According to David's programme, the cavalcade of supernumeraries who
file in front of an allegorical mountain, gesticulate and shout at the
command, and under the eyes, of Henriot and his gendarmes,[163]
manifesting at the appointed time the emotions which are prescribed
for them. At five o'clock in the morning
"friends, husbands, wives, relations and children will embrace . . .
. The old man, his eyes streaming with tears of joy, feels himself
rejuvenated."
At two o'clock, on the turf-laid terraces of the sacred mountain,
"all will show a state of commotion and excitement: mothers here
press to their bosoms the infants they suckle, and there offer them up
in homage to the author of Nature, while youths, aglow with the ardor
of battle, simultaneously draw their swords and hand them to their
venerable fathers. Sharing in the enthusiasm of their sons, the
deported old men embrace them and bestow on them the paternal
benediction. . . . . All the men distributed around the 'Field of
Reunion' sing in chorus the (first) refrain. . . . All the Women
distributed around the 'Field of Reunion' sing in unison the (second)
refrain . . . . All Frenchmen partake of each other's sentiments
in one grand fraternal embrace.
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