The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

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Related threads in this forum

Classroom Management 1910 (Book details plus discussion of shingles)

The ideal paddle

Paddling – how it works (Science & pseudo science)

The school ferula

The following news items from 1919 and 1920 suggest that university students in Missouri at least were familiar with, and comfortable about the notion of paddling as a punishment aside from any fraternity hazing or initiations. They may have been exposed to the paddle in high school and / or had influence over its use in schools in subsequent years, perhaps as fathers, teachers or as school board members. It is most interesting that individual paddlings made the news, sometimes on the front page.

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The Evening Missourian, September 25, 1919, page 6, col. 4

LAWYERS FAVOR PADDLING PLAN

Meeting Last Night Decides to Limit Size of Paddles.

Students in the School of Law had a mass meeting Wednesday night at which the question of paddling was taken up and thoroughly discussed in accordance with the request of the Student Senate. One hundred out of the 175 students registered in the School of Law were present and voted to keep up traditions, with some reservations. They decided that the sizes of the paddles used in punishing offenders should be limited, that freshmen should not be allowed to take part, that the juniors and sophomores should act as guards.

The committee appointed by the Student Senate on the paddling question will meet and compare notes tomorrow. Rules and regulations will then be formulated by the Student Senate and submitted to the student body at the mass meeting before the Drury game.

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The Evening Missourian, October 01, 1919, page 1, col. 2

THREE ENGINEERS ARE PADDLED

Failure to Attend Meeting Is Reason for Punishment.

L. B. Wilkes, Noble Taylor and J. F. Calvert, students in the School of Engineering, felt the sting of paddles wielded by sophomore students in the School of Engineering at 1 o’clock this afternoon.

The paddling was administered as punishment for non-attendance at a recent meeting held by the sophomores. Wilkes objected to the punishment, claiming that he was a junior and the sophomores had no jurisdiction over him.

This is the second paddling held by the students of the School of Engineering this term.

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The Evening Missourian, October 04, 1919, Page 4, cols 2 &3.

CAMPUS TRESPRASSERS PADDLED FIRST IN 1905

In 1905 there existed on the West Campus of the University a hard beaten path about two feet wide leading straight from the Manual Arts Building to the Chemistry Building passing just east of the Columns in the center of the Quadrangle.

This path had been made by students who, disregarding the wide sidewalks, thought to save time and energy by traveling the shortest distance between the two points, the Manual Arts and the Chemistry Buildings.

The students who feet traveled this beaten path, it is said, were, for the most part, freshman engineers who went from their drawing class to their freshman chemistry class.

A group of students sitting on the steps of the Engineering Building one evening even as they do now, watched the freshmen wend their weary way along the barren pathway to the Chemistry Building.

To at least one student in that group, it did not look exactly right that unthinking feet should trample down the grass of the campus when sidewalks built for the purpose of being walked on existed and he said something to that effect.

Tradition was Born

The rest of the group agreed with him and then and there the old tradition that “students shall not walk on the grass on the Quadrangle was born. This, according to H. A. LaRue, associate professor of highway engineering in the University, was the very beginning of that tradition. Mr. LaRue, who was graduated from the University in 1907, was one of the students in that group.

The next day notices were posted to the effect that persons who “cut corners” or walked on the grass of the Quadrangle where sidewalks already existed would be paddled by the engineers. Violators of the decree were plentiful the first day but all who witnessed the paddling on the second day were more loath to forsake the sidewalks for the soft grass. In a week, that beaten path became deserted and little sprouts of grass began to cover up the sins of the transgressors.

Venture was successful

Thus, the engineers by means of paddles accomplished what M. L. Lipscomb, then superintendent of the University grounds, had been unable to accomplish by means of much talk, signs and barriers.

Paddling as punishment for other “crimes”, and even the tradition about underclassmen keeping off the mounds, existed before 1905, Mr. LaRue said, but this was the first time paddles had been used for walking on the grass.

Just how many students have been paddled for this offense would be hard to estimate, but the engineers have well earned their title as guardians of the West Campus.
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The Columbia Evening Missourian (Columbia, Mo.) Wednesday October 13, 1920, Page 2, col. 2.

