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residing in the place at the time, who was perfectly familiar with the work, and repeatedly heard the whole

of it read.

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From New Salem, we removed to Pittsburgh, Pa. Here Mr. Spaulding found a friend and acquaintance, in the person of Mr. Patterson, an editor of a newspaper. He exhibited his manuscript to Mr. Patterson, who was very much pleased with it, and borrowed it for perusal. He retained it for a long time, and informed Mr. Spaulding that if he would make out a title page and preface, he would publish it, and it might be a source of profit. This Mr. Spaulding refused to do, for reasons which I cannot now state. Sidney Rigdon, who has figured so largely in the history of the Mormons, was at that time connected with the printing office of Mr. Patterson, as is well known in that region, and as Rigdon himself has frequently stated. Here he had ample opportunity to become acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript, and copy it if he chose. It was a matter of notoriety and interest to all connected with the printing establishment. At length, the manuscript was returned to its author, and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington county, Pa., where Mr. Spaulding deceased in 1816. The manuscript then fell into my hands, and was carefully preserved. It has frequently been examined by my daughter, Mrs. M'Kenstry, of Monson, Mass., with whom I now reside, and by other friends. After the book of Mormon came out, a copy of it was taken to New Salem, the place of Mr. Spaulding's former residence, and the very place where the Manuscript Found' was written. A woman preacher appointed a meeting there, and in the meeting read and repeated copious extracts from the book of Mormon. The historical part was immediately recognized by all the older inhabitants, as the identical work of Mr. Spaulding, in which they had all been so deeply interested years before. Mr. John Spaulding was present, who is an eminently pious man, and recognized perfectly the work of his brother. He was amazed and afflicted that it should have been perverted to so wicked a purpose. His grief found vent in a flood of tears, and he arose on the spot, and expressed in the meeting his sorrow and regret that the writ

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ings of his sainted brother should be used for a purpose so vile and shocking. The excitement in New Salem became so great, that the inhabitants had a meeting, and deputed Dr. Philastus Hurlbut, one of their number, to repair to this place, and to obtain from me the original manuscript of Mr. Spaulding, for the purpose of comparing it with the Mormon Bible, to satisfy their own minds, and to prevent their friends from embracing an error delusive. This was in the year 1834. Dr. Hurlbut brought with him an introduction, and request for the manuscript, which was signed by Messrs. Henry Lake, Aaron Wright, and others, with all whom I was acquainted, as they were my neighbours when I resided at New Salem. I am sure that nothing would grieve my husband more, were he living, than the use which has been made of his work. The air of antiquity which was thrown about the composition, doubtless suggested the idea of converting it to purposes of delusion. Thus an historical romance, with the addition of a few pious expressions and extracts from the sacred Scriptures, has been construed into a new Bible, and palmed off upon a company of poor, deluded fanatics as Divine. I have given the previous brief narration, that this work of deep deception and wickedness may be searched to the foundation, and the author exposed to the contempt and execration he so justly deserves. MATILDA DAVIDSON."

The whole mystery of the origin of this book seems to be cleared up by this statement, and I have seen no attempt made to gainsay or deny its truth. The farther, however, Martin Harris went into this delusion, the more he seemed to become infatuated. He had already embarked a large portion of his property in bringing out the publication of the book of Mormon, and though many things had occurred that we should think would have convinced any rational man that he had been made the subject of a deep laid scheme of deception, he still seems to have shut his eyes and gone on in the dark. As I have already mentioned, at first Martin Harris was assured that the golden plates on which this record was engraven, would be his, and that it would be perfectly lawful to subject them to public inspection; but as the managers of this

imposture proceeded, they found it necessary to advance with more caution, lest they should put into the hands of others the very elements which would contribute to their own utter explosion. Hence it was revealed to Joe Smith, that he would be authorized to show them only to three individuals who should assist in bringing forward this work. This was a lure to secure the continued co-operation of Harris. To convince Harris that he would be highly privileged, it was foretold in the book of Ether, written by Moroni (book of Mormon, p. 548) that he that should find the plates should have the privilege of showing them to three persons.

