Subject: New story Albert 1782 by Gigi
From: riharpist@aol.com (RIharpist)
Date: 23 Oct 1997 11:20:06 -0700
Albert 1782 by Gigi
This ancestor story involves a very bright and active boy who was eleven at the time of this incident. His parents had not spanked him for a very long time, and although Albert had been punished for misbehavior, he had not been physically punished since he was about eight. If you are disturbed by stories of children being spanked, please do not read this. It is not my intention to offend you in any way. I also ask that you not use this for any purpose without my permission.
Albert watched his father with the ax with great fascination., He had always wanted to try it, but his father said that the saw was plenty until he was a bit older. How boring! a saw! He had been using a saw since he was six! He scuffed his feet around in the dirt and tried once more to find listening ears in his father,
"Father?" "Yes, Albert?" "Could I try the ax if you were right here?" "No, son, not yet.' "What if it was just one stroke?" "No, Albert, not yet. Now, we have had this conversation too many times! I understand that you really want to do this, but you are not old enough for such a dangerous tool quite yet.". But, Father, I am eleven, and very strong and careful......."
Before the sentence could be completed, there was an icy glare from his father's face, and Albert knew it was time to stop the conversation.
Leaning the ax against the tree and wiping his sweaty brow, Albert's father went to the house to get something to drink. The temptation was just too great, and Albert found himself just rubbing the handle at first, and then stroking its smooth handle from top to bottom. He felt the sharp blade and marveled at its shiny sharpness. Albert wasn't sure how this happened, but the best way he could reconstruct the events that followed was that he picked up the ax to see how it felt. He balanced it in his hands, placing it from one hand to the other.
There was a log left in the saw buck where his father's work lay unfinished, and Albert took a tentative blow at it. A small chunk fell out. Oh! the power he felt! He tried it again, and then again and again. Each time the same thing happened. It wasn't long before the whole log split to the ground." With enormous confidence, Albert slid the big log along until the next piece was ready to be cut. He raised the ax high in the air, determined to do this more quickly now, as he had seen his father do, but as he swung, the ax head flew off the handle and crashed through the barn window. It made an awful noise. Albert stood there helplessly with the empty ax handle in his hand, looking at the broken window.
His father and mother came racing out of the house, and when she saw what had happened, his mother looked at his father with great concern. She knew what the storm clouds in those gray-blue eyes meant. She returned to the house.
"Where did it go, Albert?" "Into the barn, Father........ through the window"
Without a word, Albert's father took him to the barn to find the ax head." There it was lodged in some hay in plain view, but not far from the horse in his stall. Reaching for the riding crop, Albert's father directed him to drop his pants and lie across the bales of hay that were stacked near by. Totally naked from the waist down, now, Albert knew that he was in terrible trouble, and that he had a father who was extremely angry.
The riding crop went straight to its work. It struck from side to side and across palms that tried to protect the bare buttocks that were getting redder and redder with each barrage of strokes. There was no lecture. There did not need to be. Both father and son knew that this moment had to be, and that was that. After what felt like forever to Albert, the whipping stopped. He was jerked to his feet and told to pull up his pants. No matter how much pride and strength he tried to have, Albert was in tears. He never had a bottom that hurt that much, and he just could not be brave any more. He was ashamed for his disobedience, and he feared that now his father would delay the start of the use of the ax for an even longer time.
His father sat him down on the bale of hay and sat next to him. "
"We need a plan here, Albert. Axes do that every once in a while, and you did not know that. I have not had the chance to teach you about these tools yet for you were not old enough. I need to see that you have the maturity to handle such emergencies and to check your equipment before you start a job." You did not know that, so you did not do it. Now, let's get that ax blade and I will show you how to insert it and make it secure."
Albert nodded, wiping his eyes. He picked up the blade and handed it to his father.
Together they went to the wood grove and picked up the handle, inserting the blade and making it tight. Albert's father tested it carefully and then handed it to Albert to try. At first, Albert held back, but when he was sure that he had complete permission, he began to cut at the wood, doing a very nice job. Smiling, his father put his arm around the should her of his son, and took him into the house for a cool drink.
"You will never do this alone again..... not until I have given you permission. Is that clear, Son?"
"Yes, I understand, Father"
Turning to Albert's mother and with his arm around his son, his father said,"
"It is not easy to be eleven. You are between a man and a boy. The man part begins in taking up a man's work, and the boy part is still taking down his pants for an old fashioned spanking.""