The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-01-05
EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON FICT1oNs.

The power which climate has ovel
~fictions is marvellous. Take New Years
Day, for instance. How confidently we
imagine ourselves to have just compile,
ted one year and begun another. Lo
y we have but to migrate to China and,
Presto! We haven't. Here are both
tact and fiction. Our imagination is the
sole reality and the new year pure hum
bug. The LIST Of January is no more the
first day of the yesr than is any other of
the 365 which complete it's round. The
truth is, every day ends one year AMI
begins another. The truth is, again,
every year is a circle which has neither
beginning nor end Thus the most per-
feet Of forms is a combination Of contra
dictories. So, too, is human life. II is
such a combination OF contradlctories
that We are often puzzled beyond meas
ure to know how best to deal with it.
The South Sea islander imagines that
water can never become solid. His eli
mate IS too foggy. He should migrate.
A winter in Madison would dispel the
illusion. And, recently, we have heard
from a learned divine who thus gives
expression to a more common fiction
still. "sThe fact" says he, "remains,
that unless there be the i~nteruiiigling
Of opposite sexes in the. dance it pres
emily loses it's subtle charms. It is
simply incredible that a body'of either
men or women s6ould dance all night
till broad daylight ais is constantly
done when the dancing 10 prouiiscuous-
and il not, why not?" Why, bless you,
Dr., it's the climate, the atmosphere.
LIN this case the moral atmosphere chief
ly. You have but TO take up d 6laiti in
the newly cedsd lands of our young
state, to 6nd yourself surrounded by a
people whose main diversion is to do
that very thing: With them, the men
and wohten would no more think OF
dancing together than they would eat
together. or do anything else by the
method of the intermingling OF opposite
ssxes. The fact is the moral atmos-
phere is 90 low among the aborigines
that a wide separation Of the sexes is
needed az q moral safeguard. What all
people Of that class need 10 q purer eli
mate in the domain OF morals. In pro-
portion as they move into it, the inter-
mingling Of opposite sexes Is found to be
both subtle in it's charms and salutary
in effect. The old record that, "Male
End fema'e created He them" is dIscoy-
cred not 10 have been a mistake. The
one sex is recognized as the tru compile
ment and helpmeet for the other. They
longer sit apart on opposite sides, even
in the house OF the Lord. The one is NO
longer simply the bread winner. and the
other the bread baker. They learn to do
business in common. They no longer
dissociate for fear Of one another, but
associate us we'll in the lawful pastimes
as in the sterner duties OF life.
Social gatherings composed exclu-
slvely of women, or exclusively OF men,"
are, for the most part, indications that
the climate is not yet altogether what it
should be, not entirely salubrious. Such
gatherings will be seen to increase in
subtle charms as the moral barometer
lowers, until you come again to the
home Of the savage where the separation
is all but complete. Promiscuous inter
mingling is Of course to be- deprecated.
II belongs, however, to the transition
stage. The purer the atmosphere the
more select will be the company.
The good Doctor, u~nwittingly, We
hope, also inputes immortality to nil who
enjoy dancing, when he hints that the
pleasure consists in the opportunity Of
fered for improper thoughts and a~ctions,
and proposes a substitute school for
graceeuluess whereby he exposes his an
familiarity both with gymnastics and
the tripping vi the light fantastic toe.
Why, az between the circus aid the
ball rOom, while we insist on both heing
kept under proper restraint, we much
prefer the latter. A gentleman, even in
escorting a lady down TO dinner, thus
takes publicly such a liberty as under
other circumstances would be indignant
ly resented" He does what he would
not dream Of doing while they sit to-
gether 10 the parlor. But they have
not suddenly become undnly familiar;
the circumstances it is which have
changed and become decidedly "other.'
The climate, so 60 speak, has become
more ksnfsi. and social custom locks
them arm in arm.
Probably one OF the most obstinate oI
fctio1s 70 be d,spelled only by the at
mosphere OF heavenly chimes 10 ths
notion that TO resist the devil viii
not cause him to fee from us, ant
that only chance OF safety is il
rnsatng away from every place ans
thing where he has ever been known b
shoG his horns: that the redemption o
the wsrId Is 4 vain endeavor, and To
mafchi6g orders TOR the soldiers of HiI