Show RUSSIAN PEASANT WOMBS I The peasant women are particularly interesting They are a race of small bright looking women presenting a I striking contrast to the men who r I on the whole a tall sombre looking set I There Is of course the peasant dress I which Is worn uniformly I consists I of first the sorotchka or embroidered I shirt the sleeves alone are embroidered embroider-ed with fancy patterns in red and blue and a woman counts i a disgrace to I I wear other work than her own Then i the skit of petticoat spodynltza is of red or blue cloth and over all Is a sleeveless jacket often of black When outside they wear a coat over the I whole The manner of adorning the I hair is peculiar and unlike the fashion fash-ion in this country conveys a special significance The unmarried women do up their hair In two plaits which are bound round the head and over this a shawl is simply thrown while the married women do their hair in one plait which falls down the back beneath the so rotchka and on their heads they wear a shawl of black and mauve which is manipulated into a very effective headdress head-dress There Is surely a correspondence here to the coif and snood < of older I Scotland In Russia the married peas ant women do not remove the shawl from the head whether out of doors or inside Jack boots complete the outfit of these hardy women They are evidently evi-dently very fond of jewelry and spend for them large sums of money upon it I saw for example a peasant girl who was worth 350 rubles and she carried 50 of them round her neck in the form of a coral and amber necklaces neck-laces and silver locketsBlackwoods Magazine |