Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-10-23
AMERICAN GYPSIES.
HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THESE
CHILDREN OF THE WOOD.
Yearly Meeting Place Of tho Romany
Folk GyPsy Cookery Horse
Trading and Fortune Telling.
Janet Dale in Chicago Eensl

Janet Dale in Chicago Eeral
The American gypsy is considered. pri-
marty, a horss-thief and the robber of
| chicken roost-. He is considered. too, Is al
ways covetous Of the children of white par
sons Times without number is his camp
searched in efforts to discover Soma lost lit
tie ons missed BY its parents. His wagons
and tents may bs crowded with children,
some o: whom ara much fairer than their
prosenitors, but never in the camp OF the
OF those not Of their blood The
gypsy bears no love for any not
Of the RoEany blood. Often when
very young the gypsy Children are
| quite fair AMI frequently have light hair,
! which grows black with years MANY per-
sons insult me about my little girl" said
handsome Nancy Sparrow TO me with scorn.
/ They say to NE, Is she your childf AMI
then look one to tie other" she continued.
Il know right well what they mean One
/ day woman asked me where got the
child / replied, 'Ah. maiam, she is my
very own tut she believed me not, and
said ! stole the little girl. because her hair
is light Surely it will be the true Romany
black when she is large. 1t Anglers me that
her hair should now be like the whites But
| many Of our children here have hair that
| is fair. 1t is the climate
Nancy Sparrow spoke the truth. The
gypsy is bound by a mighty tribal oath to
know naught but evil intent toward any not
Of his blood. Time and change have con-
tributed to wear away the force Of this vow,
which his ancestors took centuries ago, but
it is sufficiently strong to do away with the
possibility OF his caring to make his own any
rI,l not Da,- ~ Ia
can not .ell why he is bound by this oath.
He knows nothing but that it is the law of
his race, and that whosoever the Rom may
he who departs from it he is despised by his
kind. Ask the gypsy what was the land 0:
his people and he will reply Egypt, for he
knows no better Probably not one gypsy
cut of 10. 900 has any other idea Of his origin
at the present day. He does not know that
instead of being an Egyptian he is the de-
sccndant OF the disinEerit,d outcasts Of
India
Every year soon as the winter SHOWS
begin to melt on nearly every road within a
radius Of 500 miles of Chic, go gypsy trains
can be seen vending their way to the ms
tropolis The suburbs Of Chicago arc TIE
yearly meeting place Of all the gypsy fam
lilies OF the west and south. Often these
families. such as the Stanley and Butler
tribes, number hundreds Of persons. They
camp conveniently near the city. Few o;
the Romany folk can write, and there is lit
tie exchanging Of letters among kin. The
time passed near the city is the visiting Pc
riod, when relations learn of each other,
and when matches are made between the
gypsy youth The Romany tenting season
about Chicago usually begins in March.
Camp is broken about this time The tribes
scatter, some individual families going in
one direction, Soma in another, to meet
again when year has passed.
All the winter before coming 10 the city's
boundaries the men have tosn engaged in
various country places. buying up horses and
fitting them for the market These horses
are brought into tho city by the gypsy
verder Tkey are disposed Of at hand
some profit. The gypsy, is therefore. never
poor. 1nv.riabls he has plenty Of ready
money. He invests his wealth in no per
manent way. Seldom does be intrust it TO
the keeper OF bank. II he buys land with
il and settles down upon a farm, even for a
portion CT his days, he Is no longer true
Rom Albeit. some of the younger gypsies
in America hsve shown \ disposition within
the last few years to ignore the custom OF
their fathers and settle themselves to the
steady calling Of farmers a few arc located
IN the cities as morse dealers.
Tho gypsy i. prodigal in his expenditures
He does not save. Everything that the
market affords in the way Of eatables he
buys He is especially fastidious in reSarI
% the selection of the meats which he eats,
and particular about his butter. Nothing is
,aved from one days provisions for the next
lays meals. Whatever remains is thrown
TO the dogs or TO waste. Gypsy cooking is
rude, AMI often unclean, but the eatables
are the best that money Can buy. The
gypsy is not thief. He is no purloiner Of
chickens He has no noe1 to steal for he has
a sufiiciency without He will tell you with
justifiable pride that in all the length and
breadth Of the land not one prison shelters
gypsy. I'VE break no law he will tell You.
So he has, in this western world, ceased TO
be beggar and thief He has, however,
persisted in being a vaSaboni outcast Yet
as such he has prospered.
Many a gypsy who camps about Chicago
has more than 500, 900 He keeps his money
in the most idle AMI careless fashion 1t is
wadGed in his capacious pockets, tucked
about the crevices OF his wagons, hidden in
the bedding. As horse trader. he is OF
necessity cheat But be steals nothing. 1t
is folly to search gyp.y camps for stolen
goods or for missing children
falsifier, for sne has no faith whatever in her
own powers Of divination. They ridicule
among themselves all who listen TO their
fortune telling The word in the Romany
tongue for this avocation is d-u-k-k-e-r-i-n.
They prescribe for the sick and sell herb
connections, which they call medicines.
Many an ailing lady who has found no relief
from the advice OF a learned physician seeks
these smooth-speaking quacks, who are
scarcely acquainted with the least hygienic
la and entirely ignorant Of anatomy, and
buys their mixtures. Swallowing them with
the faith that pins itself to the mysterious,
the same imagination often effects remark
able cures which are ascribed to the wonder
full gypsy penetration.
There Is another class OF roadsters whose
numbers ara rapidly increasing in this coun-
try, who are the most arrans thieves. By
the ajority of persons they IRE considered
gyp.ie'. There manner 81 living is similar
aud their home is the roads They are,
however. not successful horse-iealers, like
the gypsies, and possess none Of the lore
| which enables the Rom to transform q
spawned beast into fiery. prancing young
steed They arc despisel by the gypsies,
who will acknowledge them in no way. BY
them they are known as "hnlf-and- halls
They are composed Of distinctly q Euro
pean element, too lazy ami too ignorant 10
work or make homes. The women belong
ing TO these people usually veli small pieces
of lace. Invariably they represent them
selves gypsies, and often assume the
gyp.y wosnsn's p ofe=siop Of fortune-:elling.
They have none OF her shrewdres, and are
as unsuccessful in this enieavor as the men
are in horse trading. Sometimes they havs