s through open ditches on each side of the street, passes through
Brigham's inclosure: if the saints needed drought to humble them, he
could set back the waters to their source. The road to the only _canon_
where firewood is attainable runs through the same close, and is barred
by a gate of which he holds the sole key. A family-man, wishing to cut
fuel, must ask his leave, which is generally granted on condition that
every third or fourth load is deposited in the inclosure, for
Church-purposes. Thus everything vital, save the air he breathes,
reaches the Mormon only through Brigham's sieve. What more absolute
despotism is conceivable? Here lies the _pou-sto_ for the lever of
Governmental interference. The mere fact of such power resting in one
man's irresponsible hands is a crime against the Constitution. At the
same time, this power, wonderful as it may seem, is practically wielded
for the common good. I never heard Brigham's worst enemies accuse him of
peculation, though such immense interests are controlled by his one pair
of hands. His life is all one great theoretical mistake, yet he makes
fewer practical mistakes than any other man, so situated, whom the world
ever saw. Those he does make are not on the side of self. He merges his
whole personality in the Church, with a self-abnegation which would
establish in business a whole century of martyrs having a worthy cause.

The cut of Brigham's hair led me away from his personal description. To
return to it: his eyes are a clear blue-gray, frank and straightforward
in their look; his nose a finely chiselled aquiline; his mouth
exceedingly firm, and fortified in that expression by a chin almost as
protrusive beyond the rest of the profile as Charlotte Cushman's, though
less noticeably so, being longer than hers; and he wears a narrow ribbon
of brown beard, meeting under the chin. I think I have heard Captain
Burton say that he had irregular teeth, which made his smile unpleasant.
Since the Captain's visit, our always benevolent President, Mr. Lincoln,
has altered all that, sending out as Territorial Secretary a Mr. Fuller,
who, besides being a successful politician, was an excellent dentist.
He secured Brigham's everlasting gratitude by making him a very handsome
false set, and performing the same service for all of his favorite, but
edentate wives. Several other apostles of the Lord owe to Mr. Fuller
their ability to gnash their teeth against the Gentiles. The result was