be bussed at so much the smack, all to put panties on the little heathens of Patagonia, or to provide cream for indigent kittens in the Bid-a-wee Home. During the Boer war, Mrs. Potter, the noted actress, sold a kiss to a Hindu for twenty pounds, or about a hundred dollars; devoting the money to the South African War fund. Grace George looked at the matter reasonably, when interviewed on the subject. She reminded, the reporter that actresses were paid to allow actors to kiss them, where the play called for this display; and hence she saw no reason why the kiss could not be sold for patriotic reasons.
The stage kiss itself is often a mere feint, a pretended affair in which the actor and actress go through the motions of the kiss without touching lips. But it may be the very reverse, depending upon the actor and actress involved. There are many legends of the insatiable nature of certain actresses. A dramatic critic, writing in the old New York Press, said:
During the progress of her once famous kisses, Emma Abbott exhausted many tenors. After her first season in Carmen, Olga Nethersole bowled over her Don Jose, who began as a stalwart young Englishman, and ended as a mere shadow, and has since gone into consumption. In one of the Daly farces Ada Rehan and John Drew did some ecstatic kissing, and, if he had not removed to another management, our comedian might now be in heaven. It would appear that, in the theater at least, the ladies can stand more kisses than the men.
The critic goes on to point out that, in grand opera, expert kissers can command high sal-
