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diff --git a/18759.txt b/18759.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9627eb --- /dev/null +++ b/18759.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of From the Ball-Room to Hell, by T. A. Faulkner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: From the Ball-Room to Hell + +Author: T. A. Faulkner + +Release Date: July 5, 2006 [EBook #18759] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE BALL-ROOM TO HELL *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Suzanne Lybarger, Janet +Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Library of Congress) + + + + + + + + + + + + + +FROM THE + +Ball-Room + +TO + +HELL + + +BY + +T. A. FAULKNER + +EX-DANCING MASTER + + +Formerly Proprietor of the Los Angeles Dancing Academy and ex-President +of Dancing Masters' Association of the Pacific Coast. + + +THE HENRY PUBLISHING CO. + +57 Washington St., Room 16. + +CHICAGO. + +Copyright 1892 + +BY + +R. F. HENRY. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +You will, my dear reader, find many very plain things between the two +covers of this little book; things which will, perhaps, shock your +modesty and probably disgust you altogether. + +But if you find merely the reading of the facts disgusting, think how +much more disgusting is the reality, and how essential that _some_ one +should portray the evil to the public in a manner impressive and not to +be misunderstood. + +I have numerous reasons for undertaking this work, chief among them, +however, being because I have for many months, felt it to be a duty to +my God, and to my fellow-man. Nay, I may put it in a yet more concise +form; and simply say, because of a sense of duty to my God, for I +believe the two to be inseparable. As the green calyx of the rosebud +holds within its embrace everything required to make up the perfect +rose in all its beauty of form, texture, tint and perfume, so my duty to +my God embraces my whole duty to my fellow-man in all its beauty of +kindness, love, and any help or warning I may be able to give, and if +that duty shall lead me to speak out boldly and plainly a warning +against the evil of a popular amusement, I will boldly and plainly +speak, and leave the result with Him whose I am and whom I serve. + +Many will, doubtless, object to the book on account of the plainness of +the language used; but, my friends, I have endeavored to tell the truth, +and to do this on such a subject, does not admit of the use of delicate +language. A mild hint at such a fact, clothed in flowery language, would +only serve to give a vague impression, and would fall far short of the +mission I wish this little book to accomplish, viz.: the opening of the +eyes of the people, particularly parents, who are blind to the awful +dangers there are for young girls in the dancing academy and ball-room, +and of leading some, if possible, to forsake (as I have done) the old +unsatisfactory life of selfish pleasure and sinful indulgence and enter +upon the purer, nobler and far happier life, which I have found in the +service of the Lord. + +I do not undertake to write upon a subject of which I am ignorant. There +are, perhaps, few people living who have had more practical experience +or better opportunities of finding out the evil influences of dancing +than myself. I began to dance at the age of twelve and have spent most +of my life since that time, until within a few months, in the dancing +parlors and academies. For the last six years I have been a teacher of +dancing and for several years held the championship of the Pacific Coast +in fancy and round dancing. I am also the author of many of the round +dances which are the popular fads of the day. + +I merely tell you these things to prove to you that I know whereof I +speak, and not because I am proud of them. On the contrary, it is the +greatest sorrow of my life that I have been so long and in such an +influential way connected with an evil which I know to have been the +ruin, both of soul and body, to many a bright young life. And if, in the +hands of God, I can be the means of leading one-fiftieth as many souls +to Christ as I have seen led to a life of vice and crime through the +influence of dancing academies with which I have been connected, I shall +be more proud than I have ever been of any previous achievements. And if +this little book shall, in any degree, help in the accomplishment of +this purpose, I shall feel that I am more than repaid for my trouble in +its writing, and shall willingly and gladly endure all the harsh +criticism and condemnation I know its writing will bring upon me. + + T. A. FAULKNER. + + + + +FROM THE BALL-ROOM TO HELL. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +FIRST AND LAST STEP. + + +Since my conversion from a dancing master and a servant of the "Evil +One" to an earnest Christian and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the +question has been repeatedly asked me: "Is there any harm in dancing?" + +And letters innumerable have been coming in with questions to the same +effect. + +The more I mingle with people outside the dancing circle the more +forcibly I am made to realize how many there are who are seeking to know +the truth concerning the evil of dancing, and how many thousands more +who, if they are not seeking that knowledge, certainly ought to have +it. + ++---------------------------------+ +| ~Have you read the preface?~ | ++---------------------------------+ + +Let me assure you in the first place that I am well aware that there are +many church members and professing Christians who dance; but, if on the +strength of this you deem it a safe amusement, come with me for a few +evenings, and when you have seen all that I can show you, let your +judgment tell you, whether you can, with safety, place your pure, +beautiful daughter in the dancing academy or ball-room. + +Let us first take an instance from the "select" dancing academy, and +thus begin at the root of the matter. + +Here is a beautiful young girl. Let me take her for an example. + +She is the daughter of wealthy parents; they have been called to mourn +the loss of two of their children; and this is their only remaining +treasure, their darling, their idol almost, whom they love more than +their own lives. + +They wish to bestow upon her every accomplishment which modern society +demands, so when it is announced that Prof. ---- will open his select +dancing academy they hasten to place her under his instruction. + +At first she seems shocked at the manner in which he embraces her to +teach her the latest waltz. + +It is her first experience in the arms of a strange man, with his limbs +pressed to hers, and in her natural modesty she shrinks from so familiar +a touch. It brings a bright flush of indignation to her cheek as she +thinks what an unladylike and indecent position to assume with a man +who, but a few hours before, was an utter stranger, but she says to +herself: "This is the position every one must take who waltzes in the +most approved style--church members and all--so of course it is no harm +for me." She thus takes the first step in casting aside that delicate +God-given instinct which should be the guide of every pure woman in such +matters. + +She is very bright and learns rapidly, but a few weeks have passed +before she is able to waltz well, and is surrounded by the handsomest +and most gallant men in the room, who flatter her until her head is +quite turned. She has entirely overcome her delicacy about being +embraced in public for half an hour by strange men. In fact she rather +likes it now. She wonders all day, before dancing school, if that +handsome man who dances so "elegantly" and says such nice things to her, +will ask her to dance with him to-night, and finds herself dreaming of +how delightful it would be to feel his arm about her. + +The evening at last comes; the uninteresting square dances are gone +through with, and the music of the waltz begins. Her partner is the +Apollo of her day dreams. He presses her close to his breast, and they +glide over the floor together as if the two were but one. + +When she raises her eyes, timidly at first, to that handsome but +deceitful face, now so close to her own, the look that is in his eyes +as they meet hers, seems to burn into her very soul. A strange, sweet +thrill shakes her very being and leaves her weak and powerless and +obliged to depend for support upon the arm which is pressing her to +himself in such a suggestive manner, but