THE SPAULDING ROMANCE.

In this connection it may be well to remark that another error, closely allied to the above, and co-extensive with it, is that which relates to what is popularly known as the Solomon Spaulding romance, out of which, it has been uniformly urged, the Book of Mormon was concocted by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. If it be true that the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a revamped edition of the old Spaulding romance, then it follows that the former must possess at least a few of the characteristics of the latter. Necessarily there would be a similarity in design, or a correspondence between the names, neither of which is true.

The long-lost Spaulding story has at last been unearthed, and is now on deposit in the library of Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, and may be examined by anyone who may take the pains to call on President Fairchild, of that institution.

In a letter to Joseph Smith, of Lamoni, Iowa, dated at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, March 28, 1885, Mr. L. L. Rice, in whose possession the original Spaulding story had been resting for forty-four years —from 1839 to 1885— says :

"There is no identity of names, of persons or places, and there is no similarity of style between them. ... I should as soon think the book of Revelation was written by the author of 'Don Quixote,' as that the writer of this manuscript was the author of the Book of Mormon."

The writer has examined a certified copy of this remarkable document, and to say he was surprised is to express it moderately. Instead of exhibiting the qualities of a scholarly mind, as we had been led to believe it would do, quite to the contrary, it bears every mark of ignorance and illiteracy, and is evidently the product of a mind far below the average, even in the ordinary affairs of life. A twelve-year-old boy in any of our common schools can tell a better story and couch it in far better English. The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it — it will let you down.

The entire theory connecting Sidney Rigdon and the Spaulding romance with Joseph Smith in originating the Book of Mormon must be abandoned. We have something better. All Mormon history and biography agree in connecting Oliver Cowdery, a man the equal of Sidney Rigdon in point of scholastic attainments and personal polish, directly with Joseph Smith in every stage of the development of Mormonism.