History of the Prophet Joseph, by His MotherSmith, Lucy
History
History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother
Smith, Lucy
Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
When Mr. Harris began to make preparations to start for Pennsylvania
the second time, with the view of writing for Joseph, his wife told him
that she had fully decreed in her heart to accompany him. Mr. Harris,
having no particular objections, informed her that she might do so;
that she might go and stay one or two weeks, and then he would bring
her home again, after which he would return, and resume his writing for
Joseph. To this she cheerfully agreed. But Mr. Harris little suspected
what he had to encounter by this move. The first time he exhibited the
characters before named, she took out of her pocket an exact copy of
the same; and told those present, that "Joe Smith" was not the only
one who was in possession of this great curiosity, that she had the
same characters, and, they were quite as genuine as those shown by Mr.
Harris. This course she continued to pursue, until they arrived at
Joseph's.
As soon as she arrived there, she informed him that her object in
coming, was to see the plates, and that she would never leave until
she had accomplished it. Accordingly, without delay, she commenced
ransacking every nook and corner about the house--chests, trunks,
cupboards, etc.; consequently, Joseph was under the necessity of
removing both the breast-plate and the Record from the house, and
secreting them elsewhere. Not finding them in the house, she concluded
that Joseph had buried them, and the next day she commenced searching
out of doors, which she continued to do until about two o'clock p. m.
She then came in rather ill-natured; after warming herself a little,
she asked Joseph's wife if there were snakes in that country in the
winter. She replied in the negative. Mrs. Harris then said, "I have
been walking round in the woods to look at the situation of your place,
and as I turned round to come home, a tremendous black snake stuck up
his head before me, and commenced hissing at me."
The woman was so perplexed and disappointed in all her undertakings,
that she left the house and took lodgings during her stay in
Pennsylvania with a near neighbor, to whom she stated that the day
previous she had been hunting for the plates, and that, after a tedious
search, she at length came to a spot where she judged, from the
appearance of things, they must be buried; but upon stooping down to
scrape away the snow and leaves, in order to ascertain the fact, she
encountered a horrible black snake which gave her a terrible fright,
and she ran with all possible speed to the house.
While this woman remained in the neighborhood, she did all that lay in
her power to injure Joseph in the estimation of his neighbors--telling
them that he was a grand impostor, and, that by his specious
pretentions, he had seduced her husband into the belief that he (Joseph
Smith) was some great one, merely through a design upon her husband's
property.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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