the sensation is a pleasant one +and grows to be the very essence of her life. + +If a partner fails, through ignorance or innocence, to arouse in her +these feelings, she does not enjoy the dance, mentally styles him a +"bore," and wastes no more waltzes on him. She grows more bold, and from +being able to return shy glances at first, is soon able to meet more +daring ones until, with heart beating against heart, hand clasped in +hand, and eyes looking burning words which lips dare not speak, the +waltz becomes one long, sweet and purely sensual pleasure. + +The more profitable things upon which she has been accustomed to spend +her time and thought, lose all attraction for her, and during the time +which intervenes between dancing school evenings, she feeds her romantic +passion on novels, unfit for any person to read, and which would have +been without special interest to her before she entered the dancing +school. She spends much thought upon those things which tend to develop +her lower nature, for "as a man thinketh, so is he." She has never +before had a thought she would not willingly express to her mother. But +now she thinks of and discusses with her girl friends of the dancing +school, subjects which she would shrink from mentioning to her mother. + +O, foolish girl, if she had but remembered that her best friend was her +mother, and that thoughts she could not express to her were thoughts in +which she should never indulge, what untold sorrow and shame she might +have been spared. + +She graduates from the academy and is caught into the whirl of society, +and her life becomes what is called one round of pleasure--one round +certainly of parlor dances, social hops and grand balls with champaign +dinners and early goings home (early in the morning, _of course_). + +This evening there is to be a ball of unusual grandeur. The last of the +season of gaiety, and the closing of the dancing-school term. Our friend +will surely be present. Let us attend. What a scene of beauty, gayety +and splendor. It must have been of just such scenes the poet wrote: + + "There was a sound of revelry by night, + And Belgium's capital had gathered then-- + Her beauty and chivalry"-- + +But see, there is our friend of the dancing academy just entering on the +arm of her devoted father. Three months have passed since we first met +her. She is much changed, yet one can scarcely see in what the change +consists. The face is the same, yet not the same. There is just the +shadow of coarseness in it, a little less of frank innocence and true +refinement, and a trace, not exactly of ill-health, but a want of +freshness. This last is, however, well concealed by the use of +cosmetics, and she is still a very beautiful girl, and the fond father's +heart swells with pride as he sees the handsomest and most fashionable +gentlemen of the ball-room press eagerly forward to ask her hand for the +different dances of the evening. + +Her father remains for a few of the square dances, but soon retires, +knowing that his fair daughter will not want for attention +from--gentlemen whose attentions he is sure must be desirable, certainly +desirable, why not? Are these admirers not rich and handsome, and do +they not move in the highest society. Ah, foolish father, how little he +knows of the ways of ball-room society. + +But let us turn our attention again to the dancers, at two o'clock next +morning. This is the favorite waltz, and the last and most furious of +the night, as well as the most disgusting. Let us notice, as an example, +our fair friend once more. + +She is now in the vile embrace of the Apollo of the evening. Her head +rests upon his shoulder, her face is upturned to his, her bare arm is +almost around his neck, her partly nude swelling breast heaves +tumultuously against his, face to face they whirl on, his limbs +interwoven with hers, his strong right arm around her yielding form, he +presses her to him until every curve in the contour of her body thrills +with the amorous contact. Her eyes look into his, but she sees nothing; +the soft music fills the room, but she hears it not; he bends her body +to and fro, but she knows it not; his hot breath, tainted with strong +drink, is on her hair and cheek, his lips almost touch her forehead, yet +she does not shrink; his eyes, gleaming with a fierce, intolerable lust, +gloat over her, yet she does not quail. She is filled with the rapture +of sin in its intensity; her spirit is inflamed with passion and lust +is gratified in thought. With a last low wail the music ceases, and the +dance for the night is ended, but not the evil work of the night. + +The girl whose blood is hot from the exertion and whose every carnal +sense is aroused and aflame by the repetition of such scenes as we have +witnessed, is led to the ever-waiting carriage, where she sinks +exhausted on the cushioned seat. Oh, if I could picture to you the +fiendish look that comes into his eyes as he sees his helpless victim +before him. Now is his golden opportunity. He must not miss it, and he +does not, and that beautiful girl who entered the dancing school as pure +and innocent as an angel three months ago returns to her home that night +robbed of that most precious jewel of womanhood--virtue! + +When she awakes the next morning to a realizing sense of her position +her first impulse is to self-destruction, but she deludes herself with +the thought that her "dancing" companion will right the wrong by +marriage, but that is the farthest from his thoughts, and he casts her +off--"_he_ wishes a pure woman for _his_ wife." + +She has no longer any claim to purity; her self-respect is lost; she +sinks lower and lower; society shuns her, and she is to-day a brothel +inmate, the toy and plaything of the libertine and drunkard. + +How can I picture to you the awful anguish of that mother's heart, the +sadness of that father's face, or the dreadful gloom which settles over +that once happy home. Neither their love nor their gold can repair the +damage done. Their sighs and tears cannot restore that virtue. It is +lost, gone forever. Ah, better, yes, infinitely better, would it have +been if instead of placing their only darling in the dancing school, +they had laid her in the grave by her little sister's side while her +soul was pure and spotless. + +But how is it with her ball-room Apollo? Does society shun him? Does he +pine away and die? Oh, no; he continues in the dancing school, +constantly seeking new victims among the pure and innocent. + +Like flowers, the choicest ones are plucked first, and most admired, +their beauty soon fades and they are cast aside for new ones. Parents, +do not discredit my statement. There is no mistake; I know whereof I +speak when I say that just such villains as I have described are to be +found in, and leaders of, the select dancing school, in the ball room +and at the parlor dance, figuring in what is called the best society, as +the most refined and highly polished society gentlemen of the day. + +Nor is the ball-room scene an imaginary one. + +I have seen it, just as described, hundreds, yes, thousands of times, +and have known of many and many a case with the same sad ending. + +Do not delude yourself, my dear reader, with the thought that such +scenes occur only at low public dances. Some of the lowest and most +disgusting deeds of which I have had any knowledge, have occurred at and +in connection with, the most fashionable parlor dances. + +The following infamous deeds were done on one of the principal avenues +and at the home of one of the most aristocratic families of this city. + +The occasion was a fashionable dance of which I was manager. + +There was present the _creme de la creme_ of the city's society. Among +them two beautiful young women who were actors in the play I am about to +put before you. The play is in five acts. + +The first scene is of exquisite loveliness. It is a large drawing room, +elegant in all its appointments. Its coloring as seen by gas light is +soft, rich, and beautifully blended or prettily contrasted. Its pictures +are rare bits of art from the brush of the most popular artists of +ancient and modern times, and all its ornamentation is forcibly +suggestive of culture and refinement. All these things we feel rather +than see, for our attention is riveted upon the gay company assembled. + +We hear the hum of many voices and see before us scenes of fair women +and handsome men, diamonds flash, silks rustle, and no garden of flowers +ever displayed a greater variety of