Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-24

don and Northwestern railway stocks upward
OF a million pounds steriing), now chiefly
transplanted - america. have had to do with
this. Insubord ination, ofenses against gypsy
equities. unendorsed marriages between men
and women of unfriendly tribes and scores Of
other causes of similar import as grave in their
results from the standpoint Of gypsy laws and
ethics, as crimes and offenses against our own
laws and ethics have made Of Ireland, which
never warmed to these uncanny pilgrims, a
sort Of
PERMANENT PENAL TERRITORY
for gipsies whom gipsies of other and more IA
vored lands will not tolerate near them. Strange
as this may seem, its truth is beyond cavil, as
its effects are inevitable But these Irish gip-
sizes make the best they can of their beggarly
conditions of penance, with all that sodden. yet
often CHEEKY, trust in the fatalism SO distin-
gulshable through the ages in the Aryan and
Semetic races to which they surely owe their
origin. Neither are there wanting individual
instances of comparative progress and accom-
plishment under desperately unfavorable con-
ditions among this forlorn folk in Ireland. A
Dublin barrister is gipsy. In Belfast gypsy
holds responsible position in a spinning mill;
another Is caretaker OF a leading church; an
other owns a roadside inn near that city; while
another is a rich dealer in the famous and un-
savory quarter of old Smithfield market At
Cork gypsy Is responsibility employed on the
little railway running to Barney. At Galway
''coacher" for gentlemen who come to fish sal
mon in the Corrib; and throughout the west
many of the drOvers and graziers are gipsies
They are also found employed in various ca
pac1ties. with no questions asked concerning
their origin. about the many daily and weekly
markets and at the regular fairs of Ireland. In
one Of the midland counties gypsy is the agent
of large estate; and to his credit no eviction
has ever occurred upon it. At many Of the
castles OF the Irish nobility-and there are more
ut.1a l.. a
generally shpposed-many are employed as
gamekeepers, for which stealthy and sylvan
vocation they possess peculiar qualifications:
while, more power to them for it! no hungry
Gypsy can camp near by without tasting the
flavor of milord's pheasants or rabbits from
the always plethOric preserves. Some are
owners of jaunting-cars in the larger cities
Others are dealers in the noted Cushendal
ponies OF the Antrim coast, acting as middle
men between the breedersand the Irish and
English markets. At the annual Dublin horse
fairs Gipsies, quite unknown as such to the
management, breeders or the public. control a
major portion of the heavier dealings, and
practically inspire and profit by all the valua-
BILE dickering and jockeying for which this
greatest of all horse-fairs affords such extra
ordinary opportunity. All these, of course,
hide their despised origin, and are always any
thing that is Irish, as varying exigencies and
necessities may arise.
CARELESS vAaABoNDIsM
But with these wind-whipped pilgrims of the
hedges who had so boisterously welcomed me,
and with their kind throughout all Ireland, tho
very acme of careless, listless vagabondism is
reached. Ii dickering and dukkering fortune
telling bring food enough for the day, we'll
and good. If not, then they will beg it, or lie
In hedge by smoldering fire, Of peat, bog
WOOD or dead branches may be begged or pill
fered, and starve like alternating animals until
driven TO some sort Of exertion. To be sure
each one is a tinker; each one weaves rude bas-
kets of willow; each one is dextrous at bench,
tub and broom making; but thousand upon
thousands of honest folk would annually starve
in Ireland under the present infamous system
OF iandlordlsm. If the very skin were worked
from strivers bones, were 1t not for the saving
power OF American money, my not altogether
honest and altogether vagabond, Gypsy friends
content themselves with the least possible
strain of moral and physical effort. So, to ex-
list with them even for a few days. it fell to my
willing lot to replenish their larder A fat
Glpsy larder means a great Gypsy feast. A
feast Is hardly feast in Ireland, let alone
other countries without "a drop to drown grief
and INT JOY" Song, dancing and uproarious
registering were the consequence And the
penalty, for punishment has as long legs as joy
has short ones, was the descent upon our camp
OF the crushing arm of British law in the form
OF squad of royal constabulary who, with
their Move on. We Gypsy dogsr' put us all to
the winding Newry road.
AND WE WERE MOTLEY CREW.
Spae-wives, fierce and tall; older hellyons,
and wailing as they hobbled along;
mothers hugging ragged chauvies to their
breasts; maidens with the stride and strength of
men; old men beyond a century's age; hairy fell
lows from middle age to youth; with our gaunt,
voiceless dogs, our tirkers' wheels, our misera-
BILE carts. our mournful goats, and lank, scraggy
asses; all speeding toward the myrtle-loving
south, camping by day, travelling by night, but
ever hustled and driven ruthlessly on At
near the splendid castle Of Gosford,
we turned from the Newry road to the south;
the head waters Of Cushar river, trailed
past lofty Deadmans Hill, touched the sunny
edge OF county Louth, passing through Louth
town and quaint Ardee, crossed the fair valley
lands of Meath, winding through olden Kells,
from whose abbey of long ago came, through
Infinite labor, the marvellous Book of Kells.
and through ancient Trim, where in Hugh de
Lacys castle once lived King John of England
and where Richard imprisoned his own and
Gioucester's sons. and finally, along the Dublin
road, by little Kilmessan. came into hidden
dlnsie the Gipsies well knew where a rude
temporary camp-home was made. And here
We separated. with warm hand-pressures and
with eloquent tongues and eyes; for my tramp
to the Hill Tiara and through the Boyne coun-
try. and these tawny, hopeless waits for their
endless tramp without rest or home until their
tents are pitched in the silences eternal.
EDGAR l., WAKEMAy