of sixteen years of age, and I am quite sure it is productive of
the most beneficial effects. I am certain most of your readers will
agree with me that the use of the birch is quite out of the question
with young ladies of this age; and the most convincing proof of the
utility of this kind of punishment lies in the fact that in both of
these schools where corporal punishment is inflicted the lessons are
invariably gone through better than in any of the other three where it
is not used, and the behaviour of the pupils is much more ladylike.
To my mind this mode of punishment is by far the best, and it is
easily applied. The age of the pupil is not of much importance, and
the palm of a young lady’s hand is sufficiently sensitive to allow
of a tolerably severe punishment being inflicted; and my opinion is
that punishment should be seldom inflicted, but when it is required
it should be sharp and severe. It is very seldom indeed that I am
compelled to report a pupil to the principal, but whenever I am
compelled to do so punishment is promptly inflicted, and the girl is
always more attentive at the next lesson. In conclusion, I must say
that I cannot understand why this kind of punishment on the hand, to
which boys are so freely subjected, should be considered inapplicable
to young ladies.’
_Medical Student_ writes: ‘With regard to the whipping of girls, I
think that as this is the age of the ladies, there is no reason why
girls should not be whipped as well as boys. But let me remind some of
your correspondents that the days when Milton was whipped at Oxford are
long gone by, and if the girls require to be whipped at sixteen they
will require it all their lives. I suppose that their husbands are the
only persons on whom the duty will devolve after they have left the
paternal mansion. Now, as husbands are punished for thrashing their
wives, why should not schoolmistresses be punished for doing the same
by young ladies of sixteen committed to their care?’
_Gratitude_ writes: ‘I own, as you see, one of the most honoured
names in England, and call myself _Gratitude_ because I am anxious
to show my gratitude for the fact that I owe my present position as
a useful happy English lady to the firm discipline I experienced at
the very turning-point of my life. I was brought up in a loving home
and had every possible advantage; but amidst it all I became sullen,
self-willed, disobedient and idle. I was the grief of my parents and a
byword to my companions.
However, soon after I was fifteen I most fortunately was sent to Mrs.
—’s school for young ladies, in Brighton, where I showed the same evil
disposition which I had evinced elsewhere, but where, most fortunately
and happily for me, it was checked and cured.
In school and out of it, during the first month, Mrs. — and the other
teachers reproved me, set me tasks and kept me in. But I only grew
worse; and one night after I had refused to do an imposition, Mrs.
— came and sat in my room after I was in bed and talked to me most
impressively. The next day, however, the effect of what she had said
wore off, and I was as bad as ever.
But a change was at hand, for in the evening, when we had just gone to
our bedrooms, Mrs. — again came to me, and said: ‘Miss W., you will
to-night occupy the dressing-room adjoining my room. I will show
you the way.” I was half inclined to disobey. However, I followed my
governess through her bedroom and across a small sitting-room which
opened out of it into a room comfortably furnished, in which was a
small low bed, and telling me to undress and go to bed, Mrs. — left
me, locking the door after her. I had been in bed about a quarter of
an hour when Mrs. — came to me, holding in her hand a long birchrod.
Placing the rod and the candlestick on the table, she told me that but
one course was now open to her after my behaviour, and that she was
going to flog me, and I was to get up. But though the twigs of the
birch stood out in ominous shadow in front of the candlestick, and
while I noted the thin, closely wrapped bundle of that rod and its
fanlike top, I never attempted to obey. Three times she told me to get
up, but I stirred not. Mrs. — returned to her own room, and came back
with a small thin riding whip, and said: ‘Must I use this?” There was
something about her which quite awed me—it was more her manner than her
tall powerful figure—and as she swung that whip about in her hand I at
once stepped out of bed and stood before her. “Give me your hands,”
she said, but I put them behind me, when slash across my shoulders
came six or seven smart strokes of her whip, and screaming I put out
my hands, which she fastened together with a cord at the wrists. Then
making me lie down across the foot of the bed face downwards, she very
quietly and deliberately, putting her left hand round my waist, gave
me a shower of smart slaps with her open right hand—a proceeding which
so surprised and humiliated my proud self that I could hardly believe
in my own identity, and as I screamed and struggled, she merely said:
“This is for not doing _now_ as I told you, and it will not only punish
you for _that_, but will increase the pain of the birching I am now
going to give you.”