rich and dainty color intermingled, +or flashed more brightly its gems of morning dew. But hark! From behind +that bower of blossoms and evergreens in yonder recess come strains of +music which set the little white slipper to tapping out the time as its +wearer waits impatiently for the waltz to begin, and now the room +presents a scene of whirling, whirling figures. + +Notice particularly this couple near us and that one in yonder corner, +for I know them well. The ladies are beautiful and respectable. + +To be sure, one not accustomed to such scenes would consider them +anything but respectably dressed, with their nude arms, neck and +partially exposed breast, and tightly clinging skirts which more than +suggest the contour of body and limb. + +But society and fashion demand such dress; vile men demand it; for them +the waltz would be spoiled of half its pleasure if the woman was not as +nearly nude as she dare be. + +The male companions of the two girls are handsome and fashionable, but +of their character not so much can be said, except in condemnation. They +are certainly pleasing, and are in every way endeavoring to be so to +their young lady companions, and appear to have succeeded very well in +their efforts, for, as they whirl over the floor, they gaze into the +eyes gloating over them and gleaming with a fury of lust. They allow +words to be whispered to them which they would not listen to at any +other time; listening now, they come closer still, and in response to a +pressure of her hand, his arm tightens its clasp of her waist, and she, +losing all restraint, yields herself to the evil passion of the moment. +Thus the fury of lustful thought becomes mutual and is mutually enjoyed. + +The second scene is in a summer house. Only four characters are required +for this act. They are the four we have particularly noticed in the +ball-room scene. + +This, too, would be a pretty scene, if the pleasure of it were not +spoiled for us by the evil we see in it and know may result from it. The +summer house, covered with vines and flowers, is in a beautiful garden +filled with shrubs and trees. The night is calm and cloudless, and the +silvery moon looks sadly down upon the scene through the branches of the +trees. + +The girls have been invited to retire thither for rest and refreshment. +The men have previously arranged with a servant for the refreshments, +with plenty of old wine provided for their use, and now they urge the +ladies to partake, saying they will feel refreshed and be sustained by +it for the remainder of the evening. + +After much coaxing and pleading they are induced to take a glass. This +accomplished, the men feel that their object is as good as achieved. The +wine soon has a visible effect upon the unaccustomed brain, and the +girls are easily induced to drink more. + +The third and fourth acts are only repetitions of the first and second, +and the last and fifth takes place behind the scene. The curtain must +fall between us and the going home scene in two hacks to which the half +intoxicated girls have been conveyed by brutes in human form. + +We only know that these girls are now unable to resist, if they were to +try, the deed of shame their male companions are bent upon doing, in +that closed carriage, whose driver has been ordered to go slowly, and we +know what has taken place, as in after days we see these girls no more +in respectable society, although their accomplices still appear as most +elegant and highly respectable gentlemen, alias ball-room Apollos. + +This tragedy, my friends, was acted out in real life, and is only a +sample of hundreds and hundreds of cases of which I have had personal +knowledge. + +"But," some mothers say, "I know that I can trust my daughter. The waltz +may be the means of leading astray some shallow, low-minded girls, and +may arouse the lower nature of some of those whose lower nature lies +very near the surface, but such girls would go astray anyway. My +daughter is a pure, high-minded girl, and I am sure she is trustworthy." + +I am glad she is. Keep her so, my friend, _keep her so_. Do not risk +making her otherwise by placing her under the greatest temptation that +can possibly come to a girl. + +If you place her in the dancing academy or ball-room she cannot and will +not remain what you say she now is, and she has but a comparatively +small chance of escaping ruin--comparatively only a small chance, I say. + +It is a startling fact, but a fact nevertheless, that _two-thirds of the +girls who are ruined fall through the influence of dancing_. Mark my +words, I know this to be true. Let me give you two reasons why it is so. +In the first place I do not believe that any woman can or does waltz +without being improperly aroused, to a greater or less degree. She may +not, at first, understand her feelings, or recognize as harmful or +sinful those emotions which must come to every woman who has a particle +of warmth in her nature, when in such close connection with the opposite +sex; but she is, though unconsciously, none the less surely sowing seed +which will one day ripen, if not into open sin and shame, into a nature +more or less depraved and health more or less impaired. And any woman +with a nature so cold as not to be aroused by the perfect execution of +the waltz, is entirely unfit to make any man happy as his wife, and if +she be willing to indulge in such pleasures with every ball-room +libertine, she is not the woman any man wants for a wife. It is a +noticeable fact that a man who knows the ways of a ball-room rarely +seeks a wife there. When he wishes to marry he chooses for a wife a +woman who has not been fondled and embraced by every dancing man in +town. + +It is also noticeable that after marriage few men care to dance, or to +have their wives dance. + +The second reason why so many dancing girls are ruined is obvious, when +one considers how many fiends there are hanging about the dancing +schools and ball-rooms, for this purpose alone, some of them for their +own gratification, and others for the living there is to be made from +it. I am personally acquainted with men who are professional seducers, +and who are to-day making a living in just this way. They are fine +looking, good conversationalists and elegant dancers. They buy their +admittance to the select (?) dancing school by paying an extra fee, and +know just what snares to lay and what arts to practice upon the innocent +girls they meet there to induce them to yield to their diabolical +solicitations, and after having satisfied their own desires and ruined +the girls they entice them to the brothel where they receive a certain +sum of money from the landlady, rated according to their beauty and +form. + +Can you wonder when the degrading, lust-creating influence of the waltz +itself is united with the efforts of such vile demons of men as I have, +described, that two-thirds of the dancing-school girls are ruined. + +It is a greater wonder that any of them escape. The question is often +asked: If what you say be true, why do not more of the dancing girls +become mothers? I will tell you why. It is because they dance away all +fear of maternity. It is the knowledge that the dancing floor _exercise_ +will relieve if they get into trouble that makes many a woman bold +enough to take risks. + +Dancing and drinking invariably go together. One rarely finds a dance +hall without a bar in it, or a saloon within a few steps of it, and +sooner or later those who dance will indulge in drink, which is the +devil's best agent in the carrying on of the vile business transacted +in, and in connection with, the dance hall. