Conspiracy against the stick
This is a very unusual story of fiction
that appeared in a local newspaper in the northwest of England in 1922.
It concerns a cane-happy headmaster who
believed it was good to beat boys because it taught them self-control and how
to bear pain. In time, none of the boys would cry out under the lash of King
Stick … but there was a reason.
(Take a look also at the short story in
column two headlined Flogging Machine in Private House).
As
published in the Bolton News, 28 October 1922
Picture credit: Chums
Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com
The private flogging machine is the more startling report. A pity we don’t know more.
ReplyDeleteIn this context, "machine" means a restraint apparatus; the cat was applied manually. Canada also called the restraint device a "machine."
ReplyDeleteAlso of interest is the application of the cane across the shoulders, as portrayed in Kipling's "Stalky & Company"
ReplyDelete