Friday, September 23, 2011



Chesterton:
Because a girl should have long hair, she should have clean hair; because she should have clean hair, she should not have an unclean home; because she should not have an unclean home, she should have a free and leisured mother; because she should have a free mother, she should not have an usurious landlord; because there should not be an usurious landlord, there should be a redistribution of property; because there should be a redistribution of property, there shall be a revolution.

That little urchin with the gold-red hair, whom I have just watched toddling past my house, she shall not be lopped and lamed and altered; her hair shall not be cut short like a convict’s; no, all the kingdoms of the earth shall be hacked about and mutilated to suit her. She is the human and sacred image; all around her the social fabric shall sway and split and fall; the pillars of society shall be shaken, and the roofs of ages come rushing down, and not one hair of her head shall be harmed.


H/T to Zach.



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12 comments:

Fr. T. said...

Not another Bougereau.

Anonymous said...

That's pretty funny, because I think I have lice. - Karen

Left-footer said...

Karen - The Catholic Church, I think, has lice, and some of them are theologians and Bishops.

Anonymous said...

That's how I felt about a certain girl, long ago. Long before I ever heard of G.K., in fact. I did my part in the hacking and mutilating of kingdoms, and it still didn't work out according to God's pla -- I mean, it didn't work out according to my plan... which is, well it is what it is.

Tom

Anonymous said...

Sigh, nobody got the joke. - Karen

Anonymous said...

I have read that on medical sites that lice like clean hair. However, a lice epidemic does require a free and leisured mother to get rid of the damned beasties. When I was a child and all the mums were at home looking after their families, we didn't have lice epidemics at school. Now all the mums go out to work so their little darlings get a quick treatment and are sent to school the next day. Consequently there are always several children in the classroom at any given time with the little blighters in their hair.

Wouldn't mind having that revolution anyway...

Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

Father,

I like Bouguereau. Deal with it.

Anonymous said...

The passage is in reaction to a plan to require grammar school children, boys and girls, to have their heads shorn to keep away the buggies.

I stay at home with my precious darlings but I've still got em. See, Hilary, there are consolations in hairlessness. - Karen

Lina said...

The eyes on that girl are exquisite. Also, were you aware that she looks (gaze, not appearance) rather like you do in the photo you posted directly above?

Anonymous said...

I stay at home with my precious darlings but I've still got em.

That's b/c you'd be associating with other families still. It's easier to never get them in the first place and to get rid of them when you do catch them if mother does not have to spend most weekdays in the workforce. Where a whole society has mothers who do this, we can certainly expect more lice infestation. My kids have them too, and first got them when we were homeschooling.

And I had to cut my daughter's hair and shave the boys' heads. Even more keen on that revolution just thinking about this...

Anonymous said...

Now that I think about it, this plague of lice amongst the middle classes in the 'burbs indicates pretty well what's wrong with the modern world.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but if you don't associate with other people than you can't make any money, and if you don't make any money than you have to clothe yourself and furnish your house with castoffs, and you know what happens then?

BEDBUGS. - Karen