4.27

Emmeline B. Wells, “A Glimpse of Washington,” March 1, 1891

[Emmeline B. Wells], “A Glimpse of Washington. The Woman’s National Council,” Woman’s Exponent (Salt Lake City, UT), Mar. 1, 1891, vol. 19, no. 17, pp. 132–133.

See images of the original document at lib.byu.edu, courtesy of Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the foundational women’s rights convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, officers of the National Woman Suffrage Association, invited women’s associations from around the world to a March 1888 commemorative meeting in Washington DC.1 The delegates, including three Latter-day Saint women from Utah,2 agreed to the proposition that an International Council of Women be organized to coordinate the efforts of all the associations dedicated to advancing the status of women politically, economically, socially, and educationally. The delegates were advised to organize national councils in their respective countries, with the United States being the first to do so.3

In January 1891, a few weeks before the first triennial convention of the National Council of Women was scheduled to begin, general Relief Society president Zina D. H. Young sent letters to the church’s stake Relief Society presidents asking them to collect donations to help cover the costs of sending delegates. Emmeline B. Wells, who was corresponding secretary for the general presidency, immediately thought first counselor Jane S. Richards the best-qualified woman to speak at the convention as a delegate, but Wells consented to attend also.4 On January 23, Wells, Richards, Sarah M. Kimball, Phebe Y. Beatie, and Caroline S. Thomas were set apart by the church’s First Presidency to represent the Relief Society and Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Y.L.M.I.A.).5 At this first triennial meeting, which officially opened in Washington DC on February 23, 1891, the Relief Society and Y.L.M.I.A. joined the council as two of the original ten member organizations.6 By joining the council, the Relief Society moved into a new cooperative mode with national and international women’s organizations.

Receipt for payment of dues

Receipt for payment of dues, February 28, 1891. This receipt, issued by M. Louise Thomas, treasurer of the National Council of Women, acknowledges payment of a $100 membership fee by the “Young Woman’s Mutual Improvement Association.” The Relief Society and the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association were two of the original ten charter member organizations of the council. (Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

The following article is Wells’s account of this initial meeting as published in the March 1, 1891, issue of the Woman’s Exponent, of which Wells was the editor.7 Wells led the delegation that successfully applied for membership in the national council. When the delegation of Mormon women submitted their credentials to the National Council of Women they were uncertain if they would be acknowledged. Susan B. Anthony informed the delegation herself of “the good news that we were admitted without a dissenting vote.”8 The Utah delegates spoke on the last day of the convention, Wednesday, February 25. Thomas read a paper about the Y.L.M.I.A., Richards spoke extemporaneously about the Relief Society, and Wells read prepared remarks about the society.9

The strength of the longstanding personal relationships that had developed through two decades of shared work in the national suffrage movement kept Mormon women active, contributing members to the National Council of Women and the International Council of Women.10 Both of the Latter-day Saint organizations that joined that year retained membership in these councils for more than eighty years.

A GLIMPSE OF WASHINGTON.

the woman’s national council.

We had a pleasant journey to this city.11 Leaving Salt Lake City, Monday, 7 a. m, Feb. 16, and arriving in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 19, at 10 p. m., our train was delayed a short time at Baltimore, or we would have reached here at 8:15 p. m. Mr. and Mrs. F. S. Richards [Franklin S. Richards and Emily Tanner Richards]12 met us at the depot and accompanied our party to the Riggs House, where we registered and obtained such rooms as we could get, the house being already pretty well filled. Before we had been in the house an hour we were delighted to meet in the hallway, just for a moment, the dear friend of woman, Susan B. Anthony, and she expressed her pleasure at our coming, and gave us two or three good words of welcome and of cheer that we can never forget.

It was arranged before separating for the night that the following morning, Mr. and Mrs. Richards would call (they are at the Randall) and take those who wished to go to the White House and the Capitol Buildings, etc.

The next morning we went first to the White House, then to the War, State and Navy Buildings, and in the afternoon to the Senate and House of Representatives. It is impossible to tell you what we saw and heard, we would want time and space for that, but Mr. Richards told us all he could in the short space of time that we were together, and it was all most interesting, especially so to Mrs. Beattie [Phebe Beatie], Mrs. [Electa] Bullock and Miss Katie Thomas who had never been in Washington before.

