The Wichita daily eagle., 1898-01-08
People Who Do Not Kiss,

People Who Do Not Kiss,
The embrace has been habitual with
many peoples. especially in Europe, the
western part of Asia, and the northern
! part OF Africa, from the earliest dawn OF
| history; and, although in modern times
good deal restricted, it still marks the
meetings of kinsfolk and of lovers. But
the kiss. while it appears constantly in
| Semetic and Aryan antiquity, as the sal
utation between strangers under certain
conditions. and habitually between friends
| and relatives, as is evident from the fire.
quent illusions TO it in the Bible AMI in
| the classics, has no such universally,
! says a writer in the New York Evenins (
| Post. ITO kiss as a mode of salutation, 3"
! says an authority. comes from its use TO
| express reverence or worship. Thus 10
| adore idols and 10 kiss idols mean the
same thing. Indeed. the word adore sig
| n;ies simply to carry the hand TO the
! mouth; that IS, 10 kiss ii to the idol.
| We still kiss the hand in salutation. To
/ kiss the lips is 10 adore the living breath
| of the person saluted to kiss the feet or
| the ground is to humble ones self in ador-
| alton; to kiss the garments is to express
veneratiOn for whatever belongs 20 or
| touches the person who wears them"
1t is always great surprise to most peo-
pie to learn that there are millions of hu-
man beings who do not know what II is
| TO kiss.
| 1t would not be worth while to compile
careful statistics even if necessary data
We're easily accessible; but L believe that
it is not far from the truth to say that
one-half the people of the earth do not
use osculation at all, and that many of
M Il Liz n a
lips. The idea of its being a natural or
spontaneous gesture is refuted by the fact
that it is unknown to so many people
The salutatiOn by shifting sometimes
called rubbing noses by travellers Of
doubtful exactness), which prevails
among the Polynesian Malays, Burmeses.
and other Indo-Chinese, MOngols, and 9TH
ers of Asia, and which extends eastward
to most Qf not alb of the Esquimaux, and
westward to the Lapps, has sometimes
been mistaken for kissing; but its mean
ing is quite different.
In Japan, prior TO what is known as the
opening of the country-that is, before
Commodore Perry, in 1854, knocked so
loudly and so importunely at the closed
gates of the Mikado's empira-the only
natives who could possibly have cone any
kissing We're those who had embraced tie
Roman Catholic religion and wished to
please or emulate their Spanish or Port
uguese teachers in rendering alteration
to sacred images and pictures. Such a
thing as a kiss between lovers would have
been grossly repugnant TO Japanese ideas
of propriety, would have been ridiculous
between girls or women, and would not
have been thought of between man and
wifi Ia have l.
ways used pigments, not always of a clear
YermiIlon color, for sometimes a bronze
tint is seen, to heighten the color of their
lips, so that this artificiality precludes
the possibility of kissing. | remember the
disgusted look which showed itself in the
faces of a party of Japanese ladies and
their attendant nurses, in spite of their
natural politeneSS and careful training,
when a newly arrived and very enthusi-
astic young American woman, on seeing
a nice little baby, exclaimed: "Oh, the
sweet thingI 1 must kiss it," and did
SO. making teh youngster howl at the un-
usual greeting. 1 have seen a Japanese
woman, a lady of rank in her onw right
and as devoted a mother according TO
her light as any of my acquaintances in
other countries, bid her only son. boy
of twelve bood-by, as he left her 10 go to
Europe for many years of study, in the
set phrases of their code of etiquette,
without an embrace of any kind, although
the yearning of the mohter heart was so
strong that she could scarcely keep back
the tears.
In the native Japanese salutation there
is no contact whatever, not even hand
shake and he who has lived long in the
Far East comes to believe firmly in the
wisdom of that custom. If the meeting
takes place in the open air, in the street
or in any place where there are none of
the soft white mats usually clean to
kneel upon, il will be such as is described
by Sir Rutherford Alcock in The Capital
of the Tycoon written in the early six
ties: when l, landed, it was a holiday
tine-many of the people were out, ev
identity dressed in their best, and eXchang
ing grave and courteous saiutations as
they met, bending with their hands rest
ing on the front of the thighs and sliding
them down to the knees as they uttered
their greetings with a deep-drawn inspira-
ton, the depth from whence il was ex
tracted appearing to be in strict relation
TO the degree of respect they wished 10
manifest. as though the joy and satisfac-
tion of such d meeting were something
too deep for utterance." The open-air !
greeting is the same today.