to the past. Each
subject--music, literature, humanitarianism, mysticism, and a dozen
others--would be treated in turn; and while in no wise belittling the
magic inventiveness of an age which has given us an Edison, a Marconi,
and a whole host of brilliant explorers, birdmen, and others equally
daring and distinguished, he intended to remember always the enormous
debt which we of this century owe to the glorious past.

Possibly in Owen's very enthusiasm, in the eager, ardent spirit of his
dreams, there was more of the spirit of the future than of the past--but
he intended to hold the balance as evenly as possible.

On one point he was firm. While hoping that his review would be in every
way a serious contribution to the more valuable literature of the day,
the literature which was worth something, he intended it to be strictly
non-political. There would be no room within its covers for writers with
axes to grind. No acrimonious discussions, thinly-veiled in pedantry,
should mar the harmony of the pages; no party cries should echo from the
editorial offices; and although he aimed, in some measure, at
instructing and uplifting his readers, it was their betterment as human
beings, rather than as citizens--so far as the two may be divorced--with
which he intended to concern himself.

He was fortunate in his collaborators. At his back he had an old friend
of his fathers', a gifted, if somewhat inarticulate, man of letters, who
had longed, in his early life, for the opportunity to do what Owen was
doing; and was generous enough to feel that, though his own working days
were over, he might well use a little of his wealth in helping another
man to realize their mutual dream.

Everything was to be on a strictly business-like footing. Owen, as
editor, was to receive a moderate salary--moderate because he felt that
in the circumstances the backing he received was worth more than any
emolument. Also he was sufficiently well-off to waive the matter if he
chose until the review was on firm financial ground. Barry, as his
personal secretary and general second-in-command, was to receive a
generous sum; and the rest of the men, all young, ardent, and fired with
a whole-hearted belief in Owen as their chief, were to be remunerated
according to their work and ability.

A certain Miss Lucy Jenkins had been selected as typewriter and
assistant at what seemed to her the princely sum of forty shillings a
week; and by the beginning of Feb