The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-16
KISSING W WOMEN.
OSCILLATION THAT is DEVOID OF
ALL SINCERITY.
1t is Done as n Mere Matter of Form
and is often Full of Deceit and
Trenchery-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 expert
enced by ladies when they kiss each
other, much less one demonstrable by
the most delicate scientific methods of
Investigation An ordinarily hearty
h~and-shake would lick it all to fits in
this respect.
Learned men in the middle ages,
who spent much time in discussion OF
trivialties and in hair-Splitting, emu
merated q host Of different kinds OF
kisses, though they, after all, wouno
up the whole matter by admitting tnat
there is only one true kiss-the kiss OF
love, and they put the kiss between
women very far DOWN on the list, as
a thing of no account or value, being
thus in accord with the conclusions OF
all sensible people who ave studied
the question.
Still, : 5 Il write: :. 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, l asked my wife
whether she found any pleasure il
kissing any member OF her own sex.
"Poohi' was all the reply she
deigned to give, though presently
after apparently cOgitating II arriv-
ing at the conclusion that this ejacula-
ton, expressive enough in its way,
could not help m very much, SHE
made some remarks which We're alto
gether-to the male SeX-t0O vague tC
be here set down at large. Ultimately
1 managed, by pressing h question,
to elicit something definite on the
subject, the gist of which was that,
when women kiss each other, they dc
so merely as a matter Of form, mean
ing by it, for the most part, no more
than d mere handshake, and often
less, for there may be warmth in
that, but nature has denied the posi-
bility of warmth existing in a kiss
between members 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, they are
sure never to lose an opportunity of
kissing each other most punctiliously.
They may hate to do it ever so much,
II yet, whenever they meet. they
eagerly make a pretty little dab al
each others faces, which passes mus
ter in the eyes of outsiders as quite a
touching exhibition of womanly kind
ness and affection, though those who
know the real state of affairs only
smile, and perhaps remark: How Mrs.
A. and Mrs. 3. do hate each other, 20
be sure. See how SWeetly they kisS!'
The whole-hearted kiss of young
girls, as yet innocent in the ways and
deceitfulness of the world, is a 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 become case hardened, than the
feminine habit of kissing, which so
transparently cloaks all manner of I'M
pleasant and uncharitable thoughts.
They loathe it, yet, by degrees, they
are drawn unwillingly into the whirl,
until, at last, they too, became adopts.
When the female side of a family,
mother and grown-up daughters, be-
come known to their acquaintance
as given over to the vanity of kissing
visitors all round, both on arrival
and departure, the making of a call
IN them becomes such an ordeal that,
rather than run the gauntlet of so
many oscillations, however perfunctor-
lily 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
possible, in despair of any feasible rem
edy. There is no Gus for evading
what has become a rule of the house.
You must take them as o find them,
or leave them severely alone. 1t would
be a dire offense to refuse to offer the
cheek to the kisser.
Perhaps the time will come when all
the kissing will be strictly prohibited
under 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.
hidden?