The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1859-02-09
DANCING AND CARD PLAYING
Their Effects on this Community.


Their Effects on this Community.
"REsoLvED; That Dancing and Card
Playing, as practiced by the people
ofthis Village, are detrimental to the
physical, intellectual, social, moral,
and religious we9fare ofthe comma
-mity.' .11i aa Is a
~g94Es p. q River Falls, Feb 4th,y 1859.
To MEssRs. C. B. Cox. A. MORSE, and H. a.
TAYLOR :-Geadlemeaa - .-..f..
If we were to follow you, and correct
all the errors and misapprehensions which
we find in your article in the JOURNAL Of
last week, and in your remarks inserted
with the preliminary correspondence, it
would not only occupy all the space Of
the paper which the editor has promised
for this discussion, but would require an
extra to contain it. You will not then
expect us to do this. An erroneous state
ment, or sophism contained in one SEN
tence, may require a long article to refute
and expose it.
Your remarks on our reply to your
challenge, which were inserted between
that reply and your rcjoinder, contained
number of structures on our reply, every
one of which is mere evasion. 1t would
be very easy to show this, but we have
not the space for it. The same is true of
the greater part of your repllto Mr.. Glib
sons article. This being the state of the
case, we shall only notice. some Of the
more important errors in your reasoning,
and SO on to the statement of our own
arguments on the question at issue.
But one word about your remarks, as
you call them, that were inserted along
with the preliminaries, Will you please
inform US Of the relation which they were
designed to hold to this discussion? In
your reply to Mr.. Gibson's article, you
deny that they constitute any part of
the discussion. They certainly do not
properly belong to the preliminary cor
respondence, for we had not the privilege
Of seeing them until we saw them in the
JOURNAL. They are over your signatures
and purport to be remarks on our re-
ply, and are addressed to "You," "You
say S"Again you say" &C. We suppos-
ed by "You," we were meant. But did
you expect us to reply9a Moth the pre-
liminary correspondence, for you did not
let lis see the remarks until the prelimina-
ries were published. And now you in
form us that they are no part of the dis
cusslon, and OF course we cannot reply to
them without bringing into the discussion
what, according to yonr idea, does not be-
long there. On the whole, these remarks
seem not to have been for the public at
all. They were written to us CONFIDENT
ally, and sent to US through the JOURNAL;
and we trust that you will give notice to
the public not to busy itself in prying in
to confidential matters scnt to the jour
NAL.
Inyeur reply you say, "You have in
your last article, proposed new conditions
and new terms on which to discuss this
resolution" Gentlemen, please explain,
we edo not know what You refer to.
You seem to have Inexperienced the
main bearing of the article from Mr.. Glib
sons pen, and having paisappreAendea
him, you have of course, unintentionally
no doubt, misrepresented him. In that
article Mr.. Gibson shows that the pleas
ure of card playing and dancing as here
practiced, is peculiar to unregenerate
hearts, or ifconyerted persons were drawn
into them, they do not enjoy religion and
these amusements at the same time. That
while these things constitute the supreme
delight of hearts opposed to God, they
are not relished by the young convert,
nor by any christian with his s'frst love
to Jesus in exercise" and areinconsstt mt
with prayer, praise to God, DC. Thus
you viii admit as we think, that the bear
ing of the article was TO prove that the
pleasure ofthese amusements is appropri-
ate to unregenerate hearts as distinguish
ed from those that the christian may
properly participate in. ind to this end
all those facts and arguments, drawn
in great measure from his own observa-
ton and experience, which you call sto-
ries and assertions, were in point, and re-
main unanswered. You must have fell
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