inn. The inner life of the peasant family
is rougher than the inner life of the farmer's family in England,
though their level of prosperity is as high, possibly higher. You
cannot imagine the English farmer and his wife putting on costly and
picturesque mediaeval costumes every Sunday and solemnly marching to
church in them; but the German Bauer still does this quite simply and
proudly. In some parts of the Black Forest every valley has its own
costume, so that you know where a man lives by the clothes he wears.
There is one valley where all the girls are pretty, and on festive
occasions or for church they wear charming transparent black caps with
wings to them. There is another valley where the men are big-boned and
blackavised, with square shaven chins and spare bodies, rather like
our English legal type; and they go to church in scarlet breeches,
long black velvet coats, and black three-cornered hats. Their
women-folk wear gay-coloured skirts and mushroom hats loaded with
heavy poms-poms. In Cassel there are most curious costumes to be seen
still on high days and holidays; from Berlin, people go to the
Spreewald to see the Wendish peasants, and in Bavaria there is still
some colour and variety of costume. But everywhere you hear that these
costumes are dying out. The new generation does not care to label
itself, for it finds _staedtische Kleider_ cheaper and more convenient.
The Wendish girls seem to abide by the ways of their forefathers, for
they go to service in Berlin on purpose to save money for clothes.
They buy or are presented with two or three costumes each year, and
when they marry they have a stock that will last a lifetime and will
provide them with the variety their pride demands. For they like to
have a special rig-out for every occasion, and a great many changes
for church on Sundays. In Catholic Germany a procession on a saint's
day seems to have stepped down from a stained-glass window, the
women's gowns are so vivid and their bodies so stiff and angular. But
to see the German peasantry in full dress you must go to a
_Kirchweih_, a dance, or a wedding.

You can hardly be in Germany in summer without seeing something of
peasants' weddings, and of the elaborate rites observed at them.
Different parts of the empire have different ways, and even in one
district you will find much variety. We saw several peasant weddings
in the Black Forest one summer, and no two were quite alike. Sometimes
when we were