The Good Ol' Days?

A recent search for information on corporal punishment at Mercer sent us to the Steward's Book from the 1830s. It revealed that there were numerous infractions committed by the students, who were all male at that time. Punishments included whipping and expulsion from the school.

Some early rules:

• "Students [are] to account for lost tools, broken glass, and all abuse of rooms."
• "If any leave school without permission, [he] shall not return without whipping at the discretion of the teachers."

Inappropriate activities recorded in the book:

• "frequent disorder at table"
• "rude conduct in time of prayer"
• "pushing other boys, clapping his hands, and making noise on Sabbath"
• "playing drafts in study hours" (Drafts, properly spelled "draughts," is the game we know as checkers.)
• "pillaging an orchard"
• "cursing," which involved the use of such words as "dast" and "confound"
• "trespassing in potato patch"

My, how the times have changed!