In and Around Berlin | Page 8

waiting felt more at liberty to
inspect the church than at the service on a previous Sunday. The
Grecian interior was undecorated, except that a mass of green filled the
space to the right and left of the altar, beginning on each side with tall
oleanders succeeded by laurels and other evergreens, growing gradually
less in height, until they reached the pews in the side aisles. A rich
altar-cloth of purple velvet, embroidered with gold, fell below the
crucifix and the massive candles on either side, which are always seen
in the Lutheran churches; and in the aisle below the chancel stood a
square altar, covered with another spread of purple velvet, heavy with
gold fringe and embroidery. Two chairs were side by side just in front
of the high altar, and facing it. Six chairs facing the audience were on
the platform on each side of the altar, directly in front of the mass of
green I have described. Below the steps to the chancel about twenty
chairs were placed on each side of the central aisle, and facing the altar.
In each chair was a printed slip containing a hymn to be sung after the
ceremony. About four o'clock a maid came in with the little
granddaughter who on Christmas eve had spoken the poem at the
lighting of the family Christmas-tree. When they were seated, the
handsome little face, with its white bonnet and cloak, was seen in a side
pew very near the altar. It seemed so like a dream,--the announcement
of the engagement of "the little Fräulein" at that Christmas party; and

now the time has come when the bride is to belong to her mother and
her home no more!
Ladies had long ceased looking impatiently at their watches, and were
perhaps busy with their thoughts, as I was, when from the "mittel" door
Court-preacher Frommel entered, his long white hair thrown back, and
crossed through the transverse aisle to the robing-room opposite. Soon
a signal given by an usher to the organist was the prelude to solemn
music, which filled the church; and a stout clerical assistant, with a
book under his arm, appeared at the rear door. Then Pastor Frommel, in
his black robe and simple white muslin bands, took his place before the
high altar and bowed in prayer, the two immense candles in tall
candlesticks on either side the altar, now lighted, throwing their
radiance on his silver hair. Meantime the bridal procession slowly
moved down the side aisle toward the middle of the church, turned at
the transverse aisle, crossed to the centre, turned again, now toward the
altar, passing to it up the central aisle. The clerical personage with the
service-book under his arm passed first. Then came the bride on the
arm of the groom. There were a few orange-buds hidden here and there
in the fluffy mass of her front hair; a veil of tulle was fastened behind
them in a gathered coronet, and fell down over the folds of her white
silk dress, whose train swept along the aisle to the length of a yard and
a half. I saw no ornaments, save a wreath below the high, full, white
ruche at the throat, perhaps of geranium leaves, and a full bouquet of
pink rosebuds in the right hand. From my glance at the train of the
bridal dress, I looked up to see six bridesmaids coming after, each on
the arm of a groomsman. The first bridesmaid was a lovely sister of the
bride, in a dress of cream-white silk without train, pink flowers in her
hair, and carrying a large bouquet of full-blown cream and crimson
roses. The second bridesmaid wore a dress of silk,--not ecru and not
palest olive, but a shade between the two,--with a perfectly fitting
corsage, likewise décolleté, and for ornaments a necklace of large
pearls, a bouquet, and flowers in her hair. The first groomsman was in
civilian's dress; but the second was in all the glory of full regimentals,
with scarlet trimmings and showy buttons. The third bridesmaid wore
pink silk, with a bouquet at the centre of the heart-shaped corsage; but
unlike the others, she had no flowers in her hair. Of the following

bridesmaids, one wore pink silk of a paler shade, one was in
lemon-color, and the last in palest mauve, with trimmings of garnet
velvet. The bridesmaids filed to the right, and the groomsmen to the left,
as they reached the altar, before which Pastor Frommel now stood. As
the bride and groom approached, they remained a moment standing
with bowed heads in silent prayer, as the custom is on entering a
German church, and then took the two chairs which had been placed for
them, facing the minister. I had been struck by the