Did you ever cane boys who were in the sixth form? That is a question often put to me and I have to say that I certainly did not do so as a matter of routine. After all, our sixth form was not very large and was mainly comprised of our better pupils who had stayed on. There were never any classroom problems of discipline as they were in tiny classes and they were there because they wanted to be. However, there was one year....
It must have been January or February time and we had encountered a great deal of snow that year. In assembly I warned the whole school that I would not tolerate the throwing of snowballs. It was only too easy I said in my usual pompous voice to throw a snowball that contained a small stone or a shard of ice and to hit another boy in the eye and cause serious damage. I do not think the boys were too happy to hear the next piece of news and that was that any boy who disobeyed that rule would find himself being caned. A few of the younger boys turned a shade paler at the thought of being at the receiving end of my cane.
I would have given this notice out on the Monday morning. Nothing untoward happened on the Monday and I forgot all about my threat. On the Wednesday two boys were brought to my study by the teacher on playground duty and I was informed that they had been throwing snowballs at each other. They were two lads aged about fourteen and must have been in the fourth form. I reminded them of what I had announced in assembly just two days before and they were ordered to bend over my desk and they each received three strokes of the cane across the seat of their trousers. I was sure that word would get round but, just to make sure, I announced in the next mornings assembly that I had caned two boys for throwing snowballs. I reminded the whole school that any boys who were brought to me for that reason could expect the same treatment. Thursday was uneventful but on the Friday after the lunch break there was an ominous knock on my door. The Deputy Headmaster was standing there with six of my sixth form boys and duly announced that they had ignored my rule and had been pelting each other with snowballs. As if that was not enough they had been gathering snow and putting it down each others necks so that they were now standing in cold, wet clothes. Now I was in a quandary. I could hardly ignore what they had done and I had already caned two boys for the same "crime". The boys standing shivering in front of me were six of my nicest pupils and four of them had never been in any trouble at school that I could remember.
"Have you anything to say for yourselves?" I asked, knowing full well that they hadnt. They all looked down at the floor and would not face me. "Perhaps you think my rules do apply to you?" was my next rhetorical question. They were squirming now because they knew that being in the sixth form was not going to get them out of being punished. Perhaps one or two of them hoped that it would not be a caning but I soon dashed that forlorn hope. "You will suffer the same fate as the two I caned earlier in the week." Their faces were suddenly drained of colour. " Go and change out of those wet clothes and put them on radiators to dry. Report back to me in your p. e. kit and do not keep me waiting too long." They shuffled out of my study, dripping over my nice new carpet as they went.
Some fifteen minutes later there was a timid knock on my door and after they heard me tell them to enter six very fine lads trooped into my room all dressed in their white p. e.kit. I had deliberately left my cane on the top of my desk and their eyes were glued to this instrument of punishment.
"You are each going to receive six strokes and you will count them out. The rest will watch while you are being caned." I lined the six of them against the wall so that they were all facing the desk but they had their hands behind them. "Michael – you will be first. Bend over my desk." I picked on him because he was someone who had been caned before and he was a tall sturdy lad who would take it well. I made him stretch his hands out in front of him and his shorts were now tightly pulled over his buttocks so they stood out in all their glory.
Whack! "One, sir" Whack! "Two, sir" Whack! "Ouch, three, sir" Whack! "Four, sir" Whack! "Ooh! five sir" Whack! "OUCH! "Six, sir."
I told him he could get up now and take his place against the wall. He was rubbing his bottom like mad but he had taken it well. I looked at the others and they were rather ashen although I could not help but notice that at least three of them had bulges showing through their flimsy shorts. One of the boys caught my eye and he obviously wanted to be next – perhaps to get it over and done with. " Right – John, you are next."
John was already a six footer and he looked as though he could take a beating without too much trouble – but you never know for sure. I got him into position with his bottom raised nice and high. I tapped it twice before I brought the cane down hard and again we had:
Whack! "Ouch, One, sir" Whack! " OUCH! Two, sir" Whack! "OH, Ouch, three, sir" Whack! "Four, sir" Whack! "Oh! five sir" Whack! "OUCH! "Six, sir." He got up and grinned to the others as he rubbed his backside very vigourously.
Two down, four to go. I was quite enjoying myself now that I was well under way. "David, you are next!" David is rather a plump lad and when he bent over there was a nice big bottom for a target. His shorts were a little too tight for him and as he bent over my desk his shorts ballooned out and were stretched to the limit. Indeed, the first stroke of the cane produced a tearing sound and his flesh began to protrude from the hole that had appeared. I pretended not to notice and continued with the second stroke but I could not help but notice that one of the boys who had been rubbing his bottom after his caning was now massaging the bulge in the front of his shorts. David was given his third stroke and the hole was getting larger. By the time I had finished the sixth stroke this Billy Bunter figure had most of his large bottom showing, much to the stifled amusement of the others.
I pointed to the next victim and beckoned him with my finger, "Your turn, Paul, get yourself in position." Paul was a tall, slim youth and he looked a treat in his white p. e. outfit. As he bent over my desk he spread his legs a little so that the curves of his buttocks were beautifully displayed. I proceeded to punish the fourth member of my sixth form.
Whack! "Ouch, One, sir" Whack! " OW! OUCH! Two, sir" Whack! "OoooH, Ouch, three, sir" And at this point he tried instinctively to get up but then he remembered where he was and resumed his position. Whack! "Four, sir" Whack! "Oh! five sir" Whack! "OUCH! "Six, sir." By this time he was wriggling his bottom like mad and it is clear that his six stripes had hurt him a great deal.
The fifth lad had turned very white and I was afraid that he might faint altogether! He bent himself over my desk and kept on looking anxiously at the cane in my hand. He yelped and wriggled after each stroke and it was clearly a terrible ordeal for him but he took it all and when it was over he looked very relieved and some of his colour was returning to his face.
The sixth boy strode up to my desk as though he had not a care in the world and he certainly was not going to cry out or show any weakness in front of his friends but after the first stroke his bravado gave way and he too yelped and wriggled each time the cane swished through the air and landed smack across the centre of his shorts.
Whack! "Ouch, One, sir" Whack! " OUCH! Two, sir" Whack! "OH, Ouch, three, sir" Whack! "Four, sir" Whack! "Oh! five sir" Whack! "OUCH! "Six, sir." He stood up and rubbed his bottom like mad and took his place with the others.
"Well, now lads, " I said, putting my cane away in a drawer. "Let that be a lesson to you. My rules apply to the sixth form as much as to the boys lower down in the school. You may go now."
As they trooped out one of the lads turned to me and said, "We never thought you would cane us, sir." And with a grin added, "we wanted to test you – we know better now, sir!" And off they went, licking their war wounds, as it were, but I think that deep down, they actually wanted their caning. Will I ever understand my boys? I doubt it. The caning obviously hurt some, if not all the boys, but somehow they felt that their schooldays would not be complete if they had not challenged the school rules in some harmless way and experienced the inevitable painful result! Oh, I do like my boys.........