"Everybody drank a little in those days, and the Smiths with the rest; they never got drunk to my knowledge." * * * * * * * * "How well did you know young Joseph Smith?" "Oh! just as well as one could very well; he has worked for me many a time, and been about my place a great deal. He stopped with me many a time, when through here, after they went west to Kirtland; he was always a gentleman when about my place." "What did you know about his finding that book, or the plates in the hill over here?" "He always claimed that he saw the angel and received the book; but I don't know anything about it. Have seen it, but never read it as I know of; didn't care anything about it." "Well; you seem to differ a little from a good many of the stories told about these people." "I have told you just what I know about them, and you will have to go somewhere else for a different story." * * * * * * * * "To our inquiries if he, Mr. Thos. H. Taylor, was acquainted with the Smiths, and the early settlers throughout that part, sometimes called Mormons, he said:" "Yes; I knew them very well; they were very nice men, too; the only trouble was they were ahead of the people; and the people, as in every such case, turned out to abuse them, because they had the manhood to stand for their own convictions. I have seen such work all through life, and when I was working with John Brown for the freedom of my fellowman, I often got in tight places; and if it had not been for Gerritt Smith, Wendell Phillips and some others, who gave me their influence and money, I don't know how I would ever have got through." "What did the Smiths do that the people abused them so?" "They did not do anything. Why! these rascals at one time took Joseph Smith and ducked him in the pond that you see over there, just because he preached what he believed, and for nothing else. And if Jesus Christ had been there, they would have done the same to Him. Now I don't believe like he did; but every man has a right to his religious opinions, and to advocate his views, too; if people don't like it, let them come out and meet him on the stand, and show his error. Smith was always ready to exchange views with the best men they had." "Why didn't they like Smith?" "To tell the truth, there was something about him they could not understand; some way he knew more than they did, and it made them mad." "But a good many tell terrible stories, about them being low people, rogues and liars, and such things. How is that?"