Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-03-11
Shall We Dance.


this head, thought ut the. time
there might be something written
in reply, ! thought also at the time.
that if anything was written, the
writer would refer the whole ques.
ton back TO 'the love of God in the
heart" aud leave IL there. In both
Of these suppositiOns | now see !
was correct.
Since took up this question ]
believe the readers of the OPINION
will not expect me to keep silent
when the writer Of these "sugges.
tions" implies that those who dance
are to he damned, and more than
implies that only those who hold
similar opinions with him or her of
lite and duty are the only true guides
in morality and religion, and II per.
son with the opinion hold is
curse in the world.
1t will be remembered that the
two main points | brought forward
in a late article were first, that some
persons in the community, consid.
ering the views they have upon the
subject, show an inconsistency in
their actions, by not dancing. The
other, that Il certain class cannot on
any principles of reason or religion
justly condemn Il social dance, nor
call it "positively wicked" Neither
of these two points have been ma,
terialIy effected by the suggestions
of j. w. T. But let us see what
that writer does feel called upon to
say.
81 qualify dancing" Yes, and
say harm may come OF it, just as l
do of ak other amusements. also
say it would be difficult to name an
amusement, which is not open to
the same objection. j. w. TBS log
ic here proves nothing. 1t is too
transparent. In fact there is 10
logic in this paragraph. When IL
person tries to claim, "that it is not
good common sense, that it is not
right to practice that which will
lead others to do that which mag
lead them into sin and crlme," such
Il person, | say, in order to sustain
their theory, must have the whole
order OF society changed; must have
more than one law of our nature
blotted out; mist have men and
women constituted with different
natures from those which now in.
habit the world. We are obliged to
buy and sell. but sin and crime come
of this. We are so made that we
must have amusements, but sin and
crime come from these, and SO we
might go on to the end of the list of
our doings and duties To the clos
ing suggestion Of j. w. Us first
paragraph l would say, yes | have a
right to offend others if that offence
comes from opposing mere preju.
dice, and nothing founded on com,
mon sense. 1T can make but little
difference, in this communication, it
seems to me, whether King David
danced to praise the L. ord or to EN-
joy himself for awhile. There is no
question but he did dance, and came
no nearer loosing his place in hea-
ven tor it, or gaining one some where
else. But | would ask if the Lord
commanded David to dance, or did
he do SO of his own free will ?
Wasn't David feeling well after his
Victories say, like having a good
time,-had it,-and was not that
about the substance of the dance9
Scan ask Gods blessing on the
proceedings of dance p Yes, just
as conscientiously, as if | were 60
ing out to play game of ball, as if
l were going to all evening party,
to any beneficial amusement or in
structive entertainment just as
conscientiously as if | were going
to a sOciable. At this latter enter
tainment a young person has an OPP
portunity5Of saying, show do you
dol" Of trying (in many cases) to
feel very much entertained when he
is not, of being bored for an even
ing. AT the former, an oppOrtuni-
ty Of loosing an awkwardness of
manner, an insipidity of character
not seen in a well bred person. But
l am not discussing the ethics of
dancing. This question of Gods
blessing, however, suggests to my
mind that the writer who asks it, is
a person so painfully particular
about the forms of christianity as
to often loose the spirit of it, per-
son of a prudish disposition, a per-
son when thinking of dancing, like
King Lear's scurvey politician,
''who gets himself glass eyes and
seems to see things he cannot"
The remainiu e part of the article,
it will be noticed, is connected with
one of the questions l have already
namely ; that a certain
class have no right to set in judg.