Obeying the Rules

There was a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough, no teacher had been able to handle them. Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied for the teaching job. He was told that every teacher had not been able to handle the rough boys but he accepted the teaching job anyway. The first day of school, the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules which were written in the board. Then the teacher asked, “ what shall we do with one who breaks the rules ?” “Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,” came the reply.

A day or so later, the lunch of a big rough student, named Tom, was stolen. The thief was found. He was a little hungry fellow about ten years old. As little Jim came up to take his beating, he pleaded to keep his coat on. “Tale your coat off,” the teacher said. “You helped make the rules!”. The boy tool off his coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As teacher hesitated with the rod, big rough Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to tale the boy's beating. “Very well,”said the teacher. After five strokes across Tom's back, the rod broke. All the boys in the class were crying. Little Jim had reached up and put both his arms around Tom's neck. “Tom, I'm sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was so hungry. I will love you till I die for taking my beating for me! Yes, I will love you forever.”