The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-06-25
OLD TIME TEACHERS.
Were Failures Unless They Could
Lick Pupils.

when | was boy, Sdlu tile Olu
timer, was considered necessary
that a boy get licking at least once
a month when he was at home and
not less than once a week when he
was at school, says the Topeka Cap
ital.
"Teachers were hired more on &C
count of beef and muscle they car
ried around than on account of what
he knew. The teacher who built up
a reputation for being able to lick
any boy up to the age Of q had a
cinch on getting a job teaching in
the winter.
There were several young fellows
who attended school every winter till
they were 81. and it was the common
thing to give the teacher whirl just
to see if he was man enough for the
job If he came out second best he
had to give up the school, but if he
cleaned out the bunch that generally
settled it, and he had no more trou-
Bile after that
Some of the young men were as
big as the average sized teacher and
sometimes bigger. Then they were
used to outdoor work and were stout
as young bulls. The teacher was up
against hard proposition but he
had one thing in his favor. If the
big boys double-teamed on him, that
is, came on more than one at time,
he had the right, under the code that
governed such cases, to use club.
"One winter l went to a sort of
graded school. There were three
teachers, including the superintend-
ent He didn't have to do much
teaching. His principal business
was to do the licking, and l never
saw a man who seemed to me to like
his Job better than he did his. He
had the finest assortment of seasoned
gads | ever saw, and for especially
aggravated cases he had a ,rawhide
whip that was a holy terror. He
stood about six feet two and weigh
ed about 220 pounds, and he WASH t
fat at that. l think he could lift
about half ton and when he made
the boy strip off his 'wammus' and
swung that whip he could make the
stoutest heart howl. The other
teachers were rather good hearted
and didn't care to see the scholars
beat up, but if they didn't send about
so many up for lickings each week
he complained that they were loafng
on their jobs and didn't amount to
anything as instructors.
Nearly every boy in the school
made a solemn VOW that when he
grew up he would lick that principal
within an inch of his life, but I nev-
or heard of one them doing it.
Fheard of one boy who did keep his
pledge far enough to undertake it,
but he regretted it afterward.
"He was about 16 when he got the
licking that burned into his soul, al
so into his hide. The principal had
an extra crouch on that day and the
first gratifying thing that happened
to him was the sending Of Bob Will
liams up for punishment. He made
Bob take off his 'wammus'-all the
boys wore 'wammuses then he
took down the rawhide. The marks
of that licking lasted on Bob's back
for two weeks. Right then and there
Bob registered his vow to lick that
teacher. He waited five years till
he was 21, and then took some box
ing lessons from a man who claimed
to have been a prize fighter Then
he hunted up his teacher who was
not teaching that year. He was run
ming a farm. Bob sort of figured
to begin with that maybe the prin-
cipal was growing old and stiff in the
joints, anyway he hadn't trained in
boxing. Bob discovered he had made
miscalculation about his former in
structor being muscle-bound.
when the fight was over Bob
was worse used up than he was that
day five years before. But he was
mt altogether discouraged. He de-
cided to wait five years more and
then try it again. He waited the five
years and hunted up the school teach
er again, but there wasn't any evil
dence of declining strength on his
part. He was about As years old
by that time, but the way he black
ed both of Bob's eyes, mashed his
nose and battered him up was very
discouraging to Bob.
Bob never tried it again. Twenty
five years after that I saw the old
teacher. He was 70 years old and
we'll preserved, but he had changed
l. ;do,, oLo,,t eoboo1 dicnip1ino He