Brett was always trouble. From early childhood, he was surly, sullen, disrespectful, cruel to younger children, and a bully. He was constantly in trouble at school for disrespect to his teachers, use of foul language, and bullying other children in the schoolyard.

Perhaps I spared the rod too much. I have never been a great advocate of corporal punishment and only once in my life have I struck Brett in anger. When you learn the circumstances, I think that you will admit that it was justified. Whenever Brett earned a beating, I explained in detail to him why what he had done was wrong and why he must be punished.

Then, I beat him across the buttocks with my razor strop a previously announced number of blows. I preferred , after a full explanation of the reason for it, to deprive him of priveleges or to confine him in an unfurnished room for a previously announced period of time.

The room contained a mattress, a folding chair, a pitcher and washbowl, and a chamber pot. There was a dumbwaiter in one corner by which meals might be delivered. The only window was too high to reach even standing on the chair. For reading matter, he was allowed a book of singlarly tedious sermons by a Scottish Presbyterian minister who must surely have published it at his own expense.

When he was released, I always reminded him that "This has been a very mild example of life in prison where, if you continue to behave as you have, you will surely eventually find yourself."

No child will pay attention to a hypocrite. Therefore, I have endeavoured to live a life of exemplary rectitude and honesty to lend credence to the instruction in morality, decency, and proper conduct which I have given him and, I hope, demonstrated by my own life and conduct.

Brett's mother, Evelyn, is a lovable but rather vague person. I love her dearly, but I would never trust her to manage a self-willed boy. Therefore, both Brett and his sister, Susan, had a nanny, a stern but not unkind woman. When Brett was 11, she resigned, citing reasons of health. I suspect that she was merely exhausted by trying to control Brett. Susan, gentle and sweet, would have given her no trouble.

If Brett had been an imp of hell as a boy, he became a demon when puberty set in. His former crudity, vulgarity, cruelty, and brutality were supplement by downright nastiness. All boys are curious about and fascinated by sex. This is only natural. But, most boys do not parade around with erections tenting their trousers out and make indecent remarks to their sisters. From school, I heard tales of Brett's exposing himself in the cloak room.

As soon as Brett showed any signs of the onset of puberty, I gave him instruction about sex in suitable medical language. I also endeavoured, with as little success as usual, to instill in him some notion of responsibility and sexual morality. He actually had the temerity to suggest that I should take him to a brothel " for practical experience."

Brett gave me further cause for concern by showing what I considered to be an unnatural and unhealthy interest in his sister. I installed a spring lock on the door of Susan's room and gave her the key. I couldn't bring myself to explain why I thought that it was needed. I just said that it was "to keep out intruders."

By the time Brett was sixteen, I was seriously considering sending him to a military school, if I could find one that would accept him. While I did not doubt that he needed the harsh discipline, I knew of cases in which wayward boys had died in military school.

While I was debating this, the whole situation came to a head. I had come home early from the office. I went upstairs to fetch a book from the library, when I heard a scream from Susan's room and a cry for "HELP !" I pushed open the unlocked door and found Brett lying atop Susan, holding her by her breasts and raping her.

I seized him by the collar and pulled him off and out of her. Susan, blood running down her thighs from her ruptured hymen, jumped off the bed and ran downstairs.

With a growl of rage, I gave Brett a two-handed backhand slap across the face which split his lower lip and threw him across the room. He rose , fists clenched, and came for me. I expected him to be a dirty fighter and I was ready for him.

As he neared me, his right foot lashed out, aimed at my groin . I knew the right response to that. I crossed my arms to absorb the momentum of the kick, grabbed his foot, and pulled it up against my chest so that he was dancing on one foot. A kick in the groin from my right shin doubled him over and he collapsed vomiting on the floor.

Swiftly, I pulled down the cord which closed the drapes. With it, I tied his wrists together behind his back, and tied his ankles tightly together. In my youth, I had served a hitch in the Navy before going to law school. I had learned and had not forgotten how to tie knots which do NOT come undone.

Then I went downstairs and comforted Susan who was crying her heart out in her mother's arms. I assured her that Brett would never touch her again. I would either report him to the police or see that he did her no further harm. I was relieved to learn from Evelyn that Susan had told her that Brett had not succeeded in consummating the act before he was interrupted.

I explained that to spare her the embarrassment of testifying against Brett in court, I should prefer not to go to the police, but would not hesitate to do so if there should prove to be no other way to protect her from Brett.

I rang up Central and had the operator connect me with Dr. Faulkner, our family physician and surgeon and told him that I had to talk to him about a matter of great gravity and delicacy concerning Brett. He agreed to see me in about a half hour, roughly the time it would take me to reach his office.

As soon as I was ushered into his office, I wasted no time in letting Dr. Faulkner know the nature of the "matter of great gravity and delicacy." "Brett has raped Susan. Luckily, I interrupted him before he had a chance to ejaculate. It is, of course, my legal duty to report him to the police, but I would prefer to spare my wife and daughter from a scandal. What do you recommend ?"

"If he were my son," Dr. Faulkner replied, "I would have him castrated. And I stand ready to perform the operation at your convenience." "He's tied up right now", I answered. "Do you want me to bring him here bound and gagged after your regular office hours, or would you like to come out to my home and do it there ?" "I'd rather perform the operation here, where I have everything I need." "Very well, when should I bring him ?"

"It will be dark by 8:30 and I have no appointments after 5:30 . Bring him here then and I'll help you carry him in. In addition to castration, I strongly recommend resection of the erectile nerves and the pudendal nerve.