During the day Mrs. Richards [Jane Snyder Richards] and the writer, also Mrs. [Caroline] Thomas, succeeded in obtaining an appointment for an interview the next morning at nine a. m. with Mrs. [May] Sewall, the Committee on Credentials for the Council. This was very satisfactory to all concerned, though we were somewhat in doubt as to how the general officers might vote upon our admission to the Council, and here let it be understood that there are certain articles in the Constitution that have to be complied with, etc., and several organizations who came expecting to join the Council are going back without doing so, because of this and that.13

On Saturday morning the Utah Delegation presented their credentials, and had an interview with Mrs. Sewall, the Cor. Sec’y. of the Woman’s National Council as well as Committee on Credentials. Mrs. [Sarah] Kimball and Mrs. E. S. Richards, of Salt Lake City, were also with us. Our interview was satisfactory, as we were then informed exactly what was expected of us.

The Executive Committee14 held a meeting in the afternoon, and after its close we were notified that the Relief Society and Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Associations were admitted to the Woman’s National Council and the delegates entitled to representation.15

Saturday evening Mrs. [Jane] Spofford, the hostess here, and a most magnificent woman in heart as well as in appearance, gave a reception to the ladies of the Woman’s Council and Convention. Many celebrated ladies were present besides those who live in the house.16 The large dining room was handsomely decorated with stars and stripes; at one end there was an elevated platform for the musicians, and in a conspicuous place, at the end of the room, there was a large flag hung with one lone star on it representing Wyoming.17 At the other end of the room stood the ladies who were receiving with Mrs. Spofford; Miss Frances E. Willard, President of the W. N. C.,18 and N. W. C. Y. U.,19 she has a lovely face and most genial expression, a smile and pleasant word for everybody. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Vice-President at large, etc., etc., and large she is in every way as well as liberal, she is certainly one of the grandest women of her time, or any other time; Mrs. May Wright Sewall, the Cor. Sec’y. of the W. N. C., and one of the ablest and brightest women of the day. She has excellent executive ability, and is exceedingly helpful with suggestions and ideas in all the work of the two great bodies of women, who are now holding sessions in this city, the Woman’s Council and the Suffrage Convention. Mrs. Ella Dietz Clymer, the President of Sorosis,20 of New York City, was one of the most attractive women leaders; she is very much complimented in the papers and by the people, not only on account of her beauty, but style and elegance in dress. Mrs. Sara Andrews Spencer was in line with those who were receiving; and the heart of the writer gave a great bound at sight of her intelligent and smiling face, remembering all her help and kindness on our first visit to this wonderful city, and how she had aided us with advice, and who will never be forgotten.21

The reception was a brilliant affair, not so much in the way of dress as in the brilliant eyes and faces of the beautiful and celebrated women assembled to greet the hostess and her co-workers. There were, however, some very elegant costumes, some artistic and Parisian. Mrs. Rachel Foster-Avery, whom Miss Anthony declares to be the best cor. sec’y. in the world, wore a very heavy white brocaded silk with an immense train, and she looked charming. She has one of the sweetest faces and most fascinating manners. There are many we would like to mention by name, but cannot do the subject justice, and so will only say there were women lawyers, doctors, ministers, artists, editors, correspondents and reporters.22

The ladies (for there were very few gentlemen) congregated in groups chatting for a few minutes in a friendly way, and later on a part of the company (for many had already retired) went up to Mrs. Spofford’s apartments, and were ushered into a room profusely decorated with flowers, where lunch was served in the most delightful way. Icecream, cakes, dainties and salads, and the most delicious coffee; but the greatest attraction there was the presence of such women as Susan B. Anthony, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Clara Barton and others known to fame, whose noble works are of themselves a living and lasting monument. But we must pass on, and only give them brief recognition now.

Sunday there were services in Albaugh’s Opera House, as had been previously announced,23 and in the evening an entertainment was given to raise funds for a Mary Washington monument, although as Miss Anthony said throughout the whole affair, “they never even mentioned that Washington had a mother.”

