The sun., 1908-03-08
A CONFTDENCE GAME.
Tne victim a Laa 60 whom WhlpplnS at
saAO0l was Due.


Ths victim q Lad 60 whom WhlpplnS At
ssAO0l was due.
this talk about rssuming thKashing In
tho public schools OF New York takes me
back q Bit said the thin but good naturU.
looking middle aged man. Il went to school
In a Western town and I used TO get the
dayliRhts wopssd out OF me by teachers
right along.
aWerenr women teachors. either. Men.
full grown. mature men with biceps ana
things, for you see. Ii was brothers
school that went to, and the brothers
never were complained OF. a. maybe you
know. for sparing the rod and spelling the
child.
Ordinary kind Of punishment that the
brothers handed out TO US youngsters was
wallOping us on the palm Of the hand with
a big thick ruler. For dead serious breaks.
why. they Just applied the big thick long
ruler right on the part Of the frame TO
which such punitive efforts have been ad-
dressed. understand. since the beginning
OF the world. and guess they didn't know
how to make a boy dance around or any
thingl
Now. We had a strange sort Of bOyish
NA@N@~ANN~~F
believed in by boys in certain sections TO
this day-that by smearing rozzum on the
hands We could so pickle our palms that
the blows Of the ruler wouldn't hurt so much
as they would without the rozzum. call
II rozzum because that's what we all called
1t. though it was, Of course. rosin.
-Suoh is the strange power OF foolish
belief. l believe in my soul do indeed,
- -. - kat oafr
palms really served to intensity the pain
Of the ruler instead Of mitigating the pain;
yet so serene was our faith In the efficacy
Of the rozEum for the palms we went right
through with the punishment sure that
the ruler wasn't hurting half as much as
it would without the rozzum.
we used to pad up for the serious else
where, not on the palms, thraShings from
the brothers too. That IL, when we knew
in advance that we were going to get one
Of the big whalings
Il fixed myself up very elaborately once
for a big, powerful brother when knew
that 1 was in for one Of the wallOpings of
my life. I'd been playing hockey for three
or four days spending the dreamy old days
in swimmin' and smokin' corn silk ciga-
rettes with the fellers that didn't have to
60 TO school and all that. and I'd been caught
at it. My father drubbed me first. and then
he wrote a note to the brother, telling him
about me and advising the brother to give
il TO me himself.
Il knew or guessed at the contents OF
that note Of my fathers TO the brother,
and 80 before went 20 school next morning
fixed myself up. Made what considered
a fine job Of 1t too, but as usual with every
thing that q boy does l overdid it.
Il was too bulgy altogether. | stuck
out in knobs all over and had Dickens 5
fat boy reduced 10 a skeleton. However,
I a uuO Orr nd want n school
that morning-well. l won't exactly say in
a condition Of delight, but with quite a lot
of confidence that had the game beat a
plenty when that lambasting should be
handed out TO me.
sWel, the brother took my fathers note,
read il gravely and then looked me over.
l figured Slat he'd step right down then and
give mo mine. But he didn't just looked
me over reaectively and sent me TO my
bench.
Never a word about thrashing That
was fine. Said l to myself. My father
didn't tell him to whip mo at all-that was
all imagination on my part This view
seemed to be confirmed by the way the
brother treated me all during that fore
noon.
Never showed the least anmus what
ever. Treated me as IL l hadn't been caught
playing hockey at all, and even pretended
not to see that extraordinary bulginess of
mine which made it hard for the other
youngsters 10 abJenu 10 InelT leiSOnS, 50
Keen was their desire TO laugh out loud,
for l must have been a figure of comedy
in such bulgy, knobby makeup.
We'll, when school was dismissed at
noon for dinner / had it all doped out
that the brother had overlooked my offence
and that l wasn't going 70 be whaled.
That being the case. my padding was un-
necessary l sneaked into the house the
back way and got rid of the makeup. Then
| got my dinner and went back to school,
having forgotten all about the whaling
business.
The brother took one short, compre-
hensive look at me az soon as school was
assembled for the afternoon session. Then
he swooped upon me like "A thousand o.
brick, and, gee whillikins, didn't he warm
me good though.
Almost any fool boy. maybe you've
noticed, thinks that he can fool man.
Maybe some boys can fool some men. But
any time any boy ever fooled one of those
brothers that ] used to 60 to school to
well il makes me feel ridiculous even now.
after all these years, to think that l ever
tried such thing"