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What
Was Edited Out of Lucy Mack Smith's Manuscript
by
Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor
Editors'
Note: Today and in the weeks to come Meridian is sharing excerpts
from Lucy Mack Smith's moving and articulate story of her son Joseph.
It is a rare thing to have the mother of a great man tell his story
so personally, recording details we would otherwise never know,
taking us to scenes in his life that give us rare insight into his
character. We hope this will enhance your study of the Doctrine
& Covenants this year.
In
1995-96, Meridian's editors, Scot and Maurine Proctor went into
the LDS Church archives, pored over Lucy's original dictation of
her story to her scribe Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, and re-edited
her book so that it would be closer to her original words. The Proctors
also added over 600 footnotes and 100 photographs to enhance the
reader's understanding. The result is The Revised and Enhanced History
of Joseph Smith by His Mother.
Previous
articles in this series include:
Upper
bedroom of Smith frame house
in Manchester, New York (just south of Palmyra).
From the time
that Martha and Howard Coray first took Lucy's Preliminary Manuscript
and edited it into what became the 1853 edition, the history has
been moving farther from Lucy's own voice. This 1996 edition is
an attempt to lessen the distance, while adding photographs, extensive
endnotes to provide texture and context, easy chapter headings,
appendices and an index for quick reference. In this edition, Lucy's
voice is heard more clearly, her sentiments and perceptions explored
more openly than ever before, because the Preliminary Manuscript
is the foundation of the text. While the 1853 version was used in
this book to supply structure, chapter divisions, and some transitions,
as well as to fill in missing gaps not available in the Preliminary
Manuscript, the flow of language is essentially Lucy's own. Sometimes
this means very little change from the 1853 edition; sometimes the
change is vast.
The 1853 edition
often changes her voice, not allowing the full expression of her
feelings about matters important to her. For instance, when Lucy
was a young married woman searching for the truth, she went to the
Presbyterian church and came away disappointed. In the 1853 edition
it is recorded:
I heard that
a very devout man was to preach the next Sabbath in the Presbyterian
Church; I therefore went to meeting, the full expectation of hearing
that which my soul desired-the Word of Life. When the minister
commenced speaking, I fixed my mind with deep attention upon the
spirit and matter of his discourse; but, after hearing him through,
I returned home, convinced that he neither understood nor appreciated
the subject upon which he spoke, and I said in my heart that there
was not then upon earth the religion which I sought.
The Preliminary
Manuscript reads with more passion and intimacy:
At last I
heard that one noted for his piety would preach the ensuing Sabbath
in the Presbyterian church. Thither I went in expectation of obtaining
that which alone could satisfy my soul-the bread of eternal life.
When the minister commenced, I fixed my mind with breathless attention
upon the spirit and matter of the discourse, but all was emptiness,
vanity, vexation of spirit, and fell upon my heart like the chill,
untimely blast upon the starting ear ripening in the summer sun.
It did not fill the aching void within nor satisfy the craving
hunger of my soul. I was almost in total despair, and with a grieved
and troubled spirit I returned home, saying in my heart, there
is not on earth the religion which I seek.
The 1853 edition
sometimes ignores emotion as if it were somehow embarrassing, editing
out valuable detail about the feelings of the Smith family as they
cope with their challenges. In the Preliminary Manuscript Lucy describes
the exhaustion and anxiety of her husband when the doctors came
to operate on little Joseph, after the boy has suffered weeks of
anguish from a pain in his leg. This paragraph is entirely deleted
from the 1853 edition:
My husband
who was constantly with the child, seemed to contemplate for an
instant my countenance; then, turning his eyes upon his boy, at
once all his suffering together with my intense anxiety rushed
upon his mind. He burst into a flood of tears and sobbed like
a child.
Also missing
from the 1853 edition is the expression of affection from Joseph
Smith Sr. toward his children when they are reunited in Palmyra
after some months' separation. The 1853 edition tells of Lucy and
her children arriving in Palmyra with a small portion of our effects,
and barely two cents in cash.