Mrs. — then, as I lay, spoke to me for a few minutes with great
kindness and earnestness. She then rose, took the birch in her right
hand, and stooping over me, pressed her left hand tightly on my
shoulder so as to hold me as if I were in a vice; then raising the
birch, I could hear it whizz in the air, and oh, how terrible it felt
as it came down, and as its repeated strokes came swish, swish,
swish, on me! yet I felt, spite of the terrible stinging pain, that I
deserved it all—and it _was_ painful! I was a stout fair girl, and very
sensitive to pain. I screamed, I protested, I implored, but it was of
no avail; Mrs. — heeded not my cries, but held me down and birched on
till she had finished a whipping which seemed to have lasted an age,
but which quite changed my character. At last it _was_ over. I was
permitted to rise, my hands were unbound, and, burning and smarting,
I raised my tear-stained face to my true friend’s, on whose face no
sign was visible of the slightest anger or passion. Calm and serene,
she wished me good-night and left me conquered. Henceforward I was
a different girl; and though a few weeks afterwards I relapsed, yet
another night spent in Mrs. —’s dressing-room and another similar
application by her of that wonder-working birch—I did exactly as she
told me this time—sufficed finally to cure me. I became cheerful,
obedient, unselfish. My parents and friends the next holidays could
hardly believe that I was the same girl. I stayed three years at
Brighton, leaving when I was nineteen with much regret. I am now
twenty-four, and hope to be married at Easter to _the best man in the
world_ who never _could_ have loved me had not sensible wholesome
discipline changed my evil nature, as _the_ means under God of doing
so. I am thankful to publish my experience, and so to express not only
my gratitude, but confirm what others have so well said and told on
this subject.’
_Emma_ writes: ‘A while ago I undertook to bring up two nieces of the
ages of twelve and fourteen. I soon found them to be most stubborn
tempers and impudent. Thus they have often caused me much trouble and
annoyance. Though not an advocate of corporal punishment, I was much
struck with the description by _A Schoolmistress_ of a most ceremonious
method of inflicting punishment that I determined to follow exactly the
same method and try it the same morning.
I prepared a woollen dress; not being able to procure a birch, I sent
and had made a pair of very pliant leather taws. In the afternoon I
found the eldest of my nieces in a gross fault, and on being found
fault with she was very pert. I therefore took her to my bedroom
and made her don the garment and follow me to the drawing-room, she
never thinking for a moment of what was to follow. I then quietly told
her of her bad conduct for some time past, and that I was determined
to try what a whipping would do. On ordering her to lie across an
ottoman, she distinctly refused. I told her if she did not at once
comply I would ring for a servant to compel her. Still refusing, I
rang for assistance. Hearing the servant coming upstairs, and seeing
me determined, she lay down rather than be seen by the servant in this
predicament, wherefore I went to the door and sent the servant back.
I then fastened her across the ottoman and proceeded to administer a
few strokes of the taws, which soon elicited cries for forgiveness
and promises for future good conduct, but being determined to try the
efficacy of this method, I continued until I had given her a severe
flogging. I then allowed her to rise, and on her knees to thank me for
the correction, then sent her off to bed for the day. Up to this time
the perfect subjection and submission of this girl is such that I most
heartily recommend all parents and guardians to try the same method
in all cases of disobedience. I think that in all whippings of grown
children a large amount of cool ceremony is most effectual.’
_An Old Boy_ writes: ‘Since the question of the efficacy of corporal
punishment seems to give rise to a great variety of opinions, I venture
to give mine.
When a boy I was educated at Christ’s Hospital, and I assure you the
birch was not neglected there. Punishment was sometimes inflicted
privately, but when the offence was serious due publicity was given it.
