AN APOLOGY and WE'VE CHANGED OUR MINDS

Julia here.

This post serves two purposes.

First, I must apologize to a friend about some things I said on Facebook, and there's not enough room there. I posted a comment on the original wall post directing my friend here, and sent him a personal message doing the same.

Secondly, the topic is a hot one at our house right now, and I thought maybe others would like to see our discussion.

(NOTE: Names have been changed to protect the commenters' identities.)

This is what I sent to my friend, Bob, whom I feel I wronged because my thinking was skewed.

"Bob, I owe you an apology. The day after I wrote the comment about the way girls think, the Lord rebuked me for being a hypocrite. I have really messed up as a mom.

"Would you please go to our family blog to read a fairly long apology to you? Thanks, brother! www.TexasSkies.blogspot.com."

-  - - - -  ------
Before I explain why I was wrong, I need to post the original FB status and comments.


I shared this meme on my timeline.

Source

Bob commented:
"Not true. I have gone out on dates with girls that I didn't want to marry because they didn't have the quality of life that I had, but they were a lot of fun and I didn't get anything that wasn't mine and didn't want it anyway.

Bob, again:
"Enough said."


Julia responded:
"Bob, you are one of the exceptions to the rule. One reason we are teaching our offspring to avoid casual dating is because the continual emotional bonding and breaking of that bond is practice, not for the longevity and lifelong commitment God designed for marriage. But instead, it conditions one for divorce."


Julia, again:
"Bob, my friend, you are looking at this from the male perspective."

Let's stop right here for a minute to observe how very arrogant I sounded! Bob and Lord, please forgive me for that!

Continuing...
"I've talked with several women, so I know I wasn't the only girl who would give her heart away in a second if a guy I liked paid any attention to me. Sadly, and also humorously, most girls go from "He looked at me; he must like me" to imagining the two of them married, even naming their kids in a matter of MINUTES!! Guys see things differently."


My brother:
"Julia, I have to agree. What you have said I have found to be true. Although, I like to think I was one to date without taking something that didn't belong to me. I have to admit a woman's perspective is certainly not a mans. With that being said I have to ask the question to Bob. Is it possible to take something without knowing it? I know we may "feel" innocent. Yet, when we go in front of a jury we may find that a different perspective could deem us guilty. I know this to be a fact: because I too thought it was all in innocent "FUN". Until the other party took it in all seriousness and shamed my selfishness. So you see, when I stopped thinking about just me and asked them... WOW, what an eye opener! The book by John Holzmann "Dating With INTEGRITY Honoring Christ in Your Relationships With The Opposite Sex" Addresses such issues."

Jerry:
 .Some of the most heart breaking experiences I've ever had came as the result of dating. Was glad when I gave it up. Strange thing happened, not long after I gave it up, I got married!"


Mary:
 I think your point is right on. I would take it even a step further and do away with the concept of "dating" altogether. It is usually superficial and aims at impressing. Group activities where boys and girls can form friendships are excellent for getting to know each other and seek out qualities that are complementary. Perhaps in a perfect world..."

End of FB status and comments. Beginning of Julia's explanation:

When the kids were younger, I protected them from bad things. I tried to shield the boys from sexual temptation. I insisted the girls dressed modestly, so they would not be a temptation to men. Not saying I shouldn't have done that. But I was mistaken to think I could shelter them forever from harmful influences. And I failed to help them in a crucial way.

I should have taught my boys how to face temptations when they come. For certainly, they will come. The older two have had to figure this out on their own, and it's been a rough go. We've been given a second chance with our third and youngest son. We learned from that mistake and we are now trying to teach him how to meet temptation victoriously.

Then there is the matter of girls giving away their hearts so quickly, and indiscriminately. The two are related.

The day after I wrote the above comment, it hit me like a new discovery. Just as a young man should be trained to control his eyes and thoughts regarding women, so should young ladies be trained to control their thoughts regarding men. The temptations for guys are in the physical realm. For the gals, it's more of an emotional fantasy problem. Both start in the mind, but seem to end different places. This is because of the way God wired the two genders, and can become a bent version of God's design.