When I again
met my husband at Palmyra, we were much reduced-not from indolence,
but on account of many reverses of fortune, with which our lives
had been rather singularly marked.
She gives us
a more personal picture in the Preliminary Manuscript:
I then proceeded
on my way, and in a short time I arrived in Palmyra with a small
portion of my affects, my babes, and two cents in money, but perfectly
happy in the society of my family. The joy I felt in throwing
myself and my children upon the care and affection of a tender
husband and father doubly paid me for all I had suffered. The
children surrounded their father, clinging to his neck, covering
his face with tears and kisses that were heartily reciprocated
by him. We all now sat down and maturely counseled together as
to what course it was best to take, and how we should proceed
to business in our then destitute circumstances.
In the Preliminary
Manuscript Lucy periodically stops her narrative to give us a soliloquy.
For the most part these were deleted, shortened or severely edited
for the 1853 edition until her voice in these is sometimes hardly
recognizable. For example, one night during the printing of the
Book of Mormon, Lucy hid the manuscript in a chest under the bed
to keep it from the clutches of conspiring men who had determined
to steal and destroy it. Lying there upon the record, the important
scenes of Lucy's life began to play before her eyes. Cut from the
1853 edition is this insight into Lucy's spirituality:
At last,
as if led by an invisible spirit, I came to the time [in my memory]
when the messenger from Waterloo informed me that the translation
was actually completed. My soul swelled with a joy that could
scarcely be heightened, except by the reflection that the record
which had cost so much labor, suffering, and anxiety was now,
in reality, lying beneath my own head-that this identical work
had not only been the object which we as a family had pursued
so eagerly, but that prophets of ancient days, angels, and even
the great God had had his eye upon it. "And," said I to myself,
"shall I fear what man can do? Will not the angels watch over
the precious relic of the worthy dead and the hope of the living?
And am I indeed the mother of a prophet of the God of heaven,
the honored instrument in performing so great a work?" I felt
that I was in the purview of angels, and my heart bounded at the
thought of the great condescension of the Almighty. Thus I spent
the night surrounded by enemies and yet in an ecstasy of happiness.
Finally, the
1853 edition occasionally deletes an incident or description that
completes the picture Lucy is painting. For instance, Lucy tells
of the pitiful conditions of the refugees who fled to Far West when
the militia had driven them from their homes in outlying areas.
In the 1853 edition she says:
It was enough
to make the heart ache to see the children, sick with colds, and
crying around their mothers for food, whilst their parents were
destitute of the means of making them comfortable.
This is a poignant
scene by itself, but the Preliminary Manuscript adds a heartrending
note.
It was enough
to make the heart ache to see children in the open sun and wind,
sick with colds and very hungry, crying around their mothers for
food and their parents destitute of the means of making them comfortable,
while their houses, which lay a short distance from the city,
were pillaged of everything, their fields thrown open for the
horses belonging to the mob to lay waste and destroy, and their
fat cattle shot down and turning to carrion before their eyes,
while a strong guard, which was set over us for the purpose, prevented
us from making use of a particle of the stock that was killed
on every side of us.
Thus, using
the Preliminary Manuscript as the major source of text, this edition
gives us a fresher, keener view of Lucy and her response to the
momentous events of the Restoration. At the same time, using the
structure and chronology of the 1853 edition allows the history
to transcend the limitations of an occasionally confusing, occasionally
spotty oral history (as oral histories tend to be). Where Lucy is
incorrect in dates or names, corrections have been made in the text
and the changes often footnoted. No attempt has been made to restate
her sentences in more polished prose or improve her vocabulary.
She stands well on her own and thus the edits are light. Where transitions
or explanations are necessary and not available in the Preliminary
Manuscript, the 1853 text has been used. However, to save the text
from becoming tedious, every shift between the Preliminary Manuscript
and the 1853 edition has not been noted. The motivation was to find
Lucy buried in the material, be true to her voice, and at the same
time create a book that was accessible and inviting to a wide audience.
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