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FROM THE BALL-ROOM TO THE GRAVE. + + +Let me tell you a true story which will illustrate this point. + +It was a Saturday night in the month of December, in the year '91. The +girls who toil daily in the stores and shops on Spring street were +hastening to their homes after the long week of toil. As they pass along +we notice among them the tall, graceful figure of a young woman who +seems to be the favorite of the group of girls about her. She is a +handsome blonde of nineteen years, with a face as sweet and loving as +that of an angel. + +She was born in a country town in New England, of respectable parents. +Her mother died while she was yet but a little girl, leaving her to the +care of a devoted father, who, with loving interest, reared and educated +her. + +After the completion of her education she entered a printing office, to +serve an apprenticeship, but the close confinement, following, as it +did, in close proximity to the confinement of the school room, soon +undermined her health and a change of climate was prescribed. The father +felt he could not part from her even for a few months, but as it seemed +for her good, he reluctantly consented to her going to Los Angeles, the +"City of the Angels," for a year. + +It was a sad day for both when that father and his only daughter parted. +Little could he know of the fate that was in store for his pure and +loving child in the far West. Little did he think when she kissed him an +affectionate farewell, and told him she would return in just one year, +that he would never see her smiling face again. Nor did she dream that +she was journeying to her doom; that far beyond the mountains she should +be laid to rest 'neath the sod of mother earth. + +But to return to the scene on Spring street. + +As the little group pass up the street her very beautiful face does not +escape the notice of the crowd of idlers gathered on the corners gazing +impudently at the passers by. + +Among these idlers is one of the city's most popular society gentlemen +and ball-room devotees, and we hear him mutter to himself as he stares +impudently at her pretty face: "Ah, my beauty, I shall locate _your_ +dwelling place later on. You are too fine a bird to be lost sight of." + +He follows her to her lodging, and day by day studies her habits. + +He discovers that she goes nowhere except to her daily toil and to +church. He visits the church, and finding no opportunity to approach her +there, is about to give up the chase when he finds out that the +denomination does not condemn dancing. + +"Ah, now," he says, "I have you." + +He goes to one of the most fashionable dancing schools, where he is well +known, and explains his difficulties to the dancing master, who is ever +ready to take part in just such dirty work, for it is from the pay for +such work that he derives much of the profit of his school. + +He sends her a highly colored, gilt-edged card containing a pressing +invitation to attend his _select_ school. + +She does not respond, so he finally sends his wife to press the +invitation. The girl, not dreaming of the net that is being woven about +her, promises that if her pastor does not disapprove she will attend. +Her pastor _does not disapprove_. He tells her that he sees no harm in +dancing. + +Why does he not see harm in dancing? Has he never been where he _could_ +see? + +She takes it for granted that he _knows_, and acting on his advice +attends the school. She is met at the door by the dancing master, who is +very polite and so kindly attentive. + +The society man who is plotting her ruin is the first person presented +to her. He is a graceful dancer and makes the evening pass pleasantly +for her, by his kind attentions and praise of her grace in dancing, and +when the school is dismissed he escorts her home, which courtesy she +accepts, because the dancing master vouches for him, and she thinks that +is sufficient. He continues his attentions, and finally invites her to +attend, with him, a grand full dress ball to be given at one of the +principal hotels. She has never attended a grand ball in her life, and +looks forward to this with the greatest pleasure. + +The evening at last arrives. Her escort calls for her in an elegant +carriage. She looks more beautiful than ever in her pretty, modest +evening dress, and he says to himself, "Ah, my Greek Goddess, I shall +have the 'belle of the ball' for my victim to-night." + +As they enter the ball-room she is quite charmed and dazzled by its +splendor and the gaiety of the scene, which is so novel to her. + +During the first of the evening her companion finds her more reserved +than is to his taste, but he says to himself, only wait, my fair one, +until supper time, and the wine will do the work desired. + +Twelve o'clock at last comes, and with it the summons to the supper +room. Here the well-spread table, the brilliant lights, the flowers, the +music and the gay conversation are all sources of the greatest pleasure +to the unaccustomed girl, but there is one thing which does not please +her. It is the fact that wine is flowing freely and that all are +partaking of it. She feels that she can never consent to drink. It is +something she has never done in her life. Yet she dares not refuse, for +all the others are drinking, and she knows that to refuse would bring +upon herself the ridicule of all the party. + +She hears her companion order a bottle of wine opened. He pours and +offers it, saying, "Just a social glass, it will refresh you." She +looks at him as if to protest, but he returns the gaze and hands her the +fatal glass, and she has not the moral courage to say no. + +As they raise their glasses he murmurs softly, "Here's hoping we may be +perfectly happy in each other's love, and that the cup of bliss now +raised to our lips may never spill." + +One glass and then another and the brain unaccustomed to wine is +whirling and giddy. The vile wretch sees that his game is won. + +He whispers in her ear many soft and foolish lies, tells her that he +loves her, and that if she can return that love, he is hers, and hers +alone, so long as life shall last. + +She sits tipped back in one chair, with her feet in another, laughs +loudly at every poor little joke, and responds, in a silly affectionate +manner, to all his words of love, and when he makes proposals to which +she would have scorned to listen at any other time, she not only +listens but gives consent to all, and does not leave the house that +night. + +When she awakens next morning, it is in a strange room. Her head whirls, +she gazes abstractedly about her and tries to shake off what seems to +her to be a horrid dream, but she is brought suddenly to realize that it +is no sleeping fancy, but a steam reality, as a low voice by her side +says, + +"Did you rest easy, my dear?" + +"My God!" she fairly shrieks, as the awful truth bursts upon her, "is it +possible, or am I dreaming?" and she passes her hand wildly across her +face. + +"Do not excite yourself, my dear; you are not well. You will feel better +presently." + +"Better!" she cries, bursting into tears. "Better!! What is life to me +now that you have robbed me of my virtue? Oh! that I should have sunken +into such depths of sin, and that you, vile man, whom I trusted, should +have led me to it." + +She tries to rise, but finds herself too weak and dizzy, and falls back +heavily upon her pillow. + +"Lie still, my love, and when you are able I will let you go. But do not +blame me for what has occurred, it was by your own consent. You know I +am going to marry you, and all will be well." + +"No," she sobs, "all will not be well; nothing will ever be well with +me again," and she returns to the room which she has left a few hours +before as a bright and happy girl, now broken hearted and on the verge +of despair, with a blot upon her young life which nothing on earth can +efface. To be sure, he who has brought all this upon her has promised to +right the wrong by marriage, but poor consolation it seems to her to +have to marry a man whom she feels to be worse than a murderer; even +this poor consolation is denied her, however, for the wretch, when he +gave the promise, had no thought of fulfilling it. Such trifles as this +_he_ thinks nothing of. It is the way of most high society men, and when +he comes to her again it is not to marry her, but to seek to drag her +lower down. She repels him and he is seen by her no more. He has no +further use for her. + +Days grow to months, and now added sorrow fills her cup of grief to +overflowing. She is to become a mother, and the poor girl cries out in +bitter anguish: "My God, what shall I do, must I commit murder. Oh, that +I had never entered a ball-room." + +All her old companions shun her, every one shuns her, even he who led +her to her ruin shuns her. She goes to him, hoping he will have +compassion upon her, but he meets her with a sneer, calls her a fool, +and tells her to commit a yet greater crime than the first, which in her +despair she does and "seals the band of death." + +She soon became very ill and sank rapidly, and then came a time when she +felt that life was short, and that if she wished to leave a message on +earth it must be delivered quickly. Having heard of my conversion and +that I intended exposing the evils which germinate in the ball-room she +sent a messenger requesting me to call