CZECHOSLOVAKIA 



127 



dow, where a crimson blossom bloomed, 

 became a varicolored ribbon of men and 

 women bound for church. Hurriedly 

 dressing, I made my way to the great 

 square. In the farther corner the huge 

 mass of the cathedral rose above its com- 

 panion buildings, and at the base of the 

 dull stone facade a pansy-bed of women 

 knelt in prayer. 



The native costumes of Czechoslovakia 

 are a never-ending delight. From the 

 first day, I tried to discover which was 

 Bohemian, which Moravian, which Sile- 

 sian. and which Slovakian ; but the be- 

 wildering array refuses to be so easily 

 classified. 



Although each town has its peculiar 

 style, in each there are such differences 

 as are due to individual tastes. In Kyjof 

 or Uherske Hradiste, as in Paris, Mich., 

 or Rome. N. Y., women are nonconform- 

 ists in matters of dress. 



The men of Uherske Hradiste run 

 more or less to type, with high boots, 

 brightly polished but dusty to the ankles, 

 wide white trousers, and a shirt eloquent 

 of wifely toil beside some sylvan stream 

 and nicely embroidered at the wrist and 

 throat with delicate designs which do 

 not suggest the horny-handedness of the 

 women who produced them (see page 

 130). 



A panel of dark material hangs down 

 in front and a gay sash of red and black, 

 much like the Filipino gee string, hangs 

 to the ankles. The vest is thickly braided 

 and has innumerable frogs. These may 

 be hidden behind flaming balls of wool 

 that make one think that the Reds have 

 learned to color shaggy chrysanthemums 

 in the way the sons of Erin color carna- 

 tions for St. Patrick's Day in the mornin\ 

 The round-topped hat is circled by a very 

 attractive figured hat-band, all black. 



AMAZING FKVTININE ArPARLL 



But the women run the whole gamut 

 of color, and when one sees them massed 

 in the mellow light of a great church in- 

 terior he looks to see what stained-glass 

 window or prism-decorated chandelier 

 has thrown its varicolored beams across 

 the multitude (see page 128). 



The women's shoes are stout, high cut, 

 and topped with patent leather trimmed 

 to a scalloped edge, so that they give a 



strangely graceful appearance to the 

 stocky legs of the peasant women. Their 

 stockings are for protection as Well as 

 for display, some with small square de- 

 signs knitted into the dull black. 



The skirts are plain black, with no 

 trimming except a line of fine embroid- 

 ery, worn, like the attractive smocking 

 of the Chinese coolie apron, just below 

 the waist, but they are very heavily 

 plaited and are hung above a surprising 

 number of lace-trimmed petticoats. 



The waist-length jacket may be quite 

 plain except for an applique design of 

 hand-made lace around the bust and on 

 the sleeve from elbow to wrist, but the 

 head-dress and apron are as gay in tone 

 as the obi of a Japanese doll of twelve. 



WONDERFUL SLAVIC HEAD SHAWLS 



Some of the Slavic head shawls, which 

 give a Madonna oval to the broadest of 

 peasant features, are neat white cotton 

 with red polka dots or a dark gray de- 

 sign. Others are shimmery white silk, 

 embroidered with light tints or heavy de- 

 signs in cream or white. Still others are 

 cut plush, with a heavy knotted fringe, 

 such as makes one think of castanets and 

 a blood-red rose. 



There is something about manifold 

 plaits that is as redolent of romance as 

 the speech of a Parisienne, and, when a 

 fringed scarf is added, the shapelessness 

 of the peasant and the high cheek-bones 

 of the Slavic face cannot rob the wearer 

 of a charm which in the half light of 

 evening or from a moderate distance 

 makes mere man want to burst into some 

 sentimental ballad. 



And when a few hundred gaily-colored 

 aprons — bright green, changeable to gold, 

 yellow with a silver overlight, pink, blue, 

 cerise — are displayed in one moving pic- 

 ture, it matters not that the wearers lack 

 the classic beauty of a Venus or the form 

 of a Juno. It is a very charming scene. 



In Merv I saw the havoc modern com- 

 merce has wrought with lovely Oriental 

 rugs.* The same thing is taking place in 

 the peasant costumes of Czechoslovakia, 

 with the same aniline elves being substi- 

 tuted for vegetable colors, which were 



* Sec "Russia's Orphan Races." by Maynard 

 Owen Williams, in Tin-: GEOGRAPHIC for Octo- 

 ber, 1918. 



