The Washington herald., 1920-09-13
NOT MEASURE
OF AFFECTION
Noted Writer Tells Wives
Not to Trust Kiss
ing-Bug.
HABIT DULLS APPETITE
Psychologist Outlines Few
Truths to Save Matri-
/ mony's Face.
HABIT DULLS APPETITE
Concerning Kisses.
By DOROTHY DIX.

The other day woman applied
to the court for an order restrain
ing her husband from kissing
her so often. She said that he
kissed her 800 times a day and
she was fed up on kisses and sa-
tiated with demonstrations OF al
lection, and desired a surcease OF
them.
Women are queer creatures,
and there is no satisfying them,
sighed the magistrate as he signed
an injunction against the overly
affectionate husband, most women
who come TO this court COM
plain that they are not kissed
enough, and want the law to
make their husbands kiss them
oftener."
And there you are, up against one
Of the biggest problems Of matri-
r mony. which is to hx the proper
number Of kisses which should con-
stitute the daily menu in happy
household. and preserve the nice
balance which makes kisses plenti-
full enough and yet keeps them IN
the sweetmeat class.
For. alas. we have no sentime ntal
censor TO ration kisses, and tell us
Just how many per diem constitute
romantic prohteering, or how few
will starve affection to death or
Just what amount of osculation 1t
requires to keep a woman's heart
nouriShed without its Cloying on her
palate, and making her cry out with
Solomon: Feed me on apples. Stay
me with hagons for l am sick OF
love"
OF course this attempt to regu-
late the amount of kissing is of no
interest to the great majority of
married men, except as they are in
terested in any protective measure
for their own greater safety and
peace. Most married men hand out
the daily domestic kiss just as they
put lightning rods on their houses
to avert the consequences of storms.
And they are in no danger whatever
of overriding it. or forcing their
wives to call for help.
The average man does all of the
kissing in which he takes an active
personal interest in the days before
L marriage when he has to steal
Ikiss or beg for one. When it be-
comes his legal duty to kiss wOm-
an every time he comes and goes,
he does it in the same spirit in
which he pays the grocery bill.
Kissing has become merely a part
Of matrimony, one of its obligations
and he meets it like a man. Heaven
knows he is no welcher.
Why women lay such stress on
being kissed husbands never figure
out. Neither does anybody else. No
woman could tell you, to save her
life, why she feels ill-used or neg
Iected II her husband fails to give
her a peck on the cheek when he
starts forth to business of a morn
ing. Still less does she know why
she makes the number of his kisses
4 test Of love.
She does. however. and it is a fact
that a woman will believe that the
man who beats and starves her,
and makes her work to support
aim, loves her devotedly if he kisses
aer twenty times a day, while she
will doubt the affection of a hUs
band who works himself to death
% indulge her in luxuries if he hap
pens TO be a poor kisser.
Certainly nothing more unalluring
~ unrom1ntiC. or Unsentimental
han the matutinal kiss with which
omen insist on beginning the day
an be ina gined. For nobody has
neart or a soul At breakfast time
These are organs we develop later!
the day. Early in the morning
ye are nothing but stomach and
,rE!ns and hands.
We are eager to get to work. We
ire full Of plans of action. We are
rot thinking OF our feelings. or,
lWclling upon the state Of our af-
'ectiCns- And We don't want to-
Kiss. we want our coffee and to get
jUsy.
Ard. although they don't know it,
women are no more in the mood for I
;issing than are men. II you will
lotiCe you will observe that a wom- I
n always turns the back of her
Iead, or her left ear to her hus-
Iand's ham and eggs salute. She
soesn't even take down her curl
apers to receive it, so little heart
ltersst has she in it, And no wom- !
n who wanted a kiss. or expected
thrill to one. would fail to pro-
ide the proper scenery.
The truth is. we cannot do anv-
,lng every day without its becom- ,
iC a habit. Nor can we do anv-
7inE that We are expected to do.
nd reminded of il we forget it and
allied down for IL We don't do il, .
'ithOut our coming to look upon il ,
A duty. and which we loathe be-
I tuse- it is a duty. Nor is there