Year: 1876

We regret to see that our usually lu-
minous contemporary, the Sun, Is lit
tie beclouded as TO our views on an i'm
portant subject recently mooied In Its
columns by a Connecticut girl. This
young lady, being addicted to what she
calls carriage riding" with her friends
Of the other sex, has been perplexed In
her mind as to the propriety of kissing
her companions good night on reach
ing home. The Sun, while 1t does not
object to the practice Of carriage rid
ing" in couples by moonlight, draws
line sharply against the farewell kiss,
unless in the cases of a relative or of an
engaged lover. We are not at all lati-
tudinarian, as the Sun seems to fancy
we are, in regard to what Milton would
have called I" the liberty of unlicensed
kissing" But IL the carriage riding in
couples by moonlight is to be permitted,
we hold that to erect chaste salute on
the doorstep at parting into high crime
and unmaidenly misdemeanor; will be
more likely to lead to mischief than to
deter from it Surely there was pro-
found truth conveyed to the Observs-
ton of that graceless Frenchwoman
who lamented that it was not sin to
drink cold water when one was thirsty.
II Connecticut girl thinks no evil OF
" carriage riding" in the moonlight, Is
1t not better for her also to think no
evil Of a friendly kiss at her fathers
door ? There are kisses and kisses.
" To kiss" is defined by Webster to
salute by applying the lips" a dehnl.
tion in which the photographer, guided
no doubt by the light of experience, re-
cognzes the intrinsic harmessness of
the practice by making it seem as COM
mon and Insignificant greeting as
shaking the hand. And so Indeed it
was among our ancestors. Erasmus
comments with admiration upon the IL
beral amiability In this particular of the
young English ladies with whom he be-
came acquainted in the discreet and no
bic circle of the friends of Sir Thomas
More. Handkssing came into England
from France with generation not Ger =
tainly more scrupulOus In their respect
for the substantial proprieties OF life
than the contemporaries of Sir Thomas
More. But beside the common kiss, or
kiss of reverence the lovers kiss, or
token Of pure affection ; the hypucritical
kiss, or kiss or fiattery the traitorous
kiss, as that of Joab TO Amasa before he
slew him, or of Judas to Christ and
the parOxysmal kiss, a modern innova>
ton which it Is to be feared may even.
tually invade our city from Brooklyn IT
carriage riding by moonlight" over
the new bridge is SO freely permitted.
The essential difference between the
Sun and ourselves on this matter of
kissing appears to be that our cOntem-
porary assumes that every unengaged
young man is necessarily dangerous
and detrimental creature against whom
a Connecticut girl should be always on
her guard, while we are of the opinion
that if it is possible for two young peO-
pie to ride about in carriage together
by moonlight without improperly, it
must be equally possible for them to
kiss each other goodnight without
shaking society to its foundations. That
a kiss should never lead to an engage =
ment, but must always be the sign and
symbol of one already perfected, Is a
pIOpOSlJiOb dioO hoo oNNi h"o'''y w ~
admitted. What are we to do with the
case of Coleridge's heroine, the "guile
less Genevieve," of whom the poet dis
tiDctly tells US not only that he won
her by kiss, but also that 1t was she
who kissed him, not he that kissed her,
when she few to him and


"Clasped him in a meek embrace" |"


Or what, again, about those famous
thre. kisses of Mrs Browning.


OF course we are ready to admit that
there may be certain hair Drained young
women even in Connecticut incapable
of discriminating In sudden emergencies
between the right and wrong kiss, but
we firmly believe and stOutly maintain
that in the mouths Of sensible and dis
Greet maidens who may be trusted to
carriage ride," the right to kiss and
to receive kisses may also be trusted,
not only with perfect impunity but even
with advantage. The Sun mast admit
that the harm which it processes to fear
lies not in the kiss itself but In the in
tention of the kisser or kissee. Given,
kissee of good sense and discretion,
qualities enabling her not only to chose
kisser of good and religious motives,
but also to receive his kiss with piOus
and proper intent, then let the kiss be
gently but firmly placed where it will
do the most good, not hastily and clum-
silly on the nose, and " If body kiss q


A.