This truely happened in America by seventeen-century parents, specifically carried out by Samuel Byrd of Virgina. If one of his dependents had wet his bed, he punished the child by making him drink “a pint of piss.”  At that time, respected, well-educated parents beat their children with good intention, often severely, in order to get rid of the undesirable aspects that they saw in their children’s character.  (J.H. Plumb, “The New World of Children in Eighteenth-Century England,” Past and Present 67 (1975): 64-95).

People tend to look back nostalgically at Mark Twain’s carefree Huck Finn. But his dad was a never-stay-home drunkard. No TV, computer, cell phone, not even a dear home.

I read this “a pint of piss” episode to my daughter reminding her how lucky she is right now.  She could not believed it.  I had to show her the book to clear the doubt about this. We do need to look back in order to appreciate our blessings today.