss, Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, Edouard Strauss, and +Mascagni. Bok induced Josef Hofmann to give a series of piano lessons +in his magazine, and Madame Marchesi a series of vocal lessons. _The +Journal_ introduced its readers to all the great instrumental and vocal +artists of the day through articles; it offered prizes for the best +piano and vocal compositions; it had the leading critics of New York, +Boston, and Chicago write articles explanatory of orchestral music and +how to listen to music. + +Bok was early attracted by the abilities of Josef Hofmann. In 1898, he +met the pianist, who was then twenty-two years old. Of his musical +ability Bok could not judge, but he was much impressed by his unusual +mentality, and soon both learned and felt that Hofmann's art was deeply +and firmly rooted. Hofmann had a wider knowledge of affairs than other +musicians whom Bok had met; he had not narrowed his interests to his +own art. He was striving to achieve a position in his art, and, +finding that he had literary ability, Bok asked him to write a +reminiscent article on his famous master, Rubinstein. + +This was followed by other articles; the publication of his new +mazurka; still further articles; and then, in 1907, Bok offered him a +regular department in the magazine and a salaried editorship on his +staff. + +Bok's musical friends and the music critics tried to convince the +editor that Hofmann's art lay not so deep as Bok imagined; that he had +been a child prodigy, and would end where all child prodigies +invariably end--opinions which make curious reading now in view of +Hofmann's commanding position in the world of music. But while Bok +lacked musical knowledge, his instinct led him to adhere to his belief +in Hofmann; and for twelve years, until Bok's retirement as editor, the +pianist was a regular contributor to the magazine. His success was, of +course, unquestioned. He answered hundreds of questions sent him by +his readers, and these answers furnished such valuable advice for piano +students that two volumes were made in book form and are to-day used by +piano teachers and students as authoritative guides. + +Meanwhile, Bok's marriage had brought music directly into his domestic +circle. Mrs. Bok loved music, was a pianist herself, and sought to +acquaint her husband with what his former training had omitted. +Hofmann and Bok had become strong friends outside of the editorial +relation, and the pianist frequently visited the Bok home. But it was +some time, even with these influences surrounding him, before music +began to play any real part in Bok's own life. + +He attended the opera occasionally; more or less under protest, because +of its length, and because his mind was too practical for the indirect +operatic form. He could not remain patient at a recital; the effort to +listen to one performer for an hour and a half was too severe a tax +upon his restless nature. The Philadelphia Orchestra gave a symphony +concert each Saturday evening, and Bok dreaded the coming of that +evening in each week for fear of being taken to hear music which he was +convinced was "over his head." + +Like many men of his practical nature, he had made up his mind on this +point without ever having heard such a concert. The word "symphony" +was enough; it conveyed to him a form of the highest music quite beyond +his comprehension. Then, too, in the back of his mind there was the +feeling that, while he was perfectly willing to offer the best that the +musical world afforded in his magazine, his readers were primarily +women, and the appeal of music, after all, he felt was largely, if not +wholly, to the feminine nature. It was very satisfying to him to hear +his wife play in the evening; but when it came to public concerts, they +were not for his masculine nature. In other words, Bok shared the all +too common masculine notion that music is for women and has little +place in the lives of men. + +One day Josef Hofmann gave Bok an entirely new point of view. The +artist was rehearsing in Philadelphia for an appearance with the +orchestra, and the pianist was telling Bok and his wife of the desire +of Leopold Stokowski, who had recently become conductor of the +Philadelphia Orchestra, to eliminate encores from his symphonic +programmes; he wanted to begin the experiment with Hofmann's appearance +that week. This was a novel thought to Bok: why eliminate encores from +any concert? If he liked the way any performer played, he had always +done his share to secure an encore. Why should not the public have an +encore if it desired it, and why should a conductor or a performer +object? Hofmann explained to him the entity of a symphonic programme; +that it was made up with one composition in relation to the others as a +sympathetic unit, and that an encore was an intrusion, disturbing the +harmony of the whole. + +"I wish you would let Stokowski come out and explain to you what he is +trying to do," said Hofmann. "He knows what he wants, and he is right +in his efforts; but he doesn't know how to educate the public. There +is where you could help him." + +But Bok had no desire to meet Stokowski. He mentally pictured the +conductor: long hair; feet never touching the earth; temperament +galore; he knew them! And he had no wish to introduce the type into +his home life. + +Mrs. Bok, however, ably seconded Josef Hofmann, and endeavored to +dissipate Bok's preconceived notion, with the result that Stokowski +came to the Bok home. + +Bok was not slow to see Stokowski was quite the reverse of his mental +picture, and became intensely interested in the youthful conductor's +practical way of looking at things. It was agreed that the encore +"bull" was to be taken by the horns that week; that no matter what the +ovation to Hofmann might be, however the public might clamor, no encore +was to be forthcoming; and Bok was to give the public an explanation +during the following week. The next concert was to present Mischa +Elman, and his co-operation was assured so that continuity of effort +might be counted upon. + +In order to have first-hand information, Bok attended the concert that +Saturday evening. The symphony, Dvorak's "New World Symphony," amazed +Bok by its beauty; he was more astonished that he could so easily grasp +any music in symphonic form. He was equally surprised at the simple +beauty of the other numbers on the programme, and wondered not a little +at his own perfectly absorbed attention during Hofmann's playing of a +rather long concerto. + +The pianist's performance was so beautiful that the audience was +uproarious in its approval; it had calculated, of course, upon an +encore, and recalled the pianist again and again until he had appeared +and bowed his thanks several times. But there was no encore; the stage +hands appeared and moved the piano to one side, and the audience +relapsed into unsatisfied and rather bewildered silence. + +Then followed Bok's publicity work in the newspapers, beginning the +next day, exonerating Hofmann and explaining the situation. The +following week, with Mischa Elman as soloist, the audience once more +tried to have its way and its cherished encore, but again none was +forthcoming. Once more the newspapers explained; the battle was won, +and the no-encore rule has prevailed at the Philadelphia Orchestra +concerts from that day to this, with the public entirely resigned to +the idea and satisfied with the reason therefor. + +But the bewildered Bok could not make out exactly what had happened to +his preconceived notion about symphonic music. He attended the +following Saturday evening concert; listened to a Brahms symphony that +pleased him even more than had "The New World," and when, two weeks +later, he heard the Tschaikowski "Pathetique" and later the +"Unfinished" symphony, by Schubert, and a Beethoven symphony, attracted +by each in turn, he realized that his prejudice against the whole +question of symphonic music had been both wrongly conceived and +baseless. + +He now began to see the possibility of a whole world of beauty which up +to that time had been closed to him, and he made up his mind that he +would enter it. Somehow or other, he found the appeal of music did not +confine itself to women; it seemed to have a message for men. Then, +too, instead of dreading the approach of Saturday evenings, he was +looking forward to them, and invariably so arranged his engagements +that they might not interfere with his attendance at the orchestra +concerts. + +After a busy week, he discovered that nothing he had ever experienced +served to quiet him so much as these end-of-the-week concerts. They +were not too long, an hour and a half at the utmost; and, above all, +except now and then, when the conductor would take a flight into the +world of Bach, he found he followed him with at least a moderate degree +of intelligence; certainly with personal pleasure and inner +satisfaction. + +Bok concluded he would not read the articles he had published on the +meaning of the different "sections" of a symphony orchestra, or the +books issued on that subject. He would try to solve the mechanism of +an orchestra for himself, and ascertain as he went along the relation +that each portion bore to the other. When, therefore, in 1913, the +president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association asked him to become +a member of its Board of Directors, his acceptance was a natural step +in the gradual development of his interest in orchestral music. + +The public support given to orchestras now greatly interested Bok. He +was surprised to find that every symphony orchestra had a yearly +deficit. This he immediately attributed to faulty management; but on +investigating the whole question he learned that a symphony orchestra +could not possibly operate, at a profit or even on a self-sustaining +basis, because of its weekly change of programme, the incessant +rehearsals required, and the limited number of times it could actually +play within a contracted season. An annual deficit was inevitable. + +He found that the Philadelphia Orchestra had a small but faithful group +of guarantors who each year made good the deficit in addition to paying +for its concert seats. This did not seem to Bok a sound business plan; +it made of the orchestra a necessarily exclusive organization, +maintained by a few; and it gave out this impression to the general +public, which felt that it did not "belong," whereas the true relation +of public and orchestra was that of mutual dependence. Other +orchestras, he found, as, for example, the Boston Symphony and the New +York Philharmonic had their deficits met by one individual patron in +each case. This, to Bok's mind, was an even worse system, since it +entirely excluded the public, making the orchestra dependent on the +continued interest and life of a single man. + +In 1916 Bok sought Mr. Alexander Van Rensselaer, the president of the +Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and proposed that he, himself, +should guarantee the deficit of the orchestra for five years, provided +that during that period an endowment fund should be raised, contributed +by a large number of subscribers, and sufficient in amount to meet, +from its interest, the annual deficit. It was agreed that the donor +should remain in strict anonymity, an understanding which has been +adhered to until the present writing. + +The offer from the "anonymous donor," presented by the president, was +accepted by the Orchestra Association. A subscription to an endowment +fund was shortly afterward begun; and the amount had been brought to +eight hundred thousand dollars when the Great War interrupted any +further additions. In the autumn of 1919, however, a city-wide +campaign for an addition of one million dollars to the endowment fund +was launched. The amount was not only secured, but oversubscribed. +Thus, instead of a guarantee fund, contributed by thirteen hundred +subscribers, with the necessity for annual collection, an endowment +fund of one million eight hundred thousand dollars, contributed by +fourteen thousand subscribers, has been secured; and the Philadelphia +Orchestra has been promoted from a privately maintained organization to +a public institution in which fourteen thousand residents of +Philadelphia feel a proprietary interest. It has become in fact, as +well as in name, "our orchestra." