In Solomon Clinton Stephens, The Philosophy of the Earth and of Man (Ogden, Utah: W.W. Browning & Co., 1898), 60-61, we read:
I remember reading a little story
about Cupid going a fishing
He found a pin, so the story goes, and
bent it into a book. Then called for all the fishes to come and bite. The birds
and beasts, and flowers and all smiled in joy. When, at that time, Cupid saw a
maiden come tripping down the meadow, sly Cupid left and said, “I’ll come
another day.” The maiden came and sat down by Cupid’s hook and said, “Oh! what
a pretty world!” and just at that time she shrieked out, “I am caught, I am
caught!” And Cupid heard and said, “Love does bait every hook as fishes swim in
every brook.”
The use of the "prepositional a" reminded me of an article a friend, Don Neighbors, wrote years ago for FAIR that discusses the removal of the "prepositional a" and other grammatical issues and changes in the Book of Mormon:
The Book of Mormon vs. the Critics: Nit-Picking for Fun and Profit
