Herman Amberg Preus
From the church the whole company repaired for the bishop's house, half a mile distant. The bride received her friends with gracious ease and pleasure: the wealthier, bearing their gifts of gold and silver, were met with no sunnier smile than the sunbrowned old woman with a 'kerchief pinned over her head, who placed in the young hands a brown tablecloth or some other simple testimonial of earnest friendliness. Many, as they came up to congratulate her handed her money of different sums: this she took gracefully and dropped into a silver box on the table at her side.
By the time the last kind greetings were over the table was laden with an array of gifts that a metropolitan bride might have envied.
After the reception the company went to the neighboring grove, where under a rude canopy, was spread a table capable of seating 250 guests. At the first table sat the bridal party, the brides maids now attended by twelve fine-looking young men, the ministers, teachers and dignitaries of the parishes and others in due order.
The repast was fitting the board of Cedric, the Saxon graced by the queen Rowena: huge joints of meat, fowls curiously dressed with wild plums, vegetables, mountains of cake and bottles of native wine set thickly along the board. A shed near formed a temporary kitchen, where six stoves and a battalion of cooks prepared the feast. The table was necessarily spread several times to accommodate all the guests.
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