Word: styling
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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...bounds of propriety in this line. Collegians generally have too high a regard for the feelings of others to commit themselves in that manner. Of course the thing can be carried to excess; so can everything else. It is as a means of toning down a too flashy style, or of pointing out in a pleasant way one's faults, and perhaps even of criticising in some degree his manners, that it is sanctioned...
...crews of the different colleges never met in friendly strife, the merits of their different styles of rowing and training could never be compared; each college would persist in the same method year after year, never having opportunity to test its strength or correct its faults. Is it not the same with mental training in different institutions? In each a different method of instruction is pursued, and each completes the training of its scholars in a style which, in that locality, is considered pretty nearly perfect. These scholars graduate from their respective colleges and become teachers, perhaps professors, or professional...
...since it is so difficult to be witty, are we to give up the attempt, and devote ourselves to a style of composition as devoid of humor as a statute-book? Certainly not. If we have not the wit to elicit an appreciative smile from our readers, we at least have the ability to throw into our expressions a certain degree of spiciness and originality; otherwise we had better cast our quill aside, and turn our thoughts to other pursuits...
Doubtless an experienced critic in examining our attempts at drollery would say at once that they were strained, unnatural, from the fact that clearness of style, consistency of thought, in short, all the requisites of finished work, had been sacrificed to the one idea of saying something funny...
...True, with our limited experience, and wit perhaps, we can hardly expect our efforts to bear even a favorable comparison with the elaborately finished work of a Holmes or Warner, whose humor seldom offends in essence or expression; yet if we would succeed at all in this vein, our style, like theirs, must be characterized by simplicity and elegance, our productions must possess pith and raciness...