The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-05-07
SENATOR pEPEw ON KISSING.
Tells His First Experience And Commits
crates Professor Crook.


ana pitying in all parts oi the country.
Professor Crook is only - and is said to
be quite good looking. and it has been
suggested that ii his statement is true hc
ought to be in namuscum. 4 latedispatch
from Chicago represents him as explain.
ing that while he had never kissed a girl
he did not mean to say that none oi
them had ever kissed him.
Commenting on Professor Crook +
original statement. Senator Chauncey NJ.
Depcw is quoted NJ expressing the hope
that missionary movement would be
started To rescue the Professor Pretty
missionaries. flirtatious girls with kiss
able lips, he says, must save the unfor-
tunate Crook, for the sake Of the sex.
Professor Crook statement To IA class OF
undergraduates at the Northwestern
University, in Chicago, last week that he
had never "chewed smoked used aproiane
word. drank liquor or hugged or kissed
n girl" has aroused the deepest commits
GRAFTON OF the Senator.
And he says he's 81. said the Sena-
tor well it is not too late Still he
can never know the exquisite JOY, the
thrill. the bliss OF a boys first kiss Poor
fellow
IL have read about Professor Crook
with the deepest concern for misguld-
ed iellOw-man. He almost brings me
back to n doctrine which for many.
many years ! have been trying To get
away from-the Calyinistic doctrine al
total depravity.
"Just to think that for 81 years iel-
low-being has existed, with heaven all
about him on every side, the portals all
open and inviting, and that he has not
entered in once I've either got TO be
believe the fellow il not telling the truth,
or, what is worse. 20 back to the total
deprayity doctrine.
"Why,worId'scouldn'tbuy buy thememory
oi my first kiss. there ON the river at
Peekskill in the moonlight remember
it vet with an exquisite thrill. ! can feel
the brus1 oi her curls agaist my cheek,
ieel the thrill of her touch, see her blush
and her roguish eyes before me now.
Pity. pity the poor creature, who has
never enjoyed an experience like that
"When was boy in my teens ! was
a great oarsman. and was often on the
Hudson in my boat. This night my lit
tie brighteyed sweetheart was with me.
The moon was shining. Have you ever
seen the big round moon shining on the
Hudson at Peekskill on n June night2 If
you have you know what is il for a boy
to he out alone with his sweetheart in
that moonlight.
81 remember how pulled out into the
silvery stream, her mischievOus eyes up
on me. A king on his throne was never
happier and he never had half the right
to be. 4 young fellow with a pretty
sweetheart who likes him just a little
bit and loves to be in the moonlight with
him is the most blessed of mankind.
"Well. we talked. After a while we let
the boat drift, rather think. Maybe
her pretty eyes drew me nearer to her.
Maybe her loose curls touched my cheek.
Maybe we were saying tender nothings.
Maybe ] touched her hand.
"Then it happened. 1t is the touch
that does 1.-THE electric thrill 4 young
fellow could no more help it than he
could stop a storm, and the girl couldn't
either. Why should they2 There is the
silvery quiet, there is the pretty girl dar
ing him, there is the young fellow-then
there's a kiss
The Senator was blushing a rosy red,
and he laughed loud and heartily at the
delicious memory. "Don't ask me just
how it happened. don't know, but |
know it did happen, and that is one Of
the sweetest memories of my life. All,
what a pretty girl she was, and how her
eyes stirred something in mel
"It was the old story of Eve and the
apple. 1t always is. The right sort OF
young fellow can't resist the forbidden
fruit, and Eve doesn't want him to.
"The conditions and the prOvocation
must be right for a kiss The girl must
like the fellow n little II must be moon
light or something like it. 1t never hap
pens in broad open sunlight, never, un-
less it is at a picnic in the woods. They
get out alone together, and he tells her
she's Just the divine creature in the
world. and means it every word. His
eyes show he means it and his manner
shows it. And her dancing, mischievCus
eyes show that she likes it, whatever she
may say. Then there is the touch-and
the kiss Every fellow can tellyouabout
it if he will-that is, everyone besides
Crook.
at is very late for Crook to begin.
He can never come the way of bliss that
every other man has come. He can never
enjoy the challenge from the roguish eye
of youth. Now he must be the 0ggressOr.
Still, it il not too late for even sinner
like Crook to repent and reform.
"He must be saved. The girls must do
it. They owe it to the sex to wipe out
the stigma OF this man getting up and
proclaiming that in life OF 81 years he
has never once hugged or kissed a girl
It il a direct reflection on all the women
Crook has ever known. Even now the
portals of heaven are open to him.
al have heard OF men abstaining from
tobacco and whiskey because their pa
rents. maybe, had been horrible examples
of their effects. They have seen therheu-
matism. gout, wOrthlessness, poverty
that has come from these and have
wisely abstained, But how man can
1ol;hero telv ahatain from huVQinp and