Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-11-13
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Two Thousand Dollars Damages--A
Philosophical Discussion.
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Philosophical Discussion.
Saturday Evening Gazette.
While | am firmly Of the opinion that
no man has a right to kiss . woman
against her will, think the courts nre
too severe in the penalties they intiict
when outraged coyness appeals to jus
tice for redress Some consideration
should be given to the impulse that
causes the offender to pay osculatory
tribute to the offended; for, after all, il
is am excess of emotional tenderness, or
irresistible magnetic attraction toward
the fair one that suddenly carries the
man off his mental balance and places
him at her mercy.
When q victim Of this species of
amiable temporary insanity imprints his
lips upon the brow or the cheek of the
object Of his sudden alteration tits more
of a compliment than an insult. Still,
to wink at the weakness would be only
to place lovely woman generally in a
highly embarrassing position, leaving
entirely out Of the question her un-
doubted privilege to exercise choice
regarding the particular male creature
who shall become intoxicated upon the
nectar of her lips or upon the ''oriental
cream or "balm of beauty" that
heightens the temptingness Of her
checks. If ! were one Of those who
could not resist kissing woman that
stirred my heart ! should willingly pay
the fine that might be inflicted upon
me, providing it Were within reasonable
limits, for insist that there Is a none
tary point beyond which kiss may be
eXorbitantly oyercharged by an unsym-
pathetic judge. Now, here is u case in
point which recently occurred in Akron,
@. One solomon Oviatt, aged go, forci-
bly, imprinted his Xagenarian lips
upon The mouth of one Sophie Franch
and robbed them Of acertain percentage
Of their honey. Sophie did not want
him to kiss her and after the deed had
been accomplished in all its enormity
she went into court with the plea that
the defendant had unlawfully, wan
tonly and maliciously committed assault
and battery on her by putting his arm
around her and kissing her against her
will.
This putting his arm around her only
intensified the offence, showing as it did
the defendants resolve to obtain firm
leverage for the preparation of the
deed. solomon is 60 years Of age, and
should have known better, He had no
excuse of the fire of youth burning
ficrcely in his blood. But, then, the
maidenly modest Sophie is also 60 years
of age, and one would imagine, and not
unreasonably, that she might have felt
complimented, at her time of life, in
having thus stirred osculatory frenzy i'll
one Of the opposite sex. Perhaps her in
dignatiOn might not have been aroused
if solomon had been younger; perhaps,
on the other hand, it might. There is
no way of determining what any
woman will do under any circum-
stances. AS ii appears to me, there is a
delightful eNemplitication of the etcr-
nal fitness of things in the contact of
two pairs Of GO years old lips. Sophie
thought otherwise, and so when she
went into court she averred that Solo
mon had damaged her feelings and her
person to the extent of $4,000. While
sympathizing fully with the resentment
manifested by her, ] must say that
believe she has placed too large price
upon her labial ambrosia, and that she
should make IL reduction. She should
take the are of both parties into the
question, and should make a fair ac-
count for the tlattering admiration for
her charms that induced Solomon to
fall helpless victim to them, for there
is something sincerely and ferycntly
tlattering in the fact that a world-ex-
perienced man Of SO is SO overcome by
the destinations Of a maiden Of go that he
is intoxicated by them, and is no longer
master Of himself. No kiss 60 years old
is worth $4,000