Extracts from two letters written by non-"Mormon" relatives in the East, in response to invitation circulars from Brother Lorenzo:
Chicago, May 1st, 1884.
Dear Cousin Lorenzo.—Your kind invitation to your family re-union was duly received, and we are truly grateful for your remembrance of us. After due and thoughtful consideration, we cannot see our way clear to join you. We are very loth to relinquish our hope of commingling with you on an occasion so full of promise, and of congratulating you and cousin Eliza on the blessed privilege you will enjoy in thus uniting in social re-union.
We have no one here to whom we can safely entrust our cares—more especially the responsibility of our young family, and we feel compelled to forego the happiness we should fully appreciate. Our aged mother is now with us, and wishes me to express her warmest regards and love for you all. * * * * * *
Hoping and firmly believing that at no very distant day I shall visit you at your home, and wishing you and yours much joy and many happy re-unions,
I remain, most sincerely yours,
Taylor A. Snow.
Auburn, Geauga County, Ohio, May 2, 1884.
Dear Cousin Lorenzo.—With mingled feelings of pleasure and regret, I now write you. It is pleasure to be the recipient of an invitation to a great event, and with feelings of deep regret we are obliged to decline the invitation. After the receipt of yours, for weeks we neither talked, dreamed or thought much of anything but going to Salt Lake. Alonzo, myself and our wives decided on coming, but Alonzo's son-in-law, who had been in a decline, was taken worse, and his condition became so alarming, we could not leave; and at this writing his death is hourly anticipated. * * * I must close by sending our love and good wishes to you and your magnificent family. May you live to enjoy many anniversaries.
Wishing you success in all your undertakings, and hoping we may yet visit you and your family,
I subscribe myself, your cousin,
Oliver F. Snow.
The programmes, which had been pre-arranged, were carried out with very few alterations, and were, without one exception, executed in the most gratifying manner. Even the elements seemed to participate in the arrangement; Nature, by refulgent smiles and harmonious bearing, contributed much to the enjoyment of the auspicious occasion. It was a striking and very noticeable coincident, that the weather, which for a long time previous had been drearily stormy and threatening, even up to mid-day before the opening, on that momentous morning presented a cloudless sky and calm atmosphere, which continued till after the close of the festival.
Our new-styled Patriarch apparently lost sight of nothing that would add to the innocent and laudable gratification of all ages and capacities. On the evening preceding the opening of the general entertainment, for the special amusement of the little folks, who were in groups frolicking on the lawn in front of his residence, he had a variety of fantastic Chinese lanterns suspended in convenient proximity; the novelty of the queer illumination of those swinging orbs, with the small children, to whom the sight was new, created convulsions of laughter and merriment, in which some of "larger growth" participated through sympathy with the youngsters.
The upper hall of the court house, in which the devotional and intellectual exercises were performed, is 45x65 feet, with a gallery extending across one end. A platform twelve feet wide, extending the width of the hall—raised one foot above the floor, was occupied by the family, with the exception of from twenty to twenty-five small children; these were seated in double rows beside the platform; and having been prepared by careful training, sang sweetly, as none but children can sing, to the no small gratification of all present. Near one end of the platform (one on each side of the speaker's table), stood a piano and organ. The brass band occupied the stage on the left; the auditorium, including the gallery, on the right, was filled with guests.
With the exception of the family dance on Friday evening, in the Social Hall, the "COUNCIL OF THE UNITED ORDER OF BRIGHAM CITY," with their wives, were invited guests during the three successive days and evenings. In view of contributing, so far as consistent with the peculiarities of the occasion, to the happiness of many, Brother Lorenzo reached beyond his own family circle and the "Council," by increasing the audience to the full capacity of the auditorium, inviting as many of the citizens of the city and vicinity as could be accommodated.
The entire exercises were performed by Brother Lorenzo and family, with the following exceptions: brass band; Elder C. W. Penrose, editor of the Deseret News, and intimate friend of my brother, by special invitation being present, gave an eloquent extempore address on the platform—also a humorous speech at the table, which elicited much applause. Mrs. M. P. Young, whose son is now a missionary on the Sandwich Islands, with his wife, Armeda S., was invited as their representative, and responded to the programme in a well written address; also the writer in a poem written for the occasion. At the conclusion of the table convivial on Friday, several of the gentlemen who had politely and genteelly served as hosts, were called on for speeches, and each appropriately responded, eliciting hearty cheers.
The after-dinner-table scenes were truly exhilarating, and added greatly to the ever-varying enjoyment. There perfect freedom, untrammeled by restraint, ruled the festive hour, when toasts, speeches, conundrums, and whatever would conduce to free, jolly, innocent amusement, interspersed with refined, high-toned sentiment, was in order.
Mr. Charles Kelley, a gentleman of proverbial amiability, and fully competent, superintended the table arrangements. The dining hall, 22x45 feet, had commanded the attention of the decorating committee. Two tables, extending the whole length, were amply spread with the bounties of the earth, and artistically decorated with flowers, and with beautifully mottoed cakes, fresh from the hands and plastic molds of skillful confectioners. The adults were seated at one table, and the little people, as chatty as magpies, and apparently as loving as doves, at the other, reserving a sufficient number of seats at the head of the table to accommodate the "bachelor group," over which one of the unmarried daughters presided.
The appended article, from the gifted pen of the editor of the Deseret News, which we copy from that paper, in his own eloquent style, touches the really indescribable subject—Lorenzo's family re-union. Any attempt at pen and ink representation, which necessarily fails to include the spirit and pervading influence of that entirely unique and unprecedented social entertainment, must fall short of reality, from the fact that human language is inadequate to express the inspiriting sensations and emotions of the head and heart. To say the least, everything moved with the precision of clock-work, and proved a grand and complete success; every one, even to the little three-year-old, was fully up to his and her part in the programme of exercises.