Omaha daily bee., 1888-09-24
KISSING.
"A S inject Ever Old, Yet Ever New,
Discussed.

discussed.
The Epoch: Kissing has been in
vogue ever since Adam kissed Eve in
the garden of Eden. 1t is frequently re-
ferred to in the scriptures as indicating
reverence, submission and affection.
The osculum pacis, or kiss OF peace,
was anciently given by the faithful one
to the other as u testimony of tho cor
diality of affection. After the priest
had given the salutation Of peace the
deacon ordered the people to salute with
a holy kiss. Even to this day male men,
bers OF certain sects kiss each other. in
accordance with the injunction, salute
the brethren with II kiss" Henry II.
of England refused to give Beckett the
kiss of peace, the usual pledge Of rec
onciliution in vogue in 1863.
There are historical kisses OF record,
some of which were important enough
to shape political events. 1t is supposed
that the kisses exchanged by Antony
and Cleopatra and Henry VIII. and
Anne Boleyn shook an empire and de-
stroyed a religion.
When Cardinal John of Lorraine was
presented to the Duchess OF Savoy she
cav him her hand to kiss, at which the
great churchman became indignant.
''Ill not be treated in this manner" he
augrlly said; Il kiss the queen, my mis-
tress, and shall | not kiss you, who are
only II duchess?' Though the proud
little Portuguese princess resisted he
kissed her squarely on the mouth.
Charlemagne caught his secretary
kissing the emperor's daughter at mid
night. She carried him home on her~
back, so that his footsteps might not be
traced in the snow. The emperor heard
OF it.. and made her take him for the
rest of her life.
Noltaire was once publicly kissed by
the young and lovely Countess de Viii
lars. Georgiana, Duchess of Devon
shire, rave Steele, II butcher, a kiss for
his vote, and the Duchess OF Gordon,
just rs handsome, recruited II regiment
in n similar manner. In ancient Rome
a kiss was a religious ceremony. The
nearest friend OF a dying person ire
ceived his soul" by a kiss, for the soul
was supposed to leave the body through
the lips. Pliny intimates that the
Roman women began to degenerate
when they INDUCED in indi5criminate
kissing.
The poets knew how to appreciate
kisses and classified them to some TX
tent. There is the stolen kiss
The kiss snatch'd hasty from the sidelong
maid.
Thompson expresses it. There is the
lDS L vi NllIb iN " StSttNo.
A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth and love.
Then there is the soothing kiss re-
fcrred to by Lady Mary Wortley Mon
tagu:
BE plain in dress and sober in your diet;
In short, my dreary, kiss me and be quiet.
Shakespeare was partial to kisses from
misses in their teens, though in ''Twi-
light Night" he does not object to an
extra year, for he says:
Then come kiss me, sweet-and-twenty.
Lord Lans1owne, in his Heroic
Love-" was a believer in the instan-
taneous exchange:
The kiss you take is paid by that you give;
The JOY is mutual, and Pm still in debt.
Thomas Davis best" girl must have
used him pretty cleverly, don't you
think?
Kisses and welcome you'll find here before
And the oftener you come the more rll adore
Campbell, it would seem, never forgot
his s~weetheart's first kiss:
How delicious is the winning
OF a kiss al love's beginning!
Thomas Carew didn't go into rapture
over the permission.
] do not love thee, for those soft,
Red-coral lips I've kissed so oft.
Charlotte +. Bates has her fling at
kisses in an apostrophe Of intese regret
f~ulncss:
All the kisses that / have given
| grudge from my soul to-day,
And of all / have ever taken
/ would wipe the thought away.
The kiss of the s~oulless hirt is scored
in the %subjoined couple by Parnell:
Then in IL kiss she brcath'd her various arts,
OF triling prettily with wounded hearts.
Probably no verse on kissing is more
sprightly than the one by Leigh Hunt,
founded upon an incident which befcll
him when he bore Carlyle news that the
government had just granted the great
Scotchman u pension OF $500 sterling a
year:
Jenny kissed me when we sat,
Jumping from the chair we sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put them in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I'm growing old; but add,
Jenny kissed mel
There exists an old social custom OF
claiming n pair of gloves by II kiss given
when asleep. Allusion to this occurs in
SCOTS Fair Maid of Perth" Gather
inc Glover, on st. Valentines day,
found Henry Of Wynd asleep in a chair
in her fathers house. She stole a kiss
from him, thereby choosing him as her
valentine, and winning a pair of gloves.
Her fathey, who was a glovemaker,
says: Thou knowest the maiden who
ventures to kiss a sleeping man wins of
him n pair of gloves. Come TO my booth.
Thou shall have a pair of delicate kid
skin that will exactly suit her hand and
arm"
IoSI.nod Ganoaa nP tho yyn.Ih