While we were having some refreshments, a peasant girl from Southern Germany appeared, dressed in the pretty costume peculiar to the district, and with a basket upon her back such as is seen in all pictures of German market-women. It contained crockery. Addressing the bride, and after praising up her wares, and saying how impossible they were to break, she carelessly let fall an already broken cup, but in such a manner as to make it appear as if it broke in falling. She quickly atoned for her stupidity by presenting the bride with a beautiful china tea and coffee set painted by her mother, and which she was very careful _not_ to break. Very heartily she was received, and continued to receive the congratulations of her friends until no less a person than the self-appointed ambassador of her most gracious Majesty Queen Victoria and of the President of the United States is announced. He came as a joint ambassador of the two nations, partly because he had himself lived some years in England, and partly because the bride had lived in America, so that it was fitting that someone should represent these nations. The manner in which he was received showed the cordial relationship existing between Germany and these countries. He finished, after mentioning the recent marriage of the President, by conveying united congratulations to the bride, who was delighted with the voice from the old country, and who, by the way, had placed a small American flag above a large German one. The young Englishman having finished, a lady decorated the bride with the bridal wreath, reciting a poem composed by herself. A pretty custom usually takes place at this moment. All the young people present form a circle round the bride, who stands blindfolded in the centre and places the wreath upon someone’s head, showing who will be the next to be married. Unfortunately, it was omitted on this evening, so we did not know on whom the lot would fall, much as we should have liked to, and the question remains unanswered. When the bride had received the wreath, the bridegroom’s father recited a poem, and gave the bride a box containing the rare meerschaum powder, brought from Ruhla, a great seat of the meerschaum pipe trade in the Thuringer Wald. The German wives are noted for being good _hausfraus_ (housekeepers), and frequently a girl will go into a _pension_ to learn housekeeping before she is married. This powder is for cleaning purposes, and serves as a reminder of what is expected from the bride.