Kissing comes by instinct, and yet it is an art which few understand
properly. A lover should not hold his bride by the ears in kissing her,
as appears to have been customary at Scotch weddings of the last
century. A more graceful way, and quite effective in preventing the
bride from “getting away,” is to put your right arm round her neck, your
fingers under her chin, raise the chin, and then gently but firmly press
your lips on hers. After a few repetitions she will find out it doesn’t
hurt, and become as gentle as a lamb.
The word adoration is derived from kissing. It means literally to apply
to the mouth. Therefore girls should beware of philologists who may ask
them with seemingly harmless intent, “May I adore you?”
In kissing, as in everything else, honesty is the best policy. Stolen
kisses are not the sweetest, as Leigh Hunt would have us believe. A kiss
to be a kiss must be mutual, voluntary, simultaneous. “The kiss snatched
hasty from the sidelong maid” is not worth having. A stolen kiss is only
half a kiss.
“These poor half-kisses kill me quite;
Was ever man thus served?
Amidst an ocean of delight,
For pleasure to be starved?”—MARLOWE.