“Let Me Kiss Him for His Mother.”28
Among the funny incidents that took place during the late sectional conflict between the States is one that is thus recorded:
A young lady of the gushing sort, while passing through one of the military hospitals, overheard the remark that a young lieutenant had died that morning.
“Oh, where is he? Let me see him! Let me kiss him for his mother!” exclaimed the maiden.
The attendant led her into an adjoining ward, when, discovering Lieutenant H., of the Fifth Kansas, lying fast asleep on his hospital couch, and thinking to have a little fun, he pointed him out to the girl. She sprang forward, and, bending over him, said:
“Oh, you dear lieutenant, let me kiss you for your mother!”
What was her surprise when the awakened “corpse” ardently clasped her in his arms, returned the salute with interest, and exclaimed:
“Never mind the old lady, miss; go it on your own account. I haven’t the slightest objection.”
From the lyrics perpetrated by the “satirical wags” during the popularity of the above well-known phrase, we cite the following:
Let me kiss her for her mother—
The bewitching Polly Ann—
Let me kiss her for her mother,
Or any other man.
Let me kiss her for some body,
Any body in the world;
With her hair so sweetly auburn,
And so gloriously curled.
Let me kiss her for her “feller,”
And I do not care a red
If he taps me on the smeller
With a “billy made of lead.”
Let me kiss her for her daddy,—
The pretty, pouting elf,—
Or, if that don’t suit the family,
Let me kiss her for myself.