`` Sara must not do penance in that way . She would wear holes in her stockings , and might seriously bruise her feet . '' `` What would you say if I took a whip and whipped my bare shoulders till the blood came ? '' demanded the Story Girl aggrieved . `` I would n't SAY anything , '' retorted Aunt Janet . `` I 'd simply turn you over my knee and give you a sound , solid spanking , Miss Sara . You 'd find that penance enough . '' The Story Girl was crimson with indignation . To have such a remark made to you -- when you were fourteen and a half -- and before the boys , too ! Really , Aunt Janet could be very dreadful . It was vacation , and there was not much to do that day ; we were soon free to seek the orchard . But the Story Girl would not come . She had seated herself in the darkest , hottest corner of the kitchen , with a piece of old cotton in her hand . `` I am not going to play to-day , '' she said , `` and I 'm not going to tell a single story . Aunt Janet wo n't let me put pebbles in my shoes , but I 've put a thistle next my skin on my back and it sticks into me if I lean back the least bit . And I 'm going to work buttonholes all over this cotton . I hate working buttonholes worse than anything in the world , so I 'm going to work them all day . '' `` What 's the good of working buttonholes on an old rag ? '' asked Felicity . `` It is n't any good .
The beauty of penance is XXXXX it makes you feel uncomfortable .
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