As I continue reading the Women’s Exponent, I am happy to see so many similarities.  Women are the same from generation to generation.  We have the same concerns and the same interests.

I’ve mentioned before about the Retrenchment Association that was organized out of the Relief Society.  It was originally meant to inspire the women to forego fancy meals and dress.  It branched out into helping to stay focused on the spiritual potential of women; scripture study as well as good education, being more resolved to slough off the world and its influences, and be more self-sufficient and self-contained.

The Senior Retrenchment Association was organized before the Junior (or Young Women’s) Retrenchment Association.  And it was under the direction of the Senior Retrenchment that the Senior and Junior Retrenchment groups were organized in all the surrounding wards.  Letters sent to the Women’s Exponent, reporting local accomplishments, were published and shared with other organizations, and it’s clear the women all looked forward to hearing from one another and their various doings.

Mary Isabella Horne was the president of the Senior Retrenchment Association.  She would travel to various wards organizing them into ward Retrenchment groups, calling presidencies and checking up on their progress.  Clearly, this was a labor of love.  While serving in this position, she also served as her ward and stake’s Relief Society President.  When the first Relief Society General Board was organized, she was called as the first Treasurer, all the while maintaining her position as president of the Senior Retrenchment Association, for nearly 30 years.  Emmeline Wells described Isabella as a General Among Women.  She was a much loved leader and organizer.

I ran across a few letters of interest where wards were reporting their progress.  It seems the reports are of both the Senior and Junior groups.  Perhaps they worked together in their goals.

One report from Plain City, Weber County, Utah, in 1876, writes:  “We had a Leap-year Ball on the 16th of March; the hall was beautifully decorated for the occasion.  Dancing commenced at 2pm and closed at 10.  We have had no round-dancing this year.”

They were big on ending the dances at 10pm.  The round-dancing caught my eye.  I had to look it up on the Internet to discover exactly what it is.  Round-dancing is pre-choreographed ballroom dancing, similar to square dancing, where a caller calls out the next steps in dances such as foxtrot, waltz, quickstep, etc.  This type of dancing was apparently unfavorable to Brigham Young, who called a stop to it.

In another letter, from Draper, it says, “We had been counseled to cease the round dances, but as they had become the favorite and almost universal dance, it appeared at first, as though it would be a hard matter to get the young to comply with the request.  But after being organized the sisters immediately resolved to cease dancing them.  The young men complied without the least resistance, so there is no more round dancing among us, and our parties are not held later than ten o’clock.”

What I find fascinating here is that they all complied.  This was a dance where the male holds the female.  I’m guessing that was just too personal for the time.  It is apparent they all enjoyed this kind of dancing, and where dancing was not completely outlawed, not touching each other was the request.  How would we react today?  How have we reacted when the prophet speaks?

I appreciate how at their meetings (and these groups met to discuss various topics every other week or so) they took minutes.  The next time they met they would read the minutes of the previous week to see their progress.  When they met in larger groups, each of the ward secretaries were asked to read the minutes and note their progress.  This suggests their purpose was to DO, not hear.

In another letter, the writer states, “Dear sisters, let us be guarded in our actions that we may always wield a good influence.  Let us live our religion in every particular that we may have courage to do right, power to rebuke sickness and disease; and always have the Spirit of God to combat with our enemies.”