National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-02-04
DOWN ON DANCING.
Rev. Dr. Cox InveighS Severely Against All
Round Dances
The German Especially Condemned la
Toto.

At the Mount Vernon M. T. Church last
night tho pastor, Rev. s. X. Cox, preached
from Isaiah v, IL. "The harp and the viol,
tho tabret and pipe, and wine are in their
feasts; but they regard not tho work of tho
Lord, neither consider the operations Of His
hands" The prophet under an allegory de-
scribes Gods providential favor to the Jewish
nation and places in contrast with il
their ingratitudo and unfathfulnoss He
enumerates the vicious and evil prac-
tees into which they had fallen,
and among tho symptoms Of their degeneracy,
their prevailing habits of dissipation and
revelry. In the text he alludes to tho fire.
quent festive occasions in which music, wine,
and the dance combined to inhame the pas
sions, and induce frivolity and forgetfulness
of God. The modern will form q subject as
the counter part to these ancient social gath
erings, characterized by the Same tendencies
and leading to the same unhappy results If
dancing in its most general sense is to be
defined, it is the movement of tho
body in harmony with musical
sounds. and may be traced back to a very
early period. In q rude state of society
gestures or the motions of the body were used
to express the emotions The more untutored
people the wilder and moro extravagant
were these bodily movements, with no other
design than but to put nerve and sinew to the
utmost tension as examples, ithe spinning
Dervishes, or the degraded Bu3hmen,
or the Bacchantes, or the Beddahs
or the Fiians. The Indians of North
America illustrate the exhuberant savage
strength Te Sa% Joy of their tH0 v sRGt
pursuits of hunting and fighting
The dance took on higher form when it be-
came incorporated with civic and religious
celebrations. The Scriptures contain fire.
quent illusions to its existence in this con-
T.. f.
deliverance Of the children of Israel out of
the hands of Pharoah, after Jepthah's victory
over the children of Ammon, in the
yearly feast of Shiloh, after Davids return
from the slaughter of the Philistnes, also
when he conveyed the ark of the Lord from
the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem, and in
the 149th Psalm, where he calls upon
Israel to praise the name of the
Lord in the dance; in these instances dane
ing was an expression of religious and patri-
otto gratitude and exultation. AT very
early period the Greeks and Romans intro
duced it into their national celebrations and
religious rites. In tho latter it soon assumed
lascivious and Objectionable form. As to
the estimate the Bible sets upon it as social
amusement there can be no doubt. Even in
David's day those who perverted it into a
secular diversion were called vain and
shameless fellows" The daughter of Herodias
is a melancholy instance in Scripture Of the
evil tendency and baneful fruits of dancing.
Dancing by many is regarded as an innocent
amusement, and among its advocates were not
few who have taken tho Christian vows.
While he would not cast shadow over the
sunny season Of youth, or abridge any of its
harmless enjoyments. he would warn and
object, because they are impulsive and sus-
ceptible to tho evils surrounding them. 1t
was not to the movements of the limbs in
dancing that he would object That was
absurd. But to the fact that it is represented
as a in or
at defiance all laws Of health. and too often
all the dictates of propriety. Persons
thinly clad, crowded in sutfocatng apart
ments, the breathing of bad air, and spend
hours in exciting and exhausting exercise
consuming hours devoted to rest. Not un-
frequently the sudden transition from @
heated ball room to the cool damp air lays
the foundation for pulmonic disease which
hurries so many victims prematurely to the
grave. The exhaustion following such ex-
cessive eXertion prostrates the powers Of
nature beyond recovery. Several melancholy
instances were related. Continuing, the
speaker argued that any amusement which
arrays itself against the laws Of nature cannot
be innocent.
The tendency of the modern dance is to
extremes, the love of it becomes passion
and almost possesses us q mania those ad-
dicted to it. Prudence and moderation are
set aside, and mad excitement rules the hour
Notice the effect of these fashionable routs
upon those who have participated in them
You will mark degree of physical langour
and nervous debility that converts youth
into age and strength into feeble
ness. He knew instances where the
health of young ladies' constitutionally
vigorous, had been impaired for life
from no other cause. There is far more
serious aspects in which the fashionable dance
is to be viewed, not only to health, but it,
danger to virtue. In ancient times women
danced alone. Promiscuous dancing in re-
fined circles is comparatively modern inno-
walton.
In an illustration he unsparingly COM
mentcd on the german. The square dance
the measured quadrille, or cotilion of the
past, were too tame for this advanced age
The voluptuous waltz, as Byron characterizeI
it, and that most indecent form of it il
which man, and he may be the
veriest libertiue, is allowed to press hi
partner as closely as possible to his Owl
person, and whirl her passive form arount
the ball room until she is intoxicated with
strange, seIsuous delight that may prove thu
precursor of her ruin, This is the style o
dancing now in vogue in what are called thu
circles of fashion and refinement. 1t is to bt
confessed that we would have no languag,
too strong by which to characterize it die
not the restrictions Of modest speech
forbid our describing it as it really
exists. Familiaritie5 are taken in the bal
room, which, if attempted anywhere else
WOulu enuanBer woman S reputation ant
imperil the life of him thus rudey insult
ing her. How parents can permit such is
social problem Tho style OF dress involves
an indicate exposure OF tho person. which
would not be permitted on tho street or il
the ball room. That the ruin of many poo
girl 10 traceable to the ball room admits o
no question. Facts in attestation of thi
statement arein the reach Of all and are mul
tp!ying every day.
Other arguments were alluded to to shoy
that it was not heIlthful exercise or that /
could be supported upon sanitary grounds
Neither did IL produce grace OF step an,
elegance Of bearing. Nor can IL be main
tanned that if dancing is denied the youtl
that religion is thereby made repulsivc
Every church in Christendom haslcondemne
it, and statements from many divines wer
read in support Of the assertion. In conclu
sion, the faithful were appealed TO to eXamin
aud look for themselves into the nature an
gravity of the subject, that the youth of tn
day might be trained to shun dangers tina
bore them into tho dark beyond.