University News

Curtis Potts paid the penalty for violation of the tradition in regard to “keeping of the grass'” at noon, yesterday. Engineers armed with paddles, administered the punishment. Another student was scheduled for a “paddling” but was excused because of a lame knee.

Paddles for washing clothes, making butter, stirring food, etc, were common household implements in earlier times, especially in rural areas. Other common implements included shingles (used for food preparation or chopping boards, or as plates), wooden spoons and hair and other brushes. Mothers minded the house, and looked after and disciplined the younger children. When spankings were needed, they would have used objects to hand for the purpose if something more than the hand was required. Such spankings may have migrated to schools when women took up teaching, and especially when they were in sole charge of single room schools with diverse aged students.

The notion or fiction that spanking with a paddle was a mild domestic sanction may have spread into the wider community, including university students, and the home guard (see newspaper excerpts below). It seems that there was much public interest in what the students got up to in Columbia, Missouri around 1920.

The word “spanking” is often used as a euphemism for something much harsher than a few slaps on the bottom with the open hand. Prison spankings in USA prisons in the decades before and after 1900 were extremely brutal.

The following newspaper extracts may contain OCR errors.

See also University student discipline, c 1919 above.

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The Evening Missourian. (Columbia, Mo.), March 06, 1918, Page 3
OMENS STILL CHERISHED – A RABBITS FOOT CHARMS Rastus was a small Negro boy whose sooty completion gleamed when the sun shone directly upon it. His mother had given him the weekly washing of the Jones family to deliver and had warned him to deliver it quickly. But Rastus loitered on the way. He was ten “chinies” to the good when the boom of thunder in the west startled him so that he snatched up his marbles grabbed the tongue of his red wagon and ran frantically down the road toward the Joneses, his wagon swaying from side to side and threatening every moment to overturn and bring another paddling on the already worn trousers.

The speed of Rastus brought the clothes to Mrs. Jones before the rain began to fall. Half way back and huge drops began to sprinkle from the swiftly moving clouds. Rastus stopped, rolled his eyes up at the clouds, pulled from his pocket the trusty and never falling charm the foot of a rabbit caught under a hay stack last winter and shook it at the sky “Doan yo rain no mo” he commanded with a serious wag of his head “Doan yo rain no mo” and he hurried homeward arriving in time to escape the shower and his mothers paddle.
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The Evening Missourian, October 21, 1918, page 4, col. 1
PADDLING HELPS TO TEACH DRILL RULES
Home Guard Members Get Lesson on Hike North of Town.

On Guard Duty, They Permit Corporal to Take Their Rifles

Five members of the Columbia Home Guard learned, probably for life yesterday on the company’s hike to the oil well five and a half miles north west of town, that a soldier on guard must not give up his rifle even to an officer, according to Lieutenant I. C Adams ,

Seven members of the company were detailed to guard the camp when the old well was reached. The commanding officer decided to test the guards’ knowledge of military rules so he sent a corporal around to each of them to ask to inspect their guns. Five of the seven guards handed their guns over to the corporal and he kept them, thus leaving the guards on duty without weapons. A relief was sent out to take their places and when those who had been guarding came in, the officer asked for their guns. When the told how they had parted with them, they were court-martialed.

A trial was held and the offenders were sentenced to be shot at sunrise this morning. Upon the strong plea of one of the guilty ones that sunrise was too early to get up to be shot, the sentence was changed to a paddling, which was administered immediately.

The day was spent in learning extended order drill. Dinner and supper were prepared in camp. The Home Guard company has rented the old armory at Tenth and Broad way for the winter. The company now numbers about eighty members. Practically all of them have uniforms. A recent attempt to recruit enough men to form another company failed.

[The above incident occurred during WW1 when the USA was suffering heavy casualties.]
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[The University of Missouri was founded in 1839 in Columbia, Missouri. It was the first public institution of higher education west of the Mississippi River. Students in the USA students are commonly classified as freshman, sophomore, junior and senior depending upon their year.]

