Is It Safe to Dance?

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 11, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 35.

Is It Safe to Dance?

A GREAT deal can be said about dancing; for instance, the chief of police of New York City says that three-fourths of the abandoned girls of that city were ruined by dancing. Young ladies allow gentlemen privileges in dancing which, taken under other circumstances, would be considered as improper. It requires neither brains nor good morals to be a good dancer. As the love of one increases, the love of the other decreases. How many of the best men and women are skillful dancers? In ancient times the sexes danced separately. Alcohol is the spirit of beverages, so sex is the spirit of dance; take it away, and let the sexes dance separately, and dancing would go out of fashion very soon. Parlor dancing is dangerous. Tippling leads to drunkenness, and parlor dancing leads to ungodly balls. Tippling and parlor dancing sow to the wind, and both reap the whirlwind. Put dancing in the crucible, apply the acids, weigh it, and the verdict of reason, morality and religion is, “Weighed in the balance and found wanting.”—New Journal of Education.