Page:Bohemia's claim for freedom.djvu/55

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expensive materials, but by the display of rich embroidery. In this respect the dress of the peasant class in Bohemia is akin to that of Moravia and other Slavonic countries.

In the different districts these ornamental trimmings vary as to the patterns and combination of colours, 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 blooms are full of suggestion to the embroiderer who requires no printed patterns; and while the marks of inherited tradition are always conspicuous, the designs, as before remarked, are as a rule the outcome of the technique employed.

More characteristic and varied, and even more interesting, are the embroideries from Moravia and the north-eastern part of Hungary. The Bohemians and Slovaks of Hungary are ethnographically one nation.

In the south of Moravia everything is decorated with work of floral designs, not only the dresses, but the walls of the dwellings, the furniture, mugs, dishes and plates, and of course the Easter eggs!

The people's art has developed now into an important home-industry.

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