Miss Strang Chapter 41

Miss Strang Chapter 41
By Governess
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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY. It contains explicit depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
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Chapter 41

Miss Strang came into the dining room, and put her arm around me.

"I heard Mrs Mountfield talking to you and you remained silent throughout. That was excellent, Livia."

I was pleased that I had said nothing. For clearly Miss Strang had been waiting in the schoolroom, ever alert to see whether I would speak or not. And she must also have heard Mrs Mountfield's account of how she had been in service over at Windrush and had assisted in the punishment of Dr Clayton's children.

Breakfast passed off without incident. I was reminded by Miss Strang that I had to apologise to John for impaling him on the nettle stem; and I did so. He accepted my apology but from his eyes I could see that he would receive much satisfaction from the punishment which he knew I was to suffer later that afternoon.

As it was a fine day, Miss Strang told the boys to wear their Norfolk jackets with short trousers. As I have observed before, the wearing of short trousers was unusual in this country although common in Germany, and elsewhere on the continent. I suspected that Miss Strang insisted upon it as a adjunct to the boys' discipline, allowing the marks from any whipping to the thighs to be shamefully visible.

"John, sit still please. I will not have you wriggling like that. And if there is any wriggling or bad behaviour in church I will deal with it immediately on our return."

Simon seemed to have recovered from the strapping he had received on the soles of his feet. I could detect a certain tentativeness in his step, but to anyone who had no knowledge of his punishment it would have gone unobserved.

Sharp at quarter to eleven we set out for the village church. It was a five minutes walk down Cartwright's Lane, but our pace was brisk and we arrived in very good time. The vicar, the Revd Innes, greeted us at the door. Clearly, he and Miss Strang had already met.

"How good to see you again Miss Strang. And with your charges. And is all well at the House?"

"Yes, Mr Innes, thank you, it is. Everyone is in good spirits. Mr Arbuthnot is still away on business but he is expected back next week. I am sure he will call on you when he returns."

"And I see that Miss Livia is in disgrace. Is it permissible to enquire why?"

"Yes Mr Innes. There need be no secret about it. She was grossly disobedient, arrogated to her self responsibilities that were not hers, dissembled, and enmeshed another child in her web of deceit."

"Well, in that case, Miss Strang, she is fortunate merely to be placed in disgrace, even if she has the embarrassment of proclaiming it to the world by a placard around her neck."

"Well that would indeed be fortunate, Mr Innes. But I suggest you ask Miss Livia what her task was this morning before breakfast."

He turned to me.

"And what would that be, Miss Livia?"

I looked down. Never had I experienced such fiery shame."

"Answer Mr Innes, Livia."

"Please, Miss Strang . . . "

"You are being rude, Livia. When asked a question by an adult, you answer it. But before answering Mr Innes, you will first apologise for your rudeness."

"I . . . I am sorry Mr Innes. I didn't mean to be rude."

"And the answer to Mr Innes's question, Livia? What were you doing before breakfast?"

"I . . . I was having to bind up a birch rod."

Mr Innes smiled.

"And what was that to be used for?"

I squirmed in the face of this shameful and public inquisition. Again I looked at Miss Strang pleadingly.

"Please, Miss Strang . . . "

"Well, Mr Innes, if Livia is unable to tell you why she was binding up a birch rod before breakfast, I suggest that you and Mrs Innes come to tea this afternoon at three o'clock and you can see for yourself. And do bring Rachel with you."

"Thank you Miss Strang. It would be a delight to take tea with you."

He turned and entered the church for it was shortly before eleven o'clock.

I hung my head in shame as we entered, and together we walked down the aisle to occupy a pew towards the front. As my brothers were shepherded forward by Miss Strang, the weals on the backs of their thighs must have been visible to everyone. Miss Strang placed her riding crop on the pew shelf, and addressed us in a low but audible voice.

"Children, you will sit still. There will be no wriggling and no talking. You will sing the hymns and follow the service in the prayer book provided. Any inattention and there will be a sound spanking when we return home – at the very least."

As the service proceeded, I could tell that John was finding it very difficult to sit still with the irritation from the nettles still troubling him. And Simon as always was prone to fidget. However, both managed to sit sufficiently still to avoid any corrective word from Miss Strang. The hymns were well known ones that we could all sing.

I myself sat very still, quiet and withdrawn. All I could think about was Miss Strang's invitation to Mr and Mrs Innes and their daughter to take tea with us. Did she intend that they should witness my punishment? Surely she would not submit me to such a humiliation. And yet I was not at all certain.

