Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-10-06

mans But whoever started it all chimes
haze adopted It. In ancient times they
had the fessal dance, the military
dance, the lnediatorial dance. the bac-
chanalian dance, and queens aud lords
swayed TO and fro in the gardens, and
the rough backwoodsman with this ex~
ercise awakened the echo Of the forest.
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. Whife this is SO in civilized
lands. the red men of the forest have
their scalp dances. their green corn
dances, their wardances. Ia ancient
times the exercise was so utterly and
completely deprayed 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 y 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 dogmas 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 Fer, 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 tho 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. do not believe that the inhab-
| itants of ancient Wales, when they
stepped to the sound of tho 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
mother join hands with her children
and cross the floor to the sound of
music, / see 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 and hostess as reputable,
cross and recross the room to the sound
of musical instrument, | see no harm. i
tried for long while to sec harm in it.
L could not see any harm i'll it. never
| shall see any Larm 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
| 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 knocksl 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 youngl They will have to wait
i many a long year before they hear me
say anything that would depress their
ardor or clip their wings or make them
! believe that life is hard and cold and
/ repulsive. 1t is not. | tell them, judg.
ing from my own experience, that they
will be treated q great deal better than
/ they deserve. We have no right to
grudge the innocent hilarities to the
/ young.
Death In Dissipation.
| What are the designations of social life
/ today, and what are the designations of
1 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
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
l 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 i'll the confagration of ribbons.
Social dissipation is the abetter of
pride. Ii is the instigator of jealousy.
1t is the sacrifcial altar of health. 1t is
the defiler of tho soul 1t is the avenue
Of lust. and it is the curse of every
town OH bosh 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 Oh the other
side. 1t is not necessary that we do
that, for God has put a throne in every
mans soul, and appeal TO that throne
today. When a man does wrong, he
knows be does wrong, and when he does
right he knows he does right, and to
that throne, which Almighty God lifted
i'll the heart of every man and woman,
| 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 oil day and dance all
night? After awhile they viii be thrown
on society nervous, exhausted imbeciles
These people who indulge i'll the sup
pers and the midnight revels aud then
go home in the cold unwrapped of
limbs will after awhile be found to
have been written down in Gods eter.
nal records as suicides-as much suicides
as if they had taken their life with
pistol on knife or strychnine.
Danger to Health.
How many people have stepped from
/ the ballroom into the graveyard? Con-
sumptions and swift neuralgias are close
OH their track. Amid many of the gilt
tering scenes of social life diseases stand