“Why, you see, sir,” said the man, “I did promise Molly I’d take her and her sister down to be baptized–that is, if you can spare me, sir–and there ain’t much doing just now.”
“But suppose I can’t spare you, Thomas?”
“Oh, well, sir, it doesn’t signify. I can stay, and Molly and her sister can go down theirselves.”
It was then that the rich, wise priest tried to get at the mind of the other man and failed.
“Why do you want to go down to the baptism, Thomas?” he said. “Don’t you get enough of God’s truth preached to you at home without having to go there to find it?”
“It’s Molly wants to go more than me, sir.”
“But I want you to tell me what you yourself think. Do you really believe that this man has any more power to forgive your sins than I have? Do you think that by baptizing you with a little water he can wash away in a few seconds all the sins you have committed for the thirty-six years of your life?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“You don’t know? Then, if you don’t know, what is it you go for? I should think you would want to know all there is to know before you ran away from God’s truth preached from His own holy word to hear what a madman in the wilderness has to say.”
“It’s more on Molly’s account than mine, sir. The women do think a deal about them things, sir.”