The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-04-10
KISSING BETWEEN WOMEN.
Oscillation That Is Devoid of All
Sincerity.
1t Is Done as q Mere Matter of VOrm and
IL OFTEN Full OF Deceit and Treach-
ery-The More the Hate the
Sweeter the Kiss.

1t is not imaginable, on any possible
view of the subject, that there is the
slightest pleasurable result expe-
rienced by ladies when they kiss each
other, much less one demonstrable by
the most delicate scientific methods of
investigation. An ordinarily hearty
hand-shale would lick it all to fits in
this respect.
Learned men in the middle ages, who
spent much time in discussion of trivial
ties and in hair-splitting, enumerated
host of different kinds of kisses, though
they, after all, wound up the whole mat
ter by admitting that there is only one
true kiss-the kiss of love, and they put
the kiss between women very far down
on the list as thing of no account or
value, being thus in accord with the
conclusions of all sensible people who
have studied the question.
Still, says a writer in the New York
Advertiser, we have to do with facts,
and women, for all that may be said
against the practice, do kiss each other,
and in the pursuit of knowledge on
the subject, asked my wife whether
she found any pleasure in kissing any
member of her own sex.
"Pooh!" was all the reply she deigned
to give, though presently, after appar-
emily cogitating and arriving at the
conclusion that this ejaculation, express
sive enough in its way, could not help
me very much, she made some remarks
which were altogether, to the male sex
too vague to be here set down at large.
Ultimately managed, by pressing the
question, to elicit something definite on
the subject, the gist of which was that,
when women kiss each other, they do
so merely as a matter of form, meaning
by it for the most part no more than a
mere handshalle, and often less, for
there may be warmth in that, but ma
ture has denied the possibility Of
warmth existing in a kiss between men,
'bers of the same Sex. Sometimes, but
very seldom, women kiss because they
like each other.
They also kiss because they don't like
each other, and, in that case, they are
sure never to lose an opportunity of
kissing each other rlo3t punctiliously.
They may hate to do it ever SO much,
and yet, Whenever they meet, they
eagerly make pretty little dab at each
others faces, which passes muster in
the eyes of outsiders as quite touch
ing exhibition of womanly kindness
and affection, though those who know
the real state of affairs only smile, and
perhaps remark: How Mrs A. and
Mrs. b. do hate each other, to be sure.
See how sweetly they kiss!"
The wholc-hcartcd kiss of young
girls, as vet innocent of the ways and
deccitfulness of the world, is pleas
ant thing in ITSELF but once they are
initiated into the wiles of society, there
is no social usage which jars more on
their tender feelings, before these be-
come case hardened, than the feminine
habit of kissing, which so transparent
ly cloaks all manner of unpleasant and
uncharitable thoughts They loathe it,
yet, by degrees, they are drawn un-
willingly into the whirl, until at last
they, too, become adopts.
When the female side of family,
mother and grown-up daughters, be-
come known to their acquaintances as
given over to the vanity of kissing
visitors all round, both on arrival and
departure, the making Of call on
them becomes such an ordeal that,
rather than run the gauntlet of SO
many oscillations, however perfume
torily performed, many of their friends,
who find them in every other respect
charming, feel constrained to reduce
the number of their calls as far as pos
sible, in despair of any feasible rem
edy. There is no excuse for evading
what has become a rule of the house.
You must take them as you find them,
or leave them severely alone. Itwould
be dire offense to refuse to offer the
cheek to the kisser.
Perhaps the time will come when all
kissing will be strictly prohibited un-
der threat of the severest penalties OF
the law. This has been tried, with
more or less success, in some peculiar
ly-minded communities. So far the
doctors have practically put their veto
on kissing of all kinds; but, then, what
is there that the doctors have not for
ibidden?