THE SURPRISE PARTY.
As soon as Bessie was strong enough to go out, she was invited to stay
all night with a friend. She supposed she was to be the only guest, but
found that a surprise had been planned for her. A goodly number of her
friends and schoolmates were present.
The young folks spent a few hours very pleasantly in playing games, and
Bessie enjoyed that part of the evening very much. But late in the
evening some one proposed dancing, and the boys began to choose their
partners. A very strange feeling came over Bessie when some one asked
her to dance. She shook her head and said, "No; I do not know how to
dance." Several urged her to try, but she said, "No; I would rather
not."
She was the only one that did not dance. As she sat watching the others,
she wondered if it were right for boys and girls to act as these were
acting. She had never heard that it is wrong to dance, but it did not
look or seem right to her. She decided that on reaching home she would
ask her mother.
When Bessie got home the next morning, her mother asked, "Well, dear,
did you have a good time?"
"Oh, yes," answered Bessie; "most of the time I did." Then she told
about the surprise party and about all that had happened, and concluded
by asking, "Mama, is it right to dance?"
"I have been thinking for a long time, Bessie, that I ought to have a
talk with you about dancing and tell you of some of the evils to which
it leads," answered her mother. "Dancing is an amusement that many girls
consider very attractive. When asked why they think so, they hardly know
what to answer, but generally speak of the music and the graceful
motions."
"Oh, Mama, the motions they made at the party last night were anything
but graceful. I know you wouldn't have allowed me to do as they did,
and I don't want to. It wasn't modest. I never want to go to a dance
again."
"I'm so glad, Bessie, you feel as you do about dancing; but, dear, to
those who learn, there is something very fascinating about it. Some
girls have said they would rather dance than eat; and, with a great
many, I believe it is true.
"Men of low character and of evil inclinations regard the dance-hall as
a favorable place to betray unsuspecting girls and frequent it for that
very purpose. Their victims are usually the sweetest and most trusting
girls. Their beauty attracts undesirable attention, and their ignorance
makes them an easy prey. O Bessie, there are so many unprincipled men in
the world who love to win and betray the confidence of young innocent
girls.
"Philosophers tell us that 'perfect happiness comes only from a pleasure
attractive to our moral nature in its purity and perfection. If we
delight in pleasures of the other sort, our moral natures are degraded.'
"You have noticed the immodest positions taken by those who dance, and
you feel a deep sense of shame for them. Should you try to partake of
their pleasure, your moral nature would be degraded, and you would in
time lose that sense of shame and be as eager for the pleasure as any of
the others. Thus yielding, one step at a time, you would cease to look
upon the dance as immodest and would find real enjoyment in it, and
perhaps would be led into greater sin. It is in this way that many girls
lose their virtue. Then they are shunned by their old associates, who
are really but a step higher in morality. Forsaken by friends, hopeless
as to their future, deserted even by those who wrought their downfall,
these poor girls sink lower and lower, and lead lives of shame and
misery.
"No spiritual-minded person will take part in worldly amusements, for he
can not enjoy them. Christians who indulge in dancing turn away from
God and seek fellowship with the world. Such are sure to lose the grace
of God from their hearts."