it was a wicked thing to do, certainly. i have often regretted it since, and if the opportunity of doing so again were presented i should hesitate a long time before embracing it. but i was young then, and cherished a species of humor which i have since abjured. still, when i remember the character of the people who were burlesquing and bringing into disrepute the letter and spirit of our holy religion i feel a certain satisfaction in having contributed one feeble effort toward making them ridiculous. in consideration of the little good i may have done in that way, i beg the reader to judge my conceded error as leniently as possible. this is the story.
some years ago the town of harding, in illinois, experienced “a revival of religion,” as the people called it. it would have been more accurate and less profane to term it a revival of rampageanism, for the craze originated in, and was disseminated by, the sect which i will call the rampagean communion; and most of the leaping and howling was done in that interest. amongst those who yielded to the influence was my friend thomas dobsho. tom had been a pretty bad sinner in a small way, but he went into this new thing heart and soul. at one of the meetings he made a public confession of more sins than he ever was, or ever could have been guilty of; stopping just short of statutory crimes, and even hinting, significantly, that he could tell a good deal more if he were pressed. he wanted to join the absurd communion the very evening of his conversion. he wanted to join two or three communions. in fact, he was so carried away with his zeal that some of the brethren gave me a hint to take him home; he and i occupied adjoining apartments in the elephant hotel.
tom’s fervor, as it happened, came near defeating its own purpose; instead of taking him at once into the fold without reference or “character,” which was their usual way, the brethren remembered against him his awful confessions and put him on probation. but after a few weeks, during which he conducted himself like a decent lunatic, it was decided to baptise him along with a dozen other pretty hard cases who had been converted more recently. this sacrilegious ceremony i persuaded myself it was my duty to prevent, though i think now i erred as to the means adopted. it was to take place on a sunday, and on the preceding saturday i called on the head revivalist, the rev. mr. swin, and craved an interview.
“i come,” said i, with simulated reluctance and embarrassment, “in behalf of my friend, brother dobsho, to make a very delicate and unusual request. you are, i think, going to baptise him to-morrow, and i trust it will be to him the beginning of a new and better life. but i don’t know if you are aware that his family are all plungers, and that he is himself tainted with the wicked heresy of that sect. so it is. he is, as one might say in secular metaphor, ‘on the fence’ between their grievous error and the pure faith of your church. it would be most melancholy if he should get down on the wrong side. although i confess with shame i have not myself embraced the truth, i hope i am not too blind to see where it lies.”
“the calamity that you apprehend,” said the reverend lout, after solemn reflection, “would indeed seriously affect our friend’s interest and endanger his soul. i had not expected brother dobsho so soon to give up the good fight.”
“i think sir,” i replied reflectively, “there is no fear of that if the matter is skilfully managed. he is heartily with you — might i venture to say with us— on every point but one. he favors immersion! he has been so vile a sinner that he foolishly fears the more simple rite of your church will not make him wet enough. would you believe it? his uninstructed scruples on the point are so gross and materialistic that he actually suggested soaping himself as a preparatory ceremony! i believe, however, if instead of sprinkling my friend, you would pour a generous basinful of water on his head — but now that i think of it in your enlightening presence i see that such a proceeding is quite out of the question. i fear we must let matters take the usual course, trusting to our later efforts to prevent the backsliding which may result.”
the parson rose and paced the floor a moment, then suggested that he’d better see brother dobsho, and labor to remove his error. i told him i thought not; i was sure it would not be best. argument would only confirm him in his prejudices. so it was settled that the subject should not be broached in that quarter. it would have been bad for me if it had been.
when i reflect now upon the guile of that conversation, the falsehood of my representations and the wickedness of my motive i am almost ashamed to proceed with my narrative. had the minister been other than an arrant humbug, i hope i should never have suffered myself to make him the dupe of a scheme so sacrilegious in itself, and prosecuted with so sinful a disregard of honor.