Where many men are tempted to see women as sex objects, many single women, even young girls, are tempted to view every unmarried guy as a potential husband. I now see that I should not defend my daughters and "make allowances" for that tendency. Just like I shouldn't do that for my sons tendency to objectify women. Caleb, our second son, on his own at about age 17, determined to treat every unmarried female as respectfully as if she was someone's wife, for someday she might be. Even if she was potentially his future wife, he would treat her with purity and respect.

I adopted that for our younger son. But failed to transfer the concept for our daughters!

Here's the way I think it goes for a lot of young women and girls: As children, we see the fairy tales where the Prince arrives to carry off Snow White or Cindrella or Bella or Rapunzel. We see marriages where the husband and wife love each other and treat each other well. And we want that for ourselves. I'm probably not the only little girl who, at age nine, planned my wedding. By the time I was in high school, I had it all mapped out, with a blank-faced groom, "to be filled in" at the appropriate time.

And I suspect a lot of gals were / are like me. I had crushes on several guys. And if any one of them would pay the slightest attention to me, I immediately began fantasizing. My thoughts raced at lightning speed. Next he would be asking me out, we would date, become engaged, have my dream wedding, produce a host of lovely children and live happily ever after. That thought process spanned less time than it took for me to type it out. How many times did I repeatedly doodle my first name with the crush's last name attached? Sigh. So ridiculously junior-high. Bob, you may snicker at that, but I warrant that most of the grown women reading this will identify! Like I said, so many of us could go from "he looked at me" to "married-with-children" in 10 seconds flat.

Back to my hypocrisy.

I was unaware that I was coddling my daughters, and making excuses for a girl's tendency toward fantasizing these things. Only recently (the last 4-5 years) have I come to understand the necessity of helping my sons walk victoriously through sexual temptation. And I've been even farther behind the learning curve about helping my daughters kill the lightning-speed husband fantasy. Only became aware recently. Like, last month.

So here David and I are, as with so many other things, re-thinking our modus operandi. The new line of thinking goes something like this.

Just like the men, my daughters need to master their thought lives. They should learn
to view all men as brothers, and treat them as such. It's healthy and right for them to be "just friends" with guys. They should be able to stop the fantasy train of thought before it starts. Nip it in the bud. In fact, it shouldn't even START! I'm pondering exactly how to help them with that.

So, David and I have got some praying and thinking to do. But, Bob, I didn't want to wait until we had it figured out before I asked your forgiveness for my hypocrisy. I trust you will grant it! (You can private message me on Facebook with your response, if you like.) ...and I'm sorry it took so long to get this apology to you.

Humbled,
Julia

Julia here.

After a lifetime in the "church," here's what I'm just now learning:

As believers, we have what we need. By definition, the regenerated Christian has the Spirit (Acts 2:38, Romans 8:9).

We don't have to ask for love, joy, peace, patience, or any other of the fruit of the Spirit, because we were given the Spirit when we were regenerated. We already possess these things through the Spirit who was poured into our hearts (Rom 5:5). The only thing we are told to ask for is wisdom (James 1:5-8).  

I'm just learning these things, and I'm thinking there may be others who have followed a similar path. So I share. I'm learning to walk in the Spirit, to CLAIM these benefits as His adopted child. To live what I say I believe. I have been removed from the category of "condemned sinner" to "new creation."  For years I would whine, bemoaning that fact that I still sin. But now I try to focus on the benefits of being a regenerated child of the Father who gives us, by His power, everything we need for life and godliness. We can, and should, exercise our wills to plug into the power that is ALREADY ours. (1 John 2:1; Colossians 1:9-14, 19-23; Colossians 3:1-4; Galatians 5:16).  It is a choice. I can listen to the lies of the Enemy, who wants to render me ineffective and unfruitful as I wallow in defeat. Or I can tell myself the truth about who YHWH and Christ are, who I am in Christ, and what benefits I possess as an adopted child, and what responsibilities fall to me as Christ's ambassadress. Which do you think glorifies and pleases our Creator?

