Jennie Gerhardt: A Novel

  CHAPTER XV

  The return of Gerhardt brought forward the child question in allits bearings. He could not help considering it from the standpoint ofa grandparent, particularly since it was a human being possessed of asoul. He wondered if it had been baptized. Then he inquired.

  "No, not yet," said his wife, who had not forgotten this duty, buthad been uncertain whether the little one would be welcome in thefaith.

  "No, of course not," sneered Gerhardt, whose opinion of his wife'sreligious devotion was not any too great. "Such carelessness! Suchirreligion! That is a fine thing."

  He thought it over a few moments, and felt that this evil should becorrected at once.

  "It should be baptized," he said. "Why don't she take it and haveit baptized?"

  Mrs. Gerhardt reminded him that some one would have to standgodfather to the child, and there was no way to have the ceremonyperformed without confessing the fact that it was without a legitimatefather.

  Gerhardt listened to this, and it quieted him for a few moments,but his religion was something which he could not see put in thebackground by any such difficulty. How would the Lord look uponquibbling like this? It was not Christian, and it was his duty toattend to the matter. It must be taken, forthwith, to the church,Jennie, himself, and his wife accompanying it as sponsors; or, if hedid not choose to condescend thus far to his daughter, he must seethat it was baptized when she was not present. He brooded over thisdifficulty, and finally decided that the ceremony should take place onone of these week-days between Christmas and New Year's, when Jenniewould be at her work. This proposal he broached to his wife, and,receiving her approval, he made his next announcement. "It has noname," he said.

  Jennie and her mother had talked over this very matter, and Jenniehad expressed a preference for Vesta. Now her mother made bold tosuggest it as her own choice.

  "How would Vesta do?"

  Gerhardt heard this with indifference. Secretly he had settled thequestion in his own mind. He had a name in store, left over from thehalcyon period of his youth, and never opportunely available in thecase of his own children--Wilhelmina. Of course he had no idea ofunbending in the least toward his small granddaughter. He merely likedthe name, and the child ought to be grateful to get it. With afar-off, gingery air he brought forward this first offering upon thealtar of natural affection, for offering it was, after all.

  "That is nice," he said, forgetting his indifference. "But howwould Wilhelmina do?"

  Mrs. Gerhardt did not dare cross him when he was thus unconsciouslyweakening. Her woman's tact came to the rescue.

  "We might give her both names," she compromised.

  "It makes no difference to me," he replied, drawing back into theshell of opposition from which he had been inadvertently drawn. "Justso she is baptized."

  Jennie heard of this with pleasure, for she was anxious that thechild should have every advantage, religious or otherwise, that it waspossible to obtain. She took great pains to starch and iron theclothes it was to wear on the appointed day.

  Gerhardt sought out the minister of the nearest Lutheran church, around-headed, thick-set theologian of the most formal type, to whom hestated his errand.

  "Your grandchild?" inquired the minister.

  "Yes," said Gerhardt, "her father is not here."

  "So," replied the minister, looking at him curiously.

  Gerhardt was not to be disturbed in his purpose. He explained thathe and his wife would bring her. The minister, realizing the probabledifficulty, did not question him further.

  "The church cannot refuse to baptize her so long as you, asgrandparent, are willing to stand sponsor for her," he said.

  Gerhardt came away, hurt by the shadow of disgrace in which he felthimself involved, but satisfied that he had done his duty. Now hewould take the child and have it baptized, and when that was over hispresent responsibility would cease.

  When it came to the hour of the baptism, however, he found thatanother influence was working to guide him into greater interest andresponsibility. The stern religion with which he was enraptured, itsinsistence upon a higher law, was there, and he heard again theprecepts which had helped to bind him to his own children.

  "Is it your intention to educate this child in the knowledge andlove of the gospel?" asked the black-gowned minister, as they stoodbefore him in the silent little church whither they had brought theinfant; he was reading from the form provided for such occasions.Gerhardt answered "Yes," and Mrs. Gerhardt added her affirmative.

  "Do you engage to use all necessary care and diligence, byprayerful instruction, admonition, example, and discipline that thischild may renounce and avoid everything that is evil and that she maykeep God's will and commandments as declared in His sacred word?"

  A thought flashed through Gerhardt's mind as the words were utteredof how it had fared with his own children. They, too, had been thussponsored. They too, had heard his solemn pledge to care for theirspiritual welfare. He was silent.

  "We do," prompted the minister.

  "We do," repeated Gerhardt and his wife weakly.

  "Do you now dedicate this child by the rite of baptism unto theLord, who brought it?"

  "We do."

  "And, finally, if you can conscientiously declare before God thatthe faith to which you have assented is your faith, and that thesolemn promises you have made are the serious resolutions of yourheart, please to announce the same in the presence of God, by saying'Yes.'"