the memorable sabbath dawned bright and beautiful. about nine o’clock the cracked old bell, rigged up on struts before the “meeting-house,” began to clamor its call to service, and nearly the whole population of harding took its way to the performance. i had taken the precaution to set my watch fifteen minutes fast. tom was nervously preparing himself for the ordeal. he fidgeted himself into his best suit an hour before the time, carried his hat about the room in the most aimless and demented way and consulted his watch a hundred times. i was to accompany him to church, and i spent the time fussing about the room, doing the most extraordinary things in the most exasperating manner — in short, keeping up tom’s feverish excitement by every wicked device i could think of. within a half hour of the real time for service i suddenly yelled out —
“o, i say, tom; pardon me, but that head of yours is just frightful! please do let me brush it up a bit!”
seizing him by the shoulders i thrust him into a chair with his face to the wall, laid hold of his comb and brush, got behind him and went to work. he was trembling like a child, and knew no more what i was doing than if he had been brained. now, tom’s head was a curiosity. his hair, which was remarkably thick, was like wire. being cut rather short it stood out all over his scalp like the spines on a porcupine. it had been a favorite complaint of tom’s that he never could do anything to that head. i found no difficulty — i did something to it, though i blush to think what it was. i did something which i feared he might discover if he looked in the mirror, so i carelessly pulled out my watch, sprung it open, gave a start and shouted —
“by jove! thomas — pardon the oath — but we’re late. your watch is all wrong; look at mine! here’s your hat, old fellow; come along. there’s not a moment to lose!”
clapping his hat on his head, i pulled him out of the house, with actual violence. in five minutes more we were in the meeting-house with ever so much time to spare.
the services that day, i am told, were specially interesting and impressive, but i had a good deal else on my mind — was preoccupied, absent, inattentive. they might have varied from the usual profane exhibition in any respect and to any extent, and i should not have observed it. the first thing i clearly perceived was a rank of “converts” kneeling before the “altar,” tom at the left of the line. then the rev. mr. swin approached him, thoughtfully dipping his fingers into a small earthern bowl of water as if he had just finished dining. i was much affected: i could see nothing distinctly for my tears. my handkerchief was at my face — most of it inside. i was observed to sob spasmodically, and i am abashed to think how many sincere persons mistakenly followed my example.
with some solemn words, the purport of which i did not quite make out, except that they sounded like swearing, the minister stood before thomas, gave me a glance of intelligence and then with an innocent expression of face, the recollection of which to this day fills me with remorse, spilled, as if by accident, the entire contents of the bowl on the head of my poor friend — that head into the hair of which i had sifted a prodigal profusion of seidlitz-powders!
i confess it, the effect was magical — anyone who was present would tell you that. tom’s pow simmered — it seethed — it foamed yeastily, and slavered like a mad dog! it steamed and hissed, with angry spurts and flashes! in a second it had grown bigger than a small snowbank, and whiter. it surged, and boiled, and walloped, and overflowed, and sputtered — sent off feathery flakes like down from a shot swan! the froth poured creaming over his face, and got into his eyes. it was the most sinful shampooing of the season!
i cannot relate the commotion this produced, nor would i if i could. as to tom, he sprang to his feet and staggered out of the house, groping his way between the pews, sputtering strangled profanity and gasping like a stranded fish. the other candidates for baptism rose also, shaking their pates as if to say, “no you don’t, my hearty,” and left the house in a body. amidst unbroken silence the minister reascended the pulpit with the empty bowl in his hand, and was first to speak:
“brethren and sisters,” said he with calm, deliberate evenness of tone, “i have held forth in this tabernacle for many more years than i have got fingers and toes, and during that time i have known not guile, nor anger, nor any uncharitableness. as to henry barber, who put up this job on me, i judge him not lest i be judged. let him take that and sin no more!"— and he flung the earthern bowl with so true an aim that it was shattered against my skull. the rebuke was not undeserved, i confess, and i trust i have profited by it.