Kirkland House Reform Group Regards Dancing as Sex Orgy

"Liquor and the dance hall are responsible for 50 per cent of the murders in America."

"Take sex out of the dance and its charm has departed . . . The Indian girl in the American forest was safer than the American in the ballroom."

These are the conclusions of the Kirkland House G-Entry Mission," its directors stated in an interview yesterday. They form the basis of an extensive platform from which to work toward the ultimate goal: reform for Harvard.

"Moral Degeneracy"

Inspired by a tract called "The First Dancing Lesson" (Leander Smith, 808 Avenue E., Council Bluffs, Iowa), and grged on by what they described as the "moral degeneracy" of the examination period, Clarence L. Alexander '40 Paul J. Goldheizer '40, and Joseph W. Barber '40, have begun an intensive campaign.

In place of the usual, objectionable mode of dancing, they urge back-to-back waltzing, with gospel hymns in place of the modern, "voluptuous" music. The hymns, they conceded, 'might be played with such rhythms as to be appropriate for the purpose."

"The First Dancing Lesson"

Uppermost in the minds of the missionaries, however, is the eradication of sensual dancing. Quoting from "The First Dancing Lesson," they said, "It is a pity that those who attempt to defend the dance could not see a young innocent girl taking her first dancing lesson.

When the dancing master, who is rarely a taxpayer or a respectable man, but often a low libertine, first puts his leprous arms about her, the crimson comes to her cheeks, and she shrinks from his embrace. She is soon reassured . . . The blush, God's danger signal, soon disappears, and also too often forever. The innate sense of modesty receives a shock, and one of the God-given barriers is gone. Many pure and noble young girls are, at first, all unconscious of the nature of the pleasuretey derive from the ballroom . . .

"Parents, are you letting your child attend these dance halls? Of course, the first step may be in a respectable, private home,--but let me warn you,--beware, beware!