The fact that St. Nicholas, like all monthly magazines, has to be made up far in advance of the date of publication, is familiar to most of our readers; and the January number had gone to press when, on November 25, 1912, a grievous loss befell this magazine, in the sudden death, which we here sorrowfully record, of Mr. Frank H. Scott, the president of The Century Co. To his fellow-workers, it was the loss of a leader who had long been held in homage and affection. For his business career began with that of the company itself; he had enlisted in its service when it was first formed, and in his earliest manhood; with the ardent pride of youth, he took part in the issue of the very first numbers of The Century and St. Nicholas, some forty years ago. From that day onward, he was a loyal helper and wise counselor of both magazines—their stanch supporter and far-seeing business adviser, whose judgment, capacity, and devotion grew with their growth; and he rose so rapidly to great and ever greater responsibilities that, for the last twenty years, he has been the honored president of the company which publishes them, and the directing head of all its varied enterprises.
Mr. Scott was born at Terre Haute, Indiana, on the seventh of April, 1848. He was educated in the public schools of Richmond, Indiana, and at the Pennsylvania Military Academy; and while still a school-boy, he displayed keen judgment and the power of thinking for himself. Before reaching his twenty-first year, he had shown decided literary gifts, and some of the stories which he contributed to local papers at that time are still cherished by his friends as ample proof that he could have made his mark as a writer. But the claims of a publishing career had a stronger attraction for him than those of authorship. At the
