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!