When Page commissioned an article, he meant simply that he would pay full price for it; whether he would publish it depended entirely upon the quality of the material itself.

But Page was just as severe upon his own writings as upon those of other men.

He wrote occasionally--always under a nom-de-plume; but he had great difficulty in satisfying his own editorial standards.

After finishing an article he would commonly send for one of his friends and read the result.
"That is superb!" this admiring associate would sometimes say.
In response Page would take the manuscript and, holding it aloft in two hands, tear it into several bits, and throw the scraps into the waste basket.
"Oh, I can do better than that," he would laugh and in another minute he was busy rewriting the article, from beginning to end.
Page retired from the editorship of the _Forum_ in 1895.

The severance of relations was half a comedy, half a tragedy.