"Yes, I was," the mother said. "You see, I had been brought up to
believe in revivals, and I do yet, but we had no such chance to get the
right Christian start when we were little children, as J.W. has had, if
you'll let his mother say so, and that made a revival a good deal more
important to us when our church did get ready for one. But the other way
is all right too. I'm mother enough to be glad J.W. hasn't known some of
the experiences the boys of my time went through, and the girls as well.
He's no worse a Christian for having been right in the church ever since
I put him in short dresses, are you, son? And I will say that his father
was always with me in holding to the promises we made when he was
baptized. We've not done what we might, but we've never forgotten that
those promises were made to be kept."

J.W. felt none of his old shrinking from such talk, especially since the
Institute, and yet he had the healthy boy's reluctance to discuss
himself in company. But this was interesting him, outside himself.

He turned to the pastor. "That's what I meant when I told you what Phil
said. I'm all for the church, and church people and church ways; why
shouldn't I be? I've never known anything else. I remember well the one
thing I didn't like when it first came along; and that was the new sort
of Christmas celebration Dad and the others planned when I was ten or
eleven. You know what Christmas means to such kids, and I guess we were
all selfish together, because we didn't use our heads. Well, the Sunday
school proposed that instead of us all getting something we should all
give something. It looked pretty cheap to us little fellows at first,
and our teacher had all he could do to hold us in line. But let me tell
you, every boy was for it when the time came. We found that we could
have as much fun giving things away as we could grabbing things, and,
anyway, nobody really cared for those mosquito net stockings filled with
nuts and candy and one orange. It was only the idea of getting something
for nothing. That first 'giving Christmas,' I remember, our class
dressed up as delivery boys, and we came on the platform with enough
groceries for a small truck load, that we had bought with our own money.
The orphanage got 'em next day. And one class was dusty millers,
carrying sacks of flour, and another put on a stunt of searching for
Captain Kidd's treasure, and they found a keg of shining coins (new
pennies, they were)--mor