The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1882-01-05
whipping in tie old.TTRe School.


A public school fifty years ago vas
Tery different affair from uhat j, Is now
adays.
Upon ny word, when 1 think Of the
whipping that Ient on day after dt.r in
the old Nayhew School, am as,onisiied
q: il. Yet, with tie variety Of corporal
punishment, 80 freely bez'o~ed, there
vas mingled q sof! Of gh2s.iy sporive
element, grim humor which did not
always commend itself 10 the perception
Of him Who received the faggeila,ion.
4 merry csrceis, fpr instance. szs that
of Master Ciough.
That ingenious pt..on would direc; =
The desk, aud si,hog, bending the knees
smart fOGiss.h o! the rattan and euddeB
blo~ would cause .he unhappy youth 10
involuntArily rceune an ppTigh, position
very amusing u Master C,ough). Some
times an offender would be asked By ore
OF the masters which instrumen; of tor
,ure be mould choo.e. The riding v nip.
tie ruler. or the rattan. WhicheTer ne
teemed 70 prefer va. no. the one u.e1,
but one Of the o,he.. would MAKE him
smar This iii,le change woa!d have
beslihful ,oor.l influence upon the
.cho.=r. teaching patience And reei iguation
under disappointment. 4 plea-an, iilu.-
fate Was shown in another way When
the stock Of rA,,ans ran low and tha,
Was not seldom some victim il dis
grace mould be di.pA,chsd for freso
supp'y, knowing that on hi. return be
would feel ,he fr-: .,rrke Of the rod.
With What ingenious refnemcn, 81 tor
ture The VICTIM vas thus made 10 find
the w+s,.on tina; shou.d wound him
There Was another cleYe, diversion Of
our Kind hearted ma,ters which in sum
mer, when the day- we're long. occasion
ally broke the monotony Of schoo! boz
life. Sometimes. Of q sultry July after
noon, 2 tired scholar, overcome " The
heat, would fnd the sound Of voices in
.he room grow fainter aud fainter, bis
head would droop and finally sink upon
his desk, and he would quickly be in the
pIe4san, land Of dreams. Then i, was
that the master, aching his rattan and
s,eal,bily ye, joyfully s;riding across the
rows Of decks, would give the sleeping
wretch such rousiDg whack as 70 as
ioni.h aud confound as we'll rs suddenly
awake him.
confes. that these diversions Of the
pedagogue 1ere not without their attrac-
ton for US who looked on and saw the
comicai contortipns Of the boy. whose
fortune il Was at the moment to be under
discipline. The fac. that our turn nigh,
come next did not p:event us from find
ing uha, entertainment We might 10
wha; our master evidently enjoyed
None of us had yet read the naxims Of
the cynical La RochefoucauId, but we
realized that under certain circumstances
there is something in the misforinnes Of
friends that gives US a certain sort Of sat
isfaction
Those we're indeed days when fogging
was administered in no homeopathic
doses, but with n most heroic fullne=., Of
practice. once made a careful estimate
of my Own experience in that way, and
came " the conclusion that l had aver.
aged about II whipping and a.half 4 day
during my connection with the Mayhem
School. OF course We became somewhat
inured TO this rough treatment. II was
considered the proper thing TO suffer with
Spartan firmness, and he who while laid
across the masters knee could calmly
make comical and derisive faces from his
ignomini0us position. for the entertain
inent Of his associates, without having
his attention diverted to other parts Of
his body, was accounted brave fellow.
Then there was q superstitious belief that
by laying ones eyelash in the hand that
was about 10 be feruled, the accursed
rood was sure to be shattered on coming
in contact with the magic hair But I
never saw one shattered. Botton Tran
scriDf.