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Discipline at Home
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Grandpa and Grandma McCowan had an old dog, "Tuffy", who, on more than one occasion, fell over the lakebanks. Grandma told us that Tuffy didn't like to see kids fighting. We figured that Tuffy must have been given that name for a reason -- so we took Grandma's cautionary advice pretty seriously. One day after Sunday dinner, my cousin, John, and I were engaged in some kind of ruckus in the room beside the patio when Tuffy waddled in. "Oh, Oh, its Tuffy!" -- we straightened up in a hurry. Grandma seemed to know a thing or two about children! I know that Barb and I (but mostly me) gave Mom a rough time as kids -- Grandpa Weir's mammoth razor strap in the broom closet was a deterrent but, heh, a guy can only take so much from a sister! Mom could also be a crafty disciplinarian. One lunchtime, circumstances compelled me to hide on top of the wardrobe in Mom's bedroom. The clock was ticking toward afternoon classes at Halbert and I mustn't be late -- but why did Mom insist on doing her ironing in the next room? I lay there for ages it seemed. Why couldn't she find something else to do and somewhere else to do it? -- I gotta' go to school! ... Mom knew where I was the whole time and she knew that I wanted to go to school. I was paying for my misdemeanor -- the razor strap was not necessary after all. D.B. McCowan's testimony in The Bill and Nancy McCowan Fortieth Anniversary Album
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