--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 3 number: 1 published: 1899-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Editor’s Table: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon; Collection of Anecdotes; The Paris Congress of the History of Religions," *Improvement Era* 3, no. 1 (November 1899): 61–70.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera31unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera31unse start_page: 61 end_page: 70 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera31unse publication_year: 1899 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1899, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Editor’s Table: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon; Collection of Anecdotes; The Paris Congress of the History of Religions EDITOR^S TABLE. THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE BOOK OF MORMON. Much has been said, at different times, as to the whereabouts of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, but very little of a definite character has been said respecting this topic. Quite recently an article on this subject was reprinted in the St. Louis Republic, from a Richmond, Missouri, correspondent, and copied by the Troy, N. Y. Press and reproduced from the latter paper by the Deseret News of September 27th, with appropriate comment. That the readers of the Era may more clearly see the puerile, but malicious character of this article, which is a fair sample of many others published in the press of the country, on this subject, it is here reproduced: The original manuscript of Joseph Smith's "Book of Mormon," the Bible of the "Mormon" Church, is kept in a bank vault in this town. The Elders of the "Mormon" Church, in Utah, made different attempts, in past years, to get possession of it, but failed. Once they offered $100,000 in cash for the old and yellow manuscript, but its keeper, David Whitmer, one of the founders of the Church refused the offer because he believed the Utah branch of the Church wished to get hold of the manuscript to insert into it, by forgery, a clause that would author- ize and sanction the practice of polygamy. Last week, two representa- tives of the "Mormon" Church of Utah were here making another attempt to buy the manuscript. This original manuscript, written at the dictation of Joseph Smith, is now in the possession of George W. Schweich of this town, a retired merchant, the grandson of David Whitmer who was one of the three witnesses to the writing of the manuscript. The manuscript of the "Book of Mormon" contains six hundred large sheets of linen paper, the size of foolscap, written closely on both sides. The 62 IMPROVEMENT ERA. paper is yellow with age, and the ink is faded to brown. The pages are bound together with strings of yarn. The manuscript contains three hundred and fifty thousand words. It was written in 1829. The fact of the matter is that the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon never was "kept in a bank vault" in the town of Richmond nor in that of any other town, in Missouri. Neither has the original manuscript ever been in the possession of David Whit- mer nor that of any of his kindred. Neither has the "Mormon" Church in Utah through any of its Elders or otherwise attempted at any time to get possession of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, "and failed." The Church in Utah has not at any time, through its Elders or otherwise, offered a hundred thou- sand dollars nor any other sum of money for the original manu- script, nor for the "old and yellow" copy of it which was left by Oliver Cowdery, at his death at Richmond, Missouri, March 3rd, 1850, in the possession of David Whitmer, which copy is said to be now "in a bank vault" in Richmond, Missouri. The story about David Whitmer refusing "the offer" of one hundred thousand dol- lars for his copy of the manuscript, "because he believed the Utah branch of the Church wished to get hold of the manuscript to insert into it, by forgery, a clause that would authorize and sanc- tion the practice of polygamy," is ridiculous twaddle. The fact, however, that such a story is and published in some of the told, leading newspapers of the country, would make it appear that there are people blind enough to give credence to it. First, let it be said that David Whitmer's "belief," if he ever entertained such a belief, together with the whole story, is without the least shadow of truth. How could it be possible for such a thing as forgery to be perpetrated! Up to the date of the alleged offer hundreds of thousands of copies of the Book of Mor- mon had been published and scattered broad-cast over the world, and. besides, translated into more than a dozen foreign languages. Therefore, even if David Whitmer or the agents of the "Mormon" Church of Utah, might desire to alter the manuscript, how could they hope to call in and change the tens of thousands of the printed book? Comment is unnecessary. A grain of common sense will show how imbecile the thought. EDITORS TABLE 63 The statement that "last week two representatives of the 'Mormon' Church, of Utah, were here making another attempt to buy the manuscript," is a falsehood of the same class. However there may have been occasionally an Elder of the Church, not posted on this subject, who, for some purpose known to himself, might have tried to ascertain the value in which this manuscript is held by its possessors. But no man, Elder or Apostle, is, nor ever has been, authorized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints to offer any sum of money for the manuscript now in the possession of the heirs of David Whitmer. In September, 1878, in company with Apostle Orson Pratt, the writer visited David Whitmer, at Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, In the pres- ence of David C. Whitmer, the son