28 May 1870


Retrenchment Association; Fourteenth Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory

White building with wood trim, Salt Lake City, circa 1890

Salt Lake City Fourteenth Ward meetinghouse, circa 1890. (Courtesy Church History Library.)

[. . .] Sister [Mary Isabella] Horne said as she was called upon to act as presidentess of the society [Retrenchment Association], she would try to do her duty. [. . .] She then selected her four counselors, viz., Miss Eliza R. Snow, Mrs. Zina D. [H.] Young, Mrs. Margaret T. Smoot, and Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball. They were then presented by the president of the meeting and unanimously accepted.

[. . .]

Sister Eliza R. Snow then said she wished to make a few remarks with regard to the Young Ladies’ department. It was President [Brigham] Young’s suggestion, because he thought they would have more influence, as the reform was to consist not only in table retrenchment, but in the trimmings, and trailing dresses, also short ones. That the sisters, when they begin to retrench in long dresses, might not shorten them so that modesty blushes. And in running from Babylon, they must not run so fast that they get beyond Jerusalem. If the angels were to come in our [p. 34] midst, how would they be able to distinguish us from the Gentiles? We dress the same, and too often act the same. We must be in earnest in our generation; it is too late in the day to sleep. Sisters, we have everything to encourage us in this work. Said she met with a society at Willow Creek, day before yesterday, and that they were alive in the work. She feared, however, we were taking too much time, as the funeral services of the father of Apostle [John] Taylor would be held here at three o’clock. Apostle Taylor had said if he had known of the meeting he would have made different arrangements.

[. . .]

Benediction by Miss Eliza R. Snow. [. . .] [p. 35]

Source Note

Minutes of the Ninth Meeting of the Ladies’ Co-operative Retrenchment Association,” in Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1911), 33–35; Zina P. Williams, Secretary.

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28 May 1870, Retrenchment Association; Fourteenth Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow, accessed March 19, 2024 https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/eliza-r-snow/1870s/1870/05/1870-05-28