Baptism [a story fragment]

“Sinner! I am right now dunking my little pigpen in the cesspool. I am changing it into a flower-bed which will enable it to spread its fragrance to the whole neighborhood. You, in all your previous sins, would be happy for such a transformation. You would wish that your pig-pen had been transformed in that manner instead of sinking into the mire. Indeed, I should think that it would be nice if the purgatory of your life could be transformed into the purgatory of your death.”