The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1881-10-20
The Gypsies in Europe.

The Gypsies in Europe.
The gypsy is a thorough and ire
claimable vagabond, but he has many
good points about him. His notions O.
honesty, especially when fowl or q
horse IS in question, do not exactly cor
respond with our own, and he can not
be brought to understand the game
laws; but he compares favorably in most
OF these respects with the tramps and
beggars, and even with the rustic Ia
borers and the lower classes in towns
The road is literally his walk in life,
and he practices such trades as tinker
ing, chair-mending, cutting clothes.
pegs, and the like, with assiduitv and
industry. When the weather makes
out of-door life unbearable the gypsies
settle down after a fashion, those who
have covered wagons, with the sight OF
which we are so familiar, halt with
them in some convenient spot and live
| in small communities, others hire an
empty cottage and simply camp down
in it, requiring no furniture but the few
articles of bedding and cooking utensils
which served them in TENTS But the
English Rommanies do not affect a
town life; they keep strictly to their old
nomad traditions. Kirk Yetholm, in
Scotland, is the only place in the Brit
ish Isles where a settled colony of gyp-
sizes exists, for even their haunts in the
west OF London are deserted as the
| summer comes round and the country
holds forth its irresistible charms.
Elsewhere, especially in Turkey and
the Danubian municipalities, there are
many villages inhabited entirely by
gypsies.
Strange to say these people are very
little understood, and among other fic.
tions In vogue concerning them, the
most popular one, that they have a
king, is totally without foundation. A
member of the tribe who has reached
an advanced age, and become the head
OF numerous family of children. grand
children and great-grandehildren, is OF
course. visited by them at any spot
where he or she may have settled down;
and as the travels of the clan are regu-
lated by the seasons, fairs, markets and
SO on, the gatherings naturally become
periodical and greatly exercise the Gem
tile mind. Of the curiosities thus ex-
cited the gypsies themselves are not
slow to take advantage, and the ancient
one is dubbed a gypsy king or queen
for no other purpose than to attract
visits and offerings from the GORGEOUS.
Gypsies are not by any means the out
casts OF society; they lead rowing life
because their instincts and traditions
all induce Them to do so. The sternest
laws have been promulgated against
them without bringing about the least.
sign of reform in their habits. and thew
are now slowly yielding to the influence
OF the Enclosure acts, which crowd them
out and force them, not to become alb.
sorbed in the rest of the population.
but to seek for free space and fresh air
in the far west. Since Mr.. Borrow first
told how interesting race they were.
with a language, traditions and customs
OF their own. differing so entirely from
the peasantry among whom they live.
many have made them their study, and,
some very amusing and learned works
have been written upon their habits and
speech. Among the most recent of such
books those of Hans Breitmann and
DR.. Bath Stuart are the best. The gypsv
language is very quaint and expressive.
and although. in this country, at least.
they have but limited vocabulary left.
they manage, by ingenious compounds.
to say all they want in it. The ORIGIN
OF the gypsies is a problem which has
never been entirely solved.
Inc appearance of the gypsies in
Western Europe was in the year 1417.
when band of three hundred, under
the guidance of three shrewd and in
telligent leaders, asked aud obtained
from the Emperor Sigismund, the Pope.
and other soyereigns leave to travel in
their domains. They gave out that they
were emigrants from g Little Egvpt:''
that they had relapsed from Christianity
into heathenism, and had been con.
auered by the King of Hungary, who
imposed upon them a penance of fifty
years wandering as pilgrims before re-
turning to their native land. 1t is
needless to say that the story had not
word OF truth in it, but the, name
!" Egyptian has chung to them ever
since in this country, though they are
elsewhere known to Gentiles as Ten
inglane, Zingari, or some modification
OF the name. They first made an APP
pearance in England about the wear
1880 in bands consisting of from thirty
to hundred families, travelling in LIGHT
carts and camping by night wherever
convenient spot presented itself. The
women told fortunes, pilfered coins
from tradesmen's counters and
!" Grabbed baulors" Chat is, poisoned
plgs), just as they do at the present
day, while the men worked at tinkerinp.
discriminating and the like, and occa- |
sionally varied the monotony of their
existence by stealing horse and taking |
to the highway. Their lawless, nomad
NE soon brought them under the sus-
plclon of the authorities, and they were
accused of and punished for these
crimes, and for many others which thew
never thought of committing. During
the reign of Elizabeth they were pros.
ecuted with exceptional rigor, and |
nothing but their persistent nationality /
and healthy vagrant habits could have |
saved them from Lon.
dom Standard.
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