The "prophet" and founder of mormonism, who had upwards of 30 wives is adored, and Hardy is excoriated because of showing the bare chests of men.
As to the disdain shown here regarding Hardy's not obeying the honor code, this passage shows the attitude of the "prophet" Joseph Smith towards the codes of churches in his neighborhood.
Remember, he built the mormon church on the declaration that "In response to his question concerning which church was the right one to join, Smith said, "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong... He again forbade me to join any of them" (Ibid., vs. 19-20).
Inconsistency about Church Membership
In the official first vision story Smith questioned, "Who of all these parties are right; or are they all wrong together?" (P. of G.P., J.S. History 1:10). Later he said, "I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that they were all wrong) - and which I should join" (Ibid., vs. 18). The words in parentheses were in the original and then deleted until 1981, but now that they have been put back in the text, they contradict verse 10! In response to his question concerning which church was the right one to join, Smith said, "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong... He again forbade me to join any of them" (Ibid., vs. 19-20). But, Fayette Lapham said that about 1830 Smith's father told him that Joseph had joined the Baptist church in about 1824 (Historical Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 1870, pp. 305-306) The P. of G.P. J.S. History 1:7 says that Joseph's mother and sister Sophronia as well as his two brothers, Hyrum and Samuel, joined the Presbyterian church when the revival came. They remained members until September, 1828. Wesley Walters found this information in the Sessions Records, Vol. II, for the Western Presbyterian Church of Palmyra, New York. He also found that in 1822 Joseph Smith "caught a spark of Methodism and became a very passible exhorter in the evening meetings" (History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, 1851, p. 214). In order to be teaching in a Methodist church, Joseph must have been accepted rather than persecuted as he claimed in the P. of G.P., J.S. History 1:21-22. In 1828, Joseph sought membership in the Methodist church where his wife, Emma, had belonged since she was seven years old. The death of their firstborn son on June 15, 1828, may have motivated him to do that.
Emma Smith's cousins, Joseph and Heil Lewis, were members of the Methodist church which Joseph tried to join in Harmony, Pennsylvania. They said, "Joseph presented himself in a very serious and humble manner, and the minister, not suspecting evil, put his name on the class book, in the absence of some of the official members" (The Amboy Journal, April 30, 1879).
Joseph Lewis later added,
I with Joshua McKune, a local preacher at the time, I think in June, 1828, heard on Saturday that Joe Smith had joined the church on Wednesday afternoon (as it was customary in those days to have circuit preaching at my father's house on week day). We thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments and bleeding ghosts, in it. So on Sunday, we went to father's, the place of meeting that day, and got there in season to see Smith and talked to him some time in father's shop before meeting. Told him that his occupation, habits, and moral character were at variance with the discipline, that his name would be a disgrace to the church, and there should have been recantation, confession and at least promised reformation - that he could that day publicly ask that his name be stricken from the class book, or stand investigation. He chose the former, and did that very day make request that his name be taken off the class book (The Amboy Journal, June 11, 1879).
Joseph Smith's brother-in-law, Michael Morse, said that Smith's name remained on the class book for about six months (Ibid., May 21, 1879). Since Morse was the class leader who enrolled Smith, he may be right. But why did Joseph Smith seek to join the Methodist church in 1828 if Jesus Christ told him not to join any church in 1820? (See Mormonism - Shadow or Reality?, pp. 161-162).
We thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments
and bleeding ghosts, in it.
Joseph may have joined the Methodist Church, but they didn't keep him for long. As explained HERE and
HERE, they promptly gave Smith the boot for practicing sorcery using his magic peep stone (among other things.