A few months after his fourteenth birthday, the future prophet beheld his first vision. In his autobiography he mentions that at the time "he was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor."[A] This would indicate that at this age he was spending little or no time in school. During the time that elapsed between his fourteenth and eighteenth years, there is nothing to show that the boy was receiving scholastic education. The Prophet says that he was left to all kinds of temptation, and mingled with all kinds of society.[B] Nothing is said about the acquirement of book learning. About the age of nineteen he writes, "As my father's worldly circumstances were very limited, we were under the necessity of laboring with our hands, hiring out by day's work and otherwise, as we could get opportunity. In the month of October, 1825, I hired with an old gentleman by the name of Josiah Stoal. During the time I was thus employed, I was put to board with a Mr. Isaac Hale—it was there I first saw my wife (his daughter), Emma Hale. On the 18th of January, 1827, [when the Prophet was a little more than twenty-one years old] we were married, while I was yet employed in the service of Mr. Stoal. Immediately after my marriage, I left Mr. Stoal's and went to my father's, and farmed with him that season."[C] From his eighteenth to his twenty-second year, then, there is evidence that he worked as an ordinary laborer, and attended no school.
[Footnote A: History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 7.]
[Footnote B: Ibid., p. 9.]
[Footnote C: History of the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 16, 17.]
It seems, moreover, that Joseph Smith was not a boy to gather information from books, for his mother says of him, when he was eighteen years old, that "he seemed much less inclined to the perusal of books than any of the rest of our children, but far more given to meditation and deep study."[A] From the records extant, the conclusion is justifiable that from his fourteenth to his twenty-second year Joseph Smith received practically no school education, and did no extensive reading. What he might have gathered from conversation with others during that time is unknown to us. However, it is known that the heavenly messengers who visited him at intervals gave him much valuable information, which more than compensated for his poor scholastic advantages.
[Footnote A: History of the Prophet Joseph, Improvement Era, Vol. 5, p. 257.]
One month before his twenty-second birthday, the golden plates were delivered to the Prophet, and the next two and a half years he was engaged with various assistants in translating the Book of Mormon; though at different times during this period he farmed and did other manual labor. During this period (twenty-two to twenty-four and a half years of age), he most certainly attended no school nor gave special attention to worldly knowledge.
On the 6th of April, 1830, when the Prophet was twenty-four years and four months old, the Church was organized. The life led by the Prophet from this time to 1844, when he was assassinated, was not conducive to the gathering of information, and quiet, deep reflection. During almost the whole of this period his life was in danger; scores of times he was arrested on trumped-up charges; the Church was driven from place to place; he built at least three cities, and two temples; organized and governed the body of the Church; taught the doctrinal system accepted by his followers; organized the public ministry of the Church for spreading the Gospel among all men, wrote his autobiography; compiled the revelations given him, and made a revision of parts of the Bible.
[Sidenote: Joseph Smith taught the importance of schools and education.]
The mistake must not be made, however, of assuming that because the Prophet's education had been limited, he lacked a due appreciation of schools and scholastic attainments. On the contrary, at a very early date in the history of the Church, schools were organized even for the older men, that they might improve their time and make up in a manner for the lack of opportunity during their early days. During the winter of 1832-3, a school of the prophets was organized in Kirtland, Ohio, and another in Independence, Missouri, at which the elders of the Church received various instructions. In the discussion relative to the building of temples, references to schools being held in them were always made, and, in fact, in the fall of 1835, when a portion of the Kirtland temple was finished, "schools were opened in the various apartments." Many "were organized into a school for the purpose of studying the Hebrew language."[A] The reading of Greek had previously been begun. In these languages as well as in German, the Prophet acquired considerable facility. His studies tended, of course, towards the interpretation of the Bible and the explanation of Gospel truths; though at times his investigations appeared quite foreign to his special work, as when, in 1838, he began the methodical study of law.