17 June 1884
Cottonwood First Ward Relief Society; Cottonwood First Ward Meetinghouse, South Cottonwood, Utah Territory
Cottonwood First Ward meetinghouse, circa 1915. Courtesy Church History Library.
[Editorial Note: This discourse was reported in two different sources. Both are transcribed below. For more information, see Source Note following each transcript.]
I. From the Relief Society Minutes
[. . .]
Sister Eliza R S Smith addressed the assembly
I am very much pleased to meet with you this morning I am also very much pleased to see so many assembled together realizing how skattered you are in this ward the oftener we meet together the more love we will have <beget> for eachother and the more we will strive to become one you live so far apart it makes it quite necessary for the teachers to visit the sisters as often as possible so as to make the burden as light as possible
I have heard it said that we were held in reserve to come forth in this generation for what to gather the comforts of life around us and make ourselves happy we did not we came to assist our brethren in the preisthood we came to help in this great work in which we are engaged the woman that is punctual to her meetings she gets her spirit refreshed and she can make her home more happy than those that always stay at home they need the refreshing of the Spirit of God in order to be a counsellor to their husbands such wives when their husbands are called on missions say go and he knows that she is a strength to him the more wives a man has of this kind the more strength he has we came on the earth to do good it is the little things that make up the larger meet together as often as you can sisters we should never feel discouraged in well doing I dont want to take up the time I feel to say God bless you I pray that we may have a time of refreshing to day the Lord will overrule all things right for all those that are truly his God bless you my Sisters and may we all meet at the marriage supper of the Lamb with Jesus our elder Brother
[. . .] [p. 494]
Source Note
Cottonwood First Ward, Cottonwood Stake, Relief Society Minutes and Records (1868–1971), vol. 1 (1868–1886), p. 494, CHL (LR 7772 14).
II. From the Woman’s Exponent
[. . .] Sisters E. R. S. Smith, E. [Emmeline] B. Wells and Dr. Romania B Pratt, who had been invited to attend, each addressed the meeting, though Sister Eliza occupied most of the time, speaking upon union, the duties of teachers, the importance of their work, the necessity of progression, the desire we have to know more of our Father and mother in heaven; referred to our consenting to come here and take up our abode, forgetting the [p. 20] past, in order to prove our integrity to our heavenly parents, and exhorted the sisters to study the word of God and seek to draw near to Him; and gave much good instruction on various matters.
[. . .] [p. 21]
Source Note
“Women’s Home Missionary Work,” Woman’s Exponent 13, no. 3 (1 July 1884): 20–21.