Sunday, July 30, 2023

Tale Tales Concerning the Early Life of Joseph Smith in the 1853 Welsh anti-LDS Tract Dynoethiad Mormoniaeth (Exposure of Mormonism)

In a Welsh anti-Mormon tract written by “The Levite” entitled Dynoethiad Mormoniaeth; yn cynwys Hanes Joseph Smith, Saith Gradd y Dem, Gwyreigiaeth Ysbrydol, yn nghyda’r Seremoniau a arferir ar Dderbyniad i’r Urdd hono. O Enau Tystion Profedig (English: Exposure of Mormonism; Containing the History of Joseph Smith, Seven Degrees of the Temple, Spiritual Wifery, Together with the Ceremonies that are used on Acceptance into that Order. From the Mouths of Proven Witnesses) (Swansea: Joseph Rosser, 1853), we read the following tall tales concerning Joseph Smith on pp. 5-6:

 

When he was very young he was beaten by an old woman by the name of Tracey for stealing eggs from her; and the following night her chickencoop was set on fire, and Joe was found guilty. When he was thirteen years old he stole some clothes from a hedge, and he exchanged them with a peddler for cosmetics, and within three days he testified having seen one James Bradshaw steal them. One day his father took a switch to punish him, and to spite his father he poisoned the big dog he had to guard the house. Another time, when he had a grudge against one of his family members, he put some elixir in the coffeepot which made all of them sick. After being beaten by a boy who was bigger than he, he watched constantly for an opportunity for revenge and one day found him bathing in the river; he took his clothes away and scattered them here and there across the surface of the water so that not one shred of them was ever found.

 

In school there never was a bigger blockhead than Joe; his favorite activity was to steal, beat the children, and tell lies: and he was totally destitute of any abilities for working; he never took hold of any tool except against his will, and when he did, he was determined to do as much damage as he could by making things wrong, breaking the tool, and such things. Everyone considered Joe the most abominable and wicked lad throughout the entire neighborhood of Palmyra. (On Trial in the Welsh Press: Latter-day Saint Missionaries Declare and Defend the Faith, 1840-1860, ed. Ronald D. Dennis [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2023], 803-4)