though he might be, low in spirits as he not infrequently was, the press
of a human hand at once changed him into an animated and radiating
companion. This responsiveness deceived all his friends in the days of
his last illness. His intimates who dropped in to see Page invariably
went away much encouraged and spread optimistic reports about his
progress. A few minutes' conversation with Page would deceive even his
physicians. The explanation was a simple one: the human presence had an
electric effect upon him, and it is a revealing sidelight on Page's
character that almost any man or woman could produce this result. As an
editor, the readiness with which he would listen to suggestions from the
humblest source was a constant astonishment to his associates. The
office boy had as accessible an approach to Page as had his partners. He
never treated an idea, even a grotesque one, with contempt; he always
had time to discuss it, to argue it out, and no one ever left his
presence thinking that he had made an absurd proposal. Thus Page had a
profound respect for a human being simply because he was a human being;
the mere fact that a man, woman, or child lived and breathed, had his
virtues and his failings, constituted in Page's imagination a tremendous
fact. He could not wound such a living creature any more than he could
wound a flower or a tree; consequently he treated every person as an
important member of the universe. Not infrequently, indeed, he stormed
at public men, but his thunder, after all, was not very terrifying; his
remarks about such personages as Mr. Bryan merely reflected his
indignation at their policies and their influence but did not indicate
any feeling against the victims themselves. Page said "Good morning" to
his doorman with the same deference that he showed to Sir Edward Grey,
and there was not a little stenographer in the building whose joys and
sorrows did not arouse in him the most friendly interest. Some of the
most affecting letters written about Page, indeed, have come from these
daily associates of more humble station. "We so often speak of Mr.