New Britain herald., 1920-12-20
CLERGYMAN FLATS MODERN AMUSEMENT
Would Rather See His Daughters
 Dead Than Dancing

Preaching ono of the most sensa- ttonal sermons ever delivered from a local pulpit Rev. A. B. Taylor. pastor of the Peoples Church of Christ last night gave his views on the Great Amusement Question" and in this connection fayed Sunday movies. modern dancing. bridge paFties and other so-ealled social evils. Anent dancing. the clergyman caused some thing of stir among his congrega- tioh when he declared that he would rather SOC all four of his town daughters dead than dancing in the modern way. In his sermon Rev. Mir. Taylor said:
 The "Afoyic'' Evil.
 ''I don't make a practice of preach Ing about these things. but since I have been in New Britain I have seen SO many people running wild after these things. that it Is time for us to raise our voice against them. The time was when the saloon was the great est enemy of the church. but now it Is the amusement question. The req son I am against these thingsl is be- cause they are against the church. The first amusement 1 want to speak about is the theater. They are not all bad. hut 1t ts hard to find a good one. am not finding fault with the men who run the theater. because they are giving the people what they want. and often times the more im- moral the play is. the better the people like 1t. If the show is one half as bad as the billboards make it, if is disgrace to any city. Do you know it k coming to the place that our churches cannot have Sunday evening service. because the NA Irn fnG9 Thrfc arc mothers who are so taken up with the movies that they would iast as soon sec their children go there as to church. But they don't realize that there arc thousands of Guuny men who arc trying to put over the stunts they saw on the screen, such as train robberies or to hold up a bank.
 Scores Card Playing.
 The second amusement I want to mention is cards. Do you know there nrc 3.eOO gamblers in Chicago alone? DO you know that they did not learn to play in a gambling den? That is where they graduate. Where do they learn? John F. Quin. a professional rambler for 45 years tells us that e-tenths of them were taught to play in homes. and he makes the startling statement that eight-tenths of these wore taught to play in pro- fessed Christian homes. There are some women who think there is no harm in playing in the parlor for piece Of cut glass or some other prize. But it is just as bad as if there was n jack pot of s1oo. I think it would be n wise plan when the officers of the law are bringing in the gamblers from the gambling den, to go to some
 [ gamblers to. There is one thing more I would like to say. When you go | home from this meeting, if you have | n Bible and a deck of cards in your homo, burn one or the other because they don't go together.
 Shudtlcrs nt Dancing.
 ''The third amusement I want to | speak about Is the dance. There are | some mothers that want.their dauEh- 1 ters to he graceful. so they turn them | oyer to a dancing master. and often | times they become n disgrace. They | tell us that 65,o0O young women go | to the brotheI every year because of ! the dance. You say they danced in l Bible times. will agree with you, i but let me tell you the difference be- l tween the Bible dance and the dance you have here in New Britain. They danced alone and unto the Lord and here they dance together and unto the devil suppose you noticed the article the principal of the High school. Mir. Shade. had in the paper the other day about the dance. He called it the face to face dance. Another was. placing their heads on one an- others shoulder. If this is an i1- proper position to tho men who are at the head of the schools. what do you think the mothers of these girls ought to do? If they don't raise their voice against the dance. they will have nobody to blame but them selves if their daughters bring shame and disgrace into the home. I have four daughters at home, and would rather follow all four of them to your graveyard. than to sec them go on the dance floor. knowing what know about it,