for a minute ez ef he was goin' to lose the baptismal waters. But
d'rec'ly it come down stiddy ag'in an' he went thoo the programme
entire.

An' Sonny, he behaved mighty purty; set up perfec'ly ca'm an'
composed thoo it all, an' took everything in good part, though he
didn't p'intedly know who was bein' baptized, 'cause, of co'se, he
couldn't hear the words with the rain in his ears.

He didn't rightly sense the situation tell it come to the part
where it says: "Name this child," and, of co'se, I called out to
Sonny to name hisself, which it had always been our intention to
let him do.

"Name yo'self, right quick, like a good boy," says I.

Of co'se Sonny had all his life heered me say thet I was
Deuteronomy Jones, Senior, an' thet--I hoped some day when he got
christened he'd be the junior. He knowed that by heart, an' would
agree to it or dispute it, 'cordin' to how the notion took him,
and I sort o' ca'culated thet he'd out with it now. But no, sir!
Not a word! He thess sot up on thet bean-arbor an' grinned.

An' so, feelin' put to it, with the services suspended over my
head, I spoke up, an' I says: "Parson," says I. "I reckon ef he
was to speak his little heart, he'd say Deuteronomy Jones,
Junior." An' with thet what does Sonny do but conterdic' me flat!
"No, not Junior! I want to be named Deuteronomy Jones, Senior!"
says he, thess so. An' parson, he looked to'ards me, an' I bowed
my head an' he pronounced thess one single name, "Deuteronomy,"