The service began at nine o'clock, as it
ought to with us in summer. The costume of the peasant women in and
about Berne comes nearer to being picturesque than in most other
parts of Switzerland, where it is simply ugly. You know the sort of
thing in pictures,--the broad hat, short skirt, black, pointed
stomacher, with white puffed sleeves, and from each breast a large
silver chain hanging, which passes under the arm and fastens on the
shoulder behind,--a very favorite ornament. This costume would not
be unbecoming to a pretty face and figure: whether there are any
such native to Switzerland, I trust I may not be put upon the
witness-stand to declare. Some of the peasant young men went
without coats, and with the shirt sleeves fluted; and others wore
butternut-colored suits, the coats of which I can recommend to those
who like the swallow-tailed variety. I suppose one would take a man
into the opera in London, where he cannot go in anything but that
sort. The buttons on the backs of these came high up between the
shoulders, and the tails did not reach below the waistband. There is a
kind of rooster of similar appearance. I saw some of these young men
from the country, with their sweethearts, leaning over the stone
parapet, and looking into the pit of the bear-garden, where the city
bears walk round, or sit on their hind legs for bits of bread thrown
to them, or douse themselves in the tanks, or climb the dead trees set
up for their gambols.
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