"One figure was Hymen, who is the god of marriage, and there were two bridal wreaths, because of the double wedding.
"'Look, Erma,' said mother, and there, among the little French boys in green suits sitting on the arch, was François de Ballore, and among the lovely little German girls in white with pink sashes and wreaths of roses, I saw Hedwig Rückert, Elise Stege, and Annchen Romeike.
"'One of them,' explained Ludwig, 'is to recite a poem of welcome.'
"It was dreadfully tiresome standing in that great crowd, but at last came the procession.
"There was a sound of horns, and six splendid horses walking with the greatest stateliness entered Unter den Linden. On them were the Royal Post Secretaries. Then came postilions in splendid uniforms, and after them the carriers in blue. The postilions, there were forty of them, Ludwig said, were all blowing horns, and I felt sorry, indeed, for the carriers. I liked the next thing very much. It was the Hunters' Guild, and they wore green costumes with peach-blossom facings. But the next after the hunters was splendid. It was dozens of young Berliners dressed as knights of the Middle Ages.
"The people cried out: 'Enchanting!' 'Wonderful!' and I said to Ludwig that I wished men dressed that way now and not in ugly every-day knee breeches and ruffled coats.
"But Ludwig only told me that armour would be inconvenient, and made fun. But I think so, just the same. What is there romantic about a queue, or slipper buckles, and knee breeches? Nothing at all.
"It was fun to see how important the Brewers and Distillers looked in blue. The merchants and their sons wore red, and after them came Frederick the Great's fine Royal Guard, and they all arranged themselves in two lines for the carriages to enter.
"The Berliners refused to have Royal Chamberlains about the carriages.
"'We want to see the Princesses, not Chamberlains,' they said.