A public performance

I think I have described before how it was that Scottish mothers were such firm believers in maintaining order and discipline by the regular administration of a good smacking.

Despite the fact that they used to be in almost constant contention with each other to be at the top of the league for regular, hard and effective administration of punishment, they all used to act as if it was an unheard of scandal if anybody was ever present when you engaged in any kind of misbehaviour.