The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-08
NEGRO WOMEN NEVER KISS.
some Manners of Whites not Initiated by
Blacks.

why 1t Is negro women never kiss each
other?"
The reporter had long noticed this
! peculiarly on the part of neg.o women
and naturally turned to an amusing re.
collection of having heard the question
argued in schoolbOy's debating society.
lie conclusion arrived at them WAS that
the women have something better to
KISS, and this answer hrs never been
forced to give place to a more satisfactory
! one.
Il have at times given much consid.
Grafton to this question:" said the repor.
ter, and have frequently thought of
! propouDiing it to the many reads of
the Post. You will also find that the
negro women seldom shake hands with
each other"
les; | have noticed that popularity
with them, too, but have never been able
TO arrive at satisfac.o explanation.
1t IS said that the negroes initiate the
whites, and relating to most things the
assertion is true, bu. in his one particu-
lar the negro women cannot be charged
with adopting the manners and customs
OF IT. whites. Two white ladies who
are friends, meet. rush into each others
arms and kiss, each declares she never
saw the other look better, and mutual
praises and admiration are exchanged.
lwo negro women meet, no matter how
warm and cndearing the friendship be-
! tween them, maintain a respectable dis
tance, inquire alter each others health, aud
enter at once Upon the subject upon which
they desire to converse. l have lived in
the South all my life, and | have never
heard negro woman, face TO face. com
pliment another. There is less of what
you may call social deception among the
negroes than any other class of people !;
their dislikes are strong, and can not be
hid under an assumed politeness."
You can hardly employ as strong lam
guage in regard to the negro man?''
| NO, the negro man is more of an or
thodox handshaker than the white.
Why, he sticks his hand out to everybody
he meets, and is very profuse in the use
OF tally. Your negro man is purely an
imitator the negro woman is not. In
the matter of dress it may be said that
all women are imitators, but beyond this,
the charge can not be made against negro
women. They have habits that are pc.
culiarly their own. Among the more
refined you never hear them address each
other without the prefix Miss while
among the lower class it is always La
dy.'"
Admitting, as We must, that the ne
/ groes are more or less ilitat0rs, how are
we to explain the fact that they never
kiss-for do not believe that anybody
ever saw tvo negroes kiss. l have at
tended number of negro weddings, aud
| never yet saw the bride kissed,
while, on the other hand, wedding
among the whites, with it's attendant re-
ccption without kisses, would be some.
thing so strange as to call forth general
comment. have also heard that indians
never kiss. Are we to suppose, then,
that kissing is confined to the white race
| have always considered kissing aB an
aesthetic pleasure, to be thoroughly en-
loycd only bv those of delicate and re-
fined temperament. You will also find
that among the lower classes of white
women kissing is a rarity"
THAT will hold to certain extent.
| Why have seen women kiss over the
washtub. l must admit that it makes me
feel uncomfortable to see two real pretty
girls kiss-what willful wasting of good
things oflife! 1t is a kind OF cruelty to
animals that hurt both ways it is tortu-
ring to man of delicate and highstrung
nerves, while a spirited girl must suffer
the torments of Tantalus to have her lips
go often deceived by the insipid act of
female kissing. The negro W oman shows
much wisdom in not tOrturing herself in
that way. For twenty odd years l have
lived in the South, have had negroes in
my house ever since was child, during
my whole life have been intermingled
with them, and never but once have l
seen one negro girl kiss another"
Then you have seen an exception TO
what you claim is rulc?"
eyes; but then it was done in such an
ignorant, bungling manner as to be real
ly laughablc."
GLOW sc? ~
II will tell you that, and, if ever you
have an occasion to dissertatc on the art
of kissing, you may find place to fit in.
One of them was very bright mulatto,
and stood inside the gate; the other was
q dark skinned girl, apparently a visitor
just leaving, and stood on the outside OF
the gate. As approached they were
talking, when all offs sudden the light
colored girl threw her arms around the
neck of the blacker one, with the fero
ciousncss of All angered politician
bumped their heads together, said Good
by and ran into the house. She pro5a
bly, called it a kiss, and have let it go as
an exception to the rule, but in truth, il
was more plainly IN assault they were
entirely ignorant of the art of kissing
and did not know how to give Or receive
the blissful boon. This, however, was
hardly fair case rs one Of the girls wa:
nearer white than black. In all my life
have often heard my father remark thu
same thing. He was over sixty years ole
and frequently told us it was tradition
through all his family the negro womer
never kiss. A friend of mine, who ha
been n great traveller, has visited Africf
and Hoyti, has remarked to me the
strange fact that negro women neve
kiss. Why is it? Open a column in th'
Post for communications on the subject
and will guarantee that you will ge
sufficient material to make an interesting
volume"
That which is expressed in the conver
sation above is in the main correct
While it may be truly charged that ne
groes are imitators, it must be sale
10 their credit that they initiate the vir
tues rather than the iollies of the whites
In social relation there is less deception
among the blacks. They are too full o
nature to pretend to what they do no
feel. Scandals, divorces, and other iniqui
ties that flow on from deception are o
seldom occurrence among them. The
subjeo. of negro women not kissing ha'
often Lran discussed right here in Ken
tucky, where the customs and the habit
ofthe negroes should be known and ur
derstood. and old men who have been sur
rounded nv negroes all their lives dcclar