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20.                      

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

We. Don't. Have. To. Sin.                                       

One of the keys to succes in that realm is: to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Colossians 2:20

Top Bar Bee Hive

Here's an alternative to the common bee hive setup. I hope our family will have opportunity soon to build and use two or three of these. Julia

10 Sewing Tips video link

10 TIPS FOR BETTER SEWING on YouTube

And no, this is not me, Julia, in the video!

Tornados in Texas

Just so you'll know, we came thru the storms this afternoon unscathed.  Joel & Caleb in Plano at HerbMart.  (This will be a memorable last day of employment there for Caleb!)  Abby babysitting for Heidi in Frisco.  David & Jaden picked Phoebe up from her sitting job near downtown McKinney.  Johanna & I at the house.  All of us safe.

Called Mom (Faye) Kautt.  She subbed at a local high school today.  There were 2,000 students in the hallway waiting out the storm.  Bet that was interesting!  She made it home and is safe.

Called Denton, talked with Rowena.  They had bad weather, but are all okay.

Mayor of Arlington has declared a state of disaster.  Saw images of there and Burleson...semi trucks tossed about like they were Jaden's Matchbox cars, shingles and roofs ripped off houses, fences down.  At least 3 tornadoes sighted on the ground.  A sobering day.

Praise the Lord for protecting us this time from harm!  His mercy endures forever!  And if He had seen fit to allow us to suffer damage, He would still have been a good God.  His ways are higher than ours.  Please join us in praying that He will strengthen and comfort those who sustained damage and loss, that He will use this to win souls to Himself, and to refine His children, all to His glory and honor, and to their good (Rom 8:28).

Chicks and More

Most of you know that we have three beautiful hens.  Cheep, the first one we acquired, came home with us last May as a week-old chick.  A couple of months ago, my sister gave us the other two, Scratch and Peck, as companions to help Cheep stay warm through the winter.  If you're visiting our Suburban Homestead blog, you saw that a couple of days ago, Jaden found our first egg.  It's probably from Cheep (about 9 months old), and not the other two, because they're likely past egg-laying age.  (By the way, this morning Joel found a second egg, similar in color to the first.)

Caleb "the farmer" was at the local feed and seed store yesterday.  Alas, he was lured by the siren song of the new, tiny chicks in the store.  Their sweet little peeps drew him in, and yes, you guessed it - he succumbed to their wiles.  He brought home two Buff Orpington chicks.  They are the cutest little things!  We sat and played with them and watched them for several minutes.  They should grow to be beautiful, productive birds.

We hope to purchase about 6 more chicks in a couple of weeks.  And probably Scratch will then meet her demise.  Jaden insists she's too old and tough to eat.  We'll see.  Actually, I'm not sure any of us will be able to eat a pet.

Geico the Frog

The sign says it all:

"In loving memory of  'Geico' the Froggie

January 6, 2012 - February 25, 2012

Jaden found Geico dead around 8;00 Saturday, February 25, 2012.  He was very sad. :(

We love you, Froggie!"

The Perishing Land and Burning Wilderness

While the following passage was directed at unfaithful Israel, it could just as well apply to the United States of America.  Notice especially the last part of verse 2 with regards to the prolonged drought in Texas.  The last verse makes it clear that the non-Jewish nations who do not serve Jehovah will also be punished.     
 
Jeremiah 9:2-25
2 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?
¹³ And the LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, ¹⁴ but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,” ¹⁵ therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. ¹⁶ I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

The People Mourn in Judgment

  
¹⁷ Thus says the LORD of hosts:


      “ Consider and call for the mourning women,
      That they may come;
      And send for skillful wailing women,
      That they may come.
       ¹⁸ Let them make haste
      And take up a wailing for us,
      That our eyes may run with tears,
      And our eyelids gush with water.
       ¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion:

      ‘ How we are plundered!
      We are greatly ashamed,
      Because we have forsaken the land,
      Because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’”
       ²⁰ Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women,
      And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
      Teach your daughters wailing,
      And everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
       ²¹ For death has come through our windows,
      Has entered our palaces,
      To kill off the children—no longer to be outside!
      And the young men—no longer on the streets!
       ²² Speak, “Thus says the LORD:


      ‘ Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field,
      Like cuttings after the harvester,
      And no one shall gather them.’”

