ookin' at this case speritually, an' as a minister o' the Gospel,"
says he, "it seems to me thet the question ain't so much a question of
_doin'_ ez it is a question of _withholdin'_. I don't know," says he,
"ez I've got a right to withhold the sacrament o' baptism from a child
under these circumstances or to deny sech comfort to his parents ez lies
in my power to bestow."

An', sir, with that he stepped out to the end o' the po'ch, opened
his book ag'in, an' holdin' up his right hand to'ards Sonny, settin'
on top o' the bean-arbor in the rain, he commenced to read the
service o' baptism, an' we stood proxies--which is a sort o' a dummy
substitutes--for whatever godfather an' mother Sonny see fit to choose
in after life.

Parson, he looked half like ez ef he'd laugh once-t. When he had thess
opened his book and started to speak, a sudden streak o' sunshine shot
out an' the rain started to ease up, an' it looked for a minute ez ef he
was goin' to lose the baptismal waters. But d'rec'ly it come down stiddy
ag'in an he' went thoo the programme entire.

An' Sonny, he behaved mighty purty; set up perfec'ly ca'm an' composed
thoo it all, an' took everything in good part, though he didn't
p'intedly know who was bein' baptized, 'cause, of co'se, he couldn't
hear the words with the rain in his ears.

He didn't rightly sense the situation tell it come to the part where it
says: "Name this child," and, of co'se, I called out to Sonny to name
hisself, which it had always been our intention to let him do.

"Name yo'self, right quick, like a good boy," says I.

Of co'se Sonny had all his life heered me say thet I was Deuteronomy
Jones, Senior, an' thet I hoped some day when he got christened he'd be
the junior. He knowed that by heart, an' would agree to it or dispute
it, 'cordin' to how the notion took him, and I sort o' ca'culated thet
he'd out with it now. But no, sir! Not a word! He thess sot up on thet
bean-arbor an' grinned.

An' so, feelin' put to it, with the services suspended over my head, I
spoke up, an' I says: "Parson," says I, "I reckon ef he was to speak his
little heart, he'd say Deuteronomy Jones, Junior." An' with thet what
does Sonny do but conterdic' me flat! "No, not Junior! I want to be
named Deuteronomy Jones, Senior!" says he, thess so. An' parson, he
looked to'ards me, an' I bowed my head an' he pernouneed thess one
single name, "Deuteronomy," an' I see he wasn't goin' to say no more an'
so I spoke up