The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-05-22

health OF the body IS to the elegance of
department" I remember not long ago
hearing the Rev. Dr., of -
Presbyterian church, deliver sermon
against "the practice of the light fantas-
tic" Among other things, he said,
ono man of greatness of mind has
ever been a dancer" Most of his
points were well taken, only enc
felt arising. Quaker fashion, and
combating his statements from another
view of the case-what an advantage
this getting up in meeting and " talking
back" privilege q wsg once conceded
to the Episcopal church because of the
responses. Cato wss a wise nan, and
notwithstanding his austere and method
ical manners, did not disdain to dance
after he was sixty years old, finding a
pleasure in practicing in his age what he
had learned in his youth. A host of
ancient writers have also commended it,
while Addison and Locke, the former
under the title of the "Tattler," and
the latter in an essay on Education"
both Gigni6ed dancing as useful bodily
exercise, an inofensive relaxation, being
of the opinion that when the body is in
motion the mind reposes itself, the
figure, the steps, the movements of the
dance being equally amusing to the
spectator and the dancer. Dancing
seems to have been the origin of the
drama. Among the first mentioned in
history were the" Mysteries E" and Mo-
ralities," two religious plays of the
rudest character, the Mysteries being
representation, partly in pautomime
and dialogue, and taken from some well
known incident related in the bible, and
the "Moralities sort of discussion
and enforcement of religious doc
trine or moral truth by allegorical per-
sonages. At first they were performed
almost entirely in the churches upon
scafolds, erected for the purpose, some
what in the form of a small theatre, and
divided from the altar, much as may be
seen to this day in the churches of St.
Clement and St. Pancras at Rome.
There, in imitation of the Levites of old,
the clergy joined with the people in reli-
gious dances. Indeed, our ancestors
seemed to have really enjoyed the privi-
lege of going to cathedral and seeing
satan and an archbishop dancing horn
pipe with the Seven Deadly Sins and
the Five Cardinal Virtues. In some
parts of France as late as the seventeenth
century it was still the custom for the
priests and people to join in the dance
of the church, and to sing, instead Of
the Gloria PAtria, these lines:
Oh, pray for us, good St. Marcian,
Whilst we trip it along with yeu.
In all the ancient religions priests
were dancers by education, because
dancing was considered by all nations in
the world as one of the most essential
parts of the worship paid to the
Deity. This idea Of dramatic and
categorical dancing is still carried on
in most of the theatres in Italy,
frequently the ballet of an opera
occupying at least one>hslf oi
the evening performance. They are
more like rhythmical pantomimes of
NEUROLOGICAL, fantastic, warlike or pas
toral character than our ordinary ballet
of to-day, which seems to have become
unfaithful to its original design and to
its true artistic significance and to conN
tent itself with exhibiting mere feats of
ability, distortions of the person to almost
acrobatic dexterity, and Il balancing o.
the figure in attitudes sometimes, to say
the least, ungraceful. 1t was not until
the seventeenth century that women
made their appearance in ballets, in
plays or operas. Up to this time men
had been the exclusive performers,
though during the reign of Elizabeth the |
dance Of "The Mysteries is spoken of |
as having been performed in her own
household and by her attendant ladies,
the queen not disdaining to take
part in it herself. They represented
the ten virgins mentioned in the
gospel, some of them having their
lamps well trimmed and burning,
others without oil or light and begging
both OF the former, SO that if women did
not dance in public before the seven
tenth century they certainly had their
little hops and skips. In France and
Italy, however, social dancing at this
time was considered quite inelegant,
most of it being performed for the
amusement of guests by professional
dancers and not by the guests them
selves. On one occasion Louis XII.
danced at court entertainment; as
likewise did Louis XIV. in his youth,
both of which extraordinary exploits
were of sufficient Importance to entitle
them to special historical mention.
Having professional dancers at enter
tainments is still common among the
eastern nations. In Egypt there are
dancing and singing girls, called Almeh,
who are especially educated for this
vocation. No festival could be complete
without their attendance. They were
principally employed to depict the