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class, there are good opera houses in Plzen and Brno. The art has the support of several excellent musical periodicals, journals, and gazettes, among which we would mention "Smetana" and "Dalibor."

PEASANT ART IN BOHEMIA

THE Bohemian peasantry, whose chief occupation until the middle of the nineteenth century was agriculture, created for themselves, on the basis of old traditions, an original style of arranging their homes, and their costumes. They had also their own poetry, music and dances, customs and ceremonies, all of which may be considered as the artistic side of Bohemian peasant culture and exhibiting in a striking manner the national characteristics in art and manufactures.

The loss of Bohemia's independence and the determination of the Government to Germanise her people were the causes that alienated the great mass of the population from the cultured class which was educated in the higher German schools. These educated people forgot their

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