Monday morning the Woman’s National Council was formally opened. Miss Willard in the chair, and by her side then and throughout the entire Council, Miss Susan B. Anthony. Mrs. Sewall, the Cor. Sec’y., was the right hand director and manager. She seemed to be the chief person on the staff to assist the President. Rev. Anna Shaw was one of the most efficient helps, and is a most eloquent speaker, as well as being very executive in all her work. She had charge of the bell and was the time-keeper, so much time being allotted to each speaker, and it was her duty to give the signal, even if in the middle of a sentence.

Miss Anthony would almost invariably arise and say in her conciliatory manner, it will all be given in the official report of the Council.

The President’s address to the Council was the leading feature of the opening and was immediately printed in pamphlet form and circulated free. It opened with these significant words o[f]24 Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s, “A difference of opinion on one question must not prevent us from working unitedly on those on which we can agree.”25

After Miss Willard’s speech, which was a grand one in every sense of the word, came Anna Garlin Spencer, who spoke upon “State Control and Social Care of Dependent Classes;” then “The Care of Defective Children;” Fanny B. Ames [Julia Frances Ames]; “The Need of Women in Public Institutions,” Dr. Rose Wright Bryan; “Our Duty to Dependent Races,” Alice C. Fletcher; “Women as Police Matrons,” Lillie Devereux Blake.26

It is not the intention to go into details in this article, but give the opening of the great National Council of Women, to which several great organizations of women have been admitted. Perhaps it will convey but little of the true idea after all, but it shall be the pleasure of the writer to explain and make clear, to as many as possible, this federation of womens’ organizations after her return home.

In regard to the Delegates from the Relief Society and Y. L. M. I. A., in which the members of these organizations are more specially interested, it will perhaps do as well to give you the newspaper reports, until you get it officially from the regular report of the Woman’s National Council which is to be published. Here is the statement of the Washington Post, the reporter of that paper sitting in the Council during the several sessions of that body:

Miss Willard then introduced Mrs. Caroline St. Thomas, the delegate from the Young Ladies’ National Improvement Association, who read an interesting paper descriptive of the work of the young ladies’ organization, which had done a great deal for its members.27

Mrs. Jane S. Richards, delegate from the National Women’s Relief Society, in a few words expressed the pleasure she had experienced on her attendance on the council.28 She gave way to Mrs. Emily Wells,29 of Utah, who told something of the Relief Society, which had its headquarters in New York, and had been in existence over half a century.30 There were branch societies all over the country and in some foreign lands. It had over 400 branches, 25,000 members, $100,000 worth of real estate, a hospital managed solely by women, and published a paper, the Woman’s Exponent.

It was an uncompromising enemy of the dram shop,31 and when women had the right of suffrage in Utah,32 the society furnished a rallying point for the women of the State. The society had done a world of good works of charity, and was one of the most benevolent organizations of women extant.33

The Woman’s Tribune of Feb. 28, gives, in the report of the Council, the following concerning our delegation:34

Next on the list, The National Improvement Society,35 was represented by Mrs. Thomas, who spoke briefly on and told in an interesting manner [p. 132] of the benefit young ladies were deriving from it.

The next speaker introduced to the audience was Mrs. Richards, of the National Woman’s Relief Society, who began her brief address by saying: “I have the honor to represent Utah. The 25,000 women whom I represent are seeking to have love and peace and goodwill extended to all. On account of the length of the programme I will not speak longer, except to say that I am stopping at the Riggs House, and will be pleased to answer questions there. I will now give way to Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells.”

Mrs. Wells is editor of the Woman’s Exponent, of Salt Lake City, and one of the most interesting women at the Council. She has been chastened and spiritualized by suffering into a sympathy with woman that truly represents the spirit of Him whom those of her faith call Master, as well as those of Christian denominations. Mrs. Wells gave a short account of the Relief Society. Its headquarters are in New York; but it has branch societies all over the country, a hospital managed entirely by women, and has its own organ—The Woman’s Exponent.

