The Necessity of Cleanliness

There is a saying that cleanliness is next to Godliness...

I remember, when I was a small boy, President Brigham Young was making one of his tours and arrived at a town in one of the southern counties. He had intended to stop there and speak to the people, but, as he drove along the streets, entering town, he noticed the unclean condition of the surroundings. He drove direct to the Bishop's home, stopped his team and said to the Bishop, who stood in front of his residence waiting the arrival of the president: "Why Bishop, I see the same old rocks upon the streets; I see the same old dirty surroundings; I see the same old gates off their hinges; I see the same old broken down fences; I see the same old puddles of mud before the tithing office and your public buildings, just as they were when I was last here; and, inasmuch as I called attention to these defects when I was here before, and it has had no effect upon the people whatever, I do not think it necessary for me to stop this time. Good-bye, Bishop. Tell the people when they attend to these things and rectify them, I will stop next time."

Reed Smoot. "The Necessity of Cleanliness" April 1903 General Conference