hey was then, why, we
felt thet the safest side is the wise side, an', of co'se, we want Sonny
to have the best of everything. So, we was mighty thankful when we see
the rector comin'. But, sir, when I went out to open the gate for him,
what on top o' this round hemisp'ere do you reckon Sonny done? Why,
sir, he thess took one look at the gate an' then he cut an' run hard
ez he could--limped acrost the yard thess like a flash o' zig-zag
lightnin'--an' 'fore anybody could stop him, he had clumb to the tip top
o' the butter-bean arbor--clumb it thess like a cat--an' there he set,
a-swingin' his feet under him, an' laughin', the rain thess a-streakin'
his hair all over his face.

That bean arbor is a favoryte place for him to escape to, 'cause it's
too high to reach, an' it ain't strong enough to bear no grown-up
person's weight.

Well, sir, the rector, he come in an' opened his valise an' 'rayed
hisself in his robes an' opened his book, an' while he was turnin' the
leaves, he faced 'round an' says he, lookin' at me _di_rec', says he:

"Let the child be brought forward for baptism," says he, thess
that-a-way.

Well, sir, I looked at wife, an' wife, she looked at me, an' then we
both thess looked out at the butter-bean arbor.

I knowed then thet Sonny wasn't never comin' down while the rector was
there, an' rector, he seemed sort o' fretted for a minute when he see
how things was, an' he did try to do a little settin' fo'th of opinions.
He 'lowed, speakin' in a mighty pompious manner, thet holy things wasn't
to be trifled with, an' thet he had come to baptize the child accordin'
to the rites o' the church.

[Illustration: "Name this child."]

Well, that sort o' talk, it thess rubbed me the wrong way, an' I up an'
told him thet that might be so, but thet the rites o' the church didn't
count for nothin', on our farm, to the rights o' the boy!

I reckon it was mighty disrespec'ful o' me to face him that-a-way, an'
him adorned in all his robes, too, but I'm thess a plain up-an'-down man
an' I hadn't went for him to come an' baptize Sonny to uphold the
granjer of no church. I was ready to do that when the time come, but
right now we was workin' in Sonny's interests, an' I intended to have it
understood that way. An' it was.

Rector, he's a mighty good, kind-hearted man, git down to the man inside
the preacher, an' when he see thess how things stood, why, he come
'round friendly, an' he went out on the po'ch an' uni