On p. 408 of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? (5th ed.; 1987/2008), we read the following concerning the Word of Wisdom among early Latter-day Saints:
About 1842, a new and larger
house was built for us. . . . Father proceeded to build an extensive addition
running out from the south wing toward the east. . . . At any rate, it seemed
spacious then, and a sign was put out giving it the dignified name of “The
Nauvoo Mansion,” . . . Mother was to be installed as landlady, and soon made a
trip to Saint Louis.. When she returned Mother found installed in the
keeping-room of the hotel—that is to say, the main room where the guests
assembled and where they were received upon arrival—a bar, with counter,
shelves, bottles, glasses, and other paraphernalia customary for a fully-equipped
tavern bar, and Porter Rockwell in charge as tender. She was very much
surprised and disturbed over this arrangement, but said nothing for a while . .
. she asked me where Father was. I told her he was in the front room . . . Then
she told me to go and tell him she wished to see him. I obeyed, and returned
with him to the hall where Mother awaited him. “Joseph,” she asked, “What is
the meaning of that bar in this house?” . . . “How does it look,” she asked,
“for the spiritual head of a religious body to be keeping a hotel in which is a
room fitted out as a liquor-selling establishment?” He reminded her that
all taverns had their bars at which liquor was sold or dispensed.. Mother’s
reply came emphatically clear, though uttered quietly: “Well, Joseph, . . . I
will take my children and go across to the old house and stay there, for I will
not have them raised up under such conditions as this arrangement imposes upon
us, nor have them mingle with the kind of men who frequent such a place. You
are at liberty to make your choice; either that bar goes out of the house or
we will. It did not take Father long to make the choice, for he replied immediately,
“Very well, Emma; I will have it removed at once”—and he did. (The Saints’
Herald, January 22, 1935, p. 110)
This is a classic example of a quote-mine from the Tanners,
giving the impression that the bar in Nauvoo House was supposed to be a
permanent fixture. For example, here are the two paragraphs removed by their clever
use of ellipsis between “What is the meaning of that bar in this house” and “How
does it look”:
He told her of Porter’s arrival
and that a place was being prepared for him just across the street, where he
would run a barber shop with a bar in connection, explaining that the bar in
the hotel was only a temporary arrangement until the building referred to could
be finished and ready for occupancy.
There was no excitement in Mother’s
voice nor in what she said as she replied, but there was a distinctness and
earnestness I have never forgotten and which had its effect upon Father as
well. (“The
Memoirs of President Joseph Smith (1832-1914),” edited by his daughter Mary
Audentia Smith Anderson, The Saints’ Herald 82, no. 4 [January 22, 1935]:
110)
For more on
the development of the Word of Wisdom among early Latter-day Saints, as well as
a thorough refutation of the abuse of sources in this chapter (pp. 405-13) of
the Tanners’ magnum opus, see:
Mike Ash, Up
In Smoke: A Response to the Tanners’ Criticism of the Word of Wisdom
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