Another snap from Sister's photo album. Years after we left the Children's Home, if we paid a visit and saw Sister, we would be shown what memories she had of us in her photo album. Along with the normal school or group shots, there would be the odd photograph of us in day to day events, everything from our cleaning chores, or up to up to no good. It was the items that we got up to that remained in the memory of the Sisters long after they retired. On visiting the Sister that looked after me, twenty years after her retirement, she still had a good memory of my antics, mostly for falling over and cutting myself. In some of the Children's Homes there was a special seat where you had to wait to be seen by Sister when you were in her bad books. Adding fear to the event is part of the punishment. Just think of the torment the child could go through, sat on the seat waiting for Sister or the governor and given the cane to hold before they arrive, eventually he might get let off, if he promised to be good. But the fear of simply sitting waiting was always worse than any actual hit. Putting the fear into the child over the wrongdoing is as good as any punishment. This one is the Infants cane, when you get to eight years of age it is a little bigger. One of the boys when he was five, got six strokes of the cane for leaving the Home at night. Most of the time you could expect two to four hits, or if it was over a very minor matter it was possible to get away with one light stroke. Sometimes it was just a threat, and you did promise to be good, if you were let off a punishment.

This is not a Darth Vader hat but rather a Bumbo Seat. A seat for infants too small to sit up on their own yet but strong enough to hold their head steady on their own. I think it could easily double as a hat of sorts. I call it the Bumbo Head.