The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1844-05-13
Miscellaneous.
SCENES IN GERMANY.

Berlin, March 90 we extract the following, showing
the manners and customs prevailing there:
"The most amusing thing which have is
wedding among the peasants. On the nuptia morn
ing came the bride TO the parsonage 10 be dressed
! der the superntendcnce of Mrs NIulner. After she
was rendy band ofmusc announced the approach
! of u pair of young women with two young men,
! whose Office it was TO conduct the pride away
They entered, and shortly after, having chaed lit
tie with the family, took their leave, and repaired to
the house Of the bride Cor bridegroom where they
| made merry ill the time of the ceremony. Mean
| while came three damsels, two with each shawl,
and the other bearing sprg Of rosemary, which they
are obliged by law to present to the minister's WIFE
! About noon procession Of young with music
escorted the bridegroom TO the church, and process
sion Of young women performed the like office for
I the bride At church was marriage service read,
rings were exchanged, and discourse addressed
| TO the bridal pair, exhoung them 10 all the virtues
which adorn the conjugal state. This finished, the
men filed around the altar, and deposited piece Of
money thereon the women then did the AT
ter the ceremony, all the guests repaired to the house
of the bridegroom, where they danced till the next
morning At SUNRISE came a string of young men
and madens, holding each other by the hand, and
| preceded by two iidders They came dancing into
| the front door, passed out through the other and
! went to another house for the like purpose.
man accompanied the party, whose duty 1t was to
! beat with broom all the married women he saw.-
/ One Of the servants married women, made TO
| ny about very nmbly to dodge the blows which
| aimed ut her.
In the afternoon went with Mr. and Mrs MuInier
and Miss Bittcko visit the festive party We found
| them assembled in room surrounded with benches
covered with spectators. One corner Of the
occupied by the musicians, and the centre
filed with dancers The dance deies my power OF
description. 1t was the waltz which is almost the
only dance, in fact the only dance that all classes and
! persons share in; and have never met with Ger
| man yet who plead ignorance of WALKING Old men
| and women young and madens, boys and girls,
all whirIcd arou in the waltz. The men had most
! ly taken off their coats. All boots. Some
danced smo%ing their pipes The brides father dane
! ed in a surtout, with his panaloons tucked into his
boots and with his hat Every and then the
master OF ccremonies would utter a whoop TO stimu
| late the dancers greater liyeliness, Every few
minutes the chief musician shouted "Solo, upon
! which a new set of dancers relieved those the
4 floor. In side ref eshnents provided,
of which were invited to partake. On our depar-
ture, honored with kiss mot from the bride,
but from the bridegroom's father.
Scarcely less amusing is a German engagemeni.-
! Since have been in Mrnz the beau and belle of
| Tehdnck Ga large as Concord) became
gagged to each other. 1t made much sensation as
! ir the town had been burned down. As is usual,
notice Immediately given TO all the neighbors,
and the next day the engaged pair commenced maxi
ing their calls in their relation of bride and BRIDE
groom. For you must know that when an engage
ment takes place, the gentleman is called the BRIDE
| groom and the lady bride The parties speak of each
other always in this way. When you meet the gen.
teman you enquire after his bride, you enquire in
America of a husband after his wife. The "biant
! pair" as the Germans call them, twice at
! Muntz within week after the engagement. They
were perfect specimens OF lovers. did not count the
number of times they kissed each other, for l only
I dared to look out of the of my eye. They
would not have needed the observation of others but
| my being a stranger made me somewhat conspicuous
In spite of my caution the young lady whispered to
her bridegroom, "don't kiss now-Mr Low Is
looking'' Spencer and called their kisses, "exPlo-
sons of fireworks The mother guessed with a
true womun's instinct what spoke about land said,
| s'you don't have this custom in your country,
Think We replied that we were not so happy. All
the circumstances touching that we call popping the
question, were publicly discussed, we learned the
bridegrooms friend preceded him in order to get the
old lady out of the way, and engage her attention
while the parties together. sign was agreed
upon, upon which Beeitz (the brdegroom) was to
| enter A good old maid in the village had also some
part to play This occasion also led all the old gen.
temcn and ladies to relate their experience. Some
of them had no idea their husbands were coming for
, such purpose. In some cases it seemed that the
question: us sometimes the corks Of their bottles pop
ped quite unexpectedly to both parties. The next
week. as is usual appeared notice in the Berlin pa
per to the effect that Max Beelitz and Johanna Her
man were engaged.
A Western paper, speaking of a man who was shot
says "a gun was fred from the house and lodged IN
his shoulder ~ gun in mans shoulder, must be
serious matter.
When take people merely as they are, we make
| them worse; when we treat them if they were
what they should be, we improve them, as far as
they can be improved -Goethe