almost found them once by means of a peek-stone of her own.

* Elder Hyde in his "Mormonism" estimates that "from the
description given of them the plates must have weighed nearly two
hundred pounds."


Mother Smith says that Joseph told all the family of his vision
the evening of the day he told his father, charging them to keep
it secret, and she adds:--

"From that time forth Joseph continued to receive instructions
from the Lord, and we continued to get the children together
every evening for the purpose of listening while he gave us a
relation of the same. I presume our family presented an aspect as
singular as any that ever lived upon the face of the earth--all
seated in a circle, father, mother, sons, and daughters, and
giving the most profound attention to a boy eighteen years old,
who had never read the Bible through in his life.... We were now
confirmed in the opinion that God was about to bring to light
something upon which we could stay our mind, or that would give
us a more perfect knowledge of the plan of salvation and the
redemption of the human family."



CHAPTER VI. TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION OF THE BIBLE

The only one of his New York neighbors who seems to have taken a
practical interest in Joe's alleged discovery was a farmer named