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A WAR MAGAZINE AND WAR ACTIVITIES + +The success of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ went steadily forward. The +circulation had passed the previously unheard-of figure for a monthly +magazine of a million and a half copies per month; it had now touched a +million and three-quarters. + +And not only was the figure so high, but the circulation itself was +absolutely free from "water." The public could not obtain the magazine +through what are known as clubbing-rates, since no subscriber was +permitted to include any other magazine with it; years ago it had +abandoned the practice of offering premiums or consideration of any +kind to induce subscriptions; and the newsdealers were not allowed to +return unsold copies of the periodical. Hence every copy was either +purchased by the public at the full price at a news stand, or +subscribed for at its stated subscription price. It was, in short, an +authoritative circulation. And on every hand the question was being +asked: "How is it done? How is such a high circulation obtained?" + +Bok's invariable answer was that he gave his readers the very best of +the class of reading that he believed would interest them, and that he +spared neither effort nor expense to obtain it for them. When Mr. +Howells once asked him how he classified his audience, Bok replied: "We +appeal to the intelligent American woman rather than to the +intellectual type." And he gave her the best he could obtain. As he +knew her to be fond of the personal type of literature, he gave her in +succession Jane Addams's story of "My Fifteen Years at Hull House," and +the remarkable narration of Helen Keller's "Story of My Life"; he +invited Henry Van Dyke, who had never been in the Holy Land, to go +there, camp out in a tent, and then write a series of sketches, "Out of +Doors in the Holy Land"; he induced Lyman Abbott to tell the story of +"My Fifty Years as a Minister." He asked Gene Stratton Porter to tell +of her bird-experiences in the series: "What I Have Done with Birds"; +he persuaded Dean Hodges to turn from his work of training young +clergymen at the Episcopal Seminary, at Cambridge, and write one of the +most successful series of Bible stories for children ever printed; and +then he supplemented this feature for children by publishing Rudyard +Kipling's "Just So" stories and his "Puck of Pook's Hill." He induced +F. Hopkinson Smith to tell the best stories he had ever heard in his +wide travels in "The Man in the Arm Chair"; he got Kate Douglas Wiggin +to tell a country church experience of hers in "The Old Peabody Pew"; +and Jean Webster her knowledge of almshouse life in "Daddy Long Legs." + +The readers of _The Ladies' Home Journal_ realized that it searched the +whole field of endeavor in literature and art to secure what would +interest them, and they responded with their support. + +Another of Bok's methods in editing was to do the common thing in an +uncommon way. He had the faculty of putting old wine in new bottles +and the public liked it. His ideas were not new; he knew there were no +new ideas, but he presented his ideas in such a way that they seemed +new. It is a significant fact, too, that a large public will respond +more quickly to an idea than it will to a name. + + +When, early in 1917, events began so to shape themselves as directly to +point to the entrance of the United States into the Great War, Edward +Bok set himself to formulate a policy for _The Ladies' Home Journal_. +He knew that he was in an almost insurmountably difficult position. +The huge edition necessitated going to press fully six weeks in advance +of publication, and the preparation of material fully four weeks +previous to that. He could not, therefore, get much closer than ten +weeks to the date when his readers received the magazine. And he knew +that events, in war time, had a way of moving rapidly. + +Late in January he went to Washington, consulted those authorities who +could indicate possibilities to him better than any one else, and +found, as he had suspected, that the entry of the United States into +the war was a practical certainty; it was only a question of time. + +Bok went South for a month's holiday to get ready for the fray, and in +the saddle and on the golf links he formulated a policy. The +newspapers and weeklies would send innumerable correspondents to the +front, and obviously, with the necessity for going to press so far in +advance, _The Journal_ could not compete with them. They would depict +every activity in the field. There was but one logical thing for him +to do: ignore the "front" entirely, refuse all the offers of +correspondents, men and women, who wanted to go with the armies for his +magazine, and cover fully and practically the results of the war as +they would affect the women left behind. He went carefully over the +ground to see what these would be, along what particular lines women's +activities would be most likely to go, and then went back to Washington. + +It was now March. He conferred with the President, had his fears +confirmed, and offered all the resources of his magazine to the +government. His diagnosis of the situation was verified in every +detail by the authorities whom he consulted. _The Ladies' Home +Journal_ could best serve by keeping up the morale at home and by +helping to meet the problems that would confront the women; as the +President said: "Give help in the second line of defense." + +A year before, Bok had opened a separate editorial office in Washington +and had secured Dudley Hannon, the Washington correspondent for the +_New York Sun_, as his editor-in-charge. The purpose was to bring the +women of the country into a clearer understanding of their government +and a closer relation with it. This work had been so successful as to +necessitate a force of four offices and twenty stenographers. Bok now +placed this Washington office on a war-basis, bringing it into close +relation with every department of the government that would be +connected with the war activities. By this means, he had an editor and +an organized force on the spot, devoting full time to the preparation +of war material, with Mr. Hannon in daily conference with the +department chiefs to secure the newest developments. + +Bok learned that the country's first act would be to recruit for the +navy, so as to get this branch of the service into a state of +preparedness. He therefore secured Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant +secretary of the navy, to write an article explaining to mothers why +they should let their boys volunteer for the Navy and what it would +mean to them. + +He made arrangements at the American Red Cross Headquarters for an +official department to begin at once in the magazine, telling women the +first steps that would be taken by the Red Cross and how they could +help. He secured former President William Howard Taft, as chairman of +the Central Committee of the Red Cross, for the editor of this +department. + +He cabled to Viscount Northcliffe and Ian Hay for articles showing what +the English women had done at the outbreak of the war, the mistakes +they had made, what errors the American women should avoid, the right +lines along which English women had worked and how their American +sisters could adapt these methods to trans-atlantic conditions. + +And so it happened that when the first war issue of _The Journal_ +appeared on April 20th, only three weeks after the President's +declaration, it was the only monthly that recognized the existence of +war, and its pages had already begun to indicate practical lines along +which women could help. + +The editor had been told that the question of food would come to be of +paramount importance; he knew that Herbert Hoover had been asked to +return to America as soon as he could close his work abroad, and he +cabled over to his English representative to arrange that the proposed +Food Administrator should know, at first hand, of the magazine and its +possibilities for the furtherance of the proposed Food Administration +work. + +The Food Administration was no sooner organized than Bok made +arrangements for an authoritative department to be conducted in his +magazine, reflecting the plans and desires of the Food Administration, +and Herbert Hoover's first public declaration to the women of America +as food administrator was published in _The Ladies' Home Journal_. Bok +now placed all the resources of his four-color press-work at Mr. +Hoover's disposal; and the Food Administration's domestic experts, in +conjunction with the full culinary staff of the magazine, prepared the +new war dishes and presented them appetizingly in full colors under the +personal endorsement of Mr. Hoover and the Food Administration. From +six to sixteen articles per month were now coming from Mr. Hoover's +department alone. + +Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo interpreted the first Liberty Loan +"drive" to the women; the President of the United States, in a special +message to women, wrote in behalf of the subsequent Loan; Bernard +Baruch, as chairman of the War Industries Board, made clear the need +for war-time thrift; the recalled ambassador to Germany, James W. +Gerard, told of the ingenious plans resorted to by German women which +American women could profitably copy; and Elizabeth, Queen of the +Belgians, explained the plight of the babies and children of Belgium, +and made a plea to the women of the magazine to help. So straight to +the point did the Queen write, and so well did she present her case +that within six months there had been sent to her, through _The Ladies' +Home Journal_, two hundred and forty-eight thousand cans of condensed +milk, seventy-two thousand cans of pork and beans, five thousand cans +of infants' prepared food, eighty thousand cans of beef soup, and +nearly four thousand bushels of wheat, purchased with the money donated +by the magazine readers. + +Considering the difficulties to be surmounted, due to the advance +preparation of material, and considering that, at the best, most of its +advance information, even by the highest authorities, could only be in +the nature of surmise, the comprehensive manner in which _The Ladies' +Home Journal_ covered every activity of women during the Great War, +will always remain one of the magazine's most note-worthy achievements. +This can be said without reserve here, since the credit is due to no +single person; it was the combined, careful work of its entire staff, +weighing every step before it was taken, looking as clearly into the +future as circumstances made possible, and always seeking the most +authoritative sources of information. + +It was in the summer of 1918 that Edward Bok received from the British +Government, through its department of public information, of which Lord +Beaverbrook was the minister, an invitation to join a party of thirteen +American editors to visit Great Britain and France. The British +Government, not versed in publicity methods, was anxious that selected +parties of American publicists should see, personally, what Great +Britain had done, and was doing in the war; and it had decided to ask a +few individuals to pay personal visits to its munition factories, its +great aerodromes, its Great Fleet, which then lay in the Firth of +Forth, and to the battle-fields. It was understood that no specific +obligation rested upon any member of the party to write of what he saw: +he