A FLUTTERING IN THE DONE COTS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume II, Issue 218, 22 October 1894, Page 2

A FLUTTERING IN THE DON E COTS.

TO Tim Kl*l I OK. Sik, — The Rev. Mr Griffin’s sermon has caused quite a Mutter in the dove cots. , vjimous Mother. Dick .swireller. Mazurka • nd Leather have (low n into print. 1 also | desire to add my testimony. Sir. the rev. c.itlemnn was ” right on the spot.” Every | man of the world will ■ iiuit if he ie hones: with him elf that *,o monster mu the nail IT and.sq a hand. I wav of thinking, tins question can be ! judge 1 from Jir« < standpoints : tir*;. from i the standpoint of the man of •* preheat , pleasure ' . -wcondiv. from the standpoint ■ the strictly run.i! man; and thirdly, ! from th » standpoint of the conscientiously ! Christian man. Now, Sir, judging this i question from the first standpoint, that - I .is ,t is viewed by the " pr. -en* pleasure man. He vot * it jolly good fun. Ih I uses the dance room a nastrre where he I can find victim*. IMs*sure and pa*»iouare In. gods. What cares he who is ruined ss long as hi c m procure fresh victims. In i ninny cams it is only in the bailment w here •pe.tkin i u a and m ideal v. The pure and tlm dignified treat him with contempt in every other sphere of lif, . Ruder the rules and regulation* of the ballroom lie has an opportunity of employing his wiles andinfWaoe may bo *i | them in the inrur.ed r‘nuke as plentifully as ns •. epeat as many excuses Im i ha da v# i ; • still remain* that the latitude at the ball--1 loom nips r. :ho \cry loundslion of that i* :in> »• , iiucti i ».uc of i very n . \ .»ni in.

