The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-06-25

who could successfully resist the temp
tations of our summer resorts who
started their vacations by breaking the
law Of Gods sacred Sabbath. Such a
church member always comes back to
his church home a moral cripple after
he has spent the Sabbath days of his
summer vacation in handling the tiller
Of sailboat or in hitting the little
white balls over the golf links or In
looking at the bobber floating at the
End of line attached to fishing pole.
Start your vacation Alright for God and
it will end right. Start 1t by praying
in the village pew for divine guidance.
Start 1t. lie possible, by helping the
village choir sing In the choir loft.
Start it as you would start 1t If the
first Sabbath of your summer vacation
was to be your frst Sabbath In heaven.
Evils of Public Dancing.
Summer red light the second: Be
ware Of the hotel ballroom and the
summer public dance hall | am not
In general: I am not considering
whether 1t be right or wrong for the
young folks. within the quietnde. 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 laneers 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 a
harmless amusement. 1t may be the
means Of a 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 at our
summer watering places. | know OF
what am speaking. / 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. Marthas Vineyard and many
other notable summer resorts. ! 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
ieal and spiritual destruction. They.
are the places where the young mel
and the young women from the very
best of homes are often irresistibly
drawn into 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 q
safe place in which to allow our sons
and daughters to pass the summer
months i defy You to find one young
man or woman who ever learned the
lesson Of Christ love In the fetid at.
mosphere Of 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 III.
Ainsworth, the famous English novel
list. once gave a description of such a
dance. It 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 eorpses, 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
q scavenger might toss dead dog into
his wagon. During that awful plague
many Of the young people rifed 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 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. It was an awful time. But IL
we could look below the surface and
know the subsequent lives of some OF
those dancers whirling around the
summer bathrooms we should find that
the fatalities, ply moral and spir-
itual. are almost as appalling as in that
great plague. The summer ballroom
has not even the excuse of physical
benefit. Is 1t not place for physical
death? Can our boys and girls go
there and dance until after midnight
and expose themselves as they do and
return to the cities strong men and
women? Do not consumptions and
pneumonias and fatal physical dis
eases OF all sorts hover about every