In  his  reading  about  the  America  of  the  past,  Bok  had
been  impressed  by  the  unusual  amount  of  interesting  per-
sonal material  that  constituted  what  is  termed  unwritten
history — original  events  of  tremendous  personal  appeal  in
which  great  personalities  figured  but  which  had  not  suJ3i-=
cient  historical  importance  to  have  been  included  in  Ameri-
can histoiy.  Bok  determined  to  please  his  older  readers
by  harking  back  to  the  past  and  at  the  same  time  acquaint-
ing the  younger  generation  with  the  picturesque  events
which  had  preceded  their  time.
He  also  believed  that  if  he  could  ''dress  up"  the  past,
he  could  arrest  the  attention  of  a  generation  which  was  too
likel}''  to  boast  of  its  interest  only  in  the  present  and  the


132  A  DUTCH  BOY  FIFTY  YEARS  AFTER

future.  He  took  a  course  of  reading  and  consulted  with
Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana,  editor  of  the  New  York  Sun,  who
had  become  interested  in  his  work  and  had  written  him
several  voluntary  letters  of  commendation.  Mr.  Dana  gave
material  help  in  the  selection  of  subjects  and  writers;  and
was  intensely  amused  and  interested  by  the  manner  in
which  his  youthful  confrere  ^^ dressed  up''  the  titles  of  what
might  otherwise  have  looked  like  commonplace  articles.
