Complimentary Dinner.
On the evening of the 31st ult. His Excellency Governor Young gave a complimentary dinner to our Delegate, the Hon. John M. Bernhisel, at which Presidents Kimball and Grant, Elders Parley P. and Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, and Bishops Edward Hunter and Lorenzo D. Young were present, with their ladies. After being shown through the Governor’s splendidly finished and elegantly furnished mansion, from the lofty cupola of which the guests had a fine view of the city, valley, and lake, beyond whose western range darkly rising storm cloud was vividly streaming with lightning flashes, and brilliantly illuminated with the bright rays of the declining sun, they repaired to the library, and were entertained with music on the plane by Miss Charlotte Cobb. At 7 p.m. the company were seated at the dining table, which was leaded with a varied abundance of substantials and luxuries, crowned with a rich dessert of luscious grapes and peaches from His Excellency’s gardens.
The evening was passed in social conversation, in which the Hon. John M. Bernhisel afforded much entertainment and instruction by short details of men and matters at Washington.
[Deseret News, Sept. 5, 1855]
[transcribed and proofread by David Grow, Sept. 2006]