After I met Mitch and after we saw the fight and the wedding, we went
out to Montgomery's woods a few times in the afternoon when school was
over. But we couldn't do much, because first we read "Tom Sawyer" along
settin' on stumps and logs. We had to get the idea into our heads
better; at least I did, because now we was about to carry out what Tom
had done and wrote about--or what Mark Twain had wrote about for him. So
we'd no sooner dig a few spadefuls than it would be gettin' dark, and
we'd have to go home.
[Illustration: Sitting on Logs]
One evening it began to rain and then thunder and lightnin', and we
stood in a kind of shed for a bit, when all of a sudden I felt creepy
and tingly, and saw a flash, followed by awful thunder; and of course I
knew I had got a shock. Perry Strickland had been killed the summer
before just this a way; and it seemed like once in a while God just
launched out like you'd swat a fly, and took somebody; and of course
you couldn't tell who He was goin' to come after next. Things like this,
besides lots of other things, my grandpa's prayers and other things, had
made me think a lot of religion, so as to be ready if I was to be took
by lightnin' or drownin' or anything suddent. And some of the boys said
that if you was drowned and didn't have nothin' on, you'd be kept out of
heaven, and sent to a place of punishment. So it began to look like they
was a lot of things to think about and be careful of.
[Illustration: Almost Struck]
I hadn't told Mitch because I didn't know just how he'd take it, even if
he was a preacher's son; but I'd been goin' at nights sometimes down at
a revival or protracted meeting at the church, not Mr. Miller's, but
another church, a Baptist, I believe, or maybe Campbellite. And I had
listened to the revivalist and heard the singin' and the experience
speeches. And heard the revivalist say that you had to be immersed, that
baptized meant to be put clear under, and that sprinklin' wouldn't do.
So I got Mitch to go the next night after the wedding, to see what he
thought, but also to pay him back a little for takin' me to the fight
and to the wedding. We went in together and sat down pretty fur back,
and the meeting began. A man got up pretty fat and good natured, with a
voice that just went into you like when you push one key of the organ
down and keep pumpin'. And he said a long prayer and asked for light and
help, and for light to shine in the hearts of the people present, so as
to show 'em their sin; and to save people from death, and from sudden
death, and if they died, then that they might be ready and be saved. And
he asked for power to preach the gospel and for humbleness and
understanding to receive the gospel after it was preached. And so on for
a good while. And a good many said, "Amen." And then they sang "Angel
Voices Ever Singing." Then the revivalist asked for songs and somebody
called out, "Away in a Manger, No Crib for a Bed"; and they sang that.
He asked for another one--and somebody called out, "There Were Ninety
and Nine that Safely Lay." And somebody else wanted "I was a Wandering
Sheep." And so it went till you could kind of feel things workin' up
like when the lightning made me tingle. Then this revivalist preached a
bit and talked about salvation and baptism, and about believin' and
being baptized in order to be saved. Then they had another song, "Work,
for the Night is Coming"; and then the revivalist called for experience
speeches. And old John Doud, the photographer, got up first, right
away. He was bald and one of his eyes was out; he was fat and his mouth
watered. And he began to tell what religion had done for him; how before
he got religion nobody could live with him, he was so selfish and cross;
how he was mean to his wife, and how he drank sometimes. And now he was
all different; he was happy all the day and agreeable to everybody and
had been good to his wife before she died, and generous to everybody and
didn't care whether he had a dollar in his pocket or a coat on his back
so long as he could help somebody; and how he hated drink now--couldn't
bear the sight of it; and he was thankful and ready to die any minute
and go to the blest in heaven and meet his wife, who was there. Lots of
people talked right out loud while he was speakin' and said, "Yes,"
"That's it," "That's what it does for you," and such like. And he sat
down, but popped right up again and said there was a man in town who
needed the prayers of the church and he says, "You all know him--Joe
Pink." Of course we all knew Joe Pink, who was the honorariest man in
town, and a good deal in jail.
