favor of public schools, bringing forward a vast array of facts and figures in support of the resolution.

It having been previously announced that any person in the audience might take part in the discussion, Mr. Yantis, of Lee's Summit, in reply to Mr. Carrol, denied that "the State should educate the children of the State. He did not believe that common school education was cheaper--did not think the burden was equalized. With regard to religion and politics, he thought politics was in the system, from the Superintendent downward. He complimented the teachers present, but "was down on the whole system."

President Caldwell agreed in part with Mr. Carroll, but spoke against the resolution. The system in our community was forced upon us, and does not meet the wants of the people. The school law was imperfect, and the County Superintendent has only advisory powers in case of dispute. There was too little religion in the schools: for he had not yet found the Bible used as a textbook. But we have the new system and should make the best of it.

Rev. Mr. Bright next spoke. Considered the system wholly unrepublican, and, further, as a Missourian, he was not in favor of it. He thought the public. schools ignored religion and that therefore, as in Germany, they will foster infidelity. The only safe method was to place the schools in the hands of those who had the moral interest of the community in their care. He was opposed to the whole system.

Mr. Crysler was astonished that a minister of the Gospel and County Superintendent should oppose the system and not suggest a remedy. After some stirring remarks on the prejudices against the system, he proposed a plan for remedying the defects.

Mr. Caldwell, in reply, stated that he was pledged to try to make the system work, and cared not where it came from; was in favor of the education of the masses, but still contended that the school system, in its plan and working, was very imperfect.

J. A. Blair, of Lee's Summit, replied to the charge that the public school system was unrepublican, and wanted to know when Missouri would be ready for the system, if not ready now. If the system is imperfect, it is our duty to try to correct it.

The following view of Jackson county schools was furnished the Independence Sentinel by Mr. D. I. Caldwell, December 24, 1870:

A

Permit me to occupy a small space in your excellent paper, to make a few remarks with regard to the public schools in Jackson county. I am happy to say that the public schools, for the most part, are in a hopeful condition. That is, they are improving. The system is becoming better understood. The people are taking more interest in the subject. The law has been improved a little. better grade of teachers are occupying the school houses. The school houses are better, and better furnished. Altogether the whole machine is in a better condition than formerly. All we want for a complete success, is a little change in some parts of the law, and more efficiency on the part of the school officers. I am sorry to say they are too little interested in the matter of reports. Facts that are of vital interest to the complete working of the system are often not reported without trouble on the part of the County Superintendent. This is a great drawback; and much of the opposition to the system, is the result of an improper understanding of its workings; and this depends mainly upon the efficiency of the officers, township and local. unable to give a full and complete report of the facts. But as I have said above. the condition of the schools is gratifying. The following is a summary of my annual report to the State Superintendent:

For the want of proper statistical reports, I am

Whole number of children between five and twenty-one.

12,500

During the last year, there has been an increase in the demand for teachers of a high grade; an evidence of progress and elevation in the grade of schools. The public schools in Kansas City, under the judicious and intelligent management of Prof. J. R. Phillips, have attained to a position, that challenges the respect, if not the indorsement, of their most violent opponents. In Independence, Prof. Carroll, by his untiring energy, and the co-operation of an intelligent board, has placed the schools under his superintendence, upon a footing, not inferior to any schools of the same grade in the State. Not having had the opportunity and pleasure of visiting the public schools at Westport and Lee's Summit, I cannot speak so confidently of their condition. But from what

I have learned from members of the boards, and from what I know of the teachers engaged in those schools, I feel warranted in saying, that their success is worthy the generous liberality of those, who have furnished such commodious and comfortable buildings and such suitable furniture, as are to be found at each of these thriving little cities.

Any report of the educational statistics, of our county, would be incomplete without something being said of the several private enterprises in the county. To go into detail would make this communication too long. In Kansas City there are six such schools, and in Independence two: all of them worthy the very liberal patronage they enjoy. These schools employ twenty seven teachers, and have enrolled 1,014 pupils, making the whole number of children in school, in the county, 8,544.

About to retire from the superintendency of public schools in Jackson county, permit me to thank you for the prompt and generous support you have always given me, in my efforts to render the public school system a success and to give to the public, schools worthy of their support. Permit me, also, to bespeak for my worthy successor in office, the same kindness and co-operation. And, in conclusion, permit me to say, that I trust your pen and your tongue may ever be ready to plead the cause of popular education.

Respectfully,

D. I. CALDWELL,

County Superintendent.

The following address was issued to the citizens of Jackson county in the interests of her public schools, by the County Commissioner of schools, March 26th, 1881.

