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Show A Swlile.-Loneliness.-Mormonism, and the llformmts. (AuGUST, a proof that the atrociuus poetical taste of tl1e clay has not poisoned all the springs of beauty whereat the weary pil grim of life has been accustomed to refresh himself. May it long be so! This is scarcely the place in which to speak of her personal character, and yet we cannot ref~ain from laying our humble tribute of respect on the shrine. Delicate, sensitive, and feminine, yet high· spirited, proud, and independent, she presents a rare union of strength and beauty. Her memory is fitly embalmed in the adoration of her family to whic·h she was a guardian an ge l, and the untiring aflCction of l1er friends who clung to her through good and evil rPport. The best proof of the innate charm of her character is in its retaining its hold on the mind, even after t.lw perusal of her Biography by Laman Blanchard. We make free to assert, that a more inco nsistent, ill-diges ted and disagreeable piece of life-writing has scarcely C\'er been botc hed together by a liter=Hy drudge. Throughout it we look in vain for a single spark of that seemingly exhaustless fund of wit, humor, and ];nowledge of liJC which have so often made our sides ache over the inimitable pages of "Punch." Philadelphia, April, 1845. A SHIILE. On the bosom of Ocean A dim vapor lay- L ike a. pall on the wave \\"as its mantle of gray, Till the glow of the morning Its dark folds illuming, "·hen its volumes, in golden hues, Sprang from their glooming; And with rose -tints, the .sunbeams, Jn beauty were blended, As it rose on the breeze And to H ea\'Cn ascended. Like that dim ocean \'apor, The Soul, steeped in crime, Floats gloomily down \.Yith the current of time, Till Religion 's warm beams, Falling soft on the heart, A halo of brightness And glory impart-- And in beauty, when freed From mortality's clod, The disfranchised spirit Wings its way up to Goo. L. K H. D. LONELINESS. 0 heart, thou wert not made AI nne to linger on; To wander thus, through light and shade, \Vith none to lean upon. To look around and sec No pulse to answer thine, No tender eyes to smile on tl,ee, :K o lips to call thee " mine." The tendril of the vine That seeks, in vain, to cast lts arms round aught besides, must twine Upon itself at last. The he:~.rt that seeks in vain Some answering heart to find, Turns on itself, and weaves a chain That it cannot unbind. L. MORMONISM, AND THE i\!ORl'IONS. The Messenger for September, 18,H, contained a very ably written and interesting arti cle, from the pen of E. D. of South Carolina, (who, par parenthesis, is a decided favorite of ours, fur his convincing articles upon Nati\'e Literature and International Copyright Law.) entitled, "The Rise and Progress of the Mormon Faith and P eople." Notwithstanding the care with which the paper was written, and the very favorable opportunities that the writer enjoyed to obtain an accurate know. ledge of the origin of the l\•lormon F'aith, he has fallen into some slight errors, and has, moreover, treated the alleged discovery of the "l\lormon Bihle" with a. seriousne.ss which, in our opinion, is calculated to work much evil hereafter-and more especially, slmuld Ids predictions of the ultimate progress of that faith prove true. llc l1as per. mitted himself to allow the possibility that the assertions, made by the late Joe Smith and his "witnesses," in regard to the discovery of the "plates upon which they pretend tl1at the " Book of Mormon" was written, may be true; and has considered the whole matter in that earnest way which is calculated to create a douUt in the minds of those who, otherwise, would at once condemn the story for a tissue of romantic falsehoods. To all of this we enter a serious protest. The pages of the r-.Iesscnger will be read in after years, when ::~II the unwritten facts, which are now possessed hy a large portion of the public, will have passed entirely from the recol!cctions of men-when those, 1845.] j\ formonism, and l11e Mormon$. 4i5 "ho now know that the whole story of the miracu. lous origin of that book is a sheer fabrication, shall ha\'e been called frnm the stage of action :-and what impression will the reading of E. D.'s account and argument leave upon the mind of the reader of that day 1 Could he say at once, as we now can, that, as the name of the book would in-timate, the en tire matter was a "bug·bear," having its origin, or at least its sadly pen-erted use, in the minds of some two or three designing and dishonest men 1 Surely he could not. 