Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-09-17

y
blunt question, and | Will answer
you In just the same way. First, l VIII
saw. and emphatically say, that 90
not believe all young people VINO 20
TO our dance halls are Intentionally
bad. | believe, yes, l know, some Vi
them 90 there without one impure
thought. They go for the pleasure Oh
meeting other young people ana Oh
passing an evening In each other
company. In the next place VIII eni.
phatically state that | believe one VI
the most pernicious, one OF the most
awful causes of spiritual death Ill our
cities today Is the dance hall. Ana III
support Of my second statement | WIN
saw thet In all the United States'you
cannot find one minister or laymah
noted for spiritual or evangelistic pow
.r who is not an enemy Of the dance
hall through and through, out ana out
They all, without an exception, DelleVe
tbat fhe dance hall is the depleter Oh
spiritual life; consequently they are
and always will be, out ana out
through and through. enemies OF -tn~
DESTROYER this insidious foe OF spir-
itual life.
Az spoke in reference to regular
theater goers, | now speak IN reler-
ence TO the regular dance hall deVotee'
You never saw In all your life per-
son who was conspicuous for her love
for the dance hall who was at the
same time conspicuous for her ueVo-
ton to the service Of Jesus. Inc TWO
loves do not exist in the same heart'
They are altogether incongruous. LII
the spring of 1904 / attended one Oh
the meetings Of the amusement eom-
mIttee, of the Methodist general con-
ference. In that committee were a
few who were trying to uphold the
dance. One man, a leading lay mem
her rose and said, "a prominent pas
tor In the east told me that the very
host and truest and most consecrated
| members of his church were those
who were attendants Of the theater
and the dance hall" What was Tue
sreply to that speaker? An argument
A testimony? No. All the audiencs
did. both in gallery and on main hoor
was to raise big guffaw OF ridicule
The statement OF that lay mempe'
was absurd on the face Of 1t. Every
one knew that what he said was con
I trarv TO the testimony Of experience
You never in your life saw deep spir
| ituaI conservation for Christ and low
/ for the dance hall exist together IN th'
same human heart. The modern dance
"a foe to all spiritual development
and a barrier to progress In the Chris
tian life.
| On the Downward Path
"Whv is it that the Catholic churcn
/ which is so liberal upon many matters
ia so strict against dancingT was Tn
question nut by a Protestant ministe
to Catholic priest some time age
BECAUSE" was the answer, in I'd
confessional we priests are able
trace the source Of almost every sii
We have found out by the admission q
!, ruined men and women that most
tho -immoralities of great city or
/, country town can be traced directi
IN the dance hall" The dance hall
the beginning, not the end, OF the dowi
. ward path. Some good people-ay
.. many good and respectable people
dance. But 1t is the place where man
, good people are spiritually destroye
I, or spiritually depleted. 1t is the pia'
where we have the spiritual siaue
ter OF the innocents." Therefore L
, NIGHT as a Christian watchman 1t
: nv duty to warn you Of the danger
entering it. Some there are VINO
cane as by fire, but to all the orde
:, is fierce and perilous. 1t is the pia'
in which the enemy Of souls finds II
most numerous victims and exercis
: his most insidious power You WI
pray. Lead us not into temptauo
i but deliver US from evll,' beware
entering the dance hall. Beau 'Brul
mol WAS the uncrOwned king OF u
English dance hall. He was the wa
McAllister of his day. But that ID
= the history most people know apo
Reau Rrummel. | will tell you L
end Beau Brummel died in the insa
asylum of lie Bon Sauveur. Ma
y voune men and women who once wo
a roval crown in a dance hall have
last like Beau Brummel, had 10 Ia
off that crown and pass not only I
:. end of their earthly but all OF thu
~ eternal days in a spiritual lie b
10 sauveur, in a spiritual madhouse'
What of the Nightf
20 Rut standing in the watch tower
~ night l see more than the gleahi
,v lights of the evil resorts Turing [
% victims to their fascinating but IA
20 haunts. | see dark shadows In
u streets where no lights are. l see the
- dark shadows following the burg
re and the "hold up" man ana the III
~ derer with bis pistol and knife.
~ the dark and tightly closed hou'
~ from which no ray of light is comm
co These houses look deserted, but III
are not deserted They are outposts
7n perdition, silent, but haunted with o
o. casts and gamblers and conspirat'
who are fagrantly breaking the Ia
en- of the land. l see the low dives oi
on great city reeking with human VerIh
rd see also where the counterteiters
IS. silently doing their work in the 81
nd ness of the night Night is sym
re- of social calamity, sin and deatn'
ng we find that most of the lowest o
gh casts Of society try to conceai III
,rs evil actions in the darkness or
I'd. night. 1t is the time when the q
otees of sin hold their high carni'
ks. 1t is when the death dealers
Of able to deliver their hardest blows W
as, the least chance of detection. But W
ss- God the night is not only the empl
nd Of calamity; it is also the harbinger