The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-26

have methods OF their own of showing at
ection peculiar to each, but none of these
creatures kiss. Even low-class savages do
not kiss like other men; so that we may
take this habit TO be an evidence OF intel
lect and civilization.
Various excuses have been made for
kissing. Shelley draws his excuses from
Dame Nature herself:
See the mountains kiss high heaven,
/ And the waves clash one another;
/ No sister flower would be forgiven
| n tt disdniuod It's brother;
! And the sunlight clasps the earth,
| And the moonbeams kiss the sea;
| What are all these kSsings worth
! II thou kiss not met
A humorous excuse was that given by
the defendant in case OF breach OF prom
| Use. The defendant was allowed 20 say a
word in his own behalf. Eyes" he said,
II kissed her almost continually every
evening | called at her house" Lawyer
for Plaintiff-"Then you confess it2" De-
fendant--"Yes. do confess IT, but / had
10 do i'll" Lawyer-"You had 10 do it
! What do you mean ?" Defendant-"That
was the only way could keep her from
| singing"
The casuistry OF kissing has been set
fortl in these lines
! When Sarah jane the moral miss.
Declares 'tis very wrong 20 kiss,
I'll bet shilling I sec through iti
The damsel, fairly understood,
Feels lust as any Christian should;
Shed rather suffer wrong than do A.
There is n certain gluttony OF kissing Of
which many examples might be given.
There was once jovial vicar who was
| such glutton for kisses that when he OBJ
tanned the wished-for kiss, far from being
satisfied he asked for a score and
Then 10 that twenty add hundred moro,
thousand 10 that hundred; 40 kiss on
To make that thousand up 10 millioni
Treble that million, aud when that Il done
Let's kiss afrcah, a. when We fret begun.
There is proverb which says: "when
gorse IA out OF blossom, kissing In out Of
favor" and gorse blossoms always, year
| In and year out. This matter OF countless
kisses has been the theme OF many poet
| Catullus averrcd that though his crop Of
kissing we're thicker than dry cars of the
cornheld, be would not have enough. An.
other ancient poet starts off 1000 kisses,
adds 100000, repeats tho process lin
rhyme, Of counsel twice. and urges that ho
and his sweetheart shall purposely con
fuse their memories as 20 the number and
begin all over again. Another poet wants
kisses equal in number as tho grains Of
sand on the seashore, rs the stars in the
heavens.
Kisses told by hundreds DER,
Thousands told by Thousands more,
Millions, countless millions, then
Told hy millions DER again;
Countless a. the drops that glide
In the oceans billowy tide,
Countless 90 You orhs OF light
Spsngled DER the vault Of night,
IN With ccaseloss love best0w
on those cheeks OF crimson glow,
90 those lips 20 gently swelhaE
On those eye' such fond tales blling.
The poet exclaims that love was never
satisfied with numbers, and argues that
no one would dream OF counting each
blade of grass, each ear OF ripening grain,
or TO a scanty hundred would confne the
clustering punches of grapes. Who would
ask for a thousand bees and no more, or
regulate the number of raindrops that
should fall on some parched pasture land &?
One of our modern poets. John e.. SAKE,
has expressed this ancient desire. though
from much of our modern poetry we
should imagine the sentiment was still in
favor:
Give me klsses-do not stay
Counting In that careful way;
All the coins your lips can print
Never will exhaust the mint.
Kiss me. then.
Every moment-and again.
Old Ben Jonson said that il would be
his wish that be might die kissing, and it
is said so grave philosopher as John
Ruskin once invited young lady 20 kiss
him-"not sometimes, but continually"
Some curious excuses are recorded for
not kissing. Ina certain methodist church
the young people we're in the habit of
playing games whose forieits were kisses,
but pious old deacon was much troubled
about IL. He said he was not opposed TO
kissing il they did not kiss with IAN appe-
tite." a woman, in trying 10 express her
contempt for n certain female friend, said .
I'll was a man would no more kiss such
a woman than / would kiss pair OF tongs
that had been left out over night in a
snow bank
We read OF kings kiss that felt like a
fame" sending through every vein loves
Joy and pain. And Shakespeare speaks of
two lovers whose lips were -four red roses
on a stalk, and in their simple beaute
kissed each other" The fact is that a
young lady's first love kiss has the samy
effect over her as being electrified; it's a
great shock, but it's soon over.
Ny Julia from the latticed grove
Brought me a sweet bouquet OF Posios.
Aud asked, as round my neck she chung.
II tulips preferred 70 rOsesG
81 cannot tell, sweet girl" signed,
a
She did. "Oh, prefer, l Cried
'rhy two-lips TO a dozen roses"
There is a poetic account OF the kiss OF
that black-eyed Spanish girl who first
kisses with her glances, practicing for the
coming encounter:
Then she kisses with her eyelids,
Kisses with her arching eyebrows,
With her soft cheek softly rubbing;
With her chin, AVID hands, and fingers,
All the frame OF ~ Inuela,
III her blood and all her spirit,
All melt down TO burning kisses,
AL she feeds on Is their sugar
With some of us a kiss is our earliest
recollection:
I recollect nurse called Ann,
Who carried me about the grass;
And one fine day nice young man
Came up aud kissed the pretty Ass.
She did not make the least objection,
Thinks J. "Ah,
When can talk, I'll tell mamma"
And that's my earliest recollection.
In the old-fashioned youthful game,
''kiss in the ring" favorite maneuver of
the bows was TO keep out of place in the
ring till they had kissed all the pretty girls
IN succession. Those who grew up with
the same fondness for osculatory atten-
tions would probably like the custom in
some parts of Germany, which requires a