The offender after supper was made to stand opposite the warden’s desk
and hold the instrument of torture in his hand (it being customary for
punishments to be doled out after that meal). When the boys had retired
(with the exception of the ward to which the delinquent belonged, who
were ordered to remain in their seats), two of the school porters were
summoned, and the offender was told to prepare himself. He was then
hoisted on the back of one of the porters, when the other with great
deliberation proceeded to remove all unnecessary clothing by tucking
the inner garment beneath the back of his coat, and after having
measured his distance, commenced the punishment, always allowing a
little time between each stroke so as to give them due effect. The
offender, having received the allotted number, was let down, and after
finishing his toilet was allowed to retire with his fellows, who
generally condoled with him if he bore it well.
After once receiving a punishment of this kind it seldom required to be
repeated. But it would be a good thing if schoolmasters, guardians and
parents would study the characters of the children committed to their
charge, as they would soon ascertain what punishment would be most
effectual.
I am convinced that flogging does not suit every case, though it might
be effectual in extreme ones; but I think it is a great mistake to
suppose that that is the only punishment that ought to be inflicted,
as in some cases a word is more effectual, especially with sensitive
children. I am surprised that girls should require such correction, but
I am acquainted with one or two to whom a good wholesome flogging would
indeed be a great boon to themselves and their parents.’
_G. A. N._ writes: ‘A neighbour told me a few nights ago the mode she
adopted for curing her daughter, aged sixteen, of the baneful habit of
pilfering. She had discovered the girl in the very act of taking money
from a drawer in the bedroom, and this being the third time the girl
had been detected, she determined to give her a good whipping and,
having bought a rod for the purpose, told the culprit to go to her
bedroom and prepare by taking off her drawers. In a few minutes she
went upstairs and, having fastened the girl across the bed, birched her
severely. The fruit of the punishment was, that from that time the girl
improved, and is now finally cured.’
_Miss C._ had several apprentices, on some of whom she inflicted the
punishment of the rod. She was not very sorry when they gave her an
opportunity of handling this instrument of pleasure and pain.
Among her apprentices was a slip of a girl addicted to thieving, and
though she had whipped her often for it with severity, the girl did not
amend in the least.
One day as she was going to whip her for stealing some ribbons, one of
the workwomen who had been in Paris for many years told her, if she
was to dip the rod in vinegar as she had seen it done in France, it
would sting her the more._ Miss C._ followed her advice, dipped the end
of a new rod in vinegar, and whipped the girl with it; and it smarted
so sore that she never pilfered again.
_The True Story of Father Girard and Miss Cadière._
One day Girard informed his penitent that she was to be favoured by
a remarkable vision, during which she would (by spiritual agency) be
drawn up into the air, he alone, as her spiritual Father would be
permitted to witness this manifestation; but Miss Cadière, at the
appointed time, was not in a willing mood, in spite of the Holy man’s
threats and entreaties. She resisted the spiritual influence, held fast
to her chair, and would not permit herself to be drawn up. Finding his
expostulations useless, the Father quitted the room in a rage, and sent
Guiol to rebuke his pupil. Although Miss Cadière, when in a calmer
mood the same evening, asked pardon and promised future obedience,
Girard determined that her crime should be expiated by a heavy penance.
The next morning, accordingly, he visited her and, flourishing a
discipline, said: ‘God demands in his justice that you, having refused
to allow yourself to be invested with His gifts, should now, in
punishment for your sins, undress yourself and be chastised. Truly have
you deserved that the whole Earth should witness this infliction on
you; but God has graciously permitted that only I and this wall (which
cannot speak) should be witnesses of your shame. But beforehand, swear
to me an oath of fidelity, for both you and I would be plunged into
ruin if the secret was discovered.’
Girard had his desire, Miss Cadière humbly submitted to discipline, and
the scene which followed we must leave the reader to imagine.
_The Knout applied to an Empress._
When the Empress Eudoxia was sentenced by her husband, Peter the Great,
to undergo the punishment of the knout on a charge of infidelity,
she no sooner saw the dreadful apparatus than, to avoid torture, she
readily confessed every species of criminality they were inclined to
lay to her charge. She owned every amorous intrigue with which she was
accused, and of which, to all appearance, till that horrible moment,
she never had the least idea. She was however condemned to undergo the
discipline, which was administered by two ecclesiastics in full chapter.
_The King of Fiji and his Wives._
In a recent work on Fiji and the Fijians there is a graphic account of
the marriage ceremony or contract as observed in this savage region.
