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.