29 August 1874


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 and assembly hall, circa 1890. (Courtesy Church History Library.)

[. . .]

Counsellor Miss E. R. Snow said

I can truly say that I am gratified with what I see before me. If there should be another meeting of this kind, we want each Ward Association to bring the minutes of one meeting The young ladies of Ogden represent a large assembly and we thought that if the Young Ladies’ Associations of this city could be brought together, [n.p.] there would be as many as those who met in Ogden.

Sister [Mary Isabella Hales] Horne has been speaking about your filling the positions that we are now filling. You will have to fill greater positions as you have greater privileges and blessings than we had when we were young. When I <was young and> attended Sunday School and repeated passages of Scripture concerning Christ and his apostles, and the miracles they performed. I use to wish that I had lived in Those days, and thought those who lived then were greatly blessed. Do we appreciate the blessings we have in these dayes when there are prophets and apostles?

True, we do not have Jesus in person, but we have his spirit. Does each one of you know that this gospel is true? your parents know by testimonies which they have received, and it is your privilege, each one of you, to know that this work is true, but you must seek for the knowledge if you would obtain it. It is the privilege of each young lady here before me to become a queen in h[e]aven This <is> the design of our Heavenly Father, but you cannot attain to this without preparing yourselves for it by keeping the commandments of God, and serving Him Him with your whole hearts. To live your religion will not deprive you of any true enjoyment. Our aim in exhorting you to be truly Saints, is to increase your happiness—to guide you to that which is higher nobler and purer than all earthly things can possibly impart—that which the Spirit of God alone can bestow. In the minutes of your meetings are many testimonies from those who know that this is the Kingdom of God

Let me exhort you, my young sisters, to be energetic in attendance of your meetings. You cannot attach too much importance to them. After other instructions, Miss Snow blest the young ladies, and was followed by

Coun. Mrs. Z. D. [Zina D. H.] Young who said it takes a good deal of moral courage at present, with all variety of influences in our midst, for the young to live the religion of the Gospel. She sited [cited] the attention of the young sisters of the position of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and said it was their privilege, hereafter to stand in the same position as Eve at the head of a world; and exhorted them to prepare themselves for all that is in store for the faithful.

She said Sister Snow is willing to render you all the assistance she can; it does not diminish her stock of knowledge but increases yours. [. . .] [n.p.] [. . .]

Coun. Mrs. S. [Sarah] M. Kimball said:

I feel to ask an interest in your faith and prayers that I may be able to speak to you. Sister Snow said she had been anxious for the welfare of the young for the last four years but to my certain knowledge she has been anxious for a great number of years. [. . .]

Coun. Miss. E. R. Snow said that if it would be agreeable there would be another meeting of the same kind four weeks from today; and that Mrs. E. [Elvira S.] Barney proposed to teach a class of young ladies in reading.

[. . .] [n.p.]

Source Note

Retrenchment Association, Meeting Minutes (1871–1874), n.p., CHL (CR 129 1); Margaret M. Groo, Secretary.

See also Margaret M. Groo, “R. S. Reports,” Woman’s Exponent 3, no. 7 (1 Sept. 1874): 50.

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29 August 1874, Retrenchment Association; Fourteenth Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, The Discourses of Eliza R. Snow, accessed October 15, 2024 https://chpress-web.churchhistorianspress.org/eliza-r-snow/1870s/1874/08/1874-08-29