Blasco Ibanez, the writer of peculiar books, has been giving his views on Europe to the ' Chicago "Tribune." It is not the appalling economic state of the continent but the dancing craze that interests him, and as usual his remarks have a piquancy of their own. He points to one feature of dancing, as seen in Paris to-day, which is undoubtedly universal. " People used to dance," he says, " out of emotional interest in their partners. Now they dance just to dance."" There is an end to that charming old custom of making the ball a cloak for carrying on a flirtation or even for serious love-making, for to-day nobody dreams of "sitting out" behind the protection of a draught-screen, heedless of the work of the orchestra. The dance is now everything, and the flirtatious young man or woman _may as well shun the ball-room, for no opportunity awaits them there. No doubt that is the highest possible tribute to the charm of the modern dance, but it is ultimately going to be a-bad_ thing for that very necessary business of love-love-making, if one of the principal resorts of Cupid has to go out of that particular line of business.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.