25 May 1872

[. . .]

Mrs [Julia C.] Howe said I feel impressed that it is our duty to retrench and to make sacrifices they bring blessings from heaven Much has been said in regard to dress. I think it a sin to cut up good material If we did away with so [n.p.] much superfluous trimming we could use the means to a better advantage, by assisting to gather the poor saints from foreign lands. [. . .]

Coun. Miss E. R. Snow said Many important suggestions have been made very weighty ones. I feel that the young ladies should be encouraged with the testimonies they have taken the right course. I have had considerable experience in trying to check this spirit of vanity. The proposition made by Sister Howe brought to my mind a remark made by President [Brigham] Young he said if My family would only lay aside their extravagance it would assist greatly in emigrating the poor. I can also bear testimony that the President’s feelings have not changed neigther has the Lord. I fear more for the young men than the young women though this Grecian bend fashion is calculated to drive from the spirit of the Lord. It has always been said that the outside is an index to the Character. We cannot drive people to heaven, neither can we force them to reform. To bring about a reformation the Lord has suggested organizations. We may talk to doom’s day and will do no good, only for the moment. What do our young folks, know who are imitating the fashions of the world, know about their religion? Those of them who are organized begin to see that they have a work to do the spirit of God reveals it to them. Early in the Church children as well as grown persons lived their religion: they had the spirit of it, those who had been baptised would be meet together and pray realizing they were saints as well as their parents. Those who are going forward will become the lights of other kinds. The time is coming when nothing but the Kingdom of God will stand [. . .] [n.p.]