To know how much the testimony of the persons appealed to is worth, I will state one fact. A gentleman in Palmyra, bred to the law, a professor of religion, and of undoubted veracity, told me that on one occasion, he appealed to Harris and asked him directly,-"Did you see those plates ?" Harris replied, he did. "Did you see the plates and the engraving on them with your bodily eyes ?" Harris replied, "Yes, I saw them with my eyes, they were shown unto me by the power of God, and not of man.' "But did you see them with your natural, your bodily eyes, just as you see this pencil case in my hand? Now say No or Yes to this." Harris replied, 'Why I did not see them as I do that pencil case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see any thing around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth."

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Statements like these require no comment. We shall be happy if the circulation we give them should assist our friends, who have dupes of this wretched delusion around them, in its exposure.

CHANGES.

THIS is a changing world, but latterly things appear to pass away with more than their wonted rapidity. There was a thicket where, in my boyish days, I gathered hips and hazel nuts; the wild rose blossomed there ungathered, and the brier was rich in blackberries: neither hip, nor nut, nor blackberry, nor rose, can now be seen there; for the thicket is taken away, and steam engines are panting, and iron wheels are rumbling where blackbirds used to build their nests, and nightingales warbled their evening songs.

What a folly it is to set our hearts on things that may, as it were, be blown away at a breath, by the changing customs of mankind!

There was a lane, shady, crooked, and cool, where, in summer time, I have gathered the sweet violet from the bank, and plucked the wild strawberry from its wiry stem. The big oak spread there its giant arms, and shed its autumnal acorns all around, a hoard of happiness for the rejoicing swine that frequented that unbroken solitude. The spring that gushed from the higher bank has often assuaged my thirst, and I have drank of it joyfully, thanking the Almighty Giver of so grateful a beverage. But where is the spring now? And where are the shady lane and the oak tree? A railroad station is erected on the spot they once occupied, and throngs usurp the place of solitude.

There was a hill where the morning breeze blew fresh, where the evening gale, laden with odours, breathed around. From its summit might be seen the neighbouring village, the wide-spread moor and distant mountains. The holly tree that grew there, has often, in winter, cheered my spirit with its red clustering berries, and glossy green leaves. How small a thing, at times, will raise or depress the heart! The hill has been lowered, and the tree grubbed up by the roots, for the railroad now runs right across the place. Holly hill is a thing that was, and in a few years will be, no doubt, forgotten.

There was a hollow, and a sweet one too, at a little distance from the road, and many a passenger has been tempted to turn aside to enjoy its privacy. Nobody could tell how the huge grey stones came there, that lay on a heap, covered with moss; and few could remember when the inside of the hollow tree was any thing but touchwood. Gipsies know as well as any people, the pleasantest nooks of a neighbourhood; and seldom, in summer time, was that hollow without a gipsy tent. It is not so now: never was a greater change! The stones have been broken, the old tree burned, and the hollow has been raised for the railroad.

There was a cottage, and one that I loved to enter, though it had neither a grape vine, nor woodbine climbing up the front of it. Its treasures were inside, not but what the place was a pretty place, nay, a very pretty place, but the aged couple that lived there were among the worthy of the world; among the

are brought to an end. The red sandstone rock has been levelled to the ground, to help in forming the foundation of the neighbouring railroad.

pilgrims and sojourners that are journey- | ing on to a better inheritance, rejoicing in the hope set before them in the gospel of Jesus Christ. For fifty years they lived in that cottage; but what did that mat- There was a common, poor enough in ter? had they lived there a hundred, herbage, but rich in heath flowers, and it would have been the same; down the the glowing yellow blossoms of the cottage would have come, for the rail- blooming furze. There might be seen road men wanted the ground. the shaggy donkey browsing on his faThere was a moat, filled with dark-vourite thistle, and the unshod colt as yet coloured water, so clear that you might uncurrycombed and unaccustomed to the trace the roots of the water lily to the rein; and there might be heard the cry black mud at the bottom. The crazy of the plover, the cackle of the flying drawbridge was useless, though it still geese fluttering their way to the pond, occupied its place; for a part of the and the tinkle of the bell on the black ditch, at the further side of the island it sheep nibbling at the stunted grass. inclosed, had been filled up, joining the have lingered there in sweet solitude, island to the field. Stunted oaks and "Alone, alone, ail, all alone," withered pines hung over the moat, and when the broad sun has been setting bethere were the moor hen and the wild duck;hind the blue hills of the west; but my and the water rat plunging beneath the evening rambles there are broad leaves of the lilies. The water rat, The common is no common now, and the wild duck, and moor hen have not a furze bush is there to be seen; sought other shelter; for the old draw- where the ground was as level as a bowlbridge is pulled down, and the old moat ing green, now rise up the high banks of filled up. I was much attached to the the railroad. old moat; but that did not signify, it lay in the line of the railway, and soon every trace of it vanished away.

