The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-10-03


which have already spoiled thousands
OF young men and young women OF all
that is noble in character and useful IN
life.
Dancing is the graceful motion OF
the body adjusted by art to the SOUND
and measures of musical instruments or
of the human voice. All nations have
danced The ancients thought that
Castor and Pollux taught the art to the
Lacedemonians. But whoever started
1t, all climes have adopted it. In an
cient times they had the festal dance,
the military dance, the mediatorial
dance, the bacchsnalian dance and
queens and lords swayed to and fro In
the gardens, and the rough backwoods-
man with his exercise awakened the
echo of the forest. There is something
in the sound of lively music to evoke
the movement of the hand and foot,
whether cultured or uncultured. Pass
ing 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 war
dances. In ancient times the exer-
else was so utterly and completely
depraved that the church anathe-
matized it. The old Christian
fathers expressed themselves most
vehemently against it. St. Chrysostom
says: "The feet were not given for
dancing but to walk modestly, not to
leap impru1ently like camels One OF
the dogmas of the ancient church reads:
"a dance is the DEVILS possession, and
he that entereth into dance entereth
into his possession. AS many PAGES as
man makes in dancing, so many PAGES
does he make to hell" Elsewhere the
old dog1nas declared this: 'The woman
that singeth in the dance is the princess
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 as
semble together, so when the devil
calleth one woman tosing in the dance,
or to play on some musical instruments,
presently all the dancers gather to-
gether." This indiscriminate and uni
versal denunciation of the exercise
came from the fact that it was utterly
and completely depraved.
But we are not to discuss the Gus.
toms 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 standard. 0, bring nc
harsh criticism upon the young.
would not drive out from their soul the
hilarities of life. do not believe thai
the inhabitants of ancient Wales, wher
they stepped to the sound of the rustic
harp, went down to ruin. / believe
God intended the young people to laugh
and romp and play. do not believe
God would have put exuberance in th'
soul and exuberance in the body If HI
had not intended they should in som'
wise exercise it and demonstrate it
If mother join hands with her chill
dren and cross the floor to the sound o
music, see no harm. If group o
friends cross and recross the room tt
' the sound of piano well played, l SCI
: no harm. If a company, all OF whom
!, are known to host and hostess as rep
= utable, cross and recross the room t.
! the sound of musical instrument, / SCI
: no harm. l tried for long while to se
harm in it, could not see any harm
in it. | never shall see any harm
. in that Our men need to be KEEP
: young, young for many years longe
than they are kept young. Never sine
3 nv boyhood days have had more sym
pathy with the innocent hilarities o
life than have now. What though W
have felt heavy burdens! What thougl
we have had to endure hard knocks
: Is that any reason why we should stan
J. in the way of tlaose who, unstung @
:. lifes misfortunes, are full of exhilara
u ton and glee? God bless the young
They will have to wait many Ion
y year before they hear me say anythin
that would depress their ardor or eli
u their wings or make them believe tina
g life is hard and cold and repulsive.
e is not. tell them, judging from m
9. own experience, that they will b
'1 treated great deal better than the
9 deserve. We have no right to grudg
Ie the innocent hilarities to the young.
q As we go on in years let usremembe
ie that we had our gleeful times; let L
"a be able to say: 1--WE had our goo
u times, letothers have their good times,
Let us willingly resign our place
u those who are coming after us. l wi
cheerfully give them everything-m
house, my books, my position in soc
TX ETY., my heritage. After twenty, fort.
r fifty years we have been drinking OF
Is of the cup of this life, do not let us b
a. grudge the passing of it that othel
rs NAV take drink. But while all tn
ot is so, we can have no sympathy wit
W sinful indulgences, and ! am going
le speak in regard to some of then
n though should tread on the long trai
e. of some popular vanities.
.. What are the dissipations OF soci
II life to-day, and what are the dissip
'n tions of the ball room? In some citi'
re and in some places reaching all the YET
# round, in other places only in the sur
o. mer time and at the watering place
re there are designations of social life th'
OF are cutting very wide swath with Il
* sickle of death, and hundreds and tho
% sands are going down under these |
ou fluences, and my subject in applicable
or is as wide as Christendom. The whii