aid to induce the people to obey the will
of the Priesthood. I believed all he said, for he supported it by
quotations from Scripture, and if I believed the Bible, as I did
most implicitly, I could not help believing in Joseph, the
prophet of God in these last days, Joseph declared that he was
called of God and given power and authority from heaven to do
God's will; that he had received the keys of the holy Priesthood
from the apostles Peter, James, and John, and had been dedicated,
set apart, and anointed as the prophet, seer, and revelator, and
sent to open the dispensation of the fullness of time, according
to the words of the apostles; that he was charged with the
restoration of the House of Israel, and to gather the Saints from
the four corners of the earth to the land of promise, Zion, the
Holy Land (Jackson County), and to the setting up of the Kingdom
of God preparatory to the second coming of Christ in the last
days. Every Mormon, true to his faith, believed as fully in
Joseph and his holy character as he did that God existed.

The Prophet Joseph was a most extraordinary man; he was rather
large in stature, some six feet two inches in height, well built,
though a little stoop-shouldered, with prominent and well-
developed features, a Roman nose, light chestnut hair, upper lip
full and rather protruding, chin broad and square, and an eagle
eye, and on the whole had something in his manner and appearance
that was bewitching and winning; his countenance was that of a
plain, honest man, full of benevolence and philanthropy and void
of deceit or hypocrisy. He was resolute and firm of purpose,
strong as most men in physical power, and all who saw were forced
to admire him, as he then looked and existed. In the sports of
the day, such as wrestling, he was over the average. Very few of
the Saints had the strength needed to throw the Prophet in a fair
tussle. In every gathering he was a welcome guest, and always
added to the amusement of the people, instead of dampening their
ardor.

During the time that we were camping at Adam-on-Diamond, waiting
to see what would be the result of the quarrel between our Church
and the Gentiles, one Sunday morning (it had rained heavily the
night before and the air was cold) the men were shivering over a
few firebrands, feeling out of sorts and quite cast down. The
Prophet came up while the brethren were moping around and caught
first one and then another and shook them up, and sai