The bottom would be inspected minutely, the weals commented upon, the general severity gauged and a conclusion reached as to which boy had received it worse if more than one lad presented with a sore bottom.
The other lads always wanted to know if you had cried.
If nobody had seen them on their return from the masters’ study, they always denied that they did, my Uncle said.

It was looked at as rather unheroic and a bit ‘soppy’ if you cried, but a lot of the boys did if they had it hard, or at least had tears in their eyes.
My Uncle never cried, of course, so he said.