The Rod In And Out Of School.

mitigation of the sentence , exclaimed , " He shall go through with it if he has breath in his body . " In an Almanack for 1692 it is stated that Oates was whipped with a whip of six thongs and received 2 , 256 lashes , amounting to 13 , 556 stripes . In the household the birch was considered necessary to correct discipline , and it is well known that our grandfathers and their grandfathers before them , when young , passed a good deal of their time under the influence and dread of the rod .

The girls , too , almost to womanhood , were frequently placed across their mothers' knees to receive the birch . Apprentices and all domestic servants were also ruled by it . Just one anecdote and I will pass on and speak of the rod in the school . The ladies of Linlithgow were notorious for the frequency of the punishments given to the apprentice lads . After a time the lads began to grow restive under the birch , and meeting together talked the matter over and determined upon revenge .

" Four of the masters it was known were to proceed on a particular occasion to Edinburgh on business , and as these were just the men whose lads were oftenest licked by the mistresses , the clay in question was chosen as the day of revenge . At a given moment the mistresses of the ill-used boys were seized each in her own house , and being made ready by willing hands , were treated to a dose of the ' Oil of Strap ' as flogging was then called , each lad

laying on a few stripes with all his might . Dire threats of retribution . were uttered , but when it was found upon enquiry that more than one mistress-had suffered a similar fate , prudence dictated silence . "—History of the Hod . All of us are to some extent acquainted either by personal experience or report , with the position the rod held in public schools in former days . It was resorted to on all occasionsthe most trifling offences brought down upon

, the trembling culprit the punishment of the birch , and children of weak constitutions often suffered permanent injury from the harsh treatment they received . The words of Crabbe express the almost universal belief amongst

teachers" Students , like liorses on tlie road , Must be well lashed before they take the load ; They may be willing for a time to run , But you must whip them ere the work be done , To tell a boy that if he will improve His friends will praise him and his parents love Is doing nothing—he has not a doubt But they will love him , nay applaud , without . Let no fond sire a boy ' s ambition trust—To make him study , let him see he must . "

The rod was thought to be essentially necessary to education , hence whipping-boys were attached to the Court that they might receive the floggings due to the royal princes . The subject of flogging in school will be best understood b y relating a few examples of the method of treatment adopted in some of our schools . ( Extracted from " History of the Rod . " ) Eton was once famous for the use of the Rod . Dr . Keate , who ruled during the earl y of the had

part present century , quite a passionate love of the birch , and many amusing stories are recorded of him . " On one occasion , when a confirmation was to be held for the school , each master was requested to make out a list of the candidates in his own form . A master wrote clown the names on the first piece of paper that came to hand , which happened unluckil y to he one of the slips of well-known size and shape used as flogging billsand sent regularl

, up y with the names of delinquents for execution . The list being put into Keate ' s hands without explanation , he sent for the boys in the regular course , and in spite of all protestations on their part , pointing to the master ' s signature to the fatal bill , " he flogged them all , " 2 L