The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1922-10-26
STE LIFE AND LETTERS or WALTER
~ PAGE. In two voiumes Doubleday.
Page 4 Company.

hsarien tho faith Of those who
believe In democracy. II furnishes
lifeiike and speaking portrait. largely
painted by himself. Of a dcyout and de-
lightfuI dcme,~ai. !, shows that a man of
good taste. intellectual power. classical
culture. and s,a,esmanlIke capacity and
genius. may spriLg from the soil and may
mature. unrpoiled by the hurry burly Of
life. m well M from a pcdlrrced lineage
and In pm arirtocraiic atmosphere. There
10 school Of philosophy which holds tina,
while democracy may Increase the aver
agc OF human comfort and happiness. IL
levels down the highest types OF human
beings In the process Of raising tho lowest
types. Even 80 wise and eminent an
authority as James. Bryce thought that
tumdrum mcdiocrity is tho greatest
danger that social and political democracy
has to face. Certainly Walter Page was
neither humdrum nor mediocre. although
he sprang from pioneer soil and pioneer
parentagc. His ancestors for several gen.
erations were Of good stock. hut his father
was OF the pioneer variety OF man, battling
with the rocks In the Cape River. or penc-
trating the virgin pine forests. Telling trees.
and converting It's raw materials 10 tho
tses OF growing civilization: like many
OF tho Page breed. this Page was a giant In
size and In strength. as sound morally and
physically M the mighty forests In which
considerable part OF his life was spent.
brave. determined. aggressive. domIneerlng
almost TO the point OF intolerance. deeply
religious and abstemious--a mixture OF
the frontier and the Old Testament
prophet"
Walter Hines Page. son Of this pioneer.
was born In North Carolina and IN 1865.
at 10 years OF age. found himself in a
home OF a family formerly comparatively
rich. but reduced by the civil war To
comparative poverty Nevertheless. the
future Ambassador to England was sent TO
school probably at some sef-sacrIfcc. as
so many Southern boys OF that time and
lineage were. After an experimental and
unsatisfactory trial OF North Carolina
college he went to Randolph Macon, In
Virginia, where his classical training es-
pecially in Greek. was so good that when
he was not quite 2l years Of age. he
won fellowship In Greek at the newly
established Johns Hopkins University OF
Baltimore. At one time he intended To
be a Methodist minister Later this plan
na oh - thafr - .t..t. L
to be professor of Greek; and still later
when Professor Gilderseeve would as
sign him the Greek adverb prin and direct
him to study the peculiarltes Of its use
from Homer down to the Byzantine
writer's he really found himself In pretty
deep waters. Was 1t conceivable that a
man could spend his lifetime in an oc-
cupation of this knd?"
Although his love Of Greek poetry and
indeed of literature in general, remained
with him throughout his life. he was really
not essentially a classcist He was
thoroughgong modern. Interested in the
problems and progress of modern life.
1t was. therefore. natural for him to be-
come journalist. In pursuit Of this
trade. he wandered about the country,
editing here and there. and writing news.
paper correspondence here and there; but
1t was not until he became editor of the
Forum, a monthly review like the English
Fortni0htly and Contemporary, that he
began to make national reputation.
From the Forum he was called to the
editorship of the Atlantic Monthly. in
which position his name had been pre-
ceded by some of the most distinguished
names In the history of American liter
ature: among them those OF James Russell
Lowell William D. Howels and Thomas
Bailey Aldrich. In this position he sue
ceeded just as he had In the editorial
chair Of the Forum. Mr.. Ellery Sedg-
wick, the present proprietor and editor Of
the Atlantic, characterizes Walter Page
In vivid and striking fashion:
Were visitant from another sphere
to ask me for the incarnation of those
qualities we love to call American,
should turn to the familiar gallery of
my memory and point to the living
portrait that hangs there Of Walter
Page. A sort of foursquareness, blunt
ness, 1t seemed to some; an uneasy,
even explosive energy; a disposition
to underrate fine drawn nicenesses of
all sorts; ingrained Yankee common
sense checking his vaulting enthusi-
asm; enormous self-confidence; impa-
tience of failure-all of these were
in him: and he was besides Affection
ate to fault, devoted to his country,
his family, his craft-a strong bluff.
tender man.
From Boston Page came to New York
and formed the partnership with Frank N.
Doubleday which developed into the sue
cessful and influential firm of Doubleday,
Page & Co. Mr. Page established the
Worlds Work, a monthly periodical whose
prime function was, to use his own
words, ITO interpret the new impulse in
American life. the new feeling Of national
ity our coming to realize ourselves; to
my mind there is greater promise in
democracy than men of any preceding
period ever dared dream of-agressive