Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1893-03-17
OLD TINE DISCIPLINE.
QUEER WAYS OF PRESERVING
ORDER AT SCHOOL.
Mustard Plaster as "A Counter-Irritant for
Mischief - Cayenne Pepper and
Castor Oil Given to
Naughty Kids.

y
sometimes find the mother who sub
dues her unruly offspring by threats
of the boyle man, or emphasizes her
reprOofs with blows upon child's
head or ears (Which ought to be a
criminal offense) or Furnishes grow
ing boys or girls by depriving them
of food. We even see traces once in
a while of that imbecile cruelty that
can put an imaginative child in
dark closet as Directive measure,
or attempt to cure a child of fear
of darkness by depriving it OF light
at night, but these are passing away
like the dodo and other extinct fowls.
Rubefacients were once favorite
weapons in the corrective arsenal OF
the instructors Of youth. writes AIDE
line +. Knapp in the San Francisco
Call. | once knew preceptreSs OF
| the old school-she is dead now. and
| gone. let us hope. where such methods
are not needed q trust no one will
see any cause for levity in that wish)
whose cure-all for every schoolgirl
offense, from smuggling contraband
goodies into rooms to .'missing" reci-
tations, was-a mustard plaster! If
a hayward pupil whispered to her
seat-mate. or failed in preserving
decorum at chapel, or Numbered in
table etiquette, or. was caught with
her room in disorder after the tidy
ing-up hour out came a 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-sleeved af-
fair, in the schoolroom without per-
mission. Madame and the mustard
plaster were promptly on the scene,
and the little offender was left alone,
with strict instructions not to remove
it until madame returned. The lat
ter, however, was detained and for
got her young charge, who was about
an hour later heard by an under
teacher moaning and crying in her
room, and was promptly released
from torture, but the child arm was
so terribly burned that she was
obliged to leave school. and an in
vestigation by her parents resulted
in the adjustment of madame's great
standby.
} Less severe. but quite as effective.
was the method of moral suasion used
by good sister in the convent where
a portion of my schooldays were
spent. Sho was in charge OF oul
J dormitory. and used to punish all the
peccadilloes by administering doses
of castor oil. The threat of this
: remedy was generally enough tC
, quell the most obtreperous spirit
remember that developed about tina,
: time tendency to walk in my SLEEP
to the alarm of the others and the
detriment of my own health. Discov
ering me one night. the sisters es
corted me back to my little white
curtained iron bed and assured mt
that a repetition of my escapade woult
+ be visited with IA big dose of castor
oil. The bare threat was enough.
never walked in my sleep again.
In my very early childhood | begar
my school days in Il country "dees
trict school" in the far East w,
used to have woman teacher in tn,
summer but in the winter. when tn,
1 dreadful "big boys released from
: farm work attended, man was al
ways engaged to teach and .rule tn,
school," which he usually had to d,
: by main force. We fell one winter
: into the hands of a disciplinary geniu
who conceived wonderful schem,
; for subduing the pupils. He had
good-sized pocket-knife, the big blad,
of which he used to open at RICH
. angle to the handle, and then will
the skill of a practical juggler. h,
would throw the knife squarely a
any offender he CHANGED to detect Il
mischief.
Another teacher we had at tina
same school devised an improvement
L upon the methods of that famous dis
y ciplinarian who used to sentence re
fractory pupils to 'go and sit o.
IS nothing against the wall" He use
ID to make boyish culprits stand abou
10 "A yard from the wall, put their hand
s. behind them until they touched tn
is wall and then lean backward, sustain
q ing most of the weight Of the body O
u the hands. This is doubtless a goo
= exercise for expanding the chest, bu
e after few minutes it becomes abou
70 as agreeable as we are told bein
10 strung up by the thumbs is. Still an
Al other used to make whisperers elm
o to "a high shelf in the closet and 81
d there by the hour, all doubled up
a little heap.
1t seems incredible that such crue
~ ties We're deemed permissible, yet tn
~ aunt of a friend of mine bears to TIL
le Gay several long scars on the palm {
S one hand to remind her of how he
III tender flesh was cut and torn by
he fiendish teacher as punishment fo
:, some childish offense
- The teacher who used to punish b
II making boy sit with the girls q
is sending girl over among the boy
IN used always to he popular among tn
older boys and girls, but among II
small fry such punishment wa
,e deemed AN unspeakable disgrac,
r though it is hard TO imagine why.
At Yes, we live in more enlightene
ID age now and we arc beginning to al
er preciate the fact that the maint.
lie nance of discipline is not the chic
1t fpu"tion of school-teacher Ye
X us not half dozen years since
Is knew of teacher in one OF the no.
IL NAL schools of this country who pun