_Mr. Absolute:_
I am secretary to the "Society of Young Ladies for the suppression of
vulgar practices, and the promotion of elegance and gentility among
young men," and am directed by a resolution of the Society, at its
last meeting in Quality Hall, to convey to you the assurance of their
hearty good will and ready co-operation, in your philanthropic efforts
in the dancing reformation. Our society has long deplored the absence
of some efficient and active measures for the suppression of a
practice so derogatory to the dignified grandeur of the human form and
character, and congratulate themselves and their co-laborers in the
same cause, upon the highly important and gratifying results, which
your beneficent zeal and energy promise. They have ever since the
formation of their society, regarded the practice of dancing--of
waltzing particularly, and especially in private circles--as seriously
obstructive to that "_march_ of mind," which is elsewhere effecting
such important improvements in the domestic economy and wealth of
nations; and hail with delighted enthusiasm the dawn of a brighter and
better period, in our beloved country. An anti-dancing clause is found
in the constitution of our society. Our members have all abandoned the
custom very long ago; indeed, our president, among the oldest of our
number, being nearly sixty years of age, says, that at the last
dancing party she attended, she saw General Washington dance a minuet
with her aunt Fanny. There was, she says, so much stately grace in
that dance, that she would not object to seeing minuets danced always;
but nothing _else_. We all agree in unanimous condemnation of the
rapid, whirling, graceless waltzes, hops, gallops, and all those
Frenchified follies, which are now, alas! by the depraved taste of the
day, considered so fashionable.
Pray do not spare any pains to wipe off this dreadful stain upon our
domestic customs and manners, and let not dancing be any longer urged
against us as a national reproach. The next meeting of our society
will be held on the afternoon of this day week, when I am directed to
invite your attendance. Pray do not fail to come and give us your aid
in working the speedy extirmination of this great vice from among us.
And, in the meantime, wishing you perfect success in your virtuous
labors, I remain your friend, in the sympathy which unites the
advocates of a common cause.
CAROLINE CAMFIELD, _Secretary_.
_Mr. Absolute:_
Hearing of your intended efforts, by a series of essays, and by
forming societies throughout the country, to draw the public attention
to the demoralizing tendency and intrinsic ungentility of dancing, I
cannot forbear to wish you entire success, in a reformation fraught
with the best interests of society.
I am a young lady of respectable connexions, of some reading, more
property, and, unless my glass plays me false, of a person quite
agreeable. With youth and these advantages, one would think I could
get along very well among the patrons of dancing; but you must know I
never could dance _fashionably_, and as no body dances otherwise, the
consequence is, that I go to party after party, and never dance at
all. Pa sent me to the dancing school almost a whole quarter, but I
had hardly in that time learned more than the positions, when our
master dislocated his ankle joint in teaching one of the scholars (a
fat Dutch girl from the mountains,) the French gallopade, and since
then, we have never got another one in our neighborhood. How much more
sociable it is to pass the evening in agreeable conversation, in which
all can participate, than by dancing, to gratify one part of the
company at the expense of the other.
Lord Chesterfield, (whose letters I have sometimes read,) advises his
son never to play on any musical instrument. It is an accomplishment,
he says, of the necessitous or vulgar. If he wants to hear music, he
directs him to send for a professed performer, and pay him for his
services. Thus ought it be in regard to dancing. Confine it to the
circus or theatre, and society will not be annoyed by the practice.
Until this is done, rely upon it, Mr. Absolute, none of your disciples
will do more to drive it from the polished circles of domestic
society, than your obedient servant,