Boys returned to their desk with fingers on fire with pain and faced whit with the effort of holding back the tears. Some tears did flow and even the tough boys sometimes writhed noticeably as the cane did its work. A favourite remedy was to put the offended fingers on the cold bolts which held the seat on the desk; another was to play handball incessantly to toughen the fingers; and yet another group placed their faith in assorted applications, such as resin, which were supposed to deaden the pain. Julian’s lessons may have been hard to understand but they were never dull.
School Corporal Punishment History 112 B
