Tails of the Tawse

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Things really improved after that, but in my professional opinion I was not doing a good job. Discipline had recovered, but what to do about the education part of my job? I had access to transport; I had imagination and a supportive head of department pleased to sign off any idea as long as he was not asked to participate. And I had a cousin who managed a factory on the edge of Glasgow. It was a small factory but part of an industrial estate. So began the germ of an idea.

This exciting adventure was repeated every bedtime. Aunt Frances had a large washing machine and I don’t think she examined my pants before putting them in the wash, which was just as well! All went well for a few days. Then the sky darkened and the rain poured down! Uncle Mike was at his office, of course. Aunt Frances was visiting some friends for the day, and Clare said she would be at the farm attending to her pony until lunchtime. I couldn’t go fishing in that weather, so I said I would stay at home and read the set book from school, which I’d been told to read in the holidays. (It was The War of the Worlds!) No matter who the recipient of such heinous measures– each pupil endured much more than what was then commonly referred to as “Tingle-of-the-Tawse”. Thomas couldn't believe what was happening to him. He felt the cane tapping gently across the centre of his bared bottom cheeks, He had no idea what to expect, but he was dismayed that even these gentle taps stung unpleasantly. He screwed his face up in dread in anticipation of something considerably more painful Very well Bark­er, you may go — and have a good hol­i­day won’t you,’ said Miss Sven­son to the depart­ingpupil.I yelled out in agonised protest, trying to let the teacher know how much she was hurting me. She knew. As regular as a metronome, the next stroke landed. To my horror this elicited a real scream and the sound of poor Lindsey bursting into tears. I was very close to tears myself, but couldn't help listening in horrified fascination. Gri­mac­ing slight­ly the big boy com­plied. Because of his size, he was one of the few allowed to wear long trousers and con­se­quent­ly looked par­tic­u­lar­ly ridicu­lous draped over the chair with them around his ankles. The teach­ers were, how­ev­er, not unhap­py that he should feel addi­tion­al­ly humil­i­at­ed in thisway. While she was still on her way Mrs Seaton went on to say that, in the absence of the headmaster, she would be punishing the boys, too. She read out my name and form and that I was to be punished for being sent out three times, and then told me, too, to wait outside her room.

I arrived 8th February 1958 at Clontarf orphanage, Perth Western Australia. The next day I attended my first “Sunday-morning roundup”. This was the irreverent title for the instruction to Christian Brothers Superiors of orphanages in the Superior-General’s Circular Letter of 8th September 1927: Well, I can­not agree with that. You should under­stand that pupils have no author­i­ty here. It is the staff who must be obeyed. Any­way boy, after what your teacher has said, tell me what you expect fromme.’ This did nothing to assuage my mounting terror as I watched. There was a specific technique to receiving the belt, requiring the victim to hold both hands out , palms upward and one hand supporting the other. The belt was not designed to draw blood but rather...to hurt, and one girl who was apparently a habitual latecomer, received a 'double-hander' which meant first one hand was belted, then the supporting hand was placed uppermost to receive the same treatment.The Departmental Committee of 1913 gave special attention to this question and came to the conclusion that the discretion to inflict corporal punishment must be given to the Superintendent, though they are silent as to whether it should be inflicted on the hands or on the posterior. I presume that they intended to leave the Superintendent a discretion also as to method. It must also be remembered that girls over 16 can be sent to Prison or to Borstal and that it is in the case of the younger girls that the difficulty arises. So, what have you been binned for this time?’ asked her step­fa­ther cool­ly, tak­ing a swig from his large tum­bler of whisky. Anoth­er half dozen class mem­bers filed through of whom only one opt­ed for ‘two’ and the oth­ers were allowed to leave unscathed. Then an excep­tion­al­ly pret­ty girl with cropped blond hair entered the study, flashed a smile and greet­ed them enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly with, ‘good morn­ing ladies!’

Unfortunately, Miss Hamilton did not wait for me and soon married another, however, I never have forgotten her grace and beauty - a divine presence that transported me from scholastic dread to educational accomplishment - and without the aid of medieval means -ecstasy most certainly. Always on the bare, Thomas. Always on the bare," she said patiently, "There's no other way. Now take them down at once or I will double the number of strokes." I sus­pect that this is a few inch­es short­er than school rules allow, so.…..’ the skirt flipped up briefly reveal­ing a glimpse of underwear. Maybe twoooo.…errr…’ the boy hes­i­tat­ed and looked across to Miss Pren­der­gast who was shak­ing herhead. Oh yes, of course," she said, studying his face carefully, her clear, hard, blue eyes boring into him.We occupied a two-bedroom ground floor tenement apartment on an avenue bereft of trees, in place of leafy conifers, stood tall eye-catching Victorian lampposts, standing as bright sentinels and each oozing indispensable floodlighting to pedestrian and motorist alike, essential additions to our locality, particularly during the bitterly cold, densely dark and smoggy nights, so prevalent between the months of October and April of that era. Now mind, dinnae cry oot when he belts ye. He's a bastard and enjoys hearin' us yell.' Ah did it once an' he jist laughed and gied me a double-hander.'