of Jacob, Philander Page, David J. Whitmer, son of David Whitmer, George Scheweich, Col. James W. Black, J. R. B. Van Cleave and some others. Father David Whitmer was asked if the three witnesses signed their own names to their testimony to the Book of Mormon? Father Whit- mer unhesitatingly replied with emphasis: "Yes, we each signed his own name." "Then," said the questioner, "how is it that the names of all the witnesses are found here, (in D. W's manuscript) written in the same hand-writing?" This question seemed to startle Father Whitmer, and, after examining the signatures he replied: "Oliver must have copied them." "Then, where are the original documents?" was asked. He replied, "I don't know." Knowing as we did with what sacredness this manuscript was regarded by Father Whitmer, both Elder Pratt and the writer sounded him to see if he could be induced to part with it, and we found him determined to retain it. We were not authorized to offer any money for the manuscript, neither did we make any offer of money or other consideration for it. But notwithstanding this fact, it was soon rumored about and published abroad that we had offered large sums of money for it. In July, 1884, the writer received the following enquiries, by letter, from L. J. Traughbar, Jr., of Mandeville, Carrol County, Missouri: 64 IMPROVEMENT ERA. "Did Mr. Pratt and you offer David Whitmer $10,000 for the manuscript of the Book of Mormon? Did you offer him $100,000? Did you make him any definite offer for them?" To each question there can be but one reply, No, not those amounts and not one dollar! Now let us see what became of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. The following is copied from the history of the Prophet Joseph Smith by his mother: (pp. 142 and 143.) Soon after this Joseph secured the copyright; and before he returned to Pennsylvania, where he had left his wife, he received a commandment which was, in substance, as follows: First, that Oliver Cowdery should transcribe the whole manuscript. Second, that he should take but one copy at a time to the office, so that if one copy should get destroyed, there would still be a copy remaining. Third, that in going to and from the office he should always have a guard attend him, for the purpose of protecting the manuscript. Fourth, that a guard should be kept constantly on the watch, both night and day, about the house to protect the manuscript from malicious persons, who would infest the house for the purpose of destroying the manuscript. All these things were strictly attended to, as the Lord commanded Joseph. After giving these instructions, Joseph returned to Pennsyl- vania. This is sufficient to show that the original manuscript was copied by Oliver Cowdery. The following letter may be interesting here: Further facts in relation to the manuscript of the Book of Mormon. I saw the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., hide up the above manuscript unto the Lord in the south-east corner of the Nauvoo House, Illinois. I stood within eight or ten feet of him, heard and saw what he said and did, on that important occasion, which I freely testify to all the world. [Signed] Frederick Kesler, Sen., Bishop of the Sixteenth Ward, October 12, 1878. Salt Lake City, Utah. From the history of Joseph Smith, Millennial Star, Vol. 18, page 693, (See also Times and Seasons, Vol. 2, page 576), we copy: "Conference met in the grove. The Presidency being absent lay- ing the corner stone of the Nauvoo House, the meeting was called to order by President B. Young." This is under date of October 2, 1841. — EDITOR'S TABLE. 65 Many years ago, the writer copied the following statement from the The Church, which were kept by his early records of private secretary under the immediate direction and supervision of the Prophet Joseph Smith himself: The corner stone of the Nauvoo House was laid by President Joseph Smith on the 2nd of October, 1841, and the following articles were deposited therein by the President, to-wit: A Book of Mormon; a revelation given January 19, 1841; the Times and Seasons, containing the charter of the Nauvoo House; Journal of Heber C. Kimball; the memorial of Lyman Wight to the United States Senate; a Book of Doctrine and Covenants, first edition; No. 35 of the Times and Seasons; the ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT op the Book of Mormon; the Persecutions of the Church in the State of Missouri, published in the Times and Seasons; the Holy Bible. Silver coins as follows: one half- dollar, one quarter-dollar, two dimes, two half-dimes, and one copper coin." Thus we see that the original manuscript of the Book of Mor- mon, which had up to this time remained in the possession of Joseph himself, was on October 2nd, 1841, by his own hand, depos- ited in the south-east corner of the Nauvoo House, with other things, and that it never was at any time in the possession of David Whitmer. The copy taken was used for printing by E. B. Grandin, of Palmyra,New York. Oliver Cowdery read the proofs, and when the book was printed retained possession of the copy which? at his death, in Richmond, fell into the hands of David Whitmer. These are the facts. And, in further proof, the writer avers that he is now in possession of a portion of the original manuscript, and ''The Memorial of Lyman Wight to the United States Senate," which were taken from the Nauvoo House about the year 1884, by L. C. Bidamon, when he removed that portion of the house which contained the records. Joseph F. Smith. COLLECTION OF ANECDOTES. We ask the readers of the Era to write anecdotes. The Latter-day Saints, through their missionary system, have QQ IMPROVEMENT ERA had unusual opportunities to gain experience, knowledge, and valuable and interesting information. Every year hundreds of missionaries are sent out into the nations of the earth. The object