immediately. + +On entering the house I was led to a couch in a cosy room where lay the +beautiful young woman whose pale face showed all to plainly, an amount +of sorrow and suffering unwarranted by her years. The countenance of the +sufferer brightened as I entered, and she extended her hand saying: "I +am so glad you came to see me, so glad to know that you are to expose +the evil which buds in the dance hall. Do not delay your work. I have +prayed God to spare my life that I might go and warn young girls against +that which has made such a sad wreck of my once pure and happy life, +for, when I entered dancing school, I was as innocent as a child and +free from sin and sorrow, but under its influence and in its association +I lost my purity, my innocence, my _all_, but I know that God has +forgiven the sin which is sending me to my early grave, where I shall +soon be forgotten by all earthly friends. + +"Do not grieve for me. I am leaving this dark world for a bright and +happy one where sin and sorrow are unknown. Mother is waiting for me +there and I am not afraid to go." + +We spoke of a hope that she might yet recover, but she only closed her +eyes and shook her head slowly. + +"No," she said, with considerable effort, "I shall never leave this room +alive, never see the green hills of home, never see my father's face, +but tell him not to mourn for me, I shall be happy in the arms of +Jesus." + +"Is there nothing I can do for you?" I asked. "Yes," said she faintly, +looking earnestly into my face, "Yes, there is one thing; that which I +had hoped I might live to do myself. Promise me that you will do that +and I shall die content. Promise me that you will go before the world +and speak out a warning against the awful dangers of the dance hall, and +try to save young girls from the sin, disgrace and destruction dancing +has brought upon me." + +I made a solemn promise before God that her request should be complied +with. + +The dying girl showed unmistakable signs of pleasure at having my +faithful promise. + +She pressed my hand and said in a voice scarcely audible, "You have seen +ball-rooms as they are, my friend, and there is a great and good work +before you. May God bless you in it. I seal your promise with death," +and before I could speak she was dead and her soul had winged its flight +to a heaven of love and peace, where weary hearts shall find perfect +love and perfect justice--where not man, but God, judges his children. + +I know the man who was the perpetrator of the crime which was the cause +of this sad death. + +He, to-day, instead of being hung for murder, as he so richly deserved, +is a leader in society. His name often appears in the social columns of +the daily papers of Los Angeles, as the leader of some fashionable +dancing party or Kirmess. + +He has been the winner of several prizes in dancing, in fact, is an +elegant dancer and is wealthy. These facts gain for him admission to +whatsoever society he chooses to enter. + +Think, ye parents who have daughters who dance, of their being night +after night in the embrace of such men as he, as they most certainly are +if they dance much. Such men as he flock to places of dancing for that +very purpose. + +Some may say that places of dancing are not the only places where such +men are to be found. True, but at no other place would they be allowed +to take such liberties with your daughters that they may there. This +they well know and consequently there are more of them to be found in +places of dancing than elsewhere, and it is not the whirling that they +go for and enjoy. + +How long would dancing be kept up if they were to whirl alone, or if men +were to dance with men and women with women? Ah, no; it is not the +whirling, but the liberties the waltz affords, which forms its chief +attraction. + +You, perhaps, think your daughter is in the most select society, and +only in such, and will accept only the most respectable gentlemen as +partners. But, how are you to know this? How can you be sure that this +very man of whom I have been speaking, or another of the same type, is +not among those considered the most respectable in the select parlor +dances? + +You may be perfectly certain that _he_ will never publish his own +misdeeds, and the girl cannot expose him without making public her own +disgrace, so his base deeds go undiscovered and he may still be found at +dancing parties or on the street corners engaged in the occupation in +which we first met him, viz.: seeking whom he might destroy. + +What decent woman, if she knew his real character, would wish to throw +herself into the arms of such a man. If she were a true women she would +almost rather die than have such a man even touch her, to say nothing of +being in his close embrace for the space of a waltz. + +Or, what lady would allow any man, in any other public place, except the +ball-room, to take the liberties with her that he takes there? Would a +lady with a spark of self-respect, at any other place, lay her head upon +his shoulder, place her breast against his, and allow him to encircle +her waist with his arm, place his foot between hers and clasp her hands +in his? + +This is the position assumed in waltzing, and I tell you, my friends, +that such a position tends, in a greater or less degree, to develop the +lower nature of sexes. It cannot be otherwise. It is in perfect +accordance with nature. I have heard girls express utter innocence of +having any improper emotion aroused by the waltz, but I do not believe +this to be strictly true of any girl. If it is, I am sorry for that +girl, for she has a sad lack in her nature. + +"Male and female, God created them" and placed within them emotions +intended to be shared only by man and wife, and if others indulge in +those emotions, and continually arouse them by assuming the waltz +position, which is only fit for man and wife, they commit a sin against +God and nature. + +Against God because He has said "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and "I +say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath +committed adultery with her already in his heart." + +And against nature, because a girl thus constantly aroused, soon breaks +her health. + +One may work six days in the week and arise fresh every morning, but let +him attend a dance for only a few hours each evening and see what will +occur. Health and vigor vanish like the dew before the sun. + +It is not the exercise which harms the dancer in mind and body, but the +coming in such close contact with the opposite sex. Did you ever know a +lady who danced to excess to live to be over twenty-five years of age? +If she does she is, in most instances, broken in health physically and +morally. Doctors claim it to be a most harmful exercise physically for +both sexes. The average age of the excessive male dancer is thirty-one. + +Beside the harmful exercise there is great danger from the exposure, a +girl is so often subjected to in a ball room. She gets in a perspiration +during the dance, and as soon as it is over rushes to an open door or +window with arms and chest exposed. Is there any wonder that so many +women of to-day are unhealthy? + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PARLOR DANCING. + + +Some contend that there is no harm in parlor dancing. How many parents +are able to restrict their children to parlor dancing only? Not one in +ten thousand. + +Dancing is too fascinating, and they who were at first content with +parlor dancing soon want something else, and will, for the sake of +dancing, go to almost any place. + +If private dancing is allowed, and all else strictly forbidden, the +child will often deceive his parents and dance at times and in places +that they know not of. + +I have known young people to be at Sunday night dances, and in low +company, when their parents (who only allow parlor dancing) thought they +were at church. + +They made a practice of going to the church and remaining long enough to +get the text of the pastor's discourse, and then going away to spend +the time in dancing, and if questioned, they were able to give the text +of the evening's sermon, and the trusting parents would not dream of +their having been any where but at church. + +I only wish that certain parents, who think they are restricting their +children to "parlor dancing at home only," could have been with me the +night of May 30th, 1892, and seen, as I did, their girls, some of them +but twelve or fourteen years of age, dancing in a public saloon, where +so much