Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1905-11-03
Propriety OF Dancing Questioned.

Editor Courier-Kindly allow me to
ask few questions and make few
suggestions on the subject Of dancing.
Are the social gatherings called
dances, detriment or benefit to
society," II the former be true let US
discourage young people in attending
them. II the latter be true let us en-.
courage them. This is quite an i'm
portant question TO some Of us who
live in rural districts where dancing
Is about the only means of social
intercourse for our young people that
is absolutely necessary for the health
Of society.
We will not discuss the subject
from religious point of view but
from moral and educational stand
points. The old adage that Ever,
tree Is known by its fruit" will Ger.
tainly hold good in this case. We
have seen much bad fruit growing on
the dancing tree. but not one specimen
of good. The writer spent the early
part Of his life at school teaching in
the middle and western states, and we
found invariably in districts where
dancing was encouraged that low
state Of morals and mentality existed
Furthermore, when dance occurred
IN the vicinity, the school week in
which the dance occurred wasalmost
an entire failure in spite of .our hard.
est efforts. Poor reoitations, hard to
govern, bad language ON the play.
ground were some of the results of
eating fruit from the dancing tree.
We think that If parents would notice
closely they will see that it has n
similar effect on the home circle.
Now why do school officers and
parents who profess to believe IN
morals and education encourage dane
Ing when it is in direct opposition to
bothY II we take the pleasure of the
social danca away from our young
folks what have we to offer them in
exChangey The modern church
gatherings are quite often but very
little better. Some one suggested the
literary society. have had some
little experience IN that line Of work
aud the way in which they are gener.
ally conducted in country districts es.
pccially where the rough element
has the to controlling power, they
are sometimes worse than u dance.
We attended church social not long
ago, II seemed to be- union between
the church and dancing element The
exercises were good, but the browning
feature of the evening was u box sup |
per The boxes were to be- sold at |
auction, the proceeds, was told, |
were to go to the preacher In charge,
The final results OF the whole affair |
whore that thoy all had good time.
The dancing element got to clap their
hands, while the church people pock
ated the money. While We do not
condemn church socials or literary
work, W do not think either would
supply the place OF the dance
The writer was Invited to dance
recently and accepted the invitation.
Previous to the exercises we asked
permit Of the manager to talk to the
young people, which he kindly grant.
3D. We tried to show them some of
.hn bad effects of the dance ON their
minds and morals to which they
listened to very atteutively and
reated us with more ropsect and
courtesy, with bat one or two excep.
ions than We perhaps would have
eceiyed at any of the so called rol.
yious meetings, had We opposed any
I their peculiar theories
| have simply made statement of
he problem, without offering any
olution but will leave that tor some
" our wise social and religious refol
nors hoping tnat these few remarks
may call forth an earnest thought IN
'ehalt Of our young people,