KISSING.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume 2, Issue 6, 8 July 1892, Page 6

KISSING.

The statement thas " Kissing datea back to Judas," is not unlike Walton's grave dictum that " Fishing was invented by Noah," or the adage tbat the Goodwin Sands were caused by Tenterden steeple. There is no doubt, however, but that osculation was a very ancient oustom. Ovid often mentions it:

" With love inflamed and eager on his bliss, Smothered her words, and stopped her with a to,"

The Story op Calisto. '• Whene'er I stoop he offers at a kiss

And when my arms I atretah be stretches

his." The Story Of Narcissus. " Tne nymph still begs, if not a nobler bliss, A cold saluts at least, a sister's kiss. . .

The mora the boy resisted, and was ooyf

Tbb more she dipt, and Mst the struggling boy." Thk Story op Salamacis and Hermaphro-

UITDS. And Homer makes Priatn. kiss the hand of Achilles. In the Catholic Church the "kiss of peace" is included in a religious rite, and Saints Petar and Paul speak of it in their Epistles; while Teitullian' St. Justin,, and St. Oytil frequently refer to it. At the end of Mass the prisst, saluting the deacon, says. JPux tibi t frattr at excttsias sanctteDei; the deaoon tben salutes the sub-deacon, the subdeacon the other clergy. Pharoah said to Joseph, " Thou shalt be over my house, and upon tby mouth shall all thy people kiss," signifying thereby that the people should reverence the commands of Joseph by hissing the parchment on which was written his commands. Again, " Samuel poured oil on Saul and kissed him" (1 Sam. x ]); while the " kiss of charity," cr " holy kiss" (Bom. xvi. 16, &c), still observed in the Greek Church, was recognised by the early Christians. Pope Constantino 1., we are are told, kadhis foot kissed by the Emperor Justinian 11/on his entry into Constantinople in 710; and in t-27, Valentine I. ordered everyone to kiss his foot.

Kissing, by way of salutation, was common among the Romans, and kissing on the mouth or on the eyes was a compliment paid to a man when any great happiness' befel bim. Yet it is strange that a people notable for detestable vices ' should havo affectad the extreme delioaoy of never kissing their wiveß when in the presenoe of their daughters. But as the Roman ladies sometimes suffered from a oomplaint delicately denned by Captain Zunigaaß " alcoholic saturation," their male kindred, were to ascertain the cause of xfr.i attack, allowed to Tugs tham on the lips.

! Dying telatives were kissed, in the Belief that tha oeparting soul would paes into the living man j and frequently the dead were kissed seven days after their death. The mutual kissing of the lips seemed to be a natural impulse. When gallant masterBe ven-years-old meets with his affinity in the shape of eweet five years old, he will kiss her, and she will twine her arms round his neok and kiss him—if she likes bim—shamelessly and unblusbingly before the eyes of the old company. Dumb creatures express their affection in a similar manner, as is instanced by the billing of doves. The favorite horse will rub his nose against his master's face. The dog will lick the hand tbat pat 3 it. In Germany, a kiss received " under protest" constitutes a grave offence on the part of the " kissor," to coin a legal term, who may be punished for it as for an injuria. To kiss on the forehead denotes goodwill, as when a fathar sealed hia parental blessing. To kiss on the foot implies humility; whib a kiss on the Bhoulder signifies superiority in the person kissed. Kissing the Pope's toe, called in France, le baisement des pieds, is a ceremony of the Catholic Church, the Pope's foot baing, during the solemnity oovered by a slipper on which is a orose, In reality, only the cross is kissed. This ceremonial denotes reverence. Matthew of Westminster declares that in the eighth century it was customary to kiss the hand of His Holiness, but-that a certain woman having not only kissed it but "squeezed it," the Church magnate, seeing the danger to which he was exposed, cut off his hand, and, from that time "forward, presented his foot. This is probably a fable.

To kiss the ground is a mark of submission, also a mark of adoration, for adoratio literally means, '• with the mouth ;'? while, in Hebrew, '"to kiss." means "to adore." In most countries it is customary for oertain officers to kiss the hand of the Sovereign on state Prussia, hardly ever. In a novel ealled " Rhea." by Pascal Germain, a stolen ktss i 3 amusingly described thus, " Suddenly bis body oame crushing about her," a description which, though it savours of the prize riag, is a happier metaphor than that of the great preacher, " Tcllotson. who spoke of the king's shoulder as having been " kindly kissed" by a bullet. Johnson defines a kiss as a " salute given by joining the lips.;" but for variety few can equal Mr. P. M. Roget, who, in his famous Thesaurus, tell 3 that "kiss" equals " caress, endearment, blandishment, blandiment, epanchement, fondling, billing and cooing, embrace, salute, buss, smack, osculation, and desculation ;" and he follows these up with " courtship, wooing, suit, addresses, flirtation, philandering, gallivan ting, serenading; verbs—to caress, fondle, wheedle, dandle, dally, coddle, cookie, oossef, nestle, clasp, hug, embrace, and salute," a cascade of vocablss, and verbs that should, satisfy the cravings of even the moat amorous of swains.

