Word: witnessed
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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...assume to define the legitimate course of a public writer to any one, but merely to express an opinion in regard to it, and that opinion to bear chiefly upon but two of the important auxiliaries in its pursuit, - wit and humor...
...something funny : but witticisms are coy birds and fly high; few are able to capture them at will, or furnish them to order. In nine cases out of ten, wearied with his fruitless endeavors, he descends to a lower plane, makes use of vulgarity, and passes it off for wit. Some, as we have before hinted, seem unable to distinguish between the genuine and the spurious article; others there are who, from their moral status, seem incapable of appreciating anything genuine, who derive their intellectual nourishment almost exclusively from trashy literature. Among these our writer, provided his production gains publicity...
...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...
...readers of a college journal are probably as exacting in their demands as those of any other periodical. Not only must the ideas be satisfactory, but the 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...
...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. There will be several poems and lighter sketches to prevent any impression of heaviness...