"Hell's Grannies"

"Perhaps the two most important people in our civilisation at present are the two elderly ladies who defended their residence with drawn swords. They are in a true sense a portent, that is, not merely a wonder, but a warning,; they are a sign in heaven of the apocalypse of London. At first one feels disposed to deal with their case merely fancifully; to let one's imagination run loose along the line of thought suggested. One thinks of their rallying round them a gay and desperate band of maiden-ladies, living in the saddle and by the sword, making raids from the hills and leaving burning cities in their terrible trail. One imagines them returning to carouse in their caverns amid gold and blood, calling tempestuously for tea as they hurl down their cutlasses and carefully removing their gloves."

--from "Fanaticism in the Suburbs," The Illustrated London News 1905-1907, G. K. Chesterton.