There was a field so sheltered by the wood, so watered by the brook, and so adorned with rising mounds thick with young trees, shrubs, and brambles, that the place seemed designed more for the pleasure of human beings, than to afford pasturage for cattle. The farmer might have preferred broad acres of unincumbered tillage, but he who visited the place as a stranger, paused with wonder, if the love of nature was in his heart; and if the love of God was there, an ejaculation of praise and thanksgiving overflowed his lips. It was a spot of earth where all the romance of fancy was outdone by the beautiful reality. Wood and water, shrubs and flowers, sunbeams, blue skies and solitude, made the place enchanting: no matter, it lay in the line of the railroad, and is a field no longer.

There was a rock of red sandstone, down which hung wreaths of glossy ivy leaves, and creepers of all kinds. On the face of the rock, the boys of the village had carved their names with their knives; and midway up the steep, from a deep fissure, sprang a crab tree, abundant in fruit, adorning the rock with its autumnal red and yellow leaves. Often have I mused on the misshaped letters, and as often gazed on the crab tree, the ivy, and the creepers; but my musings

now over.

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There was an old moss-grown stone cross, standing on a foundation of huge and shapeless stones. Time was, no doubt, when it wore a comelier appearance in the eye of the mere statuary; but its mouldered and misshaped ruin much endeared it to me. It might have been raised by the hands of superstition; but this I know not, for its inscription, if it ever bore one, had long since been obliterated. Standing, as it did, like a hoary-headed monitor, by the wayside, it seemed to warn every passer by to prepare for change. If the hard rock is worn away by the elements, no wonder that time should pull down those that "dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth," Job iv. 19. It may be that you have gazed on the moss-grown cross, but if you have not, you never will now; for it has been broken to pieces, and used, with other materials, in building the railroad wall. All is changing here. The thicket, the shady lane, the hill, and the hollow, the cottage, the moat, the field, and the red sandstone rock, with the common, and the old stone cross, are now all gone. Ay! and we are going too; and it behoves us to put this question to our hearts, Are we, among these changes around us, fixing our hope in Him who changes not, but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?

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Roman soldiers attacking the robbers in their caves. ROBBERS IN JUDEA.

It is stated in the fifth book of Maccabees, that robbers greatly multiplied in Judea during the time of Antigonus. They betook themselves to caves in the mountains, to which only one could approach at a time, through certain places known to them alone. In these singular dwellings were arms and provisions in abundance, together with the spoils taken from those they attacked, and at the mouth of each cave was a guard, to repel any hostile attempt to search it.

No sooner did Herod hear of these doings, than he ordered great wooden chests to be made, and furnished with men, bearing long-hooked spears. He commanded that these should be let down from the summit of the mountains, in the midst of which the caves were, and that when they were opposite their mouths, the men they contained should attack the robbers in close fight, and drag them forth from their retreats. All this was done, and, says the historian, "in this exploit, their courage, bravery, and boldness were so conspicuous, that the like of it was never seen; and they wholly rooted out the robbers from all those parts."

THE TELEGRAPH.-No. I.

