Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/209

175 KULŠTRUNK and Co. Manufacturer and Exporter of Rush-; Reed- and Bast-goods, Bakov a. Iser, Bohemia.

Reedplaits, Bastplaits, diverse articles of Reed and Bast.

JAN STRNAD, Bakov a. Iser, Bohemia

Rush and Reed specialities.

The picture which adorns the wall of the reception room is a work in all a tempera by Robert Schlosser of Prague. It is 7 m. in length and divided into three parts so as to form a triptychon 2 m. in height. It represents three seasons of the year, Spring, Summer and Autumn. In the first is seen a country swain from the Slovak district of Moravia, he is offering to a smiling maiden a gift in the form of a young tree gaily decorated with ribbons. It is a Custom of this district for the young man to plant a „Máj“ („May“ or Hawthorn tree) in front of his Sweetheart’s home.

The second, or centre division of the picture represents Summer. Here we see a merry crowd rejoicing over the bountiful yield of the fields and the succesful harvesting of the golden grain now safe in the stacks and barns. All the people of the village have assembled at the Inn and in joyous parties are dancing in the pleasant shade of a large open room decorated with boughs of green spruce. A bag-piper provides the music for the happy couples whose lively trippings on such occasions owe much to the well-marked rhythm of the national melodies performed by the enthusiastic bag-piper.

The characteristic dress of the merry-makers is the holiday garb of the Slovak peasantry of Moravia and the Country people around Plzeň (Pilsen-Bohemia).

In the third part we see two „Chods“ (borderers) who line near to the Bavarian frontier which it was their duty to watch; and if necessary defend. They are sitting round