Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-15

Everyone admires . rttort direct,
even the person who suffers from it,
IL he or she be at all generous.
At the theater the other evening I
was sitting next t. a girl who was
discussing the production of a recent
play. with a bachelor whom large
circle of friends know as a scholar
ard a gentleman in the best sense OF
the word.
The girl expressed her opinion of
the play in that disa greeable that-set-
tles-it tone of voice assumed by many
women. The man in the most cour-
teous manner disagreed.
The orchestra played the first strains
of the overture and the couple pre-
pared to enjoy the performance.
CT should like to talk to you again
about that play" said he.
ooh, you cannot change my mind y
said the girl, with that same narrow
minded tone of voice.
perhaps you could change mine y
he said with courteous little bow that
could not have failed to have dis
concerting effect on the girl. For
tunately for her the curtain went up,
but | imagine she received little les
son that will do her world OF good.
.'vyhv do women kiss each other ?"
The query was propounded to me the
other day by a man of my acquaint-
ance He Is one of those men VINO
are always propounding unanswerable
questions that take one off ones guard
and leave one speechless.
When a woman has not an adequate
answer to an allegation she usually
denies the allegation and in so doing
defies the alligator.
'They don't" 1 said. Perhaps they
used to. but that was a long time ago "
I had no sooner uttered the words
than l was sorry for them. We were
walking down one of the main streets.
Look" said my companion, and l
followed the direction of his glance.
1t was a case Of caught in the act.
Two women-as missuck would have
it both of them women whom l know
were greeting each other, and with
a kiss. As we drew nearer l heard
the conversation.
$50 glad to see you, my dear; and
how nice you are looking! 1 see you
have made over your last summer s
gown; it is quite fresh and becoming.
We moved on and ] heard no more.
If that man had been a woman he
might have said IT told you So" in
stead it was merely, 1T is a very
warm day. Don't you think an Ice
would be refreshing?"
That ended the subject so far as the
discussion was concerned, but it made
me think and also observe.
"Why do women kiss each other?'
/ asked myself the query several times
during the next two days and the only
answer is a womans Because
II is safe to say that half the wo'
men who meet for minute and ek-
change ksses-if the salute can bt
called that-put little real affection
into the greeting which could not be
expi essed by a good hearty handshaKe
Imagine two American men kissing
each other in "A public place, or any
where else. Would you not smile? Ol
course you would, if you have even 6
grain of humor in your makeup.
The custom of woman acquaintance
kissing each other should be relega-ec
to the Dark Ages, along with many
other meaningless and wornout Gus
torus.
There are those who profess to hav
their minds bent upOn the better men
of the world who would advocate il
the interest of science and health tina
kisspg be done away with entirely
That IS neither here nor there, but a
any rate few women would find it
terrible hardship to he forced to refraiI
from kissing other women.
The first of the literary matinees al
the Belasco theater next Tuesday, with
Miss Constance Crawley and Harry
Mestayer in the leading roles, promises
to be an important society event, for
all the boxes have been taken, and a
number of theater parties have been
planned. The play, D'Annuncio's "Gia-
conda,' is one of the most picturesque
of modern dramas. The fact that Miss
Estelle Pierce. a society girl of San
Diego, will appear in the difficult role
of La Sirenatta adds special interest to
this performance, and many of Miss
Pierces friends will be present to cele-
brate her debut in Southern Califor-
mia. She was a member of the Alca-
zar company in San Francisco and
comes 10 Los Angeles after her first
season which revealed her eXtraordi-
nary talent for dramatic art