Castration will largely eradicate his lust and resection of those nerves will render him permanently impotent and deprive his male organ of any feeling for as long as he may live. Sex will never play any part in his life again." "That", I assured Dr. Faulkner "is 'a consummation devoutly to be wished' "

When I entered Susan's room upon returning home, I was met with a torrent of abuse, profanity, and obscenity. I fetched a billiard ball from the game room, enclosed it in a stocking, pushed it into Brett's foul mouth, and tied it behind his neck. "It amazes me, Brett, that you can stand to eat with the same mouth you use for talking. God knows that it's been washed out with soap often enough, but you befoul it daily."

I threw Brett over my shoulder like a sack of meal, showing him that the old man was still no weakling, and carried him into the detention room. I laid him down on the mattress and remarked. "I'm sorry that I can't let you have your hands free so that you can hold the Rev. Mr. McPherson's Collected Sermons, but I'm afraid you'll just have to do without reading matter. However, you'll only be here until 8:00. "

I left him there to ponder my remark and wonder about his fate.

Then I went to supper and explained to Susan how her brother was to be punished. "Susan, do you remember our Newfoundland dog, Elwood ?" "Of course, father, that was just a few years ago. " "Then you'll remember that we had to have Elwood 'fixed'." She nodded. " Well, Brett is going to be 'fixed' tonight and he won't be interested in girls any more, ever."

Brett was a rather heavy sack of meal, but I managed to carry him downstairs and out into the yard and dump him on the right seat of the buggy. Dr. Faulkner was waiting for us and helped me carry Brett into his office. Brett was pale and sweating when we laid him on the operating table for the moment.

"Brett, whenever you were to be punished, I have always explained to you what was going to be done and why. This is no exception. I would be within my rights, and, indeed, performing my civic duty, if I reported you to the police and brought charges of rape against you. However, I am unwilling to subject Susan and your mother to the ensuing scandal. This, of course, does not mean that you can be allowed to go unpunished.

I am sure that you remember our black Newfoundland , Elwood, and that you also remember that we had to have him 'fixed'. The operation was admirably successful; he desisted immediately from pursuing bitches in heat. Dr. Faulkner is about to perform essentially the same operation on you. However, he also intends to remove some nerves which will make your male organ useful only for passing water."

Dr. Faulkner commented "Contrary to the usual procedure, you will be anaesthetised before being undressed and prepared for surgery, inasmuch as we cannot expect your cooperation."

Dr. Faulkner fetched a stopwatch and , placing an aether cone over Brett;s mouth and nose and dripped aether into it for 10 seconds. When Brett was unconscious, he was untied and the gag removed. Swiftly he was undressed and Dr. Faulkner washed his genitals, removing the blood of Susan's hymen from his penis. Then he made a small incision behind the glans of Brett's penis and, exposing the pudendal nerve, snipped it with surgical scissors.

A second incision, in the perineum, exposed the other end of the pudendal nerve. Getting a firm grip on it with a haemostat, Dr. Faulkner severed the nerve and then pulled it slowly out of the penis so that the entire length of the nerve in the penis was removed.

Another incision, further back in the perineum, closer to the anus and deeper, exposed the two erectile nerves lying upon the prostate gland. Dr. Faulkner caught each nerve with a blunt hook and drew it out and twisted the hook until the nerve was wound up ; then he cut the twisted nerve at the base, removing nearly three inches of it. When both erectile nerves had been resected, permanently paralysing Brett's penis, Dr. Faulkner sutured all three incisions. All that remained was to remove Brett's testicles.

Two longitudinal incisions were made in the scrotum, one over each testis, the glands exposed, and traction applied, with massage of the groins to expose as much as possible of each spermatic cord. Two gut ligatures were then applied to each spermatic cord, about ½ inch apart and Dr. Faulkner cut between the ligatures, excising first the left and then the right testis. The severed spermatic cords immediately retracted into the inguinal canals. Dr. Faulkner dropped the glands into a jar of alcohol which he had had ready for them.

Dr. Faulkner sutured the two incisions and the job was done. Brett's crumpled empty scrotum was hardly visible behind his hamstrung useless penis. Gauze dressings were applied to the incisions and secured in place with spirit gum. A few minutes later, Brett's eyelids fluttered open . He sat up and looked down at himself and then, most uncharacteristically, bursted into tears. It occured then to me that I had never heard Brett cry, even as a child. He made up for it now, though. Sob after racking sob revealed his shock and sorrow over the terrible punishment which had been meted out to him.

We helped Brett to his feet and he dressed silently, hanging his head. His spirit was broken and he was more subdued than I had ever seen him before. Dr. Faulkner advised him to spend the next week in bed, rising only for calls of nature. After that , he might be up and about but should refrain from strenuous exertion of any kind for another three weeks.

Dr. Faulkner would stop at the house two or three times a week to change the dressings and, after two weeks would remove the stitches. Until that had been done, Brett was to take only sponge baths. He was also advised to wipe his behind backward, not forward toward the incisions.

After his return home, Brett was preternaturally quiet. He actually looked away if Susan was in the same room, as at meals. Although his aggressiveness and lust had been quelled, Brett did not behave normally. He became apathetic . When he was able to, he took long walks, but never visited any of his (very few) friends or spoke to anyone he met. At home he was taciturn, responding to questions in monosyllables and never commenting on anything that was being discussed.

He never returned to school. At age sixteen, he was not legally required to and he had no interest in it. He also showed no interest in earning a living. For two years, he sat on the porch, or in a chair by a window, doing nothing. On his eighteenth birthday, he walked out of the house and did not return until winter. I learned that he had been living in a shack by a nearby lake, fishing and trapping for the pot. The shack was impossible to heat in the coldest part of winter and he was forced home.

Except at meal times, we never see him. He lives mostly in the attic which is quite warm because all of the warm air in the house rises up there.

I have often wondered: considering the emptiness of his life, was I justified in having him castrated ? Did I do the right thing ?