of their going is, of course, to preach the Gospel, but in connection with this labor, much experimental knowledge is incidentally received by the individual which in the aggregate should have a tendency to make ours the best informed community in the world. Such knowledge must prove of incalculable benefit to the people as a whole. Many new ideas are thus gathered relating to mechan- ical, industrial, business, religious, moral and social affairs, and are converted to the best use, in the line of progress, in the building of our mountain commonwealth. It has Improvement Era that occurred to the editors of the among the returned Elders, as well as among those who are now in the field, in all parts of the world, there must be a rich fund of anecdotal experience, illustrating a variety of topics of interest to the general reader, and especially useful to young men in their daily work of character-building. Placed before the public, would this not make valuable and instructive reading? With such thought in view, we have decided to make an effort to gather a collection of anecdotes. We ask every reader of the Era who has one in mind to write it, and forward it to the editor. The collection will appear in chapters, as we find room to print the communications. In order to guide the writers, we give the following anecdotes as examples: Illustrating the necessity of holding one's self in readiness to grasp the opportunity which is said to come to every man once in a life time: it is told by William Eugene Lewis in the Metropolitan, as having been related to him by "Fighting Bob" Evans of the Navy. "Dewey at Manila" said Captain Evans, "recalls to my mind an incident that occurred in the war with ther South * * * Farragut and his fleet lay down toward the mouth of the Mississippi, completely preventing the passage of the stream by the enemy. Above were several gunboats and ironclads, reformed tugs and other craft, which we would call auxiliaries now. These were greatly needed at New Orleans. There wasn't an apparent chance in the world for the Confederate boats to- make the trip. For a long, weary time the condition remained the same. It looked as if the close of the war would find the fleets in unchanged — EDITOR'S TABLE. 67 relative position. One day it happened that the commanders of Farra- gut's ships undertook a general [rehabilitation and repair. Their fires were banked and there was a sound of scraping, and the smell of paint was on the air. Of all the ships on the blockade but one had fires under her boilers and sufficient steam to start her engines. This was the time the Confederates chose to move their boats. Down the channel they came and rounded the bend, not in line of battle, but Indian file, like ducks returning from an excursion. The Northern fleet was helpless all but the one craft. Officers and men, in their chagrin, alternated cursing with crying. "What did the commander of the one ship capable of attacking do? "He had no instructions suitable for the emergency, so he over- hauled his chest and presently there fluttered and snapped from his halyards the inquiry: 'Shall I engage the enemy?' "Naturally Farragut and the officers on his flagship were employed watching the regatta which steamed on down with many marine insults. No answer came to the commander's question, for no one had taken the trouble to read it. At last he ordered his gig and went over to the flag- ship to confer. He was met on the stage side by Old Ironsides himself. Although the lower Mississippi region is sub-tropical, those who were witnesses assert that the temperature was Alaskan. " 'I received no response to my signal' — began the commander who had steam but lacked initiative. " 'Captain,' interrupted Farragut, 'to every man comes an opportu- nity once in his lifetime. Yours has passed, down the river.' "The Admiral cut off discussion by retiring. Dewey's opportunity found him adequate, and so far from asking for directions, he cut the only line of communication. Orders," concluded Captain Evans with gravity, "are often extremely troublesome, not to say discouraging." Illustrating a noble revenge, or paying good for evil: When Madame Sontag began her musical career, she was hissed off the stage at Vienna by the friends of her rival, Amelia Steininger, who had begun to decline through her dissipation. Years passed on and Madame Sontag, at the height of her popularity, was riding through Berlin, when she saw a child leading a blind woman. "Come here, my child," said Madame Sontag; "who is that you are leading by the hand?" "That's my mother," replied the child; "that's Amelia Steininger. She used to be a great singer, but she lost her voice and she cried so much about it that she lost her eyesight." "Give my love to her," said Madame Sontag, "and tell her an old acquaintance will call on her this 68 IMPROVEMENT ERA. afternoon." The next week, in Berlin, Madame Sontag sang before a vast audience gathered at a benefit for that blind woman. She employed a skilled oculist, but he in vain tried to give eyesight to the blind woman. Until the day of Amelia Steininger's death, Madame Sontag took care of her, and her daughter after her. That was what the queen of song did for her enemy. Illustrating the courtesy and consideration of George Wash- ington: told by Martha Littlefield Phillips in the Century Magazine in, "Recollection of Washington and his friends." The author is a granddaughter of the youngest daughter of General Nathaniel Greene, and she tells the incident in the words of her grandmother concerning a visit of the latter to Washington at Philadelphia: One incident which occurred during that visit was so comical in itself, and so characteristic of Washington, that I recall it for your entertainment. Early in a bright December morning a droll-looking old countryman called to see the President. In the midst of