The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-09-21
TOMATOES AND OYSTERS.
Men kissing Men-Shal1 we Introduce III as
Custom?

Men kissing Men-Shal1 we Introduce Ii as
a Custom?
Years ago, and not SO many either,
say contemporary, when the tomato
was called the Glove apple, (" and cultl-
vate d as an object of curiosity, the idea
of eating it was not entertained. Its
flavor to the natural taste was disagree
able in the extreme. Yet now it is uni
versally eaten, aud is considered not
only the most delightful but one OF the
most wholesome vegetables.
So with the oyster. Nothing can be
more disgusting to the eye, nothing
more revolving to the stomach-tllat is
the uneducated eye and stomach. 1t
was observed, during the late war, that
the men who came down from the noun
tains to the coast could not for q long
time be persuaded to touch oysters, or
to eat out of vessel In which they had
been cooked. They even reg ardedwith
distrust the people who did eat them,
looking upon them as unnatural beings
with depraved appetites. Andyet neither
the earth nor the air, nor the waters that
cover the earth, contain aught that In
all respects equals the oyster.
The generalization often drawn from
the tomato and oyster is, that acquired
tastes are by odds the strongest, and in
many cases the most beneficial to man
kind. But the latent moral, discernable
only by the philosophical eye, has never
yet been unfolded to blind and unin-
curing word. We announce it now.
1t is this:
Acquired tastes being the strongest
and most beneficial, may it not be-nay,
is it not certain-that mankind is losing
a great deal by not cultivating these
tastes, aud by not searching about to
find objects on which to exe1 else them9
The French are very happy and indus
trious in pursuits of this character, and
the result is that they can eat and enjoy
anything on earth except buzzards.
But what do the Americans say to the
kissing of men as new, cheap and per-
manent source of deep enjoyment! We
all fancy that we know what it is to kiss
woman-a young and pretty woman.
It is said by those who have triedit to
be rather good thing. But the kissing
of q grown man by a grown man is
something at which unenlightened cpl
gastrium heaves fearfully-in this coun-
try. The French kiss, the Germans kiss.
and-do but read this:
"OscuJation is practiced somewhat
promiscuously in Russia. Somebody
writes: The Russian ceremony Of sa-
luting every one upon Easter with the
sentence "Christ has risen and a kiss,
was carried out with much pomp b} the
Emperor and his court. Precisely at
midnight, the hour being announced by
cannon. the Gar, his family and all the
court dignitaries, together with the chief
officers of the army and navy, went in
procession into the church adjoining the
winter palace. Here, at sertain stage
of the ceremonies, the Gear gave three
kisses each to the state dignitaries, the
General, aides de camp, and the COM
missioned officers of the guard. Mass
was then celebrated and the company
dispersed.
So great a man as the Emperor of all
the Russias we may be very sure would
not indulge in the above ceremony If 1t
were so very loathsome as we Americans
fancy. Ours is a miserable delusion.
Away with it. We haven't doubt but
that the kissing OF men is as far superior
to the kissing of women as beef is to
veal. Nothing can be argued from the
kissing of old women, who are Lind OF
bearlless man, because nobody kisses
them often enough. If we persisted, as
one does with tomatoes and oysters, old
women's kisses would in time become
delicious, but still not quite equal to
the kisses Of men. The mustache, we
are assured, operates like black walnut
catchup on fish.
Objections to tobacco, whisky, Swiss
cheese, and perhaps onions, as inevita-
BILE Accomplishments of the male kiss,
will be urged by the opponents of our
views. The objections have no particle
of weight. Frail, delicate, refined
women manage to worry through long,
happy lives in spite of those triAes, and
we may do the same. Let us hasten the
era of high favored masculine kisses,
and leavet the tame, insipid lips of women
to schoolboys and preachers. We have
lost ages Of bliss by not doing it in times
past. and we cannot begin too soon.
Nnru, To