in any way a hardship for their boys to suffer corporal punishment;
they had been flogged at school, and they believed that they had
learned their lessons all the better for it. Naturally the same thing
would happen to their sons. Still mothers are apt to be weak and
soft hearted, and therefore Mr. Hathorn objected to home boarders.

He had made an exception in Sankey's case; his father was of a
different type to those of the majority of his boys; he had lost
his leg at the battle of Assaye, and had been obliged to leave the
army, and having but small means beyond his pension, had settled
near the quiet little Yorkshire town as a place where he could
live more cheaply than in more bustling localities. He had, when he
first came, no acquaintances whatever in the place, and therefore
would not be given to discuss with the parents of other boys the
doings in the school. Not that Mr. Hathorn was afraid of discussion,
for he regarded his school as almost perfect of its kind. Still
it was his fixed opinion that discussion was, as a general rule,
unadvisable. Therefore, when Captain Sankey, a few weeks after taking
up his residence in the locality, made a proposal to him that his
son should attend his school as a home boarder, Mr. Hathorn acceded
to the proposition, stating frankly his objections, as a rule, to
boys of that class.

"I shall not interfere," Captain Sankey said. "Of course boys must
be thrashed, and provided that the punishment is not excessive,
and that it is justly administered, I have nothing to say against
it. Boys must be punished, and if you don't flog you have to confine
them, and in my opinion that is far worse for a boy's temper,
spirit, and health."