MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (leveled readers txt) π
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Singular Appearance In his Hat, In such A Manner As To Exclude All
Light; At Which Time They Pretended he Could See All Things Within And
Under The Earth; That He Could Spy Within The Above-Mentioned caves
Large Gold Bars And Silver Plates; That He Could Also Discover The
Spirits In whose Charge These Treasures Were, Clothed in ancient
Dresses. At Certain Times, These Treasures Could Be Obtained very
Easily; At Others, The Obtaining Of Them Was Difficult. The Facility Of
Approaching Them Depended in a Great Measure On The State Of The Moon.
New Moon And Good Friday, I Believe, Were Regarded as The Most
Favourable Times For Obtaining These Treasures. These Tales, Of Course,
I Regarded as Visionary. However, Being Prompted by Curiosity, I At
Length Accepted their Invitation To Join Them In their Nocturnal
Excursions. I Will Now Relate A Few Incidents Attending These Nocturnal
Excursions.
"Joseph Smith, Sen., Came To Me One Night, And Told Me That Joseph,
Jun., Had Been Looking In his Stone, And Had Seen, Not Many Rods From
His House, Two Or Three Kegs Of Gold And Silver, Some Feet Under The
Surface Of The Earth, And That None Others But The Elder Joseph And
Myself Could Get Them. I Accordingly Consented to Go, And Early In the
Evening Repaired to The Place Of Deposit. Joseph, Sen., First Made A
Circle, Twelve Or Fourteen Feet In diameter: 'This Circle,' Said He,
'Contains The Treasure.' He Then Stuck In the Ground A Row Of
Witch-Hazel Sticks Around The Said Circle, For The Purpose Of Keeping
Off The Evil Spirits. Within This Circle He Made Another, Of About Eight
Or Ten Feet In diameter. He Walked around Three Times On The Periphery
Of This Last Circle, Muttering To Himself Something I Could Not
Understand. He Next Stuck A Steel Rod In the Centre Of The Circles, And
Then Enjoined profound Silence, Lest We Should Arouse The Evil Spirit
Who Had The Charge Of These Treasures. After We Had Dug A Trench Of
About Five Feet In depth Around The Rod, The Old Man, By Signs And
Motions, Asked leave Of Absence, And Went To The House To Inquire Of The
Son The Cause Of Our Disappointment. He Soon Returned, And Said, That
Joe Had Remained all The Time In the House, Looking In his Stone And
Watching The Motions Of The Evil Spirit; That He Saw The Spirit Come Up
To The Ring, And As Soon As It Beheld The Cone Which We Had Formed
Around The Rod, It Caused the Money To Sink. We Then Went Into The
House, And The Old Man Observed that We Had Made A Mistake In the
Commencement Of The Operation; 'If It Had Not Been For That,' Said He,
'We Should Have Got The Money.'
"At Another Time, They Devised a Scheme By Which They Might Satiate
Their Hunger With The Flesh Of One Of My Sheep. They Had Seen In my
Flock Of Sheep A Large, Fat, Black Wether. Old Joseph And One Of The
Boys Came To Me One Day, And Said, That Joseph, Jun., Had Discovered
Some Very Remarkable And Valuable Treasures, Which Could Be Procured
Only In one Way. That Way Was As Follows:--That A Black Sheep Should Be
Taken On The Ground Where The Treasures Were Concealed; That, After
Cutting Its Throat, It Should Be Led around A Circle While Bleeding;
This Being Done, The Wrath Of The Evil Spirit Would Be Appeased, The
Treasures Could Then Be Obtained, And My Share Of Them Would Be
Four-Fold. To Gratify My Curiosity, I Let Them Have The Sheep. They
Afterwards Informed me That The Sheep Was Killed pursuant To
Commandment; But, As There Was Some Mistake In the Process, It Did Not
Have The Desired effect. This, I Believe, Is The Only Time They Ever
Made Money-Digging a Profitable Business. They, However, Had Constantly
Around Them A Worthless Gang, Whose Employment It Was To Dig For Money
At Night, And Who, During Day, Had More To Do With Mutton Than Money.
