=2. Theories concerning the Origin of the Book of Mormon. The Spaulding Story.=--The true account of the origin of the Book of Mormon was rejected by the public in general, who thus assumed the responsibility of explaining in some plausible way the source of the record. Many vague theories, based on the incredible assumption that the book was the work of a single author, were put forward; of these the most famous, and, indeed, the only one that lived long enough in public favor to be discussed, is the so called "Spaulding Story." Solomon Spaulding, a clergyman of Amity, Pa., wrote a romance to which no title other than "Manuscript Story" was prefixed. Twenty years after the author's death, one Hurlburt, an apostate from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced a resemblance between the story and the Book of Mormon, and expressed his conviction that the work presented to the world by Joseph Smith was nothing but Spaulding's romance revised and amplified. The manuscript was lost for a time, and, in the absence of proof to the contrary, stories of the parallelism between the two works multiplied. But, by a fortunate circumstance, in 1884 President James H. Fairchild of Oberlin College, Ohio, and a literary friend, one Mr. Rice, in examining a heterogeneous collection of old papers that had been purchased by Mr. Rice, found the original story. The gentlemen made a careful comparison of the manuscript and the Book of Mormon; and, with the sole desire of subserving the purposes of truth, made public their results. Pres. Fairchild published an article in the _New York Observer_, Feb. 5, 1885, in which he said:--"The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will probably have to be relinquished.... Mr. Rice, myself, and others compared it [the Spaulding manuscript] with the Book of Mormon and could detect no resemblance between the two.... Some other explanation of the Book of Mormon must be found, if any explanation is required." The manuscript was deposited in the library of Oberlin College, where it now reposes. Still, the theory of the "Manuscript Found," as Spaulding's story has come to be known, is occasionally pressed into service in the cause of anti-"Mormon" zeal, by some whom we will charitably believe to be ignorant of the facts set forth by Pres. Fairchild. A letter of more recent date, written by that honorable gentleman in reply to an enquiring correspondent, was published in the _Millennial Star_, Liverpool, Nov. 3, 1898, and is as follows: OBERLIN COLLEGE, OHIO, October 17, 1895. _J. R. Hindley, Esq._, DEAR SIR:--We have in our College Library an original manuscript of Solomon Spaulding--unquestionably genuine.