I think I will preach a short sermon to the sisters. "I want to do
good; I want to do something to build up the Kingdom of God; I wish I
was in a position to do something for this work. I would delight in
doing something for the building up of this kingdom if I had it in my
power." These expressions are in the mouth of every sister who has
embraced the gospel in her heart. I want to preach them a short
sermon. Brother Heber has, in part, touched some of the items, to
which I will now more particularly call your attention. I will ask if
there is a sister in this Church who is too poor, when we come to
dollars and cents, to get tea to drink if she wants to? No, not one.
Is there a sister who does not have her cup of coffee to drink? No,
not one. Then we are not so poor as to suffer materially after all.
Now, I will ask the question: Sisters, if each of you were to save the
price of these cups of tea and coffee for one month, what do you
suppose the sum in each case would amount to? We will say a shilling,
a dime, a quarter dollar, a half dollar, a dollar, or two dollars, as
the case may be. Now, say the sisters: "We will cease drinking this
tea and coffee, and we will give the money to some of the Elders who
are called to preach the gospel, either in the Territory or abroad in
the nations of the earth, or who are called on an Indian expedition;
or we will give this means to help to bring the poor from the old
country." Would you be doing anything for the Kingdom or would you
not? Is there an individual sister in this Church out of the reach of
doing good? Not one. "Why," exclaims a sister, "I am sick, weary,
diseased; I cannot work—I cannot do anything." Is doing good beyond
her reach? No; that sister who is sick and unable to cook her own
food, wash her own clothing, or to knit or mend her stockings, can
give good counsel to her brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, to
the members of the family in which she lives, to her neighbors, and to
all with whom she may associate. Says she: "I am sick and feeble, but
I do not drink any tea. My husband or my bishop would find it for me,
if I would drink it; but I tell them to take that sixpence, dime, or
dollar, and put it by to help to bring the poor." She can teach her
children to let such things alone. "You must not have any tea or
coffee this morning, children; if you feel as though you need it, take
a little water porridge." There is more strength and nutriment in a
bowl of water gruel than there is in tea; and there is no unhealthy
influence in the water gruel, but there is in tea and coffee.
There is not a person in the world that cannot do good; even the
mother who is too feeble to work; she can teach her daughters to work instead of permitting them to patrol these streets; she can
teach her children to refrain from drinking tea and coffee, to take
care of their clothing. Instead of our girls walking the streets or
playing, instead of sliding on the carpets or climbing the peach trees
and fences and tearing their clothes they should learn to make their
frocks, their aprons, and all their clothing, and to knit their
stockings; and when they have cloth to make up, instead of hiring help
into the house and getting all the sewing machines that are peddled
off in the United States, why not they sit down and make it up
themselves? This would be far more economical than to hire women to
work your sewing machines when you have them. "But," says one, "I
must
have a woman to knit my stockings, to make my underclothing and my
children's clothing, and I must have a woman to wash and iron for me."
If our mothers want to do good, why do they not sit down, take the
wool and card it and spin it—if they cannot get it carded by
machine—and knit stockings to put on these men and boys who are
working on the Tabernacle, the Temple, and the canal, and help to save
your husbands' shillings and dollars, and not ask for three or four
hired women to do the washing and cooking, that you may idle away your
time? Why not take hold and attend to your household affairs, and thus
help to build up the Kingdom of God? Every dime thus saved can go to
gather the poor and to help to support the families of the elders who
are abroad preaching. But the cry now is, "You must go to Bro. Brigham
or the bishop; I can do nothing for you. I want a ribbon, or my
daughter wants a new hat." How many have you had in the course of the
season? "I do not know." "How many pairs of shoes have you
had through
the winter my daughter, or my little boy?" "I do not know; ask
mother." "Mother, how many pairs of shoes has your boy had through the
winter?" "I do not know." Does the mother see to the children? She
will let them run about and wade here and there until their shoes are
wet through, then they are put under the stove and spoiled; a new pair
must be procured by the husband or father. Is good beyond your reach,
sisters? You say, "We want to do good." No; there are many who do not;
they want to waste everything they put their hands upon. It is the
great ignorance which is among the people that prevents their doing
better.