was asked simply to observe and then, with discretion, use his +observations for his own guidance and information in future writing. +In fact, each member was explicitly told that much of what he would see +could not be revealed either personally or in print. + +The party embarked in August amid all the attendant secrecy of war +conditions. The steamer was known only by a number, although later it +turned out to be the White Star liner, _Adriatic_. Preceded by a +powerful United States cruiser, flanked by destroyers, guided overhead +by observation balloons, the _Adriatic_ was found to be the first ship +in a convoy of sixteen other ships with thirty thousand United States +troops on board. + +It was a veritable Armada that steamed out of lower New York harbor on +that early August morning, headed straight into the rising sun. But it +was a voyage of unpleasant war reminders, with life-savers carried +every moment of the day, with every light out at night, with every +window and door as if hermetically sealed so that the stuffy cabins +deprived of sleep those accustomed to fresh air, with over sixty army +men and civilians on watch at night, with life-drills each day, with +lessons as to behavior in life-boats; and with a fleet of eighteen +British destroyers meeting the convoy upon its approach to the Irish +Coast after a thirteen days' voyage of constant anxiety. No one could +say he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean in war days for pleasure, +and no one did. + +Once ashore, the party began a series of inspections of munition +plants, ship-yards, aeroplane factories and of meetings with the +different members of the English War Cabinet. Luncheons and dinners +were the order of each day until broken by a journey to Edinburgh to +see the amazing Great Fleet, with the addition of six of the foremost +fighting machines of the United States Navy, all straining like dogs at +leash, awaiting an expected dash from the bottled-up German fleet. It +was a formidable sight, perhaps never equalled: those lines of huge, +menacing, and yet protecting fighting machines stretching down the +river for miles, all conveying the single thought of the power and +extent of the British Navy and its formidable character as a fighting +unit. + +[Illustration: Where Edward Bok is happiest: in his garden.] + +It was upon his return to London that Bok learned, through the +confidence of a member of the British "inner circle," the amazing news +that the war was practically over: that Bulgaria had capitulated and +was suing for peace; that two of the Central Power provinces had +indicated their strong desire that the war should end; and that the +first peace intimations had gone to the President of the United States. +All diplomatic eyes were turned toward Washington. Yet not a hint of +the impending events had reached the public. The Germans were being +beaten back, that was known; it was evident that the morale of the +German army was broken; that Foch had turned the tide toward victory; +but even the best-informed military authorities outside of the inner +diplomatic circles, predicted that the war would last until the spring +of 1919, when a final "drive" would end it. Yet, at that very moment, +the end of the war was in sight! + +Next Bok went to France to visit the battle-fields. It was arranged +that the party should first, under guidance of British officers, visit +back of the British lines; and then, successively, be turned over to +the American and French Governments, and visit the operations back of +their armies. + +It is an amusing fact that although each detail of officers delegated +to escort the party "to the front" received the most explicit +instructions from their superior officers to take the party only to the +quiet sectors where there was no fighting going on, each detail from +the three governments successively brought the party directly under +shell-fire, and each on the first day of the "inspection." It was +unconsciously done: the officers were as much amazed to find themselves +under fire as were the members of the party, except that the latter did +not feel the responsibility to an equal degree. The officers, in each +case, were plainly worried: the editors were intensely interested. + +They were depressing trips through miles and miles of devastated +villages and small cities. From two to three days each were spent in +front-line posts on the Amiens-Bethune, Albert-Peronne, +Bapaume-Soissons, St. Mihiel, and back of the Argonne sectors. Often, +the party was the first civilian group to enter a town evacuated only a +week before, and all the horrible evidence of bloody warfare was fresh +and plain. Bodies of German soldiers lay in the trenches where they +had fallen; wired bombs were on every hand, so that no object could be +touched that lay on the battle-fields; the streets of some of the towns +were still mined, so that no automobiles could enter; the towns were +deserted, the streets desolate. It was an appalling panorama of the +most frightful results of war. + +The picturesqueness and romance of the war of picture books were +missing. To stand beside an English battery of thirty guns laying a +barrage as they fired their shells to a point ten miles distant, made +one feel as if one were an actual part of real warfare, and yet far +removed from it, until the battery was located from the enemy's +"sausage observation"; then the shells from the enemy fired a return +salvo, and the better part of valor was discretion a few miles farther +back. + +Bok was standing talking to the commandant of one of the great French +army supply depots one morning. He was a man of forty; a colonel in +the regular French army. An erect, sturdy-looking man with white hair +and mustache, and who wore the single star of a subaltern on his +sleeve, came up, saluted, delivered a message, and then asked: + +"Are there any more orders, sir?" + +"No," was the reply. + +He brought his heels together with a click, saluted again, and went +away. + +The commandant turned to Bok with a peculiar smile on his face and +asked: + +"Do you know who that man is?" + +"No," was the reply. + +"That is my father," was the answer. + +The father was then exactly seventy-two years old. He was a retired +business man when the war broke out. After two years of the heroic +struggle he decided that he couldn't keep out of it. He was too old to +fight, but after long insistence he secured a commission. By one of +the many curious coincidences of the war he was assigned to serve under +his own son. + +When under the most trying conditions, the Americans never lost their +sense of fun. On the staff of a prison hospital in Germany, where a +number of captured American soldiers were being treated, a German +sergeant became quite friendly with the prisoners under his care. One +day he told them that he had been ordered to active service on the +front. He felt convinced that he would be captured by the English, and +asked the Americans if they would not, give him some sort of +testimonial which he could show if he were taken prisoner, so that he +would not be ill-treated. + +The Americans were much amused at this idea, and concocted a note of +introduction, written in English. The German sergeant knew no English +and could not understand his testimonial, but he tucked it in his +pocket, well satisfied. + +In due time, he was sent to the front and was captured by "the ladies +from hell," as the Germans called the Scotch kilties. He at once +presented his introduction, and his captors laughed heartily when they +read: + +"This is L----. He is not a bad sort of chap. Don't shoot him; +torture him slowly to death." + + +The amazing part of the "show," however, was the American doughboy. +Never was there a more cheerful, laughing, good-natured set of boys in +the world; never a more homesick, lonely, and complaining set. But +good nature predominated, and the smile was always upper-most, even +when the moment looked the blackest, the privations were worst, and the +longing for home the deepest. + +Bok had been talking to a boy who lived near his own home, who was on +his way to the front and "over the top" in the Argonne mess. Three +days afterward, at a hospital base where a hospital train was just +discharging its load of wounded, Bok walked among the boys as they lay +on their stretchers on the railroad platform waiting for bearers to +carry them into the huts. As he approached one stretcher, a cheery +voice called, "Hello, Mr. Bok. Here I am again." + +It was the boy he had left just seventy-two hours before hearty and +well. + +"Well, my boy, you weren't in it long, were you?" + +"No, sir," answered the boy; "Fritzie sure got me first thing. Hadn't +gone a hundred yards over the top. Got a cigarette?" (the invariable +question). + +Bok handed a cigarette to the boy, who then said: "Mind sticking it in +my mouth?" Bok did so and then offered him a light; the boy continued, +all with his wonderful smile: "If you don't mind, would you just light +it? You see, Fritzie kept both of my hooks as souvenirs." + +With both arms amputated, the boy could still jest and smile! + +It was the same boy who on his hospital cot the next day said: "Don't +you think you could do something for the chap next to me, there on my +left? He's really suffering: cried like hell all last night. It would +be a God-send if you could get Doc to do something." + +A promise was given that the surgeon should be seen at once, but the +boy was asked: "How about you?" + +"Oh," came the cheerful answer, "I'm all right. I haven't anything to +hurt. My wounded members are gone--just plain gone. But that chap has +got something--he got the real thing!" + +What was the real thing according to such a boy's idea? + +Bok had had enough of war in all its aspects; he felt a sigh of relief +when, a few days thereafter, he boarded _The Empress of Asia_ for home, +after a ten-weeks' absence. He hoped never again to see, at first +hand, what war meant! + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE THIRD PERIOD + +On the voyage home, Edward Bok decided that, now the war was over, he +would ask his company to release him from the editorship of _The +Ladies' Home Journal_. His original plan had been to retire at the end +of a quarter of a century of editorship, when in his fiftieth year. He +was, therefore, six years behind his schedule. In October, 1919, he +would reach his thirtieth anniversary as editor, and he fixed upon this +as an appropriate time for the relinquishment of his duties. + +He felt he had carried out the conditions under which the editorship of +the magazine had been transferred to him by Mrs. Curtis, that he had +brought them to fruition, and that any further carrying on of the +periodical by him would be of a supplementary character. He had, too, +realized his hope of helping to create a national institution of +service to the American woman, and he felt that his part in the work +was done. + +He considered carefully where he would leave an institution which the +public had so thoroughly associated with his personality, and he felt +that at no point in its history could he so safely transfer it to other +hands. The position of the magazine in the public estimation was +unquestioned; it had never been so strong. Its circulation not only +had outstripped that of any other monthly periodical, but it was still +growing so rapidly that it was only a question of a few months when it +would reach the almost incredible mark of two million copies per month. +With its advertising patronage exceeding that of any other monthly, the +periodical had become, probably, the most valuable and profitable piece +of magazine property in the world. + +The time might never come again when all conditions would be equally +favorable to a change of editorship. The position of the magazine was +so thoroughly assured that its progress could hardly be affected by the +retirement of one editor, and