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What Was Edited Out of Lucy Mack Smith's

Manuscript
by Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor
http://www.ldsmag.com/churchhistory/010110lucy3.html

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.

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:
Upper bedroom of Smith frame house
in Manchester, New York (just south of Palmyra).
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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.
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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
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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.