Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-06-25

IL VIII emu Tlpnt. SuaTt III ny pTHyIHS
in the village pew for divine guidance.
Start 1t, II possible, by helping the
village choir sing in the choir loft.
Start II as you would start 1t II the
first Sabbath of your summer vacation
was to be your first Sabbath in heaven.
Evils Of Public Dancing.
Summer red light the second: Be-
ware Of the hotel ballroom and the
summer public dance hall. I am not
now discussing the question Of dancing
in general; am not considering
whether 1t be right or wrong for the
young folks, within the quietude and
the sacred precincts Of home, to
have one Of their number finger the
ivory keys of the piano; then, while
the stately strains of the minuet or
the lancers sound forth, to have the
boys and girls Join hands and the slip
pered feet keep step to the swifter or
slower beating of the music. We do
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 home,
where the fathers and mothers and
grandfather and grandmother may be
participants in the domestic merri-
ment But. though I am not now de-
nouncing the harmless social enjoy
ments which take place in the home.
| do most vehemently protest against
the promiscuous dance hall mt our
summer watering places. | know or
what | am speaking. | am not a
stranger to the social etiquette of this
world. With my parents, have lived
all my life in the cities and have sum-
mered in Bar Harbor, Saratoga, White
Sulphur Springs, Ashcville, Asbury
Park, Marthas Vineyard and many
other notable summer resorts. l have
associated during those vacations with
the rich and the poor alike. And
believe the hotel ballroom and the
summer dance hall are among the
most awful cesspools of mental, phys
ical and spiritual destruction. They
are the places where the young men
and the young women from the very
best of homes are often irresistibly
drawn into a life of worldliness. OF
sin and of eternal death. Men and
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 a
safe place in which to allow our sons
and daughters to, pass the summer
months. l defy you to find one young
man or woman who ever learned the
lesson OF Christ love in the fetid at
mosphere of q public dance hall.
The Moral Death.
The public ballroom of the summer
vacation can APPLY be termed the place
for the Dance of Death" William H.
Ainsworth, the famous English novel
ist once gave description of such a
dance. 1t was during the famous
plague which devastated the city Of
London few centuries ago. The
homes Of thousands and tens of thou
sands were deserted. Thousands upon
thousands were dying. Thousands up
on thousands were dead. The dead
carts used to make their rounds every
day. The drivers, seated upon their
piles Of stenchful corpses. would call
from street TO street, Bring out, bring
out your dead" Deconposed corpses
would be brought out and the drivers
would throw them upon their carts as
a scayenger might toss 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
danced and drank during the night.
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 II
we could look below the surface and
. know the subsequent lives Of some OF
those dancers whlrling around the
summer bathrooms we should find that
, the fatalities physical, moral and spir.
itual, are almost as appalling as In that
!, great plague. The summer ballroom
has not even the excuse Of physica
, benefit. Is it not a place for physica
death? Can our boys and girls &C
, there and dance until after midnight
} and expose themselves as they do and
: return to the cities strong men and
, women? Do not consumptions anC
2 pneumonias and fatal physical dis
: eases Of all sorts hover about ever
: public dance halli
3 Is not the public dance hall OF tn,
summer vacation the place also Of
l moral death? We are very careful
] with whom our children associate II
the city. Are you justified In letting
> that young man, about whom yo'
know practically nothing, speak wha
: he would into the ears of your younl
: daughter as he moves about In the fas
cinating dancer People may call M
hypercritical. They may say am try
ing to stop our young people from hav
ing fun, But ! say that any plac
: which has cone the physical and mora
damage the summer dance hall ha
- done our children ought to be forbid
den to enter. | am not so much afrai'
that our young folks may enter the Low
y halls of evil resort as | am that the
may enter the vestibules which vii
: lead them into those Satanic dens.
;. firmly believe that the summer dane