For slight offences the boys were deprived of their recess or compelled to study for an hour after the school was dismissed.

The chief weapon of torture was the ferule, to the efficacy of which I can testify from much personal knowledge.

The master had in his desk, however, a cowhide for gross cases.

I do not remember knowing how that felt from personal experience, but I remember very well seeing it applied occasionally to the big boys.
In the infant schools, which were kept by women, of course the discipline was not expected to be so severe.

The schoolmistress in those days wore what was called a busk--a flat piece of lancewood, hornbeam, or some other like tough and elastic wood, thrust into a sort of pocket or sheath in her dress, which came up almost to the chin and came down below the waist.
This was intended to preserve the straightness and grace of her figure.