The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-29
OF THE DANCE.
The Opinion Of Booth on the Causes
Leading to Many Down
falls.
It IL an Unholy Spirit Which Rem
ders the Dance 50 Pop
ular.
The Last Indictment Of this Form OF Social
Diversion by Row. Mr..
Rollins.

Diversion by Rev. Mr..
Rollins.
There was large attendance last night
at st. Pauts church on Broadway to hear
the third sermon the Dance OF To-d day.
Rev. MIR. Rollins on spoke'at some length,
saying in substances:
In the two previous lectures endeavored
to show that the dance 10 inimical to health.
waster Of resources. a dead weight to true
manners, opposed to the best interests of
our social nature, at war with our intellec-
tual development.
We now come to our last indictment, viz:
the dance 10 at eternal variance with NOR
ala and religion. When make this charge
do not mean that it is inimioal TO morals
and religion in ito accidents, but it 10 es-
sentially an immoral amusement. Now,
you must not understand mo as saying that
all who practice this pleasure are immoral.
Many whose characters are irreproachabie
dance. But if they retain their purity it is
not owing to the spirit of the dance, but to
the spirit of God, which lays hold of every
man and endeavors t. raise him to the
skies.
In the dance there is promiscuous in
termingling of the sexes out of harmony
with modesty and virtue. God intended
that woman should be mans complement;
that pure, noble woman should be an in
spiration. source of strength, his safe
guard. The communion Of man with wo-
man should be the most tender, the most
chaste, the most ennobling. But the dance,
Inato0H nf iru thooo hale
consists OF u system of means contrived
with satanic ingenuity to excite the basest
feelings to action and to push young peo-
pie over that precipice where nothing re-
mains but the most revolving bestiality,
blasted character. obstruction for both
worlds. 1t tolerRtesa + ,.niscuity of the sexes
physical contact s,yie of dress tolerated
nowhere else. Said noted criminal lawyer
IN addressing the july in one of these cases
OF scandal SO often growing out of the
dances IA volnan!whO wears dress like
that ;is' not entitled to any protection from
fthe law" How is it possible for the dance
to be anything else but an immoral amuse-
ment when dispassionately analyzed-if,
indeed, We can 80 analyze it. It occurs at
time when nature demands rest and Sleep
There is the delicious intoxication of music.
Not infrequently wine is introduced; the
blood is abnormally excited, the will is
weakened. conscience is. paralyzed, the
terry. Fires are started which, OPP
pdrtunity being afforded, burn to the
lowest hell. This ia the spirit of the dance,
and it ID this evil, awful, unholy spirit that
renders it so popular. From personal con-
tact with men who have had large exper-
fence in the dance, as we'll as from careful
observation of the effects of the dance upon
character, am convinced that the tap
root OF the dance is passion. If am not
correct will some one rise and explain how
1t is the dance of all other amusements de-
mands the presence of ladies. Men can en-
Joy cards al all the evening, yea, all the night
,tiS the presence Of woman. Young
ladies with their lady friends and their
table and play dominoes until i
the small hours. but who ever saw dance
going on for few hours without the inter-
ming!ing OF the sexes? This fact OF itself
is full of awful meaning to those who in
quire into the causes of things.
And now what is some of the fruitage of
the dancer
In the city of Detroit, upon actual inyes-
tigatlon, it was found that seventy five per
cent. Of women leading a lite Of shame
traced their downfall to the dance. When
Booth, the eminent tragedlan, was interro-
gated as to what one thing. in his judg-
ment, led more young people away than
any other thing, he replied the dance of
modern society. Testimony liks this could
be multiplied almost indefinitely.
marriages the most unfortunate have
Pure, unsuspecting young ladies' IN
acquainted with tie devices by which
the hbertine seeks to enSnare his nrev have
been caught and destroyed in the dance,
for the dance was thu only place where such
young ladies' would meet snch incarnate
day over the wrecks brought about by the
dance. But let such mothers know they
themselves are to blame. Instead of point.
ing out the dangers of the public dance
they were anxious to push them out into
society in order that they might gain public
nesice ana nov they are disconsolate be-
cause they have married men whom
they met in these circles. Let no
mother Rrieve or ostracize her daughter
for marrying a man that that same mother
thought good enough for her to dance With.
The lowest dives in our great centers of
population use the dance as one of the best
means to entrap the unwary. But some
will say that there can be no harm in the
dance If confined to limited circles in
which the character Of all is we'll under
stood affirm you cannot 80 confine. You
can no more hold it within prescribed limit,
any more than you could oonline southern
slavery. Those vile creatures that engage
in the can-can dance IN the lowest hells IN
our mining campo, once would attend no
dance but that of the private parlor
Ladies who last year protested that
they would never go beyond the limits Of
the select parlor dance, this year NAV be
found in the public ball. The only wav
you can regulate an essentially evil thing
is to wipe it out. Every Christian worker
knows how difficult it is to get devotee Of
the dance to think about his soul. The
spirit of the dance is the antipode of thai
OF religion. When protesting Christian
lie ensnared by this amusement he loses his
desire for aggressive Christian work. Yea
more. his loses the confidence of the ron.
Christian in regard to his piety, One
thing you cannot make the world believe
and that is that the person who dances
until the small hours can 90 home and hold
communion with God.
believing, then, that the dance is essen
TALLY opposed to morality and religion, let
all church members keep themselves clear
from 1t. Let the best elements in society
rule 1t out of their homes and in a yery
few years 1t will be remembered as one Of
the barbaric customs handed down throuoh
succeeding generations. In a few wears
more we shall have passed away, the grass
VIII flourish on our graves, the winds will
sing their mournful requiem through the
weeping willows which mark the places
where we fell. Then we shall he
remembered by what We have done. Who
wants to be remembered as the belle of the
ball room, as the most graceful dancer Of
the community! No, you do not want thus
to be remembered. Time is short; much
needs to be done for ourselves and the snf-
ferinR around us. Apply yourselves to the
eievation OF your environment and be re-