Will Taylor, the son of the present American consul at Marseilles, was a
good deal like other boys while at school in his old home in Hudson,
Wis. One day he called his father into the library and said:
"Pa, I don't like to tell you, but the teacher and I have had trouble."
"What's the matter now?"
"Well, I cut one of the desks a little with my knife, and the teacher
says I've got to pay $1 or take a lickin'!"
"Well, why don't you take the lickin' and say nothing more about it? I
can stand considerable physical pain, so long as it visits our family in
that form. Of course it is not pleasant to be flogged, but you have
broken a rule of the school, and I guess you'll have to stand it. I
presume that the teacher will in wrath remember mercy and avoid
disabling you, so that you can't get your coat on any more."
"But, pa, I feel mighty bad over it, already, and if you would pay my
fine, I'd never do it again. A dollar isn't much to you, pa, but it's a
heap to a boy who hasn't a cent. If I could make a dollar as easy as you
can, pa, I'd never let my little boy get flogged that way to save a
dollar. If I had a little feller that got licked bekuz I didn't put up
for him I'd hate the sight of money always. I'd feel as ef every dollar
I had in my pocket had been taken out of my little kid's back."
"Well, now, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a dollar to save
you from punishment this time, but if anything of this kind ever occurs
again I'll hold you while the teacher licks you and then I'll get the
teacher to hold you while I lick you. That's the way I feel about that.
If you want to go around whittling up our educational institutions you
can do so; but you will have to purchase them afterward yourself. I
don't propose to buy any more damaged furniture. You probably grasp my
meaning, do you not? I send you to school to acquire an education, not
to acquire liabilities, so that you can come around and make an
assessment on me. I feel a great interest in you, Willie, but I do not
feel as though it should be an assessable interest. I want to go on of
course and improve the property, but when I pay my dues on it, I want to
know that it goes toward development work. I don't want my assessments
to go toward the purchase of a school-desk with American hieroglyphics
carved on it. I hope you will bear this in mind, my son, and beware. It
will be greatly to your interest to beware. If I were in your place I
would put in a large portion of my time in the beware business."
The boy took the dollar and went thoughtfully away to school and no more
was ever said about the matter until Mr. Taylor learned casually several
months later that the Spartan youth had received the walloping and filed
away the $1 for future reference. The boy was afterward heard to say
that he favored a much higher fine in cases of that kind. One whipping
was sufficient, he said, but he favored a fine of $5. It ought to be
severe enough to make it an object.