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The Evening Missourian, November 20, 1918, page 2, col. 1,

THE OPEN COLUMN
The Campus Rules

Editor, the Missourian:

The students in the University of Missouri are indebted to Major Gordon and Captain Hill for their willingness to co-operate with the students in the re-establishment of the former rules of the Campus. In the past, it has been the privilege of certain departments to assume the guardianship of the East Campus and West Campus. The violations of the rules, while they may have been punished largely for the love of the exercise of the paddle, have been handled in a manner which has been highly satisfactory when viewed from the standpoint of results. But with the establishment of the S. A. T. C unit, the respect of the student body for the traditions of the past waned and transgressions became more and more frequent. This may have been the effect of the disorder occasioned by the reorganization of student life, or, it may have been due to example set by the younger officers who were not acquainted with the traditions of the campus and Mounds. Whatever be the cause, the result has been to the detriment of the appearance of the grounds.

We realize the need of a separate drill ground and the necessity of using the West Campus as such. For this we have no reason to blame the students or the military department. It is the useless and avoidable practice of “cutting across the campus” and scattering of trash that is to be regretted. All students may aid in the maintenance of the traditions by avoiding such practices. Members of the S. A. T. C. may aid by refraining from getting on the Quadrangle except when fulfilling the duties necessarily connected with their military units.

We hope that it will be unnecessary to revert to the practice of force to maintain the traditions. Let each person concerned take it upon himself or herself to respect the traditions that have so long held. In so doing, we will not only aid in the appearance of the badly used grounds, but build the basis of a respect that will assure the continuance of the traditions when the present military necessity is past.

SENIOR ENGINEER
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The Evening Missourian, November 22, 1918, page 1, col. 2.
STUDENTS PADDLE TWO TODAY One Called Off Because no Witness Could Be Found

Students in the College of Agriculture paddled a youth at noon, after holding court on the steps of the Agricultural Building. The defendant and his “lawyers” were not able to convince the crowd that he was not guilty of walking on the campus grass.

A paddling by the students in the School of Engineering took place at 2 o’clock on the West Campus, but another one planned by the students in the same school was called off because no witness to the alleged offense could be found.
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The Evening Missourian. June 05, 1919, Page 3, col. 3.
SEEMED TO ENJOY PADDLING But Russell Trembley Got Over That Before the Finish.

Russell Trembley, a freshman in the University, got more pleasure from a paddling administered by the Engineering students yesterday than a victim usually does. Trembley broke the rule that permits only senior Engineers to walk on the upper mounds around the Columns by taking pictures there Sunday afternoon.

Trembley appeared for his punishment yesterday with a pair or track shoes under one arm and a camera under the other. He donned the shoes before the waiting Engineers, turned his camera over to a friend with the request that he snap a few pictures as he ran around. He said that he would like to keep them for his yearbook. He started the gauntlet with a broad grin. But some of his good humor had vanished at the finish.
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The Evening Missourian, September 12, 1919, Page 2, col. 2.
ENGINEERS USE THE PADDLE Three Students Run Gauntlet for Violating Campus Rules

Students of the School of Engineering started their 1919-20 campaign against violators of campus rules at noon today when nearly two hundred men, armed with paddles, formed a circle around the Columns and forced three students to run the gauntlet. Robert Edmonston, a senior in the School of Business and Public Administration, was the first to feel the sting of the paddles. Walking across the campus was his offense. Charles Erbs and Frank Mefford, both freshmen in the School of Engineering, were the other victims. Erbs was paddled for trespassing on the campus, while Mefford committed a graver offense by walking across the mounds.

Hundreds of students watched the activities from the campus walks and the steps of Academic Hall. The majority of the onlookers were freshmen.
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The Evening Missourian, September 22, 1919, page 5, col. 2
Sophomores Out After Missing Candidates Sophomores with paddles appeared on Rollins Field Saturday afternoon to do their part toward rounding up certain freshmen whose presence on the freshman football squad is needed. According to Coach Woody, twenty or thirty freshmen who should be out working with his squad every day are missing and he intends that such shall not be the case much longer. The sophomores, with lists of names, promised the freshman coach that his missing would-be Tigers would be found and returned to him early this week.
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The Evening Missourian, September 24, 1919, page 1, col. 4.
JOURNALISTS FAVOR ENGINEERS Vote to Continue paddling for Walking Across the Campus.