²³ Thus says the LORD:


      “ Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
      Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
      Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
       ²⁴ But let him who glories glory in this,
      That he understands and knows Me,
      That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
      For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

²⁵ “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— ²⁶ Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”

SPIRIT OF GOD, DESCEND UPON MY HEART

This lovely hymn is my prayer today:

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;

wean it from earth, through all its pulses move.

Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,

And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

Hast thou not bid us love thee, God and King?

All, all Thine own - soul, heart and strength and mind.

I see Thy cross - there teach my heart to cling;

O let me seek Thee, and O let me find.

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh; 

Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear - 

To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;

Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,

One holy passion filling all my frame.

The baptism of the heav'n-descended Dove - 

My heart an altar and Thy love the flame.

Text:  George Croly                 Music:  Frederick C. Atkinson

GIVE AWAY AT HEAVENLY HOMEMAKERS

Heavenly Homemakers is giving away a Nutrimill grain mill.

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/nutrimill-giveaway-from-paulas-bread/comment-page-70#comment-114960

Update on Phoebe

She slept all the way through the night.  Praise the Lord!  And thank you for your prayers.

Wedding Memories

We've been clutter-busting at our house.  Several weeks ago, I went through our massive collection of sheet music and music books, culling what was no longer of use.  I had put the items in a stack in my bedroom until I could find someone to pass them on to.  On Monday, August 1st (our 30th wedding anniversary), I carried the stack to put in the give-away box out in the garage.  The obviously-not-yet-dead* dumpster-diver pack-rat in me influenced me to take a quick peek through the stack.  And I'm glad I did.  For some reason a pad of blank music notation staff paper was in the pile.  Shouldn't have been.  I use that stuff regularly!  And in the same folder were pages that I had pulled from music books - songs that I DID want to keep.  Don't know how that stuff came to be with the give-aways.

The amazing thing was that one of the songs was "Unto the Author of Love," the song that David and I sang to each other at our wedding.  That I should find the very song we sang on the very day of our 30th wedding anniversary felt like a little gift from the Lord.  I called David in and we sang it together again!  Happy memories!

Thank you, Lord for my dear husband, and for "serendipitous" finds!

*(I'm diligently working on slaying that rat.)

Simple Theology

 "...Christianity originally centered on Christ and His kingdom - not on the fine points of theology.  It's rather difficult to put together a detailed theological statement just from the teachings of Jesus.  That's because in essence the gospel of the kingdom is not theology.  It's about people entering into an obedient faith-love relationship with Jesus the King, bearing fruit.  Jesus didn't talk much about theology because that wasn't particularly important to Him.  However, He did talk a lot about fruit.  And He talked a lot about how we are to live as citizens of His kingdom   He taught us what it means to love one another and to love God.  Those things are important to Him." (emphasis added)

p. 38-39, Will the Theologians Please Sit Down, David Bercot, copyright 2009 Scroll Publishing Company

A Plea from an Echo Boomer

In her article "More Than Teacups...a Plea for Biblical Literacy," Megan Gariss practically begs the older generations to teach the twenty-somethings (and younger?) how to study the Bible.  I wept when I read it.  We have failed these young people, and they know it.  I so appreciated her humble request.  I didn't detect any bitterness on her part, only an almost-desperate plea for us "olders" to do what we should already have been doing.  (I think that's what Jesus would call "making disciples.")  We parents must take seriously our responsibility to disciple...starting first with our own children (and granddies).  I believe the Lord will not ask us how many folks we won to the Lord "out there" before He asks if we made disciples of our own little ones.  Sobering.

The Excellent Wife of Proverbs 31

While studying to lead a discussion on the Proverbs 31 woman, I found these excerpts in A MODERN STUDY IN THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Charles Bridges (updated by George F. Santa), copryright 1978, Mott Media, Michigan.