The misery of the woman begins directly after the ceremony. If she be
young and pretty the old big-fisted wives turn their venom against her
and do all they can, by mauling and ill-treatment, to render her as
unsightly as themselves. If she be of the brawny sort, as well able
to give as to take a thrashing, then she is hated, and all sorts of
secret means are used to work her ruin. As may be easily imagined,
these domestic brawls occasionally interfere with the peace of the
lord of the establishment. What does the despotic husband do in such a
case? Does he go out and reason with the rowdies? Does he use gentle
persuasion? Does he! He has by him a stout stick kept for the purpose,
and he lays about him till order is restored.
The staff used by the king for this purpose was inlaid with ivory, but
did not on that account give less pain.
_Punishment of the Knout in Russia._
Olearius gives a description of the manner in which he saw the knout
inflicted on eight men and one woman, only for selling brandy and
tobacco without a licence. The executioner’s man, after stripping them
to the waist, tied their feet and took one at a time on his back. The
executioner stood at three paces distance with a large pizzle, to the
end of which were fastened three raw-hide thongs. Blood flowed at every
blow.
After their backs were thus terribly mangled, they were whipped through
the city of Petersburg for about a mile and a half, and then dismissed.
_Wife Beating._
The wife of an old negro on the neighbouring estate of Anchovy had
lately forsaken him for a younger lover. One night when she happened to
be alone, the incensed husband entered her hut unexpectedly, abused her
with all the rage of jealousy, and demanded the clothes to be restored
which he had previously given her. On her refusal he drew a knife, and
threatened to cut them off her back; nor could she persuade him to
depart until she had received a severe beating.
_Monk Lewis’s Journal._
_The Flagellating Monks and the Bear._
At Lent time, when religious fraternities are accustomed to inflict on
themselves certain discipline, there was in a certain Italian city a
confraternity of Penitents. A pastry-cook in the same city had a tame
bear which ran about the streets, doing no harm to anyone. Wandering
about one evening, it found its way into the chapel (the door of which
was open), coiled itself up in a corner and went to sleep. When the
penitents were all assembled, the door was locked, and after a short
exhortation from the altar, they spread themselves about the chapel.
The light was hidden behind a pillar; the most zealous commenced by
inflicting punishment on themselves, an example that was soon followed.
The noise woke up the bear who, in trying to make his way out, stumbled
against the penitents who, with their breeches down, were inflicting
castigations.
The bear felt with his paw to find what it was; from one behind he
passed on quietly to another; and the penitents in their fear began
to think it was the devil who had come there to disturb them in their
devotions. Their suspicions became a certainty, when the bear passing
by the pillar where the light was, they saw his shadow on the wall.
It was who could get to the door first! And to this day nothing would
convince these worthy disciplinarians that they had not received a
visit from the arch fiend in person.
_A Conjugal Scene._
‘Let you go, my angel! What, just as I have recovered my lost treasure!
No, let them come in and see how naughty children are punished when
they rebel against lawful authority.’
So saying, he came tripping across the room and flung the door open,
admitting into a somewhat odd scene. Fifine was tied across a heavy
chair in the middle of the room, crying as if her heart would break,
her clothes turned up with the utmost precision, while the ugliest old
man I ever saw was administering a whipping, which had already been
severe, judging from the state of her hips and her tear-stained swollen
face.
‘Pardon, ladies,’ he said with an odious leer. ‘Shall not a man do what
he likes with his own? This lady is my runaway wife, my chattel, my
goods: and who shall forbid my chastising her when I find her?’
_Merry Order of St. Bridget._
_Fanciful Flogging._
She got hold of a book out of the library about the feminine customs of
Rome, and she resolved to make me attend upon her toilet as the slaves
of Roman ladies did. So she looked up a short tunic which was among
the fancy dresses, and the next morning she made me go and strip, and
come back to her with nothing on but this garment, which was just like
a sack, with short sleeves only, of soft white merino trimmed with red
satin. It did not come to my knees, and my legs and feet were bare
except for a pair of red sandals.
‘Now take care what you are about, Perkins,’ she said. ‘I am going to
deal with you exactly as the ladies in Rome dealt with their slaves.’
