Scorching Pen

Long ago, in the fierce and uncouth days of 1920, there was a pen more scorching than other pens, and it was wielded by one of the ablest partisans of those contentious days. Whether it was because of the scorching pen or the ability of the partisan, or whether there were other causes at work, is no longer known nor was it then, but it befell that victory came to the side of the partisan with the scorching pen. On victory followed strange mutations. The partisan became a diplomat, a courtier. The mind that had formulated the deadliest slings of politics turned genteel phrases. Words, always free to him, fell in modulated periods from his lips, tinted with no mean wit, with some felicity, some eccentricity. Being away, he was yet ever with his countrymen, catching their notice some times with a ridiculed phrase, some times with an exaggerated gesture. They did not quite like it that he should wear a toga while walking with the Romans. Even the pseudo-Romans failed to appreciate entirely his wearing of the toga. For one, the king he visited bore him no personal love. After some time of this, he wearied of his honorary exile. Its expense, for one thing, was a burden. Perhaps his fingers began to itch for the familiar feeling of the scorching pen. He voluntarily returned. At home, affairs were no longer the same. His former enemies were still his enemies. His former friends had changed. They followed another leader in another spirit. It was no longer the world in which he and his pen had fought so fiercely, but, even so, they must have a part. He waited a time, then approached his pen once more. So it transpired that Colonel George Harvey would resume the conduct of the North American Review. He had bought the Review in 1899 and edited it until 1921, when he departed for the Court of St. James. It was already an ancient paper when he bought it-- founded in 1815. On its roll of editors were such names as William Tudor, Richard H. Dana, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, James Russell Lowell, Charles Eliot Norton, Henry Adams, Henry Cabot Lodge, David A. Munro. During some 60 years of its existence the Review was a quarterly. Colonel Harvey proposes to return it to this periodicity. Its present monthly size will be increased by 48 pages. Beginning with the June number, the returned editor will contribute a leading article to each issue-- beginning with Calvin Coolidge: " Yea, I have a goodly heritage "-- David. He told reporters that he would favor Coolidge and that the Review would remain independent.