Murray, Utah

November 1, 1973

Dear Seth & Edith:

Since I last wrote to you I have been in the hospital for a two-week stay, and have now been home for nearly three weeks. I have not been too much in the mood of writing, so have neglected to let you know why you had not heard from me.

I am writing this morning mainly for one purpose: to let you know that I have found the B. H. Roberts manuscript of which I spoke when we were talking about The Parallels. I took a chance and called B. H.'s grandson, who is a lawyer here in Salt and discovered that he had the manuscript.

I went in to visit Brigham E. three days ago, and after a long discussion with him, he finally consented to let me have the manuscript for a week. I am now reading it and taking notes so that I can make a summary for my own use and, perhaps, to let some of my friends see. This is a fourteen chapter book of 246 type-written pages. It is essentially an expansion of B. H.'s Parallels and is certainly an honest attempt to learn the degree to which Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews could have been the "ground plan", as he calls it, for the Book of Mormon.

I am now reading Chapter seven, and when I have finished, I shall type up my notes and have them Zeroxed and send you a copy. It is sufficient "at this time and moment" to say that the Book of Mormon follows the Ethan Smith story far more closely than one would suspect, even after reading The Parallels.

B. H. says that he is certain that Joseph Smith had the Ethan Smith book and with this book in his hands and Joseph's fertile imagination he could have easily written the Book of Mormon.

We are getting a little touch of winter today. Edna sends her best.

Sincerely,