The Van Buren press., 1875-02-23
Another Word About Dancing.


thought and perception of these days"
of some persons on the subject of dane.
ing, it is very certain that the great re-
ligious bodies have not only maintained
their ground against it, but some have ia.
ken positions in advance of any they
have occupied heretofore. For instance,
the Bishops Of the Roman Catholic and
Protestant Episcopal Churches. within
the last few years, in circulars addressed
to their respective focks, have in plain
terms condemned the round dances of all
descriptions, while the mature Judgment
and experience of the most eminent and
useful members of the Protestant church
es, except the High Church Episcopal,
are nearly solid against the general prac
tice Of dancing. Men of mind, intelli
gence and experience are not apt to form
hasty or crude opinions upon matters Of
so much much Importance as amuse.
ments for the young, and few objec-
tions may be stated which will show that
their opposition is not without some
shadow of reason at least. 1t may be
stated first, that dancing is the common
amusement of the worst classes of the
human family, and the lowest, vilest and
foulest dens of iniquity known to civil
lied society are the dance houses Of our
large cities, and this graceful, healthful
and invigoratng exercise }" is made the
attraction to lure to ruin many men and
women who might otherwise have led
useful and virtuous lives.
The argument is made that if parents
and elderly persons would go to the
dances and 10y their influence exclude
wine, drinking and late hours" but that i
spells all the force and beauty ofthc log
c. No amount Of parents or elderly
persons have ever been able to exclude
wine and drinking. Young men hide
bottles of whiskey in back rooms, in
wood piles, lumber sheds, dark alleys and
anywhere where they can go and drink
unseen by the parents and elderly per
sons, or the ladies of the company, and
dances have furnished the occasion for
leading young men in!o drinking habits
probably more than the public dram
shops. And there are several reasons
why it should be so First, the example
of older men, second, the wearing ey
element and fatigue Of dancing in the
after part Of the night produces depres-
sion, which must be counteracted by
stimulants third, the pleasure of the oX
ciletnent produced by stimulation, and
fourth, they can drink undercovcr Of
darkness where none but their mincdiate
comrades see them. Nor have they been
more fortunate in preventing late hours !;
one, two. three, four O clock are the com
mon hours for breaking up dance and
sometimes not until daylight. That the
loss of sleep under such circum stances is
injurious to health no one will question,
in addition to which persons in a dane
ing hall are liable to take cold from be.
ing thinly dressed and the alternate Of
violent exercise and rest in a cool atmos-
phere.
The experience Of our times is that the
amusement is unmanagcable and cannot
be stripped Of its dissipation and teadcn
cy to excess, its wine and drinking and
late hours, therefore thinking, sober
minded people think it best not to indulge
in an amusement the bad features of
which will always have .he upper band.
Another serious objection which applies
mainly to the waltz and other fancy
round dances, is of so delicate q charac.
ter that one dislikes even to allude TO it,
but the perncious effects arising there
from seems to demand that it be plainly
dealt with. One thing is certain, | have
never found man Of the world who has
had opportunity for observation and eX-
perence In these dances who is willing to
recommend them as a school to young
minds for the cultivation of the higher,
nobler and purer instincts OF our nature,
There is nothing but custom which
makes pure minded people even tolerate
NuN Ii'Nt'NN'
The argument that persons who op.
pose dancing are guilty Of worse prac-
tees is without force in this case, for the
unbclieving world makes dancing a test
of christian consistency and leaves the
protesting christian no choice but to
abide by its decision. Nor is the world
far wrong in this, for it knows as well as
the christian what Christ requires Of his
followers, viz: to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked visit the sick, and
amelioratc the suffering condition of hu-
manity as far as lies in their power
These with the various enterprises of the
church, and the earning subsistence for
ones self or family, leaves but little time
or strength to be expended in frivolity
and dissipation; and so univei sal is this
impression among non professors, that
persons having connected themselves
with christian denomination and cngag
ing in dancing and other purely worldly
amusements, lose their respect and con,
fdcnce, for they openly violate promise
made publicly to Almighty God and the
church that they would renounce the
world, the flesh and the devil (And
these three are certain to be present at
nearly every dance The world, in the
dissipation and selfindulgencc that reeks
Of nothing but present enjoyment; the
flesh in the purely animal excitement of