The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1903-11-05
VANISHING OF THE KISS


Fhe Baasave HashSen % 0eeetlae -.
tweea Nvonsn 10 Ne Longer
invosus.
What has become Of the old-faSh.
toned form Of salute among women3
Time was whom no two women could
meet or part without exchanging .
kiss. Il was the conventional greet
ing, not to be omitted under pain Of
being thought cold, distant, naughty.
says the Richmond News-Leader. A
kiss between two women 10 considered
BY the masculine on-looker - sps-
,cies Of amiable treachery. How these
women love each other" he says, with
Q sneer. and - quite prepared to hear
them rend each others regulations two
minutes later. Nor 10 he always dis
appointed.
The kiss or tho buss, as It was
called IN the earlier days-has stead.
fly degenerated from . sign q hearty
affection to sign Of conventional In
difference, or rather q signal Of q mo-
ment's truce between conflicting per-
sonalities. The origin Of the kiss ID
disputed. It smacks Of the days Of
gods and goddesses when Pygmalion
animated his Galatea by tho touch Of
his lips. and Pyramus and Thisbe
mingled their breath through . hole
In the wall.
Job mentions It: s'1f behold the
sun when It shined. or the moon walk
ing In brightness; and my heart hath
been secretly enticed or my mouth
hath kissed my hand, etc; and Ho-
mer makes Priam kiss tho hand Of
Achilles. The pope's toe has been
kissed since Constantine !. thrust his
foot under the lips Of Emperor Jus
tinian on his entry into Constantf- q
nople. and the queen Of England to-
day kisses the young women Of high
family who are presented to her; but
the spirit Of the kiss is gone as far as
its exchange between two Of the same
sex is concerned. We no longer be-
hold rapturous greeting Of long-parted
friends, q bubble Of words surrounded
by froth of kisses.
.'You dear (kiss) sweet (kiss) thing.
I am SO perfectly tkiss) overjoyed to
see you" (kiss. kiss). Instead. there is
Hello. Peggy! It's jolly to have you
back again." in sincere Il some
what masculine accent.
A great many newspaper people who
have nothing better to write about are
stirring themselves into q ferment over
the loss Of femininity among women.
It bodies Ill for the future Of the race.
they say. and go into wordy spasms
over the Clarissas and Lydia Lam
cuisines Of 50 years ago. who spent
their lives fainting and reviving, work.
ing endless samplers and dissolving
into tears. The affections OF those days
which are erroneously classed under
the head Of ''femininities" are all the
better for vigorous pruning.
A little exposure to the air and sun
light and the removal Of q few layers
of that old-fashioned cotton batting
known as protective chivalry," in
which men Of half century ago were
wont to swaddle their women kind,
have done wonders for the sex. A
woman may be just as womanly In .
shirt waist as she was in hoopskirt.
Just as attractive on the golf links or
the tennis courts as dropping over an
embroidery frame like q flower that
has been raised in the shade: and IL
she has decided that kissing is one Of
the fashions or the affectations that
should long ago have been relegated to
the past, who will say that the charm
Of her frank handshake and her hear
ty greeting to the friend Of her bosom
is not as winsome as the too-exagger-
ated salute that has recently passed
into history! "a