The three days’ sessions of the Woman’s National Council were of an exceedingly interesting character. In fact so much has been crowded into the minds and hearts of the people who have been listening through these three days that it will take weeks of thought to digest the whole matter, and sufficient material has been furnished to occupy the next four years in developing; the seed which has been planted will surely bring in a rich, a golden and abundant harvest that will bless and comfort the world of humanity.

Grand, noble, yea queenly, are the women who are laboring to unite, in a great band of sisterhood, the several great organizations and bring them in loving unison and fellowship one with another and blessed mutual helpfulness. That the Lord is working through His Holy Spirit upon the women of this nation, and other nations, must be apparent to all who have eyes to see, and ears to hear.36 That this is woman’s era who can longer doubt? Among the foremost of the women of the world, who are actively engaged in the great questions that are being agitated for the benefit of the women of our own and other lands (and what uplifts women, elevates the whole human family), are the very women who have planned and carried into effect this union of organizations, this great federation of associations. One very pleasing and promising feature of the Council is the great number of bright, intelligent, attractive young women that have come forward and taken an active part in the work. This is specially gratifying, for it is and must necessarily be the young women of the present century upon whom the great burden of responsibility will fall and who are to work out the lines of progression that will ensure the victory desired for those who have toiled, lo, these many years.

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Emmeline B. Wells, “A Glimpse of Washington,” March 1, 1891, The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, accessed November 21, 2024 https://chpress-web.churchhistorianspress.org/the-first-fifty-years-of-relief-society/part-4/4-27

Footnotes

  1. [1]Delegates representing fifty-three women’s organizations from seven countries attended this congress. (Louise Barnum Robbins, ed., History and Minutes of the National Council of Women of the United States, Organized in Washington, D. C., March 31, 1888 [Boston: E. B. Stillings, 1898], 3–6.)

  2. [2]“The Relief Society, Young Ladies’ Society and the Primary organization were respectively represented by Mrs. Margaret Caine, Mrs. Emily Richards and Mrs. Nettie Snell.” (“The Women’s Council,” Deseret News [weekly], Apr. 25, 1888, 234.)

  3. [3]“The Woman’s National Council,” Woman’s Exponent, Mar. 1, 1889, 17:151–152.

  4. [4]Emmeline B. Wells, Diaries, 1844–1920, 46 vols., L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, vol. 14, Jan. 22 and 23, 1891.

  5. [5]Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Jan. 23, 1891. Kimball went as president of the Utah Woman Suffrage Association, a position she held from January 1890 to October 1893, when Wells succeeded her. Beatie served on the Relief Society general board. Thomas was an officer of the Y.L.M.I.A. (Carol Cornwall Madsen, An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920, Biographies in Latter-day Saint History [Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2006], 270; “Utah W. S. A.,” Woman’s Exponent, Jan. 15, 1890, 18:125; S. M. Kimball, “Greeting,” Woman’s Exponent, Feb. 15, 1890, 18:139; Annie Wells Cannon, “Mrs. Phoebe Young Beatie,” Relief Society Magazine, Oct. 1931, 562; Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, Certificate of Appointment to Carolina T. Thomas, ca. 1891, CHL.)

  6. [6]For purposes of its membership in the council, the Relief Society called itself the National Woman’s Relief Society. “National” was added to the name as a requirement for membership and to emphasize that the society’s charitable work was not restricted to Utah. The other eight original member organizations were the National Woman Suffrage Association, National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Woman’s Centenary Association of the Universalists Church, Woman’s National Press Association, Wimodaughsis, Illinois Industrial Reform School for Girls, National Free Baptist Woman’s Missionary Society, and Sorosis. (Mary Wright Sewall, Genesis of the International Council of Women and the Story of Its Growth, 1888–1893 [Indianapolis, IN: n.p., 1914], 44.)

  7. [7]Though the Exponent issue was dated March 1, 1891, the issue was evidently published late, as Wells’s article quotes from an article published in another newspaper on March 7, 1891. Wells may have mailed or telegraphed the article from Washington to Utah, or she may have submitted the article in person upon her return. (“Continued Report of the Council,” Woman’s Tribune, Mar. 7, 1891, 75.)

  8. [8]Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Feb. 21, 1891; Madsen, An Advocate for Women, 266–267.

  9. [9]Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Feb. 25, 1891.

