The Greeley tribune., 1908-03-12
MORMONISM
nv INV WILLIAM H BATES, d. d.

lous husband was her faithful aiis'
At f,resjde consultations, and by SOL
emp and mysterious hints OF nature
, their son Alvah was designated ~
the one. The youth was put III
training for the role he was to pray
But, poor boy However spiritually
minded he may have been, he had'
alas a carna appetite. am re-
minded OF the epitaph OF a little
girl, said to have been upon Ne"
Jersey mbStoue
She was not smart she was not fair,
For her our hearts with grief are swell'n
All empty stands her little char
She died of eatin' watermelln''
But in Alvah's case, not water
melon. but green apples were the
cause OF his untimely demise. lie
capitulated to collie and his mantle
I fell on Joe.
Joe. the Son. Rises.
. Joe was a queer boy. y Palmyra
writer says that to such an extent
did the mother impress upon him his
I future mission, that all the Instincts
| of childhood were repressed. lie
rarely smiled or laughed, never In
dulged In demonstrations OF fun,
since that would not comport with
the dignity of his prophetic vocation.
He was indolent, shiftleSs, and much
given to lounging about the village
AT length he began TO manifest
little ambition. and his mother S
intellect began to shine out some
what, especially when he attempted
to solve some profound question in
moral or political ethics in \ youth
ful debating club whose meetings
were held in the old red school house.
Subsequently catching a spark OF
Methodism at camp meeting held
in q piece OF woods nearby, he is said
to have become quite a passable ex-
horter.
Joe Looks Into Things.
When about fifteen years old,
while watching his father digging a
we'll, a curious stone shaped like
child's foot was thrown up, which
attracted the boys attention. This
was the famous Palmyra peep
stone' Instructed by his mother,
looking into 1t he could see wonder
full things, and could reveal full too
we'll where missing articles could be
found.
Joe vasabondizes.
He seems to have become some.
what Of a vagrant, wandering from
place to place and imposing upon
the credulous, protesting his ability
to locate buried gold and other hid.
den treasures. In the new Schaff-
Herzog Enclycopaedia. In the article
on Mormonism, is published for the
first time a transcript from the
record of the Justices court OF Balm
bridge. Chenango county, n. Y, In
I March, 1926, which sets forth that
Smith, who had been plying his vo-
cation in that locality about five
months, was arrested ON the charge
of being disorderly person and an
impostor. The evidence given in his
behalf shoas that the fouls we're not
all dead; but the evidence against
him was so strong as easily to secure
his conviction of the ofIense of which
he was charged.
Joe Executes Coup"
Smith made his way to Harmony
a little settlement on the north banl
OF the river near Susquehanna, Pa
Residing in the vicinity was a mar
named Jack Belcner, who while em
poved at the salt works near Cehna
became possessed of seeing stone
that hau, as alleged, miraculou
Palmyra peep stone.n Seeing
without the aid of the new stone
how possession of it would enabl
him to make money more rapidly
and easily, he bought it OF Belcher
He concocted "a scheme of expansion
both for his business and his fame
He induced well-to-do but gulIlbl
farmer, named Martin Harris, to be
, come his financial hacker. Will
engaged in digging for some money
the locality of which his stone ha,
revealed, he and his men boarde,
with one Isaac Hale. Smith fell il
b, love with Ilale's daughter Emma
school teacher, and, the father on
posing the suit, the couple euped I
New York state where they married
Writing back, the young HUSBAND
declared that ne had given up wha
he called glass looking, and wa
willing and expected to work har,
for living-whicn placated tn
father-in law Indeed Smlth ofteI
told his immediate relatives that, t
Q use his own words, his sight seeiu