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THIS BEFIiECTOR, P A L M Y R A : F E B . 1 , 1831. OUR CLOSET.— Out patrons will perceive that we are slowly, but surely progressing with our labors, and it is with heartfelt gratitude that we witness a regular and steady in crease of our subscription list—not on ly in this but from the neighboring states~ not from the vain and giddy,or the licentious and wicked—but from the good, the wise and benevolent— the friends of sound morality, and civ il and religious liberty. Tbe mist which ignorance, supersti tion and bigotry, aided and abetted by vice and folly had attempted to throw Ground us, has become‘dissipated,and many who had either condemned us jrithout a hearing, or listened to the chiariefoe engendered in the brainless ture of the u Book of Mormon,55 we have been induced to alter and instead of attempting, as was first proposed,to keep up something like a regular nar- ative, on the suggestion of many of our readers in this section of country, we conclude to publish former and recent events promiscuously, paying due at tention to time and place. heads of witless sycophants ; now sit down and read our paper with pleas ure and satisfac tion, and if not refor med confess themselves instructed and amused. Our exertions shall in no wise meet with a relaxation while patronage con tinues—our health endures, and ume mory holds her empire o’er the mind.55 Our resources are abundant, and we shall so endeavor to fill our columns with rare, interesting and variated mat ter, thakevery appetite may be grati fied. Yet let it be borne in mind, that while we attempt to amuse, or please. i n s t r u c t i o n is our chiefest aim, and %* Tjre shall constantly conseci'ate a por tion of our pages to s c i e n c e a n d a n CIENT LORE. The all imporant subjects of publi< -morals & education, shall receive theii due share of attention, & nothing shall wiilingly escape our pen, which shall bring a .blush to the cheek of beaute ous innocence, or shock the ear of del ict ’•. Our hist plan respecting the impos G O L I ) BJB1 E, NO. 3. Jo Smith, junior, according \o the best information we can obtain on this subject, was born in the State oi Ver mont. His father emigrated to this country (Ontario county, N. Y.) about the year 1815, and located his family in the village of Palmyra. The age of this' modern prophet is supposed to be about 24 years. In his person he is tall and slender —thin favored —ha ving but little expression of counte nance, other than that of dulness; his mental powers appear to be extreme ly limited, and from the small oppor- « tunity he has had at school, he made little or no proficiency, and it is asser ted by one of his principle followers, (who also pretends to divine illumi nations,) that Jo, even at this day is profoundly ignorant of the meaning of many of the words contained in the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith, senior, the lather of the personage of whom we are now writing, had by misfortune or other wise been reduced to extreme poverty before he migrated to Western New- York. His family was large consis ting of nine or ten children, among whom Jo junior was the third or fourth in succession. We have never been able to learn that any of the family were ever noted for much else than ignorance and stupidity, to which might be added, so far as it may re spect the elder branch, a propensity to superstition and a fondness for eve ry thing marvelous. We have been credibly informed that the mother of the prophet, had connected herself with several reli gious societies before her present il lumination ; this also was the case with other branches of the family, but how far the father of the prophet, ever ad vanced in these particulars, we are not precisely informed, it however ap pears quite certain that the prophet himself never made any serious pre tentions to religion until his late pre tended revelation. We are not able to determine wheth er the elder Smith was ever concer ned in money digging transactions pre vious to his emigration from Vermont, or not, but it is a well authenticated fact that soon after his arrival here he evinced a firm belief in the existence of hidden treasures, and that this sec tion of country abounded in them.— He also revived, or in other words propagated the vulgar, yet popular be lief th.it these treasures were held in charge by some evil spirit, which was supposed to be either the D e v i l him self, or some one of his most trusty favorites. This opinion however, did not originateby any means with Smith, for we find that the vulgar and igno rant from time immemorial, both in Europe and America, have entertained the same preposterous opinion. It may not be amiss in this place lo mention that the mania of money dig ging soon began rapidly io ditluse it- selt through many parts of this coun try ; men and women without distinc tion of age or sex became marvellous wise in the occult sciences, many dreamed, and others saw visions dis closing to them, deep in the bowels of the earth, rich and shining treasures, and to facilitate those mighty mining operations, (money was usually if not always sought after in the night time,) divers devices and implements were invented, and although the spirit was
