OLD MANHATTAN

Version 1 — Polished
Old Manhattan had a class of rich pedants — connoisseurs of art, literature, and food. Commerce existed solely to satisfy their cultivated tastes. Some of these swells were solicitous, even altruistic, toward the toiling masses; others considered them merely extraneous, fit only to be exploited. These high‑class people carried an air of arrogance that, in time, was met with vitriolic cries for their overthrow.

Version 2 — Polished
Old Manhattan had a class of wealthy academics with a refined taste for, and knowledge of, art, literature, and food. Trade flourished to meet their desires. Some were attentive, even charitable, toward the laboring masses; others dismissed them as irrelevant, useful only as tools. These upper‑class figures projected a harsh, boastful arrogance that was eventually answered with bitter demands for their overthrow.