Show SOCIAL ETIQUETTE The Decline and Prospective Iiaj > j > par ante of the Kiting Habit The announcement is frequently seen that kissing as a social salutation has gone out of vogue and should be tabooed by people who profess to follow the best social usage This is however a very strong statement of the case the reign of social osculation being by no means over But it is true that a gradual reform has within a year or two been in progress prog-ress as may be noted in the behavior of people peo-ple whose example influences society On this subject Good Housekeeping says The reform may be traced to two causes a gradual perception of the fact that indiscriminate indis-criminate kissing is in exceedingly bad taste offensive to many people and pleasing to very few and the discovery that it is not only unrefined un-refined but is a source of danger to health and life The force of these two arguments against promiscuous kissing as a social habit has been strong enough to produce a noticeable notice-able change in the practice of women in society so-ciety Kissing between women has not altogether alto-gether gone out of practice even yet but as asocial a-social greeting it is being surely dropped except ex-cept between relatives or very intimate friends and even in such circles it is becoming becom-ing less common I The kissing habit has been carried to its greatest extreme among English speaking people and people of other blood are often amazed and amused by the universality and cheapness of the kiss among the English nations na-tions The kiss in its proper function has a fine significance and may be made the vehicle of the purest emotions the honest expression of legitimate feeling a greeting full of genuine gen-uine voluntary sympathy and love Tho kissing habit is an abuse and a misuse It has brought the kiss into disgrace and made it vulgar cheap and hypocritical Be it the province of this generation of refinement and education to rescue it from its degraded estate and restore it to its natural elevated and elevating place and use in the social economy A Standing Question A social conundrum which never stays answered an-swered is the following When wedding cards are received should the recipients return their cards or write an acknowledgment of invitations Simply tend your card |