The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-10-29
GYpsrEs IN EUROPE.
FalIacies About Them-where they Came
From and Their Settled Colonies.

From and Their Settled Colonies.
The gypsy is a thorough and irreclaima-
BILE vagabond; but he has many good points
about him. His notions of honesty, espe-
cially when fowl or horse is in question,
do not exactly correspond with our
won and he can not be brought to
understand the game laws; but he
compares favorably in most Of these re-
spects with the tramps and beggars, and
even with the rustic laborers and lower
classes in towns The road is literally his
walk in life, and he practices such trades AS
tnkering, chair-mending cutting clouhes-
pegs and the like with assiduity and indus
try; When, the weather makes out
of.door life unbearabe, the gypsies
settle down after 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 COM
munities; others hire an empty cottage and
simply camp down, il requiring no turni-
ture but the few articles of bedding and
cooking utensils which served them in their
tents. But the English Romantics do not
affect town life; they keep strictly
to their old nomad traditions. Kirk
Yethom, in Scotland, is the place in
the British isles where n settled colony
OF gypsIes exists, for even their haunts in
the west of London are deserted as the sum
mer comes round and the country holds
/ forth its irresistible charms. Elsewhere,
especially in Turkey and the Danubian
municipalities there are many villages in
habited entirely by gypsies.
| Strange to say, these people are very lit
| tie understood and, among other
iictions in vogue concerning them,
the most popular one, that they
have king, is totally without founda-
| ton. A member of the tribe who has
reached an advanced age, and become the
head of great family of children, grand
children and great-g grandchildren, is, OF
course, visited by them ut any spot where
he or she may have settled down; and as
the travels of the clan are regulated by the
seasons, fairs, markets, and so on, the gath.
erings naturally become periodical, and
greatly exercise the Gentle mind OF the
curiosity thus excited the gypSies themselves
are not slow to take advantage, and the
ancient one is dubbed a gypsy king OF
queen for no other purpose IMAM to attract
visits and offerings from the gorgios
| Gypses are not by any means the outcastS
of society; they lead rowing life because
their instincts and traditions induce them
to do so. The stcrnest laws are promulgat
ed against them without bringing about tho
lcast sign of reform in their habits, ana
they are now only slowly yielding to the
influence of the inCloSurc acts, which crowds
them out and force them, not t.
become absorbed in the rest of the pOpua
ton, but tO.scel tor. free space and fresh ail
in the far west. Since Mr.. Borrow tolC
how interesting race they We're, with {
Language, traditions, and customs of theil
own, differing SO entirely from thu
pcasantry among whom they live
many have made them study, ant
some very amusing ana learned work
have been written upon their habits AM
speech; among the most recent of suCl
books those of Hans Brctmann and DIR
Bath Smart are the best. The gypsi,
language is very quaint and expressive, and
although in this country, at least, they hay,
by ingenious compounds to say all they
want in il, The origin of the gypsies is
problem which has never been cntirel,
solved.
The appearance of the gypsies in West
ern Europe was in the year lilI, when
band of 800, under the guidance of tire
shrewd and intelligent leaders, asked an,
Iobtaincd from the Emperor Sigismund, tn,
lpopc, and other sovercigns, the leave t
travel in their domains. They gave GU
that they were cmigrants from "Littl,
| EgNpt, tllut tncy Nuu felupSeu IRON
Christianity into heaihenism and had been
conquered by the King of Hungary, who i'm
lpO3od upon them penance Of fifty years
wandering MS pilgrims before returning t,
their native land. 1t Is needless TO say tina
the story had not word of truth in ii, bu
the name Egyptians has chung to then
ever since in this country, though they ar
elsewhere known to Gentilcs as rohing
lane, Hinguri, or some modification
of the name. They first mad
an appearance in England about tn
year llS0 in bands consisting of from 30 t
100 families travelling in light carts AM
camping by night wherever Il conyenien
spot presented itself. The women toll
fortunes, piiered coins from tradesmen'
counters and Grabbed baulors' THAT is
= poisoned pigs, just as they do at the pres
ent day, while the men worked ut tinkering
matchmaking, and the like, and occo
sionally varied the monotony of thci
existence by stealing horse an
taking to the highway. Their lawlcss, nc
mad life soon brought them under the sus
picion of the authorities, and they We're az
cuscd of and punished for these crimes, am
for many Others which they never though
of committing, During the reign Of ElizG
beth they were pcrsecuted with cNccptionu
rigor, and nothing but their persistent ma
tionality and healthy vagrant habits coul
have saved them from determination
London Standard,