Respected Husband and Father.—We, your wives, children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law, have convened on this occasion, in honor of the sixty-fifth anniversary of your birth, having a sincere desire to manifest our respect and gratitude to one whose kindness and wise counsels, of which we, as well as many others, have been the favored recipients.
May the returns of the day be many and happy ones, and may your cares and sorrows never be occasioned by members of this extensive, and, we trust, truly respected family; and, though the words of our Savior. "A man's foes shall be they of his own household," may be verily true in many cases, in yours may they prove to be strictly inapplicable.
The poet says:
If the stock of our bliss is in strangers' hands vested,
The fund, ill-secured, oft in bankruptcy ends;
But the heart issues bills that are never protested,
When drawn on the firm of wife, children and friends.The day-spring of youth, still unclouded by sorrow,
Alone, on itself for enjoyment depends;
But dreary the twilight of age, when it borrows
No warmth from the smiles of wife, children and friends.
And we say:
May we onward and upward, all cherish and nourish
The virtues on which this rich blessing depends;
And may we with love and fond hearts ever cherish
The tie that now makes us wives, children and friends.
Wishing you many, very many happy returns, we remain, your loving and obedient. Family.
Brother Lorenzo responded in a fatherly, affectionate speech, replete with wise counsels and exhortations—referring to the order of the Priesthood, and the blessings, both temporal and spiritual, to be secured through obedience to its requirements; and closed by warmly and feelingly expressing his thanks and appreciation of their united expression, and blessed his happy audience.
After which, Mrs. Armeda S. Young and Miss Dora Snow sang "Grandfather's Clock," all joining in the chorus. Then a committee of eldest three daughters, Mesdames Abigail S. Rosenbaum, Eliza S. Dunford and Rosetta S. Loveland, in a neat speech in behalf of the family, presented their father a beautiful hair picture, consisting of a spray in the centre, composed of his hair and that of his wives, which was encircled with a choice wreath of hair of the children—a slip of paper, with the name of each attached to his or her hair, and all set in a rich frame, comprising a record of forty members of the family. An autograph album was also presented, containing interesting and appropriate sentiments.
After another song by the company, a recitation by the children followed, then all repaired to the dining hall, and sat down to tables loaded with luxuries, where floral decorations shed a sweet perfume on all around.