At the entrance to Kaiser Wilhelm's Dorf there ensued a second and more
elaborate welcome. Here too there was a triumphal arch and cannons, and
instead of one there were three Vereins with flags and banners, also
the schoolchildren, headed by the pastor and the schoolmaster, and the
whole female portion of the community lining the roadway on either
side, or massed round the base of the arch. The pastor made a speech, a
fair-haired schoolgirl recited a long piece of poetry composed by the
master in the sweat of his brow, the Choral Verein sang, the Young
Men's Verein--who were given to instrumental music--piped and blew a
chorale, and not till the all-prevading joy and enthusiasm had found
sufficient vent in the firing of cannon, in speeches, poetry, and
music, did the carriages move on, and finally reach the steps of
Friesenmoor House, where the guests were received by Frau von Haber,
assisted by Frau Brohl and Frau Marker. At the moment of leaving the
carriages three flags were run up the flagstaff on the tower--the
black, white, and red flag of the empire, then the white and black
Prussian one, and finally a green, white, and red banner with a large
coat-of-arms in the center. This third flag, somewhat enigmatical to
the guests, was the new family banner of the House of von Haber, with
the coat-of-arms of that noble race, now displayed for the first time
to the admiring gaze of the beholders.
The designing of a coat-of-arms had been no light task to Paul. From
the moment--now five months ago--that he knew his promotion to the
nobility was a settled affair, he had devoted the best part of his
thoughts to this weighty question. He hesitated long between medieval
simplicity and modern symbolism. An illustrative crest that should be a
play upon his name was out of the question; for of course it was only
another of Mayboom, the farce-writer's, jokes--he had taken him into
his confidence on one of his visits to Berlin--to suggest a sack of
oats, gules on a field, vert. After devising a dozen crests, each of
which he thought charming, only to reject it a day or two afterward as
inappropriate, he finally fixed on the one which now adorned his proud
banner. It displayed on a field, vert, three waving transverse bars
argent, and in a free quarter-purpure-dexter a medal of the
Franco-Prussian War in natural colors. The waving bars were in allusion
to the drainage canals on his marsh estate, and the medal to his career
in the war. He did not forget that he owed the realization of his
life's scheme to his wife's marriage-portion, and wished to show his
appreciation of the fact in a delicate manner by crossing the
transverse bars with a marshmallow in natural colors. However, he
abandoned this design when they pointed out to him at the Herald's
office that the crest would be rather overladen thereby, and at the
same time would betray too plainly the "newly-baked" aristocrat. Paul
left nothing undone. He provided himself with a motto. The incorrigible
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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