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.
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