, 1869-04-02

II there Is anything OF Wnlcn tne human
race is fond, it is kissing. No doubt oul
lady readers will be shocked, and toss theiI
pretty heads disdainfully at this assertion
81 but we maintain it, nevertheless, and what
ever they may to others, to themselves they
will be compelled to confess its truth. We
do not mean that they like to kiss everybody,
only some particular lucky-or unlucky fell
low. Philosophers and learned men may
talk about the attractions of gravitation and
cohesion but there is no attraction in nature
as powerful and irresistible as that which
lies in pair of ripe, rosy lips In ages il
has been potent to draw the strongest man
from his duty or his prejudice. Even phi
losophers, with all their boasted coldness,
have been powerless to resist the force OF
this strange attraction, which even the most
abstruse science cannot account for.
Who invented kissing is not known; but
we shrewdly suspect that if mother Eve was
half so fair as Mr.. Johu Milton has painted
her, it must have been the first thing father
Adam did, when he woke to find so lovely a
creature by him Certainly if he was able to
resist the attraction, he must have been a
very icice The Hebrews had a decided
weakness for the institution and if we may
judge from the songs of Solomon, the wisest
man that ever lived was no proof against it.
The old ureeks, who were as cold as their
faultless marble, seem to have had no knowl.
edge of the attraction, for their poets until
the days of Theocritus, say nothing about it..
Theocrtus Was a travelled man, and had seen
the Egyptian women, and kissed them too
we suppose; but for all that, he was exceed
ingly moderate in his doiDgs, for he tells US
of his sweetheart
al should have been contented
With kiss of your sweet mouth"
We should have been very discontented with
such a small allowance.
The Romans we're long time in learning
the art, At first they used it very formally.
Virgil makes Jupiter kiss Venus to encour-
age her-a lesson, by the way, upon which
Madame Venus improved in an amazingly
short time Even Horace, who was broth
of boy" and who was much of lady's man,
says nothing about kissing if we remember
right. But Catullus, though a predecessor
OF Horace, was a wiser man and fellow after
our own heart. Hear what he says to his
sweetheart, when she asks him how many
kisses he wants:
Do you ask, Lesbia, how many kisses Of
thine can be enough? As many as are the
sands of the African desert, or as many as
the stars that behold the secret loves of NOR.
tails when the night is still"
That was a sensible fellow, and very natu
rally, he was popular with the ladies IL
his day.
At present one must be very proper in the
practice of the art. If be be wise, he viii
never try to kiss girl against her will, mol
to make much fuss in doing so. A quiet
easy, gentlemanly way of going about it, il
almost sure to win; many bright-eyGd, de-
mure lass, who wouldn't for the world bt
kissed in the presence of third party, viii
not have to say mo 10 a good looking fel
low when there's nobody near to see' A
wise man will also limit the number of those
be tries to kiss, for promiscuous kissing il
worse than none at all-isn't it ladies How
to go about the business is something that
each one must decide for himself A sensi,
BILE fellow, who is not a puppy, will rarely
fail to perceive the right moment; and il
he behaves himself he will almost always
find his fair one ready to supply the defcien.
cies of his education in this respect, for the
art comes natural to women.
BEFORE AND AFTER.