On the Main Line

Thanks to the radio and phonograph, most schoolboys know the words to the current popular songs. But how many schoolboys know the Bible? A quiz probing into this question recently fascinated parents on Philadelphia's suburban Main Line. Haverford School's Headmaster Leslie R. Severinghaus tested 252 boys (13-to 18-year-olds) on quotations from song hits and from the Bible. The test:

P: Complete these song-hit lines: 1) All or nothing at all, half. ... 2) Long ago and far away I. ... 3) Moonlight becomes you; it. ... 4) I'll get by as. . . .5) This is a lovely way to. ... 6) Don't throw bouquets at me, don't ... 7) We meet and the. ... 8) Don't sit under. . . .

9) If your heart goes bumpity-bump. . . .

10) Sometimes I wonder why I. . . .

11) Don't sweetheart me if. . . .

12) She kicked out my windshield and she. . . .

13) I wish that I could hide inside. . . .

14) It happened in Sun Valley not. . . .

15) Pardon me, boys, is that. . . .*

P: Complete these Bible verses: 1) Honour thy father and thy mother; that. . . .

2) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if. ...

3) Why beholdest thou the mote that. . . .

4) Thou preparest a table before me in. ... 5) The heavens declare the glory of God: and. ... 6) Consider the lilies of the field. ... 7) Suffer the little children. ... 8) Blessed are the pure in heart: for. ... 9) Ask, and it shall. . . . 10) Every tree which bringeth not. . . . 11 ) For what shall it profit a man, if. . . . 12) When thou doest alms, let not thy left. ... 13) Let your light so shine before men, that. ... 14) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where. . . . 15) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but. . . ./-

Headmaster Severinghaus exacted word-for-word accuracy on the song lines, accepted approximations of the Bible. The results:

P: The school average on the songs was 56%, on the Bible 23%.

P: Forty-five boys got all the Bible lines wrong, 157 got 20% or less.

P: The only boy to get 100% on the Bible also got 100% on the songs; he is 17 -year-old John S. Baker, who proposes to follow his grandfather into the Methodist ministry.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.