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!