Martin told me that, knowing the indigent circumstances of the Prophet, he felt it was his duty to aid in the great work by giving Joseph fifty dollars to help advance the Lord's work. This occurred just prior to Joseph's leaving Manchester for Harmony, Penn. The Lord raised tip a friend in time of need. The Lord remembered Martin for the timely aid, although it was many days afterwards. Martin also stated that he had hired Joseph to work for him on his farm many times and paid him fifty cents per day, which was the usual price paid for hired help at that time. He also said that he had hoed corn with Joseph often, and that the latter was a good hand to work. The Prophet found a short season of rest with his father-in-law at Harmony, Penn., where he succeeded in copying the seven lines of characters, which, by a previous arrangement, were taken to Professor Anthon, of New York, as explained in the next chapter. Soon after Martin Harris returned from New York, he commenced to write for the Prophet while he translated from the gold plates. Martin often related to the writer the mode of translation. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer stone as well as the Urim and Thummim, by means of which he could translate the characters. On one occasion Martin placed in a hat a stone very much like the Prophet's seer stone, and after the Prophet had looked an unusual length of time, he raised his head, saying, "Martin, what in the world is the matter? all is dark as Egypt." Martin smiled, and confessed. Joseph said, "Martin, why did you do this?" Martin answered: "To stop the mouths of fools, who tell me you know all this by heart, and are deceiving me." Father Sanford Porter, while living in Jackson County, Mo., in 1832, Was desirous to know how the Prophet translated the characters which were engraven on the gold plates, and made it a matter of prayer. While the Prophet was receiving a revelation in Jackson County, Missouri, Father Porter was present in the room and while observing that the Prophet would speak a sentence to be written by a scribe engaged for that purpose, the scribe would say, "It is written," and if written correctly the sentence before the Prophet would disappear and another sentence would appear likewise, but if not written correctly by the scribe the sentence would remain, and after the necessary correction had been made, the sentence would disappear.