Never knew the end of a belt until aged 7; I got belted on the hands by the Head Nun at Boarding school - for not remembering the quoted passage from the Bible.
I remember holding out my hands in front of the class whilst the Head teacher came down full force with the vigour of a captain wishing to instill ‘workmanship’ discipline into my very being.
Learning ‘word for word’ passages from the bible to then recite in front of the class wasn’t something I took to naturally. Aged 7, the adrenalin certainly got the better of me and my mind went completely blank - as a blank slate. Tried as I could, I daren’t say out loud, ‘I did do my homework, I did learn the passage I had to learn’ but the words couldn’t come out. They got stuck in my throat.
No, but I felt the pain of that belted tremor and I remember my nose running and felt awkward tears rolling down my cheeks, as I silenced my mouth into not admitting that I did learn that passage; I did do my homework:
I daren’t cry out loud. The pain was awful. I didn’t think it was fair.
NB. In all fairness, the Head Nun was fair in many ways - but as the Bible was her forte, it meant a lot to her that we treated it with the respect and reverence it thoroughly deserved. Hence her stance on the matter at that moment.
literaryc
literaryc said,
July 31, 2007 @ 8:33 am
I remember that day well - hah who wouldn’t?
My father said to me as he drove me home for the hols, ‘ Annie (my school friend) told me you were belted by Sister’ to which I replied, ‘Yeh, but I didn’t cry’ and he nodded in acknowledgement. Tears did roll down my cheeks involuntarily though; such moments eh? Brings back ‘painful’ memories, hah!
Coll
Winslie Gomez said,
July 31, 2007 @ 9:21 am
Literaryspot,
Just had to comment; as having trod the same path as a child and not showing pain when beaten.
Cheers
winslie
literaryc said,
July 31, 2007 @ 10:42 am
Hello Winslie,
The well trodden path of childhood - and the pain hidden..thanks.
Coll
NettieCooper said,
July 1, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
thanks,
literaryc said,
July 7, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
You’re welcome Nettie.
FritzBlake9 said,
August 4, 2008 @ 5:31 am
good sites,
literaryc said,
August 4, 2008 @ 6:43 am
Thanks FritzBlake.