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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: finished portions of my work come part by part in pieces. Very
soon I shall have no opinions left. And without an opinion, how to
string artistically vast accumulations of fact? Darwin said no one
could observe without a theory; I suppose he was right; 'tis a fine
point of metaphysic; but I will take my oath, no man can write
without one - at least the way he would like to, and my theories
melt, melt, melt, and as they melt the thaw-waters wash down my
writing, and leave unideal tracts - wastes instead of cultivated
farms.
Kipling is by far the most promising young man who has appeared
since - ahem - I appeared. He amazes me by his precocity and
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