122 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



It was among the ladies of Prague that Titian is said to have 

 found his ideal of a beautiful feminine head. The German writer 

 who is authority for the statement attributed to the artist quaintly 

 adds, "For the young ladies of 1841, I am ready to give my testimony 

 most unreservedly." 



to gothic lines, was hitched to one side 

 of a two-horse pole. The driver matched 

 his reginal car, being dressed in an old 

 gray suit, baggy at pockets and knees, 

 and a derby with the edge binding worn 

 to a greasy fringe, which was duplicated 

 on his unshaven chin. 



But he jumped quickly down and 

 helped so earnestly with my heavy bags 

 that I conceived a liking for him which 

 grew with our acquaintance. The coun- 



try road was quiet in 

 the early morning sun, 

 and on each side the 

 harvest fields were 

 dotted with tall shocks 

 of heavy grain. Oc- 

 casionally wagons, 

 drawn by meek-faced 

 cattle, moved slowly 

 by, and peasant wo- 

 men, carrying heavy 

 loads, passed silently 

 along, their barefoot 

 tread muffled in the 

 thick dust of the road- 

 way. 



Potential roasts and 

 feather beds reluc- 

 tantly made way for 

 our chariot, waddling 

 along with the shuffle 

 of a comedian and the 

 gaze of one whose 

 troubles are too great 

 to be disclosed, but 

 stopping now and then 

 to emit a sound evi- 

 dently learned from 

 an asthmatic motor 

 horn. A goose may 

 lack brains, but it has 

 decision. When it 

 starts for one side of 

 the road, nothing short 

 of an untimely death 

 will deflect it from its 

 purpose. 



Out across the broad 

 field, cut into alter- 

 nate strips of harvest 

 russet and vegetable 

 green, a combined 

 thresher and baler was 

 at work. Asking my 

 grizzled Jehu whether 

 he had time enough for a detour, we 

 turned aside to bandy words with the 

 women who were doing the major por- 

 tion of the work on the threshing crew. 

 Then onward to the town, where my 

 driver took me to a modest hotel. 



NATIVE COSTUMES FORM A PANSY-BDD OF 

 COLOR 



The next day, Sunday, dawned "brite 

 and fare," and the street outside my win- 



Williams 



