Posts by Brian Phillips

Three sounds – a loud shriek, splashing, and the slamming of the toilet lid – brought me quickly from the kitchen to the hall bathroom.  Greeted by a smiling, soaking wet toddler walking rapidly from the room, I knew I was in for something special.  I was not to be disappointed.  Toilet paper had been spun directly from the holder into the toilet and water covered the floor.

In the first edition of our new "Quotables" series I shared five of my favorite "Chestertonisms", challenging our readers to name anyone who could be considered a more "quotable" writer than G.K. Chesterton.  That challenge was accepted and the great Samuel Johnson was named.  

“Bedtime in Summer” by Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

“At the Sea-side” by Robert Louis Stevenson

The following post is the next installment of our "starting the school year well" series. Listen to our podcast here, and read about going beyond the best of intentions here.