Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-10


so with difficulty. By no authority is 1t
commended that he was in any respect more
than very poorly educated. And yet in
this publication We have a work of the
greatest anthropological, chronological and
archaeological interest struck off in one
complete, full, perfect act at the hands
of an uneducated, uncultivated country
boor of eQuivocal reputation and low ORR
gin.
The Alleged Record.
This Book Of Mormon purports to be a
record delivered to Joseph Smith ir, when
he was in vision, September 81 1923, at
the age of eighteen years, by an angel of
God, named Moron, said record being, in
the words Of the author:
A book deposited, written upon gold
plates, giving an account of the former in
habitants of this continent and the source
from whence they sprang.' He also
said there We're two stones in silver bows
tand these stones faSten ID to a breaStDlatc
constituted what is called the Trim and
Thummim} deposited with the plates, and
the possession and use of these stones was
what constituted seers in ancient or former
times, and that God had prepared them
for the purpose of translating the book
Again he told me that when l got
those plates of which he had spoken, for
the time that they should b. obtained was
not yet fulfilled | should not show them to
any person, neither the breastpate with the
rim and Thummim, only TO those to whom
| should be commanded to show them. If
did | should be destroyed. Will he was
conVerSlnS with me about the plates the
vision was opered to my mind that / could
see the place where the plates were de-
posted, and that so clearly and distinctly
that ] knew the place again when 1 visited
it. Times and Seasons, vol. 3. p. 739 -
Western New Nor.. Dialect.
After giving the history of the publica-
ton and the details of a trip ne made to
Palmyra in 1861. in this connection. DR.
Pierce said that, otwiths,anding the rim
and Thummirn device of Smith a more
than accidental trace of the vernacular of
the backwoods of western New York is
found on every page Of the work.
"Solec.sms which would delight the heart
Of the modern dialect writer crop out in
every sentence In turning the leaves a
well nigh new photography of words stares
the reader in the face. Out of it's JSs pages
| venture to assert that barely one is free
from one or more geographic examples
And that the breaStp.a;e, with the Trim
and Thummim attachment. did not aid the
grammarless translator or his uninspired
amanuensis. or even his village printer, is
evident from such eccentric irregularities
and bold departures from the well of En-
glish undefled' as thou renembereth' page
%; and | have not written but a small
part of the things | saw page 30; there
lore lHey ulu not look unto the Lord as
they had ought. same page: and the Devil
Is the preparation of 1t, page IS: and II
came to pass that l did make tools out of
the ore which / did motion out Of the rock ,
page 43; and upon the plates which / made
l did engraven the records of my father
page 80; I can not write but a little of INV
words page 129; and 1t came to pass that
the servant of the Lord of the yineya nd
done according to the word of the Lord.
page 1872: he had somewhat contentious
among his own people, page 152; and this
he DONE page 225; and the words of ANU
lex which was declared unto the people >
page 245; now the object of these LAWYERS
were to get gain page PSI; if 1t were pos
sible that our first parents could have went
forth, page PSI; that there might not be
no more sorrow upon all the face of the
earth page 1903; oh, We had ought to begin
to howl and mourn, page All; behold
We're about to write them all which were
engraven,' page 500; stabbed by a garb Of
secrecy page AL
The Corrections Necessary.
After showing the absurdity of the claim
that God produced work which since has
had more than 5000 corrections in orthog-
raphy and grammar. DR.. Pierce said:
These 5000 changes. then, are not typo-
graphical corrections. Comparison OF the