A TELEGRAPH is a machine by which information may be almost instantaJULY, 1841.

neously conveyed from one place to another. It must often happen, in every country, that government orders, foreign news, and other communications, should, for the benefit of the state, be transmitted with great speed, from one part of the country to another. The motion of a horse, or even of a railway carriage, would, in many instances, be much too slow, to effect the desired object; for during the time required to perform the journey, a ship may have sailed, an enemy may have landed, and many other events which it was desirable to prevent, may have happened. The object of a telegraph is to save time; and it is astonishing with what rapidity it is possible to communicate information from one appointed station to another, by the system now adopted; but the electrical telegraph can be worked with so much more secrecy and rapidity, that it will probably supersede the use of every other kind.

The telegraphs now employed by the Admiralty must have been seen by many of our readers; but as others are ignorant of their construction, it will be necessary to give a brief description of their forms and the system of communication. The first object in the establishment of a line of telegraphs, is to select convenient stations, which must be at such distances that the signs to be given can be seen by

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and celebrated marquis of Worcester has alluded to the same subject, in his "Century of Inventions." But the first telegraph constructed with a view to public purposes, was that described in the Philosophical Transactions, in the

those nearest to it. They are, therefore, | tween distant places. The ingenious generally fixed on high hills, and sufficiently near to be observed without the chance of mistake. It is in this way that Chatham, Dover, and other towns where the government has extensive works, are connected with the public offices of London. At Dover, which is seventy-year 1684. The method proposed by two miles from the metropolis, an the author consists in exposing, from order would be received long before a behind a screen, a series of differently horseman leaving the Admiralty in shaped figures, each representing a letter Westminster, could arrive at Green- of the alphabet. "The stations being wich. well chosen," says the inventor, "the same character may be seen at Paris within a minute after it hath been exposed in London, and none but the two extreme correspondents shall be able to discover the information conveyed." The rapidity of the communication for this distance is much overstated.

Some kind of telegraphic arrangement has probably been employed by almost all nations, even by those in a semibarbarous state. Many tribes of Indians, in the present day, are accustomed, when at war, to make signals by lighting fires upon high hills; and for all their purposes, these are sufficient: but they would be of little service to a civilized nation in the time of peace, for the meaning of all signals must be previously arranged. Many who read these remarks will remember that when Napoleon threatened to invade this country, combustible materials were placed in exposed situations ready to be ignited, should the attempt be made to land troops on any part of our coasts. This was indeed necessary in some respects; for the ordinary telegraphic system was unsuited to the purposes required, and cannot be used at night. We were, however, mercifully preserved from the muchdreaded calamity of war upon our shores. The early Greeks had a system of telegraphic communication even at the time of the Trojan war; for in one of the Greek poems of early date, a watchman is represented as descending from a high tower to give information that Troy was taken. I have been looking out these ten years," he says, "to see when that would happen, and this night it is done.'

Without attempting to discover the character of the signals employed by ancient nations, or to relate the instances in which they were adopted, it will be interesting to refer to some of the arrangements which have been used in Europe, and more especially in our own country.

Kircher, a man of great learning and philosophical ingenuity, who left an account of the state of almost all branches of science in his own day, was one of the first to propose a systematic establishment of signals for communication be

In the year 1794, the French government used a telegraph invented by citizen Chappe, and the advantage derived from it, called the attention of the English to the subject. It was exceedingly simple in its construction. It consisted of a beam of wood, attached to the end of an upright, and moving on a pivot. Το each end of the beam an arm was applied, also moving on a pivot, so that it could be turned in any direction. The instrument resembled, when horizontal, the letter T, which fairly represents the form of the machine, if the top of the letter and the two marks at the extremities be supposed to move on pivots. By the position of the beam and its arms, the information intended was conveyed, every position having some specific meaning attached to it. But although the instrument was simple in its construction, its motions were not easily deciphered; so that an experienced observer was required to read them with

accuracy.

In the year 1795, Mr. Gamble proposed a telegraph consisting of five boards, one placed above the other; and by opening or shutting them singly, or together, letters or numbers might be signified. But in the same year, lord George Murray proposed what is called the six shutter telegraph, which was adopted by the Admiralty, and used during the whole of the war, till the year 1816.

There was afterwards a discussion among those who have the superintendence of telegraphs in this country, whether the opening and shutting of boards, as in the two instruments just mentioned,

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