[Illustration: John Doud]
Then Harry Bailey got up. He'd had religion before several times. Every
winter he got it if there was a revival; and if somebody had a new way
of being baptized, he'd try it. He went on to say that he'd been
sprinkled and dipped; that he'd had the double baptism of bein'
sprinkled and dipped, but he'd never been really immersed--baptized; and
now he knew it was the only thing and he'd been livin' in sin all these
years. They said halleluyah to that, and everybody began to shake his
hand, and pat him on the back, till pretty soon he keeled over in a fit
like he had sometimes, and the revivalist said--"Just stand back--he may
have the gift of tongues and begin to prophesy." But Harry just laid
there kind a kickin' like a chicken with its head off and finally got up
and sat down ready to be received into the church when they had the
general baptism. They had a kind of tank under the pulpit, and when they
got enough to make it worth while, the revivalist put on rubber boots
and stepped down into this here tank and received 'em as they came to
him, puttin' 'em clear under and then takin' 'em out.
[Illustration: Mrs. Penny]
After Harry Bailey talked, Mrs. Penny talked. She said she could do more
washin' since she got into the church than ever, and that it had been
the makin' of her. John Cruzan, a fighter, said he hadn't wanted to hurt
a livin' soul since he was baptized. And so it went.
Mitch was settin' on the end of the seat next the aisle, and I was on
the inside. Pretty soon the revivalist came down and spied Mitch. He
just saw him as a boy, and didn't know who he was. Just then they were
singin' "Knockin', Knockin', Who is There?" And it was dreadful solemn,
some were moaning, others crying out, some were clappin' their hands,
and lots were being talked to to bring 'em over. So this revivalist
kneeled down and says to Mitch:
[Illustration: "Are You Saved, My Little Friend?"]
"Are you saved, my little friend?"
Mitch says, "Maybe, I don't know."
"Maybe," says he. "Well, don't you want to be certain to escape the
condemnation?"
"I'd like to," says Mitch.
"This is the accepted time, and you can't afford to say maybe, you must
say I am sure--I know it. What is your name?"
"Mitch Miller."
"Well, Mitch, have you had the advantages of a Bible training?"
"Yes, sir."
"You've read it a little?"
"All of it."
"Do you believe it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, then, why don't you stand up right now and say I believe it and
come into the church?"
"I'd like to hear more about it."
"What part of it?"
"Baptism."
"There's nothing more to say, Mitch. The Bible says believe and be
baptized. Baptized means to be immersed. The Bible doesn't say believe
and be sprinkled, or believe and be dipped. It says believe and be
baptized. You have it plain, and the duty is plain. You can come in now
while you are young and before the grasshopper is a burden, or you can
wait until the days of sin come about you, and your eyes are blinded
with scales and then try to come in. And maybe by that time you will
have lost interest and be hardened; or you may die in sin while saying
'maybe' and not 'I'm sure.' Now what do you say?"
And Mitch says, "I won't to-night anyway."
Then the revivalist said, "Do you remember the rich man to whom the Lord
said, 'Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee'?"
Mitch says, "Yes, he was braggin' about his barns and that he had food
laid up for many days. I'm not braggin' about anything; I'm not rich or
grown up, and that part of the Bible don't apply to me."
"Ah," said the revivalist, just like that, "it all applies to you and to
me--and it's Satan that tells it doesn't; and here you are a bright boy
that has read the Bible and you hesitate and argue while Jesus is
waitin'. But the time will come when Jesus won't wait--when the gates
will be shut. And Jesus will be in heaven with His own, and all the rest
will be in the pit, burning with eternal fire. Don't you believe this?"
Mitch says, "No."
"Then you don't believe the Bible. Who have you heard talk these
subjects?"
"My pa."
"What does he do, Mitchie?"
"He's a preacher."
The revivalist was stunned, and he looked at Mitch and kind of started
to get away from him. Then Mitch says: "My pa debated baptism with
another preacher last winter and beat him. I believe in sprinklin'. I've
been sprinkled, and I will let it stay that way until I'm convinced."
Then the revivalist says: "Take your chance, my little friend," and went
away. The meeting ended and we went home. To-morrow was Saturday, and we
were going to dig for treasure.