"When They Found That The Better Classes Of People Of This Vicinity
Would No Longer Put Any Faith In their Schemes For Digging Money, They
Then Pretended to Find A Gold Bible, Of Which They Said The Book Of
Mormon Was Only An Introduction. This Latter Book Was At Length Fitted
For The Press. No Means Were Taken By Any Individual To Suppress Its
Publication; No One Apprehended danger From A Book Originating With
Individuals Who Had Neither Influence, Honesty, Nor Honour. The Two
Josephs And Hiram Promised to Show Me The Plates After The Book Of
Mormon Was Translated; But Afterwards, They Pretended to Have Received
An Express Commandment, Forbidding Them To Show The Plates. Respecting
The Manner Of Obtaining and Translating The Book Of Mormon, Their
Statements Were Always Discordant. The Elder Joseph Would Say, That He
Had Seen The Plates, And That He Knew Them To Be Gold; At Other Times He
Would Say, They Looked like Gold; And At Other Times He Asserted he Had
Not Seen The Plates At All.
"I Have Thus Briefly Stated a Few Of The Facts, In relation To The
Conduct And Character Of This Family Of Smiths; Probably Sufficient Has
Been Stated without My Going Into Detail.
"William Stafford."
The Following Is A Curious Document From One Of The Very Individuals Who
Printed the Mormon Bible:--
"Having Noticed in a Late Number Of The _Signs Of The Times_ A Notice Of
A Work Entitled 'Mormon Delusions And Monstrosities,' It Occurred to Me
That It Might, Perhaps, Be Of Service To The Cause Of Truth To State One
Circumstance, Relative To The Authenticity Of The Book Of Mormon, Which
Occurred during Its Publication, At Which Time I Was Engaged in the
Office Where It Was Printed, And Became Familiar With The Men And Their
Principles, Through Whose Agency It Was 'Got Up.'
"The Circumstance Alluded to Was As Follows!--We Had Heard Much Said By
Martin Harris, The Man Who Paid For The Printing, And The Only One In
The Concern Worth Any Property, About The Wonderful Wisdom Of The
Translators Of The Mysterious Plates, And We Resolved to Test Their
Wisdom. Accordingly, After Putting One Sheet In type? We Laid It Aside,
And Told Harris It Was Lost, And There Would Be A Serious Defection In
The Book In consequence, Unless Another Sheet, Like The Original, Could
Be Produced. The Announcement Threw The Old Gentleman Into Great
Excitement; But, After A Few Moments Reflection, He Said He Would Try
To Obtain Another. After Two Or Three Weeks, Another Sheet Was Produced,
But No More Like The Original Than Any Other Sheet Of Paper Would Have
Been, Written Over By A Common Schoolboy, After Having Read, As They
Had, The Manuscript Preceding and Succeeding The Lost Sheet. As Might Be
Expected, The Disclosure Of This Trick Greatly Annoyed the Authors, And
Caused no Little Merriment Among Those Who Were Acquainted with The
Circumstance. As We Were None Of Us _Christians_, And Only Laboured for
The 'Gold That Perisheth,' We Did Not Care For The Delusion, Only So Far
As To Be Careful To Avoid It Ourselves And Enjoy The Hoax. _Not One_ Of
The Hands In the Office Where The Wonderful Book Was Printed ever Became
A Convert To The System, Although The Writer Of This Was Often Assured
By Harris, That If He Did Not, He Would Be Destroyed in 1832.
"T.N.S. Tucker."
Groton, May 23, 1842.
Chapter XLIIILet Us Now Examine Into The Political Views Of The Mormons, And Follow
Smith In his Lofty And Aspiring Visions Of Sovereignty For The Future.
He Is A Rogue And A Swindler,--No One Can Doubt That; Yet There Is
Something Grand In his Composition. Joe, The Mean, Miserable,
Half-Starved money-Digger Of Western New York, Was, As I Have Before
Observed, Cast In the Mould Of Conquerors, And Out Of That Same Clay
Which Nature Had Employed for The Creation Of A Mahomet.
His First Struggle Was Successful; The Greater Portion Of His Followers
Surrounded him In kirkland, And Acknowledged his Power, As That Of God'S
Right Hand; While Many Individuals From Among The Better Classes
Repaired to Him, Attracted by The Ascendancy Of A Bold Genius, Or By The
Expectation Of Obtaining a Share In his Fame, Power, And Glory.