A vote to uphold one old tradition at least was registered by the School of Journalism at a student mass meeting last night. The question submit ted to the students who met in Switzler Hall was whether or not the Engineers should continue to guard the West Campus and to punish those who walked across the greensward. Considering it as a matter of destroying or letting stand one of the old traditions of the University, the journalists voted 33 to 12 in favor of the Engineers, two men voting to allow all University janitors to take part in the paddling.

The meeting was called at the request of the Student Senate which is asking all schools and colleges of the University to answer certain questions regarding paddling of University students.

Two students in answering the questions asked, suggested that the number of paddles used be limited to 3,000.

The result of the votes in other schools will be put with the results from the School of Journalism, and the committee appointed by the Student Senate will draft a set of rules accordingly. After these have been approved, by the senate they will be sent to the discipline committee of the University for final sanction. Until the matter is settled, the Engineers will have full control.
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The Evening Missourian, October 22, 1919, page 2, col. 5

[…] Football men are to receive complimentary tickets. Regret was expressed that these men, on account of training, must leave the party early. Twelve men who didn’t show up at the Ag meeting were paddled at noon today on the Ag Campus. Those whose names were posted on the “paddling list” and did not appear to be paddled will be paddled later and thrown in the pond on the State Farm, according to the paddling committee.
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The Evening Missourian, October 22, 1919, page 6, col. 5.
School of Law Is Against Paddling Abolition of paddling was recommended at the mass meeting of the School of Law yesterday afternoon. They favor some modified form of paddling to be directed by the Student Council and Student Senate. Confidence in the Senate and Council to deal with paddling properly was expressed. V. P. Crowe was elected yell leader for the School of Law.
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The Evening Missourian, February 05, 1920, page 5, col. 4.
Paddled On His Birthday “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was the slogan of twenty huskies who lined up for slab duty In Room 11 at the Y.M.C.A. Saturday night. When the struggle had subsided, twenty-three ruthless, stinging wallops had been registered and Paul Bennett was well started on his next annual age celebration. Before the slabmen were dismissed from duty, the chairman announced the next official occasion would take place at the same time and place next Wednesday night but with an additional membership. Mr. Bennett also received several gifts.
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The Evening Missourian, April 01, 1920, page 1, col. 5.
MAY STOP PADDLING Students to Vote on Measure Prohibiting Groups From Enforcing Rules.

The 1920 student election will hold the center of the stage tomorrow for all undergraduates of the University of Missouri.

Added interest was aroused late today when it was learned that the students would be asked to vote upon an amendment to the Student Constitution prohibiting paddling or other forms of punishment of students except by members of the school and college in which the victim is enrolled. Heretofore the students In the College of Agriculture and the School of Engineering have punished violators of campus rules, especially unwritten laws, against walking on the grass.

The members of the Student Council and the Student Senate have known of the amendment for two weeks, but before today. It was not generally known by the students.

The amendment is as follows:

“(a) It shall be unlawful for any group or combination of students to establish or set up any rule or regulation governing the acts or conduct of the student body as a whole, or members thereof, as such.

“(b) Furthermore, It shall be unlawful for any group or combination of students to enforce as against the student body as a whole, any rule, regulation or custom pertaining to or affecting the student body as a whole.

“(c) Furthermore, It shall be unlawful for any group or combination of students to punish or attempt to punish any student for any infraction of any rule, regulation or custom pertaining to the student body as a whole, whether such rule, regulation or custom be an existing and authorized rule, regulation or custom, or one established, or setup in violation of paragraph (a) of this amendment”,

Other amendments deal with the qualifications of members of the Student Council and with the filling of vacancies among the student officers.

The polls will be open from 8 o’clock until 3 o’clock.

[…]
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The Evening Missourian, April 03, 1920, page 1, col. 4
[Student election results] Eldean is student president by 268 [votes]
[…]
paddling is upheld
[…]

Constitutional Amendment No. 2. (Regulating paddling)
For, 654.
Against, 1,487.
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The Evening Missourian, April 09, 1920, page 1, col. 6.
STRONG MAN CLAIM COSTS $10 5 Rocheport Negros Settle Trouble in Circuit Court

Five Rocheport Negroes on trial for paddling another who claims to be the strongest man in that region, sweat in the cool Circuit Court room today. John Straw said was the strongest man in the neighborhood. About three weeks ago, five blacks turned him across a spool of wire and gave it to him until he cried “enough.”

