Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-04-17
A Puritan Thanksgiving Dance.

Whenever or wherever IL was that the
idea Of the sinfulness OF dancing arose ,n
New England, know mott Il Ger.
tain fact that, nc Old Town, at this time.
the presence Of tie minister and his Iady
was not held to be IN The slightest degree
Incompatible with this amusement. We
appeal TO the memory Of many Of our
readers II they or their parents could not
recall time in New England when, in
all the large towns, dancing assemblies
useo 10 be stately held, at which the
minister and his lady, though never uni
ting ~ the dance, always giving an ap-
proving attendance, and when all the de-
corus, RESI- ectable old church members
brought their children, aud staid them
selves to watch an amusement in which
they no longer actively partook.
No one looked on with a more placid
and patroDizing smile, rs one after anoth-
er began joining the exercise, which com.
menccd first with the children and young
people, crept gradually up among the
elders. Uncle Bill would insist leading
out Aunt Lois, and the bright color ris.
ing to her thin cheeks, brought back a
iuttering image Of what might have
been beauty in some fresh, eariy dav.-
As to Uncle Eliakim, he jumped and
fr'sked and gyrated among the single
sisters and maiden aunts, whirling them
into dance US if he had been the little
black gentleman himself With that
true spirit of Christian charity which
marked all his actions, he invariably
chose out the homeliest and most neg
iected for partners and thus worthy
Aunt kezlal, dear old sonl, was for a
time quite prominent by his attentions.
vi course, the dances in those days
were OF a strictly moral nature. The
very thought oi' one cf the round dances
OF modern times would have sent Lady
Lathrop behind her big fan in helpless
confusion, and exploded my graRd-moth-
er like fullcharged arsenal of indigna-
tion. AS it was, she stood with her
broad, pleased face radiant with satisfac-
tion, as the wave Of joyousness crept
higher and higher around her. till the
elders, who stood keeping time with their
heads and feet, began to tell each ether
how they bad danced with their sweet
hearts in good old days gone by. And
the elder women began to blush and bri-
die and to boast of steps they could take
IN their youth, till the music finally sub
dued them, and into the dance they went.
"Well, we'll - quoth my grandmother,
they're all at it so hearty, 1 don't see
why | shouldn't try it myself; and into
the Virginia reel she went, amid screams
Of laughter from all the Younger men,
bers OF the population. But, 1 assure
you, my grandmother was not woman
20 be laughed at, for whatever she once
set on foot she put through" with a
sturdy energy beftting daughter of the
puritans. "Why shouldn't l dance 2"
she said, when she arrived, red and re-
splendent, at the bottom of the set
didn't Mr.. Dependency, and Miss
Muchafraid, and Mr.. Ready-to-halt, all
lance together in the Pilgrims Progressg
And the minister, in his ample, flowing
wig, and my lady, i'll her stiff brocade,
gave TO my grandmother solemn twin
kle of appreciation. AS nine O'Clock
struck, the whole scene dissolved and
melted for what well-regulated village
would think of carrying festivities be-
1ond that hour? And so ended our
at Old Town,
Mrs. INo1ce's ,tnDubktshcd NoreL