Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-05-26

This Is the Spaulding Manuscript ]
| fhlua q great deal Of 10. and as some OF
| the leaves were pretty badly worn,
| have lately had II carefully bound TO
| preserve ID, and these leaves az you
see" continued the professor. turning
10 the first pages Of the book 81 have
had pasted between silk and the entire
book Is now IN very good condition"
BEAUTIFULLY ROUND.
Professor Root then handed me
the book and told me ! might sit
down and spend as much time look
ing 10 over as / might wish II Is
now beautifully bound In red morocco.
the title is In gilt lettering. Inside this
beautiful cover Is the faded old manu-
script Of less than two hundred pages.
/ turned over the leaves one after the
other reading a little here and there
as ] glanced over the pages. There II
hardly a line without a misspelled
word, a correction, or an crasure Az
ter short time Professor Root re-
turned and / could see he was deslrous
that | ehOuld say something about the
manuscript Tor ! had not even shown
the least interest IN IL, which perhaps
surprised him. But ! atill remained
should speak first Finally he did 80
and these were his words:
PROF. ROOTS STATEMENT.
"Alr. Snow. Il Is an humbug to say
that the Book OF Mormon has any con-
neCtlOn whatever with the Spauldng
Manuscript ] have read and compared
them both very carefully and am fully
convinced that they are not In any
way connected with each other There
Is not a proper name or an incident In
one that resembles q name or incident
In the other and not only Is there no
resemblance In the reading matter, but
the styles used IN the two books are
also entirely different"
This, as might be supposed, afforded
me much satisfaction II Is as strong
testimony as any one could wish for,
and 10 came from an honest man. and
that too from one who IL not In any
way In sympathy with our people or our
faith Yet IL rs not al an surprising
that he should make such a statement
We have an exact COPY Of the Manu-
script II Is known as the Manuscript
Story and can DE had az the Deseret
News Anyone who viii read the beau
tiful teachings and interesting history
In the Book Of Mormon and compare
the same with the silly contents of the
Spauldlng Story win not hesitate 20
make Ike statement
LETTERS OF INQUIRY.
Professor Root told me that he re-
ceived several letters every week in
qulring about the manuscript In fact
he read two letters 20 me that he had
just received The writer ~ one Of
them asked about the owner Of the
manuscript and how much the writ
ings could be purchased for In the
other letter was an Inquiry as 20 the
genuiueness Of the manuscript. To such
questions the professor said be always
answered emphatlcally that no price
would buy the manuscript that there
was no doubt whatever about Il be-
ing the original Spauldiug writings, and
that Il bears no resemblance TO the
Book Of Mormon He said 20 me fur
Their:
Now. Mr.. Snow, ! don't suppose you
people would care 20 possess this man
uscript for II certainly will do you more
GOOD where Il Is now than II one Of
your institutions or any institution
connected with your people possessed
il"
And he ~ right, for where would be a
more proper place for II than the great
educational Institution In Oberlln. and
whose statement would be accepted
more readily or with more confidence
than thar ~ the librarian ~ that lnsu-
tutlon? This is surely the best place
for IL. And then Professor Root Is so
pleasant that Il Is a pleasure 20 talk
with him and ] know he would only bo
too glad 10 show the manuscript 10
anyone who might be interested In see
ing Il.
MANUSCRIPT PECULIARITIEs.
In conclusion, wish TO give just
very brief synopsis of the contents OF
the Spauldlng writings this Is not done
I'm the spirit of ridicule for simple and
ridiculous as the story is. ! DO not wish
to make light OF II In any way what