OLD HOMESTEAD 



gave me about a dozen blows with his bare hand in the place 

 where they would do the most good. His was not the soft 

 hand of pampered luxury. I was surprised, and felt injured in 

 the [extreme, but never whimpered, and he never spoke a word, 

 but sat me down in the chair cachug, then walked over to his 

 own chair and dropped down on his knees, and, for a man that 

 must have felt so thoroughly provoked, made a most eloquent, 

 kind-hearted prayer, not forgetting "the down-trodden and 

 oppressed of all nations." I dropped my chin and looked at 

 the floor for some time. For a few minutes I realized who were 

 the oppressed and down-trodden, and also wished they might be 

 set free from further trouble. When I dared raise my eyes 

 Bernice was still looking through his fingers at me and fairly 

 chuckling with glee, and he never forgot to his dying day to 

 refer to the matter whenever there was a good chance to recall 

 it for my benefit. 



This was the first time father had ever struck me, and the 

 only occasion except the ''crooked frow" case, when he taught 

 me not to use the word '' hey." Years afterward, in talking the 

 matter over, when I asked him why he had given me such an 

 unrighteous spanking for nothing, and why he did not even 

 deign to tell me the reason for doing so at the time, he assumed 

 not to remember it very clearly, but said, "If you didn't know 

 what it was for at the time, you never will." 



141 



