The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1880-11-27
THE LATEST RACQUET"

He will find some changes have taken
place in the last twelve months. He
will see the entire company like mad
plunging through the figure of the
"Racquet, the "Rye," the "Tele-
phone" and the "Wave." These are
set down in the programmes as dances,
not as dissipations. The four are all
allied, and belong to the same family.
An old beau, who is disabled by the
rheumatism, told reporter few even
ing ago, while discussing the latest soci-
etycraze, that the Racquet" was cross
between the cancan and fight. The
same reporter meeting prosessor Watsell,
the well-known teacher Of dancing, a
few days later, obtained the collateral
evidence of an expert on the subject.
''Is there anything new in the dane
ing line, professor ?" asked the reporter.
EYES," answered the professor, II
am sorry to say there is. / have been
teaching dancing in this city for twenty
seven consecutive years, and during that
period / have had occasion to defend
the waltz and other round dances through
the press and otherwise against the
preachers and other professional reform
ers. There has come 4 time when
myself must really blush for my profess
sion, because of certain new tangled
dances that have been introduced and
become fashionable"
"To which Of the new dances do you
refer %
"rhe most Objectionable are those
called the 'Rye' and the Racquet
which arc now being danced at all the
fashionable parties"
"What are your objections to these ?"
pursued the reporter.
"Thcyare both inartistic and vulgar"
answered Professor Watsell. "The per-
son who arranged them either did no.;
understand his profession or had no re-
spect for it. There are fifteen positions
in dancing, five of which are used in the
ballroom. These are called ground
position, because the feet never leave
the floor. When the rule in violated,
the dance, whatever it may be, is bun
gled. The Rye and the Racquet re-
quire this first principal to be ignored.
Instead Of the feet never leaving the
floor, they are hardly ever on the floor,
they required continual kicking up
and down: | do not think any lady
ought to engage in such dances. The
demands Of society are imperative, and,
of course, have to teach whatever is
in demand or shut up my school. am
sorry am forced to do so. cannot
give you an accurate description of these
dances on paper. You would have TO
see them executed in order to full under
stand their Objectionable features. In
all graceful dances the body should float,
rs il were, through the room, like 4 swan
in the water. In the Rye and the
Racquet this rule is violated, and the
body, instead OF floating, is kept in zig
gag, helter skelter, and other awkward
motions. There is sort Of 'cui and
come again movement, which is not
only ungraceful, but fatiguing TO the
dancer and tiresome to the lookcron.-
l think it strange that srch dances
should have captured our bellies and
bcaux. Yet such is the fact. There are
so many really pretty and harmless
dances that one would suppose that such
trash rs the Rye and the Racquet
would Great only disgust"
care there any others to which you
object ?"
ayes. The Telephone and the
'Wave' belong to the same class. No
respectable lady ought to dance either
of them"
(Which is your iavoritc dance?"
"The waltz, by all means. Is il the
foundation of all the round dances, and
the most captivating by long Odds
When you attemp; 10 add to it, it is like
putting variation to some dear old
tune like Home, Sweet Home. The
original melody is drowned, and the
sweetness of the old song is diluted TO
such an extent that you can hardly taste
it. t."-L0mSoiNe Courier ./0w.IaL
SUNDAY AFTERNOONS. After the Sun
day dinner what Well, it all "dc-
pends." A person whose brain is
wearicd with intellectual work during
the week, or whose nervous system is
exposed to the strain Of business or
professional life, ought to sleep, within
an hour or two after his Sunday dinner,
| il he can. 1t is surprising how much
like n seven-day clock the brain will
work, If the hab;; OF 4 "Sunday nap"
be once formed. Nature will take adj
vantage of il as regularly and gratefully
as she does ofthe nightly sleep, and do
her best to make up lost time. People
on the other hand whose week Of toll is
chiefly physical, may well give their
minds activity while their bodj is rest
ing. Two sermons and three Of four
hours Of solid reading are real rest to
some on Sunday, while to others such a
course amounts to positive Sabbath
breaking. Sunday is day of rest, not
of work, religious or otherwise. 1t isa
day Of repose not for exhaustion. But
what the dogmatists on one side and the
illiberal liberals on the other are apt TO
overlook, is the fact that all men do not
rest alike any more than they labor alike,
and what may help to save one may aid
in killing another.-G0Lafn REIt.
nD-"I scc," said stranger to the
bobtail car driver, "that according to
rules you are forbidden to handle the
fare. Does the company wish 10 insin-
uate that you are not to be relied on ?"
"No, sir. It's not that at all, said the
driver, picking fly off the horse with
his whip. "But YOU see, the company
is afraid il we accumulated money too