Hale home, Joseph and Emma arranged to live in a house moved onto the Hale property. Emma said that for at least part of the time, Joseph kept the plates in this house on a table, wrapped in a linen tablecloth. Beginning in December 1827, Smith began transcribing the characters he said were engraved on the plates, and dictating what he said was a translation of some of them. While transcribing, he reportedly sat behind a curtain and looked at the plates through the Urim and Thummim, passing the written transcriptions to Emma, who was sitting on the other side of the curtain. Eventually, after some transcription, he began to dictate what he said was a translation of the plates to Emma or her brother Reuben. To translate, he reportedly "put the urim and thummim into his hat and Darkened his Eyes than [sic] he would take a sentance [sic] and it would apper [sic] in Brite [sic] Roman Letters. Then he would tell the writer and he would write it." Reportedly, Smith did not need the physical presence of the plates to create the translation, and the plates remained in the nearby woods during the translation. Harris came to assist with the translation in February 1828. Around this time, Smith reportedly confided to Emma's uncle that he had doubts about whether or not he should translate the plates, because despite the commandment from God, "he was afraid of the people". Thus, when Harris arrived, he reportedly had to convince Smith to continue translating, saying, "I have not come down here for nothing, and we will go on with it". Smith then sent Harris to several well-known scholars to see if they could translate or authenticate some of the transcribed characters, but Harris was unable to get any of the scholars' help or backing. After visiting his home in Palmyra, Harris then returned to Harmony in the middle of April 1828 and began acting as Smith's scribe while Smith dictated what he later would call the Book of Lehi. Harris reported that for at least part of Smith's early translation, Smith used his seer stone to translate, rather than the Urim and Thummim, because the stone was more convenient. Smith also at least sometimes made use of a curtain; Harris stated that one time during the translation, Smith raised a curtain between him and Harris, because "the presence of the