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Page 7
The father, a man bearing one of the most respected names in the
Netherlands, had acquired wealth and position for himself; unwise
investments, however, had swept away his fortune, and in preference to
a new start in his own land, he had decided to make the new beginning
in the United States, where a favorite brother-in-law had gone several
years before. But that, never a simple matter for a man who has
reached forty-two, is particularly difficult for a foreigner in a
strange land. This fact he and his wife were to find out. The wife,
also carefully reared, had been accustomed to a scale of living which
she had now to abandon. Her Americanization experiment was to compel
her, for the first time in her life, to become a housekeeper without
domestic help. There were two boys: the elder, William, was eight and
a half years of age; the younger, in nineteen days from his
landing-date, was to celebrate his seventh birthday.
This younger boy was Edward William Bok. He had, according to the
Dutch custom, two other names, but he had decided to leave those in the
Netherlands. And the American public was, in later years, to omit for
him the "William."
Edward's first six days in the United States were spent in New York,
and then he was taken to Brooklyn, where he was destined to live for
nearly twenty years.
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.
Louis XIV may have been right when he said that "every new language
requires a new soul," but Edward Bok knew that while spoken languages
might differ, there is one language understood by boys the world over.
And with this language Edward decided to do some experimenting. After
a few days at school, he cast his eyes over the group of his
tormentors, picked out one who seemed to him the ringleader, and before
the boy was aware of what had happened, Edward Bok was in the full
swing of his first real experiment with Americanization. Of course the
American boy retaliated. But the boy from the Netherlands had not been
born and brought up in the muscle-building air of the Dutch dikes for
nothing, and after a few moments he found himself looking down on his
tormentor and into the eyes of a crowd of very respectful boys and
giggling girls, who readily made a passageway for his brother and
himself when they indicated a desire to leave the schoolyard and go
home.
Edward now felt that his Americanization had begun; but, always
believing that a thing begun must be carried to a finish, he took, or
gave--it depends upon the point of view--two or three more lessons in
this particular phase of Americanization before he convinced these
American schoolboys that it might be best for them to call a halt upon
further excursions in torment.
At the best, they were difficult days at school for a boy of seven who
could not speak English. Although the other children stopped teasing
Edward, they did not try to make the way easier for him. America is
essentially a land of fair play, but it is not fair play for American
boys and girls to take advantage of a foreign child's unfamiliarity
with the language or our customs to annoy that child or to place
difficulties in his way. When a foreign pupil with little knowledge of
the English language enters an American school the native-born boys and
girls in that school can accomplish a useful service in Americanization
by helping the newcomer, thus giving him a true idea of American
fairness at the start. No doubt many American boys and girls gladly do
this little kindness for the young foreigner, but Edward Bok and his
brother suffered tortures at the hands of those who should have helped
them.
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