“In August, 1843, there was an excursion on the little boat down the river to Quincy, Ill. The Mayor of that city had invited the Prophet, and some of the leading citizens of Nauvoo to be his guests for the day, and he was at the landing to receive his visitors. It was my good fortune to be one of the party that dined at the Mayor’s, and Brother Joseph was the after-dinner entertainer, for he talked and the others listened with the greatest attention and were loath to have him depart.
“As we were going home on the little boat, Brother Joseph sat on the upper deck with the company gathered around him listening to his wonderful words. My father sat opposite him, so near that their knees almost touched. I, a little girl, being tired and sleepy, my Pa took me in his arms to rest. Brother Joseph stopped speaking, stooped and took my feet on his knees and when I would have drawn them away, he said, ‘No, let me hold them; you will rest better.’ “
Mary Ann Winters, “Young Woman’s Journal,” Volume 16, p. 558.