Story Behind the Desk:
Tucked in a corner office of the Red Brick Store is a wooden writing desk. It carries a story that impacted Joseph Smith III's life. The desk was a gift from Newel K. Whitney, a family friend and former bishop in Kirtland and Nauvoo. While many of Joseph's neighbors were planning to leave Nauvoo in 1846, a few friends and relatives gave Joseph gifts. Much to his mother's dismay, among those gifts given were a bowie knife and a small pistol.
As Newel and his family prepared to depart Nauvoo, he shared with Joseph a gift to remember him by: a writing desk. Newel compared his desk to the other gifts Joseph received and shared that the pistol and knife were weapons of war. Joseph later reflected that Newel:
"... wished to impress upon me the sentiment that 'the pen is mightier than the sword.' I seemed to feel at the time that his intention was to foster within me a spirit of peace rather than one of conflict... The gift of Bishop Whitney led to the reflection that the spirit and weapons of war were among the evanescent things of life and would necessarily perish with the using but that the pen, mightier than they, would produce permanent things upon which the judgment of men would be based in the great hereafter. At all events these were the effects they produced upon me, for I did not imbibe the spirit of war, and had little use for its dangerous weapons."
Newel K. Whitney's desk was not only a wonderful gift, but a powerful lesson of peace that Joseph carried with him the rest of his life.
Tucked in a corner office of the Red Brick Store is a wooden writing desk. It carries a story that impacted Joseph Smith III's life. The desk was a gift from Newel K. Whitney, a family friend and former bishop in Kirtland and Nauvoo. While many of Joseph's neighbors were planning to leave Nauvoo in 1846, a few friends and relatives gave Joseph gifts. Much to his mother's dismay, among those gifts given were a bowie knife and a small pistol.
As Newel and his family prepared to depart Nauvoo, he shared with Joseph a gift to remember him by: a writing desk. Newel compared his desk to the other gifts Joseph received and shared that the pistol and knife were weapons of war. Joseph later reflected that Newel:
"... wished to impress upon me the sentiment that 'the pen is mightier than the sword.' I seemed to feel at the time that his intention was to foster within me a spirit of peace rather than one of conflict... The gift of Bishop Whitney led to the reflection that the spirit and weapons of war were among the evanescent things of life and would necessarily perish with the using but that the pen, mightier than they, would produce permanent things upon which the judgment of men would be based in the great hereafter. At all events these were the effects they produced upon me, for I did not imbibe the spirit of war, and had little use for its dangerous weapons."
Newel K. Whitney's desk was not only a wonderful gift, but a powerful lesson of peace that Joseph carried with him the rest of his life.
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Location of the Object
Red Brick Store, located at the Joseph Smith Historic Site in Nauvoo, Illinois |
Date of the Object
Unknown |
Photos & Information Shared By
Barb Walden (story) and Val Brinkerhoff (images) |