"Well, you know I have to learn about these things. What do you mean then by baptism?" "Baptism is performed by having water sprinkled or poured gently upon the head of the candidate. It is a very impressive ceremony." "That is strange, for do you know I saw in the Bible just the kind of baptism that I witnessed that day in Nebraska?" "Oh, never. Bible baptism is by sprinkling and sprinkling alone." "Well, I read in one or two places about people being baptized by being put under the water; that is, unless I am very much mistaken." "Hold on," said the father. "I guess you had better clear up that point about baptism before you go any further." "Not at all," said Sterling very earnestly; "there is nothing to clear up. It is a plain fact of history as well as of Bible teaching that baptism was done by sprinkling." "Do the denominations differ about baptism?" asked Dorothy. "Not worth talking about; nearly all the denominations agree that the baptism of the Bible is by sprinkling or pouring." "Daughter, get your Bible and let's see that passage where you say the people were put under the water." "I must not be too sure," she replied. "I know so little about the Book that I may have been mistaken, but I don't think I can be." The Bible was brought in, and as Dorothy opened it and began turning its pages she said: "One passage was the account of the baptism of Jesus." "What!" exclaimed Mr. Page. "Was he baptized--Jesus Christ? Well, well, that's one on me." "Oh, father, how can you speak so?" "I beg your pardon, daughter. I surely did not mean to be irreverent. But let us have that passage telling how he was baptized. That ought to be mighty interesting." "It is the third chapter of Matthew," said Mr. Sterling. Dorothy read: "'Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.'" "The Jordan was a river, was it not?" asked the father. "Yes," replied Sterling. "And you say that Jesus went to that river to be baptized?" asked the father. "Yes," answered Sterling. "And you say he went there to have some water sprinkled on him instead of being put under the water?" "Certainly he did." "Do people generally go to rivers now to be sprinkled?" asked Dorothy. "I do not know that they do, but they could certainly do so if they should so desire." "Did you ever hear of anybody doing so?" asked the father. "Why, possibly not; but that doesn't prove that it never has been done; but let us have the rest of the passage." She read: "'And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.'" "Hello!" said the father, "that sounds curious. Why did he go down into the water, Sterling, if he was simply to be sprinkled?" "Why, he simply walked a little way into the stream and stood there while John gently sprinkled the water on him. It must have been a beautiful ceremony." Dorothy was consulting her concordance. "Here is another passage in the third chapter and twenty-third verse."