A Discourse on the Evils of Dancing

by John F. Mesick

In England the chief patrons of the dance are their card-playing, theatre-going, and horse-racing aristocracy; who are indebted to their purse and to their title for their standing in society; who are too indolent generally to cultivate their minds; and who are seldom capable of gaining distinction, except by extravagance and debauchery. In these higher circles no man is deemed respectable who cannot "trip it on the light fantastic toe." And that person is scouted as a mawkish prude or a hypocritical fanatic, who scruples to go the whole round of these elegant amusements. Says a writer of this class: "He must be a desperate gnat-strainer who gives and goes to dances and yet objects to cards. The strictest Pharisee in the land, indeed, could find no argument against it." This is a modest assumption which we have no time to notice. In commenting on this quotation, it is sufficient for our present purpose to remark that the opinions and practices of the fashionable world, compel us to class these recreations in the same category.

Let us now look at the introduction of this fashionable amusement into the United States. It comes from the gay saloons of Paris and of London, and it is an imitation of the corrupt and ruinous fashions of the old world. It is the entering wedge of luxury and licentiousness, the fatal antagonists to the purity and simplicity of our republican institutions and manners.

Look again at the tutors of this art, to whom fond parents entrust their beloved children, to enable them to acquire this agreeable indulgence, and you will generally find that they are the very refuse of foreign cities; men destitute of either stability or principle; who, on account of their profession, are not esteemed worthy of an introduction into the social circle of the families by whom they are employed. Every judicious person must acknowledge that there is great danger that the tender and susceptible minds of youth will be contaminated by such associates. There is not a family in our land, so high or well governed, but that its children are more or less exposed to temptation and destruction; and we cannot, therefore, with too great jealousy or care guard against the beginnings of evils.

Look, also, at the style and character of those modern dances, which are most admired and most fashionable; and you will perceive at a glance that their movements, attitudes and evolutions are repugnant to a natural sense of propriety, and inconsistent with that unsullied purity of mind which we consider inseparable from the individual to whom we would yield the homage of our hearts. The soul that commands the love of the virtuous, must be spotless as the unfallen snow. Genuine attachment can be based only on esteem. In all honesty, therefore, we must strike that from the list of innocent amusements, which, from its very nature, involves such a perilous trial of moral principles; that contact with it almost inevitably inflicts a loss of mental refinement, if not positive pollution, by opening the doors to a licentious imagination.

There are other evils of great magnitude, which strip off the mask of innocency from this frivolous and sinful amusement. It occasions a loss of precious time, which God has given for nobler objects. It produces dissipation of mind, disqualifying it for the ordinary and serious duties of life. It wastes money, which some cannot well afford to give away, or which might be much better employed in furnishing the means of intellectual improvement, or in works of benevolence. It encourages extravagance in dress; inflating the mind with intolerable vanity and pride, and training up our sons and daughters to become reckless spendthrifts, despising honest industry and commendable economy. It is ordinarily connected with the use of wine and of strong drinks, casting down unwary youth from the path of sobriety, into the depth of poverty and drunkenness. Finally, it indisposes the soul to religion, exciting folly, levity, and kindred corruptions of the human heart, and begetting disgust for the worship and service of God.

Miss Beecher, who ranks with the most distinguished ladies of our country, and who owes her reputation to those circumstances only, which should command esteem under our democratic institutions, to her intelligence, refinement, and virtue, speaks of this art in the strongest terms of disapprobation. "In the fifteen years during which she had the care of young ladies, she affirms she has never known any case where learning this art, and following the amusement, did not have a bad effect, either on the habits, the intellect, the feelings or the health." A testimony so respectable, ought certainly to satisfy every mind, which is governed by truth and reason, as to the evils of Dancing.

3. But a higher consideration, why dancing should be discountenanced, and that indeed which decides the course of duty, is, that it is an amusement by which the world is distinguished from the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

It is part and parcel of an education for the world. Its object is the acquisition of a graceful carriage, an easy movement, and elegant manners. Its aim is to prepare an individual for introduction into society with advantage. And its design does not extend beyond the success of his worldly prospects.

No one has ever had the hardihood to maintain that fashionable dancing is a medium of Divine blessings to the soul; that it secures the influences of the Holy Spirit; or that it prepares the mind for the hallowed exercises of the closet. No one ever yet adopted the absurd idea that it was a substitute for Faith and Repentance; that it was a means of recommendation to God; or that it was an accomplishment for the employments of Heaven. No one ever yet expected that a revival of religion would commence in a ball room; or that thoughtless sinners would be converted by going to a cotillion. These significant facts plainly show on which side of the dividing line, between the church and the world it is to be placed. They forbid mistake.

Dancing, so far from being a means of Grace, is a part of a counter system of means; devised by the God-forgetting, pleasure-seeking multitude, to exclude their Maker from their minds and from his own world. Their chief desire is to banish all serious thoughts of their sinfulness, guilt and danger; of their obligations and duties to their Creator; and of death, judgment and eternity. To escape reflection they flee to the excitements of the dance and of the revel; where art exhausts its skill and music lavishes its power to divert and engross the attention. Amid scenes of delusive splendor, which, to the youthful imagination, appear as enchanting as the creations of poetic fancy, they contrive for a brief season to lose the pang of remorse, and to snatch a draught of feverish and unsatisfactory joy. True happiness and solid peace are perpetual strangers in the artificial gayeties, and gaudy splendors of fashionable circles; where too often the honied words of flattery disguise a hollow heart; and the studied smile, and merry laugh, are assumed to conceal the sting of envy, jealousy and chagrin. The bright illusions by which the young are spell-bound, gradually fade away before the light of experience. And it is no uncommon thing in these resorts of worldly pleasure, to find the utmost gayety of manner in unnatural union with sadness of soul, produced by the discovery of the selfish passions, covertly working beneath the surface in all minds present; or by the sudden and irresistible conviction of its folly as an occupation for an immortal being. Especially on the return of the votaries of pleasure to the solitude of their chamber, have they been overwhelmed with remorse and the keen upbraidings of conscience.