EARLY LIFE AND EXPERIENCES OF DR. COOK 89 



the mother, shortly before her distinguished son made his dash for 

 the Pole. 



Let us now go forward to a later period in the boyhood life of 

 our hero. It was evidently necessary for Mrs. Cook's sons to do 

 their utmost for the support of the family, and Frederick and Wil- 

 liam both obtained employment in the produce house of George W. 

 Ihrig, Fulton Market, New York. Here they became engaged in 

 the sale of vegetables, working hard for small salaries. But Fred- 

 erick, the younger of the two, had no thought of abandoning his 

 efforts to gain an education. He had always been a silent, reflective, 

 studious lad, apparently regarding a book as his best companion, 

 and a youth of that disposition could not content himself to give up 

 his studies. He soon learned that the high schools held evening 

 sessions, for the benefit of those who could not attend during the 

 day, and he lost no time in entering one of these, the Boys' High 

 School of Brooklyn, or some similar institution. 



Thus engaged, working hard at Fulton Market all day and 

 studying hard and earnestly every evening, ambition awoke in his 

 young soul and he grew eager to complete his education by a college 

 course. To do so, it would be necessary to earn more money than 

 was to be had from his market stand, and he looked around for some 

 more profitable occupation. 



What course of study he should pursue in college also occupied 

 his mind, and he was not long in deciding upon medicine as the best 

 choice of a profession. It was one that was in a sense hereditary in 

 the family. His father had been a doctor, and so had been his 

 grandfather, and the profession may have reached farther back. 

 Thus it was that he decided upon the study of medicine and chose 

 the Medical School of Columbia College as the best place to obtain 

 the necessary instruction. 



Two methods of making the necessary money successively pre- 

 sented themselves to the young student, and in both of these he 

 engaged. He became interested in printing, and with some money 



