The Jasper weekly courier., 1878-09-27

Cincinnati Commercial Letter, sept IN
There Is peculiar interest attaching
10 the deceased, and the race that buries
her, that accounts for and justiiies the
curiosity that Is manifested.
They speak half dozen different dia-
lects besides their own. Their Anglo
Saxon has an English accent. which i
reflected In their manners and customs.
evincing traces Of their long residence
among the country people Of England.
They are a peculiar combination OF the
civilian and the savage; peaceful citi-
zens and wandering Arabs; farmers
and peddlers; Christian and heather at
the same time. This tendency is further
illustrated by rhyme found in several
instances on their tombstones in Eng
land, varying with the name Of the de-
ceased:
owen stanley was his name,
England was his nation,
Any wood his dwelling place.
And Christ was his salvation.
They are reverent church people, and
the reigning King, Levi Stanley, and his
son and heir, known rs " Sugar" Stan
ley, are members of the /. o. d. f., and
in good standing.
The grave Of the Queen in which the
coffin will rest Is box made Of stone
slabs two feet deep and ten by four in
dimensions. Over the grave will be a
monument which again illustrates the
peculiarties Of this people. On farm
adjoining the Stanleys, near the road,
was an immense bowlder, known in
these parts as "nigger-head." Usu-
ally these stones are but two or three
feet in diameter, and from that rs small
as football, partially rounded, differ
ing from all the native limestone in the
neighborhood, being hard as adamant
and bleached by the weather TO sort
of bony whiteness of surface. Ge-
ologists regard them as relics OF the
glacial age, brought hther from remote
parts of the earth on the floating ice-
fields. This particular bowlder captured
the fancy Of Queen Matilda many years
ago when she first saw il. The owner
OF the land gave her permission 10 take
ii away, and she did. IL was nearly
eight feet in diameter, and il tinged with
streaks Of red, and weighs number Of
tons. This is being cut and shaped, and
will then be polished like granite, for
the base Of the monument, and will be
surmounted by life-sized figure of the
Queen herself in white marble. The
whole to be about l5 feet in height The
plot in which the body is TO be inferred
Is in Woodlawn Cemetery Of the city.
Mr.. Anderson, of Chambersburg, has
known the Stanley's for years. AL
though an outlandish people, they are
not tramps. No violence, no robbery,
high or low, has been reported Of them
in 20 years. There was one thing that
one Of them did which always puzzled
me. One day in c., Thomas Stanley
sat by the fire with crowd Of us coun-
try people by; he had good team at
the door Said he, THAT horse and
outfit will belong TO the man that first
tells me what Gypsy is and where they
came from; ! don't know il myself
This Thomas rented his farm--it must
be three years ago, as tie custom is in
March--and started on a journey next
month, 10 be gone three, i've or seven
years time. His wife was great on for
tunes, but was sick. Thomas moved
into the woods, and two-foot snow
fell. Mrs. Thomas began TO brighten
up. The children played in the snow.
They did washing and made light II il,
and it was pretty picture, too, in the
woods. He declared that she brighten
ed up on getting out Of the house. These
Gypsy women, sir, are true, single or
married, all the time.r
The horizon was scanned for smokes.
None could be seen. I" You will have
TO 20 up to Sugars place on the Ma
tional Road, or TO old Uncle Lewis.
Each Is six or eight miles at least.
Sugar, this year, resumed farming.
after many years'renting out his place
DO you know the old lady, Mrs.
Stanley Smith?"
" Yes, she was the mother Of Mrs.
Amelia Stanley jeffrey, nigh on to lOl.
A family named Mason (not Gypses)
live in the log house near the jeffrey
mansion. When her daughter died last
March year ago, they had to haul her
over to the grand Smith house-that
was to the funeral. ! 60 by the house
often, and generally on bright days you
will see her on the south side porch
smoking the pipe, which she clings to
which they have to put into her hands,
and they have to move her around. The
folks pay the people well for caring for
her,
"That's picture-a Gypsy centena-
rian summing herself in her second CEN
tury, with the pipe that she is too feeble
TO fix for herself.'
The lecture platform will this year
miss Mark Twain, John b. Cough, Bret
Harte, and Bayard Taylor, who are in
Europe. Beecher and Tilton will be on