The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-30
PERSONAL AND SOCIETY
A STUDY OF THE osCULAToRY HABIT
AT THE UNION STATION.
with Young Women In In
dianapolis.


OF the train sheds" said young lady at a |
porch party. At the Union Station every |
one who goes away generally takes labial |
farewell from one or more, and every one |
who arrives is saluted in much the same |
style. II must be confessed that the women
do the most OF the kissing. They give or
take the kiss at the iron gates. There is
not kiss known 10 the people Of this coun-
try that is not perfectly familiar TO the
gatemen. Any one who desires to make
study OF kissing could not have a better
opportunity than to stand few hours each
day OF a week at the station and see the
greetings and farewells. Some of the smacks
reverberate under the high roof until they
may readily be heard a half-block away,
and others are so swift and silent that one
wonders whether the lips actually meet
Some kisses are so long that ii becomes a
matter OF study. and the query is, do the
kissers hold their breath all that time or
have they reduced 1t to such an art that
they kiss and breathe at the same
time? The number of kisses differs Most
people seem 10 be satisfied with one kiss,
quite Of the ordinary pattern. The lips
meet, there is scarcely any sound and it is
over in shorter time than il takes to tell
it There are exceptions in quality, guam
tity and time consumed. One might be
deemed extravagant to say that kiss was
q minute long. Now, a minute is some
time short and sometimes long; the idea
that all minutes are the same length is an
exploded theory. There have been kissers
at the station whom lookers-on declared
held on for full minute. and other men,
bers Of the same party are just as firm in
their belief that the kiss was two minutes
long, while cooler. calmer minds would
hot ~ xf..-
half minute in length. There is the kisser
who takes long time for one kiss and
there is the kisser who takes the same
length of time for half dozen. The re-
lationship Of kissers is quite difficult to de-
eide indeed there is no definite rule. While
is making a study of the different
kinds OF kisses, still another study might
be conducted at the same time, that of re-
lationship. Does the kiss show brief or
long parting and does 1t mean sorrow
relief; does it mean visitor or a member
of the family returned from a visit? There
accessories which may give points
about the latter. The visitor rarely brings
a market basket full of faded pond lilies;
the home-comer does bring them and her
face and manner shows an expectation OF
welcome for her flowers quite as much as
for herself. Then there are other outward
quite happy TO find out for himself or her
self The meeting of parties under the gate
not accompanied by some osculatory dem
onstration is an exception, and the one who
stands by and sees and hears the perform
ances of this nature is led to wonder how
this meeting Of the lips has become so gen.
eral and so public. Germs and microbes
have no terrors for the welcome and fare
well travellers at the Union Station.
-:N-
A young lady, who recently returned from
the East where she attended school for a
year, was so changed in personal appear
ance that many of her friends did not rec
ognize her. When she left home last sum-
mer she was a miss in ankle-length skirts,
with her hair braided and her features were
very thin. The wholesome air and regular
living at school made her stouter and with
the year she doffed her short skirts and put
on the long skirts. She put her hair up in
the back and instead of curls over her fore
head she rolled her hair en- pompadour. One
afternoon she calling on a friend after
her return and the mother OF another young
lady who was away at school came in. The
latter was presented to the young lady and
said, inquiringly. Miss D.. 1 wonder If you
are a relative of Miss L. D., who is an in
innate friend of my daughter's?' Without
waiting for reply the lady went on to
enumerate how many virtues Miss l.. d.
had and how intimate she was with the
daughter, repeating the latter statement
several times, and adding that Miss L. l..
was often at her house and that she knew
her very well. She had heard that Miss L.
D. was home from school and she would be
so glad to see her, for 'she is such an init
mate friend of my daughter" Miss L. D.
was very much amused that she was not
recognized and she kept quiet, to hear how
nice she was and how much she was appre-
ciated by the members Of the lady's family.
Then she told the lady whom she was adj
dressing The lady looked at her sharply
and had to be assured several times that it
was her daughters intimate friend who was
before her.
Each summer there is a sewing fad. There
are always girls who stay at home all sum-
mer, not always the same ones, and when
the quiet time comes. when all the friends
are away, when social affairs are at
standstill the weather is too warm for COM
fort and there is really nothing else to do,
the sewing fever begins. Now IL often hap
mems that the girl with this fad is the one
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