‘But I am not a slave, my lady,’ I said, pertinently enough, I dare
say, for I felt angry. ‘There are no slaves here.’
‘You are mine as long as you are in this room,’ she replied. ‘When my
toilet is sufficiently completed I shall punish you for that speech.’
She made me bathe her and dress her hair, and then before she put on
her stays she said quite calmly: ‘Bring the rod.’ I brought it, and she
made me kiss her and beg her pardon for what I had said; and then I
knelt on the couch, and she whipped me till she was tired—and I, well,
I did not get over it for a long time.
_Merry Order._
_Revelations of Boarding-School Practices._
At the age of seventeen I was sent to a boarding-school near Exeter.
I was sent there owing to the influence of my aunt, who was always
praising this establishment up to mamma, and strongly recommending it
as a finishing academy for young ladies. My aunt was a maiden lady of
forty, a fine, tall, buxom woman.
Neither myself nor my mamma ever thought she was an advocate of the
rod, and liked administering, and seeing it administered. It turned out
afterwards, as the narrative will show, that she was really in league
with the schoolmistress, and would frequently call at the establishment
and indulge herself in her favourite pastime, for which she no doubt
paid large sums yearly, being a strong and fervent advocate of corporal
chastisement, at times an unseen observer and with some of the elder
young ladies being the operator. In all there were twenty-four young
ladies in this fashionable establishment, their ages varying from
twelve to nineteen. I was as tall, finely-shaped, and handsome as any
young lady in the school, and no doubt when mamma gave her consent to
my leaving home, my aunt thought there was a great treat in store for
her.
A few days after arriving, I soon found out what sort of lady principal
I had to contend with, and her assistants were not much better. The
first sample I saw her administer to one of her pupils was after I had
been there four days. A young lady about fifteen had committed some
trifling error, for which madam told her in plain terms that she should
give her a good whipping when class was over, and this she did and
in front of the whole school. She was taken by the arms and legs by
two of the assistant teachers, and thrown face downwards over a desk
sloping each way and firmly held there. Madam then approached with a
flat piece of wood about an inch and a half in thickness and shaped
like a hair-brush, but much bigger. After addressing a few words of
advice to us and admonishing the culprit, she took hold of her garments
at the bottom, then without any further to do she lifted the spanker,
as this piece of wood was called by my school fellows, and inflicted
a tremendous spank on the girl. A loud yell followed, and a strong
effort to free herself from the grasp of her tormentors, but all of no
avail, for they, no doubt owing to their previous experience, could
hold a young lady in any position. She received about a dozen stripes
before she was released.
We had a system of making so many marks, and if any young lady had not
made so many by the end of the week she was sure to receive a whipping.
I have known as many as seven young ladies whipped on a Saturday. It
was at these whippings that my aunt and her friends were present as
unseen spectators, through the medium of small glass panels let in the
door of a nearby closet.
During my two years at this establishment I was whipped several times.
I shall never forget my last experience. I think the lady principal
had made up her mind that I should be flogged on the Saturday, for at
the early part of the week, however well I did my lessons, fault was
found with me, and I got careless towards the end. On Saturday I found
my name on the Black List, as it was called. I was number three on the
list, my two schoolfellows, both girls about fourteen, had gone in and
received their portion and, as usual, had been dismissed to bed. I was
then ordered in. I need not tell you that I entered the room trembling
from head to foot. Madam called me by my Christian name, and informed
me she was very sorry to have to inflict punishment on such a big girl,
but the rules of the school must be enforced, winding up by ordering
me to prepare for punishment. I dropped on my knees and begged her to
take into consideration my age and size; in fact I hardly remember what
I did say. She was inexorable and, with a smile on her face, ordered
me to obey, or she would have to call assistance and my punishment
would be much more severe. I made some remark, when she seized me by my
beautiful long hair and beat me about my ears, head, cheeks and arms
with the birch, until I was compelled to give in and promise obedience
in future.
Soon after, I found means to send a letter to my mamma, informing her
of the circumstances related above. She accordingly took steps for my
early removal, and I was soon afterwards married, but my mamma and aunt
have never been friends or spoken to each other since.
_Flogging at Sea._