the accession of another. There was a +competent editorial staff, the members of which had been with the +periodical from ten to thirty years each. This staff had been a very +large factor in the success of the magazine. While Bok had furnished +the initiative and supplied the directing power, a large part of the +editorial success of the magazine was due to the staff. It could carry +on the magazine without his guidance. + +Moreover, Bok wished to say good-by to his public before it decided, +for some reason or other, to say good-by to him. He had no desire to +outstay his welcome. That public had been wonderfully indulgent toward +his shortcomings, lenient with his errors, and tremendously inspiring +to his best endeavor. He would not ask too much of it. Thirty years +was a long tenure of office, one of the longest, in point of +consecutively active editorship, in the history of American magazines. + +He had helped to create and to put into the life of the American home a +magazine of peculiar distinction. From its beginning it had been +unlike any other periodical; it had always retained its individuality +as a magazine apart from the others. It had sought to be something +more than a mere assemblage of stories and articles. It had +consistently stood for ideals; and, save in one or two instances, it +had carried through what it undertook to achieve. It had a record of +worthy accomplishment; a more fruitful record than many imagined. It +had become a national institution such as no other magazine had ever +been. It was indisputably accepted by the public and by business +interests alike as the recognized avenue of approach to the intelligent +homes of America. + +Edward Bok was content to leave it at this point. + +He explained all this in December, 1918, to the Board of Directors, and +asked that his resignation be considered. It was understood that he +was to serve out his thirty years, thus remaining with the magazine for +the best part of another year. + +In the material which _The Journal_ now included in its contents, it +began to point the way to the problems which would face women during +the reconstruction period. Bok scanned the rather crowded field of +thought very carefully, and selected for discussion in the magazine +such questions as seemed to him most important for the public to +understand in order to face and solve its impending problems. The +outstanding question he saw which would immediately face men and women +of the country was the problem of Americanization. The war and its +after-effects had clearly demonstrated this to be the most vital need +in the life of the nation, not only for the foreign-born but for the +American as well. + +The more one studied the problem the clearer it became that the vast +majority of American-born needed a refreshing, and, in many cases, a +new conception of American ideals as much as did the foreign-born, and +that the latter could never be taught what America and its institutions +stood for until they were more clearly defined in the mind of the men +and women of American birth. + +Bok went to Washington, consulted with Franklin K. Lane, secretary of +the interior, of whose department the Government Bureau of +Americanization was a part. A comprehensive series of articles was +outlined; the most expert writer, Esther Everett Lape, who had several +years of actual experience in Americanization work, was selected; +Secretary Lane agreed personally to read and pass upon the material, +and to assume the responsibility for its publication. + +With the full and direct co-operation of the Federal Bureau of +Americanization, the material was assembled and worked up with the +result that, in the opinion of the director of the Federal Bureau, the +series proved to be the most comprehensive exposition of practical +Americanization adapted to city, town, and village, thus far published. + +The work on this series was one of the last acts of Edward Bok's +editorship; and it was peculiarly gratifying to him that his editorial +work should end with the exposition of that Americanization of which he +himself was a product. It seemed a fitting close to the career of a +foreign-born Americanized editor. + +The scope of the reconstruction articles now published, and the clarity +of vision shown in the selection of the subjects, gave a fresh impetus +to the circulation of the magazine; and now that the government's +embargo on the use of paper had been removed, the full editions of the +periodical could again be printed. The public responded instantly. + +The result reached phenomenal figures. The last number under Bok's +full editorial control was the issue of October, 1919. This number was +oversold with a printed edition of two million copies--a record never +before achieved by any magazine. This same issue presented another +record unattained in any single number of any periodical in the world. +It carried between its covers the amazing total of over one million +dollars in advertisements. + +This was the psychological point at which to stop. And Edward Bok did. +Although his official relation as editor did not terminate until +January, 1920, when the number which contained his valedictory +editorial was issued, his actual editorship ceased on September 22, +1919. On that day he handed over the reins to his successor. + + +The announcement of Edward Bok's retirement came as a great surprise to +his friends. Save for one here and there, who had a clearer vision, +the feeling was general that he had made a mistake. He was fifty-six, +in the prime of life, never in better health, with "success lying +easily upon him"--said one; "at the very summit of his career," said +another--and all agreed it was "queer," "strange,"--unless, they +argued, he was really ill. Even the most acute students of human +affairs among his friends wondered. It seemed incomprehensible that +any man should want to give up before he was, for some reason, +compelled to do so. A man should go on until he "dropped in the +harness," they argued. + +Bok agreed that any man had a perfect right to work until he _did_ +"drop in the harness." But, he argued, if he conceded this right to +others, why should they not concede to him the privilege of dropping +with the blinders off? + +"But," continued the argument, "a man degenerates when he retires from +active affairs." And then, instances were pointed out as notable +examples. "A year of retirement and he was through," was the picture +given of one retired man. "In two years, he was glad to come back," +and so the examples ran on. "No big man ever retired from active +business and did great work afterwards," Bok was told. + +"No?" he answered. "Not even Cyrus W. Field or Herbert Hoover?" + +And all this time Edward Bok's failure to be entirely Americanized was +brought home to his consciousness. After fifty years, he was still not +an American! He had deliberately planned, and then had carried out his +plan, to retire while he still had the mental and physical capacity to +enjoy the fruits of his years of labor! For foreign to the American +way of thinking it certainly was: the protestations and arguments of +his friends proved that to him. After all, he was still Dutch; he had +held on to the lesson which his people had learned years ago; that the +people of other European countries had learned; that the English had +discovered: that the Great Adventure of Life was something more than +material work, and that the time to go is while the going is good! + +For it cannot be denied that the pathetic picture we so often see is +found in American business life more frequently than in that of any +other land: men unable to let go--not only for their own good, but to +give the younger men behind them an opportunity. Not that a man should +stop work, for man was born to work, and in work he should find his +greatest refreshment. But so often it does not occur to the man in a +pivotal position to question the possibility that at sixty or seventy +he can keep steadily in touch with a generation whose ideas are +controlled by men twenty years younger. Unconsciously he hangs on +beyond his greatest usefulness and efficiency: he convinces himself +that he is indispensable to his business, while, in scores of cases, +the business would be distinctly benefited by his retirement and the +consequent coming to the front of the younger blood. + +Such a man in a position of importance seems often not to see that he +has it within his power to advance the fortunes of younger men by +stepping out when he has served his time, while by refusing to let go +he often works dire injustice and even disaster to his younger +associates. + +The sad fact is that in all too many instances the average American +business man is actually afraid to let go because he realizes that out +of business he should not know what to do. For years he has so +excluded all other interests that at fifty or sixty or seventy he finds +himself a slave to his business, with positively no inner resources. +Retirement from the one thing he does know would naturally leave such a +man useless to himself and his family, and his community: worse than +useless, as a matter of fact, for he would become a burden to himself, +a nuisance to his family, and, when he would begin to write "letters" +to the newspapers, a bore to the community. + +It is significant that a European or English business man rarely +reaches middle age devoid of acquaintance with other matters; he always +lets the breezes from other worlds of thought blow through his ideas, +with the result that when he is ready to retire from business he has +other interests to fall back upon. Fortunately it is becoming less +uncommon for American men to retire from business and devote themselves +to other pursuits; and their number will undoubtedly increase as time +goes on, and we learn the lessons of life with a richer background. +But one cannot help feeling regretful that the custom is not growing +more rapidly. + +A man must unquestionably prepare years ahead for his retirement, not +alone financially, but mentally as well. Bok noticed as a curious fact +that nearly every business man who told him he had made a mistake in +his retirement, and that the proper life for a man is to stick to the +game and see it through--"hold her nozzle agin the bank" as Jim Bludso +would say--was a man with no resources outside his business. +Naturally, a retirement is a mistake in the eyes of such a man; but oh, +the pathos of such a position: that in a world of so much interest, in +an age so fascinatingly full of things worth doing, a man should have +allowed himself to become a slave to his business, and should imagine +no other man happy without the same claims! + +It is this lesson that the American business man has still to learn; +that no man can be wholly efficient in his life, that he is not living +a four-squared existence, if he concentrates every waking thought on +his material affairs. He has still to learn that man cannot live by +bread alone. The making of money, the accumulation of material power, +is not all there is to living. Life is something more than these, and +the man who misses this truth misses the greatest joy and satisfaction +that can come into his life--service for others. + +Some men argue that they can give this service and be in business, too. +But service with such men generally means drawing a check for some +worthy cause, and nothing more. Edward Bok never belittled the giving +of contributions--he solicited too much money himself for the causes in +which he was interested--but it is a poor nature that can satisfy +itself that it is serving humanity by merely signing checks. There is +no form of service more comfortable or so cheap. Real service, +however, demands that a man give himself with his check. And that the +average man cannot do if he remains in affairs. + +Particularly true is this to-day, when every problem of business is so +engrossing, demanding a man's full time and thought. It is the rare +man who can devote himself to business and be fresh for the service of +others afterward. No man can, with efficiency, serve two masters so +exacting as are these. Besides, if his business has seemed important +enough to demand his entire attention, are not the great uplift +questions equally worth his exclusive thought? Are they easier of +solution than the material problems? + +A man can live a life full-square only when he divides it into three +periods: + +First: that of education, acquiring the fullest and best within his +reach and power; + +Second: that of achievement: achieving for himself and his family, and +discharging the first duty of any man, that in case of his incapacity +those who are closest to him are provided for. But such provision does +not mean an accumulation that becomes to those he leaves behind him an +embarrassment rather than a protection. To prevent this, the next +period confronts him: + +Third: Service for others. That is the acid test where many a man +falls short: to know when he has enough, and to be willing not only to +let well enough alone, but to give a helping hand to the other fellow; +to recognize, in a practical way, that we are our brother's keeper; +that a brotherhood of man does exist outside after-dinner speeches. +Too many men make the mistake, when they reach the point of enough, of +going on pursuing the same old game: accumulating more money, grasping +for more power until either a nervous breakdown overtakes them and a +sad incapacity results, or they drop "in the harness," which is, of +course; only calling an early grave by another name. They cannot seem +to get the truth into their heads that as they have been helped by +others so should they now help others: as their means have come from +the public, so now they owe something in turn to that public. + +No man has a right to leave the world no better than he found it. He +must add something to it: either he must make its people better and +happier, or he must make the face of the world fairer to look at. And +the one really means the other. + +"Idealism," immediately say some. Of course, it is. But what is the +matter with idealism? What really is idealism? Do one-tenth of those +who use the phrase so glibly know its true meaning, the part it has +played in the world? The worthy interpretation of an ideal is that it +embodies an idea--a conception of the imagination. All ideas are at +first ideals. They must be. The producer brings forth an idea, but +some dreamer has dreamed it before him either in whole or in part. + +Where would the human race be were it not for the ideals of men? It is +idealists, in a large sense, that this old world needs to-day. Its +soil is sadly in need of new seed. Washington, in his day, was decried +as an idealist. So was Jefferson. It was commonly remarked of Lincoln +that he was a "rank idealist." Morse, Watt, Marconi, Edison--all were, +at first, adjudged idealists. We say of the League of Nations that it +is ideal, and we use the term in a derogatory sense. But that was +exactly what was said of the Constitution of the United States. +"Insanely ideal" was the term used of it. + +The idealist, particularly to-day when there is so great need of him, +is not to be scoffed at. It is through him and only through him that +the world will see a new and clear vision of what is right. It is he +who has the power of going out of himself--that self in which too many +are nowadays so deeply imbedded; it is he who, in seeking the ideal, +will, through his own clearer perception or that of others, transform +the ideal into the real. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." + +It was his remark that he retired because he wanted "to play" that +Edward Bok's friends most completely misunderstood. "Play" in their +minds meant tennis, golf, horseback, polo, travel, etc.--(curious that +scarcely one mentioned reading!). It so happens that no one enjoys +some of these play-forms more than Bok; but "God forbid," he said, +"that I should spend the rest of my days in a bunker or in the saddle. +In moderation," he added, "yes; most decidedly." But the phrase of +"play" meant more to him than all this. Play is diversion: exertion of +the mind as well as of the body. There is such a thing as mental play +as well as physical play. We ask of play that it shall rest, refresh, +exhilarate. Is there any form of mental activity that secures all +these ends so thoroughly and so directly as doing something that a man +really likes to do, doing it with all his heart, all the time conscious +that he is helping to make the world better for some one else? + +A man's "play" can take many forms. If his life has been barren of +books or travel, let him read or see the world. But he reaches his +high estate by either of these roads only when he reads or travels to +enrich himself in order to give out what he gets to enrich the lives of +others. He owes it to himself to get his own refreshment, his own +pleasure, but he need not make that pure self-indulgence. + +Other men, more active in body and mind, feel drawn to the modern arena +of the great questions that puzzle. It matters not in which direction +a man goes in these matters any more than the length of a step matters +so much as does the direction in which the step is taken. He should +seek those questions which engross his deepest interest, whether +literary, musical, artistic, civic, economic, or what not. + +Our cities, towns, communities of all sizes and kinds, urban and rural, +cry out for men to solve their problems. There is room and to spare +for the man of any bent. The old Romans looked forward, on coming to +the age of retirement, which was definitely fixed by rule, to a rural +life, when they hied themselves to a little home in the country, had +open house for their friends, and "kept bees." While bee-keeping is +unquestionably interesting, there are today other and more vital +occupations awaiting the retired American. + +The main thing is to secure that freedom of movement that lets a man go +where he will and do what he thinks he can do best, and prove to +himself and to others that the acquirement of the dollar is not all +there is to life. No man can realize, until on awakening some morning +he feels the exhilaration, the sense of freedom that comes from knowing +he can choose his own doings and control his own goings. Time is of +more value than money, and it is that which the man who retires feels +that he possesses. Hamilton Mabie once said, after his retirement from +an active editorial position: "I am so happy that the time has come +when I elect what I shall do," which is true; but then he added: "I +have rubbed out the word 'must' from my vocabulary," which was not +true. No man ever reaches that point. Duty of some sort confronts a +man in business or out of business, and duty spells "must." But there +is less "must" in the vocabulary of the retired man; and it is this +lessened quantity that gives the tang of joy to the new day. + +It is a wonderful inner personal satisfaction to reach the point when a +man can say: "I have enough." His soul and character are refreshed by +it: he is made over by it. He begins a new life! he gets a sense of a +new joy; he feels, for the first time, what a priceless possession is +that thing that he never knew before, freedom. And if he seeks that +freedom at the right time, when he is at the summit of his years and +powers and at the most opportune moment in his affairs, he has that +supreme satisfaction denied to so many men, the opposite of which comes +home with such cruel force to them; that they have overstayed their +time: they have worn out their welcome. + +There is no satisfaction that so thoroughly satisfies as that of going +while the going is good. + +Still---- + +The friends of Edward Bok may be right when they said he made a mistake +in his retirement. + +However---- + +As Mr. Dooley says: "It's a good thing, sometimes, to have people size +ye up wrong, Hinnessey: it's whin they've got ye'er measure ye're in +danger." + +Edward Bok's friends have failed to get his measure,--yet! + +They still have to learn what he has learned and is learning every day: +"the joy," as Charles Lamb so aptly put it upon his retirement, "of +walking about and around instead of to and fro." + + * * * * * + +The question now naturally arises, having read this record thus far: To +what extent, with his unusual opportunities of fifty years, has the +Americanization of Edward Bok gone? How far is he, to-day, an +American? These questions, so direct and personal in their nature, are +perhaps best answered in a way more direct and personal than the method +thus far adopted in this chronicle. We will, therefore, let Edward Bok +answer these questions for himself, in closing this record of his +Americanization. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHERE AMERICA FELL SHORT WITH ME + +When I came to the United States as a lad of six, the most needful +lesson for me, as a boy, was the necessity for thrift. I had been +taught in my home across the sea that thrift was one of the +fundamentals in a successful life. My family had come from a land (the +Netherlands) noted for its thrift; but we had been in the United States +only a few days before the realization came home strongly to my father +and mother that they had brought their children to a land of waste. + +Where the Dutchman saved, the American wasted. There was waste, and +the most prodigal waste, on every hand. In every street-car and on +every ferry-boat the floors and seats were littered with newspapers +that had been read and thrown away or left behind. If I went to a +grocery store to buy a peck of potatoes, and a potato rolled off the +heaping measure, the groceryman, instead of picking it up, kicked it +into the gutter for the wheels of his wagon to run over. The butcher's +waste filled my mother's soul with dismay. If I bought a scuttle of +coal at the corner grocery, the coal that missed the scuttle, instead +of being shovelled up and put back into the bin, was swept into the +street. My young eyes quickly saw this; in the evening I gathered up +the coal thus swept away, and during the course of a week I collected a +scuttleful. The first time my mother saw the garbage pail of a family +almost as poor as our own, with the wife and husband constantly +complaining that they could not get along, she could scarcely believe +her eyes. A half pan of hominy of the preceding day's breakfast lay in +the pail next to a third of a loaf of bread. In later years, when I +saw, daily, a scow loaded with the garbage of Brooklyn householders +being towed through New York harbor out to sea, it was an easy +calculation that what was thrown away in a week's time from Brooklyn +homes would feed the poor of the Netherlands. + +At school, I quickly learned that to "save money" was to be "stingy"; +as a young man, I soon found that the American disliked the word +"economy," and on every hand as plenty grew spending grew. There was +literally nothing in American life to teach me thrift or economy; +everything to teach me to spend and to waste. + +I saw men who had earned good salaries in their prime, reach the years +of incapacity as dependents. I saw families on every hand either +living quite up to their means or beyond them; rarely within them. The +more a man earned, the more he--or his wife--spent. I saw fathers and +mothers and their children dressed beyond their incomes. The +proportion of families who ran into debt was far greater than those who +saved. When a panic came, the families "pulled in"; when the panic was +over, they "let out." But the end of one year found them precisely +where they were at the close of the previous year, unless they were +deeper in debt. + +It was in this atmosphere of prodigal expenditure and culpable waste +that I was to practise thrift: a fundamental