The Mormon Prophet | Page 8

all the Methodists and
Baptists and Presbyterians disputing together as to which of them was
right, and he felt so burdened to know which was right, and he felt a
sort of longing in him to be a great man, bigger than the revival
preacher that had been here that all the people ran after, and Joseph felt
that he could be bigger than that, and preach and tell all the people what
was right, if they would all come to hear him. And he was so burdened
that one day he went out into the woods, and he began crying and
confessing his sins and calling out to God to show him what was right
and make him a great preacher. Well, when he had been crying and
going on like that for a long time, he just fell right down as if he was
asleep, and it was all dark till a light fell from heaven and an angel
came in the light." Emma went on to tell of Smith's vision and first call,
of his backsliding and final commission.
Susannah stared. The young mother was a reality; the baby was a
reality. Could the statements in this wild story bear any relation to
reality? The old woman stood by, nodding and smiling. The young

girl's mind became perplexed.
"It was just before he began to translate the gold book that he came to
board at my father's in Susquehannah County, and he told me all about
it, and I believed him; but my father wouldn't, so I had to go away with
Joseph to get married; but since then father's forgiven us; and we've
been back home this last summer, and we've been to Fayette too, living
with a gentleman called Mr. Whitmer, who believes in Joseph, and all
the time Joseph's been translating the book that was written on the gold
plates that he found in the hill. It's been very hard work, and we've had
to live very poor, because Joseph couldn't earn anything while he was
doing it, but it's done now, so we feel cheered. And now that it's going
to be printed, and Joseph can begin to gather in the elect very soon, and
now that baby's come--"
Emma stopped again; the last domestic detail seemed to involve her
mind in such meshes of bliss that she lost sight of the end of her
sentence. All her words had been calm, and the baby that lay upon the
bed beside her stretching its crumpled rose-leaf fists into the air and
making strange grotesque smiles with its little red chin and cheeks was
undoubtedly a true baby, a good and delightful thing in Susannah's
estimation. Had the Bible in the hill been a true Bible? Susannah
intuitively knew that Emma Smith, bending with grave rapture over her
firstborn, was not trying to deceive her.
"It seems to me," she said, "that it is terribly wicked of you to believe
about this Bible." Her utterance became thick with her rising
indignation. "How can you sit and hold that child and say such terribly
wicked things?" She could not have told why she referred to the child;
the moment before it was spoken she had not formulated the thought.
She was not old enough to reason about the sacredness of babies; she
only felt.
The tears started to Emma's eyes. She clasped her child to her breast.
"Yes, I know how you feel. I felt that way too myself, and sometimes
even yet it frightens me; but, you see, I know it is true, so it must be
right. But I've given up expecting other people to believe it just yet,
until Joseph is allowed to preach, and then it's been revealed to him that

the nations shall be gathered in. Only you looked so--so beautiful--you
see, I thought perhaps God might have sent you to be a friend to me. I
have no friends because of the way they persecute Joseph."
Susannah turned in incredulous wrath and tramped, young and haughty,
to the outer door. The first drops of a heavy shower were falling; she
hesitated.
"But tell her about the witnesses, Emmar." Old Lucy stood half-way
between the bed and the door, making nods and becks in her excited
desire that Susannah should be impressed. "For when the dear Lord saw
that folks wouldn't b'lieve Joseph, He didn't leave him without
witnesses."
Susannah, stopped by the weather, felt more willing to conciliate. She
returned gloomily within the sound of Emma's gentle voice.
"It was Mr. Cowdery and Mr. Whitmer and Mr. Harris," Emma said.
"Mr. Cowdery and Mr. Whitmer saw the gold plates held in the air, as
it were by hands they couldn't see, but Martin Harris he had to
withdraw himself because he