Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-10-28

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course, aud then caution them to beware Q
evil influences? And shall they train thei
children to all the "misty mazes" of th
dance, and yet, with strange Inconsistency
expect God to convert and save them, Will
thus placing one of the greatest obstacles il
the way?
Salome's dancing was evil, because it LEI
to evil. Aud yet this was the least objec
tionable form of dancing. 1t was sol'
dance, and that by female; and that, too
at home in her mothers house. The advo
Gates of our modern promiscuous dancing
sometimes pretend to justify it by the Scrip
lures. But they forget that no such thing
as the dancing of the sexes together is to b
found in the Scriptures. There are instan
ces of man dancing alone in religious
service, as David and many instances where
women danced with women, as Miriam a
the Red Sea but We can confidently affirm
that there is not a single example Of oul
modern fashion of the sexes dancingtogeth
er in all the Bible, from Genesis to Revela
ton. No man can show any place in the
Bible where men Joined with women in the
dance. And for this ancient custom some
tolerable reason might be given. For, il
bealthful exercise of the body is the thing
aimed at in dancing, why not let ladies' take
it alone and under circumstances where they
can get the full benefit of it, untrammellcd
by the presence of men? Does common
sense require people to take exercise at night
in crowded, suffocating rooms, in full dress.
bound and girdled to very compression ?
Can you imagine anything moro unoougeniaI
to a lady's health than the late hours, the
torturlng, tight dress, and the violent ye!
constrained exertion of the ballroom p
When men perform their hardest labor, they
wish to be alone, or in the open air, or al
least freed from the burden of much dress
But delicate ladies 60 through the excessive
fatigues of the dance, often the hardest labor
of their lives, the very victims and martyrs
of the fashionable drcssmaker, and all this
for the sake of healthful exercise! Surely,
the fimsiest of all sophistries is the pretence
that health can be promoted under the arti
fetal and absurd conditions Of our promis
cuous dancing. If health be the object, lei
ladies dance at home Immediately after the
morning bath; tho earlier the better. II
there be "a time to dance" that time would
be the best time.
But if graceful motion be thing aimed
at, why mix it up with the uncouth and gro,
tesque awkwardness of the male dancer? AS
for men, they certainly can find better spe.
cies of exercise and gracefulness, in their
case, is out of the question. Wo may be
free to admit there is something womanly
and graceful in the female dancer, though
even in her case the gracefulness is mainly
owing to the flowing dress, or the personal
beauty If the lady is naturally graceful and
comely she would look just a. we'll on horse
back, or on morning Or evening walk, as
in :ho dance. IF she is ugly and badly dress
ed, no extra skill in dancing can redeem the
performance from contempt. So that, even
iu the female dancer, the boasted graceful
ness of movement is far more dependent up
on other accidental circumstances, than upon
any INTRINSIC beauty ia tie acs ol dancing
The grace Is in the person, not in her move
ments, and would belong to her just as vel
as if she did not dance at all.
But be the case as it may, with young
girl, who ever saw any thing graecfa! ana
diCpiGed IL tho dancing or men: To US
the whole thing of mans dancing is absurd
and ridiculous to the last degree. If there
were nothing else against it, the close.cut
dress of our modern man of fashion, fitting
his body and limbs like the bark Gf 2 tree
raarliaa,s graceful dancing an impossibility.-
There is no poetry in any such exhibition o.
a man or any other animal clad as he is. Fol
if the man is large and heavy, the spectacle
calls up the image of an elephant whose very
footsteps shakes the ground. If the man il
small apd frisky, We arc constantly reminded
cf the ltful antics of a monkey or baboon.-.
If the performer is tall and slender, whc
knows when his gyrations may bring hin
down like sapling before tie wind. Wha
ever dancing may be as an amusement TO
women and children, We cannot rank i
among the manly sports aad performances
The actions of men are graceful only as the.
are manly; and they are manly only as the.
are in keeping with the duties and response
bilties of men. On this principle, all thu
exercises of labor in at and industry ma,
be graceful; the evolutiops of aoldier unde
arms may be graceful, the bearing of gentle
men in all the needful intercourse of siciety
may be graceful. But dancing, being mert
amusement, in no way related to any of th
needful employmeuts oflife, can be defended
on no such ground as that of dignifed, man
" exercise but muststaud as mere smuse
mept on Its own intrinsic propricty, if, in
deed, it has any. Stripped, then, as it is
of every element of that kind of beaut,
which springs from utility to the purpose
of life, what is then left of it, as mer
amusement, to make it decorous in men =
Suppose you could behold a company of men
alone to themselves, dancing with each othe
for mere amusement, or dancing in publ
for the edifcation of others, what would b
your impressions of the scene? Would yol
call that natural and tSahly sport? No
Your contempt for an exhibition SO puerll
would be in exact proportion to two things