Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-10-01

dance, the 1nGO1dUOTld1 OduC0, Uu0 UdC-
chanalian dance, and queens and lords
swayed to and fro in the gardens, and
the rough baclwoodsman with this ex-
ercise awakened the echo of theYorest.
There is something in the sound OF live
" music to evoke the movement Of the
hand and foot, whether cultured or un
cultured Passing down the street We
unconsciously keep step to the sound OF
the brass band while the Christian
in church with his foot beats time
while his soul rises upon some great
harmony. While this is so in civilized
lands, the red men of the forest have
their scalp dances, their green corn
dances, their wardances. In ancient
times the exercise was SO utterly and
completely depraved that the church
mathematical it. The old Christian
fathers expressed themselves most vehe
mently against it. ST. ChrysOstom says,
1.-The feet were not given for dancing,
but to walk modestly; not to leap i'm
pudently, like camels - One Of the
dOgmas of the ancient church reads:
ga dance is the devils possession, and
he that entereth into q dance entereth
into his possession. AS many PAGES as q
man makes in dancing, so many PAGES
does he make to hell. " Elsewhere the
old dogmas declared this: '"The woman
that singeth in the dance is the princess
of the devil, and those that answer arc
her clerks, and the beholders are his
friends, and the music is his bellows
and the fiddlers are the ministers of the
devil. For, as when hogs are strayed, if
the hogsherd call one, all assemble to-
Al
woman to sing in the dance, Or to play
on some musical instruments, presently
all the dancers gather together This
indiscriminate and universal denuncia-
ton of the exercise came from the fact
that it was utterly and completely de-
PRAYED.
The Evil Of It Today.
But we are not to discuss the customs
of the olden times, but customs now.
We are not to take the evidence of the
ancient fathers, but our own conscience,
enlightened by the word of GOD, is to
be the standard. Oh, bring no harsh
criticism upon the young! I would not
drive out from their soul the hilarities
of life. I do not believe that the inhab-
| itants of ancient Wales, when they
stepped to the sound of the rustic harp,
went down to ruin. I believe God in
tended the young people to laugh and
romp and play. I do not believe God
would have put eXuberance in the soul
and exuberance in the body if he had
not intended they should in some wise
exercise it and demonstrate it. If q
mother join hands with her children
and cross the floor to the sound CT
1o1 of
friends cross and recross the room to the
sound of piano well played, [ see no
harm. If company, all Of whom are
known to host and hostess as reputable,
cross and recross the room to the sound
of musical instrument see no harm. |
tried for a long while to see harm i'll it,
I could not see any harm in it. [ never
shall see any harm in that. Our men
need to be kept yOung-young for many
years longer than they are kept young
Never since my boyhood days have I
had more sympathy with the innocent
hilarities Of life than have now. What
though we have felt heavy burdens!
What though we have had to endure
hard knocks! Is that any reason why
we should stand in the way of those
who, unstung OF life's misfortunes, are
full Of exhilaration and glee? God bless
the young! They Will have to wait
many long year before they hear me
say anything that would depress their
ardor CT clip their wings Or mako them
believe that life is hard and cold and
repulsive. It is not. I tell them, judg
ing from my own experience, that they
Will be treated a great deal better than
they deserve We have no right to
grudge tho innocent hilarities to the
young.
| Death In Dissipation.
What are the designations of social life
today, and what are the designations Of
the ballroom? In some cities and i'll some
places reaching all the year round; in
other places only in the summer time and
at the watering places. There are dissi-
pations of social life that are cutting q
very wide swath with the sickle Of
death, and hundreds and thousands are
going down under these influences, and
my subject in application is as wide as
1 Christendom. The whirlpool of social
dissipation is drawing down some of
the brightest craft that ever sailed the
sea-thousands and tens of thousands
of the bodies and souls annually con-
sumed in the confagration of ribbons.
Social dissipation is the abetter of
pride. Tt is the instigator of jealousy
1t is the sacrifcial altar of health. 1t is
the defiler of the soul. 1t is the avenue
of lust. and it is the curse of every
town on both sides of the sea- Social
dissipation! It may be hard to draw the
line and say that this is right on the
one side and that is wrong on the other
side. 1t is not necessary that we do
that, for God has put throne in every
mans soul, and I appeal to that throne
today. When e. man does wrong, he
knows he does wrong, and when he does