Mrs Wiseman was a kindly woman in her late fifties who left most of the demanding work of supervising the atendees to Monica. Mrs Wiseman preferred to stay in her office just off the main school room where she could keep an eye on things. As Mrs Wiseman’s assistant, Monica was instructed to give only one warning to serious troublemakers. Repeat transgressors were promptly sent to Mrs Wiseman for discipline and that always meant a spanking. Mrs Worthing spanked for roughhousing, disobedience, bad language, and any other offense Monica deemed sufficiently serious. As one of the more rambunctious ones, I ended up in Mrs Wiseman’s office at about every a month.

After any significant misbehavior, one was instructed by Monica to “go and see Mrs Wiseman.” One knocked on the office door and stood outside until Mrs Wiseman responded. Sometimes she kept us waiting for three or four minutes if she was on the phone or busy with papers. After one of us disappeared into her office, a relative hush usually fell over the rest of the playroom. If we were in the middle of a loud game, Monica often stopped and had us do something quiet. It was clear we were meant to hear these spankings so that they would serve as an extra deterrent. I remember the time Billy Rider was caught roughousing and sent to Mrs Wiseman. We were in the middle of reading Bible stories aloud. But when Mrs Wiseman opened her office door and took Billy inside, Monica shut her book and announced,