During her matter-of-fact discussion of the merits and demerits of bondage before corporal punishment, the older woman had been perusing the contents of the wooden cabinet, clearly visible to the worried new student. It contained a daunting array of what might be termed ‘weapons of ass destruction’. These ranged from a wide variety of wooden and leather paddles of varying shapes and sizes (some apparently pierced with many holes), hair and bath brushes, straps of varying widths and thicknesses, an equally diverse array of whips, and an even more daunting selection of switches ranging from a classic riding crop through varying lengths and thicknesses of bamboo and hickory, to a very thin one that seemed to be carved from whalebone. Alice gloomily entertained the thought that her own poor ba
