Back in the day when I was fresh out of college and began teaching in the classroom, it perplexed me as to why some teachers in our school sent their children to another teacher in the school to be taught, and that teacher, in turn, sent her children to the teacher down the hall, and that teacher sent her children to the teacher in the adjacent building, and that teacher sent her children to the first teacher... and around it went. To me, there was a sense of oddity about it. Although I don't fully understand all he's saying in his comment (especially about the pinafores and the flourish of speech), I think G.K. Chesterton must have sensed it as well. I need to ponder a bit more about this.
We cannot all live by taking in each other’s washing, especially in the form of pinafores. In the last resort, the only people who either can or will give individual care, to each of the individual children, are their individual parents. The expression as applied to those dealing with changing crowds of children is a graceful and legitimate flourish of speech.
~ G.K. Chesterton, in The Superstition of Divorce
Image ~ The Lesson, Jules Trayer, 1829-1904
public domain
Image ~ The Lesson, Jules Trayer, 1829-1904
public domain
