Northend, speaking of the severity of the early laws, says:--
"The criminal laws were taken principally from the Mosaic code;
and although many of them at the present day seem harsh and
cruel, yet as a whole they were very much milder than the
criminal laws of England at the time, and the number of capital
offences was greatly reduced."
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CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS IN SCHOOLS.
In some of the old schools in Salem (no doubt it was the same in other
places) the teachers whose business it was to teach youths the "three
R's,"--Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic,--were too apt to be occupied,
as we have been told, in scolding, devising or practising some mode of
punishment. We remember hearing of a school where the master kept a
long cane pole (something like a fishing-rod) which he used for the
purpose of reaching boys who needed correction; on account of the
length of the pole he was enabled to do business without leaving his
seat. It was never suspected at the time how lazy this master was.
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