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Letter from Lyman O. Littlefield, 14 March 1842

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Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation *Letter from Lyman O. Littlefield, 14 March 1842 Times and Seasons, 15 March 1842
Page 729
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For the Times and Seasons.
, March 14, 1842.
Joseph Smith:—
Dear Sir: I see, in the last ‘Warsaw Signal,’ a very wanton and ungentlemanly attack upon yourself, made by the of that paper. The editor’s article, however, is in perfect keeping with his fell and natural spirit for calumniating the innocent and oppressed. I have, for some time past, been a constant reader of that paper, and feel myself perfectly safe in saying, that scarcely a single number of it has ever been issued, that was not surcharged with epithets of the foulest and basest character, perpetrated against a high-minded and intelligent portion of community, and fabricated by himself—or some individual equally as corrupt—to answer his own wicked and nefarious purposes.
What I allude to, more particularly, is his remarks relative to a marriage notice which appeared in a former number of the Times and Seasons, charging you with being its author. I should have remained silent upon this subject, had he made the attack upon any individual but yourself. But justice to your character renders it an imperious duty for me to speak and exonerate you from the false imputations of the . Therefore, be it known to that gentleman—if his heart is not wholly impervious to declarations of truth—that the little notice that has so much ruffled his very chaste and moral feelings, emenated from the pen of no individual other than—myself (!) “Urekah! Urekah!!” Then I would say to the sagacious of the Signal—
“Hush, babe, lay still and slumber!”
I speak knowingly when I say, that notice went in the Times and Seasons entirely without your sanction, and you knew nothing of its existence until that edition had been ‘worked off’ and circulated—the proof sheet not being examined by you.
After this declaration, I hope the of the Signal will do you the justice to exculpate you from the wholesale charges which I have been, in some degree, the means of calling upon your head; and, if he must blame any person for the notice, let his anathemas, like an avalanche, flow upon me—I will bear the burthen of my own foibles.
With sentiments of respect,
I remain, Sir, your ob’t serv’t,
. [p. 729]
For the Times and Seasons.
, March 14, 1842.
Joseph Smith:—
Dear Sir: I see, in the last ‘Warsaw Signal,’ a very wanton and ungentlemanly attack upon yourself, made by the of that paper. The editor’s article, however, is in perfect keeping with his fell and natural spirit for calumniating the innocent and oppressed. I have, for some time past, been a constant reader of that paper, and feel myself perfectly safe in saying, that scarcely a single number of it has ever been issued, that was not surcharged with epithets of the foulest and basest character, perpetrated against a high-minded and intelligent portion of community, and fabricated by himself—or some individual equally as corrupt—to answer his own wicked and nefarious purposes.
What I allude to, more particularly, is his remarks relative to a marriage notice which appeared in a former number of the Times and Seasons, charging you with being its author. I should have remained silent upon this subject, had he made the attack upon any individual but yourself. But justice to your character renders it an imperious duty for me to speak and exonerate you from the false imputations of the . Therefore, be it known to that gentleman—if his heart is not wholly impervious to declarations of truth—that the little notice that has so much ruffled his very chaste and moral feelings, emenated from the pen of no individual other than—myself (!) “Urekah! Urekah!!” Then I would say to the sagacious of the Signal—
“Hush, babe, lay still and slumber!”
I speak knowingly when I say, that notice went in the Times and Seasons entirely without your sanction, and you knew nothing of its existence until that edition had been ‘worked off’ and circulated—the proof sheet not being examined by you.
After this declaration, I hope the of the Signal will do you the justice to exculpate you from the wholesale charges which I have been, in some degree, the means of calling upon your head; and, if he must blame any person for the notice, let his anathemas, like an avalanche, flow upon me—I will bear the burthen of my own foibles.
With sentiments of respect,
I remain, Sir, your ob’t serv’t,
. [p. 729]
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