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Invariable custom requires a new Ambassador in Berlin to give two receptions, one to the Diplomatic Corps and the other to all those people who have the right to go to court. These are the officials, nobles and officers of the army and navy, and such other persons as have been presented at court. Such people are called hoffahig, meaning that they are fit for court.
The Berlin season lasts from about the twentieth of January for about six weeks. It is short in duration because, if the hoffahig people stay longer than six weeks in Berlin, they become liable to pay their local income tax in Berlin, where the rate is higher than in those parts of Germany where they have their country estates.
The great merchants, whose acquaintance I made, as well as the literary and artistic people, I had to seek out; because most of them were not hoffahig and I did not come in contact with them at any court functions, official dinners or even in the houses of the court nobles or those connected with the government.
These princes were always in uniform of some kind. At the reception for the hoffahig people Mrs. Gerard stood in one room and I in another, and with each of us was a representative of the Emperor's household to introduce the people of the court, and an army officer to introduce the people of the army.
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