The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-25
KHLRLLNG DERH1sHES.


Siictum of the wisest of those ancients we are
taught to believe inspired. But constant
element in that complex machine we know as
Society" makes it O point to reverse the
comfortable theory of the Turk, and to be-
ieve whatever is is wrong. Autocratlc
reformers these, often denouncing custom
simply because it u.s., rarely permitting argu-
ment upon it. Hence, to-day, Propriety,
clothed in immaculate purity as Peter the
Hermit was in rags, breaches new crusade
against that most popular of modern manias,
the ''round-dances." We are begged to be-
lieve them sinful waste of time and muscle,
an abomination in the sight of common de-
cency and of common-sense; and that the evil
parsonage, who is the father of lies, is parent
of these as well. But doubters will be found
for whom it is hard to believe that Solomon
was radically wrong in his premise, or that
the way of life must be thorry and sprinkled
with tears and resonant of groans, Still, it
must be admitted that dancing in excess is
bad. SO is walking; so is eating. And her
champions proclaim that she of the twinkling
feet does more good than counterbalances
her slight improprieties. Further, they do
assert that those who most revile her are
would-be devotees on whom her grace does
not descend And, as in all mooted points
of morals or manners, the war is fierce, grow
ing more furious with each generation, and
certainly faster with each succeeding season.
There are more dancing people than there
were; they dance harder, later, faster than
they did; they dance at odd times and places,
young or old, in or out of season. On the
other hand, the non-dancers-from at first
elevating their eyes, or at most holding up
their palms-now breathe denunciations loud
and deep, and write scathing essays against
the abomination.
With the moral question involved, this is
neither the time nor place to interfere but
the material fact stares us in the face, that
dancing is at this writing, more popular, all
the world over, than ever before. Like sin,
and cold in the head, it is not confined by
geographical boundaries; like beggary and
falling in love, its thriving depends upon no
special atmosphere. That unique fanatic of
the East, the Whirling Dervish, spins with as
great velocity as ever; the red man of our
prairies dances his scalp-dance as joyously,
his peace-dance as grimly, as of yore. Under
whispering olives and overloaded vines, dark
eyed villagers assemble at evening, and move
through graceful c0Rtrdddnza and stately
6OlerO, to the tinkling of the eimmemorial guitar
Famed by the spice-laden breezes of the Golden
Horn, the dreamy Turk forgets even to puff
his beloved narsileh, as he follows, with mo-
tiOnless ecstasy, the voluptuous pose of the
henna-ed and kohl-ed Alnaeh. In the dusky
shadow of crumbling Thebes-beneath the
stony frown of the ox-horned Isis herself
dwells the burning-eyed Ghaaoazee, living
only to vile the soul of man, and faint herself
in the lascivious witchery of her wondrous
dance. Cold-blooded England dances labori-
Ously at Melbourne and at John OGroat's
house. Scotch reels are things of history;
and what Irishman but would "cover the
buckle" with never potato in the cabin ?
while the fair haired swells of the Guards hold
in quite equal estimation their triumps over
the waxed floor and those of the dark days
before Inkermann. And as for sunny, laugh
ter-loving France-she is nothing if not
dancing. Imperial Paris lavishes millions on
the gilt and glitter that bedeck the fairy-land
ballets with which the second empire soothes
its fretful children imperial Paris sees,
pockets her lorgnette and her scruples, re-
tires to salon of minster-to Mabille-to-
where?- ?-and dances madly too. And that
the head of the worlds fashion smiles upon
it, we have only to remember that the mar
quis who married La DioG was famous prin-
cipally for his debts and his dancing! Per-
haps she had not paid the former, had not
the latter made him-enviable pinnacle -
leader of the empress cOttROn.
There is no reason that an otherwise clever
and cultivated gentleman may not possess,
besides, the ease and practice to make
him foremost in this most graceful
accomplishment; but then society receives
and blesses him, not because of his other
attributes but rather, in spite of them.
She accepts the gift of his heels, caring little
for those of his heart, and with a silent but
decided protest against those of his head
The Emperor may be i'll, Wall street may be
in spasm, and the next-door neighbor may
be inventoried for the red flag What cares
she? Il. Totum, Esq, still spins with incon-
ceiyable rapidity at Mrs. Aurifer Midas select
soiree. urH rrra.- .rr.-r
The origin of dancing is, of course, un-
known. Whose light toe was first fantastic
must ever remain q mystery with those of
Eleusis; for its antiquity is far beyond that
of spoken or recorded tradition. We are only
left to theorize that dancing was the spsnta-
neous effort of undeveleped man to express,
by gesture, Joy or sorrow All early nations
were, to certain extent hieroglyphic; all
strove to express an idea by a visible symbol;
and the lessons of the Pyramids, of Nineveh,
and of Aztec Mexico, teach us that drawing
was the parent of which writing came. SO
the impulse that urged the savage to convey
his calmer thought by rude drawing would
have taught him to give the more pressing
emotion sound or gesture. We still find that
the weaker of the modern languages abound
in gesture; those possessing the poorer yo
cabularies demanding that face, shoulders
and arms shall aid the inefficient speech
The Italian or the Portuguese to-day speak
as much with his hands as he does with hi
tongue. 1 -r1@rer r--r .a
We constantly see those pocket editions o
the savage man-spoiled children-staml
with rage and caper with delight Who cal
tell what antic, far among the shadows of tn
unclothed and uncooked past, was the paren
of the dance?
In many portions Of the Old Testamen
dancing is mentioned as a simple matter o
course. Pharoah's daughter, dancing to tn,