Soon after this, he came in from work, one afternoon, and after remaining a short time, he put on his great coat, and left the house. I was engaged at the time, in an upper room, in preparing some oilcloths for painting. [3] When he returned, he requested me to come down stairs. I told him that I could not leave my work just then; yet, upon his urgent request, I finally concluded to go down and see what he wanted, upon which he handed me the breast plate spoken of in his history. It was wrapped in a thin muslin handkerchief, so thin that I could feel its proportions without any difficulty. It was concave on one side and convex on the other, and extended from the neck downwards, so far as the center of the stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the same material, for the purpose of fastening it to the breast, two of which ran back to go over the shoulders, and the other two were designed to fasten to the hips. They were just the width of two of my fingers, (for I measured them), and they had holes in the end of them, to be convenient in fastening. After I had examined it, Joseph placed it in the chest with the Urim and Thummim. [4] I next call attention to a statement made by Parley P. Pratt concerning an item of experience when performing a brief mission among some branches of the Church in western New York, in company with the Prophet Joseph. He says: Arriving in Geneseo, we met with the other elders who had started from Kirtland on the same mission, and with others who were local, and held a general conference. Among those whose hospitality we shared in that vicinity (Geneseo) was old Father Beaman and his amiable, interesting family. He was a good singer, and so were his three daughters; we were much edified and comforted in their society, and were deeply interested in hearing the old gentleman and Brother Joseph converse on their early acquaintance and history. He [Beaman] had been intimate with Joseph before the first organization of the Church; and assisted him in preserving the plates of the Book of Mormon from the enemy, and had at one time had them concealed under his own hearth. [5]