beer had been spilt on the floor that the women had to hold +their dresses up to keep them from getting soiled and wet as they +danced. + +This is usually the result of teaching the child to dance and then +restricting them to home dancing. If they once become fascinated with it +they must and will, by some means, fair or foul, have more of it than +their homes afford. + +There are professing Christians who condemn the sale of liquor, advocate +the closing of saloons, and frown on Sunday picnics and other +amusements, who allow their own children to attend so-called select +dancing parties. + +In these places are taught the rudiments of an education which may make +them graduates of the saloon or the brothel. + +I do not say that it _always_ does, but I do say that it _often_ does. + +The safe side is the best side. Keep them from taking the first step to +ruin, and they can never take the last. + +Where did the majority of the drunkards take their first drink? Where +did the gambler play his first card? Where did three-fourths of the +women, who are to-day living a life of shame, have a man's arm about +them for the first time? + +Let me answer. + +The first drink of the drunkard was just a social glass. + +The first game of the gambler was just a social game. + +And three-fourths of the outcasts had a man's arm about them for the +first time when they were young girls at a social dance. + +There are in San Francisco 2,500 abandoned women. Prof. La Floris says: +"I can safely say that three-fourths of these women were led to their +downfall through the influence of dancing." + +The lot of a Negress in the equatorial forest is not, perhaps, a very +happy one, but it is not much worse than that of many a pretty orphan +girl in our Christian land. + +We talk of the brutalities of the dark, dark ages, and profess to +shudder as we read in books of the shameful practices of those times, +and yet, here beneath our very eyes, in our ball-rooms and theatres and +in many other places, the same hideous abuse, which must be nameless +here, flourishes unchecked: + +A young penniless girl, if she be pretty, is often haunted from pillar +to post by her employer, and if he fails to get her to submit to his +diabolical solicitations outside of the ball room, he will manage to get +her to attend a dancing school, where he has the _right_ to encircle her +with his arms and press her to himself until she is inflamed with +passion. She hears in the ball room no warning voice, finds no helping +hand to guide her in the path of virtue. The only helping hands there +are those of which Byron wrote, + + "Hands which may freely range in public sight + Were ne'er before--" + +and which helps her rapidly down the road to ruin. + +When the poor girl is once induced to sacrifice her virtue she is +treated as a slave and outcast by the very man who brought her ruin upon +her. Her self-respect is gone. Her life becomes valueless to her, and +she is swept downward, ever downward, into the bottomless pit of +prostitution, and becomes an outcast from her fellow-beings. + +But she is far nearer the loving, pitying heart of Christ than all the +men who forced her down. And who shall say that Jesus loves her less +than He does those who profess to be His followers and the soldiers of +His cross, and yet stand silently and idly by while all this fearful +wrong goes on. + +The matron of a home for fallen women in Los Angeles, says: +"Seven-tenths of the girls received here have fallen through dancing and +its influence." + +Of course, some of these, either from inherited passion or evil +education, have deliberately and of free choice entered upon a life of +shame; but the great majority do so under the stress of temptation; +sometimes because of poverty or chafing against uncongenial employment, +with meager wages. They are told that in the profession of prostitution, +they can, if they are lucky, make more in a single night than they could +by sewing a week. + +Can you wonder that many a girl, aroused by the waltz and then lured by +such glittering bait, is led to sell herself, soul and body, to those +who make use of her and then cast her aside for another? + +And yet ball-rooms, where this corruption germinates, flourish and are +countenanced by many preachers of the gospel, and attended and +encouraged by church members whose pastors have not the moral courage to +condemn the evil, for fear of offending some of their members who dance. + +The ministers, in a great measure, set the standard of morality in our +land, and when they will rise to the occasion and make a long strike, a +strong strike, a strike altogether against this ball-room curse, +Christian people will strike with them. Then, and not until then, will +this evil be wiped out. + +It is at the cause and not the effect that the strike must be made. + +In some cities the advisability of closing all the houses of +prostitution by laws has been discussed. + +One might as well try to stop the Mississippi river from flowing by +damming it at its mouth, as to try to stop this great stream of vice by +closing the doors of the brothel. + +To dam the river at its mouth would only cause it to overflow its banks +and seek another outlet, and to close the doors of the brothels on one +street would only drive them to another. + +To stop this great tide of sin we must begin at its source. To close the +doors of the brothel, close first the doors of the dancing school. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ABANDONED WOMEN THE BEST DANCERS. + + +The most accomplished and most perfect dancers are to be found among the +abandoned women. Why? Because they are graduates of dancing schools. + +If any should wish to ascertain the truth of this let him ask the girls +themselves. + +I have for several months been working in a Mission of Los Angeles, and +where I have before seen causes at work, I have now had ample +opportunity of seeing the effect, and I have often heard some of these +unfortunate ones cry out in bitter anguish "Would to God that I had +never entered a dancing school." + +The following 200 were cases of girls who are to-day inmates of the +brothel whom I talked with personally. They were frank to answer to my +questions in regard to the direct cause of their downfall, and I +gathered that these were ruined by: + + Dancing school and ball rooms 163 + Drink given by parents 20 + Willful choice 10 + Poverty and abuse 7 + ---- + 200 + +I know of a select dancing school where in a course of three months +eleven of its victims are brothel inmates to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +EQUALLY A SIN FOR BOTH SEXES. + + +I have, in the preceding pages, spoken chiefly of the harm that comes to +women from dancing, and have shown how vile men make use of the +privileges the waltz and its surroundings afford to lead once pure girls +to impurity and often to crime. But do not think for a moment that +because I have here thus spoken, that I hold the women blameless or the +dance to the man harmless. + +While the woman is more often disgraced in the sight of man, I believe +that in the sight of God the sin of dancing is equally a sin for both +sexes. + +A girl is often ensnared into intoxication and thus into greater sin by +vile men, but she is not wholly excusable. If she goes to a ball she +must take the consequences. Every woman has a God-given instinct which +teaches her right from wrong, and she cannot but know that to indulge in +such emotions as the modern waltz fosters is wrong. + +It is a horrible fact, but a fact none the less, that it is absolutely +necessary that a woman shall be able and willing to reciprocate the +feelings of her partner before she can graduate a perfect dancer. + +So, even if it be allowed that a woman may waltz virtuously, she cannot, +in that case, waltz well. + +It matters not how perfectly she knows and takes the steps, she must +yield herself entirely to her partner's embrace, and also to his +emotions. Until a girl can and will do this she is regarded a scrub by +the male experts. + +I would that young women who dance could just once be "behind the +scenes" when young men meet after an evening's dance to discuss it +together, and hear such remarks as "that Miss ---- is a perfect stick. I +would not give a fig to dance with her. You can't arouse any more +passion in her than you could in a putty man. To waltz with such as she +is not what I go for." + +Or, another says: "Ah! but that beautiful Miss Smith is a daisy. She is +posted. This waltzing is the