ony by a well-recognized squeaking of their fiddles, which was a signal for the couples to smack each other soundly. There have been outright "kissing bees" held in some of the western states; and even New England has been accused of holding "electric kissing parties," in which men and women rubbed their feet on the rugs until they were charged with electricity, and then kissed in the dark, to the amusement of bystanders who watched the sparks leap from lip to lip—if the accounts are to be believed. In any case, the good old husking bees are well authenticated, where the finding of a red ear of corn gave a young man the right to kiss every girl present; and gave a girl the right to call out her beau and kiss him before the crowd. So society blundered along toward giving its youth some practical knowledge of the opposite sex, to aid in right choice.
In modern England, bank holidays are the signal, in certain localities, for kissing sports quite as general and indiscriminate. The young men and women gathered there would form a rude ring, and then a girl—any girl—would suddenly go up to a young man, and slip a chip into his hand. She would at once run across the green as fast as she was able, or willing; the man thereupon would give chase, run her down, bring her back with his arm around her waist, and kiss her half a dozen times before the onlookers. At times the man gave the chip, and the girl did the chasing.
In Ireland there are occasional kissing festivals. On an Easter Monday not long ago
