Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-20


many passes doth he make to hell"
Elsewhere these old dogmas declare:
''The woman that singeth IN the dance is
the princess of the devil, and those that
answer are his clerks, and the beh0lders
are his friends, and the music are bis bel
lows, and the fiddlers are the ministers OF
the devil; for, as when hogs are strayed,
if the hogsherd call one all assemble to-
gether; so the devil calleth one woman to
sing in the dance, or to play on some in
strument, and presently all the
dancers gather together" THIS
wholesale and indiscriminate de-
nunciatiOn grew out of the utter
dissOluteness of these ancient plays. So
great at one time was the otiense to all
decency that the Roman Senate decreed
the expulsion Of all dancers and dancing
masters from Rome.
Yet we are not to discuss the customs
of that day, but the customs Of the
present. We cannot let the fathers de-
eide the question for US. Our reason,
enlightened by the Bible, shall be the
/ standard. ! am not ready to eXcommuni-
cate all those who lift their feet beyond
certain height. l would not visit our
youth with a rigOr of criticism that would
put out all their ardOr Of soul. do not
| believe that all the inhabitants OF Wales,
who used to step TO the sound Of the rustic
pibcOrn, went down TO ruin. ! would give
TO all Of our youth the right to romp and
play God meant it, or he would not have
surcharged our natures with such exuher-
ance. / a mother Join hands with her
children and, while the eldest strikes the
keys, Gil all the house with the sound Of
agile feet, | see no harm. If a few friends,
gathered in happy circle, conclude to cross
and recrOss the room TO the sound of
the piano wei played / see no harm. If
company OF people, all Of whom are
known to the host or hostess as reputable,
move round the room to the sound of
musical instruments | can see no harm.
l for long while tried to see in it a harm.
but ! never could, and probably never
will. | would to God men kent young for
a greater length Of time. Never since
my schoOl-boy days have loved so well
as now the hllarties of life. What if we
have felt heavy burdens and suffered
a multitude of hard knocks, is it any
reason why we should stand in the path
Of those who, unstung by LIES mistOr-
tunes, are exhilarated and full Of glee?
God bless the young Thew will have
to live many a day If they want to hear
me say one word to dampen their ardOr or
clip their wings. or TO throw a cloud upon
their life by telling them that it is hard
and dark and dOleful. 1t is no such
thing. You will meet with many a trial;
but, speaking from my own experience,
great deal better than you deserve. Let
us not grudge to the young their joy. As
we go further on in life let us 90 with the
remembrance that we have bad our glee-
full DAYS. When old age frOsts our locks
and stitfens our limbs let US not block
up the way, but say: ''We had our good
times; now let others have theirs" AS
our children come Onletus cheerfully give
them our places. How glad viii | be to
Z pf fbam have my INV
books, my place in society, my heritage!
BY the time we get old we will have had
our way long enough. Then let our chill
dren come on and Wen have it their way.
For thirty, forty or fifty years, we have
been drinking from the cup of life; ana
we ought not to complain if called to pass
the cup along and let others take a drink.
But, while we have a right to the enjoy
ments of life, we never viii cOunteuance
/ sinful indulgences. | here set forth a
/ group of what might be called the dissi-
/ patiOns of the ballroom. In some COM
munities these designations continue all
1 the year, while they do the chief work in
summer at the watering places, and,
! therefore, the subject has wide applca-
/ ton. They swing an awful scythe OF
4 death. Are we to stand idly by ana LEI
the work 90 on lest in the rebuke we
/ tread upon the long trail of some popular
/ vanity? The whirlpool OF the ballroom
drags down the life, the beauty and the
moral worth of cities. In this whirlwind
of imported silks goes out the life of many
/ good families. Bodies and souls in
/ Vulnerable are annually consumed in
/ this cOnfagration of ribbons. This
/ style of dissipation is the abettor Of
+ pride, the instigator of jealousy, the sac
/ rfcial altar of health, the defler of the
/ soul, the avenue of lust and the curse of
/ the town. The tread of this Wild intoxi-
/ eating, heated midnight dance jars all the
moral hearthstOnes of the city. The
| physical ruin is evident. What will be-
/ come of those who work all DAY and dance
! all nightY A few years will turn them
/ out nervous, exhausted imbecies. Those
who have given up their mdnights to
! spiced wines and hot suppers and ride
/ home through winters cold unwrapped
/ from the elements will at last be recorded
/ suicides.
/ There is but a short step from the ball
! room TO the graveyard. There are con-
/ sumptions and fierce neuralgias close on
/ the track. Amid that differing maze Of
/ ballroom splendors diseases stand right
and left and balance and chain. sepul-
chral breath floats up amid the per-
/ fumes, aud the frOth of deaths
| lip bubbles up in the champagne.
Many of the brightest homes are
being sacrhced. There are families that
nave actually quit keeping house and
gone TO boarding that they may give them
selves more exclusively to the higher du-
ties OF the ball room. Mothers and
daughters, fathers and sons, finding their
/ highest enjoyment IN the dance, bid fare
well 10 books. to quiet culture, to all the
amenities of home. The father WILL after
while, go down into lower designations.
The son will be tossed about in society, a
nOnentity. The daughter will elOpe with
a French dancing-master. The mother,
still trying TO stay in the glitter. and by
every art attempting 10 keep the color in
her cheek and the wrinkles on her brow,
attempting, without any success, all the
arts OF the belle-an old dirt, a poor,
miserable butterfly without any wings.
If anything on the earth is beautiful TO
my eye, 1t is an aged woman. her hair
floating back over the wrinkled brow, not
frosted, but white with the blossoms of
the tree OF life; her voice tender with past
memories, and her face benedction.
The children pull at grandmother dress
as she passes through the room, and
almost pull her down in her weakness:
yet she has nothing but cake. or a
candy. or "a kind word for the little darl-
ings. When she goes away from us there
IL shadow on the table, "A shadow on the
hearth, and q shadow in the dwelling.
But IL anything on earth is distressul to
look az II is an old woman ashamed of
being old. What with artificial apph-
ances, she Is too much for my gravity. /
laugh even in church when | see her
coming. one of the worst lOoging
U N.au H. l.