G. de la P. B.'s conviction of truth through correspondence with Mr. Grove

“It was in this frame of mind that one day I walked through Bell Street. I confess I dislike low streets, the air is generally so polluted, and the people so foul in their appearance and language. It was only because I had business that I had gone down it. As I went along, I saw a mean little room, with a board over the door, announcing that the Latter-day Saints worship there. I was startled at first, because only a few days before the editor of a popular weekly paper had told me they had no public meeting place, being too much ashamed to notice their horrors. I stood for a moment, and then, with a feeling of curiosity, I walked on. But I could not get the board out of my mind. I thought, 'If they are so bad, why do they not hide themselves? If they are so good, why are they so poor?' I could not answer the question. Accordingly, that very evening, I wrote to the presiding Elder, and carried the letter myself to the house in Bell Street. I found the door opened by a man who looked like a gentleman, and who spoke with a kindness that surprised me. On Monday came an answer, with a cordial invitation to his house. I accepted, but could not come, but wrote me a letter which was the first of a long correspondence with Mr. Grove, to whom, in unreserved confidence, I explained all my difficulties, and though old habits of thought were somewhat shocked, yet he told me nothing but what, upon investigation, commended itself as true. I have now been a member of the Church for some time, and I can truly say that the peace I now enjoy is a thousand times better than the wealth I have lost.”

— G. de la P. B., The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 28, No. 45