School of one long fight
Mr Norris took a bundle of canes from the cupboard, but he knew that he would never be strong enough to see the caning through. But Norris was determined that the boys should be severely punished, and he had a brilliant idea. – Extracted from the School of One Long Fight, The Hotspur, 22 February 1936 (available to download free-of-charge here.)
Derek Norris is a young British schoolmaster now teaching at
Ash Forks School, a settlement in the Badlands of America. As is the way of
these tales in boys’ story papers (see Thick-Ear
Donovan) he wears an academic gown and mortar board cap and carries
a curved handled whippy cane with him. The community has two families – the
Kerrys and the Pendletons – who are constantly feuding. One morning Norris is
delayed getting to the schoolroom and is greeted by the sounds of rioting.
Now read on ...
Uproar greeted the teacher. The school building almost shook as he ran towards it. The din was almost deafening. The classroom sounded as though it contained half a dozen wild beasts fighting tooth and nail.
As Norris appeared in the doorway, he saw that the
desks had been overturned, the pictures knocked from the walls, and that the
boys were rolling over and over on top of each other on the floor. Some had
bundles of books which they used as clubs. Others were using the legs of the
easel pointers, the fender from the fireplace, anything that could be used as a
weapon with which to bash another boy.
It was a terrible scene, and nearly broke the
teacher’s heart.
“Boys!” he roared. “Boys, stop!”
Few of them did so. They were making too much noise
that they did not hear him. Norris had to dive in and seize the boys by their
necks, hair or anything which came to hand.
In this way he plucked them apart and threw them to
one side, the Kerrys to the left and the Pendletons to the right.
A battered, bleeding crew, the youngsters lapsed into
sullen silence as their teacher faced them.
“Now, just what does this mean?” he asked.
Red-haired Bob Kerry cleared his throat. “That rotter,
Jim Pendleton, said that his Dad was a better shot than mine, and I told him
I’d seen his Dad run from mine more than once. He___”
“It’s a lie!” roared the son of Nat Pendleton. “My Dad
once wounded his Dad, and___”
“Shut up!” bellowed the angry teacher, and he gripped
each boy by the collar, and brought their heads together with a crash which
made them howl. “How many times have I told you that I’ll have no more of this
nonsense? Haven’t you promised me over and over again never to start this sort
of thing in school? I trusted you boys, but now I see that I was mistaken. I’m
going to thrash the lot of you.”
He took a bundle of canes from the cupboard, but he
knew that he would never be strong enough to see the caning through.
But Norris was determined that the boys should be
severely punished, and he had a brilliant idea.
“Line up in two lines facing each other,” he ordered.
“The Kerrys on the left and the Pendletons on the right.”
The lads did so, glaring at each other as they came
face to face. The teacher then went down the rows and paired them off, so that
boys of a similar size were facing each other. To the Kerrys he then gave the
canes.
“The Pendletons will turn round and bend over,” he
commanded. “The Kerrys will then give them half a dozen with the cane, and
after that it will be the turn of the Kerry’s to be caned. Get ready!”
The youngsters stared. They had never heard of such a
thing as this thrashing arrangement. They stood and stared.
Derek Norris had kept a stout cane in his hand, and
now he swished it ominously.
“Now, come along, or I shall give half a dozen extra
myself to anyone who does not obey. Get ready, Pendletons!
The Pendleton clan turned and bent. A warlike glint
came into the eyes of the cane-wielders, but they were checked by the teacher.
“Wait for it!” he ordered. “Keep time with my cane on
this desk, and lay it on hard. Don’t forget that you’re going to have the same
dose in a few minutes. Ready! One – two – three!”
He beat time on the desk, and each time the row of
Kerrys let their opposite numbers have it.
The Pendletons squirmed and gasped, but they would not
cry out in front of their deadly rivals.
“Four – five – six – stop!” roared the teacher.
The Pendletons straightened up. They had been caned
far harder than their teacher would ever have done it, and they were longing to
retaliate.
“Pass the canes over!” was the grim command.
This was duly done, and the process reversed, the
Kerrys bending whilst the smarting Pendletons tried to ease their own pains by
making their opponents smart.
Gasps and grunts sounded in the classroom, and by the
time it was all over there were red faces all round.
“Now right those desks and sit down!” snapped the
teacher. “The next time there is a free fight I’ll do the same thing again.”
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