So much then for the ** present pleasure” man. Hh i* distinctly in favor of the danee. In his opinion all tnoee who speak and write in c lademnet'on of the dance are hypocrites and ranter*. Their winds are impure, and their judgment perverted. He alone is the true hearted champ m of purity and virtue. In the second p Sir, 1 would leal with the question Vs viewed by the a*<*ral man. He does not care very much which way the questaou goe*. He sees only the purely social eid* of d-tneing. He sees in it pastime and social recreation. He aihrms and reaffirms that harm can be made out of anything. He contends that as mush harm can be done by attending churches and Sunday school picnics as bv attending thn ballroom. His lefty inora« *oui mdates with indignation if any person ever insinuates that danriug lead* to wrong doing. In short. Sir. this strictly moral man professes to believe that the ballroom is a paradise, and ne and lain co-believers are guardian angels ever present te guard the virtue and honor of the giddy dan ere. And under this head. Sir, dome* the inoral ; mother. She profe-ses to be every bit as moral—only more so—as her Christian j professing sister. She doe* not consider • her waist is sacrod only to him whom she ha* sworn before God and man to love, cherish, and obey. She lores the giddy young multitude anl feel* springy even :n middle age. Or if she is really pas; the hopping period of life, she does not forget that she wa» young once. She therefore feel* that she cannot in justice keep her dear girls away. But she is vsrv careful to tell you that she always goes with them ie see that everything is just so. The unfortunate woman does not perceive that the very fact of her not allowing her , daughters to go alone is s practical ad- | mission on her part that ths ball-room is a very unsafe piace for her daughters. Ths poor dear moral soul does not see it. Besides the dear girls do look so n.ce when slippel as far through their clothes as possible. So much then fer rhe moral -action. Now feir, viewing this queetien from a chnsiian standpoint. l\ must ’lecessarly be from mis slandpc nt taat the Christian Minister views it. He has one test and one only, and that ene test is tn* Bible. If dancing will not stand criticism frem a biblical point of v:sw. he - inu«t denounce it. He is an unfaithful Minister if he does not. I distinctly itfirm that the news expressed by ths Rev. Mr Griffin as reported in your paper i last Monday ars just to the letter. Any person professing to be guided by tbs principle of true religion must admit the | truth of his remarks. It is intensely refreshing now a days to listen to a Minister who has ths courage of his I conviciions. The average Minister is absolutely afraid to tread on the tender •omi of his dear parishioners. He laments a private the errors of his dock. He no loubt prays that by am* miraculous 1 interpos.tion of prowlenes hit wandering J sheep may be bronght back to the paths of 9 virtue and reotitude. Mr. it is this ; hypocritical conduct of ths majority of ‘hureh-gosrs to-day that disgusts the thinking man. Church on Sunday, and j r -.ce*. bal’s. druuks. bosmessswindleo. and • all unchsntabieness on week days. Bah! the contemplation of it is sickening. Be: ore eouciading. sir. let messy a word or two ibout the expression used by the Kev. Griffis “ touch them with a long pole.” j This expression i« literally true. Every .rood worn in will tesufy to xne feet that she has allowed liberties in the ballroom ’ to in*n whom at any other time aha would ] not nonce. It is true! Woman •*.ina.i it! Then again, what disgusting snoot* * macs is practised in the ballroom. How ihe ■ gilded rake is sought after if he is neh. How mothers angle for him and daughters try to land him. The modern t-a..room is the matrimonial fishing pond. Sir. if women really desired to do some lasting rood in their day and generation; :f they really wish to excuse the pew**r they po->ess to mould the de»i:n:«c of :nen ; if they wisn to introduce a finer code of honour and purity, let them hold up a higher standard for themselves; let them refuse to »cr»c f money in the vulgar faahioa of the day. lei thorn consort rather with the noble and the honest than with the rich and those whom wealth ha« made a little more powerful socially ; Ist them purge society of the unhallowed leaven that has crept ;ato it, of its low aai. its aeor frivolity : and <aobbishnets. iu scarcely veiled dishouesty and iivpocrisy ; Ist them eadsavor to make their homes a* they should be. a shatter, a rsfuge for the pure ao matter what their ran* or station, a haven of rest and peace where the world is no longer out of joint : let them live for something higher and nobler than to become the playthings of men m the ballroom and a Target for the coarse and brutal jest of the impure and unmoral "after the ball is over.”—Yours, etc.. C.R. (To the Editor.) Sir.—The hysterical screech of** Ms /urka " in yeur :»sae of the met., .adicstes that the writer has been hit haid. The letter is simply a tissue of abuse and personalities, and in it no attempt is made to answer tha Rev. Mr 1 OriftiM sscathing and denunciatory scrasoa against dancing. Te mouse a man and call h iti base and evil-minded (for that m what the writer distinctly means and does . lo attribute to him words he never uticred. and which no reading of year report of hi* discourse could convey he ottered, that is :hai he impugned the morality of married and «.ug.e folk »imply beeaa*e tney attended belle, exhibits a peculiar!* feminine mind, is no answer, and savours of Billingsgate of the very choicest order. Mr Griffin assorted that ue true ehristiaa could consistently nai conscientious!\ frequent the modem ball room, and gs*e reason and proof for his assertioa. ** Mazurka .inserts that C hristiana aot bigots*, often enjoy .he recreation of daacieg. but womanlike for 1 am certain *• Ma. arka »* a woman . dose not deign to descend to th, common place pract: e of giviag either reason or proof. Bm dear ** Vlacnrka does somrthing else a her anger, ehe throws mud. aud eolls Mr Gnfiia and all those who sgres w th I ni. Phs! .*#es. ** M ’.urks't ” Alter i* relieved. Uieugh. and becomes enjoyable wu«n she afTecte the very superior person sit e. and mounts tier stilts about the ordinary, though ! foreibl*. remark id ** touching with a long j . »>. Hien again her tlto-ology is new. and bet application of tie scripts'* ‘“fudge net that ye be not judged • altogether original and etresiung. In dec: she says Ms Gnffin from obeerea- [ non and know-ledge, personal and acquired. : \ou have discovered that the modem dauoe leads to the d vift!! of many «>f '' f \ •eceixe it to Im your d va* s t'n:i stisn ; 'linister U* denounce it. Now let me i i*d! veu that von mu< 1 * noihiug of ihe kind.forasaC'ht -nan Mm st. ryou am V • Mid the Bible say* “Judge not that you jbe not judged ; ” therefore if vou J, uotmee tUncmg you will i»e j.idced and j your judgment against da icing tsilbough you have never danced siace ynu bees me other man. minister or ntherw •«. »hall ibe alliiwed to a«**il any pe; aan that I (Ifa/urk (Alters lot w c **.n « asily how that \ou ire base and \ il m nivd till iha i do u » know vom sy : rly - Judge

