is
true that because of the mixed characters of its attendants, and for
want of opportunity to communicate, the social nature becomes neglected
and abused, and may be fatally poisoned.

The modern dance destroys intellectual growth. The person who has the
dance-craze cares no more for mental improvement and growth than a
starving man cares for splendid recipes for fine cooking. The thought of
a problem to be solved, of a book to be read, of an organ exercise to
be practiced, of all things, are most tame to the one who is filled with
dreams of the last dance, and with visions of the one that is to come.
To grow, the mind must be free from excitement. The fault with the dance
in this respect is that it has in it a fascination that does not exist
in the ordinary social amusement. Some persons complain that they can
not get an evening to go off well without dancing. But this is only an
open confession to mental vacuity, to intellectual poverty. For one need
know but little to flourish at the dance. And always, where little is
required, intellectually, little is given. It is the rule that those who
are in the greatest need of mental cultivation and growth are those
who make up the dancing crowd. And the fact that the dance, as an
institution, in no way stimulates intellectual thought, destines those
who dance to remain on the lower intellectual plane.

Last, and worst of all, the dance robs men and women of their virtue,
and this often at the first unconsciously. If it is not for health and
physical vigor that one follows up dancing; if it is not the peculiar
social tie that binds dancers together; if it is not the incentive to
intellectual growth and equipment, what is it? A secret lies hid away
somewhere in the institution of the modern dance, that makes it the
chiefest attraction of worldly-minded and often of base-hearted people.
What is that secret? Ah, my friend, it is the appeal to the most sacred
instincts and passions of a man and of a woman! This appeal is peculiar
to the modern dance by the accident of physical contact that men and
women assume in dancing, and also by the circumstances that attend
it, namely, mixed society, late hours, and the customary use of strong
drink. No honest, normally passionate person, who has made it a practice
of attending dances, will deny the truth of this charge. One may never
have thought of it in this way, but when he stops to think he knows that
it is true. It is through ignora