The idea that “the translation came to him very largely as the result of persistent study” is borne out in a story that the late Preston Nibley used to tell of how in 1906 he visited the Nauvoo House in company with President Joseph F. Smith. President Smith (as Elder Nibley recollected with his remarkable memory) recalled with tears the familiar sight of “Uncle Joseph” kneeling on the floor of the front room with Egyptian manuscripts spread out all around him, weighted down by rocks and books, as with intense concentration he would study a line of characters, jotting down his impressions in a little notebook as he went.