"...throw crude matter at the head of the public"

26 September 2023: Long, busy day and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything on my lists these next few weeks (months, year). But I did chuckle a bit when I came across this bit from Lydia Sigourney's memoir, where she makes clear the value--the courtesy--of revision and editing: "Still, I always corrected, and rewrote more than once, these extemporaneous effusions, not considering it decorous to throw crude matter at the head of the public" (300). I am always delighted when these nineteenth-century folks share enduring truths about writing. 

Work Cited

Sigourney, Lydia. Lydia Sigourney: Selected Poetry and Prose, edited by Gary Kelly, Broadview Editions, 2008.