Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1894 — As to Kissing. [ARTICLE]

As to Kissing.

In the old time men and womei> who were mere acquaintances exchanged kisses in public and with a certain amount of ceremony, and ir visitor to whom it was desired to show special civility was always received with a kiss. The mode of salutation has changed greatly with the time. Haste qifd high pressure have contributed (to render the form of greeting as bfig£ as possible. Not only have we giviuL, up the quaint, familiar ways of our' ancestors, but we also parted with much of that elaborate etiquette which in the last century played so large a part in social life. The changed habits of society, the greater mingling of its various grades, have brought a simplicity into the form of intercourse which strikes oddly upon the senses of people accustomed to old-fashioned ceremony. “I always kiss the lady’s hand when I take my leave of the hostess after a party,” said a German lady, a descendant of one of the oldest families in what used to be called Prussia. She was commenting rather severely on the habits and customs of her adopted country. The off-hand manners of girls toward their mothers, and of all young people generally toward all older people, drew forth her reprobation, and kissing is now confined to state ceremonies, and to a few lold-world lovers and gallants who have retained the ways of their great-grandfathers.— [Notes and Queries. The Rev. John A. Burk, of Baltimore, recently received a barrel of oysters from Reedville, Northampton County, Va. Upon opening one of the shells, the two parts of which w’erQ joined as if they held an oyster, a live fish two and one-half inches long fell from the shell and began to wriggle. The fish was put in water and is still alive. There was no oyster in the shell, the fish being the- sole occupant.