[Ads-l] antedating "square dance"

[Jonathan Lighter]

MW: 1870

1831 _Hampshire Gazette_ (Northampton, Mass.) (Aug. 24) 1 {GenealogyBank]:
The Shakers at Shirley, Mass... The brethren paired off, and after them the
sisters, and paraded in a kind of procession around the choristers, in what
they call the "square dance."

1866 _Springfield [Mass.] Daily Republican_ (Jan. 6) 5 [Newspapers.com]:
Thorough instruction will be given in all the Round and Square Dances.

 JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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