Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/93



can also express feelings from which the erotic element is excluded—feelings that are consequently less ardent and longing, but, most frequently, far deeper and more lasting.

A kiss is expressive of love in the widest and most comprehensive meaning of the word, bringing a message of loyal affection, gratitude, compassion, sympathy, intense joy, and profound sorrow. In the first place a kiss is the expression of the deep and intense feeling which knits parents to their offspring. At its entrance into the world the little helpless infant is received by its father's and mother's warm kiss. In the Middle Ages they kissed the new-born baby thrice in the name of the Holy Trinity. And the parent's kiss follows the child through life. 79