greatest thing in the world. While you are +whirling one of these dear creatures, if you do the thing correctly, you +can whisper in her ear things she would shoot you for saying at any +other time, but she likes it all the same. They take to it naturally +enough if they are properly taught. If you don't know just how it is +done go to a dancing master, or any professional dancer. They know, and +they will soon let you know. You will soon become a waltzer and thus +find out what there is in it." + +Such remarks, and worse than these, (remarks unfit to publish even in +this plainly written book) are made, my fair young ladies, after the +ball, about you by the very young men who, at the dance, you thought so +nice and who are so considered. I am ashamed to say in by-gone days, I +have been among these young men myself, and I know that to hear them +give free expression, loose-tongued, to the lewd emotions and sensual +pleasures in which they indulge while in your embrace, is almost as +common as the waltz itself. + +I repeat what I have said before, that I do not refer to rough, +uncultured men, but to those who are looked upon by society as most +polished, refined and desirable young men. + +If it be true that a woman, however innocent in thought, is the subject +of such vile comment, if there is the barest possibility that it may be +true, is it not also true that if she is possessed of a remnant of +delicacy, she will shrink from exposing herself to such comment, and +flee from places of dancing as from a den of vipers? + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE APPROVAL OF SOCIETY IS NO PROOF AGAINST THE DEGRADATION. + + +I know that there are many who will contend that I have some selfish or +spiteful motive in writing thus strongly in condemnation of the waltz. +Many will doubtless claim that the waltz is very moral and healthful, is +indulged in by the best people of every land, seemingly tolerated by +all, and that he who raises his voice against it does so from other +motives than a disinterested desire to warn his fellow-men against it. + +I admit that it is indulged in by a great multitude (not of the best) +but the most aristocratic society people. But does the fact that society +has permitted itself to be carried by storm into a toleration of the +modern dance make the dance any less degrading and sinful. No more so, +it seems to me, than does the fact of the universal use of alcohol make +its effect less harmful or make it any the less a destroyer of homes, +happiness and character. + +No, its universality does not prove its morality, and it is certain that +results prove conclusively its immorality, and all who try to make it +out otherwise, are either those who know nothing at all about it and are +unwilling to believe that such an evil could be in their midst without +their knowledge, or those who know and practice the abominations, but +enjoy it far too well to confess what they know. These last will be +loudest in their clamor against this book and its author, and in their +profession of perfect innocence. + +They believe themselves to be the sole possessors of the secret which +makes the waltz their pet amusement. They do not mean that their secret +shall be divulged, and they seize every opportunity of praising the +"beauty and variety" of the waltz. Its "health giving exercise," "its +innocent amusement" and its grace-giving qualities. Grace-giving, +forsooth. The grace of the harlot, to my mind, is not the most desirable +possession. + +I have known many and many a non-dancing mother to encourage her child +to learn to dance, because she wanted her to become graceful, and in +many a case that daughter has lost grace, health, virtue and all that a +woman holds dear. If you have a choice of a saloon for your son, and a +so-called select dancing school for your daughter, I beseech you, in the +name of God, place your son in the saloon, but keep your daughter out of +the dancing school. + +If you wish her to become graceful there are schools of physical culture +which are much better adapted to the development of health and grace, +and much less to the development of vile passions and depraved natures. +What I have said before will be no surprise to those who waltz, though, +of course, they will feign great surprise, ignorance, and innocence of +it all. + +But dancing schools are often made use of in a way that is not so well +known. Professional thieves often frequent these places. Many of them +are perfect dancers and good conversationalists. They appear most +respectable and are, of course, so considered, since they are found in +the select school, where references are required. + +They gain admittance to the school either by practising fraud upon the +dancing master, or inducing him to practice fraud upon the public by +admitting such a man for a liberal compensation, to what he advertises +to be a select school. + +When once in a school it is an easy matter to form the acquaintance of +the wives and daughters of wealthy men. + +To these he makes himself most agreeable, as he well knows how to do, +and, if possible, manages by some means or other, to get an invitation +to call. If he fails, he makes some excuse to call without an +invitation. During his calls he manages, if opportunity presents itself, +to seize some valuables; if not he will locate them, to be called for +upon some future dark night, and he is quite safe from arrest, for even +if suspected he knows that the ladies of the house who have been seen +with him in public would only bring disgrace upon themselves by +arresting for theft a man upon whose breast they often reclined in +public. + +This, however, is of small account. If it was the only evil connected +with dancing, this book would never have been written. The loss of +earthly possessions is of little consequence when compared with the loss +of health, happiness, purity and virtue. + +I simply tell you this to show you how many evils a dancing master is +cognizant of in connection with dancing, that the generality of people +know little or nothing about. + +Some one has said that few people know better than the dancing master +and saloon keeper, how many souls are sent through the port holes of +hell between the ages of fourteen and twenty by these two agencies of +the devil. + +And he is right. + +The heart of the dancing master must be even harder than that of the +saloon keeper, for while the saloon keeper must witness the harmful and +disgraceful indulgence of men, principally, he knows that there is a +chance that it may prove only a harmful indulgence. + +But the man who can constantly see pure and lovely women being whirled +to a disgrace from which she can never recover must have a heart hard +indeed. Yet this is what I have witnessed and helped to perpetuate by +teaching dancing. Still I heedlessly continued in the business, until +something occurred which set me to thinking. + +I met on a train, while leaving town, one day a young woman, who, a few +months before, had been a member of my select dancing academy. She had +been ruined there, and was one of the discarded ones when the school was +closed for a few weeks, as all dancing-schools have to be every little +while, to get rid of those girls who have met with a fate similar to +hers. + +I entered into conversation with her and found she could no longer +endure being shunned and slighted by all her old companions, and was +running away from home. I knew that her parents would be heart broken, +and that she, without the protection of a home, would soon sink to utter +abandonment, and I tried every persuasion to induce her to return to the +home she was leaving. I--who was still teaching the very thing which had +been her ruin, now that self-respect and all for which life was worth +the living, was lost to her forever--I tried to save her from further +degradation. + +After I had argued for some time with her she turned fiercely upon me, +her once beautiful eyes now filled with a desperation born of despair, +and said, with a look and tone of reproach which I shall never forget: +"Mr. Faulkner, when you will close your dancing schools and stop this +business, which is sending so many girls by swift stages on a straight +road to hell, _then, sir_, and not till then, will I think of reform." + +I was stirred by her words as I had never been stirred before. But for +them I might, perhaps, not have been writing this book to-day. At this I +know many may sneer and say that I have myself done more than most men +towards