Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-04-22

to have inspired this spectral reappear.
ance and this solemn crcak Of vix6ncus
warning. IL is not surprising. The
amount of kissing done by the impul-
sive and afiectionste persons who arc
embraced in the tolls of that celebrated
process appears to have been tremen-
dous. No wonder that IN obsolete
bombaxine matron, for centuries unac-
customed to this improper sort ofthing,
should emerge from oblivion and rise
to point Of order. Concsrning che
Testimony of lady that in time of
profound sorrow and despair gave .
sympashet:c and religious kiss to the
/ Plymoath pastor, Mrs. Swisshelsn de-
clares that no sorrow and sympathy can
render their irregular osculations other
than perilous, and that to be strictly
secure and in order a woman must
never kiss 4 person until he is dead
II would be idle for us to claim as much
knowledge on this intricate and impor-
tant question rs Mrs Swisshelm posses
ses. but really it seems as if she were
laying down to rigid and unbending n
law. Kissing is an ancient and gracious
mode Of sa,utation, very highly spoken
of i'll the Bible and other sacred books.
and much in vogue al over the world,
except among the lower tribes Of sava-
ges, who substitute for il furious rub
bing together of noses. 1t would be
most unhappy result il, because some
Of the Brooklyn saints and sinners had
kissed not wisely bat teo much, that
henceforwarl all kissing should be in
tcrdictcd. Go to, matron. Because
thou art virtuous shall there be nc moro
cakes and aleg Even tha. mature ves-
tai virgin Susan B. Anthony would
hardly acIuiesce in the wintry severity
~ this decree. She might forego such
salutations On her own account; but how
could she expect to rally women around
her at the blast Of her reformatory fog
| horn If she forbade them to kiss or be
kissed, or only indulged them with an.
| occasional shot at a deceased parson or
mum mied missionary. She would have
TO disciples e>cctt, perhaps, a few
, b,2>% alpaca veterans, with wither-
ed, fcar-compelling fronts, who didn't
want to kiss any body. or be kissed
to any extent involving anxieties or
lawsuits. These would not consti-
tute an effective refomatory army
! There is not much chance that Mrs.
Swisshelm's counsel will seriously di-
minish the aggregate of kissing the
world over. 1t seems TO be pretty
constant quantity, and though not ac-
curatcly measurable by statistics, it
doubtless bears an invariable relation
to tie table Of population. So much is
maternal or ra:ernal, so much filial, SO
much fraternal, SO much conjugal, So
much ceremonial or salutatory, and SO
much (the unknown quantity miscel-
laneous and unclassiticd. AS q literary
lady OF several centuries of experience,
Mrs Swisshelm will doubtless recall
Leigh Hunts viyacious and graceful
lines, founded upon an incident which
befc!l him when he bore to Carlyle news
that the Government had just granted
the great Scotchnian a pension Of $500
4 wear.
/ Jenny kissed r,e when we mot,
! Jumping from the chair she sat in. .-a
, Time. you thief, Who love 20 get
| Sweets into your list, put that in. 80
Say I'm weary. say I'm SD, .u.T
! Say :hat health ani wealth have missed me-,
f., Say I'm growing old, but add,
! jennie kissed ms"
Certainly Mrs. Svisshclm would not
have had this graceful and becoming
salu.ation forcgone, else where would
Lave been the pretty poetry in which
it is So musically historied? Nor must
she forget that the bcautifui Georgiana,
Duchess of Dcvonshire, carried the West
minister election on critical occasion
by bestowing a kiss upon IN Influential
constituent who drove tho clcvating
and ennobling trade of butcher. That
celebrated Kiss brought the Wings into
power, accomplished such an important
series Of political results that, if Mrs.
SwisShelm were once TO read of them,
she would revoke her interdict Of kisses
and confess that properly distributed
and seasonably applied they are not in
furious to the invividual and are Of
profound benefit 10 society.