in life! And it is into +this atmosphere that the foreign-born comes now, with every inducement +to spend and no encouragement to save. For as it was in the days of my +boyhood, so it is to-day--only worse. One need only go over the +experiences of the past two years, to compare the receipts of merchants +who cater to the working-classes and the statements of savings-banks +throughout the country, to read the story of how the foreign-born are +learning the habit of criminal wastefulness as taught them by the +American. + +Is it any wonder, then, that in this, one of the essentials in life and +in all success, America fell short with me, as it is continuing to fall +short with every foreign-born who comes to its shores? + + +As a Dutch boy, one of the cardinal truths taught me was that whatever +was worth doing was worth doing well: that next to honesty come +thoroughness as a factor in success. It was not enough that anything +should be done: it was not done at all if it was not done well. I came +to America to be taught exactly the opposite. The two infernal +Americanisms "That's good enough" and "That will do" were early taught +me, together with the maxim of quantity rather than quality. + +It was not the boy at school who could write the words in his copy-book +best who received the praise of the teacher; it was the boy who could +write the largest number of words in a given time. The acid test in +arithmetic was not the mastery of the method, but the number of minutes +required to work out an example. If a boy abbreviated the month +January to "Jan." and the word Company to "Co." he received a hundred +per cent mark, as did the boy who spelled out the words and who could +not make the teacher see that "Co." did not spell "Company." + +As I grew into young manhood, and went into business, I found on every +hand that quantity counted for more than quality. The emphasis was +almost always placed on how much work one could do in a day, rather +than upon how well the work was done. Thoroughness was at a discount +on every hand; production at a premium. It made no difference in what +direction I went, the result was the same: the cry was always for +quantity, quantity! And into this atmosphere of almost utter disregard +for quality I brought my ideas of Dutch thoroughness and my conviction +that doing well whatever I did was to count as a cardinal principle in +life. + +During my years of editorship, save in one or two conspicuous +instances, I was never able to assign to an American writer, work which +called for painstaking research. In every instance, the work came back +to me either incorrect in statement, or otherwise obviously lacking in +careful preparation. + +One of the most successful departments I ever conducted in _The Ladies' +Home Journal_ called for infinite reading and patient digging, with the +actual results sometimes almost negligible. I made a study of my +associates by turning the department over to one after another, and +always with the same result: absolute lack of a capacity for patient +research. As one of my editors, typically American, said to me: "It +isn't worth all the trouble that you put into it." Yet no single +department ever repaid the searcher more for his pains. Save for +assistance derived from a single person, I had to do the work myself +for all the years that the department continued. It was apparently +impossible for the American to work with sufficient patience and care +to achieve a result. + +We all have our pet notions as to the particular evil which is "the +curse of America," but I always think that Theodore Roosevelt came +closest to the real curse when he classed it as a lack of thoroughness. + +Here again, in one of the most important matters in life, did America +fall short with me; and, what is more important, she is falling short +with every foreigner that comes to her shores. + + +In the matter of education, America fell far short in what should be +the strongest of all her institutions: the public school. A more +inadequate, incompetent method of teaching, as I look back over my +seven years of attendance at three different public schools, it is +difficult to conceive. If there is one thing that I, as a foreign-born +child, should have been carefully taught, it is the English language. +The individual effort to teach this, if effort there was, and I +remember none, was negligible. It was left for my father to teach me, +or for me to dig it out for myself. There was absolutely no indication +on the part of teacher or principal of responsibility for seeing that a +foreign-born boy should acquire the English language correctly. I was +taught as if I were American-born, and, of course, I was left dangling +in the air, with no conception of what I was trying to do. + +My father worked with me evening after evening; I plunged my young mind +deep into the bewildering confusions of the language--and no one +realizes the confusions of the English language as does the +foreign-born--and got what I could through these joint efforts. But I +gained nothing from the much-vaunted public-school system which the +United States had borrowed from my own country, and then had rendered +incompetent--either by a sheer disregard for the thoroughness that +makes the Dutch public schools the admiration of the world, or by too +close a regard for politics. + +Thus, in her most important institution to the foreign-born, America +fell short. And while I am ready to believe that the public school may +have increased in efficiency since that day, it is, indeed, a question +for the American to ponder, just how far the system is efficient for +the education of the child who comes to its school without a knowledge +of the first word in the English language. Without a detailed +knowledge of the subject, I know enough of conditions in the average +public school to-day to warrant at least the suspicion that Americans +would not be particularly proud of the system, and of what it gives for +which annually they pay millions of dollars in taxes. + +I am aware in making this statement that I shall be met with convincing +instances of intelligent effort being made with the foreign-born +children in special classes. No one has a higher respect for those +efforts than I have--few, other than educators, know of them better +than I do, since I did not make my five-year study of the American +public school system for naught. But I am not referring to the +exceptional instance here and there. I merely ask of the American, +interested as he is or should be in the Americanization of the +strangers within his gates, how far the public school system, as a +whole, urban and rural, adapts itself, with any true efficiency, to the +foreign-born child. I venture to color his opinion in no wise; I +simply ask that he will inquire and ascertain for himself, as he should +do if he is interested in the future welfare of his country and his +institutions; for what happens in America in the years to come depends, +in large measure, on what is happening to-day in the public schools of +this country. + + +As a Dutch boy I was taught a wholesome respect for law and for +authority. The fact was impressed upon me that laws of themselves were +futile unless the people for whom they were made respected them, and +obeyed them in spirit more even than in the letter. I came to America +to feel, on every hand, that exactly the opposite was true. Laws were +passed, but were not enforced; the spirit to enforce them was lacking +in the people. There was little respect for the law; there was +scarcely any for those appointed to enforce it. + +The nearest that a boy gets to the law is through the policeman. In +the Netherlands a boy is taught that a policeman is for the protection +of life and property; that he is the natural friend of every boy and +man who behaves himself. The Dutch boy and the policeman are, +naturally, friendly in their relations. I came to America to be told +that a policeman is a boy's natural enemy; that he is eager to arrest +him if he can find the slightest reason for doing so. A policeman, I +was informed, was a being to hold in fear, not in respect. He was to +be avoided, not to be made friends with. The result was that, as did +all boys, I came to regard the policeman on our beat as a distinct +enemy. His presence meant that we should "stiffen up"; his +disappearance was the signal for us to "let loose." + +So long as one was not caught, it did not matter. I heard mothers tell +their little children that if they did not behave themselves, the +policeman would put them into a bag and carry them off, or cut their +ears off. Of course, the policeman became to them an object of terror; +the law he represented, a cruel thing that stood for punishment. Not a +note of respect did I ever hear for the law in my boyhood days. A law +was something to be broken, to be evaded, to call down upon others as a +source of punishment, but never to be regarded in the light of a +safeguard. + +And as I grew into manhood, the newspapers rang on every side with +disrespect for those in authority. Under the special dispensation of +the liberty of the press, which was construed into the license of the +press, no man was too high to escape editorial vituperation if his +politics did not happen to suit the management, or if his action ran +counter to what the proprietors believed it should be. It was not +criticism of his acts, it was personal attack upon the official; +whether supervisor, mayor, governor, or president, it mattered not. + +It is a very unfortunate impression that this American lack of respect +for those in authority makes upon the foreign-born mind. It is +difficult for the foreigner to square up the arrest and deportation of +a man who, through an incendiary address, seeks to overthrow +governmental authority, with the ignoring of an expression of exactly +the same sentiments by the editor of his next morning's newspaper. In +other words, the man who writes is immune, but the man who reads, +imbibes, and translates the editor's words into action is immediately +marked as a culprit, and America will not harbor him. But why harbor +the original cause? Is the man who speaks with type less dangerous +than he who speaks with his mouth or with a bomb? + +At the most vital part of my life, when I was to become an American +citizen and exercise the right of suffrage, America fell entirely +short. It reached out not even the suggestion of a hand. + +When the Presidential Conventions had been held in the year I reached +my legal majority, and I knew I could vote, I endeavored to find out +whether, being foreign-born, I was entitled to the suffrage. No one +could tell me; and not until I had visited six different municipal +departments, being referred from one to another, was it explained that, +through my father's naturalization, I became, automatically, as his +son, an American citizen. I decided to read up on the platforms of the +Republican and Democratic parties, but I could not secure copies +anywhere, although a week had passed since they had been adopted in +convention. + +I was told the newspapers had printed them. It occurred to me there +must be many others besides myself who were anxious to secure the +platforms of the two parties in some more convenient form. With the +eye of necessity ever upon a chance to earn an honest penny, I went to +a newspaper office, cut out from its files the two platforms, had them +printed in a small pocket edition, sold one edition to the American +News Company and another to the News Company controlling the Elevated +Railroad bookstands in New York City, where they sold at ten cents +each. So great was the demand which I had only partially guessed, that +within three weeks I had sold such huge editions of the little books +that I had cleared over a thousand dollars. + +But it seemed to me strange that it should depend on a foreign-born +American to supply an eager public with what