Arizona republican., 1895-04-05
KISSING BETWEEN WOMEN.
Oscillation That Is Devoid Of All
Sincerity.
1t Is Done as a Mere Matter of Form and
Is 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 demonstrate bv
the most delicate scientific methods of
investigation. An ordinarily hearty
hand-shake 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 a
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 a thing of no account or
value, being thus in accord with the
conclusions Of all sensible people who
have studied the question.
Still, says 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
mere handshake, and often less, for
there may be warmth in that, but ma
ture has denied the possibility of
warmth existing in kiss between mem
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 most 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: GLOW Mrs. A. and
Mrs. B. do hate each other, to be sure.
See how sweetly they kiss.'
The whole-hearted kiss of Young
girls, as yet innocent of the ways and /
deceitfulness Of the world, is a pleas !
ant thing in itself; but once they are !
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
" cloaks all manner of unpleasant and |
thoughts. They loathe it,
yet, by degrees, they are drawn I'M
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 acquaintance as
given over to the vanity of kissing
visitors all round, both on arrival and /
departure, the making of a call on
them becomes such an ordeal that,
rather than run the gauntlet of so
many oscillations, however perfume
jorily performed, many of their friends,
who find them in every other respect
charming, feel constrained to reduce
jhe 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 rule of the house
You must take them as you find them,
II leave them severely alone. It would
De dire offense to refuse to offer the
,heek to the kisser.
Perhaps the time will come when all
Kissing will be strictly prohibited I'M
Ter threat of the severest penalties of
he law. This has been tried, with
more or less success, in some peculiar
y-minded communities So far the
ioctors have practically put their veto
N kissing of all kinds; but, then, what
S there that the doctors have not for
oidden?
TeIegraphing with Steam Whistle.
II