sions festivities were held.'^' Sometimes the guests contributed toward the expense of the entertainment, the amount that each one was expected to pay being stated on the card of invitation.^*
In winter, theatrical performances were given by the Deseret Dramatic Association at the social hall, and in summer at the bowery, the parts being well sustained and the orchestra and decorations well ap- pointed.^^ At the former, private parties were given when the gathering was too large for the residence of the host; in the basement were appliances for cooking, and adjoining was a dining-room with seats and tables sufficient for three hundred persons. All entertain- ments were opened with prayer; then came dancing, songs, and music, followed by supper, the guests being dismissed with a benediction at an early hour.
The public festivities of the Mormons were always conducted under the auspices of the church, and none were allowed to join in them who were not in good standing. To sing, dance, and rejoice before the Lord was regarded almost as a religious duty, but only those must rejoice whose hearts were pure and whose hands were clean. Thus, toward christmas of this year, 1849, regulations were issued by the high council for the observance of the approaching holi- days. They were to commence on the 20th of De- cember and last until the council should declare them at an end, officers being appointed to preside over the dances. No person who had been disfellowshipped
'^ The-christmas festival of 1851 is described in the Deseret News, Jan. 24, 1852. ' On the 24th,' writes Brigham in regard to another occasion, ' I in- vited the wives of the twelve apostles, and other elders who were on missions, with a number of my relatives, to dine at my house. Seventy ladies sat down at the first table. I employed five sleighs to collect the company; the day was stormy; near my house the snow drifted three feet deep.' Hist. B. Young, MS., 1850, 2.
^* Contributions were often made in the shape of eatables, and an in-door picnic extemporized. Ferris' Utah, and the Alormom^, 306.
^^ In May 1851, the second act of ' Robert Macaire' was performed at the bowery, the performance concluding with the farce of 'The Dead Shot.' Coil' tributor, ii. 271.
