History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother

by Lucy Smith

"What!" said she, a "prophet in these days! I never heard of the like in my life; and if you will come and sit with me, you shall have a room for your sisters and their children, but you yourself must come and stay with me, and tell me all about it."

This I promised to do, and then returned to the boat, and had the sisters, and their sick children removed to the old lady's house; and after making them comfortable, I went into her room. We soon fell into conversation, in which I explained to her, as clearly as I could, the principles of the gospel. On speaking of the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, she was as much surprised as those disciples were whom Paul found at Ephesus, and she asked me, "What do you mean by the Holy Ghost?" I continued my explanations until after two o'clock the next morning, when we removed to the boat again. On arriving there, Captain Blake requested the passengers to remain on board, as he wished, from that time, to be ready to start at a moment's warning; at the same time he sent out a man to measure the depth of the ice, who, when he returned, reported that it was piled up to the height of twenty feet, and that it was his opinion that we would remain in the harbor at least two weeks longer.

At this, Porter Rockwell started on shore to see his uncle. His mother endeavored to prevent him, but he paid no attention to her, and she then appealed to me, saying, "Mother Smith, do get Porter back, for he won't mind anybody but you." I told him that, if he went, we should leave him on shore, but he could do as he liked. He left the boat, and several others were about following him; but when I spoke to them, they replied, "we will do just as you say, Mother Smith," and returned immediately.

Just then, William whispered in my ear, "Mother, do see the confusion yonder; won't you go and put a stop to it!"

I went to that part of the boat where the principal portion of our company were. There I found several of the brethren and sisters engaged in a warm debate, others murmuring and grumbling, and a number of young ladies were flirting, giggling, and laughing with gentlemen passengers, who were entire strangers to them, whilst hundreds of people on shore and on other boats were witnessing this scene of clamor and vanity among our brethren with great interest. I stepped into their midst. "Brethren and sisters," said I, "we call ourselves Saints, and profess to have come out from the world for the purpose of serving God at the expense of all earthly things; and will you, at the very onset, subject the cause of Christ to ridicule by your own unwise and improper conduct? You profess to put your trust in God, then how can you feel to murmur and complain as you do! You are even more unreasonable than the children of Israel were; for here are my sisters pining for their rocking chairs, and brethren from whom I expected firmness and energy, declare that they positively believe they shall starve to death before they get to the end of their journey. And why is it so? Have any of you lacked? Have not I set food before you every day, and made you, who had not provided for yourselves, as welcome as my own children? Where is your faith? Where is your confidence in God? Can you not realize that all things were made by him, and that he rules over the works of his own hands? And suppose that all the Saints here should lift their hearts in prayer to God, that the way might be opened before us, how easy it would be for him to cause the ice to break away, so that in a moment we could be on our journey!"

Just then a man on shore cried, "Is the Book of Mormon true?"

"That book," replied I, "was brought forth by the power of God, and translated by the gift of the Holy Ghost; and, if I could make my voice sound as loud as the trumpet of Michael, the Archangel, I would declare the truth from land to land, and from sea to sea, and the echo should reach to every isle, until every member of the family of Adam should be left without excuse. For I do testify that God has revealed himself to man again in these last days, and set his hand to gather his people upon a goodly land, and, if they obey his commandments, it shall be unto them for an inheritance; whereas, if they rebel against his law, his hand will be against them to scatter them abroad, and cut them off from the face of the earth: and that he has commenced a work which will prove a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death, to every one that stands here this day—of life unto life, if you will receive it, or of death unto death, if you reject the counsel of God, for every man shall have the desires of his heart; if he desires the truth, he may hear and live, but if he tramples upon the simplicity of the word of God, he will shut the gate of heaven against himself." Then, turning to our own company, I said, "Now, brethren and sisters, if you will all of you raise your desires to heaven, that the ice may be broken up, and we be set at liberty, as sure as the Lord lives, it will be done." At that instant a noise was heard, like bursting thunder. The captain cried, "Every man to his post." The ice parted, leaving barely a passage for the boat, and so narrow, that as the boat passed through, the buckets of the waterwheel were torn off with a crash, which, joined to the word of command from the captain, the hoarse answering of the sailors, the noise of the ice, and the cries and confusion of the spectators, presented a scene truly terrible. We had barely passed through the avenue, when the ice closed together again, and the Colesville brethren were left in Buffalo, unable to follow us.

As we were leaving the harbor, one of the by-standers exclaimed, "There goes the 'Mormon' company! That boat is sunk in the water nine inches deeper than ever it was before, and, mark it, she will sink—there is nothing surer." In fact, they were so sure of it, that they went straight to the office and had it published that we were sunk, so that when we arrived at Fairport, we read in the papers the news of our own death.

After our miraculous escape from the wharf at Buffalo, we called our company together, and had a prayer meeting, in which we offered up our thanks to God for his mercy, which he had manifested towards us in our deliverance; but before our meeting was broken up, the captain's mate came to me and said, "Mrs. Smith, do, for God's sake, have your children stop praying, or we shall all go to hell together; we cannot keep one single man to his post, if we should go to the devil, for they are so taken up with your praying." Therefore, our meeting was broken up.

Soon after leaving Buffalo, some of our company began to feel the effects of the motion of the boat, and were overcome with sea-sickness. I went to the cook, and, handing him twenty-five cents, asked him if he could let me have some hot water for the sick folks. He complied with my request, and I was thus furnished with the means of making them comfortable.