St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-09
LECTURE ON KISSING.


"There was preacher back in my old
town in Ohio on the river, just across
from Kentucky and West Virginia, who
had married some $500 couples" re
m arked a white-haired passenger direc
tor at the union depot. always, as
soon as he had made bride, he kissed
her and invited every one present to do
likewise. l lived near him, and used to
witness as many weddings as possible
| was younger then than | am now.
"What / was going to say, though"
old Baptist preacher saw good deal of
OSCILLATION in his day, since l have been
in this depot have seen more kissing,
more kinds and styles of kisses, more
unique and artistic kissing than that old
divine ever thought of. There is more
kissing in this depot every day than
there ever was at an Old-time candy
pull. One would suppose that most
people would hesitate to perform this
little act of endearment in such pub
lie place, but never saw woman who
stood on ceremony in the matter, though
Ive seen men look bored enough. You
know the old ditty of:
II saw Esau kissing Kate,
The fact is, we all three saws
saw Esau, he saw me,
And she saw saw Esau.
'You can bet that when Esau, he
saw, he was more embarrassed than
when Kate, she saw.
''S0me of the young fellows around
the depot say it makes them sick to see
so much kissing, but that's all boSh. l
like to watch them. There's more hui
man nature in kiss than there is in
street car. Here you see all kinds:
The kiss of parting and the kiss of
greeting, the Kansas kiss, the pretty
cousin kiss, the husband-and-wife kiss,
baby kissing and all. Then the emil
grant room gives an opportunity for the
study of the kissing habit among all ma
tionalities. Just now | have occasion
to observe good many parting kisses,
where wife leaves a glieving husband
for summer trip. He always comes
down to the train with her, loaded with
baggage and impatience. She invaria-
bly, kisses him twice-once when just
on the steps of the car, while
he has his arms full of bun
a quick. fierce jerk, and says, well
good-by!' and gives him short pointed
kiss. He, OF course, gets on the car just
the same, apd before it starts the per-
Torrance is gone over again. | never
knew of single caSe-men that | never
knew to take drink at any other time,
church members and ALL never knew
OF case when man got his wife safely
on the train for a summer vacation that
he did not draw himself together, make
a Decline for the nearest saloon, and
wash off the parting kiss.
"They say it is bad luck to see
woman kiss woman. My luck is poor
enough to make me believe it so. But
it is pretty thing to see whole troop
of young girls come down to see one of
their number otf-may-be she's going on
her bridal trip. They kiss her all round
and then all round again, and they do
it so sweetly, so artistically, that the
skill shows practice. l always look upon
it as the public exhibition of fine ac-
complishment acquired after much
practice in private.
Il am not Irish," he proceeded, "but
] like to see a good, Irish immigrant
kiss. Irish immigrants all kiss. Italians
never 90. There are but few women
among the Italians who come through
the depot, and as l never saw one of
them who had washed her face since
she left home, it's no wonder they don't
indulge in much kissing. But the Irish
like to kiss. None of your whispering
kisses, either; it's noisy affair. Ger
mans kiss much more than the Scandi-
naVians. | don't remember of having
ever seen any of the many Russian and
Polish Jews that come through the
depot kiss. DarkieS don't kiss as often
as white people. A Kansas couple on
wedding trip always makes circus of
the depot. l saw pair the other day
seated, with their arms around each
other, in the waiting room; they were
looking in opposite directions, and he
was blushing violently. Suddenly she
turned to look at her sw ain, and when
she saw the red ear she leaned over and
kissed him-Smack!
There Is downtown butcher In
Kansas City who made the biggest fool
of himself over kiss of any one / ever
saw in the depot. He got smitten with
a particularly ugly woman, member of
the chorus in an opera company. When
the company came to 20 he followed the
fair damsel TO the depot. He took the
whole company over and set up the
breakfast, and then, just before the
train started, he stuck a $50 gold-piece
into the woman's hand, and said: Now
tiss me- She put the money in her
pocket, winked at the crowd, threw her
arms around him and give HIM smack.
What 1 hate" the old man continued,
lis to see people kiss baby. The poor
thing can't have any choice, and it al
ways makes it cry. There was a little
kid left here not long ago, and nobody
knew whom it belonged to. Fifty
women kissed that baby during the
morning."