From his place of concealment, Joseph directed the movements of the people at Nauvoo, and managed his own business through faithful agents, who met with him occasionally. Emma spent considerable of her time with him, and beguiled the loneliness of those weary hours of inactivity that he, whose life is the synonym for activity, had to endure. During those days of exile, one gets a glimpse of the Prophet's private life and character, that in part explains the mystery of his power and influence over his friends and his people:--it was his unbounded love for them. Speaking of the meeting with his friends in the night at the island, in the account he gives of it in the Book of the Law of the Lord, he says: How glorious were my feelings when I met that faithful and friendly band, on the night of the eleventh [of August], on the island at the mouth of the slough between Zarahemla and Nauvoo. With what unspeakable delight, and what transports of joy swelled my bosom, when I took by the hand, on that night, my beloved Emma--she that was my wife, even the wife of my youth, and choice of my heart. Many were the vibrations of my mind when I contemplated for a moment the many scenes we had been called to pass through, the fatigues and the toils, the sorrows and sufferings, and the joys and the consolations, from time to time, which had strewed our paths and crowned our board. Oh, what a commingling of thoughts filled my mind for the moment!--and again she is here, even in the seventh trouble--undaunted, firm and unwavering--unchangeable, affectionate Emma! Of his brother Hyrum on the same occasion he says: There was Brother Hyrum, who next took me by the hand--a natural brother. Thought I to myself, Brother Hyrum, what a faithful heart you have got! Oh, may the Eternal Jehovah crown eternal blessings upon your head, as a reward for the care you have had for my soul! Oh, how many are the sorrows we have shared together! and again we find ourselves shackled by the unrelenting hand of oppression. Hyrum, thy name shall be written in the Book of the Law of the Lord, for those who come after to look upon, that they may pattern after thy works. [3] So he goes on to call the faithful by their names and record their deeds of love manifested towards himself, and pronounces his blessings upon them; and if, as one of old said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren"--surely Joseph Smith possessed that witness--he loved his brethren better than his life! Some of the brethren proposed that Joseph should go up to the pine woods of Wisconsin, where a number of the brethren were engaged in getting out timber for the Temple and Nauvoo House, until the excitement should subside in Illinois. Of this proposition, Joseph said in a letter to Emma: