January-February 2000 > The Browser

Chapter and Verse

Chapter & Verse

James McCourt seeks a source for "The problem with the ‘melting pot’ theory is that those on the bottom get burned and the scum rises to
the top."

Stephen Minot wants to know who wrote, "The frost is gone, the trees are greening now/This season rides the ever-phasing moon,/And thawing earth breaks open for the plow."

Pierce Gardner asks for proof that Will Rogers replied, "Boil the ocean," when asked what to do about U-boats.

Terry Belanger wonders who penned the lines, "The substances of what we think,/Tho’ born in thought, must live in ink."

Albert Bartlett hopes to obtain the source for a statement to the effect that Americans welcome any news that is false but comforting, and reject news that is true but alarming.

Laurence O’Keefe would like attributions and dates for the phrases "Gas, grass, or ass, nobody rides for free" and "Seventeen will get you twenty."

"It was conversation" (September-October 1996). Ralph Loomis found this comment in the Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens (Harcourt, Brace, 1931), page 114.

Send inquiries and answers to "Chapter and Verse," Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138.