Douglas Island news., 1919-09-05
DANCING IN FRANCE

Gross r.rl throw hcrrcli on her bed In Che r. w. c. A. Hostess House at rom at g o'clock iu ho morning. turned hor iocc to Che wall and iopt one hundred and twenty sec onds to Che minute untn 6.30 a. m
 he had Just loliod home In m arm, camion from Hruxiorcs. far w th, old Hmdonburg imc Tho cam.on iiko aii cam.ons. had baked on ihc way and had to bo t.nkcrcd. So tho e.rl was iotc according Co Army regulations Chat dances end at Che Up toe Of n good old Ek time.
 The girl wus due at Ono Rcd Gross
 antcon near Che station on Che c o'clock shl0t AS rho had boon lanc.nr until ii cvcry night chat
 rock and canunIne at ovcry morning. and for 1.-Two months of nights and morning without a let- ip. ever since Che armistIco and Che lancInr mania camo together or
 ourso suo had roboilod. had foro- worn a score Of times before butt
 ho was too aobor when she sworc. Youth must be served. and boys must bo danced with SO ahe went
 History does not repeat itocit There was talk of @ League Of Na-
 Ions before. yos. before Awmcm nom There was "thc greatest bat-
 ie i'm tho world" in which an hc world was at stako. a8 for back as Armaecddon. Thcro were young
 rusadcr who wont over lands as strange and dangerous sovon ccu- turtles ago. as Che seas over which .hcy went a yoar ago And there was Dancing Mania iu Europe of Inc Middle Ages Ah but Che Dancing Mania In tho Europe of to- day.
 An over France thorc are slender brown figures dancing and those which arc not slender join ia or wish thoy could. Che dancing day Of no man is over today. Tho horizon blue Is not dancing, it is wcaried and sad It never did dance ao much nor so madly and. thorc arc SO few Of tho horizon blue The khaki is dancing Br.ton, but cs- poc.any American dancing danc- ing mad. lt is 0 reaction. natural reaction. after Che excessive strain of Che war. on excessive nerve re- action Of Che dance America being a nation of excessive physical action. what moro natural chan Chat Amer tea which fought with reckless ahau- don In Che Argonne. should dance with reckless abandon n an tho places In Franco where it finds it- uelt
 The girls ore dancing too None oi thom signed up for such ovorseos service But thc girl who can't give it might as we'll be back home t has become Che main duty Of woman Co dance every evening with as many men as possible. And more are pos- siblc in France In ono evening than ever before in fho history Of Che world. back to Che Dancing
 Toul is in thc center Of tho dane
 ing district 10 is just as iIyoly at Paris or Coblenz lt simply gathers up tho girls and lends them to Che most ownuy homosick boys here and thcrc in ruined villages and lonely camps. who "havont talked to am American girl" for sIx. oight twelve. even sixteen months. The boys really don't want to talk. They want Co dancc Talk makes thcm think. Dancing makes thom forget
 forget what they saw and forget what they wish to see. "lm't there a dance somewhere iu town2' a young lieutenant aviator demanded of me July {. 1918. come to Paris io sec Che big parade. But Paris thon was not dancing. and it put Che ban on an dancing. saw him again at Toul Che week after Che arms- ticc. and hc was happy mot because UT was over. but because ho could dance. saw him again at Coblenz and Inc was som dancing. he hadn't stopped. he didn't expect to stop m- til he went homo. and not then The Pied Piper possessed him. He ad- mittod he hoped She had not become too serious Co dance. Ono reason Che boy scould keep it up was be- cause they had to wait their turn to dance.
 The girls in Toul and in other posts of the advanced section and of the army of occupation. are parcol- Tod out apportonci according to their muscles and to Che needs Sometimes there are almost enough to SO around But never enough. More often thore are four girls to hfiy-thrcc mon, seventy girls Go four hundred mon And SO Che girls keep whirling and Che boys koop cutting in; no partnership lasts for more than a few bars. And so each Of Che boys has Che fragment Of turn. and Che girl Is a rar when n o'clock comes She hos one-sieppod and two stepped. waltzcd. fox-trottcd and lazzod until sho has no feet ieft.
 "I never was SO tired ln my lfc. |"