Yeah, oh she was pretty strict. ... And then I got the strap once more after that, I started learning a bit better (laughs).

Speaker: But back then if you didn't behave, you got the strap. ... Interviewer: And what- what offence would ah, result in a strap. Speaker: Well if you were misbehaving or, you-know?

Speaker: Got the strap once, got suckered into it, but I got the strap once. ... Ah, guy picked the fight with me ... and I went around the corner to hit him and it was right in front of the teacher that I hit him so of course I got the strap.

So it was, you-know, the older kids and being an on-looker, you were guilty as being there. So anyway we came in and of course everybody had to take their turn and go in to see him. I remember coming in and I can see the strap sitting on the desk and ah, he- he said to me, he said, "I know you weren't involved in this but I can't do anything but I have to punish you the same as I did the other children." So he said, "What I want you to do is hold out your hand, I'm not going to hit you, I'm going to hit the desk, but I want you to yell like you've been hit and go out and rub your hand like you had got punishment."

... if some kid did something wrong, she'd looked so upset that we did something, that rather than give us the strap, like- ah- it hurt more when we knew that we disappointed her than if we got the strap. And back then you did get the strap.

We had a man teacher and it was nothing, the boys got the strap, even in high-school.

... one of the women had lunch- lunch with, she taught high-school in North-Bay and she was saying about giving a strap. And I can remember, you-know. We had a man teacher and it was nothing, the boys got the strap, even in high-school.

... they'd go "Oh!" Oh you don't get in serious trouble because there was the strap. ... Well the teacher- that's what the discipline was.

And she ah- she was far far too strict really. I know that now because if you had a mistake in spelling, you got a slap with the strap. If you'd two mistakes, you got two. The same thing in arithmetic. You made a mistake, you got a slap. Two, two slaps. Three, three slaps.

Yeah. So she said, "I'll teach you to tell lies." And she got the slap- the strap. Down she came. She started beating me and I would not cry. And they told me after, I should have cried right off the bat and might not have beat me so much. But one of the other girls, she started counting and she got up to thirty-two and then she got so upset she lost count. But anyhow it finally ended. And the next day I was black and blue from there to there.

... But he was making no disturbance. But again the teacher saw him and he was just five years old and she grabbed the strap and down and told him that was not the way to behave in school. ... And Emelia and I were heartbroken.

And we got slaps if you had mistake in spelling, you got one slap. If you had two mistakes you got two. The same in your math. If you- for every mistake, you got a slap of the strap.

Discipline was- was good, you-know? Nobody spoke out of line (laughs). ... And the strap was used. I never got it, at least I don't remember getting it. I shouldn't say that because maybe I did. But I don't think I did. I was too scared. ... I knew- I knew I'd get another when I got home. My father used the strap. He could never catch Jill but I was smaller and so when- if we were both in trouble, it was I who paid.

I think we had a lot of attractive women in our neighbourhood actually. ... Um sort-of r-- auburn hair and um just a very- very calm, very relaxed manner about her um and I'm not sure if she ever had to give anybody the strap or not. ... Maybe once or twice. ... You knew the strap was available. Um there might have been once or twice ah some of the older boys got into trouble.

Interviewer: Would she make people stay after school? Speaker: Oh yeah. Interviewer: Yeah? What would happen then? Speaker: Never got the strap. Never got the strap. Got warned that it was there if we need it.

Never did get the strap so that must have (laughs)- ... Yeah. Either- either I was good or I never got caught (laughs).

Let's see, I got the strap for jumping over the school fence and going and retrieving a one of the a great big bee's nest, I thought the- I thought the teacher would really like to have that. (laughs) So it wasn't really for getting the- that I got strapped for getting the bee's ne-- o-- o-- or because of the bee's nest, I was strapped because I jumped over the fence. ... Ah, besides getting the strap (laughs) for a bee's nest.

Yeah, so I got the strap for that, um smoking. Got the strap for smoking. ... I got the strap for that. So I you-know, justly so. I- you-know. And your parents thought, "Well," you-know I-mean, their response was, "He deserved it."

Yes I had a nun in grade-one. Got the strap five times. Interviewer: What did you do? Speaker: I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker: Oh yeah, we got the s-- we got the strap. My dad- yeah, we did something we weren't suppose to, we- we got the strap. There were no too, ifs, ands or buts about it. And the strap was about that long. ... And it hurt. ... Speaker 2: Um, a big- it's a big belt like that. ... Speaker: And that's what he used for a strap. We got it once and we would remember it the next day (laughs).