Those who paddled John were Ed Boone, Isidore Philips, Isidor Brodder, Robert Payton and Willie Burroughs. The court fined each one $10 and his share of the court expenses.

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Spank (verb): To hit, especially a child, with the open hand on the buttocks, usually as a punishment. The word possibly is derived from the sound made by a hand applied to the buttocks.

When did the word spank start to be used as a euphemism for much more harsh punishments?

See also above A dictionary of American English on historic principles and Dialectic mentions of the paddle.

None of the following from 100+ years ago record the use of spank or spanking as a euphemism. There are some more mentions of the paddle.
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http://books.google.com/books?id=nHgCAAAAQAAJ

DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS A Glossary Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States
By John Russell Bartlett.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1859.

Page 89
COBB. A blow on the buttock. Wright, in his Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, explains the word as follows: “A punishment used among seamen for petty offences or irregularities, by bastinadoing the offender on the posteriors with a cobbing-stick or pipe-staff.”

Should any negro be found vending spirituous liquors, without permission from his owner, such negro so offending shall receive fifteen cobbs or paddles for every such offence, from the hands of the patrollers of the settlement or neighborhood in which the offence was committed. Cherokee Phoenix, April 10, 1828.

Page 307
PADDLE. A wooden instrument with which negroes are punished, shaped like the paddle of a canoe, with holes bored through the blade. See Cobb.

[SPANK – no entry]

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http://books.google.com/books?id=vKAVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA108

http://www.archive.org/details/glossary … 00elwygoog

Glossary of supposed Americanisms Collected by Alfred Langdon Elwyn, Philadelphia, 1859

Page 108
Spanghew, to throw with violence. (Brockett.) We introduce this word merely to bring forward another. I know of no such word, but we have one, spank, to slap, that I do not find anywhere. It means a beating with the palm of the hand, in the way and mode practiced by mothers on their children. “He got such a spanking!” “Charles, Charles ! don’t do that, or I’ll spank you.” Moor gives this word as in use in Suffolk, in the sense of slap, more especially in the maternal mode. I think I have heard spanking applied to horses, also slapping; as, a pair of spanking big blacks, or slapping grays. It means something gay, spirited. Bailey has spank, and derives it from a Saxon word; Britton has spankey, showy; and Forby, spanking, conspicuous, showy.

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http://www.archive.org/details/newdicti … 00clapiala

A new dictionary of Americanismsbeing a glossary of words supposed to be peculiar to the United States and the dominion of Canada.

By Silvia Clapin, New York, 1900

Page 298
Paddle. A wooden instrument, shaped like a paddle, and used to punish boys and negroes. Hence, also, to paddle, meaning to thrash, to punish.

[Spank – no entry]

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A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words used at the present day in the streets of London; the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the dens of St. Giles and the palaces of St. James.

John Camden Hotten, London 1860.

Page 222
SPANK, a smack, or hard slap.

[Paddle – no entry]

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

When did the word spank start to be used as a euphemism for much more harsh punishments?

I have searched Google News archives for prison + spanking and found no hits for prison spankings before the notorious Elmira reformatory scandal erupted in 1884. Thereafter, the combination is much more common. It seems likely that warden Brookway used the term to make the severe corporal punishment sound more palatable to himself and others, and to indicate it was applied to the buttocks.

Many of the hits involve OCR errors (e.g. speaking = spanking) or spanking in the sense of “new” or “travelling fast”, or the two words appear on the same page in separate unrelated articles.

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

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The Climax, December 24, 1890, Supplement, page 4, col. 6.

OLD STYLE SPANKINGThe Head of Reformatory Introduces an Effectual Remedy for Insubordination

As is well known, Major Robert W McClaughry recently warden of the State penitentiary at Joliet is now the successful warden of the State reformatory at Hunting in Pa. He has conceived and adopted a new system of punishment for such institutions which will doubtless provoke extended discussion at the next worlds prison congress. One day, says the Chicago Blade, the sharp-eyed Major detecting one of the inmates in violation of the rules of the shoe shop picked up a leather sole at hand and treated the astonished offender to a thorough and impressive spanking. The effect was so wholesome and touching that it came to the Major as an inspiration that he had stumbled across the ideal nineteenth century system of punishment.