What do the sisters want so many hired women for? "O, I want a
seamstress, or I want somebody or other to clean the house and the
carpets and to wait upon me, to bring the water to wash me, and to
wash my neck or my feet; and I have so much cloth to make up, and I
want help to make it up." If there are women who want to do good, let
them do their own work, and save their sixpences and dollars for the
building of temples, tabernacles, meetinghouses, schoolhouses,
educating the youth, preaching the gospel, and gathering the poor. Put
something in the Perpetual Emigration Fund. We have done a great deal
to bring the poor here. When we get the poor here, they say they want
to do good; but their actions give the lie to their words. Their wives
want hired women or girls to do their work for them; instead of
knitting their own stockings, they want to be waited upon; instead of
spending their time to the best advantage, they waste it, and let
their daughters do the same, and their children imbibe habits that
grow upon them, and which tend to evil.
Now mothers, if you want to do good, do not let your sons and
daughters drink either tea or coffee while under your protection. Save
the money to gather the poor, to preach the gospel, to build temples,
and to sustain the Priesthood. Make your own drawers, your own shirts,
knit your stockings, make your frocks, your bonnets, and hats. I had a
very beautiful hat presented to me last evening by one of the wives of
Judge Phelps. I believe one of the sisters Pratt sewed it. Now,
suppose we set the girls to cutting straw when it is ripe enough, and
teach them to cure it, and how to split and open it, and then prepare
it with a machine for braiding, and teach them to braid; and then,
instead of permitting them to gad around, keep them at home and teach
them to do a little good.
I will ask—is doing good out of the reach of any person living who is
able to talk? No; it is not. Every woman in this Church can be useful
to the Church if she has a mind to be. There are none but what can do
good, not one, as long as they can talk to their neighbors or to their
children, and teach them how to be saving, and set them an example
worthy of imitation.
In speaking in this wise I do not wish the people to be as some
are—filthy and dirty. That will not do. We must be neat and clean. If
we have only a tow frock and a coarse straw hat to wear let them be
kept neat and clean; there is water enough, plenty of it. If you have
nothing but a homemade ribbon, woven by yourselves out of the flax
that your husbands or neighbors have raised and dressed, you can get
logwood, mountain mahogany, or a little of this stuff that grows by
the creeks and on the mountains to color it up; and, when it is made,
and you are prepared to put on your garments, let them be clean, neat,
and nice; and let the beauty of your garments be the work of your own
hands. But as matters are now, you must run and buy here and there,
and it makes me think of the old saying—"That which is dear bought and
far fetched is fit for the ladies." We must stop this, and if we want
to be useful we must begin to teach our children how to save. "My
little boy, do not put your shoes under the stove to burn up, and when
you undress at night do not fling your hat one way, your jacket
another, your breeches under foot, and your stockings under the stove,
on the stove, or out of doors, but have a place for everything, and
everything in its place;" and when your boys come in show them a place
for their hats where they will not be trampled under foot; and when
they take off their coats let them be put in the wardrobe or on hooks
prepared for that purpose, and take care of them and not have them
under foot. The waste that there is in the midst of this people is
enough to support a small nation.
Now, sisters, do you want to be useful? If you do, take a course to be
so, for this will bring us to the point where we can build up Zion and
be of one heart and of one mind, and it will lead us to do all that we
do in the name, in the love, and in the fear of our God. By so doing,
if the fear of God is upon us, and we work with an eye single to the
building up of Zion, our labors will be blessed.
Can we do good? Yes; we can do good by teaching that little girl not
to drink tea and coffee, and to take care of her clothing, and as soon
as she is big enough teach her to knit her stockings, and her garters,
and her nubias. She may learn to do all this just as well as going to
the store to buy them. The foolishness of the people here has
waxed so strong that unless they get something that is bought in New
York it is not good for anything. It makes me think of our brethren,
the school teachers. We have brethren here who understand the
languages of the nations of the earth, and the various branches of
education taught in the world, as well as any man or men out of the
Church. But if the man possessing the best talent we have among us
were to go to some of our Bishops and say, "Can I keep your school?"
The answer would be, "Yes, if you will work for nothing, find
yourself, and pay the children for going." But bring a poor,
miserable, rotten-hearted, cursed Gentile, and they will lick the dust
off his shoes to have him keep school, when he does not know half as
much as the Elders in Israel know. This would not apply to every case,
but it does to a great many. You go to our brethren, and ask them if
they can get their pay for keeping school, and they will tell you they
cannot. Ask them if they can get a school, and they will reply, "No,
we are looked down upon as something inferior." Why is this? Because
the folly and wickedness of the people have waxen so strong that
nothing is of any account unless it is imported. It is strange; it is
astonishing! Why not seek to be one in building up and sustaining the
Kingdom of God, instead of sustaining wickedness upon the earth? It is
time to close. Now, this is a short sermon to the sisters.