Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-10-05

of the devil, and those that answer are
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-
gether, so when the devil calleth one
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 1t 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! would not
drive out from their soul the hilarities
of life l do not believe that the inhab-
itants Of ancient Wales, when they
stepped to the sound of the rustic harp,
went down to ruin. believe God in
tended the young people to laugh and
romp and play. / do not believe God
would have put cxuberance 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 Of
music l sec no harm. If group of
friends cross and recross the room to the
sound of piano well played, l see no
harm. If a company, all of whom are
known to host end hostess as reputable,
cross and recross the room to the sound
of musical instrument, l see no harm.
tried for long while to see harm in it.
| could not see any harm in it. | never
shall see any Earm in that Our men
need to be kept young-young for many
years longer than they arc kept young.
Never since my boyhood days have !
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 LIES misfortunes, are
full Of exhilaration and glee? God bless
the youngl They will have to wait
many a long year before they hear me
say anything that would depross their
ardor or clip their wings or make them
believe that life is hard and cold and
repulsive. 1t is not. l 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
erudeo the 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 in some
places reaching oil 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 a
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
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 conflagration Of ribbons
Social dissipation is the abetter Of
pride. It is the instigator Of jealousy.
1t is the sacrifcial altar of health. 1t is
the defler 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! 1t 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 a throne in every
mans soul, and l appeal to that throne
today. When a man does wrong, he
knows he does wrong, and when he does
right he knows he does right and TO
that throne, which Almighty God lifted
in the heart Of every man and woman,
l appeal
As to the physical ruin wrought by
the designations of social life there can
be no doubt. What may we expect Of
people who work all day and dance all
night? After awhile they will be thrown
on society nervous, exhausted imbecileS
These people who indulge in the sup
pers and the midnight revels and then
90 homo in the cold unwrapped Of
limbs will after awhile be found to
have been written down in Gods eter-
nal records as snicides-as much suicides
as if they had taken their life with
pistol or knife or strychnine.
Danger to Health.
How many people have stepped from
the ballroom into the graveyard? Con-
umptions and swift neuralgias are close
on their track Amid many Of the gilt
tering scenes Of social life diseases stand
right and left and balance and chain.
The breath Of the sepulcher floats up
through the perfume and the froth Of
Deaths lips bubbles up in the chain
payne. l am told that in some Of the
cities there are parents who have &C
tually given up housekeeping and gone
to boarding that they may give their
time illimitabiy to social designations.
l have known such cases / have known
family after family blasted in that way
in one Of the other cities where |
preached. Father and mother turning
their backs upon all quiet culture and
all the amenities of home, leading forth
their entire family in the wrong direc-
ton. Annihilated-Worse than annihi-
lated, for there are some things worse
than humiliation. / give you the his
tory of more than one family when |
say they went on in the designations Of
social life until the father dropped into
lower style Of dissipation, and after
awhile the son was tossed out into So
ciety a nonentity, and after awhile the
daughter eloped with a French dane
ing master, and after awhile the moth
or. getting on further and further in