  10. [10]See Joan Iversen, “The Mormon-Suffrage Relationship: Personal and Political Quandaries,” in Battle for the Ballot: Essays on Woman Suffrage in Utah, 1870–1896, ed. Carol Cornwall Madsen (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1997), 150–160.

  11. [11]Seven delegates traveled from Salt Lake City to Washington DC: Emmeline B. Wells, delegate at large; Jane S. Richards, delegate for the Relief Society; Caroline Thomas, delegate for the Y.L.M.I.A.; her eighteen-year-old daughter, Kate Thomas; Sarah M. Kimball; Electa W. Bullock; and Phebe Y. Beatie. (Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Feb. 16 and 19, 1891.)

  12. [12]Emily Richards, daughter-in-law of delegate Jane S. Richards, was also an active Utah suffragist and often represented Latter-day Saint women at meetings of the National Woman Suffrage Association. (“Editorial Notes,” Woman’s Exponent, July 1, 1888, 17:20–21; “Utah’s Lady Delegate,” Woman’s Exponent, Feb. 15, 1889, 17:137–138.)

  13. [13]See “Constitution of the National Council of Women of the United States, Organized at Washington, D.C., March 31, 1888,” in Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, Assembled in Washington, D.C., February 22 to 25, 1891, ed. Rachel Foster Avery (Philadelphia: Executive Board of the National Council of Women, 1891), 360–361; and “The National Council of Women,” Woman’s Exponent, Jan. 1, 1891, 19:108–109.

  14. [14]A preliminary call for the first triennial meeting of the National Council of Women of the United States, issued on October 6, 1890, explained the organization of the executive board: “So soon as any organization enters the Council its president becomes an acting Vice-President in the Council, and it has also the right to appoint one person to represent it on the Executive Board of the Council. This Board includes the general officers of the Council together with the presidents of all organizations belonging to it, and one delegate besides its president from every organization.” The executive board of 1890 included Frances E. Willard, president; Susan B. Anthony, vice president; Mary F. Eastman, recording secretary; M. Louise Thomas, treasurer; and May Wright Sewall, corresponding secretary. (Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 10–11.)

  15. [15]See Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Feb. 21, 1891.

  16. [16]According to Wells, more than five hundred women were present. (Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Feb. 22, 1891.)

  17. [17]In 1869 Wyoming was the first territory or state to grant suffrage to women. The flag at this event “was a large American flag which, instead of the forty-four stars in the Union Jack, had one large lone star with the word ‘Wyoming’ inscribed under it. Here was the first break in the chain of forty-four States that had denied the right of suffrage to women.” (“Women of the Nation,” Woman’s Exponent, Mar. 1, 1891, 19:133.)

  18. [18]Woman’s National Council, properly titled the National Council of Women.

  19. [19]National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, properly abbreviated N.W.C.T.U.

  20. [20]Sorosis was an association for professional women, founded in 1868. Clymer explained that Sorosis was intended to promote discussions among “women of literary, artistic, and scientific tastes” and to promote “principles and facts which promise to exert a salutary influence on women and on society, and the establishment of an order which shall render the female sex helpful to each other. … Club life supplies in some degree the place of higher education to those women who have been deprived of the advantages of a college course.” (Mrs. J. C. Croly, The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America [New York City: Henry G. Allen, 1898], 18–19; Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 296–297.)

  21. [21]Spencer, a Washington DC–based suffrage activist and educator, “spoke warmly against the ballot being taken from the women of Utah in the House of Congress. … The sisters should not forget her kindness and courage.” (“Woman Suffrage and the Coming Convention,” Woman’s Exponent, Dec. 15, 1877, 6:108.)

  22. [22]These included the Methodist minister Anna Howard Shaw; journalist Jennie C. Croly (better known by her pseudonym “Jennie June”); M. D. Lincoln (“Bessie Beech”), president of the Woman’s National Press Association; Dr. Rachel Brooks Gleason, one of the first female physicians in the United States; Dr. Caroline B. Winslow, moral reformer and editor of the Alpha journal; and English temperance activist Florence Balgarnie. (“Women of the Nation,” Woman’s Exponent, Mar. 1, 1891, 19:133–134.)

