ing 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