Chapter and Verse

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Edmund Rosenkrantz writes, “The views of Grant [Vita, January-February, page 42] brought to mind a description I recall from years ago, that to me fully captured him: ‘The man with the sad eyes and the iron mouth.’ Anyone know the author and the publication?” Vita author Elizabeth Samet did not recognize that phrase, but wrote: “Nineteenth-century biographer Hamlin Garland several times uses the phrase ‘man of iron’ in quotation marks, ventriloquizing contemporaries. Not always a term of praise. Twentieth-century biographer Jean Edward Smith notes that in 1878, when news circulated that Grant might run for a third presidential term, The St. Louis Globe-Democrat proclaimed Grant ‘A man of iron’ in preference to Rutherford B. Hayes, ‘a man of straw’ (Smith, Grant, 614).” Can any reader provide a precise citation?

Send inquiries and answers to Chapter and Verse, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138, or via email to chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Click here for the March-April 2019 issue table of contents

You might also like

Salsa Squared

Latin dancing fills the streets in Harvard Square   

Pony Plunges

Scrapbooking a woman who rode horses into the sea

Sister Acts and Cyanotypes

Julia Rooney’s paintings cross the analog-digital divide.

Most popular

Two Momentous Faculty Retirements

Arthur Kleinman and Harry Lewis depart the classroom.

House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

The University must turn over all requested materials related to tuition and financial aid by mid-July. 

The Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Explore More From Current Issue

New Harvard Overseers and HAA Directors

Alumni showed increased interest in this year’s elections.

Garber, Trump, and the Fight for Harvard’s Future

Introducing a guide to the issues, players, and stakes.

Salsa Squared

Latin dancing fills the streets in Harvard Square