David Whitmer says that soon after the installment of Joseph, his wife, and Oliver Cowdery in the Whitmer household, he saw something which led him to believe that the plates were concealed in his father's barn, and frankly asked the prophet if it were so. Joseph replied that it was. "Some time after this," David adds, "my mother was going to milk the cows, when she was met out near the yard by the same old man [meaning the one who had saluted his party on the way from Harmony; at least, David judged him to be the same, doubtless from his mother's description of him,] who said to her: 'You have been very faithful and diligent in your labors, but you are tired because of the increase of your toil; it is proper, therefore, that you should receive a witness, that your faith may be strengthened.' Thereupon he showed her the plates. My father and mother had a large family of their own, the addition to it, therefore, of Joseph, his wife Emma, and Oliver, very greatly increased the toil and anxiety of my mother. And although she had never complained she had sometimes felt that her labor was too much, or, at least, she was perhaps beginning to feel so. This circumstance, however, completely removed all such feelings, and nerved her up for her increased responsibilities." [15] Footnotes 1. This date in the prophet's history, published in the _Millennial Star_ (Supplement), vol. 14, p. 12, is set down as the 15th of April, and the day Oliver began writing as Joseph translated is said to be the 17th of April. The 15th and 17th, however, are typographical errors. In the original manuscript of the History of the Church, in the Historian's Office, the dates are written the 5th and 7th; see also _Times and Seasons_, vol. I, p. 201, where Oliver Cowdery gives the dates 5th and 7th of April, 1829. 2. Statement of David Whitmer, in _Kansas City Journal_, June 5, 1881. 3. Doc. and Cov., sec. 6. The reader may think I am quoting over copiously from these revelations given while the translation of the Book of Mormon was in progress; and he may think that these incidents have little or nothing to do with the story of the translation, and the story of the translation itself but little to do with the object of this work. I would suggest, however, that this history of the translation is necessary to future arguments to be made when I come to the considerations of the objections to the Book of Mormon, in part IV, where I shall examine other theories for the origin of the Book of Mormon. Besides, I want the reader to know the atmosphere in which this work of translation was done; and for that purpose call especial attention to the spirit of the several revelations that have been quoted. 4. _Times and Seasons_, vol. II, p. 201. 5. Chapter 14. 6. Chapter 14. 7. Whitmer's statement, _Kansas City Journal_, June 5, 1881. 8. History of the Church, vol. I, p. 47. 9. History of the Church, vol. I, p. 44.