Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/8

 men who publish special journals and beautifully illustrated books. To the stranger the art peculiar to the Bohemian people is of undoubted interest on account of its originality and great aesthetic worth.

Outside of the museums there is only one district in western Bohemia where it is possible by personal experience to learn how a special mode of life and the nature of the soil have together evolved the fashion of dress peculiar to this part of the country. During a holiday one can meet near Domažlice, in a mountainous and not very fertile country, lean old men wearing broad-brimmed black hats and longtailed white coats of homemade cloth. These are types of the old Chods. The women also appear in a dress of ancient cut and sedate in style—long skirts of red cloth in stiff rich folds, the short bodices embroidered with beads and trimmed with silver galloon; the collars of the chemises are sometimes embroidered in black to demonstrate the mourning of the wearer for the popular hero Kozina, a staunch defender of the Chod privileges, who was executed at Domažlice.

From Domažlice the tourist reaches Plzeň (Pilsen) by the express in one hour. But though the distance is short, the contrast in landscape is striking. Instead of mountains, deep forests and green meadows, a plain presents itself with undulating fields of golden grain, while other fields show the dark green leaf of the beetroot. Everywhere there is evidence of the fertility of the soil and signs to cheer the heart of the farmers with the prospect of a bounteous harvest.

Here only a few traces of the original dress of the country survive. But in former times the rich garments of the portly women from the extensive farms harmonized well with the signs of the land’s fertility and the prosperity of the country generally. The people here are not so tall as their neighbors from Domažlice, but rather stout and not so sunburnt. The peasant women near Plzeň used to wear a dress made under the influence of the town’s fashion of the eighteenth century. The light blue short skirts cover a considerable number of petticoats; the stockings in striking contrast are of a bright red hue and show to advantage by ending in a neat low black shoe. A pretty silk apron and gaily embroidered bodice completes the summer costume. The headdress is large, in proportion to the considerable width of the petticoats, and consists of a large cap adorned with long horizontal flaps in nice openwork, the cap being sometimes tied with a fine white handkerchief beautifully embroidered.

The nearer we approach to Prague and to the north and northwest frontier, the signs of the present day increase, busy factories meet the eye, and just as the evidence of modern commercial life grows stronger, so traces of old customs and fashions become few, until in the busy towns it is to the museum we must go to learn the lessons of the past.

The characteristic feature of the various national costumes in Bohemia, more especially in the dress of the olden time, is the evident aim of producing a good effect not by the use of expensive material, but by the display of rich embroidery. In this respect the dress of the peasant class in Bohemia is akin to Moravia and other Slavonic countries. Wherever embroidery can be applied there it is sure to be found—on the borders of aprons, collars and tails of men’s coats, women’s bodices, collars, cuffs, chemises, caps and coifs. The scarf and kerchief for headwear generally show some especially fine examples of the embroidered work. Occasionally the latter is set off with artistically formed bow. Some caps, not larger than two palms, are absolutely covered with the finest needlework of knotted and flat stitches, forming a graceful pattern of a light gray shade and bordered with broad pillow lace, which matches fine old Valenciennes. The aprons are often of coarse blue linen, which is woven and dyed by the weavers in the hill districts. This material is studded with blossoms embroidered in homespun yarn and finished with a beautiful border which would be more than a whole week’s task to an experienced worker.

In the different districts these ornamental trimmings vary as to the patterns and combination of colors, and often as to the manner of execution. But all agree in the common source of inspiration—nature. The flowers and graceful foliage of the native soil, the opening buds and lovely blossoms are full of suggestion to the embroiderer who requires no printed patterns, and while the marks of inherited tradition are always conspicuous, the designs are as a rule the outcome of the technical side of the work. The head kerchiefs differ in the style of ornamentation and color in each district, some showing embroidered corners of many colored silks, others snow-white with open work embroidery contrasting with those worked with tinsel and glass beads, other