Page:Discipline in school and cloister (1902).djvu/67

 very young). During this time no attempt was made to correct by physical pain (except of the mildest description) my many evil propensities and bad habits; but after I was twelve, my father married again, and I was sent to a boarding-school in Norwich where, when I had been about three weeks, I had my first whipping. I had been guilty of gross misconduct, and told a lie to screen myself. The punishment inflicted on me was the beginning of my entire reformation.

I shall never forget that first whipping, how I was told after prayers to go to Mrs. S.'s private room; how, after a most loving reprimand, I was told that as reproof had failed to do me good, I must prepare to be whipped. Mrs. S. then rang the bell, and giving to the maid who answered it a long woollen dress which she took from a hanging closet, bade her see that I put that on and came back to her. The maid, an old confidential servant, took me into Mrs. S.'s bedroom, made me undress and don the long woollen garment, which fastened round the waist with a band and was open down each side from the waist to the feet. I then was bidden to put my feet in a pair of list slippers. This being done, the maid, car