"Moral Persuasion, if you must know!"
Then he turned his attention once more to matters outside the baptistry. Gizzard was still wondering what Moral Persuasion was like, when he felt Sube groping for his ear again. He fortified it with his hand before yielding it.
"They're beggin' him to make another speech so's those who didn't go to the meetin' last night can hear about Moral Persuasion, too. I guess he's goin' to do it, 'cause he jus' tole 'em that it's his hobby—"
"What's that?" asked Gizzard.
But Sube nudged him to silence with his elbow.
"What's a hobby?" Gizzard insisted.
"Shut up! Will you?—Jus' listen and you'll find out all about it! He's tellin' 'em now—"
Gizzard listened. Dr. Mossman's remarks were informal but none the less forceful. He briefly repeated his arguments of the evening before, and added in conclusion that many of the foremost minds of the day regard corporal punishment as a sin. When the resulting applause had faded away he cried out with irrepressible enthusiasm:
"And I may say that I am one of them!"
Within the dark baptistry the two boys embraced each other effusively, and Gizzard whispered: