Edward Bok's lines were now to follow those of advertising for several years.He was responsible for securing the advertisements for The Book Buyer and The Presbyterian Review.While the former was, frankly, a house-organ, its editorial contents had so broadened as to make the periodical of general interest to book-lovers, and with the subscribers constituting the valuable list of Scribner book-buyers, other publishers were eager to fish in the Scribner pond.
With The Presbyterian Review, the condition was different.A magazine issued quarterly naturally lacks the continuity desired by the advertiser; the scope of the magazine was limited, and so was the circulation.It was a difficult magazine to "sell" to the advertiser, and Bok's salesmanship was taxed to the utmost.Although all that the publishers asked was that the expense of getting out the periodical be met, with its two hundred and odd pages even this was difficult.It was not an attractive proposition.
The most interesting feature of the magazine to Bok appeared to be the method of editing.It was ostensibly edited by a board, but, practically, by Professor Francis L.Patton, D.D., of Princeton Theological Seminary (afterward president of Princeton University), and Doctor Charles A.Briggs, of Union Theological Seminary.The views of these two theologians differed rather widely, and when, upon several occasions, they met in Bok's office, on bringing in their different articles to go into the magazine, lively discussions ensued.Bok did not often get the drift of these discussions, but he was intensely interested in listening to the diverse views of the two theologians.
One day the question of heresy came up between the two men, and during a pause in the discussion, Bok, looking for light, turned to Doctor Briggs and asked: "Doctor, what really is heresy?"Doctor Briggs, taken off his guard for a moment, looked blankly at his young questioner, and repeated: "What is heresy?""Yes," repeated Bok, "just what is heresy, Doctor?""That's right," interjected Doctor Patton, with a twinkle in his eyes, "what is heresy, Briggs?""Would you be willing to write it down for me?" asked Bok, fearful that he should not remember Doctor Briggs's definition even if he were told.
And Doctor Briggs wrote:
"Heresy is anything in doctrine or practice that departs from the mind of the Church as officially defined.
Charles A.Briggs.
"Let me see," asked Doctor Patton, and when he read it, he muttered:
"Humph, pretty broad, pretty broad."
"Well," answered the nettled Doctor Briggs, "perhaps you can give a less broad definition, Patton.""No, no," answered the Princeton theologian, as the slightest wink came from the eye nearest Bok, "I wouldn't attempt it for a moment.Too much for me."On another occasion, as the two were busy in their discussion of some article to be inserted in the magazine, Bok listening with all his might, Doctor Patton, suddenly turning to the young listener, asked, in the midst of the argument: "Whom are the Giants going to play this afternoon, Bok?"Doctor Briggs's face was a study.For a moment the drift of the question was an enigma to him: then realizing that an important theological discussion had been interrupted by a trivial baseball question, he gathered up his papers and stamped violently out of the office.Doctor Patton made no comment, but, with a smile, he asked Bok: "Johnnie Ward going to play to-day, do you know? Thought I might ask Mr.Scribner if you could go up to the game this afternoon."It is unnecessary to say to which of the two men Bok was the more attracted, and when it came, each quarter, to figuring how many articles could go into the Review without exceeding the cost limit fixed by the house, it was always a puzzle to Doctor Briggs why the majority of the articles left out were invariably those that he had brought in, while many of those which Doctor Patton handed in somehow found their place, upon the final assembling, among the contents.
"Your articles are so long," Bok would explain.
"Long?" Doctor Briggs would echo."You don't measure theological discussions by the yardstick, young man.""Perhaps not," the young assembler would maintain.
But we have to do some measuring here by the composition-stick, just the same."And the Union Seminary theologian was never able successfully, to vault that hurdle!
From his boyhood days (up to the present writing) Bok was a pronounced baseball "fan," and so Doctor Patton appealed to a warm place in the young man's heart when he asked him the questions about the New York baseball team.There was, too, a baseball team among the Scribner young men of which Bok was a part.This team played, each Saturday afternoon, a team from another publishing house, and for two seasons it was unbeatable.Not only was this baseball aggregation close to the hearts of the Scribner employees, but, in an important game, the junior member of the firm played on it and the senior member was a spectator.Frank N.
Doubleday played on first base; William D.Moffat, later of Moffat, Yard & Company, and now editor of The Mentor, was behind the bat; Bok pitched; Ernest Dressel North, the present authority on rare editions of books, was in the field, as were also Ray Safford, now a director in the Scribner corporation, and Owen W.Brewer, at present a prominent figure in Chicago's book world.It was a happy group, all closely banded together in their business interests and in their human relations as well.
