Morning journal and courier., 1883-03-14

tunities to know The New York J0ur7s0,
 of Education is responsible for the statement
 that the chief of police says three-fourths ot
 all the abandoned women of that city came
 to their ruin by means of dancing. One oi
 the most experienced of the captains of DO
 lice in the same city, who has long had
 charge of the district in which the largest
 number of houses of ill-fame are located re-
 gently made quite strong a statement re-
 garding his district to minister of my ac-
 quaintance. could fill this paper with simi- 1 lar testimonies but are not these enough ! These poor creatures, the depth of whose
 degradation and the hopelessness of whose
 ~retchedness can only be paralleled in hell,
 danced their modesty and then their virtue | to death. They began pure and became | prostitutes, and the dance furnished the in- centive and opportunity. That is the state
 ment in plain English. Yet probably but g
 small proportion of the moral wrecks made
 by the dance are thrown out upon the street. l It is perhaps impossible to describe thing | that is an offence to deceney without giving l offence. There is sad issue also sometimes to such an attempt-where the picture is drawn to the life and held up to public gaze 1 that the thing may he execrated, and the | painter is assumed to be smirched, the pic l ture condemned and the thing coddled as l lovingly as eyer I know the risk and take it intelligently; but do not like to take it. Two questions: Would it not cruelty the modesty of any young woman. of any pure young woman, and condemn Der in the eyes of a right thinking public, if she allowed her self to be passed from one to another by a company of men as she is passed in the dance
 she taking toward them and they toward her precisely the attitudes that are accepted and indispensable attitudes of the waltz if the
 dancing were left out Does the dancing sanctify and make clean that which without 1t could find no toleration in civilized, I will not say Christian society,"
 Our Pastoral friend with beautiful sim
 plicity approVingly quotes one who seeking witnesses to carry his case asked a number of young men skilled in round dances as to whether the attitudes excited immodest thought, and the answer invariably was that they were too busily engaged with the meas ure and the guidance of their partners to have room for such 8 thought. MT. Editor, allow me to dogmatize in only one word Faugh! Did these unsophisticated and de- hghtful brethren ever waltz or see any other gentlemen waltz, or hear the talk of the gen. tlemen waltzers after the waltz was over If not they may die in the fond faith tEat the piquant charm of dancing is purely esthetic delight; a sort of architectural ecstacy, joy pertaining to exercises exercises thank you, Mir. Editor, for that most edify- ing description of the new and old dances given by the "Professors' and credited to the New York San and appearing in the JOURNAL AND COURIER of Feb. 20. beg to call attention to the description there given of certain modern and popular form of the waltz in which ''the slides are made of great length and at the finish there is vigorous kick with the free foot, which makes the dancing couple rock like a small boat in a | heavy sea-" where in one part of the cere- mony s'as soon as their feet touch the floor they kick" (both gentleman and lady of course), "then leap again until fatigue com ,1oI, k. sa Jrol
 s'shakes down back hair, disarranges the dress and makes a young woman look as If she had come out of a rough and tumble fight" and also ''like an Ohio flood strews the dancing floor with debris of torn lace, torn flowers and broken combs" This, of disapprove. He recommends "a careful dis elimination as to k degree" and the degree of this would no doubt be too much for him, for it is said in the midst of the description that ''quiet people have no chance"in this sort of thing, and the .spastor' and his ''parishioners' are ''quiet people" and of course they want to have "chance-" Tho 'tCongregational Pastor'sa sort is de- scribed little further on and of course cor rectly for it is by the celebrated De Garmo himself president of the American Society of Professors of Dancing" Here it is, the "glide waltz now most in vogue "Glide backward with left foot, at the same time DSu0 UOtA 6u0cS uEdW HAS1b 4OOt ACdIA1 LO third position in front. the weight still on left foot rise and pivot upon the heel of the backward foot the toe of the other foot skimming the floor; glide forward with right foot, bending left knee; glide left foot Cthe heel raised( to second position pivot on the balls of both feet and draw right foot to first position recommenoe by gliding backward with left foot, and continue with the movement as described until the movement becomes steady and unbro- ken" This is the forward movement of the thing that the ''Pastor' takes with his 'par- ishioners" in the interims of the evenings of his prayer and conference meetings. There is also ''reyerse" movement which of course they also take, but it does not differ so mate rially as to make it necessary to introduce the formula There is only one thing lacking in the description. but that is an important thing-what becomes of the lady? It is, however, happily supplied by the statement dances'' and we know that she is being ''guided" by her partner all through the sseliding backward with the left foot, the bending of the knees, the rising and pivoting on the balls of both feet" etc., etc, etc, until the movement becomes steady and un- broken"!!
 Shades of the apostles Think of Paul Heading about sister" in any such style as that! Think of him even now gazing over the battlements of the heavenly Zion upon this modern Timothy the s'Cengregational Pastor,' D sspivoting on the balls of both feet" and guiding his partner" an earnest, low ing Christian" young sister. "till the move ment becomes steady and unbroken!" Real Iy, if takes my breath away. I have no words of comment, but must ask before turning from the theme, is 1t really best for s:pastors" to ''guide'' or teach their breth- ren to ''guide,' the young lady members of the churches into or through an exercise which hitherto has recruited the bawdy houses of our towns, blighted the souls and polluted the bodies of thousands of the fair and pure; an exercise which cannot be de scribed even by loving expert without ex- citing disgust
 Certainly no such strong case can be made against cards. They are, however, and have been for centuries the constant tools of the gambler; they have marvelously perverse power to fascinate many minds they invite to cheating more than almost any game their associations are especially established with the drinking saloons and haunts of vice ; and they are not needed for any pur- pose in any Christian home or soc1e- ty. The power of association is a very subtitle thing, but it is mighty for good or evil The implements of a burglar are tr1- umphant exhibitions of the machinist's skill, but what honest father would care to have a sskit" in his house on exhibition before his boys And how father whose lot has led him to know where, how, by whom and for what purpose cards are most commonly used, can with cemplacency see them on the table of his sitting room is an enigma. But when the boy accustomed to cards and understanding their use come s upon them in places other than the home, and is betrayed first into the Fsuse" and tn en the s'abuse" to his own and others injury, there is certainly no mystery at all; and if he never learns the fuse" there is no possl- ble danger of t'abuse"
 Thus far the ''discriminations; do they or do they not mark
 the three practices considered as
 indifferent things?" Practices, say, for dancing and theatre going, as they are com monly used, are in no proper sense amusements but indulgences, settlements l and dissipations. Some one asks the ques-- | ton ssShall we not attempt to convert an d reform them ?" s'Certainly." says the "Con- gregational Pastor," but I object. l am willing to fight the devil, but not for the re- covery of his tools which are dirty with the
 slime of the pit, and smeared with the blood
 of souls These things are dead and justly damned, nor do we believe in or desire for them "post-mortem probation
 l The 'sCongregational Pastor, has sWathed ! and buried himself in fallacies. His arguments i 0nd