Mother must have spent more time than she needed punishing Garvis. He tells stories that she never denied. In fact, she often told him she was sorry when he told about one of his spankings.

Miriam tells of being spanked only once, and upon review, feels that it was deserved. Mother just wanted us to do the right thing.

She told Miriam not to let Grandpaw see her in a pair of shorts. Now, I am not talking about the shorts that exist today, but cut off pants that a country child would wear. Grandpaw was a Baptist minister and had opinions that were important to mother. At least she did not want to offend his puritan taste. Miriam, being the strong willed person that she is, appeared in grandpaw’s presence with the shorts and mother was forced to punish her.

Mother’s disciplinary tactics softened over the years. I got plenty of spankings, but each was well deserved. Did they make me better? Certainly!