Subj : Square Dance Rules 1875
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Tue Jul 19 2022 00:04:10

- From the Penn-Jersey News, May-June, 1995

 1. Admittance 50 cents, refreshments included.
 2. The music is to consist of a fiddle, a pipe or tabor, a hurdy gurdy.
    No chorus is to be sung until the dance is over.
 3. No lady is to dance in black stockings, or have her elbows bare.
 4. Every lady is to come with a handkerchief, with name marked.
 5. To prevent spitting, no gentleman will chew tobacco or smoke.
 6. No gentleman will dance in great coat unless his under one be torn.
 7. No lady will dress her hair in tallow candle, nor must she have a
    bunch of hair sticking up top of her head.
 8. Leather small clothes except newly washed are forbidden, as they might
    soil the ladies' gowns.
 9. To prevent tearing of the planking, no gentleman will dance in nailed
    shoes or boots.
10. No whispering to be allowed. If anyone shall be found to make insidious
    remarks about anyone's dancing, he shall be put out of the room.
11. No gentleman will appear with a cravat that has been worn more than a
    week or fortnight.
12. No scissors or gimlets are to be brought either by ladies or gentlemen
    unless their pockets are whole.
13. Long beards are forbidden as they would be very disagreeable if a
    gentleman should put his cheek beside a lady's.
14. Those ladies who have not had white stocking and white Morocco shoes
    will not be admitted under any pretense whatsoever. Two old ladies to
    examine all who enter.
15. No lady must appear in a veil on even if it be turned aside, as a
    gentleman will not have the opportunity of looking at her distinct.
16. No gentleman must squeeze his partner's hand, not look earnestly upon
    her, and furthermore he must not pick up her handkerchief, provided it
    were to fall. The first denotes he loves her, the second he wishes to
    kiss her, and the last that he makes a sign for both.
17. For distinction sake, the master of ceremonies is to wear a read coat,
    buff small clothes, black stockings or green shoes. So wipe your chin,
    pull down your vest, dance with the girl you love the best.
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (954:895/7)

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