"What is the modern course of treatment," I asked, "prescribed
for young ladies who flirt with grocers' assistants? In
Renaissance times she could be whipped. The wise Margaret of
Navarre used to beat her daughter, Jeanne d'Albrecht, soundly for
far less culpable lapses from duty. Or she could be sent to a
convent and put into a cell with rats, or she could be bidden to
attend at a merry-making where the chief attraction was roast
grocer's assistant. But nowadays--what do you suggest?"
The unimaginative creature could suggest nothing. She thought
that I would know how to deal with the offence. Perhaps
preventive measures would be more efficacious than punishment.
But what do I know of the repressory methods employed in
seminaries for young ladies? Burton in his "Anatomy" speaks
cheerfully of blood-letting behind the ears. He also quotes, I
remember, Hippocrates or somebody, who narrates that a noble
maiden was cured of a flirtatious temperament by wearing down her
back for three weeks a leaden plate pierced with holes.
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