I may at this point call attention to the dangers of the dance. Every
girl who enjoys dancing, and most of them do, should be shown the
dangers to both herself and the man in allowing herself to be drawn up
too close to the person of the man she is dancing with. She should not
only be told that she must not do so, but told plainly and lovingly
why. There may be nothing impure in the thought of either, for when
they are dancing they are usually not thinking. Music tends to quiet
thought and under such conditions they will follow the sex impulse and
unconsciously draw near to each other, and they are far more sure to do
so while ignorant of the dangers in it. In like manner boys should be
taught to carefully respect the person of girls and told in a plain,
frank way the truth about their relations to the opposite sex.
I believe, as a rule young people love to dance with the purest of
motives. They are attracted to this form of amusement because of their
love for music and the natural desire to keep time to it. The most
zealous religionist finds himself patting his foot when a bit of lively
music is played, which is but an evidence of the natural desire of any
human being to keep time to music.
Is there someone asking, “If it is true that young people have the
purest of motives in their desire to dance, how comes it then that so
many frightful mistakes are made as a result of the dance?” I might
answer in a single word, by saying, IGNORANCE.
It is the conviction of the writer, however, that no more mistakes are
made in proportion, and perhaps not so many, as the result of the dance
as by long night rides in buggies, or sitting in the shadow of trees in
public parks. But the facts are more people dance than ride in buggies.