Kirkland, However, Was An Inland Place; There, On Every Side, Smith Had
To Contend With Opposition; His Power Was Confined and His Plans Had Not
Sufficient Room For Development He Turned his Mind Towards The Western
Borders Of Missouri: It Was But A Thought; But With Him, Rapid Action
Was As Much A Natural Consequence Of Thought As Thunder Is Of Lightning
Examine Into The Topography Of That Country, The Holy Zion And Promised
Land Of The Mormons, And It Will Be Easy To Recognize The Fixed and
Unchangeable Views Of Smith, As Connected with The Formation Of A
Vast Empire.
For The Last Twelve Or Fifteen Years The Government Of The United states
Has, Through A Mistaken Policy Been Constantly Engaged in sending To The
Western Borders All The Eastern Indian Tribes That Were Disposed to Sell
Their Land, And Also The Various Tribes Who, Having Rebelled against
Their Cowardly Despotism, Had Been Overpowered and Conquered during The
Struggle. This Gross Want Of Policy Is Obvious.
Surrounded and Demoralized by White Men, The Indian Falls Into A
Complete State Of _Decadence_ And _Abrutissement_. Witness The Choctaw
Tribes That Hover Constantly About Mobile And New Orleans; The
Winnibegoes, Who Have Of Late Come Into Immediate Contact With The
Settlers Of Wisconsin; The Pottawatomies, On Both Shores Of Lake
Michigan; The Miamis Of North Indiana, And Many More. On The Contrary,
The Tribes On The Borders, Or In the Wilderness, Are On The Increase. Of
Course, There Are A Few Exceptions, Such As The Kanzas, Or The Poor
Mandans, Who Have Lately Been Almost Entirely Swept Away From The Earth
By The Small-Pox. Some Of The Smaller Tribes May Be Destroyed by
Warfare, Or They May Incorporate Themselves With Others, And Thus Lose
Their Name And Nationality; But The Increase Of The Indian Population Is
Considerable Among The Great Uncontrolled nations; Such As The Chippewas
And Dahcotahs (Siouxes), Of The North United states; The Comanches And
The Pawnees, On The Boundaries, Or Even In the Very Heart Of Texas; The
Shoshones (Snakes), On The Southern Limits Of Oregon; And The Brave
Apaches Of Sonora, Those Bold Bedouins Of The Mexican Deserts, Who,
Constantly On Horseback, Wander, In immense Phalanxes, From The Eastern
Shores Of The Gulf Of California To The Very Waters Of The Rio Grande.
Admitting, Therefore, As A Fact, That The Tribes On The Borders Do
Increase, In the Same Ratio With Their Material Strength, Grows Also
Their Invincible, Stern, And Unchangeable Hatred towards The American.
In Fact, More Or Less, They Have All Been Ill-Treated and Abused, And
Every Additional Outrage To One Tribe Is Locked up In the Memory Of All,
Who Wait For The Moment Of Retaliation Revenge. In the Wisconsin War
(Black Hawk, 1832), Even After The Poor Starved warriors Had Surrendered
Themselves By Treaty, After A Noble Struggle, More Than Two Hundred old
Men, Women, And Children Were Forced by The Americans To Cross The River
Without Boats Or Canoes. The Poor Things Endeavoured to Pass It With The
Help Of Their Horses; The River There Was More Than Half A Mile Broad,
And While These Unfortunates Were Struggling For Life Against A Current
Of Nine Miles An Hour, They Were Shot In the Water.
This Fact Is Known To All The Tribes--Even To The Comanches, Who Are So
Distant. It Has Satisfied them As To What They May Expect From Those Who
Thus Violate All Treaties And All Faith. The Remainder Of That Brave
Tribe Is Now Dwelling On The West Borders Of Iowa, But Their Wrongs Are
Too Deeply Dyed with Their Own Blood To Be Forgotten Even By
Generations, And Their Cause Is Ready To Be Espoused by Every Tribe,
Even Those Who Have Been Their Hereditary Enemies; For What Is, After
All, Their History, But The History Of Almost Every Indian Nation
Transplanted on The Other Side Of The Mississippi?
This Belt Of Indian
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