... a group of close friends was invited to the Smith home for a grand dinner party. The list of guests included Lucy Mack Smith (Joseph's mother), Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, John Taylor, Orson Hyde, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Heber C. Kimball, the wives of these men, Eliza R. Snow, several other prominent citizens, and, of course, William and Ruth Clayton. The festivities began with the singing of two jubilee hymns written especially for the occasion, one by Wilson Law and Richards and the other by Snow. Joseph Smith distributed cards with the hymns printed on them. The conversation centered around the deliverance and at 2 p.m. the prophet and Emma began to serve dinner. It took four shifts, for their dinner table could not hold all the guests at once, and the Smiths had their own meal only with the last shift. The party broke up at 6 p.m. Wrote Clayton, ``Truly it was a time of Jubilee; all hearts rejoiced.'' But all the celebration must have been too much for his constitution, for he went home feeling ill and could not even attend the Masonic lodge meeting that evening, as Joseph did.
[Fillerup, Robert C., compiler; William Clayton Nauvoo Diaries and Personal Writings, A chronological compilation of the personal writings of William Clayton while he was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois. http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/clayton-diaries]
No comments:
Post a Comment