Neither myself nor my mamma ever thought she was an advocate of the rod, and liked administering, and seeing it administered. It turned out afterwards, as the narrative will show, that she was really in league with the schoolmistress, and would frequently call at the establishment and indulge herself in her favourite pastime, for which she no doubt paid large sums yearly, being a strong and fervent advocate of corporal chastisement, at times an unseen observer and with some of the elder young ladies being the operator. In all there were twenty-four young ladies in this fashionable establishment, their ages varying from twelve to nineteen. I was as tall, finely-shaped, and handsome as any young lady in the school, and no doubt when mamma gave her consent to my leaving home, my aunt thought there was a great treat in store for her. A few days after arriving, I soon found out what sort of lady principal I had to contend with, and her assistants were not much better. The first sample I saw her administer to one of her pupils was after I had been there four days. A young lady about fifteen had committed some trifling error, for which madam told her in plain terms that she should give her a good whipping when class was over, and this she did and in front of the whole school. She was taken by the arms and legs by two of the assistant teachers, and thrown face downwards over a desk sloping each way and firmly held there. Madam then approached with a flat piece of wood about an inch and a half in thickness and shaped like a hair-brush, but much bigger. After addressing a few words of advice to us and admonishing the culprit, she took hold of her garments at the bottom, then without any further to do she lifted the spanker, as this piece of wood was called by my school fellows, and inflicted a tremendous spank on the girl. A loud yell followed, and a strong effort to free herself from the grasp of her tormentors, but all of no avail, for they, no doubt owing to their previous experience, could hold a young lady in any position. She received about a dozen stripes before she was released. We had a system of making so many marks, and if any young lady had not made so many by the end of the week she was sure to receive a whipping. I have known as many as seven young ladies whipped on a Saturday. It was at these whippings that my aunt and her friends were present as unseen spectators, through the medium of small glass panels let in the door of a nearby closet.