The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-25
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
NO N OF CBREMoNT AND Good
FEELING.

= stage and wears q Laurel wreath.
She had just returned from q years tour Of
Europe. She was not q beautiful girl, but she
had style and dash aud 60. Sho had been pro
sented at the English and German courts. and
because sho was far and away clevorer than
any girl Of twenty they had ever seen, she was
made much OF by the scions of noble houses at
both tho English and German capitals.
Yet for all that she had not brought back to
tho States the slightest semblance Of the affec-
tation that frequently clings to American girls
after only n summer spent in London, Berlin, or
Paris. As she sat In the window OF the big
summer hotel, telling q few Of her friends OF
things she saw and heard on tho other side of
the ocean. she spoke In that natural, direct,
somewhat abrupt way peculiar to q girl with
Yankee blood In her veins. After telling OF
one experience and another she was inter
rupted at length by one Of her friends, who said:
Now. Fan, tell us what most interested you
Of all that you saw while away"
You will perhaps be surprised when I tell
you. but the christening Of q country house In
Germany Interested mo moro, ] think, than
anything else I saw. Tho ceremony attending
such q function Is quite different, I imagine,
rom the housewarmings Of any other country in
the world. You know, I stayed some timo with
Mr.. and Mrs. Stephen clause at Chemnitz,
Saxony. Mrs. Clause. you know, was Miss
Cottrineer of Philadelphia before she met and
married the son Of a wealthy German manufac-
turer Of cotton goods.
Tho Clause mills are a few miles into tho
country from Chemnitz and near them Mr..
Clause began building a country house about
two years ago. It was completed and opened
Just after ] went to visit them. The house looks
moro like ono Of the castles that dot the banks
of the Rhine than II does like tho majority Of
country houses ! ever saw In the basement
there Is a great hall. fitted up for n bowling
alley. It was hero that all the guests who had
been hidden to the christening assembled.
when everybody had arriv d VIC formed
in line. two abreast, to march from the bowling
alley by the outside entrance up into the honae.
1t is the custom Of the country for the process
sion to be headed by the master Of the house,
walking with bis oldest fcma'o relative. in a
direct line. In this case Mr.. Clauses partner
was his grandmother. Following them came
tho mother and father Of the master Of the
house, and after them came their sons and
daughters, first the eldest, then the children
of these sons and daughters, and then the In
vited guests, arranged according to age. In
all there were four generations of the Clause
family in line and about fifty guests.
when all was In readiness an orchestra un-
der q pavilion struck up 'Diewacht am Rhein,'
and the procession moved. the pastor Of the
w uthcTa CuuICn, "hCn j . only u bDOrD
distance from the Clause estate, leading the
way. exactly three PAGES in front of the head of
the line. Church-going Germans, I'm told,
would never think Of having a housewarming
unless the parish clergyman were present to
add his blessing to the ceremony. This cler-
gyman wore the whitest of white vestments,
trimmed with purple and gold, and carried
what we Episcopalians would call a prayer
book. Perhaps that's what it's called In the
Lutheran Church.
'Once out of the bowling alley. we marched
along a flower bordered walk, which. with a
few short windings, led up to the fight of broad
stone steps at the main entrance to the house.
At the head Of these steps, with a big bundle of
papers in his hand. stood the architect from
whose plans and under whose direction the
house was built. When the minister reached
the step just below tho one upon which the ar
chitect was standing, the architect bowed his
minister laid his hands upon the architect's
head he said a few words In German. l could,
S but eG mg German s1xs f is So 'f pure wG yon w II i Mrp' "nds eq'
stand 1t; and then. raising his voice SO that
".Einis opus coronatr
We'll: when he had given his blessing and
stepped to the right, taking his stand beside the
architect. The orchestra, continued to play
yanced. When the master Of the house and
his grandmother reached the lowest step. III,
hHaf 6 Sid the lsd San %ith and, w aeb o ea@ fd 5o9@ o.. h the t Io%:
s would saieR Raw banded Ssen him min , UP 70 h the ssre Il 1t
family. to say nothing Of the guests, to make any
attempt TO ascend the steps before the master
On the step below the highest, on which the
was standing, Mr.. Clause paused.
a few words in German. Then the architect
aellvered into the hands OF the. master Of The
ho FL the Keys key and the bundle Of papers which
tanned the plans. and specifications, tho deed,
inc Insurance poIiey, and a piece Of parchment,
who built it, when 1t was begun, a detailed
statement Of the cost. the number of rooms,
and the delivering OF the keys was the token
mat me master had come into actual posses
Mr.. Clause took the papers and keys in his
E psnsrs hand az i,s and mit turning about, handed the
the real owners, while the husband retaining
the keys was the ruler of the house.
in evidence and the keys, Mr.. Clause hung the
Keys around his neck by the long silken cord
saying as &C. did So: Dp0n u A,'n,'e''' AsaD'
with the wreath Of victory
,,d ,sTh bH tbS Mr.; Clause, supported s5ssi on the one
other by the architect wearing his laurel crown,
led the way up into the house, all the others
following On the one side of the great hall,
which ran very nearly the entire length OF The
house, was the drawing room. almost as large
as the parlor Of this hotel. On one eide OF this
room. equi distant from each end. was n great
open fireplace. the masonry OF which was all
completed, save the setting of one stone. which
lay on the hearth, with a jar of cement and o
silver trowol beside IL.
The procession was lod to this fireplace and
we ell gathered round II in u half circle. Then
the parchment, containing the history of tho
house, was drawn from the bundle OF papers,
and on the last sheet, which was entirely blank,
each, one Of the company signed his name, be.
ginning with Grandmother Clause and ending
with the youngest guest, Then the papers
w %S Hf,I put in e tin boy, sealed: and placed in tho
master OF the house placed some of the cement,
laid on with the silver trowel. Then he took the
stone, placed 1t upon the box, put come more
cement upon II, and. placed 1t in position. Then
he said:
MY house and my home, shelter from
menhof.'
The minister prayed for the blessings of
heaven upon the new house and all that ever
came under its roof, After this the architect
placed q laurel wreath upon Mr., Clauses head
and the ceremony OF the chri stening was over.
But the wreath had hardly been niarni unnn