'
"'Whatever does he lay down on you-all like that for?' says Faro
Nell. 'Couldn't a soldier be a christian, Daddy Enright?'
"'Why, I reckons he might,' says Enright, he'pin' himse'f to a
drink; 'a soldier could he a christian, Nellie, but after all it
ain't necessary.
"'Still, we-all likes the chaplain because them ministrations of his
is entertainin', an', for that matter, he likes us a lot, an' in
more reelaxed moments allows we ain't so plumb crim'nal--merely
loose like on p'ints of doctrine.'
"'Baptis' folks is shore strong on doctrines,' says Tutt, coincidin'
in with Enright. 'I knows that myse'f. Doctrine is their long suit.
They'll go to any len'ths for doctrines, you hear me! I remembers
once ridin' into a hamlet back in the Kaintucky mountains. Thar
ain't one hundred people in the village, corral count. An' yet I
notes two church edifices.
"You-all is plenty opulent on sanctooaries," I says to the barkeep
at the tavern where I camps for the night. "It's surprisin', too,
when you considers the size of the herd. What be the two
deenom'nations that worships at them structures?"
"'"Both Baptis'," says the barkeep.
"'"Whyever, since they're ridin' the same range an' runnin' the same
brand," I says, "don't they combine like cattle folks an' work their
round-ups together?"
"'"They splits on doctrine," says the barkeep; "you couldn't get 'em
together with a gun.
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