To the Legal Voters: In a few days you will be called upon to re-adjust your boards by the election of one or more directors, and to consider the interests of your several districts in all matters pertaining to the efficient running of your schools for the next year.

I have frequently been asked the question, "Who are qualified voters ?" The general question is settled by the Constitution, in Art. viii. sec. 2. "Every male citizen of the United States, and every male person of foreign birth who may have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States according to law, not less than one year or more than five years before he offers to vote, who is over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections by the people.

"First, He shall have resided in the State one year immediately preceding the election at which he offers his vote.

"Second, He shall have resided in the county, city or town where he shall offer his vote at least sixty days immediately preceding the election."

The only difficulty with regard to the above provision is, whether the sixty days residence applies to school districts. I am happy to say that the State superintendent, whose legal adviser is the attorney-general of the State, sustains me in my decision that it does apply to the school districts. I may also add that this decision is concurred in by the best legal talent of the country, including those who helped to make the constitution. No one, then, has any right to vote at the annual meeting who has not resided in the district at least sixty days immediately preceding that meeting. All such have a right to vote on any of the questions usually considered at the annual meeting, and enumerated in section 7031, School Laws.

There are, however, certain questions that may be considered at special meetings, such as the increase of levy for school purposes, or for erection of school houses; in these cases none but tax payers can vote. A tax payer has been defined to be a man who has a tax receipt or is on the assessor's books, liable to pay taxes.

With this question settled, permit me to suggest the importance of selecting the best men in your district for directors. I do not mean best men so far as honesty and morality are concerned, but men, in addition to those things, who will best discharge the duties of the office.

This is a very important and responsible office. Every good citizen will not make a good director. He should be a man of sound judgment, interested in the success of the school, of fair education, of fair business qualifications and experience, and withal willing to make some sacrifice for the benefit of all.

The trust committed to a school board is a serious trust. The people's money is under their control and management, as well as the higher and more sacred interest, the proper instruction of your children.

To the directors and others, I would say, see well to the exercise of the prerogatives intrusted to you by the people. Do all things according to law. Let no warrant be issued except by order of the board, met and organized as a board. If possible, every member should have notice of each meeting; otherwise, I doubt the legality of any business transacted. See that every act of the board be recorded by the clerk, especially for the issue of a warrant for the payment of money, however small the amount.

In the selection of a teacher, the board should be very careful as to qualifications. A certificate of good grade is not the only criterion of qualification. While I would say that a certificate of a low grade, as a general rule, is sufficient reason for the rejection of an applicant. Yet there are a few every year who are examined for the first time, and consequently are not expected to obtain as good certificates as teachers of age and experience, and yet make successful teachers; but these are the exceptions, and their success is the result of application, study and a determination to succeed. The general rule is good scholarship for good teachers. The means of Normal instruction are in the reach of all who desire to qualify themselves. We have Kirksville and Warrensburg Normal schools supported by the State. Also a normal class at Woodland College and one at the Independence Female College, under the instruction of Prof. Carroll, a gentleman of large experience in this kind of work. Besides these means, we have a number of excellent educational journals, devoted to the instruction of teachers in all the departments of their work. So that there is no excuse for the want of qualiI would, as a general rule, discourage the employment of a teacher who does not expect to make teaching his profession. See to it, then that all applicants for positions are those who have availed themselves of the best means at command to prepare them for their work. A young man looking to the law or medicine, as a profession, or mechanics as the business of his life, not only

studies his profession as a science, but its practical work. As a mechanic studies how to prepare and fit his work, so ought a teacher to study the art of organization and will of his pupils.

Again, the people and the boards as such should see to it, at the annual meeting, that the District Clerk is prepared to make a report that will show all the work of the school, and has made his settlement with the County Treasurer, and can give accurately the receipts and expenditures for the year. Then will his report to the county commissioner show a clean balance.

These suggestions are eminently important to every citizen who feels any interest in the success of our public school system. There has been a manifestly increased interest, and consequent improvement in all these matters suggested in the last few years, and I trust the day is not far distant when the whole business of running the public schools will be such as we shall not be ashamed for the State Superintendent and Legislature to see; and when the County Commissioner shall be enabled to make such a report as shall be an honor to the intelligence and business qualifications of the school officers of our county.

To the clerks of districts, I would say and urge that, in making your reports to the annual meeting and County Commissioner, you should hunt up every item of expense, and see that the receipts and expenditures balance exactly, and then your commissioner can with pride report your work to the State Superintendent. Respectfully, D. I. CALDWELL,

County Commissioner.

CHAPTER XIII.

MORMONS IN JACKSON COUNTY.

