ant cultivators to maintain
the pride of class, they vanished long since; the white caps and
steeple-crowned hats of Welsh women were the last to go; and even the
becoming and convenient "sun bonnet," which survives in the United
States, has given place almost everywhere to the hideous "cloth cap" of
commerce; while the ancient smocked frock, the equivalent of the French
peasant's workmanlike _blouse_, has become a curiosity. The same process
is proceeding elsewhere; for the simple peasant women cannot resist the
blandishments of the commercial traveller and the temptation of change
and cheap finery. The transition is at once painful and amusing, and not
without interest as illustrating the force of tradition in its struggle
with fashion; for it is no uncommon thing, e.g. in France or Holland, to
see a "Paris model" perched lamentably on the top of the beautiful
traditional head-dress. Similarly in the richer Turkish families women
are rapidly acquiring a taste for Parisian costumes, frequently worn in
absurd combination with their ordinary garments.

The same process has extended far beyond the limits of Europe. Improved
communication and industrial enterprise have combined with the prestige
of European civilization to commend the European type of costume to
peoples for whom it is eminently unsuited. Even the peoples of the East,
whose costume has remained unchanged for untold centuries, and for whom
the type has been (as in India) often determined by religious
considerations, are showing an increasing tendency to yield to the
world-fashion. Turkey, as being most closely in touch with Europe, was
the first to feel the influence; the introduction of the fez and the
frock-coat, in place of the large turban and flowing caftan of the old
Turk, was the most conspicuous of the reforms of Sultan Mahmud II.; and
when, in 1909, the first Turkish parliament met, only a small minority
of its members wore their traditional costumes. The introduction of
Japan into the comity of nations was followed by the adoption of
European costume by the court and the upper classes, at least in public
and on ceremonial occasions; in private the wide-sleeved, loose,
comfortable _kimono_ continues to be worn. China, on the other hand, has
been more conservative, even her envoys in Europe preserving intact
(except sometimes in the matter of boots) the traditional costume of
their nation and class, while those of Japan, Corea and Siam appear in
the