Word: task
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Dates: during 1870-1879
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...writer sits down for the purpose of producing a witty article, one that shall make the public laugh in spite of itself; an onerous task for two reasons, - the public is decidedly opposed to laughing without being tickled, and it is exceedingly difficult to find a sensitive spot whereon to apply the straw. By public we mean the average mass of thinking men and women, excluding wholly that class of constitutional gigglers who laugh alike at David's solemnity and Twain's humor...
...long as these things are so, the student may study conscientiously, but his study will be a task. He may pore over the pages of his classics in the prescribed manner, but he will rise from his labor with no notion of the grandeur of the work which he has read, - only with a vague idea of disconnected subjunctives and confused optatives floating through his troubled and wearied brain...
...style must be pleasant, and the whole invite perusal. The writer who endeavors to please by his wit is sometimes charged with "pandering to a low taste for jokes"; the man who would satirize prevalent follies hears his piece called sick unless he has proved himself equal to the task. Another who would enforce his opinions, on consulting his friend, finds that his essay has been unread. Such rebuffs are naturally disheartening; but after the first shock is over the truth is recognized, and the mistakes of the past are avoided. Not alone to the writer is the freedom...
Listen, nor think it an easy task...
...fine writing, nor does it lay claim to literary excellence. The Advocate has this ground by right of possession; we do not attempt to rival it in jeux d'esprit, or in cunningness of speculation, or otherwise poach upon its preserves. We shall be content with the humbler task of satisfying the curiosity of our readers about what is going on in Cambridge, and at other colleges, and of giving them an opportunity to express their ideas upon practical questions. It ought to be added perhaps, that, while we make no pretension to wit, we hope not to be dull...