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An Authentic and Impartial History from the Foundation of the Church-A Sketch of the Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet-The Book of Mormon-The Rapid Growth of the Church-They Come to Jackson County, Mo., in July, 1831-The Morning and Evening Star"-Difficul ties Arising Between the Saints and Gentiles-The Saints Assemble for Protection-Several Deadly Encounters—The Saints Driven Into Clay County—Documentary Evidence of Unlawful Violence The Subsequent Action of the Mormons in Missouri, and their Final Expulsion from the State.

A very prominent feature of the early history of Jackson county was the trouble between the Mormons and other citizens during 1831 and 1832, which led to the expulsion of the former from the county during the latter part of the year 1832. This sect was brought into existence on the 6th day of April, 1830, near Manchester, New York. The first society consisted of six persons-Joseph Smith, Sr., Joseph Smith, Jr., Hyrum Smith, Samuel Smith, Oliver Cowdrey and Joseph Knight. The three Smiths last mentioned were brothers, and sons of Joseph Smith, Sr., and Joseph Smith, Jr., was the the reputed author of the new faith, and is the prophet of Mormon history.

This Smith family came from Vermont, where Joseph, Jr., was born at Sharon, in Windsor county, December 23, 1805. They are represented by their neighbors, both in Vermont and New York, to have been a shiftless, worthless family. The parents are represented as having been dishonest, unreliable, ignorant and superstitious, and the sons seem to have inherited all these peculiarities. A part of the business of the father was that of "water witch," in which capacity he went about the country with a hazel rod divining where water could be found

by digging wells, by the writhings of the rod when held in the hands in a peculiar

manner.

Young Joseph is reported to have been a wild, reckless boy, dishonest, untruthful and intemperate. As he grew toward adult age he adopted his father's profession of water-witching, and afterward added to it the more practical business of digging the wells he thus located. While in this capacity he discovered a smooth, round stone of peculiar shape while digging a well for a Mr. Chase near Manchester. This he adopted as a "pup stone," and pretended that by placing it in his hat in a peculiar way it had the miraculous power of revealing to him where lost and stolen articles could be found, and he then added this to his previous miraculous business of water-witchery.

During the decade from 1820 to 1830 a great religious revival swept over the country, and gave rise to the phenomena known as "jerks." This excitement raged greatly in western New York and in the neighborhood of the Smiths. Joseph, Jr., and some of his sisters and brothers became converted at one of the revivals, but Joseph was greatly vexed in spirit by the uncertainty as to which of the sects was the right one. He became a constant reader of the Bible for a time, but subsequently fell again into his old ways, and later events indicate that he fell also into some new ones, which have extended the peculiarities of his nature much beyond the sphere of his personal influence and beyond the period of his time. He put forth the claim that in September, 1823, God sent messengers to him to say that he was forgiven for his sins. Again in 1826 he claimed an angel visited him with the information that in the hill Cumorah, not far from Manchester, were hidden certain golden plates which he was to unearth and translate. These plates were exhumed in September, 1826, as Joseph represents it, “"with mighty display of celestial machinery," and were delivered by the angels to him. These plates were afterward translated by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, a schoolmaster, and one Martin Harris, and published in the early part of the year 1830 as the "Book of Mormon."

Another account of the origin of the Book of Mormons is that it was written as a historical romance, to account for the Indians in America, in 1812, by a Mr. Solomon Spaulding, a retired preacher, and presented to Mr. Patterson, a bookseller in Pittsburg, for publication, together with a preface representing it to have been taken from plates dug up in Ohio. Mr. Patterson did not think the enterprise would pay, and hence, did not publish it; but Sidney Rigdon, afterward quite noted in early Mormon history, was then at work in the office of Mr. Patterson, and it is suggested that he stole the manuscripts, and had his full share in bringing Mormonism into existence, though he did not appear in connection with it for some months after the organization of the first society.

But, however the book may have come, Joseph Smith appears from the first, as prophet, and directed the movements of the new sect by what he claimed to be divine revelations, and put forth the most extravagant claims for himself and his prophetic powers. This was a time particularly favorable for the cultivation of such a superstition. The religious ideas prevailing at the time of the religious excitement referred to, embraced the belief in the direct dealings of God with man, very much after the manner represented in ancient Jewish history, which made such pretenses as these, peculiarly liable to be accepted. Immediately af ter the organization of the first society, as above stated, there was an administration of the sacrament, and the laying on of hands for the "Gift of the Holy

Five days afterward, on the 11th of May, Oliver Cowdery preached the first sermon on the new faith, and before the close of the month, at Colesville, in Browne county, New York, there was what was claimed by the new sect, to be miracles performed. From this the new sect took strong root with the ignorant and superstitious, and it gained members rapidly, notwithstanding the prophet was several times arrested for misdemeanors. In August, Paxley P. Platte and