Joseph Smith Shows Kindness and Resourcefulness to Discouraged Children

A group of boys and girls in Nauvoo were playing 'Anthony-Over' (Anti-I-Over), a game where two teams on opposite sides of a house throw a ball over the roof. They had no soft rubber ball, so they were using a wooden ball. The owner of the house was fearful that the hard ball would damage the dry shingles and ordered them away. Seeing the discouraged look on the children's faces, Joseph Smith recognized their disappointment. Rather than leaving it at that, he took them to Brother Hancock's carpenter shop and asked Hancock to make tippies (wooden implements) on his foot-powered lathe from wood scraps. He then instructed the children to whittle paddles to strike the tippies. Joseph took them to Main Street—the widest street in town—and taught them how to play the game with the tippies and paddles, setting their goal as the rock quarry at the head of Main Street. The narrator reported that this gave them good exercise, tested their muscular skills, and kept them busy for an hour or two, thereby keeping them out of mischief. This account reveals Joseph's concern for the wellbeing and happiness of children, his creativity in solving problems, and his understanding of how to channel youthful energy into constructive activities.