Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-07-13
AN AGE or KISSING.
TRse Present Is PpeenainentIy a Pe~ riod That Teens with Tales
 of OscmH8kaon.

OG O@G011AxOM~ 5YgE5
 One thousand two hundred and thir- $y7fve kisses in bulk figured rather prominently in a breach of promise suit the other day. The suit, as might be expected, was won-by the~lady, in- cluding damages to the extent of $3,ooo. The testim onyswith regard to the kisses deeply interested an asmbi- tious law student in petite oaas,- who is studying with & view to making breach of promise cases her speciality, says the Chicago Inter- Ocean.
 This student has--devoted 8, good deal of atteDtion and<investagstion to kissing, and has .discopered that up to less than 60 years ago the oscula+ory privilege was not so highly esteemed or so freely grantedaasinth theselatter days. In other words, this is the kiss ing age. In prereEolntionary days parents rarely kissed their children, and the Puritan Pilgrims and. their posterity unto tlleyfourth generation, regarded the kiss as an invention of the devil. A weak minded Boston citizen was heavily fined for kissing his wife on Sunday, because thsstsvgas4a peculiarly reprehensible bleexaggerationof of the gen. eraIly@condemned offense.
 In Virginia and Maryland laxer views-of kissing as a, crime prevailed, but nobody took any stock in the proceeding While the fathers. near est approach to affectionate demon stration was a kiss upon his dangh- ter's brow, the sons of fine families were expected to kiss only their mothers hands.
 How lovers progressed in their courtships without oscu1atory assist ance of any sort is little short of my ystery The noveists and poets are silent upon this interesting point. Richardson's, Fannie Burney's, and Scouts heroines were wooed and won without kisses, except those purely peri functory ones bestowed upon their hands which custom, by the way, was
 introduced to England and the United States and the continent. It is not until the rise of the roman- ;ic school of fervent young fctionists who contributed to that ancient and defunct household comfort known as ssGodey's Lady Book that we get any evidence as to the rapidity with which the kiss became popuIarized in th1s country.
 By and by the Duchess" novels arrived, and then the kiss was, estab- lished as a social custom in good and highly popular standing. Nova days no novelist would presume to conduct a proposal without a prelim- mary skirmish line of kisses, leading up to the final troth, which is us ually. pledged in hearty fashion upon the heroine's ripe red lips. The drama tist is pledged to affordf his audience similar demonstrations. of the art of osculation. Frequently, in plays and operas, it is conducted in a fashion that would bring a blush of indigna- tion to the, cheek of our greafgrand- parents. Yet the matinee girl looks 1 on benignantly and applauds the ten l der exhibition.
 tsYour love scenes are too cold, 7 1 said 3 publisher recently to the author of promising manuscript novel. s1I should drop in a>~kiss or two; they will warm the situation up won- l derfully,' advised the head reader. The author, being wise in her day l and generation, accepted the sugges- tion, and heard no subsequent conn 1 plaints from the critics of the read- l ing public.
 Said the head reader of the publish 1 ing firm when telling this story: The public, the big and sentimental mass of readers dearly loves kisses well
 and appropriately bestowed. The-av-
 craze novel reading girl who. .haunts
 the circulating libraries would no more indorse a romance without
 strong kissing features than she would l drink soda without ice-cream in it.
 The novelist who knows how-to.intro-
 duce kisses frequently and with pass
 able art can invariably claim an audi
 ence to which the publisher is glad to anpeaIss