not that you be not judged.'* 44 Mazurka should apply for the first divinity chair that ia vacant at Home. “ Mater s ” contribution on the subject is harmless aud ia an agreeable change from 44 Ma zurka’i” mud ami vinegar. The only point of resemblance is the brutal and 1 unohariteble quotation Hon aoiquimal 1 y pense. 1 cannot inform 44 Mater ” whether Mr Griffin ever saw the lads and lasses dadoing round the maypole on a bright sunuv day enjoying themselves to their hearts’ oontent, but I can tell her that it is the purely animal enjoyment of the modern dance aud what it leads to that ho and many other earnest reformers objeet to. I desin* to point out te Mater and also to Mr D. Swiveller that the fact of many girls being ruined who have never entered the ballroom is no answer to the charge that the modern ballroom is responsible for the ruiu of many of our purest and bravest youths of both sexes. I am pleased to know that 44 Mater” is a travelled person, and that *ho has been in the art galleries on the Continent and has seen the ancient pictures there. That portion of her letter is really so profound that 1 consider it will help materially to the settlement of the controversy. It is a greftt pity, Mr Editor, that the senseless etTusion of 44 Leather " didn’t find its way to the waste paper basket. I conceive it to be your duty, Sir, to save your readers from such exhibitions of cheap wit. To try and raise a laugh at what is obviously a typographical error is exceedingly puerile and small minded. Let me suggest to 44 Leather ” the desirableness of procuring and reading carefully an ordinary English grammar, and ha will diseover that it is altogether impossible to 44 differ with ” anyone. —I am, etc., A. M. Prmbbrton, Sen.

THE SWIVELLER HOISTED. TO THK EDITOR. Sir.— It is quite evident that the Rev. Mr Griffin in his sermon of a week ago has trampled on the pet corn so to speak of some of the hoodlum fraternity that frequent our ballrooms, and who—if their conduct there is to be measured by the quality of the “ Swiveller” effusion—have furnished some reason for the somewhat merciless strictures of the rev. gentleman. However, I am not writing to justify Mr Griffin’s attack on •• Dancing ” ; my object being if possible to raise the discussion at least slightly above the level of an “Annie Lesant Lecture” on ** How to, or not to, replenish the earth,” and this “Dick Swiveller”* seems quite unable to do, as witness his frequent interpolation of garish stuff about "engendering immodest,” or *• improper feeling,” and ether loose phrases eoncerning the “ mingling of the sexes. 4 These, Sir, in my opinion, are the phrases of a thorough sensualist whose presence in any mbly would lower its m< ml tour ; end therefore I am anxious to correct or rather to assist in correcting a vie* in one who otherwise may become f eoc “ Dick” > not all sensualistic froth; his consummate cheek is amusing, especially when tie assures us that “ The drink con sunned ;it dances consists exclusively of tea. coffee, and lemonade.” or again when he screws his courage up to the sticking point on behalf of his " female*relatives,” and after offering a challenge to the rev. opponent he shrinks back into the condition of a nonentity with a nom tie. plrnnc . “ Dick really ought to take heart of grace and mend his manners, so as to become a more safe guide to his “ female relatives" from “ the art galleries on the Continent,” or else we may look forward with certainty to witnessing manv an exhibition which will serve to remind us of the gallant Jack Falstaffs struggle with the men in Kendal green.— I am, etc.. Alex Reese. ACROSTIC. /»ouse now ye dancers and list to my Every waltz is to mankind a curse, Varsoriana* corrupt maidens’ minds. Mazurkas for women are worse. 11% d wine alwava flows where'er there’s a ball, Gin also ie there ffor the ladies ; /•’©member. •. the domestic upset /f pa stays horn** " minding th babies.’* Forsake thD wild revel which injures the “ sole,” Frequent my church- the collection's so “ thin ;’ /mead of your donee pass the coin o’er to rna, No more then I’ll preach—this pastime’* a sin. Moorabinda.