PATRIARCHAL BLESSINGS.

Memorable Gathering by the High Council of Davis Stake.

Farmington, Utah, Sept, 25, 1900.—

A special meeting of the High Council of the Davis Stake of Zion convened today at 10 a.m. in the vestry in the Farmington ward meeting house. Brother John W. Hess was ordained a Patriarch last winter and the brethren of the High Council desired to have a patriarchal blessing from him. To that end they had arranged for the president to give them a patriarchal blessing, each in turn according to their standing the Council, There were present: Elders John W. Taylor; Joseph Hyrum Grant and Joseph Smith Clark, of the Stake presidency; and of the members of the High Council: Ezra T, Clark, John W. Woolley, David 0. Willey, Ebenezer A. Williams, Richard Duerden, Thomas J. Steed, Amos Cook, Orrin P. Hatch, Starns Hatch, Walter W. Steed, Joseph Smith, Thomas F. King, John Walsh, Harvey H. Perkins, Ephraim P. Ellison, W. W. Willey, James I. Atkinson, and John J. Smith, clerk of the council. After appropriate songs and prayer, Elder Hess proceeded to bless the brethren one by one, all of which was taken down by a shorthand reporter (Sister Lydia A. Howard. The president seemed unusually well and enjoyed the spirit of a Patriarch while blessing the brethren. During the procedure of this sacred assembly a feast was being arranged on the first floor of the vestry, by Sisters J. Walsh and J. S. Clark, ‘The feast was heartily enjoyed by all, the occasion was such a pleasant one that arrangements were made for a reunion in one year from today in the same place. Elder Hess seems eminently fitted as a Patriarch. He always takes pleasure in extending well wishes and blessings to others. It was only by special request that Elder Hess undertook this laborious task, but at the conclusion of the meeting, he stated he had had great pleasure in blessing the brethren and what he looked forward to with a degree of apprehension had now proven to him, he said, a great satisfaction. This occasion was Elder Hess’ first effort to officiate in a public capacity as a Patriarch, There is a feeling of love and hanor [honor] existing between the president and his High Council. May Elder Hess live long and enjoy himself in his new calling. During the day Ralph G. Savage of Salt Lake City took a photograph group of the Stake presidency and members of the High Council, JOHN J. SMITH, Clerk.