| Show 1 BAL MASQUE WE have been asked repeatedly our opinion in regard to the propriety of or masquerades and their general tendency and effect in reply we have no hesitation in saying that we consider them inexpedient which ia Is the mildest term which suggests itself in this tills connection dancing has been Xer permitted mitte ato to the latter day saints aa as a recreation wh which icil tell properly conducted and ana indulged in lit with moderation Is a social amusement calculated to promote cheerfulness friendly intercourse ter course and mutual good without any evil results to body or mind the sparkling eye ha happy appy face the pleasant which greet each partner in the dance form ene one ne of the chief of the enjoyment and grace is cultivated iu in the poetry of motion prompted by sweet strains of merry musie to hide the countenance with a mask and change the graceful figures odthe of the decorous ball room into lax burlesque is to divert a permitted p pleasure into luto an undirected channel and turn it from the objects designed in its institution no one will deny that it is improper for respectable persons particularly ticul arly the tho young to mingle 1 in U in sueh such amusements with persons of doubtful character and standing yet in a ball masque an innocent and prudent girl may way hobnob hob bob nob with a rogue and a villain and a youth who has avoided tha the path of vice may way move in the e embrace m ot of the waltz with a female to t 0 whom virtue has bas become a stranger or an object of ridicule ades wherever they have become popular the world over have been made the tho cover for intrigue licentiousness and ovalin its worst forms at their introduction in a small community like jike bours ours no positive harm may occur they may be prompted by a simple alm aim pie desire for some innocent fun in a new form and be conducted in such away a way that no harm may arise particularly in a private gathering where none are admitted but friends but hut when once the ice tee is broken how bow basy easy it becomes to float with the stream and by and by glide into the whirlpool of destruction we are writing for the lat lit ter tor day saints jf if others choose to io adopt this style of amusement we have no right to interfere but buiwe we consider it our duty to enter our cur protest against any thing which we consider conducive to evil and therefore reply generally 1 to the questions which have been 1110 4 apken in a manner which we hope will be offensive to io none the que rades is to laxity of mann erand character and to impropriety of feeling and conduct the restraints of ordinary social enjoyment are re removed a freedom of action isi encouraged that is far from desirable the secrecy which is facilitated is a powerful aid to evil and forms an am 1 pie opportunity to the vile and co corrupt r for the covert practice of their arts upon the innocent extra va kance gauce gance and recklessness are pr promoted and encouraged and persons financially unable to honestly procure what is necessary for dress and other requirements ure are tempted to wrongdoing wrong doing that they may way appear on a level with wealthier acquaintances such amusements lead in the wrong direction and are calculated to promote vulgarity and undue display ani and to lo stera desire for unhealthy aita y and unnatural excitement T therefore h ere fore we think they are inexpedient for latter day saints and believe that it ie Is unwise to introduce them even in family gatherings ifor for if begun in the and with the purest of motives they are liable eventually to run into all the evila evils that attend the orgies of the bal masque in the old cities of either hemisphere let the dance go on but let it be conducted with the decorum that belongs to the people of god and arid let us not hide tho divine beauty of the tho human countenance under the hideous deformity of a mask |
