St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-14
A Missouri Scribe Tells Us
All He Knows About
IT.
He Says There Is No Sub
stantiality in a
Kiss,
But, Nevertheless, He Blesses
the Man Who First In
vented 1t.

are iuaue Ol ergo. any dTlicIc udSeu vi
the kiss as a subject must likewise be
unsubstantial and phemeraI.
Blessed is the man who invented the
kiss. Who was he? Is there any stone
raised to mark this great benefactor to
humanity? We read of the kiss in the
Holy Bible. We hear of it as far back
as the beginning of the world.
Although there are not Oh record the
kisses exchanged between Adam and
Eve. yet it is fair to presume that they
did not fail to profit by their numerous
opportunities. There was no one nigh
to interrupt their felcitous discourse.
Two such persons would not remain
together in the garden CT Eden without
INDUCING in the luxury OF an occasional
kiss. That is what two sentimental and
devoted modern lovers would do in their
visits to Washington or Douglas parks
after shutdown, il all the conditions
were as favorable as they were in the
garden Of Eden.
Although the initial kiss of Adam and
Eve may not be recorded, yet there is
good reason TO believe that it was en-
joyed with peculiar transport, for the
experience was novel to both Of them.
No one can definitely fix the begin
with the world. 1t must have had an
existence in chaos, for so heavenly a
thing could not have sprung from mere
earthliness.
Orators have framed it in their most
rotund and glowing periods. Poets have
SING about it and immortallZed it in
living rhymes. 1t has been the theme
of the lover, the celibate. the benedict,
the Withered and the weary.
Some maintain that the world was
brought into being with kiss, for is it
not said in the old Grecian mythology
that the egg Night fiOated on chaos
until Day kissed it and Love sprang
forth? If we cannot fix the beginning
of the kiss we can at least trace 1T to its
earliest practices.
The first recorded kiss, believe. is
given by Jacob to his deceived father,
Isaac. The next kiss, and the first kiss
noted between men and woman, is the
kiss that Jacob gave to Rachel. 1t must
have been cold and clammy and alto
gether sorrowful affair, because we
read in the eleventh verse of the TWEEN
ty-ninth chapter of Genesis that Jacob
kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice
and wept."
If there had been any peculiar JOY in
the encounter, why should he have
wept? Why did he lift up his voice?
Was it because his JOY was too great to
hold back and his voice persisted in as
serting itself?
A kiss without sincerity is like sum
mer without sunshine. 1t is at best
barren ideality; sort of Dead Sea
fruit that. while pleasing to the eye
outside, is flied with fiber and dust.
Insincerity has no place in kiss.
Happily the inventor of that delight
full rhapsody so modelled kiss that in
sincerity can be at once detected.
There is hollownesS about an inSin
cere kiss that at once shows itself. The
lips become cold and dry and acrid.
There is no magnetism in them, and
kiss Of the kind is not only flat, stale
and Improbable, but it is positively
bIghting. A sensitive nature feels one
those IF oySter-like kisses just as
sensitive plant feels the harsh wind.
There are degrees in kisses, just as
there are degrees in everything else.
We will take the kiss of Judas lscariot
as the positive degree, the kiss of King
Solomon as the comparative degree and
the kiss that Christopher MarlOwe de-
scribes in his drama, ''Doctor Faustus."
as the Superlative.
| will not attempt to define that Judas
kiss. 1t has won its own eternal DAM
nation. for a Judas kiss is the meanest
thing that the human mind can cOmpre-
bend. 1t is synonym for baseneSs,
for perfidy, for treachery, for everything
that is false and deceitful. With these
words we can dismiss that kind OF an
OSCILLATION and be done with 1T once tor
all.
AS an illustration of the comparative
degree of the kiss we have only to turn
to that exquisite anacreontie, the "Song
of Solomon" to find it. That wise and
pleasure-lovlng philosopher wrote:
Let him kiss ME with the kisses of
his mouth; for thy love is better than
wine"
Thy lips, o my spouse. drop as the
honeycomb; honey and milk are under
thy tongue"
''His lips are like lilies, dropping
sweet-smelIing myrrh."
SolomOn's kisses were of the inviting
kind, otherwise he would not have ell
joyed them so much. But in his rhap-
Sody there is reason and method. The
great kiss, the climax, the apex of &C.
static bliss is to be found in the super
lative kiss of the dramatiSt MarloWe.
Beyond any all questions this kiss is
the most powerful OH record. What
vast stride there is between the kiss of
Solomon and the kiss of Marlowe. Sol
omon's is like "Lilies dropping sweet
smelling myrrh." very pretty figure
of speech, by the way, and one that is
very delicate.
Compared to the soul-sucking affair OF
Marlowe it is as idyllic as June morn
ing set in contrast with March blast.
If there are degrees in kissing, there
is also an art in the kiss. 1t is not
every one that can kiss properly. The
ksser is born, not made. He may
achieve greatness in his particular line,
but it must be done according to artistic
rules.
There are some men that cannot kiss
if they were to spend their whole lives
in attempting to master the art. Nearly
every woman likes to kiss and be kissed.
1t is a part of her nature, just as it is
the nature of birds to sing and owls to
blink.
If she cannot kiss the bewhiskered
face she is satisfied with the smooth
one. And if the smooth one is the face
of one Of their own sex the kiss counts
lust the same. But she certainly does
object to being kissed brutally. BY this
/ mean forcibly, burglarlously, furious
ly, muscularly.
No woman wants to be bounced upon
for kiss as a falcon seiZes upon Its
feathered victim or cat pOunces upon
an unfortunate mouse. A kiss to be en-
joyabe must be delicately artistic.
There should be the premontory
warning. the careful and delightful
preparation. What a world of exquisite
emotion there is in this The arm gently
encircling the waist and pressing the
quivering form with tender and
deep-seated meaning.
Then comes the next stage; the pIac-
ing of the finger tips on the rounded
chin and its succeeding slight elevation.
With this, the lips of the fair one auto
matically pucker and the eyes close as
if III the intoxication of the delirium
that is near.
Then the reallzation-heaven preserve
us!-the application of the four lips in
gentle, deliberate. fully-realiZing-the-
importance of-the-situation and soul
stirring style.
Next comes the climax, the real soul
0f Tho Hice re iy.hor