It is amusing to note the various " forms" of " deosoulation." Observe the melanoholy expression of holiday makers while they indulge in the eeoentric diversion y-cleped " kiss-in-the-ring." Now go to Waterloo Station, there to witness real sorrow. Sae the husbands parting from their wives; the parents from their children i the lovers from their sweethearts; and see them kissing each other, it may be for the last time. Turn to the next page. Watch, if you can, the guileful and guarded play of men and maidens. Look at that bold young man kissing that fast young lady as though it were hia daily habit. Look at that good young man kissing the fair widow to whom he is engaged, kissing her simply because he loves her and cannot restrain his feelings. Look at that amorous young man timorously kissing Miss Blue-eyes beoause she " is bo pretty," and he is bo susceptible. Look at that rich young man being proposed to by the buxom, smooth-tongued adventuress, who afterwards fondly embraoea him, though he does not like it.

Do not say that these things do not occm. They do, and you know that they do. Not many centuries ago there was in vogue a dance during a portion of which " the object of the dancer was to keep his lips pressed to those of the partner." We quota from memory, from an ancient manual on dancing and oalisthenics, but the statement' is correct. Are we bold if we bint that such a dance, if allowed to-day by the laws of etiquette—which fortunately it is not, the matron will exclaim—would meet with aproval among some young people ? though, of oause, they won't own to it. Foreigners, on meeting one another after a short absence, embraoe, because they are by nature mere demonstrative than Englishmen ; not because their attachment is greater than ours. It, has been said that " All kissing is baneful." We venture to differ Do we not kiss a ohild in distress, to console it; in pain, to comfort it; in anger to soothe it ? And listen to the words of Chauoer, .in "The Clerk's Tale/ *s'bey strengthen our views:— " And, mekely, aha ,' she sergeant praid (So as ha was a worthy gsntilman) That she might Msse hire ohilde, er that it diad : And in her barme, this litel ohild she laid, With full sad face ; and gan the child to * blisae, And lulled it, and after gan to kisse."

obvious that no crime has been committe* and that, therefore, I am illegally detained." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Holmes. " You would have done better to bave trusted your wife." " It was not the wife, it was the childten," groaned the prisoner. " God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My God 1 What an exposure! What can I.do?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch, and patted hitn kindly on the Bhoulder.

" f you leave it to a court of law to clear the mittar up," said he, " of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other band, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Bradsfcreet would, I am sure, make notes 'on anything which you might tell us, and submit it tD the proper authorities. The case would then never go into the court at all."

" God bless you !" cried the prisoner, passionately. " I would have endured imprisonment, aye, even execution, rather than have left my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. " You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day my editor wished to have a series of articles upon street begging in the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point from which all my adventures started.

"It was only by trying begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets of making-up, and had been famous in the green-room for my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my face, and, to make myself aß.pitiable as possible, I made a good scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a small strip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the busiest part of the City, ostensibly as a match-seller, but really as a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned home in the •evening I found, to my surprise, that I had •received no less than twenty-six shillings and fourpence. *' I wrote my articles, and thought little more of the matter until, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend, and had a writ served upon me for £25. I was at my wits' - end where to get the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's grace from the oreditor, asked for a holiday ifrom my employers, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In ten days I had the money, and had paid the -debt.

" Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work at two pounds a week, when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reporting, and sat day after day in the corner which I had first chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face, and filling my pockets with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the ieeper of a low den in which I uaed to lodge in Swandam-lane, where I could every morning emerge as a squalid beggar, and in the ■ evenings transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, a Lasoar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that .I knew that my secret was safe in his possession.

", Well, very soon I found out that I was saving considerable sums of money.' Ido not mean that any beggar in the streets of London could earn seven hundred pounds a year—which is less than my average takiDg s —but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making-up, and ako in a facility in repartee, which improved by practioe, and made me quite a recognised character in the City. All day a stream of pennies, varied ■by silver, poured in upon me, and it was a very bad day upon which I failed to take two pounds. " As I grew richer, I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had business in the City. She little knew what.

"Last Monday I had finished for the day, and was dressing in my room above the opium den, when I looked out of the window and saw, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the street, with Jher eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of

u ic-w up n y aim* to cover my fact and rushing to my confidant, the Lasoar, entreated him to prevent any one coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the clothes might betray me. I threw open re-opening by my violence a small cut which I had" inflicted upon myetlf in the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coa*;, which v-as weighted by the coppers which I bad just transferred to it from the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather I confess to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer.

" I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would be dreadfully anxioas, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watohing me together with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to fear."

" That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.

" Good God ! What a week she must have spent."

" The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, " and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor oustomer of his, who forgot all about- it for some days."

" That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly, " I have no doubt of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging ?" " Many times; but what was a fine to me ?"

" It must Btop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to hush this affair up, there must be no more Hugh Boone." "I have sworn it by the mest solemn oaths which a man oan take."

"In that caee I think tbat it is probable that no further steps may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results."

" I reached shis one," said my friend, " by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. 1 think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker-street we shall be just in time for breakfast.' 1

THE END