The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-23
Old time PUNISHMEuTS.
Queer Ways Of Enforcing Dis
cipline at School.
TRYING NAUSEOUS DRUGS.
Mustard as Counter Irritant for Mischief.
e Knife-Throwing Tsachsr-sittiDg
With the Girls.
TRYING NAUSEOUS DRUGS.
Written for THE MORNING CALI.

Dehlnd the times IN many respects, but Il Is
not often that we see SUCH q reversi0n to
primitive methods and the dark ages OF
educational science as We were treated TO
recently by the superintendent of the Boys
and Girls Aid Society's home.
This astute guardian of thaughtless and
unfortunate youth. who sought to reform
the miSchieyous propensities Of three little
girls by the administration of heroic doses
of cayenne pepper, was not without some
sort Of precedent for applying such suasion
10 good behavior. 1t is not SO very long
ago that vigorous applications of securing
brick TO the mouth and tongue were deemed
most eficacious in curing boys and girls of
an inclination to tell fibs or use naughty
words, and physician was telling me the
other day Of patient whose mother always
punished her wrong doings by giving her
big doses of all sorts Of nauseous medicines.
1t is hardly to be wond cred at that
a constitution so outraged during grow
ing years should fall an easy prey to
chronic invalidism in maturer life, but
doubtless the mother would plead that she
did il for the best. and so long as We regard
motherhood as an institution placing
mothers IN divinely installed authority over
young souls and bodi as so long. doubtless,
we will meet with occasional victims Of mis-
taken maternal judgment.
Still, maternal chastisement is becoming
tempered with sense in this enlightened age,
though we do, even yet sometimes find the
mother who subdues her unruly offspring
by threats OF the bogie man, or emphasizes
her repr0ofs with blows upon a child's head
or ears (Which ought TO be a criminal
Cfense). or Furnishes growing boys or girls
by depriving them OF food We even see
traces once in while Of that imbeelle cru
city that can put an imaginative child in
dark closet a corrective measure, or at
tempts TO cure child of q fear of darkness
by deprving ii of light at night, but these
are passing away like the dodo and other
extinct fowls.
But the man who would punish even the
worst OF youthful miSdemean0rs by giving
the offenders a teaspoonful apiece of red
pepper Is decidedly survival of the dark
est ages. That bane Of this age. the adul-
teratlon OF nearly every article OF food we
use, lnterfered for once TO avert serious
trouble, for had that cayenne been pure Mr..
Heaps three victims would have been re
formed with vengeance. CapsieUm or
cayenne pepper is quite valuable agent in
treating disease. 1t is useful in torpid con-
diti0ns of the digestive organs and affords
great relief to the dyspepsia Of drunkards,
though l never heard of lis workinga moral
reformation in one Of these worthless. Lo-
caily il IS an active iTritant, It's prolonged
contact with tie skin producing blister.
In large doses 1t acts as gastro-inteStinal
lrritant, and such massive doses as Mr..
Heap gave would doubtless, had the pepper
been pure, have set up lnhammatory action
in the stomach and digestive tract, with re-
suits that might have been very serious.
However. the cayenne was probably i'm
pure and Mr. Heap and his young charges
are still spared to US.
Rubefselents were once faVorite weapons
in the corrective arsenal OF the instructors
OF youth. used 10 know preeeptress Of
the old school-she is dead now, ana gone.
let Us hope. where such methods are not
needed Z trust na OHe will see any cause
for levity in that wish)-whese eure-all for
every sort Of schoolgirl offense. from snug
Cling c0ntraband goodies into rooms to
missing" at reeitatiOBs. was-a mustard
plaster! IL hayward pupil whispered TO
her seatmate, or failed in preserving
deeOrum at chapel, or Numbered in table
etiquette. or was caught with heTTOom ia dis
order after tidying-up hour, out came nice
fresh mustard plaster, and was promptly
put where it would do the most good and be
remembered longest 1t was applied, on
one occasion, TO the arm Of little girl who
was troubled with undue vanity and wore
her Sunday frock, ShOrt-SleeYed affair, in
the sehOolroom without permission. Ma
dame and the mustard plaster were prompt
" on the scene, and the little offender was
left alone with strict instructions not to
remove it until madame returned. The
latter, however, was detained and forgot
her young charge, who was, about an hour
later, heard by an under-teacheT moaning
and crying in her room, and was promptly
released from torture, but the chid'S arm
was so terribly burned that she was obliged
to leave school. aud an investigation by her
parents resulted in the adjustment of
madame's great standby
Less severe. but quite as effective. was
the method of moral suasioB used by
good sister in the convent where portion
OF my seh0oldays we're spent She was in
charge Of our dOrmit0ry, and used to pun
ish all peccadilIOes by administering doses
Of castor oil. The threat of this remedy
was generally enough to quell the most OBJ
streF erOus spirit l remember that | de-
velOped about that time a tendency to
walk in my sleep TO the alarm Of the others
and the detriment OF my own health. Dis
covering me one night, the sister escorted
me back to my little white-eurtained iron
bed and assured me that a repetition OF
my esca pade would be visited with a big
dose of castOr-oil. The bare threat was
enough. never walked in my sleep again.
In my very early childhood began my
school days in q country 'deestrict sch0oP'
in the far East. We used TO have woman
for teacher in the summer, but In the win
ter, when the dreadful ''big boys" released
from farm work attended a man was
always engaged TO teach apd ''rule the
school" which he usually had to de by
main force. We fell one winter into the
bands Of a disciplinary genius who con-
Ceired a wonderful scheme Tor subduing the
pupils. He had q good-siZed pocket-knife,
the big blade Of Which he used TO open at a
right angle TO the handle, and then, with
the skill Of a practiced jugger, he would
throw the knife squarely at any offender
whom he CHANGED to detect in mischief. |
never saw anything more skilltully accom-
plished than this feat Of bis. He could
throw the knife so Geftly that the point
would stick firmly in the desk within an inch
or two of the hands Of the boy or girl at
whom he aimed. once saw it land in the
middle Of the page of an open book one
whispering punil had before him. One of
the ''big boys" once wrote note to his
schoolgirl sweetheart and dropped it in the
aisle near her seat, trusting to her girlish
ingenuity to capture. ii 10 time TO
escape detection. She was adr0itly man
neuvering for il when suddenly that Unerr-
ing knife came flying down the aisle and
pinned the note neatly 10 the floor. Natur-
ally we all stood in awe Of this mysteriously
gifted instructor. The knife never did
strike anybody, but we could not be certain
that it never would, and few Of Us cared to
court its visits, particularly as the one at
whom Ii was aimed was always required to
pick ii up, return it to the masters desk and
receive a ferruling.
1t was thrown once too often, however
There came to the school stalwart farmer
lsd from up the mountain" who was
known throughout the countryside as a
master, seeing him, as be thought. whisper
ing, threw the knife at him. It struck the
floor close by Ganson's big foot, and he sat
looking at it in surprise.
'Pick that knife up and bring it TO me,
commanded the master.
Nothing daunted Gan coolly replied:
III ye want yer knife yer big enough to
come for it, ANT YEP"
Ruler in hand the Instructor strobe down
the aisle and seized the impudent young
fellow by the coat-coliar He had met his
match, however, and there was waged a
battle that was remembered for mauy a
year In the annals Of the ''old brick school
house" The girls huddled. frightened, in
one corner, the little bows hid In another.