He adopted the process at once and is charmed with its success. For fear that exaggerated reports of the punishment might reach the public and accusations of undue severity follow, he concluded to confer with the highest authorities in relation to it. He interviewed the Governor of Pennsylvania and explained the plan and its workings to him. The Governor was convulsed with laughter and said “Major, I heartily congratulate you on having struck the keynote and I assure you that the good people of this commonwealth will sustain you in this war measure. I promise you the backing of the National Guard if necessary in your poetical plan of spanking reformation into your rebellious subjects.” He then called upon the chairman of tho State Board of Charities, an old time Quaker, and explained the situation to him. The Quaker smiled broadly and said “Major thee deserves thanks and should go on with thy noble work. It reminds me of my sainted mother who has been in Heaven many a year. It was her favorite method of correction and I tell thee Major she did it well. It is proper and humane and I approve of thee handsomely spanking the boys into submission and obedience.”

The Major returned to his reformatory thoroughly convinced that his improved process of punishment would receive general approbation. So now the weekly spanking school is a feature of the institution and the Major’s strong right arm wields the avenging leather. The result is quite beneficial and the in fraction of the rules are less frequent and flagrant as the inmates have a wholesome dread of the shame disgrace and stinging pain of the Major’s orthodox spanks.

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

There seems to be five, possibly overlapping or derivative paddle traditions in the USA – slave, prison, fraternity, domestic and school.

If we cannot find the origin of the school paddle can we get any sights from attempting to determine the origin of the fraternity paddle?

A number of newspaper reports of fraternity use of the paddle appear above. Here are some more:

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The Saint Paul Globe., November 27, 1896, page 8, col. 5
TASTED OF PRISON DISCIPLINE Greek Letter Candidates Initiated With Paddles, Ducking Tubs, Etc.

COLUMBUS, 0hio, Nov. 26. – With the consent of Warden Coffin, of the state prison, eight students of the law school of the state university were initiated into a Greek letter fraternity with experiences in the methods of punishment used in the prison. The initiates were given a touch of every kind of disciplining apparatus, including the ducking tub, the paddling machine, the thumb chains and the humming bird, after being brought to the prison blindfolded in cabs.

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The Columbia Evening Missourian., January 11, 1922, Last Edition, page 2, col. 1
BIG SALE OF PADDLES AUGURS ILL FOR POOR WAYWARD FRESHMEN Several freshmen are due to eat their meals in the near future off the mantel; doing so not as a matter of etiquette but as of a matter of comfort. The foregoing prophecy is based on the fact that the Duncan Planning Mill of Columbia has sold to freshmen twenty-fire paddles, in round numbers, since the winter term began.

J. B. Hourigan, paddle expert of the Duncan Planning Mill, has made paddles for university freshmen for the last fourteen years. To him a well turned paddle is a thing of beauty, and to the upper classmen wielder it is a joy forever. Freshmen, however, take a different attitude toward the matter.

‘”The first paddle I ever made was fourteen years ago,” said Hourigan. “It was made of Birchwood and was designed by A. T. Duncan, who has been dead for a number of years. At that time there were letters stamped upon the paddles to identify them. Each fraternity had a different insignia. We have made paddles every year since, but have never changed the design, as they seem to give the utmost satisfaction. Instead of Birchwood, we now use hard pine, which seems to serve the purpose equally as well.

“Whenever I sell a paddle,” continued Hourigan. “I always ask the purchaser if he would like me to bore a hole in it near the end. In every case the freshman has informed me that such an improvement was wholly necessary. No doubt there are many men who have graduated from the University and made a name for themselves, who can testify to the mechanical perfection of our paddles.”

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Funny paddling story. I hope I’m not intruding. I wouldn’t be tracking these stories down without your help. Maybe by accident I might repeat one you have posted. I’ll try not to. Although repetitive I found it a delightful account though my funny bone may not be others.

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