Joseph Stowell spouted off to his teacher at school and told her to shut up and then he stood up and walked out of the class room. As he walked down the block to his house he noticed that his mother was working in the yard. He stopped dead in his tracks. He thought “What am I going to tell her?” He consider his options. He could tell his mom the truth or just lie. From past experiences he knew she would most likely find out the truth eventually. He could spend the rest of the day out in the world, though where he lived that would not necessarily be the safest thing to do, or he could go back to school and face the teacher.
He chose the lesser of the three and went back to school. Upon his arrival the teacher took him by the arm and they walked into the bathroom and he got his mouth washed out with soap. Joseph said, “I needed more than a mouthwash, I needed a heart washing.”