IT'S IN HIS KISS by Marisa Masterson

 Sparking. Spooning. Sling a slobber (Victorian English slang). Buss. They all refer to one thing--kissing.

Nineteenth century culture encouraged kisses to be secret, hidden events. Etiquette books of the time even discouraged women from greeting each other with a peck on the cheek. If a friend slipped and did such a thing in public, it needed to be done "with dignity". 

Harper's Weekly made fun of kissing in an 1874 issue. Since bus (or buss) was slang for kissing, the writer created new words for it. Omni-bus meant to kiss all the girls in the room. A bus-ter was a general kisser. (https://www.geriwalton.com/the-kiss-of-the-1800s-and-tales-associated-with-it/)

As society changed and kissing became more accepted, this warning appeared. Doesn't it look familiar? It concerned the danger of kissing during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.

What I most enjoyed from my research came from a 1911 advertisement--

Clever advertisement! We are still reading it over a century later.

As I writer, I love the vintage pieces about kissing. Who knows? Maybe Pepsin gum will appear in one of my novels!

Here's a deal worth kissing over. A Strongman for Christmas is $.99! 

The first time it has been on sale!

Wynona Thorne lives a hard-scrabble existence with her father. At least their life was peaceful. That all changed when her father died. Her brother's behavior turns violent now that Wynona's father isn't there to stop him. Desperate, she takes her future into her own hands by answering an advertisement to be a mail-order bride. 

Neither the groom or bride are completely transparent in their letters. He travels with a circus. She's, well, stout! When they meet, Cornelius Branard refuses to marry Wynona. 

Stranded at the circus, what will Wynona do? Can she trust the strong giant who is built so much like her terrible brother? Wynona will need to decide quickly as danger follows her from her hometown.

"Great characters, a wonderful hero for a woman who had been ridiculed during her life, and some exciting action scenes made this a must-read."

                    --Big Red, Amazon Reviewer

Ban on Kissing

An article I recently came across lent itself to my great amusement.

Titled "Crusade Against Kissing," it originally appeared in The Northants Evening Telegraph, 29 December 1900.

According to the article, Dr. Anna Hatfield (no relation, at least that my husband is willing to claim), a "lady physician" started a movement in her local branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to ban kissing.

Hatfield claimed kissing was a "barbarous, insanitary custom, worse than drinking, and should be rigidly abolished. No person should kiss another without first using an antiseptic wash on the mouth to destroy bacteria."

And worse than the germs lingering around a mouth, was the "moral bacteria." Hatfield said, "Girls are not taught to view a kiss with awe, as they once were. Engaged persons should be allowed only one kiss at the time of betrothal."

The newspaper observed the anti-kissing crusade would be "watched with great interest, but its failure is generally predicted."

Indeed.

The nutty doctor wasn't the only one who thought there was too much kissing taking place back in the early years of the 1900s.

An article from 1907 declared, "we kiss too much. The principles of both hygiene and honesty are constantly violated in the practice... It ought not to be necessary — but it is — to say that kissing in public is extremely bad form."

Even before the turn of the century, some thought kissing to be of bad form.
"Girls, it is in bad taste for you to be given to kissing boys or men... a kiss is nothing more or less than a physical sounding of a woman's social, mental, or moral strength," advised a sage from 1889.

A bit of wisdom from 1893 stated, "It would be well if every person in society should register a solemn resolution never to kiss anybody unless prompted to do so by the irresistible impulse of affection."

Thank goodness for those irresistible impulses of affection.

I, for one, am glad those seeking to ban kissing failed spectacularly in their efforts.

~*~

USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

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