  23. [23]Frances E. Willard and Anna Howard Shaw spoke. Emmeline B. Wells recorded in her diary, “Today the Council opens with Religious services by women ministers & seats free, I went and many others but we could not get near the door so pressing was the crowd, hundreds outside.” (Wells, Diary, vol. 14, Feb. 22, 1891; Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 17–21.)

  24. [24]text: In the copy used for transcription, there is a blank space after the o where the f should be.

  25. [25]Willard attributed this statement to Stanton, quoting from her “opening address before the International Council convened in this auditorium three years ago.” (See Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 23.)

  26. [26]These complete speeches can be found in Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 57–94.

  27. [27]Washington Post error: “St. Thomas” should be Thomas. For Thomas’s remarks, see Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 256–258.

  28. [28]For Richards’s remarks, see Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 258. The following month back in Salt Lake City, Jane S. Richards confessed that she was originally “dreading to go” to Washington but was encouraged by her husband and was thankful she had gone. “The ladies East she said had treated the Delegates from Utah well and were as kind as they could be … she had been favored in conversing with many ladies and explaining our position, felt she would like five hundred copies of the manifesto to distribute among them; thought to many of them it would be interesting reading.” (“R. S. Reports,” Woman’s Exponent, May 15, 1891, 19:174; see also Emmeline B. Wells to Elmina S. Taylor, Feb. 22, 1891, A. Elmina Shepard Taylor Collection, 1844–1956, CHL.)

  29. [29]Washington Post error: “Emily” should be Emmeline.

  30. [30]Washington Post error: Wells actually referred to the Relief Society headquarters in Utah with branches in adjoining states and territories. The Relief Society was organized in 1842. The Post error may have been in reference to the church’s formal organization in New York in 1830. For Wells’s complete remarks, see Avery, Transactions of the National Council of Women of the United States, 258–260.

  31. [31]Temperance was not an official platform of the National Council of Women, but the organization included temperance activists, and temperance was a popular topic at meetings. (Robbins, History and Minutes of the National Council of Women of the United States, 39, 147.)

  32. [32]Utah women voted from 1870 to 1887, when they were disenfranchised by the Edmunds-Tucker Act. (See introduction to Part 4.)

  33. [33]The Woman’s Exponent provided only a small segment of the proceedings of the council, as compared to the coverage given by the Washington Post. (“The Woman’s Council,” Washington Post, Feb. 26, 1891, 1–3.)

  34. [34]The following quotation comes from the March 7, 1891, issue of the Woman’s Tribune rather than the February 28 issue. This indicates that the Woman’s Exponent issue dated March 1, 1891, from which Wells’s article is drawn, was published later than March 7, 1891. The Tribune was published by the Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association and edited by Clara B. Colby. It was seen as “an important factor in educating the people up to the standard necessary to carry the state [Nebraska] for woman’s suffrage.” (“Continued Report of the Council,” Woman’s Tribune, Mar. 7, 1891, 75; “Editorial Notes,” Woman’s Exponent, Oct. 15, 1883, 12:77.)

  35. [35]Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association.

  36. [36]Susa Young Gates connected the involvement of Mormon women in these councils with missionary work and gave religious significance to the cause of women’s rights: “These … delegates who traveled, and still do, so extensively out to the nations of the earth, are constantly carrying the message of Glad Tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and have and are sowing the seeds of woman’s emancipation from the superstition and thralldom of the Middle Ages into her enlarged and glorified sphere.” Jane S. Richards’s husband, apostle Franklin D. Richards, similarly reflected on “the great good that had been accomplished in sending the Delegates down to Washington … thought the association of the sisters among the influential women gathered from the different States would be beneficial, and the knowledge that the Relief Society had branches in many nations would become widely known.” He added, “The press throughout the world are talking of the Mormons and wondering what we are going to do; they are anxious to know all they ban [can] about us, we should pursue the course that will help to bring about the time when the Lord will come to reign over all.” (Susa Young Gates, “Administration of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1901–1910,” typescript, p. 12, History of Women Files, Susa Young Gates, Papers, ca. 1870–1933, CHL; “R. S. Reports,” Woman’s Exponent, May 15, 1891, 19:174.)