I think he was relieved when I told him that last letter was pronounced like an “s”. I suspect that Bruder Fuchß was likewise relieved.

As to the original post, Charles Ora Card took notes on the October 7, 1900 Sunday School Conference associate with General Conference:

Question. Prest J.F. Smith. In our stake we only have one baptizing day in each year. We Recommend Baptism day in every month.

Being a collector of what now might be obscure baptism accounts, I love all of this. Multi-use temple fonts date back to the first font of the Restoration in the Nauvoo Temple. On the first official day of baptism, people were baptized for the dead, for their health, and for the remission of sins.

Ardis’ comment about old handbooks made me think of The Missionary’s Hand Book, which was used from the mid 1930s to the 1950s, and has some fun instruction regarding method: “It is improper for those who are appointed to perform baptisms to use waders or hip boots to avoid wetting the clothing or to keep water from coming in contact with the body. If there are a number to be baptized and the water is cold, several may be appointed to officiate so that none will be unnecessarily chilled.” (pg 137) Also: “The wearing of bathing caps by women who are baptized should not be permitted.” (pg. 138) I don’t have access to General Handbooks during this time.

My old chapel in Kansas was built around the same time as the Heidelberg chapel. It also had a “pit” type font that was covered by a couple of plywood panels. I had numerous classes over the years in the baptismal room and sat in chairs directly over the font. That’s the way it was. So I naturally didn’t find anything unusual about the Heidelberg chapel’s font.

My favorite baptism experience is from Dec 1997, when I baptized my nephew in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. We had scoped out a nice little tidal pool carved out of the rocks which was full. However, by later in the afternoon, the tide had dropped and the pool was subject to filling, and then draining as the waves came in and out. On top of that, a storm was coming in, which added a violent effect to the ebb and flow of the waves in the pool. We got in the basin and I said the prayer. Then I had to wait for enough of a wave to come in so the pool could fill and I could dunk him. The problem was that by the time we recovered from getting bashed by the incoming waves, any water in the pool had run out. After a few minutes of this, I laid him out flat on the sand, held him down while the waves completely washed over him. Poor kid thought he was going to drown.

In Hamamatsu, Japan in the late 80′s we held a baptismal service for the very elderly parents of a wonderful sister the ward. These elderly parents had come to live with their daughter’s family (the Ishii family, as I recall), and after feeling the wonderful spirit in their home and seeing the gospel in action in the lives of their posterity, they had decided to be baptized themselves.

The grandmother (easily 80+ years old) was physically very weak and arthritic, and could barely bend her knees. At the baptism, we *intentionally* filled the traditional modern font in the chapel all the way to the brim, so that she would not need to bend so much. She was not a tall woman, and when her son-in-law carefully took her down into the water, it came up to her chin — just below the big grin on her face.

What then ensued was, without question, the most tender, gentle, quiet “dunking” I’ve ever seen.

…and with that, I’m off to baptize my own daughter 90 minutes from now. (No kidding.)