Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Alfred King seeks a source for: “We have no moral right to decide on a basis of opinion, that which can be determined as a matter of fact.”

Norman Holly writes, “In the 1950s, when only men were admitted to Harvard, students published a risqué ditty, ‘Don’t Send Your Daughter to Harvard.’ (It was available at the Coop.) Does anyone know the lyrics and the tune?”

“the importance of every hour…as it passes” (September-October). Eliot Kieval, the first of several readers to identify what is known as “Jane Austen’s Third Prayer,” provided a link to a 1994 article by the late Bruce Stovel, Ph.D. ’71, about the prayers, published by the Jane Austen Society of North America: www.jasna.org/persuasions/printed/number16/stovel.htm. Daniel Rosenberg noted that the texts appear in R. W. Chapman’s edition of Austen’s minor works; Katie Schubert supplied an online link to the prayer at https://www.leithart.com/archives/002984.php. The exact quotation, in context, is: “Another day is now gone, and added to those, for which we were before accountable. Teach us almighty father, to consider this solemn truth, as we should do, that we may feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes, and earnestly strive to make a better use of what thy goodness may yet bestow on us, than we have done of the time past.”

Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via e-mail to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

You might also like

America’s Past, Opera's Future: 11 New Books from Harvard Authors

These newly released novels, histories, and memoirs grapple with identity in all its forms.

How Adam Ehrlich Sachs Writes Absurd and Beautiful Fiction

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

The Year a Beat Poet Squatted at Harvard

In 1954, Gregory Corso moved into Eliot House. How he stayed there is a literary legend.

Most popular

Keri Russell Calls ‘The Diplomat’ a Love Letter to Public Servants

A Harvard Kennedy School event looks behind the scenes of the Netflix drama. 

To Promote Healthy Habits in Patients, Start with the Doctors

Why Harvard Medical School is training physicians to think more like coaches

How Philosophy at Harvard Saved Itself

As humanities shrink across higher education, one department is flourishing. Is its success a fluke, or a roadmap?

Explore More From Current Issue

Black and white portrait of a woman with medium-length hair, smiling softly.

The outgoing executive director and Harvard Business School graduate went from dancing The Nutcracker to growing a ballet company.

Delicate green cocoa pods and small white flowers on a tree branch, surrounded by soft greenery.

Harvard researchers investigate climate’s impact on cocoa crops, innovations in nasal vaccines, and links between pain and skull marrow.

Collage of three photos of an athlete in a triathlon: one swimming, one cycling, one running, in sports attire.

The Harvard triathlete and coach says she helps normal people to “do extraordinary things.”