Omaha daily bee., 1916-06-20
Do You Know that
There Are Fifty
Kinds of Kisses?

The more usual thing is the NOR
inclined we are to accept it withou,
wondering at all about its previous
history or its meaning. One hopes
there are very few people in the con-
dition of New York's little East Side
girl of S years old who was taken
to the hospital very i'll, and, when IN
great pain, was asked by the hospital
nurse: "Shall kiss the place to
make it well?" The small patient
said: whats kiss?" 1t is dread
full to think that there should be chill
dren in America who do not know
what kissing is; the great majority OF
the civilized world are better in
formed, but few people exchanging
this affectionate salutation know what
an important place it has held in his
tory.
In the middle ages the monks took
the matter in hand, and must have
studied it with great attention, for
they divide the kiss into fifteen kinds.
These were the decorous kiss, the
diplomatic, the spying-to ascertain if
woman had drunk wine-the slave
kiss, the kiss infamous "a church
penance), the slipper kiss--practiced
towards tyrants-the judicial kiss, the
feudal kiss, the religious kiss, the
academic kiss-on joining brother
hood-the hand kiss, the Judas kiss,
the medical kiss-for the purpose of
healing some sickness-the kiss of
etiquet, and the only true kiss-the
kiss of love. This does not include
the kiss of peace, which was greet
ing exchanged between members of
the early church, a symbol of which
is still extant in the kissing of the
pax at high mass.
Before this period the kiss had
been considered of virtue in various
circumstances. The ancients believed
that kissing a dying person might
delay the moment of dissolution.
Then there is charming legend of
St. Monica, telling that when she was
dying, little, unknown child came
and kissed her, whereupon her soul
was released from the body. This
gave rise to the Italian phrase: Fall
ing asleep in the Lords kiss"
There is an epigram on kissing,
rather on the plan of Borrow's ia
nous conversation between Jasper
and his brother. 1t runs: What is
sweeter than mead? The dew of
heaven. And what is sweet than
dew? Honey from Hybia. What is
sweeter than honey? Nectar. What
is sweeter than nectar? A kiss" In
passing, one may mention another
epigram constructed on this plan,
taking the form of Latin inscription
on the outside of a beautiful old
house in Norfolk, England. As the
visitor waits for the medieval door
to be opened his eye inevitably rests
on the tablet which proclaims: What
is worse than tiger? A demon.
What is worse than demon? A
woman. What is worse than wo-
man? Nothing"
In old ballads kissing is repre-
sented as potent antidote to en-.
chantments, and the legends of thu
saints are full of instances of miracu-
lous cures effected by a kiss.
A different form OF kissing, not so
pleasant as most others, is repre-
sented in the sayings: ITO kiss the
rod" "To kiss the dust" and, in old
England, ITO kiss the gunners
daughter" The last mentioned, taken
literally, does not suggest a punish
ment; its exact meaning, however, is
to be tied to the breech of cannon
to receive flogging.
1t seems so natural form Of greet
ing to us that it is strange to think
there are many countries where it is
absolutely unknown. in Japan it is
notoriously not practiced. At the re-
cent Earl's Court exhibition, in Lon
don, in the Old Japan section, there
was a most delightful brown baby
in blue kimono and a purple obi.
1t played with its little toys and with
those of the English children who
were among the spectators all day
long, and its demeanor was one of
kindly dignity throughout, recalling
Kipling's remark that in Japan the
only serious things are the babies,
WuOsC uuty IL 10 " lOOh dIISI tIlC
grown-ups. However, there was one
thing that upset this very petted in
fant and that was when any demon
strative spectator tried to kiss it, a
proceeding which struck terror to its
soul and caused it to rend the air witt,
most heartrending shrieks of panic.
In the South Sea Islands the place
of the kiss is taken by the sign Of af-
fection prevalent among calves and
ponies-that is, by rubbing noses-a
practice which must be difficult to
those in whom this feature is, as Ten
nyson delicately put It, "tip-tilted like
the petal of a rose"
1t is possible that at some period in
England, even in France, kissing had
the strangeness of novelty, but this
must have been before the earliest +.
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