I missed whatever this thread is about. That's OK, but the Nun with the ruler reminded me of a childhood living nightmare I was forced to endure. My Dad was a living contradiction. The son of a traveling Calvinist preacher ( who dressed in 19th century garb, down to the button up shoes ), my Dad would make us kids sit for hours, while preaching, ranting, or carrying on about Revelations, or Daniel or Sodom and Gomorrah. Really put the fear of God in us. All the while, he's chain smoking Old Gold non filters, and cussing like a sailor.
One summer, I must have been 7 or so, he found out about some like-minded local dairy farmers ( we lived in the country ) who on Wednesday evenings held a children's church. This ancient foul smelling school bus, filled with smokey engine exhaust would drive around the area and pick up us hapless victim children for two hours of terror. The indoctrination was held in a small country chapel with hard wooden pews. There was no talking, laughing, or frolicking allowed. We sat dead silent, my sisters and I, with twenty or so other scared kids listening to how we were all evil and going to Hell, this Hell vividly described by a gruff Bible shaking old man. We were lectured on the sins of the flesh, while lining the walls were a half dozen or so angry looking men armed with 6 foot long bamboo canes, which were liberally applied to any child that even squirmed.
These guys had just come from milking the cows, and were still in their farm boots covered with cow crap, their clothing spattered with same. They stank from that, and from the hard labor they had put in since before the sun rose.
When the berating finally ended, the plate was passed, and we actually gave these people money for the spiritual enlightenment we had received. As we were released to get back on the gas chamber, we were handed a Milky Way, or a Snickers bar.
I was kind of cowed by my father, but after the third week of this, I stood up to him, and refused to go again. As soon as I did this my three sisters, aged 5, 11, and 13, all jumped in and also refused, except they all began crying and carrying on, and describing our ordeal. My Dad relented. I can tell you, the Nun ain't nuthin'.
