ggestions 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.
Page," writes one of the Embassy staff--"Findlater, Short, and
Frederick"--these were all English servants at the Embassy; "we all
loved him equally, and hardly a day passes that something does not
remind us of him, and I often fancy that I hear his laugh, so full of
kindness and love of life." And the impression left on those in high
position was the same. "I have seen ladies representing all that is most
worldly in Mayfair," writes Mr. Ellery Sedgwick, the editor of the
_Atlantic Monthly_, "start at the sudden thought of Page's illness,
their eyes glistening with tears."

Perhaps what gave most charm to this human side was the fact that Page
was fundamentally such a scholarly man. This was the aspect which
especially delighted his English friends. He preached democracy
and Americanism with an emphasis that almost suggested the
back-woodsman--the many ideas on these subjects that appear in his
letters Page never hesitated to set forth with all due resonance at
London dinner tables--yet he phrased his creed in language that w