'If we argue now wife of a ~h. Da\·ison, of Mason, 1\lassachusetts. She says: "Rev. Solomon Spaulding, to whom I was united in marriage in early life, was a graduate of Dart~ nout~ C~llege, aud was distingui shed fUr a lively tmagmatwn and a great fondness fur history. At tile time of our marri<~ge, he resided in Cherry Valley, N.Y. From this place we removed to New Salem, As htabu\:J. county, 0 .. sometimes called Coneaut, as i~ is situated upon the Coneaut cree k. Shortly after our removal to this place his health SUI1k, and he was laid aside from act i\·e labors. ln to prO\'€ the in1prohability of this miraculous ori- the town of New Salem there are numerous mounds gin, after years will rake our doubts for concessions and ~orts, su pposed by .many to be the dilapidated as to its truth-and historv will write it down as dwelltngs and fortific atiOnS of a race now extinct. an attested fact. Unques;iunably many a broad !hese anci ent relics arrf'~tcd the_ attention of nP.w romance, many a poetical fiction, mauy an ~~~\~l~!~ a~u~:~,~~~e i 1~1~l~~~~nc:! ~~!~~ r~~~:J~ ~~~ "Extra\·agrmcy, And crazy ribaldry of fan"y,'' othe r artie!es, evincing g reat skdl in the arts. Mr. SpauldinJ,r b ein~ an educ~te(l man, and J~assionately fond of history, took a lively ihlerest 1n these developments of ant iquity; and in order to Ueauile has found its way into the sober pa!!C'S of history }:; ,111j~ul~~e~~ ~~:.r;i~~:~~'n,a~~ :~~:~~~~~e~~~;~~~~~e~~ for a fact, solely for the want of a decided denial. giviug- an hi storical sketch of this lost race. Their while it was in the power of the world to deny ex:rem_e antiquity of ~ourse would lead him to with the facts before it. wnte tn the most ancrent style; and as the Old It is our i~tention, in a very brief article, to give ~:es;~~~~~~:disit!h:t 1,1~~s~sannc~=~·t b~sok ~;sit~;: wo~t~ what we belJC\'e t~ be a cor~e~t statement of the sole object in writ~ng his roric!l ro~ance ~\•as to facts connected wrth the ongm of t~e •· Book of amuse himself and his neighbors. This was about Mormon," andtheriseofthe ''Latter Day Saints." the year 18 12. Jlull's surrender at Detroit oc\ Ve chanced to be a resident of Ontario Countv curred near the same time; and I reeollect the date 1'\ew York, at the time of the fir st appearance ~f \~ell from ~l1at ci rcum_srance. As he progr~ssed in the "Seventh \Yonder" in the person of Joe h_1s narrat_rve, the neJghbor.s would cnme 1n fr~m Smith-and our recollection of the circumstances, ~~~cestt~n tl:~: ~~o;kea\:'a~o;~~~i~~=dr~~;JJ~~~hg::~~lu!~ as they transpired then, is yet quite strong. claimed to ha\·c been written by one"'of the lnst Let us first notice the "Golden Bible," as it was nation, and to have been recovered from the earth, then familiarly termed. No one, at that time, who a?d as~urned tile title of." I\~anuscript Found." knew Joe Smith, had the most distant idea that he 1 he nel~hbors woul~ often tnqurre hi~W Mr. S. prO· was the author, or was in any way connected with ~~es,~:J ~n ~~~r~~~~mp~:/;~n~>~~~=~~JJ~1: ~\~~~~t~hi~~ the" getting- up" of the book, or was even enti- form them, and they would assemble to hear it tled to the doubtful honor of having originated the read. H e was enabled. from his acquaintance with scheme for humbugging the marvel-loving portion tl.le clas!'ics and ancient history, to introduce many of the American people, who never trouble them- Slllgular names, which wer~ particularly noticed by selves to loo~ be.\'Ond the surfa~e of things. Others ~~:l.~:;~~l~p~:tJ~~;1 ~,~~ ~a:;~;~~=~.0J.')1~~e~:~~:~~~: had the credn, there, for all tins-and among them resHh.ng in the place at the time, who was perfeetly fi gured conspicuousl.v Sidney Rigdon, and a gentle- familrar with tins work, and repeatedly l1earrl it man of Palmyra, New York, whose name we shall read. From New Salem we remo1·ed to Pitts· now withhold, from regard for his connections, but b~rg, ~a. H ere l\lr. ~- found an acquaintan~e and who was willintT to sink so far his nod n f< fnend Ill the person of .1\.lr. Pa_ue rsun , an_ ednor of h , . . g a me or a newspaper. 1 [e e.\;hlbned l1 rs ma.n uscrrpt to i\ lr. t e sake of makwg to hunsclf a few dollars by Patterson, who was very mur"!h pleased with it, and publishing the'' Golden Bible." Thcr.e two were borrowed it for perusal. Jl e rct:<ined it fur a long then supposed to be the authors of the work-but rime, and informed Mr. S. that if he would make after days divulged the fact, as the reader will learn ?ut ~title page anJ preface he ~\'~H~ld publi sh it, and fro.m the foll~\~ing statement, that they had been ~~n~~h~iJ~er:::ou:~~\'fl~:;tifi~~n~/)I:S ;;~~~~.s- s~~~~~: gu.dty of avath::g themselv~s of the work of a Rigdon, (one of the founders or leaders of the seet,) third .man, and one, too, who tnnoccntly wrote what who has figured so largely in the history of the l1as smce produced not only error, but bloodshed. I\lormons, was at that time connected with the The real author of the Mormon Book was the printing office of i\'ir. Patterson, as is well known Hev. SoLOMON SPAULDING, a rninistf!r of the Con- in that re¥ion, and as Rigdon himself h.as frequently grega1ional Church; and to sustain this statement. ~~~~~~intele;1~111~e ~{;~ s~:;~~~~~~'.1;t~~~~\~~st:r:1;t~t~~~ we ~dduce the following extracts from a narrative to copy it if he chose. h w;'s a matter of notopubhshed by his widow, in 1839, at that time the riety and interest to all who were connected with |