should have been supplied +through the agency of the political parties or through some educational +source. + +I now tried to find out what a vote actually meant. It must be +recalled that I was only twenty-one years old, with scant education, +and with no civic agency offering me the information I was seeking. I +went to the headquarters of each of the political parties and put my +query. I was regarded with puzzled looks. + +"What does it mean to vote?" asked one chairman. "Why, on Election Day +you go up to the ballot-box and put your ballot in, and that's all +there is to it." + +But I knew very well that that was not all there was to it, and was +determined to find out the significance of the franchise. I met with +dense ignorance on every hand. I went to the Brooklyn Library, and was +frankly told by the librarian that he did not know of a book that would +tell me what I wanted to know. This was in 1884. + +As the campaign increased in intensity, I found myself a desired person +in the eyes of the local campaign managers, but not one of them could +tell me the significance and meaning of the privilege I was for the +first time to exercise. + +Finally, I spent an evening with Seth Low, and, of course, got the +desired information. + +But fancy the quest I had been compelled to make to acquire the simple +information that should have been placed in my hands or made readily +accessible to me. And how many foreign-born would take equal pains to +ascertain what I was determined to find out? + +Surely America fell short here at the moment most sacred to me: that of +my first vote! + +Is it any easier to-day for the foreign citizen to acquire this +information when he approaches his first vote? I wonder! Not that I +do not believe there are agencies for this purpose. You know there +are, and so do I. But how about the foreign-born? Does he know it? +Is it not perhaps like the owner of the bulldog who assured the friend +calling on him that it never attacked friends of the family? "Yes," +said the friend, "that's all right. You know and I know that I am a +friend of the family; but does the dog know?" + +Is it to-day made known to the foreign-born, about to exercise his +privilege of suffrage for the first time, where he can be told what +that privilege means: is the means to know made readily accessible to +him: is it, in fact, as it should be, brought to him? + +It was not to me; is it to him? + +One fundamental trouble with the present desire for Americanization is +that the American is anxious to Americanize two classes--if he is a +reformer, the foreign-born; if he is an employer, his employees. It +never occurs to him that he himself may be in need of Americanization. +He seems to take it for granted that because he is American-born, he is +an American in spirit and has a right understanding of American ideals. +But that, by no means, always follows. There are thousands of the +American-born who need Americanization just as much as do the +foreign-born. There are hundreds of American employers who know far +less of American ideals than do some of their employees. In fact, +there are those actually engaged today in the work of Americanization, +men at the top of the movement, who sadly need a better conception of +true Americanism. + +An excellent illustration of this came to my knowledge when I attended +a large Americanization Conference in Washington. One of the principal +speakers was an educator of high standing and considerable influence in +one of the most important sections of the United States. In a speech +setting forth his ideas of Americanization, he dwelt with much emphasis +and at considerable length upon instilling into the mind of the +foreign-born the highest respect for American institutions. + +After the Conference he asked me whether he could see me that afternoon +at my hotel; he wanted to talk about contributing to the magazine. +When he came, before approaching the object of his talk, he launched +out on a tirade against the President of the United States; the +weakness of the Cabinet, the inefficiency of the Congress, and the +stupidity of the Senate. If words could have killed, there would have +not remained a single living member of the Administration at Washington. + +After fifteen minutes of this, I reminded him of his speech and the +emphasis which he had placed upon the necessity of inculcating in the +foreign-born respect for American institutions. + +Yet this man was a power in his community, a strong influence upon +others; he believed he could Americanize others, when he himself, +according to his own statements, lacked the fundamental principle of +Americanization. What is true of this man is, in lesser or greater +degree, true of hundreds of others. Their Americanization consists of +lip-service; the real spirit, the only factor which counts in the +successful teaching of any doctrine, is absolutely missing. We +certainly cannot teach anything approaching a true Americanism until we +ourselves feel and believe and practise in our own lives what we are +teaching to others. No law, no lip-service, no effort, however +well-intentioned, will amount to anything worth while in inculcating +the true American spirit in our foreign-born citizens until we are sure +that the American spirit is understood by ourselves and is warp and +woof of our own being. + + +To the American, part and parcel of his country, these particulars in +which his country falls short with the foreign-born are, perhaps, not +so evident; they may even seem not so very important. But to the +foreign-born they seem distinct lacks; they loom large; they form +serious handicaps which, in many cases, are never surmounted; they are +a menace to that Americanization which is, to-day, more than ever our +fondest dream, and which we now realize more keenly than before is our +most vital need. + +It is for this reason that I have put them down here as a concrete +instance of where and how America fell short in my own Americanization, +and, what is far more serious to me, where she is falling short in her +Americanization of thousands of other foreign-born. + +"Yet you succeeded," it will be argued. + +That may be; but you, on the other hand, must admit that I did not +succeed by reason of these shortcomings: it was in spite of them, by +overcoming them--a result that all might not achieve. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WHAT I OWE TO AMERICA + +Whatever shortcomings I may have found during my fifty-year period of +Americanization; however America may have failed to help my transition +from a foreigner into an American, I owe to her the most priceless gift +that any nation can offer, and that is opportunity. + +As the world stands to-day, no nation offers opportunity in the degree +that America does to the foreign-born. Russia may, in the future, as I +like to believe she will, prove a second United States of America in +this respect. She has the same limitless area; her people the same +potentialities. But, as things are to-day, the United States offers, +as does no other nation, a limitless opportunity: here a man can go as +far as his abilities will carry him. It may be that the foreign-born, +as in my own case, must hold on to some of the ideals and ideas of the +land of his birth; it may be that he must develop and mould his +character by overcoming the habits resulting from national +shortcomings. But into the best that the foreign-born can retain, +America can graft such a wealth of inspiration, so high a national +idealism, so great an opportunity for the highest endeavor, as to make +him the fortunate man of the earth to-day. + +He can go where he will; no traditions hamper him; no limitations are +set except those within himself. The larger the area he chooses in +which to work, the larger the vision he demonstrates, the more eager +the people are to give support to his undertakings if they are +convinced that he has their best welfare as his goal. There is no +public confidence equal to that of the American public, once it is +obtained. It is fickle, of course, as are all publics, but fickle only +toward the man who cannot maintain an achieved success. + +A man in America cannot complacently lean back upon victories won, as +he can in the older European countries, and depend upon the glamour of +the past to sustain him or the momentum of success to carry him. +Probably the most alert public in the world, it requires of its leaders +that they be alert. Its appetite for variety is insatiable, but its +appreciation, when given, is full-handed and whole-hearted. The +American public never holds back from the man to whom it gives; it +never bestows in a niggardly way; it gives all or nothing. + +What is not generally understood of the American people is their +wonderful idealism. Nothing so completely surprises the foreign-born +as the discovery of this trait in the American character. The +impression is current in European countries--perhaps less generally +since the war--that America is given over solely to a worship of the +American dollar. While between nations as between individuals, +comparisons are valueless, it may not be amiss to say, from personal +knowledge, that the Dutch worship the gulden infinitely more than do +the Americans the dollar. + +I do not claim that the American is always conscious of this idealism; +often he is not. But let a great convulsion touching moral questions +occur, and the result always shows how close to the surface is his +idealism. And the fact that so frequently he puts over it a thick +veneer of materialism does not affect its quality. The truest +approach, the only approach in fact, to the American character is, as +Viscount Bryce has so well said, through its idealism. + +It is this quality which gives the truest inspiration to the +foreign-born in his endeavor to serve the people of his adopted +country. He is mentally sluggish, indeed, who does not discover that +America will make good with him if he makes good with her. + +But he must play fair. It is essentially the straight game that the +true American plays, and he insists that you shall play it too. +Evidence there is, of course, to the contrary in American life, +experiences that seem to give ground for the belief that the man +succeeds who is not scrupulous in playing his cards. But never is this +true in the long run. Sooner or later--sometimes, unfortunately, later +than sooner--the public discovers the trickery. In no other country in +the world is the moral conception so clear and true as in America, and +no people will give a larger and more permanent reward to the man whose +effort for that public has its roots in honor and truth. + +"The sky is the limit" to the foreign-born who comes to America endowed +with honest endeavor, ceaseless industry, and the ability to carry +through. In any honest endeavor, the way is wide open to the will to +succeed. Every path beckons, every vista invites, every talent is +called forth, and every efficient effort finds its due reward. In no +land is the way so clear and so free. + +How good an American has the process of Americanization made me? That +I cannot say. Who can say that of himself? But when I look around me +at the American-born I have come to know as my close friends, I wonder +whether, after all, the foreign-born does not make in some sense a +better American--whether he is not able to get a truer perspective; +whether his is not the deeper desire to see America greater; whether he +is not less content to let its faulty institutions be as they are; +whether in seeing faults more clearly he does not make a more decided +effort to have America reach those ideals or those fundamentals of his +own land which he feels are in his nature, and the best of which he is +anxious to graft into the character of his adopted land? + +It is naturally with a feeling of deep satisfaction that I remember two +Presidents of the United States considered me