"Oww!" yelled fourteen-year-old Adam as the Bishop's cane landed on his bare bottom. He was bent over the desk, his trousers and underpants down at his ankles, being punished along with two other youth for damaging one of the Bethel Commune's apple trees. Jerry and Seth, the other two, stood with their faces to the wall listening in fear and trembling to Adam's cries. They knew that they would be suffering the same painful experience within a few minutes, and they knew that it was too late to offer any protests or explanations that might ease such treatment.
The Bethel Commune, located in central Michigan, was led by Bishop Andrew Anderson, a man of some charisma and religious fervor. At its greatest strength, just a few years ago, it had sixty-two members. Of these about twenty were children of various ages. The members had great faith in the wisdom and power of Bishop Anderson and, on joining Bethel turned over all their worldly goods to the community, and dedicated their lives to its mission as outlined by Bishop Anderson.
The parents considered the Bishop so good and wise that they gave up all rights to the training and disciplining of their children as soon as the kids passed out of the infant stage, which the Bishop designated as ending at age five. After this, the children were trained in the community school by a rotating group of members assigned as instructors. Those adults not engaged in teaching the youth tended the apple trees that the commune grew for income; maintained the communal kitchen, buildings, and equipment; or spent much of their time soliciting sustenance funds from donors outside of the community.
Each adult couple had their own room, and all children above age five slept in two dormitories, one for girls and the other for boys. Everyone ate together in a large dining hall. It was at meal times that Bishop Anderson gave out the assignments for the community's daily activities, and at the evening meal he named which of the children, because of misbehavior that day, needed to come to his study for correction. To be so designated was quite embarrassing because everyone in the community then knew that the child had been naughty. But this was not as embarrassing or painful as the actual experience in the Bishop's study.
As soon as the meal ended, each designated child was expected to go immediately to the Bishop's study and to stand there, with face to the wall, until the Bishop arrived. Sometimes there would be eight or ten youth and children standing in this way next to each other. No one dared talk to their neighbors because the Bishop might arrive at any time, and talking would only add to their expected punishment. And more often than not the Bishop, overloaded with administrative duties, would arrive unexpectedly about twenty or thirty minutes after the children had lined up against the wall. By that time, some of the five, six, and seven year olds might already be crying in anticipation of their expected spanking.
There would be a few minutes more delay as the Bishop prepared himself for his duty of administering punishments. Then, when his desk was cleared, a chair set in the middle of the room, and his punishment implements (paddle, belt, cane, etc.) arranged on the floor, he would call out the name of the first child to be chastised. He selected each at random, as he believed that the exact moment for punishment should always be unexpected by the victim.
The child so called out was required to turn from the wall and walk to the center of the room where the Bishop would be sitting. The Bishop would then relate the details as to why the child was about to be punished. The Bishop believed that every child in the room should be aware of what the others had done wrong so that none might repeat that error.
This was usually the moment of greatest humiliation for the child in front of the Bishop. The last thing they wanted the other children to know was why they were about to be punished. It was horribly embarrassing for them for the others to know they had been caught lying, stealing, cheating, bullying, using profanity, smoking, or even bed wetting. Such knowlege would quickly spread throughout the dormitories to be used in childhood taunts in later days.
Next the Bishop would ask the child if they had any explanation for their behavior. Most of them soon learned that a weak explanation could be more harmful to their posteriors than none at all, and so they usually said they had no excuse.
The Bishop would then tell the child to assume some particular position--over his lap, over the chair, over the desk, or touching toes. As soon as the child was settled in that position, the Bishop would arrange the child's clothing so as to expose their underpants. For a girl -- one or two were sometimes there, but not as often as boys -- he would lift their dresses, and for a boys he would undo their belts and pull their trousers down. Occasionally the Bishop pulled down the underwear of one of the children, something he was doing this evening, but this was rare and just for the most destructive of youthful crimes.
The other children, standing with their faces to the wall, could not see the exposed bottoms or actual spanking of the victims, yet they could clearly hear each smack and the cries of pain that often followed, cries that naturally increased their own fears. The smallest children received a limited hand spanking over the Bishop's lap, but he made sure to increase the pain as these children grew older. A particularly delinquent sixteen-year-old might receive as many as twenty-five or thirty powerful strikes to the buttocks with a belt or cane.
When the punishment was completed, the victim was allowed to rearrange their clothing and return to their position against the wall. They had to wait there until all the other children in the room had received their session of discipline, one at a time. If there were many children on a single evening, the group might all be standing against the wall and listening to the sobbing of the victims for as long as two hours before they would be released to return to their dormitories.
The session this evening would be relatively short since there were only three youth with which the Bishop had to deal. The three had been caught stealing apples from the vineyard, something no child was permitted to do, and they had broken one of the tree branches when Adam crawled out on it to reach the largest and reddest apples that hung there. Although Adam had bruised his arm severely when he fell after the branch broke, this injury did not deter the Bishop's announcement of his name at supper.
The three youths, followed by knowing glances from other members of the commune, went nervously to the Bishop's study as soon as the meal ended. There they stood silently until the Bishop arrived and called out Adam's name first. Adam, his mind distracted by his bruised arm, barely heard the Bishop's lecture about the evils of taking and destroying community property. And when the Bishop asked Adam if he had anything to say about the matter, he did not reply.
It was at this point that the Bishop told Adam to bend over the desk, and then the Bishop pulled down his trousers and underwear. Thus two full, firm, beautifully rounded mounds of young muscle were offered up for the Bishop to whip. Within a few moments the first stroke of the cane landed across Adam's tender orbs. The resulting pain canceled out all consciousness of his bruised arm.
The second strike was even worse. Adam wanted to bawl like a baby, but he didn't dare do so because of his companions standing against the wall. All he could do was cry out "Oww!" as each stroke bit into his exposed cheeks.
The two buttocks were quite red by the time the Bishop's ten strikes with the cane were completed, and Adam was secretly sobbing as he pulled his underwear and trousers back into place. He returned to his position at the wall and the Bishop then called forth Jerry.
After reminding the boy, also fourteen years of age, of the reason for his punishment, he told him to assume the bent-over-the-desk position. Then the bishop pulled down his pants and underware. The Bishop used the cane to chastise him as he had on the first boy. And Adam, standing with his face to the wall, realized he was using the cane because Jerry was sobbing so much as the lashes landed.
Seth, another 14-year-old, was the last and the one who received the most punishment. Bishop Anderson was convinced that he was the ringleader in the apple-tree raid, and so he received the sternest talking to and caning. The Bishop especially concentrated on his thighs and the undercurve of his bottom, where the cane undoubtedly hurt the most.
Like Adam, Seth cried "Oww" at the first stroke, but then the pain was too great. By the third time the cane struck his rounded bottom, Seth was shedding tears. And by the fourth stroke both Adam and Jerry could hear his choked sobbing. The last six strikes of the wooden cane were hardly audible to the two standing at the wall Seth was crying and screaming so loudly. He could barely pull his underwear and pants up after the event ended because his bottom was so painful to touch of any kind.
The three youth returned to their dormitories slowly, Seth limping a little and Adam, once again conscious of his bruised arm, holding it in a bent position to ease the pain. Never again would any of them eat an apple with much enjoyment.
Six months later Bishop Anderson died of a heart attack, much to the despair of the adult members and to the relief of most of the children. After that the Bethel Commune declined quickly and its property was eventually sold at auction.