Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1899 — THE KISS. [ARTICLE]

THE KISS.

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is interesting. A mandarin who traveled in the West for the purpose of learning the European customs was greatly perplexed in trying to explain a kiss—a thing unknown in his country. “The kiss,” he writes, “is an act of courtesy, consisting in bringing the lips of one person into contact with the chin of another, whereby a sound is produced.” Kissing, however, is not a privilege reserved exclusively to love; there are occasions when it is prescribed by court etiquette. On the occasion of the crown prince of Greece’s wedding the bride, Princess Sophia of Prussia, the Kaiser’s sister, was obliged to bestow no less than 150 kisses. The King of Greece received three kisses; so did his Queen; so did the Empress Frederick and the King and Queen of Denmark and Kaiser Wilhelm and the Empress, while all the princes and princesses present received one kiss apiece. The poor crown princess on leaving the church must have had aU the kissing she wanted and probably had but few left for the wedding Journey.

A recent experiment made at Berlin, where a young German undertook to press his lips to those of his sweetheart 1,000 times an hour, for ten consecutive hours, with short intervals for rest, is evidence that there is a limit to osculatory achievements and that kissing carfnot be carried on as a continuous performance. Havifig kissed his sweetheart 3,750 times in two hours forty-eight minutek and ten seconds, this young German’s lips were paralyzed and be swooned.