The Cecil Whig., 1882-05-20
WHIPPING IN THE OLD-TIME
SCHOOL.

A public school fifty years ago was a
different affair from what it is nowadays
Upon my word, when think Of the
whipping that went on day after day i'll
the old Mayhem school, am astonished
at it. Yet, with the variety of corporal
punishment so freely bestowed there was
mingled sort of ghastly sportive ele-
ment, a grim humor which did not always
commend itself to the perception of him
who received the tlagellation. \ merry
conceit for instance, was that Of Master
Clough.
That ingenious person would direct
culprit to stand upon the platform, near
the desk. and without bending the knees,
touch the floor with his fingers. Then
smart flourish of the rattan and sudden
blow would canse the unhappy youth to
involuntarily resume an upright position
with divertins rapidity. 1t was really
very amusing (to Master Clough). Some
times an offender would be asked by one
of the masters which instrument Of tor
ture he would choose, the riding-whip.
the ruler, or the rattan. Whichever he
seemed to prefer was not the one used.
but one of the others would make him
smart. This little change would have
healthful moral influence upon the scholar
teaching patience and resignation under
disappointment. \ pleasant illustration
(to the teacher) of the irony of fate was
shown in another way. When the stock
of rattans ran low (and that was not
seldom) some victim in disgrace would
be dispatched for a fresh supply, know
ing that on his return he would feel the
first stroke of the rod With what i'll
genious refinement of torture the victim
was thus made to find the weapon that
should wound him.
There was another clever diversion of
our kind hearted masters which i'll sum-
mer, when the days We're long, occasicn
ally broke the monotony of schoOl-boy
life. Sometimes, of sultry July after
noon, a tired scholar, overcome by the
heat, would find the sound of voices in
the room grow fainter and fainter, his
head would droop and finally sink upon
his desk, and he would quickly be in the
pleasant land of dreams. Then it was
that the master seized his rattan and
stealthily yet joyfully striding across the
rows of desks, would give the sleeping
wretch such q rousing whack as to aston
ish and confound as well as suddenly
awake him.
l confess that these diversions of the
pedagogue were not without their attrac-
tion for us who looked on and saw the
comical contortions of the boys whose
fortune it was at that moment to be un-
der discipline. The fact that our turn
might come next did not prevent us from
finding what entertainment we might i'll
what our master evidently enjoyed. None
of us had read the maxims of the cynical
Lo Rochefoucauld, but we realized that
under certain circumstances, there is
something in the misfortunes of our
lllS tHbl SiNCo Us CSlltilh Soll VI odl-
isfaction.
Those were indeed days when flogging
was administered in no homeopathic doses
but with a most heroic fullness of prac-
tice. | once made careful estimate of
my own experience in that way, and came
to the conclusion that | had averaged
about a whipping and half day dur
ing my connection with the Mayhem
School. OF course we became somewhat
Injured to this rough treatment 1t 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
isnominious position, for the entertain
ment of his associates, without having
his attention diverted to other parts of
his body, was accounted a brave fellow
Then there was a superstiticr
that by laying oro's N''-'"
that was
wood