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KKxyz3,59957
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?
Numerous news items suggests that barrel staves where commonly used as weapons and to beat people. Presumably, barrels and barrel stave were ubiquitous in earlier times.
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?
The staves appear to differ in width. Alternative wide and narrow?
The shape of the staves is such they fit snug at the bottom and splay out at the top until wetted and heated so they can be bent and brought together at the top and confined by iron hoops.
It is remarkable that durable water-tight containers could be made from wood. The wood needed to be straight-grained and strong.
I have since discovered that my town’s water supply used wooden pipes when it was first constructed. There were problems with the ground settling and the joints between pipes leaking.
Not all barrels needed to be water tight – those for apples for example. This was before “tins”, steel drums, plastics and strong kraft paper.
Many commodities came in barrels. It is likely that barrels of all sizes were everywhere. A damaged barrel, or one that become over-dry might revert quickly to loose staves. Such staves seemed to have many uses. Some were used to make skis.
The notion of hitting people with flat pieces of rigid wood as a form of corporal punishment seems to have been well engrained long before the paddle became popular in US schools. But why in the USA but not elsewhere?
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?
The Journal of Llewellin Penrose, a Seaman. Volume 1, page 21.
Another law was, strictly to observe the hours of ten in the morning and four in the evening, for getting rid of the vermin with which we greatly abounded. This law was so punctually observed, that if any one was found to transgress it, he was directly brought to the gun, where he received a good cobbing, alias ten and a puss on his posteriors with a barrel-stave.
http://books.google.com/books?&id=IR46AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA21
The author ran away to sea in 1744, aged 19. In 1746 he was taken prisoner by the Spanish. The above passage is from his time as a prisoner aboard ship.
Cobbing was a common informal punishment used by sailors on their own in earlier times, as mentioned in in earlier messages in this thread. Barrels would have been common items aboard ship, and staves readily available.
“alias ten and a puss” = also called “ten and a puss”.
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?
Barrel and stave dimensions: http://books.google.com/books?id=1JxSjfn-spIC&pg=PA276
Where barrels more ubiquitous in the USA, and more staves available for spanking than in other countries of the time?
Suitable timber might be more available in a new land and barrels cheaper.
Goods in barrels needed to be transported greater distances perhaps making the return of empties too costly.
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Chirob1,0451
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?
What does “and a puss” mean? I googled it without success.
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KKxyz3,59957
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?
Bob T,
I also was puzzled by the expression “alias ten and a puss“.
I have not found any other use of the words and wonder if it is a typo or transcription error. Possibly, the intended word was “purse” rather than “puss”. Writing of that time tended to use the long “s” resembling the letter “f”.
A purse was the last stroke of a cobbing. It was laid on hard as possible. See: http://www.network54.com/Forum/198833/m … 327106604/
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?
The woodshed features often in American literature. What was it, and why was it important? Why did it become the place to administer CP?
In the pioneering days in the USA, much of the cooking and the heating of houses was done by burning wood in a stove. In rural areas, much of the wood was harvested nearby. The green logs were sawed into short lengths, split using axes or wedges and then stacked in a simple well-ventilated shed to dry, a process taking months. Dry wood burns hotter and gives much more heat than damp.
The woodshed needed to be conveniently located but perhaps separate from the house for fire safety reasons. It is likely the woodshed became a utility building, perhaps a place to dry clothes in wet weather, store garden implements and perhaps even to cook during hot weather in regions with hot summers and cold winters.
Broken shingles and barrels saved for use as firewood might have been stored in the woodshed. The sawhorse for holding logs may have been convenient for miscreants to be bent over. The woodshed, being a bit separated from the living quarters, may have provided a degree privacy and protected the womenfolk. None of these suggested reasons seem compelling.
I live in a region where wood is commonly burned for heating during winter. Many people store their winter supply under cover from rain but none of the shelter is suitable for disciplinary purposes. And none of the implements are useful for spanking.
Why was the woodshed used for CP? Does it relate in anyway to the popularity of the paddle?
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Guest
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?
Psalm 6 as translated into modern American , in the Southern States
1 Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. 2 Treat me nice for a change; I’m so starved for affection. Can’t you see I’m black and blue, 3 and soul? God, how long will it take for you to let up? 4 Break in, God, and break up this fight; if you love me at all, get me out of here. 5 I’m no good to you dead, am I? I can’t sing in your choir if I’m buried in some tomb! 6 I’m tired of all this – so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights On the flood of my tears. My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears. 7 The sockets of my eyes are black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope. 8 Get out of here, you Devil’s crew: at last God has heard my sobs. 9 My requests have all been granted, my prayers are answered. 10 Cowards, my enemies disappear. Disgraced, they turn tail and run.
and another usage from ‘Buffy the vampire slayer’. Drusilla , ( the 19th century vampire sired by Spike) :
(Upon witnessing Angel and Darla having sex) “Snake in the Woodshed! Snake in the Woodshed! Snake in the Woodshed!”
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HH2012836
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?
Hi KK, an interesting thought and one I might be able to add an anecdote to. My father was born in the 1920’s and raised on a farm in Poland, and indeed they had a woodshed (actually several outbuildings, barn, storage, etc). A few years ago I asked him about his (CP) experiences, both at home and school. He is very old now and memory is fading … although it’s a difficult subject to ask one’s own father, I really wanted to know before it was lost to memory.
While it was common to get a more typical spanking within the home, on two occassions he was taken into the woodshed as a more severe bare-bottom thrashing was intended to be meted. There was no need to keep an implement in the shed, his father simply removed his trouser belt. It also appears that this was a better venue so as not to disturb the household with the screaming expected to ensue. A final point is a nasty reality of such an intense chastisement meted on a child: the fear &/or intensity of that degree of belting can lead to temporary loss of bodily function. (I assume this in his case, but don’t know this for fact because it’s not something I could bring myself to ask). However, that’s much less of an issue in a farm out-building rather than inside the house, and I suspect this ugly fact may have played a role in that venue being a choice where a more severe beating was intended.
I should add that despite this treatement, he did not carry it through to my upbringing despite that in the 1960’s, it was still considered perfectly acceptable practice. Except for one occassion where he gave me a couple of hard smacks on the clothed bottom, he otherwise never chastised me. (My mother was another story entirely).
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KKxyz3,59957
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?
Ohio is a state in the Midwestern United States, assessible from the south by navigable river. Possibly, there was better communications with the South than with the Eastern states in the early days before railways. The state seems to feature a lot in literature, news reports, etc. containing mentions of paddles. Is or was there something about the state that would account for this?