Mr Innes had a sonorous voice and as he read the collect for that Fourth Sunday after Easter I felt that it was directed at me.

O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men.

I had rebelled against Miss Strang. And I knew that the rod was the means appointed by God for ordering a child's unruly will. And that a rod, a rod that I had made, was steeping in the schoolroom pail, awaiting my return.

Morning prayer continued. Suddenly, I became aware that Mr Innes had stepped into the pulpit.

My text this morning is taken from St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. 'Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.'

He not only had a vibrant, resonant voice but also the great gift of preaching without notes. He prepared nothing but spoke as he was moved. And it was clear that what had moved him that morning was our conversation in the church porch.

Here St Paul reminds us that even though we are under grace, the law still has an important part to play in our salvation. It is, he says, the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. What does he mean? In Greek, the word for schoolmaster is Paidagogus. This was not a schoolmaster as we understand it, but a slave whose job it was to supervise the children of the household and to escort them to school. To bring them to that place where they would be taught and civilised. Where they would learn to put away childish things and to grow into adults worthy of assuming civic responsibilities.

In the collect for today we are told that we are sinful with unruly wills and the affections of sinful men. And yet sin is insidious. It hides from us how sinful we are. How we put selfish interests before others and before God. We believe we have no need of salvation. No need to come to Christ, and to bow the knee before him. But, says St Paul, it is the law that bring us to Christ. How?

By setting us a standard that we are required to keep. And a standard that we fall far short of. Again and again. And when we despair of ever achieving the standard set, of keeping the law with all its demands upon us, then and only then, are we ready to abandon reliance on self and to cast ourselves on God's mercy.

And when does this process begin? It should begin in childhood. From his earliest years a child should be placed under law. At first a nursery law. Later the law of the schoolroom, and of his parents.

And the law, whether nursery law or schoolroom law, must be enforced. The child who breaks the law that has been set must be punished. And punished in the way that God has decreed. That is by the administration of the rod. For a young child, that means, at the very least, a sound and painful spanking with the back of a hairbrush on bare flesh. For an older child, a thorough flogging with a birch rod.

And let us reject the foolish belief that girls may be spared such punishment. Let us rather remind ourselves that it was Eve that enticed Adam to sin. And that a girl who is deceitful and who disobeys should be flogged as her brothers are flogged.

I could feel his eyes open me.

And an older, more responsible, girl should be flogged with additional severity. A girl has to learn obedience and submission at an early age. Her vocation in life is one of submission. She has to be prepared for submission. Submission to her husband, to the pain of childbirth, as well as to God.

He paused and looked at his congregation. There were all alert and hanging on his words.

In that way children learn that their will is subject to the will of another. The demands of the law should bear heavily upon our children. All excuses for failure must be disallowed. Whippings should be consistently given for wrongdoing, and the rod applied with vigour. This is not a task for the fainthearted. Screams and protestations must be ignored, and forgiveness withheld until the child is rendered tearful and truly contrite.

Thus, children learn that they are sinners. And children's sins are forgiven through punishment inflicted on their own flesh. By those stripes they are healed. But although individual sins are thus forgiven, the Devil is not dislodged from his throne in the child's heart. But every stroke of the rod on a child's quivering flesh weakens the Devil's hold. Every tear shed by the child, every contrite pleading for forgiveness, discomfits him. And at the last as the law does its work and that child reaches mature years and opens his heart to the Lord Jesus, then and only then is the Devil finally defeated and overthrown.

So this is a great work entrusted to parents. To all those who govern children. It is a great responsibility. But the reward is a pearl beyond price. The bringing of a soul to God. May all those who have this task not flinch from what is necessary. And may God bless them and those in their charge. Amen.

I felt that every word he had spoken was about me. My face was hot and my body sticky beneath my clothing. As we left the pew and made our way out of the church I felt that all eyes were upon me and upon the placard around my neck. I momentarily closed my eyes and for a moment shut out the world.

Mr Innes was already at the door to greet departing parishioners. He extended his hand to Miss Strang.

"And thank you, Miss Strang, for the invitation to tea this afternoon. I look forward to it with enormous pleasure. You did say three o'clock?"

"Indeed, Mr Innes. And I, too, look forward to it. And may I congratulate you on your sermon. It was most apposite."

He smiled and nodded in response.

"Thank you Miss Strang."

And we made our way home down the lane.

(To be continued)