  "Yes," they replied.

  "I baptize thee, Wilhelmina Vesta," concluded the minister,stretching out his hand over her, "in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and of the Holy Ghost. Let us pray."

  Gerhardt bent his gray head and followed with humble reverence thebeautiful invocation which followed:

  "Almighty and everlasting God! we adore Thee as the great Parent ofthe children of men, as the Father of our spirits and the Former ofour bodies. We praise Thee for giving existence to this infant and forpreserving her until this day. We bless Thee that she is called tovirtue and glory, that she has now been dedicated to Thee, and broughtwithin-the pale of the Christian Church. We thank Thee that by theGospel of the Son she is furnished with everything necessary to herspiritual happiness; that it supplies light for her mind and comfortfor her heart, encouragement and power to discharge her duty, and theprecious hope of mercy and immortality to sustain and make herfaithful. And we beseech Thee, O most merciful God, that this childmay be enlightened and sanctified from her early years by the HolySpirit, and be everlastingly saved by Thy mercy. Direct and bless Thyservants who are intrusted with the care of her in the momentous workof her education. Inspire them with just conception of the absolutenecessity of religious instruction and principles. Forbid that theyshould ever forget that this offspring belongs to Thee, and that, ifthrough their criminal neglect or bad example Thy reasonable creaturebe lost, Thou wilt require it at their hands. Give them a deep senseof the divinity of her nature, of the worth of her soul, of thedangers to which she will be exposed, of the honor and felicity towhich she is capable of ascending with Thy blessing, and of the ruinin this world and the misery in the world to come which springs fromwicked passion and conduct. Give them grace to check the first risingsof forbidden inclinations in her breast, to be her defense against thetemptations incident to childhood and youth, and, as she grows up, toenlarge her understanding and to lead her to an acquaintance with Theeand with Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Give them grace tocultivate in her heart a supreme reverence and love for Thee, agrateful attachment to the Gospel of Thy Son, her Saviour, a dueregard for all its ordinances and institutions, a temper of kindnessand goodwill to all mankind, and an invincible love of sincerity andtruth. Help them to watch continually over her with tender solicitude,to be studious, that by their conversation and deportment her heartmay not be corrupted, and at all times to set before her such anexample that she may safely tread in their footsteps. If it pleaseThee to prolong her days on earth, grant that she may prove an honorand
a comfort to her parents and friends, be useful in the world, andfind in Thy Providence an unfailing defense and support. Whether shelive, let her live to Thee; or whether she die, let her die to Thee.And, at the great day of account, may she and her parents meet eachother with rapture and rejoice together in Thy redeeming love, throughJesus Christ, forever and ever, Amen."

  As this solemn admonition was read a feeling of obligationdescended upon the grandfather of this little outcast; a feeling thathe was bound to give the tiny creature lying on his wife's arm thecare and attention which God in His sacrament had commanded. He bowedhis head in utmost reverence, and when the service was concluded andthey left the silent church he was without words to express hisfeelings. Religion was a consuming thing with him. God was a person, adominant reality. Religion was not a thing of mere words or ofinteresting ideas to be listened to on Sunday, but a strong, vitalexpression of the Divine Will handed down from a time when men were inpersonal contact with God. Its fulfilment was a matter of joy andsalvation with him, the one consolation of a creature sent to wanderin a vale whose explanation was not here but in heaven. SlowlyGerhardt walked on, and as he brooded on the words and the dutieswhich the sacrament involved the shade of lingering disgust that hadpossessed him when he had taken the child to church disappeared and afeeling of natural affection took its place. However much the daughterhad sinned, the infant was not to blame. It was a helpless, puling,tender thing, demanding his sympathy and his love. Gerhardt felt hisheart go out to the little child, and yet he could not yield hisposition all in a moment.

  "That is a nice man," he said of the minister to his wife as theywalked along, rapidly softening in his conception of his duty.

  "Yes, he was," agreed Mrs. Gerhardt timidly.

  "It's a good-sized little church," he continued.

  "Yes."

  Gerhardt looked around him, at the street, the houses, the show ofbrisk life on this sunshiny, winter's day, and then finally at thechild that his wife was carrying.

  "She must be heavy," he said, in his characteristic German. "Let metake her."

  Mrs. Gerhardt, who was rather weary, did not refuse.

  "There!" he said, as he looked at her and then fixed hercomfortably upon his shoulder. "Let us hope she proves worthy of allthat has been done to-day."

  Mrs. Gerhardt listened, and the meaning in his voice interpreteditself plainly enough. The presence of the child in the house might bethe cause of recurring spells of depression and unkind words, butthere would be another and greater influence restraining him. Therewould always be her soul to consider. He would never again be utterlyunconscious of her soul.