by her flashing smile, himself a mark for the resentment of more than one less audacious swain. The youth was Soph Crimp, the preacher's son. He had a townbred air; his smile was pleasant, his eye blue and fearless; but in the son the thin lips of the father were repeated, and the sharp chin was yet more prominent.

There was a great clattering of seats; mothers hushed their children; two of the matrons lulled their babies to repose by raking their heads with fine-toothed combs; and the congregation settled down to the digestion of the sermon.

Mr. Crimp picked up a small Bible bound in black leather and laid it open on his outstretched palm, while he turned over the leaves with his other hand.

his throat and read that

Then he cleared

portion of the

eighth chapter of Acts which relates to Philip's baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch. When he had finished the reading he replaced the Bible on the desk.

"I have read to you on this occasion that portion of the Scriptures that tells us how Philip baptized the Ethiopian. I want you

man.

to take notice of the simplicity with which Philip carried out his plan of baptizing this He didn't wait till they come to a city with a church in it and a baptismal font and all that. No; he stopped the carriage at the very first pond they come to and most likely it was a sheep-pond. In those days the great men, the learn'd and thinkers, kept sheep for a living; and of course it stands to reason that where there was sheep, there was ponds for washing the wool to prepare it for shearing, don't it?"

Mr. Flieger nodded his large head several times, and leaned over to whisper to his wife.

"I selected this here verse for my text. Hunt the Bible through from one end to the other and you won't find a text that's more to the point than this one:

"And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?' Acts 8: 36.

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Philip believed in simplicity so far as the means of baptizing was concerned. But he was mighty particular about the

manner of his baptizing! Just listen to these words:

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And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.'

"The eunuch was completely submerged under water. No half-way baptizing about that. Philip believed in doing the thing up brown; he believed in a genu-ine immersion. It beats me how some of these here churches that believes in sprinkling a few little drops of water on the top of your head gets around that verse. And some other verses in this book, too! I tell you what it is, my good people, I'm glad that I belong to the Christian church, and I'm glad that I understand its doctrines. I'm glad that you do, too. It's a good thing to be on the right side, ain't it?" said Mr. Crimp, with an engaging smile.

Mr. Flieger laughed aloud and a sympathetic ripple ran around the audience.

"Now, one Sunday, when I lived in the city, I didn't feel in the mood to go to my own church, and I strayed into the first big church I come to-an Episcopalian or a

Presbyterian or a Methodist-I've forgot

ten which it was; but it

they're all about of a piece.

don't matter;

Now I hadn't

been there long before I seen a baby whisked into the entry; then another an' then another. I tumbled: I had happened in on an infant baptizin'. Excuse me for callin' it baptizin': sprinklin' is more to the point. (Laughter.)

Now, I don't know whether any of you has seen a sprinklin', or not. If you haven't, I hope you never will. It's a waste of time even to look on at such a sight. You'd better be at work in your fields of a Sunday mornin', diggin' potatoes or hoein' corn, than lookin' on to see a lot of little young babies baptized, like I did. Well, a string of men and women walked in at a side door, single file, every man a-carryin' a baby in his arms, tricked out in long clothes and lace and finery, his wife a-followin' at his heels. They formed a halfcircle round the pulpit and come to a standstill. The preacher come down the steps, and another man come after him carryin' a silver cake-plate in his hands-I guess it

was a cake-plate, borrowed for the occasion of some lady in the congregation, most likely." (Loud and delighted laughter from Mr. Flieger, and tittering from others in the congregation.) "The preacher stopped before the first baby in the row, and its father handed him a slip of paper with the child's name wrote on it. I surmised that was the way of it. Think of it! Think of baptizing a creature that wasn't acquainted with its own name! Why, you'd do better if you was to have your cat or your dog baptized!" (Laughter.) They

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have the sense to know when their name is called; but what sense has a baby got that's under six months old? I don't ask you to believe me, my good friends: it's asking too much to expect you to believe what I'm going to tell you. That infant that the preacher stopped before and took the slip of paper with its name wrote on it-that infant wasn't two months old, if it was that." (A murmur of horror ran round the room.) "When the baptizin'-no, 'sprinklin'' commenced, there was a great silence fell on the people, and everybody