ng
prominently a large bouquet of artificial flowers on his left arm,
upon the summit of which the initials of the bride and bridegroom
quivered in long tinsel sprays.

Looking at this handsome young brother and sister standing side by
side in bridal array, we could not help wondering privately whether
a certain good and pretty young Madel, whose brother possessed
neighboring acres and fat mountain-pastures, came into Anton's head at
that moment as a Madel whom it would be a right and a pleasant thing
to go to church with, he and she in similar or perhaps more modern
costumes; and whether our comely Moidel thought it no sin to let her
heart flutter off into a little romance of its own under that bridal
stomacher. Still, even should our pseudo bride and bridegroom each
indulge in a rapid day-dream, it must quickly come to an end, seeing
that they have speedily to put off their fancy attire and attend that
night to the flax-dressing.

Oh, the constant care and trouble which the little flax-plant
occasions! In August it had been cut and hung to dry in small bundles
on stakes. It had thus been left out several weeks. Then in September
it had been carried to the barn and the seed beaten out like corn and
stowed away, the empty little husks being given to the hens and the
voracious pig. The stalks--_hairs_, as Anton called them--were again
carried to the field, and spread this time on the ground, neither too
thick nor too thin, so that sun and moon could shine through them, and
alternate rain and sun could rot them. The sooner the stalks decay and
the fibres are loosened, the sooner the "hairs" can be carried to the
kiln. This busy time had now come.

In many places an oblong-shaped brick pit, half under ground, but
often at the top, is used. The people of Edelsheim, however, stuck
by preference to a deserted stone hut belonging to the parish, which,
standing alone, could not, when used as a kiln, set fire to other
houses. The night between Sunday and Monday was the time appointed
for the Hof flax to be dried; so Moidel, Anton and the two Nannis--the
_grossdirn_ and the _kleindirn_ in household parlance--carried it
down to the hut, where old Traudl, a village crone and the parochial
"hair-dryer," had already made the vast oven red hot with a load of
wood. Moidel and the servant-girls acting as the flax-dressers, the
_grummelfuhr_ spread the flax on planks in the furnace-like room, and
returned home with cheerful steps. Th