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قراءة كتاب There is No Harm in Dancing

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There is No Harm in Dancing

There is No Harm in Dancing

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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else, for the very good reason that he cannot get a permit to put them up on the narrow road. He would put them in the very center of heaven if he possibly could. His impudence and daring is only equaled by his fathomless corruption. The man or woman who will dare to say that these places are found on the road to heaven, certainly has a very poor idea of heaven and its inhabitants. If they are to be found along the straight and narrow way, and the travelers along this way are to enter and participate in the things therein going on, then they are certainly designed of God to aid in the salvation of immortal souls. If this be true, on entering the narrow way the first refreshments we shall get are to be found in one of these places, having this sign over the door; "FIRST CHANCE," and the last thing we pass in this life, just before we enter heaven, will be another one of these houses with this inscription over the door: "LAST CHANCE." Some of these boys don't understand it this way; they have been raised to think that "there is no harm in dancing," but were never told that the dancing shops of all kinds are on the same road with all the drinking saloons and other places of a like character. No, the same parents told their sons that the drinking saloon is next door to hell, and these are the ones we read about in the Bible, who "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." That is to say, in those days when Christ was on earth, there were some people so peculiarly constituted that they strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel; but we live in an age of improvement, an age in which some people strain at a gnat, and swallow a Jumbo with perfect ease and in the most graceful manner.

I know an advocate of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, who often dances all night, most gracefully, and in the morning she turneth up her little nose, just as gracefully as the elephant turneth up his snout when Peck's bad boy has thrown him a piece of tobacco, at the awful drinking saloon and saloon keepers. The private parlor dance is the beginning, the first depot on the great air-line route from this world to the city of destruction; here the boys and men are drawn into the coaches by the general passenger agents: the MOTHERS, WIVES, DAUGHTERS, SISTERS and SWEETHEARTS. This line is advertised as the finest and best equipped road beneath the sun. Fine sleepers; all the way through, without change. Special guarantee against accidents. This road is laid with smooth, glass rails, and the wheels are made of India rubber. Drinking saloons, beer gardens, and some other places I'll not mention, are the wood yards and tanks, where fuel and water is procured which gets up the steam that draws the train with increasing velocity down to the great city of destruction. When the train stops for wood and water, all the passengers are expected to take part in the very interesting and social performance. But here are same boys who beg to be excused. "Can't excuse you," cries the brakesman. "Come along, you can take a small stick in the way of a cigar;" and so these boys, not wishing to appear ugly and incur the ill will of the brakesman, walk into a saloon for the first time. They first take a cigar, but soon the brakesman (an old stager) laughs them to scorn and confusion, and not being able to stand the fire, they throw down the cigar and take their first drink in a drinking saloon. After the drinks have been repeated a few times, one of the brakesmen, well under the influence of whiskey or wine, takes a careful look at all present, and if satisfied there is no relative or sweetheart in hearing, he then and there tells an anecdote on one of the nice girls or married ladies with whom they have been dancing, that certainly would bring the blush of shame to the cheeks of the blackest devil that inhabits the world of outer darkness. The drink, and anecdotes of the same character, only worse, if possible, are repeated until interrupted by the appearance of a half-witted looking young man, entering from a back door, who seems to have something of great importance to tell the bartender. He talks low, but sufficiently loud to be heard by the boys, for it is really for their ears. "Have you heard the news?" "No, what news." "Why, about Bill Jones; he went in back here to-night with only five dollars for a stake, and he has just now gone home with five hundred dollars in his pocket." Then the boys slide out, and as soon as out in a dark corner, they begin to enquire to see if a stake can be raised among them, finding none, one or two being confidential clerks, go to the store, bank or other place of business, and borrow fifteen or twenty dollars, having no doubt of their ability to win a few hundred dollars in a little while, and then replace the borrowed money without it ever being known. Soon the borrowed stake is in the hands of the dealer. They repeat the drinks, and then borrow some more in the same way, which goes into the same hands as the first, and thus they continue until the appearance of day-light, and then reeling to and fro under the influence of the mean whiskey they have been drinking, and the ponderous weight of their sins and crimes, they go to their rooms, cursing the day on which they were born.

THEY HAVE LOST ALL SELF-RESPECT.

They are now at sea without chart or compass. When a man or woman loses their self-respect, they are moral wrecks. "WANDERING STARS." There is nothing left to build upon. It is from this cause that thousands commit suicide, both men, women, and girls. It is the continual gnawings of the conscience over the secret sins and crimes they have not the moral courage to confess. Like the hidden spark of fire in a bale of cotton, it continues its ravages until the whole bale is reduced to ashes. This will account in great measure for the hundreds and thousands of unaccountable suicides of to-day, which are principally confined to the young of both sexes.

I do not mean to say that all the young men go to drinking saloons as soon as they carry their girls home, or as soon as the ball or dance is over. No, many of them go to other places, such as are described in the 5th chapter of Proverbs. Men will not deny this. Who caused these men to go to these places? Shall I answer? Shall I tell the truth? If I do, I must say it is the virtuous wives, daughters, sisters and sweethearts, who have been participating in the dance. Every man knows that this is true. Let every honest physician send in a report of all his male patients, giving the disease of each and the cause, and then let us have a correct report from the dead of the same kind, and I am confident that no husband, father or brother would ever permit his wife, daughter or sister to be seen at a ball or dance. HUSBANDS, FATHERS, BROTHERS, your wives, daughters and sisters do not know these things, but you do know them, and now that your eyes are open, will you, can you, as a husband, father or brother, ever permit the females under your care to even take the chance of being RECRUITING OFFICERS for these sinks of perdition, THESE ANTE-CHAMBERS OF HELL. These places, dripping with the blood of hundreds and thousands of young and middle-aged men, who, but for their enchantment, might have been good and true men, and have filled honorable graves. These places have broken the hearts of thousands of wives, mothers and: sisters, when they have seen their loved ones bound in the fetters and chains of eternal death. These funnels, through which thousands and millions of souls of both men and women have been poured into an endless hell.

I have tried to furnish fair samples of the fruit of dancing, if I have failed, it is an error of the head and not of the heart. It may be said by some that I have occupied forbidden ground in writing a book to be read by the public generally. In reply I can only say that I have simply followed the varmint to his hiding place. I have not used any stronger or more indecent language than was used by Jesus Christ, and

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