The Washington herald., 1907-05-19

n u w a n 1 " Y
thing we know Brother Gyardner had
hold o. Amos himself, leadin' him toward
the water Amos was a timid sort o. man.
easy nustered, and it looked like he lost
his wits and his tongue, too. He was
kind O. pullin' back and lookin' round
in a skeered way. and Brother Gyardner
he hOllered out, Come right along, bro
theT: / know jest how 1t is myself, the
spirit is wlllin', but the flesh is weak
The Babtists was shoutin Glory hallelu-
jah' and Uncle Jim Matthews begun to
sing, On Jordan's stormy banks l stand
and pretty near everybody fined in till
you couldn't hear your ears. The rest Of
us was about as fiustered as Amos. We
knew I'm reason that Brother Gyardner
was maxim a big mistake, but We Jest
stood there and let things go on, and no
tellin' what might a happened II II
hadn't been for sam Amos Sam was a
cool-headed man. and nothin' ever tlust-
cred him. As soon as he saw how things
was goin', he set down on the bank and
pulled off his boots: and Jest as Brother
Gyardner got into the middle O. the creek.
here come Sam Wddin UP behind 'em and
grabbed Amos by the shoulder and hOl-
Tered out, You got the wrong man. par
son. Here, Amos, take hold O me- And
he give Amos a Jerk that nearly made
Brother Gyardner lose his footn', and
him and Amos waded up TO the shore
and left Brother Gyardner standin' there
In the middle o. the creek lookin Ike
he'd lost his job
We'll. that put a stop 10 the singin'
and the shoutin', and the way folks
laughed was scandalous They had 10
walk Amos home in a hurry 20 git his
wet clothes of, and Uncle Jim Matthews
and Old Man Bob Crawford went with
him TO rub him down. Amos was sub
ject 10 bronchitis, anyhow Marthy went
on ahead Of EN- I'm the wagon 10 have
hot water and blankets ready I'll give
Marthy that credit. she appeared to for
git all about the babtlzin' when Amos
come up so wet and shiverin'. Sam
couldn't git his boots on over his wet
socks, and as he'd walked over to the
creek. Silas Petty had 10 take him home
in his spring wagon. Brother Gyardner
all this time was lookin' round for young
Amos. but he wasn't 10 be found high nor
low, and that set folks 20 laughin' again,
and SO many havin' to leave the bab-
tizin was clean broke up. Milly come
up jest as sam was gittin' into Old
Man BOb's wagon and SAYS she, Well,
Sam, you've ruined your Sunday pants
this time And Sam says Pants nothin'
The rest o. you all can save your Sun
day pants II you want 10. but this here S
free country, and / aint goin 10 stand
by and see a man babtlzed against hio
will while I'm able TO save him. And II
Sand saved Amos life, instead O Jest
sayin' him from babtism, Amos couldn' {
a been gratcfuler. When sam broke his
arm the fOllerin summer. Amos went
over and set up with him at night, and
let his own wheat stand while he har-
vested Sans.
"Weu. the next time the ISOLATION
met. the Babtists had somethin' new TO
talk about Old Brother Gyardner got
up. and says he, Brethren. there's a
question that's been hOtherin' me for
some time, and I'd like 10 hear IL dis
Cussed and git IL settled. If possible. and
SAYS ne. II a man should be bdbtized aC-
CIdeutally. and against his will. would
he be a Babust2 or would he not2' And
they begun to argue it. and they had il
up and down. and some was Of one Opin-
ion and some Of another. Brother Gyard-
uer said he was inclined 10 think that
haDusm made a man Babtist. but
old Brother BasCOm said n man
wasn't Bahtist in his heart, all the
water In the sea wouldn't make him
one. And Brother Gyardner said that
was kuoCkln' the props clean from under
the Bahtist faith For SAYS he. IL
bein' q Babtst in the heart makes man
a Bahtist. then babtism amt necessary
% salvation. and If babtism amt nee
essary. what becomes o. the Babt.st
Church2
Somebody told Amos about the dis
pute they was haviu over his case, and
Amos says. II them fool Babtsts want
that question settled, Iat 'em come 20 me
Says he. My father and mother was
Prssbyteraus, and my grandfather and
grandmother and grandfather and
Ereat-grandmother on both sides; ! was
sprinkled in infancy and ] fined the Pres
byteriau Church as soon as ! come 20
the age Of accountability. and If you
was 90 carry me over 10 Jerusalem and
bahtiZe me in the river Jordan itself. I'd
still be a Presbyterian.
Here Aunt Jane paused On laugh again.
There's SOME things. child She said.
as she wiped her glasses that UeOpl0N
laugh over and then forgit. and there's
some things they never git over laughin'
about The Kittle Creek hahtiziu was
one @ that kind Old Man Bob
Crawford used 20 say he wouldn't "a
took 500 for that rabtizin'. Old Man Bob
was the biggest l9ugher in the country.
you could hear him for pretty near half
a mile when he got in q laUghin way.
and he used 20 say that whenever ne felt
like h7v.n' a good laugh, all he had 20
do was 90 think of Amos and how ho
looked with Brother GyaTdner leadin him
into tho water and the Bahtietg a-siugn'
over him. Bush Elrod was another one
that never got over IL. Every time he'd
see Amos he'd begin 90 sing. On Jor-