WASHINGTON—Photographer Mark Sloan is known for his work documenting circus and sideshow history, and in “The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History,“ at the National Academy of Sciences, 2100 C St. NW, Washington, on view through Jan. 7, it shows. Sloan, who lives in Charleston, S.C., went behind the scenes at the Harvard museum, which houses 21 million specimens including ants, tusks, meteorites, bird eggs, mollusk shells and gorgeous jaguar, cheetah and zebra hides.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Last Thursday night something beautiful happened at Harvard. In great anticipation a congregation gathered amid flickering light in Memorial Church’s Appleton Chapel. With the onset of the academic year, Compline resumed. Members of the University Choir opened with “Lord, We Beseech Thee,“ by Adrian Batten, a less remembered composer from the glory years of Renaissance church music. “The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end,“ said the minister with the clear voice of a New England divine. “Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,“ he continued. “Thanks be to God,“ the people responded, with candles in their hands. The choir sang again. The congregation, standing, joined in the hymn, “All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night,“ by Thomas Tallis.

Here at the age of 39, I began to be old,“ says Charles Ryder as his revisit to Brideshead begins. For others, self-awareness arrives sooner or later, more or less. There are young fogies as well as old. Most learn age’s lessons only to forget or ignore them. Often indeed we need to remind ourselves of our true selves. The gatekeeper at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts issues a ticket to a Richmonder and the price includes the senior discount, which the traveler neither requests nor is asked whether the rate applies. The mirror says he does not look a day past 90. Later that evening, during a stroll near Harvard, in an evening turning from sultry to soft, a twentysomething calls out, “Hey, Grandpa.“ Ours is not to reason why.

Faith impelled the Pilgrims across the sea. They came to North America to practice their religion, and envisioned a Christian commonwealth. The Mayflower Compact resembles a covenant. Notable divines in early New England included Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards, whose “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” bears reading especially now. The risen Christ revealed himself to Mary Magdalene, venerated as the Apostle to the Apostles; Anne Hutchinson asserted women’s rights to full discipleship. Salem had witch trials. Roger Williams protested the treatment of the Indians and named his tolerant settlement Providence.

BOSTON—Jeremy Lin scored 27 points to lead Harvard to an 82-70 upset over No. 17 Boston College tonight—just three days after the BC Eagles upset previously top-ranked North Carolina. The Eagles (13-3) defeated the unbeaten Tar Heels 85-78 in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday for one of the school’s biggest regular-season wins ever to move into the Top 25.