y longer.

"Nobody never did know exactly how it happened. Some folks said that
young Amos wasn't overly anxious to go under the water that cold day,
and he kind o' slipped behind his father when he saw Brother Gyardner
comin' towards him; and some went so fur as to say that Brother
Gyardner was in the habit o' takin' a little spirits after a babtizin'
to keep from takin' cold, and that time he'd taken it beforehand, and
didn't know exactly what he was about. Anyhow, the first thing we knew
Brother Gyardner had hold o' Amos himself, leadin' him towards the
water. Amos was a timid sort o' man, easy flustered, and it looked
like he lost his wits and his tongue too. He was kind o' pullin' back
and lookin' round in a skeered way, and Brother Gyardner he hollered
out, 'Come right along, brother! I know jest how it is myself; the
spirit is willin', but the flesh is weak.' The Babtists was shoutin'
'Glory Hallelujah' and Uncle Jim Matthews begun to sing, 'On Jordan's
stormy banks I stand,' and pretty near everybody j'ined in till you
couldn't hear your ears. The rest of us was about as flustered as
Amos. We knew in reason that Brother Gyardner was makin' a big
mistake, but we jest stood there and let things go on, and no tellin'
what might 'a' happened if it hadn't been for Sam Amos. Sam was a
cool-headed man, and nothin' ever flustered him. As soon as he saw how
things was goin' he set down on the bank and pulled off his boots; and
jest as Brother Gyardner got into the middle o' the creek, here come
Sam wadin' up behind 'em, and grabbed Amos by the shoulder and
hollered out, 'You got the wrong man, parson! Here, Amos, take hold o'
me.' And he give Amos a jerk that nearly made Brother Gyardner lose
his footin', and him and Amos waded up to the shore and left Brother
Gyardner standin' there in the middle o' the creek lookin' like he'd
lost his job.

"Well, that put a stop to the singin' and the shoutin', and the way
folks laughed was scandalous. They had to walk Amos home in a hurry
to git his wet clothes off, and Uncle Jim Matthews and Old Man Bob
Crawford went with him to rub him down. Amos was subject to
bronchitis, anyhow. Marthy went on ahead of 'em in the wagon to have
hot water and blankets ready. I'll give Marthy that credit; she
appeared to forgit all about the babtizin' when Amos come up so wet
and shiverin'. Sam couldn't git his boots on over his wet socks, and
as he'd walked over to the creek, Silas Petty had to t