"Perhaps one reason for the rarity of the 'virtuous woman' is that she is so seldom desired or searched for."  (p 732).

About verses 11-12:  Her character as a wife is one of "faithfulness," "oneness of heart," "affectionate dutifulness."  These characteristics cause the heart of her husband to trust in her.  "He feels his comfort to be regarded, his burdens relieved, and his mind freed from vexations.  He is at ease in constrained absence from home having left his interests in her safekeeping, while he is sure that his return will be welcomed with a gladdening smile" (p 732-733).

"A faithful wife and a confiding husband thus mutually bless each other.  With such a jewel for his wife, the husband has no misgivings....Ruling in sphere without, he encourages her to rule in her sphere within.  This would reduce or even eliminate any desire for him to be selfish, or to look greedily at other women.  Her faithfulness encourages his faithfulness.  Instead of abusing confidence, she seeks constantly to make herself more worthy of it" (p 734).

"One half, at least, of the picture of the virtuous woman is occupied with her personal, domestic work" (p 734).

She is not a recluse; here we find no "habits of monastic self-denial" (p 735).

Her industrious ways are a rebuke "to self-pleasing inactivity" (p 735).


She possesses "praiseworthy and genuine simplicity of manners," "practical, yet liberal thrift," economy without a miserly spirit" (p 735).

She is full of energy, an early riser, enthusiastic, ready to work, an efficient manager.  Her ways speak of godly self-denial and quiet dignity.  "Instead of murmuring @some inconvenient demand, she sets a worthy example and delights in the works of her hands" (p 735).

Bridges gives more commentary on this admirable woman.  His book is chock full of valuable insights into the whole book of Proverbs.  Each morning at breakfast, after he reads the Proverbs chapter corresponding to that date, David reads from Bridges about one of the verses he just read.  Rich stuff.

JOEL'S EPIPHANY

Joel wrote this biographical email to a new acquaintance.  With his permission, I share it here.
In the Name of Him to whom we must give account,
Julia                      

My family has lived in McKinney for 20 years, and my Dad has served as the pastor of a small "independent" Christian church (www.nwcconline.com) for that entire time.  My 5 siblings and I have been home schooled, and we have been active in various ministry opportunities through the course of our "education."  For the past 3 and a half years, we have been involved in starting and building up our own creation science ministry. Check out our website: www.creationevangelismtools.org.  If you want to learn a bit more about my family, you can also visit our family blog: www.texasskies.blogspot.com, and also my sister's blog: www.imprimis.wordpress.com.

We are all interested in worldview matters and the Biblical perspective on subjects like world religions, origins (creation vs. evolution), politics, government, education, and media (movies and music).  We enjoy discussing these subjects with other people.

I've been in CollegePlus! for about 2 years, and I am within 15 credits of completing my B.A. in Political Science. (I can't wait to be finished!)  I originally had the goal of getting my Poli. Sci. degree and then going for a J.D. so I could get into law (probably Constitutional Law, or perhaps family law), and politics.  But, I've kind of had a bit of a change of heart...

For several years, I have had an interest in biblical apologetics, and especially creation apologetics since we first heard Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis give his “Genesis: the Key to Reclaiming the Culture” presentation five years ago. As I became more acquainted with Biblical creation based apologetics and evangelism, I began to realize that this is exactly what the church needs to hear, and what our country needs. Since then, I have sought to equip myself and develop my worldview more Biblically and more fully through various resources which we as a family have purchased or been given.

However, there have been some "distractions" in my life, namely my interest in and intense involvement in politics and political campaigning for a couple of different candidates. I had kind of come to the point where I was believing that we could "take back" our country through politics. The Lord used my campaigning experience and the outcome of the 2008 national elections as an epiphany for me to show me that to turn this country back to Him will not happen overnight, nor through a “top-down” political revolution. This battle over whether or not we will serve the Lord as a country will be won on the individual personal level. This is when I began to realize the importance of reaching out to individuals to help them realize they need to look to Jesus Christ for salvation, and not the government. I also came to see more clearly the importance of helping people in the church develop a biblical worldview.

