And in occupations of this kind Page passed his years of maturity.  His was not a spectacular life; his family for the most part still remained his most immediate interest; the daily round of an editor has its imaginative quality, but in the main it was for Page a quiet, even a cloistered existence; the work that an editor does, the achievements that he can put to his credit, are usually anonymous; and the American public little understood the extent to which Page was influencing many of the most vital forces of his time.  The business association that he had formed with Mr. Doubleday turned out most happily.  Their publishing house, in a short time, attained a position of great influence and prosperity.  The two men, on both the personal and the business side, were congenial and complementary; and the love that both felt for country life led to the establishment of a publishing and printing plant of unusual beauty.  In Garden City, Long Island, a great brick structure was built, somewhat suggestive in its architecture of Hampton Court, surrounded by pools and fountains, Italian gardens, green walks and pergolas, gardens blooming in appropriate seasons with roses, peonies, rhododendrons, chrysanthemums, and the like, and parks of evergreen, fir, cedar, and more exotic trees and shrubs.  Certainly fate could have designed no more fitting setting for Page’s favourite activities than this.  In assembling authors, in instigating the writing of books, in watching the achievements and the tendencies of American life, in the routine of editing his magazine—­all this in association with partners whose daily companionship was a delight and a stimulation—­Page spent his last years in America.

Page’s independence as an editor, sufficiently indicated in the days of his vivacious youth, became even more emphatic in his maturer years.  In his eyes, merely inking over so many pages of good white paper was not journalism; conviction, zeal, honesty—­these were the important points.  Almost on the very day that his appointment as Ambassador to Great Britain was announced his magazine published an editorial from his pen, which contained not especially complimentary references to his new chief, Mr. Bryan, the Secretary of State; naturally the newspapers found much amusement in these few sentences; but the thing was typical of Page’s whole career as an editor.  He held to the creed that an editor should divorce himself entirely from prejudices, animosities, and predilections; this seems an obvious, even a trite thing to say, yet there are so few men who can leave personal considerations aside in writing of men and events that it is worth while pointing out that Page was such a man.  When his firm was planning to establish its magazine, his partner, Mr. Doubleday, was approached by a New York politician of large influence but shady reputation who wished to be assured that it would reflect correct political principles.  “You should see Mr. Page about that,” was the response.  “No, this is a business matter,” the insinuating gentleman went on, and then he proceeded to show that about twenty-five thousand subscribers could be obtained if the publication preached orthodox standpat doctrine.  “I don’t think you had better see Mr. Page,” said Mr. Doubleday, dismissing his caller.