Milford chronicle., 1903-06-26
Evil. nf PubIic DANCING.

) was to be your first Sabbath IN heaven
Evils of Public Dancing.
+ Summer red light the second: Be
:. ware Of the hotel ballroom and tht
. summer public dance hall. am moi
t now discussing the question OF dancing
| In general; | am not considering
whether it be right or wrong for the
young folks. within the Quietude and
the sacred precincts OF a home, to
have one OF their number finger the
ivory Keys Of the piano: then. while
the stately strains of the minuet or
the iancers 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 a harmless fro,ic and the
/ means OF keeping the children at home,
| where the fathers and mothers and
grandfather and grandmother may be
| participants In the domestic merrl-
ment. But, though l 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 at our
summer watering places. know or
what | am speaking. l am not
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, Asheville. Asbury [
Park, Martins Vineyard and many
other notable summer resorts. have .
associated during those vacations with /
the rich and the poor alike. And l
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 irresistHly
drawn into life of worldllness. 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 wifi con
tend that the summer ballroom Is
safe place in which 10 allow our sons
and daughters 10 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
nosphere of a publlc dance hall.
The Moral Death. ,
The public ballroom Of the summer I
-acation can aptly be termed the place !
or the Dance of Death" william II. ?
Ainsworth. the famous English novel. !
st. once gave a description Of such T
lance 1t was during the famous u
'lasue which devastated the city Of :
london few centuries ago The 6
zones Of thousands and tens Of thou. I,
ands were deserted. Thousa nds upon II
housands We're dying. Thousands up II
n thousands were deud The dead b
arts used to make their rounds every
ay. The drivers seated upon their is
lies Of stenchful corpses, would call n
rom street to street. Bring out. bring Il,
ut your deHdn Decomposed cOrpses -.
'ould be brought out and the drivers .,
ould throw them upon their carts as M
scayenger might toss a dead dog into sr
IS wagon. During that awful plague nj
any Of the young people rihed the si
Inc cellars OF the homes OF the ~
ealthy citizens. They took possession ro
the deserted cathedrals They turn dt
the churches into dance halls. They In
need and drank during the night IN
hey danced and drank during the M,
>. When one Of their number would wi
u ~ the dance the dancers would no
jp and llft up the dying man or or,
lnan ana carry the budy out OF the dv
DID TO await the arrival or the death ma
IT. Il was an awful Tune. But If fol
could look below the surface aud nh,
ow the subsequent lives or some Of On,
1se dancers whirling around the an,
INNER bathrooms we should md that mn,
fatalities physical. moral aud spir 10
al, are almost as appalling as lu Ihat inc
EAT plague. lhE SUMNER ballroom inc
not even the excuse OF physical t,,.
leit Is II not place for physical wo
ithf Can our boys and girls 20 ,,t
re aud dance until after midnight oue
expose themselves as they do and hop
urn to the cities strong men and nur
mem Do not cOnsumptlons and Hnt
and futai physical dis mn
rs Of al sorts hover about every hav
lie dance hall7 e,.,
not the public dance ha1 Of the sun
inner vacation the place also Of will
al death7 We are very carefuii fore
h whom our children associate in tlcir
city. Are you Justified in letting cati
young man. about whom you dam
W practically nothing, speak what
would into the ears Of your young sr
yhter as be moves about in the fas- ~ :
ting dancer People may call me the
srcritlcal They may say um try mer
10 stop our young people from hav. are
fun But ! say that any place tbei,
h has done the physical and moral strai
age the summer dance hall has bonC
our children ought to be forbid thor,
70 enter. ! am not so much afraid drpn