As a Christian, and an American, I have a concern for our country's degeneration into godlessness and immorality. At the same time I believe that the church at large itself is a mission field because of a widespread rejection of the authoritative sufficiency of the Bible by many Christians. So while I believe it is important to try to “stem the tide,” of godlessness in our culture, I believe one of the most foundational ways to do that is to first evangelize the church so that there will be a multiplicative effect in our efforts to reach the unbelieving society. I want to be able to help call the church back to the scriptures, much like the Reformers. Then, according to the Lord's will and timing, as the church returns to the scriptures, that will help to turn the country back to God and His Word.

Down the road, as the Lord leads, I may pursue a degree in law, but for now, my focus is on building up my own faith and helping other Christians get on track Biblically speaking.

Patrick Henry Hughes

You think you've got problems!

Watch this video about a blind musician and you will be glad for what you have.  But you will also be inspired to lean on the Lord to help you overcome any roadblocks in your life.

Chivalry is Dead, So They Say

I'm a little confused.  

 

Yesterday I happened across a news story that puzzles me.  

 

Worst date ever: Boyfriend bails as foul ball hits girlfriend

 

At a Houston Astros ball game, a spectator  jumped out of the way of a ball that was hit into the stands.  Nothing unusual there.  But the rub is that the ball struck his girlfriend.  The story gives him a hard time about not doing the chivalrous thing by throwing himself in the way to protect her.

 

So they're saying chivalry is officially dead.

 

I think I know who or what killed it.

 

Feminism.

 

In general, the media promotes feminism - equal rights for the women.  Equal pay.  Equal job opportunities.  Equal treatment, even to the point of serving in combat.  And please don't open the door for the woman.  Thank you very much, she's strong.  She can do that for herself.

 

So why is the media in this case giving a guy grief for treating his girlfriend as a feminist?  She's a big girl.  Let her take care of herself.

 

Let's be consistent here.  Ladies, you can't have it both ways.  You can't be the Helen Reddy lion, roaring, and expect to be protected by the very men you scorn.

 

After thinking about it, maybe this isn't about disgruntled women who want protection.  Maybe this is another instance of media male-bashing.  Have you ever noticed that the TV shows, the movies, the ads on the radio nearly always portray the woman as the smart one and the guy as a perfect dolt.

 

That is counter to God's design.  Read Genesis 1.  Adam was very smart.  The New Testament talks repeatedly about wives honoring husbands as the heads of household.  Feminists hate those passages. But those verses in no way demean the woman.  It's a matter of who is going to be in charge.  And, are we going to follow God's design.  Women can be smart and Biblically submissive.  And men definitely need to be intelligent to lead a family in a way that pleases the Lord.  Even though I'm a woman (and fairly intelligent), I guess I'm just standing up for the underdog here.  I'm sick of the male-bashing.

 

My fellow Christian women, I'm challenging you/me to treat our husbands like the smart guys God designed them to be.  If they act stupid, maybe it's because we expect it or we tell them they're stupid.  Let's honor our husbands and our fathers.  Let's show the world that the Lord's ways are higher and nobler and satisfying.  And instead of criticizing our husbands every time they goof up, let's pray for them.  They've got a tough job.  One day they will stand before the Lord and give account for how they took care of and led their wives and children.

 

Julia 

 

Too Short

The day after we returned from our Tennessee trip, Jaden and I (Julia) were alone.  He sighed and said, "That trip was way too short."

I asked which part he thought should have been longer.

"All of it," was his wistful reply.

With regard to our unsettled habits, and government schools

"Had any of the real rustics [of the region] remained, he would probably have found some lingering legend of Mr. Prior, however remote he might be. But the new nomadic population of clerks and artisans, constantly shifting their homes from one suburb to another, or their children from one school to another, could have no corporate continuity. They had all that forgetfulness of history that goes everywhere with the extension of education." - G.K. Chesterton, THIRTEEN DETECTIVES ("Hole in the Wall", p. 115)