a low-class type, and in this way I
suffer from the name."

[Illustration: THE BIRTH OF "TIT-BITS."]

"And how was it you came to inaugurate your system of insurance against
railway accidents?" I asked Mr. Newnes, after a brief discussion on the
ridiculous and narrow-minded behaviour of these worthy clerics. "It was
in this way," he replied, as he brought himself to an anchor against the
billiard-table, where he rested for a brief moment. "It was in this way:
A woman wrote to me saying that her husband had been killed on the
railway, and as he had a copy of _Tit-Bits_ upon him at the time, she
asked whether I would make her some allowance of money. At once the idea
of an insurance system occurred to me, and you know now how widespread
this system has become."

I smiled as I noted how in each case his wonderful successes are
owing not more to the flash of a striking idea than to the wonderful
promptitude which follows on the thought; how remarkable an instance his
whole career affords of the benefit and wisdom of striking while the
iron is hot.

"And then after _Tit-Bits_ came the _Review of Reviews_, I suppose?" I
queried, as my host jotted down some notes in his pocket-book.

[Illustration: HESKETH HOUSE, TORQUAY.]

"Yes," he replied, as he once more took the floor. "That was one of the
quickest arranged things I have ever heard of. It was all done in a
month. I was staying down at Torquay, where I have a house for the
winter, and Mr. Stead wrote to me to say he contemplated leaving the
_Pall Mall Gazette_, and would like to be associated with me in some
journalistic scheme. He sent descriptions of three which were passing
through his mind, asking if I would care to take either of them into
consideration. I replied by return, saying that I did not care for two
of them much, but that I was delighted with the third. I then and there
told him the terms upon which I would work with him. He wrote back,
saying that he would accept them, and I came to London the following
week, in order that I might make arrangements, and in thirty days from
the first proposal of the idea, the _Review of Reviews_ was published.
At first it was decided to call it _The Sixpenny Monthly_, with a
sub-title, _A Review of the Reviews_; as such, indeed, it appeared upon
the cover till the day before going to press, which was a Sunday. I was
so convinced that the title ought to be reversed, and that it should be
_The Review of Reviews, a Sixp