And yet when I analyze the reasons for
my choice in both these instances, I derive a deeper satisfaction from
the fact that my strong desire to work in America for America led me to
ask to be permitted to remain here.
It is this strong impulse that my Americanization has made the driving
power of my life. And I ask no greater privilege than to be allowed to
live to see my potential America become actual: the America that I like
to think of as the America of Abraham Lincoln and of Theodore
Roosevelt--not faultless, but less faulty. It is a part in trying to
shape that America, and an opportunity to work in that America when it
comes, that I ask in return for what I owe to her. A greater privilege
no man could have.
EDWARD WILLIAM BOK
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
1863: October 9: Born at Helder, Netherlands.
1870; September 20: Arrived in the United States.
1870: Entered public schools of Brooklyn, New York.
1873: Obtained first position in Frost's Bakery, Smith Street,
Brooklyn, at 50 cents per week.
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