Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-06-27

the sacred precincts OF n home, TO
have one OF their number finger the
ivory Keys Of the piano; then whlie
the stately strains Of the minuet or
the lancers sound forth, to have the
bows and girls join hands and the slip
pered feet keep step TO the swlfter or
slower beating Of the music. we 90
know that Miriam danced before the
Lord Perhaps there may be times IN
the home when the dance may be
harmless amusement. 1t may be the
means OF harmless frolic and the
means Of keeping the children at nome,
where the fathers and mothers and
grandfather and grandmother may DE
participants in the domestic merr.-
ment. But, though | am not now ue-
nouncing the harmless social enjoy
ments which take place in the nome
| do most vehemently protest against
the promlscuous dance hall at our
summer watering places. l know OF
what | am speaking. l am not
stranger to the social etiquette OF TINS
world. With my parents. | have hVeu
all nv life In the cities and have sum-
mered In Bar Harbor, Saratoga, WHITE
Sulphur Springs, Asheville, AsDury
Park. Marthas Vineyard ana many
other notable summer resorts. nave
associated during those vacations with
the rich and the poor alike. Ana
believe the hotel ballroom and the
summer dance hall are among the
most awful cesspools of mental, phys
ical and spiritual destruction. Ihey
are the places where the young men
and the young women from the very
best of homes are often irreslsuDiy
drawn into life Of worldliness, OF
sin and of eternal death. Men ana
women whom | address today, defy
YOU to find one man or woman OF
noted spiritual power who Will CON
tend that the summer ballroom is
safe place in which to allow our sons
and daughters TO pass the summer
months. | defy you to find one young
man or woman who ever learned the
lesson of Christ love in the fetid at
mosphere of a public dance hall.
The Moral Death.
The public ballroom of the summer
vacation can aptly be termed the place
for the Dance Of Death" William ii.
Ainsworth, the famous English novel
ist once gave a description of such a
dance. 1t was during the famous
nlapue which devastated the city or
London few centuries ago. Inc
homes of thousands and tens OF thou
sands were deserted Thousands upon
thousands were dying. Thousands up
ON thousands were dead. The deau
carts used to make their rounds every
day. The drivers. seated upon their
niles of stenchful corpSes, would call
from street to street, Bring out, bring
out your dead! Decomposed corpseS
would be brought out and the drivers
would throw them upon their carts as
scayenger might toss q dead dog into
his wagon. During that awful plague
many of the young people rihed the
wine cellars OF the homes of the
wealthy citizens. They took possession
of the deserted cathedrals They turn
ed the churches into dance halls They
danced and drank during the plight.
They danced and drank during the
day. When one Of their number would
fall in the dance the dancers would
stop and lift up the dying man or
woman and carry the body out of the
room to await the arrival OF the death
cart. 1t was an awful time. But If
we could look below the surface ana
know the subsequent lives OF some OF
those dancers whirling around the
summer bathrooms we should find that
the fatalities, physical. moral and splr'
itual, are almost AS appalling as 10 that
great plague The summer ballroom
has not even the excuse of physical
| benefit Is 1t not q place for physical
deathf Can our boys and girls go
there and dance until after midnight
and expose themselves as they DO ana
return to the cities strong men ana
women: Do not consumptions and
pneumonias and fatal physica dis
eases of all sorts hover about every
public dance hallf
Is not the public dance hall of the
summer vacation the place also OF
moral death7 We are very careful
with whom our children associate In
the city. Are you justified in letting
| that young man, about whom you
know practically nothing, speak what
! he would into the ears Of your young
daughter as be moves about in the fas-
chatting dancef People may call me
hypercritical. They may say am try
ing to stop our young people from hav'
ing fun. But say that any place
which has done the physical and moral
| damage the summer dance hall has
| done our children ought to be forbid
den to enter. am not so much afraid
that our young folks may enter the low
halls Of evil resort as | am that they
NAV enter the vestibules which VIII
lead them into those Satanic dens.
firmly believe that the summer dance
hall is the place where during the next
few months thousands upon thousands
of our young people will have their
immortal souls destroyed.
Avoid Games of Chance.
Summer red light the third: Beware
Of all games of chance. What does
that mean? Beware Of joining the
gambling game, which will be played
every night in the side room of the no
tel which opens into the hotel bar,
which game will be kept up until 3 or
O'Clock in the morning. Beware OF
commingling with the 'plungers" gath
cred before the bOOkmakers' stands at
the famous summer races? Oh, no.
would no more expect you to be found
In such fagrantly compromising posi-
tons than you would expect to find
your pastor there. But beware Of the
insidlous beginnings. Beware OF wa
| gering the box Of candy upon the game