Word: birchings
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Among the rolling hills of the birch-covered Province of Finnmark is the little (pop. 4,000) town of Kirkenes. Kirkenes sits snugly on one of the richest deposits of iron ore in all Norway. Saturnine, bespectacled Gotfred Hoelvold sits smugly on Kirkenes. Respected citizens of the village bow politely when they meet Gotfred on the street, and whisper uneasily when he has passed by. Policemen salute him with obsequious care. Even the Norwegian army garrison is obliged to seek out Gotfred for help from time to time...
Eton's Block & Birch...
...Colonel Bodley's letter re Eton's whipping block [TIME, Jan. 24], there are a few reminders of a visit to Eton . . . The whipping block . . . had the birch rod standing beside it looking like a broom for sweeping garden leaves, but with a very stout handle. My wife said: "That wouldn't hurt much." The reply was "Madam-I would like you to remember there's nothing between the boy and the birch...
When these academic offences are sufficiently serious, the headmaster intervenes and flogs the culprit. He does this with a birch rod [and] the procedure is attended by time-honoured ceremony and ritual...
...prevent the flogged one from rising to defend himself from the headmaster's assault. The school messenger now opens the door of the sixth form room, and the headmaster rustles in in his robes of office. A third prepositor goes to a cupboard, from which he takes the birch rod and ceremoniously hands it to the headmaster. The headmaster approaches the kneeling boy and, holding the handle of the birch with both hands, smites the bare behind of the boy six times. He then hands the birch back to the prepositor and rustles out of the room again...