the furtherance of the evil I so strongly condemn. + +I bow my acknowledgements. I own it all. + + "I lived for self, I thought for self, + For self and none beside, + Just as if Christ had never lived. + As though he had never died." + +I sinned against heaven and in the sight of God and man, and was in no +wise worthy to become a child of him to whom I came ten months ago, and +he received me just as I was, all stained with many, many sins, and in +his boundless love and mercy he forgave them all. + +I feel I cannot close this book without just a word to any of my old +companions who may chance to read it, and to others who are leading the +life I once led. I want you to forsake that old life I once shared with +you and, as I have done, give yourselves into the hands of the Master, +Jesus Christ. + +You don't know what you are missing of happiness in this world and what +you may miss in the world to come. I do not ask you to take my life for +an example. That would be a poor example, indeed. We do not have to take +any human life for a copy. The life of Christ is the one true example +for us all, and I believe that when we stand before, the great Judge of +all, the question will not be,_ if we have lived as well as this +professing Christian or that church member_, but if we have lived our +life as nearly like the life of Christ as we could. + +And right here let me say a few words to professing Christians and +church members who dance. I say "professing" Christians because I +believe there is a vast difference between a _Christian_ and a +"professing" Christian and church member who dances. + +To be a _Christian is to be Christlike_, and I believe there is nothing +_Christlike_ in partaking of such pleasures as have been described in +the foregoing pages, even though you indulge no further than the license +of the waltz. And even granting (if this were possible) that you only +engage in the indecent and suggestive position and motions, without a +single sinful thought or feeling, do you believe that your Heavenly +Father could say to you, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. +Thou hast spent the evening to my honor and glory. Thou art in the +world and not of it. Thou hast done nothing that could cause thy brother +to offend, but hast set a good and Godly example. Thou art letting thy +light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify +your Father which is in heaven. Thou art denying thyself and taking thy +cross daily and following me. I left my home in glory and lived and +suffered and died the death of the crucified that thou mightest take +thine ease, dance, drink, and be merry, and then, lay down thy cross and +take up thy _crown_ in glory to be with thy Savior and be like Him." + +"The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye know not." + +If he should come and find you at the dance, locked in the embrace of +another woman's husband, do you feel that he would consider you ready? + +Do you not feel the slightest fear that He would say, "Depart from me, I +never knew you?" + +Ah, my friends, I should fear it very much. I should fear that to my +account would be laid the sin of the harlot. + +You say that you dance very properly. What have you to say for those +who, looking to you for a Christian example, see that you, a church +member, dance, and conclude that there can be no harm in it for them, so +they indulge and are ruined by it, and in after days are to be found +leading a life of shame in the brothel, all because of your example +which led them to take the first step on the downward road? + +Do you believe that when you shall both stand before the bar of God for +just judgment that none of her sin will be laid to your charge? + +Christian friends, a great responsibility rests upon us all, not only to +see that we "keep ourselves unspotted from the world," but that we do +all in our power to drive from our fair land this awful blot and curse. + + + + +TESTIMONIALS. + + +We have just finished reading Mr. Faulkner's book, called "FROM THE +BALL-ROOM TO HELL," and we are profoundly moved by it. We believe +every word of it is true, and that his characterization of the +demoralization and ruin wrought by the modern dance is none too strongly +put. + +Surely nothing worse could have been found in Sodom than these Dancing +Academies, as a reason why the righteous God sent fire and brimstone and +destroyed them all. These exposures are as carefully and delicately +written as could be, and yet not fail to be fully understood. + +We hope the book will find a wide reading and help to open many eyes +that are blind and startle many that are careless, and prove to be a +barbed wire fence around many homes of the innocent. + +May the Holy Spirit of God bless our Christian brother in his efforts to +expose these hot-beds of vice. We advise all pastors and members of our +Churches to read this book, and send it to friends. + +Signed by the following ministers, of Los Angeles, California. + + REV. BRESEE, Pastor Simpson M. E. Church. + REV. D. READ, Pastor First Baptist Church. + REV. H. U. CRABBE, Pastor United Presbyterian. + REV. M. H. STINE, First English Lutheran Church. + REV. A. C. SMITHERS, Temple St. Christian Church. + REV. F. V. FESHER, Vincent M. E. Church. + REV. A. B. PHILLIPS, City and County Missionary. + REV. J. H. COLLINS, Third Congregational Church. + REV. A. ANDERSON, Universalist. + REV. FATHER MORLEY, Catholic Priest. + +REV. O. READ writes--"You have photographed the ball-room +correctly." + +REV. B. FAY MILLS says: May God bless you in your work, and hope that +great good will be accomplished by this book. I believe what you say is +true. I know of such cases as you have described. It should be read by +all Christians. + +CAPT. E. R. JENNINGS: "Among those who have spoken in praise of +your powerfully written little book, 'From the Ball-Room to Hell,' let +my name be enrolled." + +REV. E. S. TAYLOR writes: "Last evening I purchased a copy of +'From the Ball-Room to Hell.' I read it through at one sitting, and +hasten to thank you for your noble utterance. I know from my own +experience that every word is true." + +REV. S. E. WILSON, in a long and eulogistic letter, says: "This +book fills a vacant niche in the temple of literature, not occupied by +sermons or homilies." + +PROF. HOMES, ex-dancing master, writes: "This book is founded +on facts." + +THE REV. FATHER MORLEY, a Catholic Priest of California, +writes: "Having carefully read your excellent book, 'From the Ball-Room +to Hell,' I cannot forbear expressing my full approval, therefore I +cheerfully endorse every line contained therein. You have opened, dear +sir, a campaign against public evil. You can send to me one hundred +copies, which I shall place in the hands of my followers." + +"The author writes evidently under a deep conviction of the truth, and +gives a voice of warning in terms that will nigh take away the breath of +many parents who read it. We think that every pastor ought to see that +one of these books should be placed in the hands of all members of their +church."--_California Christian Advocate._ + +The lady principal of one of the chief female educational establishments +on the Pacific Slope writes: "Myself and lady friends of mine have read +the book 'From the Ball-Room to Hell,' and think you have done a noble +work, and think it ought to be read by all parents." + +PROF. A. T. SULLIVAN, ex-dancing master, says: "Waltzing is the +spur of lust." + +"We feel pleased that there exists a pen bold enough to denounce the +evil complained of in so masterly a manner and in such vigorous English. +If we mistake not, it will work great good in the social world."--_Los +Angeles Evening Express._ + +"This book has created a greater flutter in social circles than anything +published within our remembrance. Its pages should receive careful +perusal of parents, and the equally careful attention of the young. We +believe every word of it is true."--_Los Angeles Times._ + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's From the Ball-Room to Hell, by T. A. Faulkner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE BALL-ROOM TO HELL *** + +***** This file should be named 18759.txt or 18759.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/7/5/18759/ + +Produced by David Starner, Suzanne Lybarger, Janet +Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by the Library of Congress) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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