PEAR::DB question

I'm using PEAR::DB and I have set the option to persistent connections. Presumably it will now use mysql_pconnect() on connect. If I then hammer the server (like hold down the F5 key, e.g.) and generate lots of httpd's and lots of mysqld's to go with them, on my crappy little test box, I note that the mysqld's die off very quickly while the httpd's go defunct much more slowly, until max_spares is reached. I would have thought, that the mysqld's would stay with the httpd's until they died off together. Can anyone tell me if this behaviour is normal and how I would test to ensure persistent connections? Apache 1.3.27, MySQL 4 and PHP 4.3.1 on RH8.0, PHP as module. Thanks