Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1843-06-10
DANCING.

Philadelphia Ledger takes up the suhec, anil fur.
nshes the following amusing. as well as In tructive
comments:
Dancing is universal. No race Of men ever
existed without it, and every race Of men has
regulated dancing, has connected it with some
ceremony, made it symbolical of something.
1t is natural instinct, natural propensity.
like laughing, and therefore is universal. Who
ever would DO convinced Of this, may observe
an infant not more than three months old, while
hearing tune In quick time on any instru-
ment. Any nurse or mother can tell any Re.
Assembly, the most infants kick during such per.
fcrmances, and that the majority exhibit every
manifestation Of delight. Love Of music is one
Of the instincts strongly exhibited in infancy
and when an infant, possessing this instinct in
high degree, hears quick tune on piano,
and more especially on a violin, its sparkling
eyes, rapid motion Of the legs, and tossing of
the arms as if it were attempting to fly, pro-
claim that some natural instinct is excited
This is the natural instinct, the natural pro-
pensity Of daneing God put it there, and
both reason and revelation say that it should be
regulated, not suppressed. II s not imitation;
for infants do not attend balls, and we have
seen such things in families who did not dance
at the fre.sde; and we assert, without fear of
contradiction, that such infantile dancing is
quite as common among the babies Of their
Reverences Of the General Assembly as a.
mong those Of the laity. All Savages dance,
and natural instincts are more powerful in sa-
wage than civilized communities, because they
are less restrained by reason. And dancing
has always prevailed in all civilized commu-
nites. Does this universally, under all cir
cumstances, prove nothing! We have seen
boys in the Streets especially negroes, in whom
the mirthful instincts are more powerful than
In the whites, borne away by an irresistible
desire to dance, on hearing hand-organ or
other instrument. They may never have dan.
ced before, and probably did not think ofdan-
cling which they had seen. They danced to
satsfy a craving, desire, like hunger or thirst
they danced because they could not help it.
We once knew an orthodox Congregational
clergyman, OF Massachusetts,, of the highest
character as minister and Christian, who
could not stay where violin was played, be-
cause ut made his feet itch" The worthy old
gentleman, and worthy indeed was DR.. 8. of l..
was actually afraid Of violating the dignity OF
his age and Office, by cutting involuntary ca.
pers. Nature whispering dance! dance ! who
too strong for the conventional rules Of society
and his order, and reason told him that his only
safety was in flight.
The lower animals dance. Almost ever,
Englishman has heard of, read of, or seen dane
ing bears, and all Egypt can tell Of dancing
camels. Horses can be taught to dance, ant
every trumpeter in any army can tell how the,
will caper and prance and caracole at his music
In Europe, no appendage to puppet show il
more common than dancing dogs and in In
dia, jugglers contrive to eXtort dancing from
serpents Mice dance; and anecdotes are o
record of celebrated players on the violin, t
whose music mice came out of their holes am
cut capers, sometimes on two legs, sometime
on four. But Of all quadrupeds, the most read
dancers are the monkey tribes. Music make
their 'feet itch" as much as it did those OF tn
Rev. Dr. S., Of L., though we do not admit an
other point Of comparison and almost an
sound in quick and measured time will excit
them to grotesque and ridiculous movement.
Birds dance, spontaneously and imtatively, an
singing birds furnish music to their dancing
We have seen yellow birds, rice birds, and
ther varieties Of singing birds, chirping an
hopping about the bushes with great rapidit
We have seen Canary birds do the same thin
IN an aviary. This is natural dancing, and Ii
chlrping and singing are its natural musi
But besides these natural movements, singin
birds have been taught to dance in regul,
steps, TO the sounds of musical instruments
and if fleas can be taught to draw in harne
like horses, why may not orioles and fnch
and sparrows be taught to execute rigadons al
plrouettes like opera girls! But the best nat
raj dancing which we have ever witnessed
birds, was performed by woodpeckers, of tn
beautiful species called, in some of the Stat
yellop hammer, in others high hill, by Catest
Latham, and other naturalisls, and also in j.
ferson's Notes, Picus Auratus, or gold -ping
poodpecker, Wehave seen these birds in SIN
parties Of four, five, six, collect on the gr,
and hop in a singular movement resemble
a Scottish reel, each bird uttering note rese
bling the words hittue, hittue, hittuc, all ke,
ing exact time together in the note and the b