Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-02-10

flowers and poppies swinging over their
heads. 1t was bit Of coloring to put
a Japanese lantern festival procession
frieze to the blush, but to the eyes of
our artist they were only Bohemian
peasants and proved too unconvention-
al to sketch. Two wains followed this
gay throng. the first loaded with yellow
pumpkins and the coarscr vegetables,
the second with branches OF fruit trees,
pears, apples and plums. Both wagons
were covered with red and gilt paper
and dahlias, hollyhocks and various
shades of curly kale, and buds of these
cabbages ad rned the harness and
wheels of the vehicles. The entire pro-
cession passed and repassed, and then,
at sign from the ritter, the great
gates OF the castle court were rolled
back and the barvesters, led by the
band, marched up to the portal, where
the ritter stood to shake hands with
every man. woman and child, while a
servant standing near dropped few
coins into each basket and exchanged
many u jest with the dark-eyed M maidens
who held ont their tin drinking cups
for silver coin.
Dancing commenced as soon as the
hand-shakipg was over, the signal to
which was the Bohe milan polka. and the
ritter. with the maiden whom the YER
walter had declared the best haymaker,
had danced around the court. 1 have
rarely seen more graceful dancing. The
polka in al! its moods and lenses, aided
by the short dress and brilliant colors
OF the material, was kaleidoscope of
marvellous beauty. The music WAS too
jeyous and the sunset too golden for
us to remain on the old stone balcony.
We found lovely spot in grove of
alanthus trees just beyond the limits
marked out for the hsrvesters, and our
" Thanksgiving day." for such indeed
is the Bohemian schnitter fest, was
closed with "before" and latter
supper polka. A buffet of all imagina-
bio luxuries was kept for the guests,
but tables were placed in the garten-
salon and summer houses for the har-
vesters, where beer, cold meats, bread
and plum sauce were placed for the
dancers, al HJitum.
The band retired about two O'Clock
in the morning. but the castle gates
we're not closed until dawn. The fol-
lowing day WAS of course avillage holi-
day. and more quiet sleepier village
was never known. Toward evening /
wandered through it to the hillside
upon which the old church stood. The
dogs were too tired to bark (thcy had
rendered valiant service as chorus to
the band the night before), and even
the geese seemed asleep US they sailed
over the village pond. l reached the
church yard and sat down upon its low
stono wall. Silence everywhere. The
pale bronze gold of the rye field, the
deeper, greenish bronze. shading on to
Indian red of the wheat stubble, the
carpet like meadows, the hazy, pearly
tint OF distant hills, was in perfect
keeping with the hushed, sleeping hu-
manity beneath me in the valley. Bo-
hemian sunsets are not golden. they
are gray, blush, green, and pale gold.
Sunsets have their effect upon ma
tions." said our artist coming from the
church porch where she had been
sketching the sparrows. Perhaps she
is right. A Bohemian peasant is RI
diantly happy when dressed in green,
blue and yellow Hildegarde, in Home
Journal.