BOKHARA 



71)4 



BOLEYN 



EDWARD W. BOK 



against useless patent medicines and in favor 

 of a sane Fourth of July ure some of the 

 causes which he has consistently supported. 



Although Bok 

 has a keen under- 

 standing of the 

 problems of Amer- 

 ican life, he him- 

 self is a native of 

 the Netherlands. 

 He was only six 

 years old when his 

 parent* emigrated 

 to the United 

 States, as the re- 

 sult of business 

 troubles through 



which his father lost his entire fortune. The 

 death of the father soon after arrival in the 

 United States left the widow and two sons 

 in sore need. Bok himself has told of those 

 days, when he and his, brother used to go out 

 on the streets at night and pick up bits of coal 

 and pieces of wood because the family did not 

 have five cents to spare for a bundle of kind- 

 ling. 



Until he was thirteen Bok went to the public 

 schools in Brooklyn, N. Y. Then he secured 

 work as an office boy, and at seventeen he 

 edited The Brooklyn Magazine, which flour- 

 ished for two years with the encouragement and 

 material help of Henry Ward Beecher, whose 

 church Bok attended. After several years' 

 work as a stenographer for publishers in New 

 York he founded the Bok Syndicate Press, 

 which furnished special articles to newspapers 

 throughout the United States. These articles, 

 though signed by William Bok, were mostly 

 written by Edward, and won the attention of 

 Cyrus H. K. Curtis (born 1850), the publisher 

 of the Ladies' Home Journal and the Saturday 

 Evening Post. In 1889 Bok became editor-in- 

 chief of the former periodical, and in 1891 was 

 made vice-president of the Curtis Publishing 

 Company. In 1896 he married Miss Mary 

 Curtis, the daughter of Cyrus H. K. Curtis. 



BOKHARA , bo kah ' rah, a Russian protec- 

 torate in Central Asia, situated between Tur- 

 kestan and Afghanistan, covering an area vari- 

 ously estimated at from 80,000 to 90,000 square 

 miles. One is accustomed to associate Bokhara 

 only with the carpets for which it is famous, 

 but there are many things combining to make 

 the country important and interesting. It is 

 under the influence of Russia to the extent 

 that it can deal independently only upon local 



matters, yet is recognized as a kingdom and 



is ruled by an ameer whose local power is 



absolute. This ameer appoints officials to rule 



over certain dis- r ^ _ ... __^^ 1 tim 



tricts, each of 



which must pay 



money and send 



gifts of cattle to 



the ruler every 



year. The gov- 



arnment does not 



pay its officials, 



who are expected 



to take from the 



people of their 

 districts what 

 they need for 

 themselves. It 



LOCATION OF BOKHARA 

 The small space in black 

 represents this Russian de- 

 pendency. 



is not safe in Bokhara to 

 question the methods of rulers and govern- 

 ment officials. Naturally industries are in a 

 backward state, except agriculture, on which 

 people, officials and rulers alike must depend. 



Horses, cattle, sheep, camels and goats are 

 raised in great numbers, and cereals and fruit 

 are produced abundantly. The only important 

 industries are the manufacture of swords, knives 

 and gold and silver ornaments. Carpets of 

 excellent quality, textiles of silk, wool and 

 cotton are made in native houses on primitive 

 looms and find a ready market. The popula- 

 tion is of the most varied kind, but not mixed, 

 each nationality keeping to its own communi- 

 ties. Kirghiz, Turkomans, Uzbegs, Tadjiks, 

 Afghans, Arabs, Persians, Jews and Russians, 

 with many nomadic tribes, live in their settle- 

 ments and plunder each other and are in turn 

 robbed by those who are supposed to govern 

 them. The only important towns are Bok- 

 hara, the capital, and Karshi, both cities carry- 

 ing on extensive commerce with India, Persia 

 and Russia. Internal communication is still 

 restricted to camel caravans, such roads as 

 exist being almost too rough for any wheeled 

 vehicles. Population, estimated at about 

 2,500,000. 



BOLEYN, bool'in, ANNE (1507-1536), sec- 

 ond wife of Henry VIII of England, of impor- 

 tance in English history not for anything which 

 she did herself, but because Henry's desire to 

 marry her led to the separation of the English 

 Church from the Church of Rome. As lady 

 of honor to Queen Catharine she was conspic- 

 uous at court, and the king soon fell in love 

 with her. She refused to listen to his addresses, 

 however, unless he would divorce Catharine. 

 Because the Pope would not permit the divorce 



