The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1906-04-20


Walter Page, editor of the World ;
Work and one of the firm Of Double
day. Page Il Co., has been giving some
interesting lectures at Richmond Col
lege on the writing Of good English.
lie is well equipped To talk ON this
subject, having had a great deal Of
experience As writer and critic, ana
being absolutely unhampered 10y the
grammar Of the grammarians.
Dr. Page belongs 10 a North Carroll
ma family Of originality, brains ana
courage. rs a young man he did
newspaper work in Raleigh, and did
II well. In those days DIR. Charles w.
Dabney, now president OF the nj
verSity of Cincinnati, was chemist III
the North Carolina Experiment sta
ton. having but recently returned
from his European studies. Josephus
Danieles. now editor of the Raleigh
News and Observer, was then driving
quill rs a newspaper reporter, ana
tradition has it that the trio spent
many congenial hour together dis
cussing the larger rs well As the lesser
affair Of life and state with that OPP
timism so sublime in young men OF
brains and courage and ideals. All
three were said to be ardent free ira
ders in those days. All three sup
ported Cleveland. In 1896 Dabney
went 10 Palmer and Buckner, Page
went to Mckinley, and Daniels sup
ported Bryan with vigor and ability
that stirred North Carolina.
From North Carolina Dabney went
TO the University Of Tennessee and
transformed il from a discredited col
lege into commanding university.
Daniels stayed with his people and Is
today the greatest newspaper man III
the old North State, and one Of the
best anywhere; utterly fearless and
clean, loyal to Southern traditions,
imbued with pure democracy which
he lives, and progressive without the
slightest faint Of the pelf which con-
stitutes so much of our boosted pro-
gress. Page, discouraged that his
ideas and ideals were slow of fulfill
ment in Raleigh, went to New York
with about enough money to pay his
railroad fare but with plenty Of grit to
stand HIM in good stead. He forged
To the front rapidly, and despite his
newspaper work, the haste of which
destroys the accuracy of expression
and the literary style of 50 many clev-
er writers, he landed in the editorial
chair of the Atlantic Monthly, one of
the purely literary magazines of this
country, and at salary said to be
around $1,000 year.
Doubleday had brains and money,
and hankering for books and their
production. And so Doubleday, Page
u Co., came into existence, and the
firm has had a remarkable history.
1t has the reputation Of being daring
in the extreme; but it is a daring
which comes from the foresight to see
what the public needs, the power to
make the public see that it does need
it, and the capacity to supply that
need in a perfectly delightful way.
Think of one publishing firm that has
in a few years created such magazines
as the Worlds Work, Country Life in
American, and the Garden Magazine,
aud that has put forth such a series Of
books as is contained in the famous
mature Library
Walter Page is so original, 50 blunt
and so frank that he has enemies who
delight to hate him and friends who
delight TO love him. Once rank
free trader he is now said to be a
strong protectionist. But he does not
let the Walter Page of 1895 dominate
the Walter Page Of 1906. And he may
be fighting for the tariff reform in the
next national electiOn-and probably
will be. He has made some remark
able utterances on public education;
and his words on this subject, as on
everything he writes and says, bite
like old cheese.
The South has considered him too
severe as a critic Of her traditions and
policies. The grammarians regard
him as hopeless because he refuses to
be bound 10y their rules and yet pro-
duces clear and forceful English.
The Colleges gasp at his holiness be
cause he stands up and tells the pro-
fessOrs of English Literature that
some Of them stifle originality in their
pupils and try to run every student
through the same mill. His career
has been a notable one, and he is in |
his prime. Many young man with |
equal brain-pOwer has failed because
he lacked Pages daring.
II looks as if a railroad from Rosney
Farmville via Hampden-Sid-
ney TO the Tidewater is an assured
fact. Nav il prove so! IL will omen