South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-10-03
By DR.. Max Baf.
The Distinguished Authority on Feminine
Psychology

THE recent departure for the Next
can border OF companies of the
National Guard was marked by
an extraordinary outbreak OF kissing. At
the armOries. at the station and at stops
en- route the soldiers were kissed by
whole bevies OF girls The girls and
soldiers. hssers and kissees, in few
cases knew each other Ordinarily they
we're entire strangers The prettiest
girl in Clearfield, Pennsylvania tried her
best to kiss an entire regiment. She
nearly succeeded.
Not long before. no doubt. many OF
these impulsive ladies had been singing
earnestly that they did not raise their
boy TO be a soldier" Why then did they
embrace so impetuously some boy whose
mother did raise him to be a soldier?
Why in every outbreak of war or threat
ened outbreak are these same scenes
presented? Why does the sight Of sol
diers raise women to such emotional
heights? Why does she love a uniform?
- shall try TO answer these questions.
Women kiss soldiers because they are
still savages, still primitive. lovers Of
strength. worshippers of force. What a
big strong fellow they viii say, their
gentle eyes lighting up as they rest upon
some stalwart specimen. But they never
say, What a fine weak, little fellow"
Man on the contrary, rarely praises big
ness and stalwartness in the female
What a lovely little girl" says man.
Woman. the primitive, still sub-conscious-
" and consciously looks on man as the
protector The stranger the protector.
the better he can protect. Hence wOman's
viewpoint Man, accustomed for ages to
be the protector. sub-cOnsciously resents
the strong big woman. She hurts his
pride, because she looks as though she
can take care OF herself. Hence the
mans viewpoint
Here then. we strike the first element
in the soldier kissing phenomenon The
soldier represents force. Woman. watch
ing him swinging by in all the panoply
Of force. reacts 10 the ancient impulse.
She is swept with emotion. The kissing
follows.
But there is a second and a more sur
prising element that enters into the mat
ter Woman is essentially a blood lover
She loves its color and she sub-con-
sciously delights in the thought Of IT,
Soldiers 60 forth to kill Their uniform,
no matter what its color. is a symbol OF
slaughter. Of red. For this same reason
women are attracted 10 a fresh COM
plexiOn, a ru5dy face.
Being primitive. woman is also pas
sionate lover OF color. Witness her rib
bons. her beads. her shining stones. her
feathers. She takes the same delight in
them as does the savage-because she is
still the savage.
In the soldier then there are three in
tense-y compelling factors Of her emo
tons The idea OF force. which means
10 her protection; the idea OF blood
whose curious fascination will be eX-
planned later: and the appeal 70 color.
The complex is irresistible.
I Let US 90 back a little. Every print
tive race held blood in the highest rever-
ence. IL was a mystical fluid. And why
not? When our first ancestors. the ape
men, fought they knew that 10 kill they
must Jet this red stream flow. The ape
,~9man. watching the struggle. knew she
would belong 20 him who made IL flow.
when the game was tainted the man
brought back the streaming carcass 10
mis- mate and her fire in the cave. The
iblood meant food The savage drank