Dr. R. F. Horton, in the _Christian Endeavor World_, tells the
following story:
There is a scene in my earlier ministry that used to make the
best woman I ever knew laugh till the tears ran down her cheeks
whenever she recalled it.
A father, a tall and dignified man, with his wife, a gentle,
quiet little lady, had brought the baby to the font that Sunday
morning. As I read the opening words, the baby woke and began
to scream. For my own part I was imperturbable, nor was the
mother upset. But the tall, dignified man could not endure it;
and just as I was approaching the actual rite, and required the
baby, what the congregation saw was the father rapidly striding
to a side door, with the white clothes of the screaming infant
streaming behind in the haste of the flight. Happily parental
authority worked miracles in the corridor, and the infant,
vastly pacified, was brought back just in time to save the
service from being a fiasco. And the humor turns into a deeper
joy when now I see that child grown up into a beautiful girl,
the joy of her parents and of all who behold her.
(185)