1900-04-03-New York Tribune-Life Among The Mormons

Life Among The Mormons

New York Tribune, 3 April 1900, p. 5, c. 2

Dr. S. J. Elliott Talks Before the College Woman's Club on Women in Utah

Dr. S. J. Elliott, of Utah, a deaconess of the Episcopal Church, is speaking before college women's clubs throughout the country in order to engage their interest in the establishment of kindergartens among the Mormons. At the College Woman's Club rooms, No. 48 West Twentieth-st., on Saturday she spoke on "The Home Life of the Mormons." She stated that besides the large num ber of Mormons in Arizona, Idaho and New-Mexico there are one hundred and seventy thousand in Utah alone, the faith having made wonderful strides in the last fifty years. The promise of a home and their expenses paid from the East to Utah is the strongest inducement offered to the women who join the Mormon ranks.

She rehearsed the history of the sect from the time of its founder, Joseph Smith, to 1895, when Utah became a State. The more ignorant of them, she said, believe in many gods, many heavens and many religions. The women of the younger gener ation care nothing for their husbands, having gradually eliminated affectionate feeling from their makeup. The Mormon woman of to-day is well educated in music and letters, and makes a beauti ful home, which lacks the one essential feature of family life, headship.

Dr. Elliott believes the important question is how to reach and train the children.