The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-02-03
SPANKING IN TIE OLD REGIME

Recorder Lazarus. OF New York city,
had before him recently FOR a violation
Of the law, two boys. aged nine ana :
respectively. He did not wish 10 send
| them TO jail. so suggested 10 their moth
! ers that a good spanking would satisfy
| all the claims OF the law.
The mothers looked not after the order
of their spanking. Turning the boys face
| downward they gave the youngsters an
unusual application that created a sen
| sation among the spectators and a va
| riety OF sensations on the boys. II Is
| said that the air was filled with cries
| from the boys and with dust from the
seats Of the trousers. the dust being
| caused no by the very warm
weather in that quarter.
| old regime this seems n very crude
method of punishment, and shows a lack
| of experience on the part OF these moth
| ers that raises a sigh of pity for their
ignorance.
1t is easy to get into tho habit OF eN-
aggerating the superiority of the past
| over the present. Many people will swear
! that aver the moon shone more brightly
before the war than it has ever shone
since. We are told that men were Drawer.
women more beautiful: the peaches were
--z-z lJy1;ayC tho water from tho ntH
spring clearer and cooler: oratCry was
more thrilling, politicians were all states
men; and the mint had an aroma about
it that made the ante-bellum julep the
embodied apothesis of JOY. Much OF this
kind of talk no doubt comes from the
proneness OF the mind to Overlook the lit
tie worries and detailed difficulties of
the past and to view the former days
OF one thing We are certain. The old
time spankings and switchings were APP
piled with a tireless thoroughness that
makes the modern application look like a
smallest, were attended to. The switch
was chosen with care. 1t had to com
bine a w~ilIowness that would cling af-
fectionately to the body, while possess
ing the staying power Of the hickory.
Many switches We're sent for, but few
chosen. But those few were the awe and
the despair of the small boy. Birches
stood we'll up to the front; the willow
a.
especially adapted to the girls; but the
young peach was a peach in more
senses thar one, and We still have a
painful memory of a cherry tree that was
set back in its growth for years by what
we considered a heartless and superflu-
Gus pruning of it's tender branches.
Spankings were used only for minor
offences, and while the hand was often
applied, the slipper or a we'll seasoned
paddle were as much more popular with
the parents as they were unpopular with
the children. But a switching or spank
ing with the trousers on, Think Of it,
ye boys of the old regime! Such a pad
ding as trousers, however thin, would
have been regarded by the culprit with
thinks he will be hanged, but is given
by a sympathetic jury a life sentence
instead of a decree Of death; and would
have been considered by the irate par
ent as calling for that much extra and
useless exertion. No parent of the oldcn
time had any desire or intention OF wear
ing out trousers in that way. Besides, it
wasn't the trousers he was after. And
SO they had to come off. Shades Of the
past! 1t makes the perspiration come
even now to think of it. With but one
garment on and that lifted, with ones
head firmly held between the paternal
legs, with a muscular arm welding the
keen switch, with a grand, fierce medley
of angry bumblebees, hornets, wasps and
yellow jackets working overtime, there
was something doing, and the c~log-dance,
the jig, the Highland fling, the pigeon
wing and every other variety of quick
step were all danced at one and the
same time. There were pants in abund-
ance but no trousers. And after it was
all over many a boy could sympathize
the y%oungster Who said that he did
love to stump his toe because it felt so
good when it stopped hurting.
No one will declare that the old-time