The  life  of  an  editor  has  its  unsatisfactory  aspect,  unless
the  editor  himself  has  an  influential  ownership  in  his
periodical.  Page  now  found  his  opportunity  to  establish
a  monthly  magazine  which  he  could  regard  as  his  own  in
both  senses.  He  was  its  untrammelled  editor,  and  also,
in  part,  its  proprietor.  All  editors  and  writers  will  sym-
pathize with  the  ideas  expressed  in  a  letter  written  about
this  time  to  Page's  friend,  Mr.  William  Roscoe  Thayer,
already  distinguished  as  the  historian  of  Italian  unity  and
afterward  to  win  fame  as  the  biographer  of  Cavour  and
John  Hay.  When  the  first  number  of  the  World's  Work
appeared  Mr.  Thayer  wrote,  expressing  a  slight  disap-
pointment that  its  leading  tendency  was  journalistic
rather  than  literary  and  intellectual.  "When  you  edited
the  Forum,"  wrote  Mr.  Thayer,  "I  perceived  that  no
such  talent  for  editing  had  been  seen  in  America  before,
and  when,  a  little  later,  you  rejuvenated  the  Atlantic,
making  it  for  a  couple  of  years  the  best  periodical  printed
in  English,  I  felt  that  you  had  a  great  mission  before  you


"THE  FORGOTTEN  MAN"  67

as  evoker  and  editor  of  the  best  literary  work  and  weight-
iest thought  on  important  topics  of  our  foremost  men."
He  had  hoped  to  see  a  magnified  Atlantic,  and  the  new
publication,  splendid  as  it  was,  seemed  to  be  of  rather
more  popular  character  than  the  publications  with  which
Page  had  previously  been  associated.  Page  met  this
challenge  in  his  usual  hearty  fashion.
To  William  Roscoe  Thayer

34  Union  Square  East,  New  York,

December  5, 1900.