a sufficiently typical +American to wish to send me to my native land as the accredited +minister of my adopted country. And yet when I analyze the reasons for +my choice in both these instances, I derive a deeper satisfaction from +the fact that my strong desire to work in America for America led me to +ask to be permitted to remain here. + +It is this strong impulse that my Americanization has made the driving +power of my life. And I ask no greater privilege than to be allowed to +live to see my potential America become actual: the America that I like +to think of as the America of Abraham Lincoln and of Theodore +Roosevelt--not faultless, but less faulty. It is a part in trying to +shape that America, and an opportunity to work in that America when it +comes, that I ask in return for what I owe to her. A greater privilege +no man could have. + + + + + EDWARD WILLIAM BOK + + BIOGRAPHICAL DATA + + 1863: October 9: Born at Helder, Netherlands. + + 1870; September 20: Arrived in the United States. + + 1870: Entered public schools of Brooklyn, New York. + + 1873: Obtained first position in Frost's Bakery, Smith Street, + Brooklyn, at 50 cents per week. + + 1876: August 7: Entered employ of the Western Union Telegraph + Company as office-boy. + + 1882: Entered employ of Henry Holt & Company as stenographer. + + 1884: Entered employ of Charles Scribner's Sons as stenographer. + + 1884: Became editor of _The Brooklyn Magazine_. + + 1886: Founded the Bok Syndicate Press. + + 1887: Published Henry Ward Beecher Memorial (privately printed). + + 1889: October 20: Became editor of _The Ladies' Home Journal_. + + 1890: Published _Successward_: Doubleday, McClure & Company. + + 1894: Published _Before He Is Twenty_: Fleming H. Revell Company. + + 1896: October 22: Married Mary Louise Curtis. + + 1897: September 7: Son born; William Curtis Bok. + + 1900: Published _The Young Man in Business_: L. G. Page & Company. + + 1905: January 25: Son born: Cary William Bok. + + 1906: Published _Her Brother's Letters_ (Anonymous): Moffat, + Yard & Company. + + 1907: Degree of LL.D. of Order of Augustinian Fathers conferred + by order of Pope Pius X., by the Most Reverend Diomede + Falconio, D.D., Apostolic Delegate to the United States, + at Villanova College. + + 1910: Degree of LL.D. conferred, in absentia, by Hope College, + Holland, Michigan (the only Dutch college in the United + States). + + 1911: Founded, with others. The Child Federation of + Philadelphia. + + 1912: Published _The Edward Bok Books of Self-Knowledge_; + five volumes: Fleming H. Revell Company. + + 1913: Founded, with others, The Merion Civic Association, at + Merion, Pennsylvania. + + 1915: Published _Why I Believe in Poverty_: Houghton, Mifflin + Company. + + 1916: Published poem, _God's Hand_, set to music by Josef + Hofmann: Schirmer & Company. + + 1917: Vice-president Philadelphia Belgian Relief Commission. + + 1917: Member of National Y. M. C. A. War Work Council. + + 1917: State chairman for Pennsylvania of Y. M. C. A. War Work + Council. + + 1918: Member of Executive Committee and chairman of Publicity + Committee, Philadelphia War Chest. + + 1918: Chairman of Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. Recruiting Committee. + + 1918: State chairman for Pennsylvania of United War Work + Campaign. + + 1918: August-November: visited the battle-fronts in France as + guest of the British Government. + + 1918: September 22: Relinquished editorship of _The Ladies' + Home Journal_, completing thirty years of service. + + 1920: September 20: Upon the 50th anniversary of arrival in + the United States, published _The Americanization of + Edward Bok_. + + 1921: May 30: Awarded the one thousand dollar Joseph Pulitzer + Prize for _The Americanization of Edward Bok_. + + + + +THE EXPRESSION OF A PERSONAL PLEASURE + +I cannot close this record of a boy's development without an attempt to +suggest the sense of deep personal pleasure which I feel that the +imprint on the title-page of this book should be that of the publishing +house which, thirty-six years ago, I entered as stenographer. It was +there I received my start; it was there I laid the foundation of that +future career then so hidden from me. The happiest days of my young +manhood were spent in the employ of this house; I there began +friendships which have grown closer with each passing year. And one of +my deepest sources of satisfaction is, that during all the thirty-one +years which have followed my resignation from the Scribner house, it +has been my good fortune to hold the friendship, and, as I have been +led to believe, the respect of my former employers. That they should +now be my publishers demonstrates, in a striking manner, the curious +turning of the wheel of time, and gives me a sense of gratification +difficult of expression. + +Edward W. Bok + + + + + INDEX + + Abbey, Edwin A., 138 + Abbott, Lyman, 144, 169 + Adams, Charles F., 52 + Adams, John, 52 + Adams, John Quincy, 52 + Addams, Jane, 168 + _Adriatic_, 174 + Alcott, Louisa, 46-51 + Altman Collection, 139 + American Lithographic Co., 24 + _American Magazine_, 68 + Antin, Mary, v + Appleton's _Encyclopaedia_, 15, 16, 29 + + Bakery shop, 9 + Bangs, John Kendrick, 130 + Baruch, Bernard, 173 + Beaverbrook, Lord, 174 + Beecher, Henry Ward, 55, 70-77 + Bell, Alexander Graham, 15 + Bellamy, Edward, 86 + Bok, Cary William (son), 67 + Bok, Edward William, arrival, 1; + schooldays, 2-7; + house-work, 8-9; + first money earned, 9; + first newspaper work, 11; + self-education, 15-25; + autograph collecting, 16-29; + study of shorthand, 26; + as a reporter, 26-29; + a visit to Boston, 31-46; + a visit to Concord, 46-52; + adventures in the stock-market, 59-67; + in the publishing business, 68-77; + employment with Scribner's, 78-86; + the Bok Syndicate Press, 86-90; + last years in New York, 97-107; + editorship of _The Ladies' Home Journal_, 103-107; + building up a magazine, 113-123; + visit to Oxford, 124-127; + adventures in art and civics, 134-146; + adventures in music, 160-167; + war time experiences, 168-180; + retirement as editor, 181-185 + Bok, Mrs. Edward William, _see_ Curtis, Mary Louise + Bok, Sieke Gertrude (mother), 1, 99, 100, 106 + Bok Syndicate Press, 87, 88 + Bok, William (brother), 1, 87 + Bok, William Curtis (son), 153-159 + Bok, William J. H. (father), 1, 6, 8, 53, 59, 66 + _Book Buyer_, 80 + Boston, 31-46 + _Boston Globe_, 17 + _Boston Journal_, 90 + Bourrienne, 100 + Boy Scouts, 144, 145 + Brewer, Owen W., 97 + _Brooklyn Magazine_, 56-59, 68-71 + _Brooklyn Eagle_, viii, 11, 17, 26, 53 + Brooks, Phillips, 42-46, 57 + Burlingame, Edward L., 78, 80 + Burnett, Frances H., 84 + Bush, Rufus T., 68 + + Carlyle, Thomas, 48 + Carnegie, Andrew, v, 84, 102 + Carroll, Lewis, 124-127 + Cary, Anna Louise, 56 + Cary, Clarence, 59-67, 78. + Chase, William M., xix + _Chicago Tribune_, 141 + Childs, George W., 18, 106 + _Cincinnati Times-Star_, 90 + Claflin, H. B., 57 + Coghlan, Rose, 53, 54 + Colver, Frederic L., 55, 56, 70 + Concord, 46-52 + Coney Island, 10 + _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, 69 + Crawford, Marion, 130 + Curtis, Cyrus H. K., 103-107, 120-123, 149 + Curtis, Mrs. Cyrus H. K., 113, 149, 181 + Curtis, Mary Louise, 14, 149, 161, 163 + Curtis Publishing Company, 120 + + Dana, Charles A., 130 + Davenport, Fanny, 99, 100 + Davis, Jefferson, 22 + De Koven, Reginald, 160 + Dodgson, Charles L., _see_ Carroll, Lewis + Doubleday, Frank M., 80, 81, 97 + Doyle, Conan, 130 + + Early, General Jubal, 17 + Edison, Thomas A., 15 + Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, 173 + Elkius, George W., 139 + Elman, Mischa, 164 + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 30, 46-51 + _Empress of Asia_, 180 + Evarts, William M., 26 + + Farrar, Canon, 57 + Field, Cyrus W., 186 + Fifth Avenue Hotel, 18 + Fourth of July, 140-142 + Freer, Charles L., 139 + Frick, Henry C., 139 + Fulton Market, 74 + + Gardner, Mrs. John L., 139 + Garfield, James A., 16, 18 + Garland, Hamlin, 130 + Garrison, William Lloyd, 52 + Gerard, James W., 173 + Gibbons, Cardinal, 57 + Gibson, Charles Dana, 138 + _Godey's Lady's Book_, 110 + Gould, Jay, 59-67 + Grant, Ulysses S., 17-22, 26, 57 + Great War, 169-180 + Greenaway, Kate, 128-129 + + Harland, Marion, 57 + Harmon, Dudley, 171 + Harper and Bros., 12 + _Harper's Magazine_, 12 + _Harper's Weekly_, 12 + _Harper's Young People_, 12 + Harris, Joel Chandler, 130 + Harrison, Mrs. Burton, 130 + Harte, Bret, 129 + Hay, Ian, 172 + Hayes, Rutherford B., 18, 26-30, 76 + Hegeman, Evelyn Lyon, 56 + Hitchcock, Ripley, 17 + Hodges, Dean, 169 + Hofman, Josef, 160-164 + Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 30-36 + Holt, Henry, and Company, 68, 78 + Hoover, Herbert, 172, 186 + Hope, Anthony, 130 + Howells, William Dean, 57, 119, 122, 168 + + Jerome, Jerome K., 130 + Jewett, Sarah Orne, 130 + Johnson, Eldridge R., 146 + Johnson, John G., 139 + + Keller, Helen, 169 + Kellogg, Clara Louise, 56 + King, Horatio, 67 + Kipling, Rudyard, 119, 130, 169 + Knapp, Joseph P., 24 + + _Ladies' Home Journal_, 103-107, 113-123, 134, 160, 168-173, + 181-185 + Lane, Franklin K., 184 + Lape, Esther Everett, 184 + Lathrop, George P., 90 + Lee, Robert E., 17 + _Life_, 141 + Lincoln, Mrs. Abraham, 22 + _Literary Leaves_, 90, 104 + Longfellow, Henry W., 17, 30, 37-42 + Low, A. A., 28 + Low, Seth, 57 + Low, Will H., 138 + Lynch, Albert, 138 + + McAdoo, William, 173 + Mansfield, Richard, 85 + Marchesi, Madame, 160 + Mascagni, 160 + Merion, 142-146, 149 + Merion Civic Association, 143-146 + Moffat, William D., 97 + Moffat, Yard & Co., 97 + Moody, Dwight L., 130 + Morgan, J. Pierpont, 139 + Moszkowski, 160 + Mott, Lucretia, 52 + + Netherlands, 1, 3, 39, 194 + _New York Star_, 90, 101 + _New York Sun_, 171 + _New York Tribune_, 17 + Nightingale, Florence, 127 + North, Ernest Dressel, 97 + Northcliffe, Viscount, 172 + + _Outlook, The_, 144 + + Paderewski, 160 + _Peterson's Magazine_, 110 + Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 130 + Philadelphia Orchestra, 162-167 + _Philadelphia Public Ledger_, 17 + _Philadelphia Times_, 90, 103 + Phillips, Wendell, 42, 43 + _Philomathean Review_, 56 + Philomathean Society, 55 + Plymouth Church, 55, 70 + _Plymouth Pulpit_, 56 + Porter, Gene Stratton, 169 + _Presbyterian Review_, 81 + Pulitzer Prize, v + Pyle, Howard, 138 + + _Queen, The_, 1 + + Raymond, Rossiter W., 57 + Riis, Jacob, v + Roosevelt, Franklin D., 171 + Roosevelt, Theodore, 147-159 + + Safford, Ray, 97 + Sangster, Margaret, 57 + Schlicht, Paul J., 69 + Scribner, Charles, 78 + Scribner's Sons, Charles, 78-86, 106, 213 + _Scribner's Magazine_, 80, 81, 97 + Sheridan, Philip H., 26, 57 + Sherman, William T., 18, 20, 21, 30, 57 + Smedley, W. T., 138 + Smith, F. Hopkinson, 169 + Sousa, John Philip, 160 + _South Brooklyn Advocate_, 10 + Stevenson, Robert Louis, 82, 83 + Stockton, Frank R., 84, 85 + Stokowski, Leopold, 163 + Strauss, Edouard, 160 + Strauss, Richard, 160 + Sullivan, Sir Arthur, 160 + + Taft, Charles P., 139 + Taft, William H., 171 + Talmage, T. DeWitt, 57 + Taylor, W. L., 138 + Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 17 + Thursby, Emma C., 56 + Tosti, 160 + Twain, Mark, 98, 99, 129 + + Vanderbilt, William H.,15 + Van Dyke, Henry, 169 + Van Rensselaer, Alexander, 166 + Victor Talking Machine Co., 145 + + Walker, E. D., 69 + Washington, George, 40 + Webster, Jean, 169 + Western Union Telegraph Co., 13, 14, 59-67 + Whittier, John Greenleaf, 17 + Widener, Joseph E., 139 + Wiggin, Kate Douglas, 130, 169 + Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 87, 88 + Wiles, Irving R., 138 + Wilkins, Mary E., 130 + Wilson, Woodrow, 170 + + Young Men's Christian Association, 26 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DUTCH BOY FIFTY YEARS AFTER*** + + +******* This file should be named 15930.txt or 15930.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/3/15930 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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