their interview breakfast was announced, and the President invited the visitor, as was his hospitable wont on such occasions, to a seat beside him at the table. The visitor drank his coffee from the saucer, but lest any grief should come to the snowy damask, he laboriously scraped the bottom of his cup on the saucer's edge before setting it down on the table-cloth. He did itwith such audible vigor that it attracted my attention, and that of several young people present, always on the alert for occasions of laughter. We were so indiscreet as to allow our amusement to become obvious. General Washington took in the situation and immediately adopted his visitor's method of drinking his coffee, making the scrape even more pronounced than the one he reproduced. Our disposition to laugh was quenched at once. Illustrating the difficulty of translating verbatim from one language to another: told by a traveler from Brooklyn who happened to be in Venice in July, 1898, and received his first intelligence from the Italian newspapers, of the American victory over the Spanish fleet at Santiago. "With my limited knowledge of Italian," he says, "I was just able to make out from the morning paper that we had destroyed the Spanish fleet, and that there was great rejoicing on our ships after the fight; and wanting particulars, I took the paper to Professor Rovera who speaks almost perfect 'scholar's English', and asked him to translate it to EDITORS TABLE. 69 me, which he did in excellent style, until he came near the end, when, with a little hesitation, he read, 'And the band played the Flag with the Stars on it, and. It will be Very Warm in the City this Evening.' It was about a minute before I recognized 'The Star Spangled Banner,' and, 'Ther'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." THE PARIS CONGRESS OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. At the instance of M. Victor Charbonnel, who is the chief promoter, the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, in 1893, is to be duplicated with some variations, at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. The general plan has been outlined, the movement being headed by M. Albert Reville, who is the chairman of the forty members of the Committee on Organization. He is the professor of his- tory of religions at the College of France. This Congress is to differ from the Chicago Parliament in that it is to be composed of a strictly scientific personnel. Its organ- izers will invite as speakers not the representatives of the various churches, but 'Independent and disinterested scholars who study the history of religion from the scientific side." Instead of faith, science will be used as a basis. As with the Chicago Parliament, so with this, it met strong opposition at first. It was only after matters had been ar- ranged in such away as "to prevent all dogmatic and confessional controversy from finding a place on its program," that the Paris Congress of the History of Religions was permitted to organize. The principal opposition, though by no means all, came from the Catholics, who constitute the membership of the dominant religion in France. But all objections were at last overcome, and the or- ganization is working. A central committee composed of well-known French scholars, have drawn up the regulations. The Congress will have both gen- eral and sectional meetings. A circular has been issued explain- 70 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ing the whole scope of the undertaking. The following paragraph is found in the official invitation which has been sent to historians, theologians, philosophers, folk-lorists, ethnographists and sociolo- gists, so that the field of the discussion will be broad —broader by far, perhaps, than in Chicago, where, as the readers of the Era are aware, unpopular faiths were excluded —at least this was the case with the Latter-day Saints: "The proposed Congress is exclusively of a historical nature. Dur- ing the nineteenth century the history of religions has been fully de- veloped as an independent science, and should, therefore, be entitled to a prominent position in an international exhibition, the aim of which is to bequeath, as a legacy to the twentieth century the magnificient achievements of the nineteenth. The history of religion has an import- ant mission to perform, in the way of elucidating the past and in shed- ding its illuminating influence on the moral and social problems of the present and the future. It is desirable that all those who have the progress of the subject at heart should learn how to know one another recipro- cally. It is to their interest to consult together concerning the ways and means of giving religious studies a larger, place in the curriculum of the universities, and to consider together certain questions of the hour. It will who are isolated by their indi- be profitable for all those vidual studies to find themselves united, for a few moments, on this common ground of scientific research." The Committee on Organization have decided to organize the following departments: 1. The religions of the uncivilized races and the civilizations of America prior to its discovery by Columbus. 2. The religions of the far east—China, Japan, and Indo-China, etc. 3. The Semitic religions—Judaism, Islamism. 4. The religions of Egypt. 5. The religions of India and Iran. 6. The religions of Greece and Rome. 7. The religions of the Celts, Teutons, Slavs, etc. 8, The Chris- tian religion. Every scientific communication will be received, while dis- putes or discussions regarding articles of faith, confessional polem- mics, only will be excluded. The Congress may thus become a receptacle for, and a dispenser of much valuable dead historical information, but we doubt it will ever result in any immediate liv- ing benefit, any more than did its Chicago prototype.