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Children Baptism Day 26
Five miles down the railway track in Hill Billy country, lived other people in rough timber shacks up in the hills. Their main occupation in those Prohibition days was the distilling and bootlegging of illicit whiskey. Our dark-gray uniforms and peaked caps made their lookouts jumpy. Poorly clad children scampered around barefoot. A concerned Christian lady from Schuyler tried to teach them but their parents simply did not care. These children had not even heard the Lord's Prayer before. I decided to bring new hope into these sad lives somehow. So, a group of young people from Schuyler and I held outdoor services in "bootlegging valley" near an old brick power house.
We quickly assembled and began to sing to the accompaniment of a lone saxophone. Little groups slowly ventured out into our riverside auditorium in their tartan shirts and denims, overcome by curiosity. A hot dog roast provided an occasional treat, much to the delight of the gangs of children. After a year, twenty Hill Billy teenagers, with no Christian backgrounds at all, asked to be baptized. Somehow, word leaked out to a nearby Baptist Church that an Episcopalian was to baptize these youngsters. The Elders sent a message to our candidates, "The only real baptism is by immersion, which the Episcopalians do not hold with at all." Undeterred, we went ahead with a public baptism.
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