The Harrison times., 1917-03-10
A CARNIVAL OF cARNALlTY.

ence commented on conditions found
there. which prevail in greater or less
degree throughout our land. He says:
1T is difficult for one who has not
seen It to realize to what lengths the
cabaret dancing has gone. In nearly
all the hotels, a section Of the dining
room is set apart for dancing, and
scenes are witnessed, which a few
years ago, would have branded a ho-
tel as a disreputable house" After
describing the audacious performance
OF an almost nude woman, he adds:
But the sequence to this shameless
| dance was the cause for more serious
| reflection Hardly had the dancer left
the room than the floor was filled by
the couples sitting at tables, who
took up the dance and in close EN-
brace executed the figures and as
sumed the suggestive attitudes and
postures of what is called 'uptodate'
dancing. II is trne the costumes of
the women were not as sCant and their
bodies not as freely exposed, but the
| dancing was that of women locked
tightly in the arms of men, with
dresses cut exceedingly low IN back
and front, and with skirts of the
shortest allowable length. With bod.
les excited by rich food served with
intoxicating liquors, with minds in
famed by the indecent dancing which
they just witnessed, what chance did
modesty and purity have to survive
the additional strain of modern
dance?" "Is it strange that many per
sons look with distrust upon matri.
mony, because they are skeptical of
the purity of women as well as men,
who not only submit to the indecent
customs Of dancing and dressing, fav-
ored by modern society, but appar
emily delight in that dressing and
dancing which emphasize to the limit
the physical appeal of women to the
men with whom they are thrown?"
Then the philosopher by the James
moralizes: ut is doubtful if such an
assault has been made on the purity
of women and the saCredness of the
marriage relation since the days of
Nero, as is being made by the pres
ent day customs and fashions, and
one is justified in using concerning
these social conditions the language
of the Apostle who described certain
conduct as earthly, sensual, devilish.
Modesty and purity are companion
graces, and when modesty leaves
woman or a man, purity usually fol
lows very shortly afterward," After
seeing the Bowery, the editor sug-
gests: "No public exhibition on the
Bowery is more truly demoralizing
than the things which are done in the
theatres and hotels in the presence of
seemingly respectable people," DR..
Cannon then exhOrts: Our pulpits
and religious papers must expose and
vigorously attack these conditions,
which are becoming an ever-inCreasing
menace to the purity Of our children
and the stability of our homes, and
which are flourishing because they
have been tolerated by decent So
ciety. Christian ministers and lay
workers in church and Sunday school,
who attend circuses and theatrical per-
formances in which the star acts are
those in which women discard their
modesty and their clothes, and present
their bodies to the gaze of the crowd
who have paid their money that they
may crafty their unclean imagina-
ton, may deny that they attend to
see these women; but they cannot get
the people who do attend for that
purpose to believe that the Christian
people do not come for the same pur-
pose" The editor believes that, after
the fight with the LIQUOR traffic, we
are in another great fight, the con
flict with Social Impurity. He says:
The purity of the present generation
Of young people is not only being
tempted in the ordinary way, but is
being vigorously assaulted as it has
never been before in the history OF
America. The pulpit and the reli-
gious press must be indeed the watch
men on the walls OF Zion, blowing the
trumpet of warning and calling upon
our schools, and, above all, our homes,
to prepare the children to, meet the
temptations which are presented on
every side" We would be alarmed If
this tidal wave Of carnality were sub
merging our eastern cities, but when
we realize that such things may be
found everywhere in our land, it is
time for real Christians to consider
seriously how far by silent acquies-
cence they are aiding and abetting the
o.roy,tb 90 r,r,oro 1itv Tho Churoh