From: riharpist@aol.com (RIharpist)
Subject: Story by Gigi: Nathaniel 1823
Date: 19 Mar 1997 16:17:53 GMT

        This is another ancestral story, purely fictional about a real
person from my family.  Nathaniel lived in southern Ohio in 1823, and his
father was an attorney.  At the time of this story, Nathaniel was ten
years old.  If you object to the spanking of young children and are
disturbed in reading such accounts, please read no further.  As you know,
this was common practice in the rearing of children in those times.  Plase
do not reprint or use this story for any purpose without my permission. 
Thank you.

                        Nathaniel  1823
                           by Gigi

        Nathaniel was at the age when shopping for special items at the
general store, even candy, was a real treat.  He had a small allowance
from his father for doing extra chores, and he carefully saved the money
in a tin box under his bed.  His mother also stored money.  Hers was in a
tin box in the kitchen, money used for buying the groceries and other
household items as needed.  The box sat high on a shelf above the dinner
plates, and Nathaniel had never seen inside.

        One day, while his mother was outside with his little sister,
Nathaniel took a chair and climbed up to the box.  He took it down
carefully and removed 50 cents, which would purchase the toy soldiers that
he wanted in the general store.  He replaced the box exactly as it had
been, climbed down, and put the chair right where it had been.  As quickly
as posible, he ran to his room and pulled out his tin box.  In went the
money, and now Nathaniel knew he had enough to buy those soldiers.  He was
elated.  

        The next morning, his mother went to the market, asking Nathaniel
to watch his sister for her.  Nathaniel agreed to do that, with the idea
that when she returned, he would go and get his soldiers.  The walk to the
grocer was a short one, since they lived right in town.

        Upon filling the order for Nathaniel's mother, the grocer told her
of the total, and Nathaniel's mother opened her purse to take out the
money she needed to pay for the order.  There was not quite enough.  "This
is impossible!" she said. "I cannot imagine why I do not have enough.  We
will put some things back, and I will return tomorrow for the rest."  She
and the grocer put their heads together and made those decisions.

        On the way home, she asked herself again and again what could have
happened to that money, and she stopped by her husband's office to speak
with him about this.  He greeted her warmly and had his secretary bring
her some tea.  They talked about the missing money, and Nathaniel's father
was the one who thought that Nathaniel should be asked about any
involvement in this.  His mother was shocked and protective of her son. 
However, she stepped back to give her husband the full authority over this
situation.

        That evening, after supper, Nathaniel's father went ith him to his
room and asked to see the tin money box kept under the bed.  Nathaniel
froze.  Obediently, he reached under the bed and brought out the box,
handing it to his father.  Before opening it, his father asked him if
there was anything he wished to tell him, but Nathaniel just shook his
head.  He was given several chances, but the response was always the same.
 Knowing that his son would know exactly how much he had saved, he asked
about that.  Nathaniel was doing some quick math in his head, and that
hesitation was not a good sign.  The box was opened, and there, in full
view were coins that were different from the ones that were usually given
to Nathaniel by his father for chores.

        "Where did you get these?"
        "From you?"
        "I don't think so, young lad"
        "I don't know........"
        "I can guess."
        "Where?"
        "You are lying to me, and there will be a whipping for that!"
        "I don't know what to tell you...."
        "That is because you are caught in a lie."
        "I'm sorry, Father.  I took them from Mother's tin box."
        "We thought so.  She did not have enough at the grocer, and she
        came to me today to talk about this..  Go and confess to her and
        report to the woodshed immediately."

        Nathaniel reluctently went to the kitchen and told his mother the
truth about the missing coins.  He placed them back in her hands and told
her that he would never do this again, then, he turned and left for the
woodshed.  When he arrived there, his father was waiting.  He had his
right sleeve rolled up to just below his elbow, and in his hand was a
strap, dangling on the floor.  Nathaniel was directed to take off his
jacket and place it over a barrel there.  He was told to slip off the
straps of his knickers and unbutton them in front, slide them down, and
then to lie over the barrel.

        There, his father undid the undershorts and pulled them down to
below Nathaniel's knees, so that his bare buttocks now were fully exposed
and elevated over that barrel.  Nathaniel had his hands on the floor,
because the barrel had a tendence to roll, which would send him onto his
head.

        His father approached now, and placing his left hand on
Nathaniel's back to hold him securely, began to spank him with the strap. 
Those spanks were hard ones.  They were delivered slowly with lecture in
between and statements of how shocked and disappointed his parents were,
for they thought he was "such a good boy".  The strap continued to fall on
the bare behind, which was quite red by now, and Nathaniel was sobbing out
of control.  He squeezed his buttocks together again and agin in hopes
that he could control the pain, but it was no use -- no matter what
position or state of tension they were in, that strap was doing its work
well.

        Finally, his father finished the spanking, pulled Nathaniel up
onto his feet and told him to get dressed.  As Nathaniel bent over to
retreive his undergarments, his father grabbed him around the waist and
delivered some additional hand spanks.  "You just cannot ever do anything
like this again!!! he thundered,  "We love you too much!  You are a
special person with too much to offer, and this is outrageous behavior. 
Do you understand?"  Nathaniel nodded, sobbing and coughing.  His father
relased him and handed him a handkerchief,  "Come into the kitchen as soon
as you are ready.  We will be waiting for you.  Hurry up, now!"  Nathaniel
dressed in a hurry and went right away to face his parents.

        "I am very sorry, Mother, I will never do this again.", he choked.
        "I believe you, Nathaniel.  Come here, dear," she replied

        After a hug from both parents, Nathaniel was sent directly to bed
without supper.  His breakfast the next morning was enormous -- his mother
saw to that!