Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-01
AFOOT IN SPAIN.
vot Chrfstianized Gypsy in All the
Corptrv Round-Facts Regarding
the Romany Race.
r,,..n and Road Gipsies-Hcw the Race Is
AA' 1-.nror,ag in Horals-A Talk with
psncbo Tomas, the Great Chief
VI

81 or
Georgia Borrow, in his fruitless |
g, n circulate the Protestant Olole
,ba Gitani or Gipsies of Spain, got
I'LL SORTS of difficulties with the Span
=, ,,,.borities for his, to them, lneXph-
- ,,d aDpareutly evil-disposed con-
.o-tinr with these irrepressl0le Vagiants'
s. "a baIf mysterious and always stubborn
:, defiant attitude towards existing
Ems laws and beliefs. His confess
=. u-os frank one that no soul among
this outlaw race was in any degree con-
-.-+e5 or evangelical by his efforts
.,,,, +bam. Indeed one may 90 FAR
s. .t.r and state the concise fact that IN all
s -. nauderines both in Spain and Eng
land. be never effected the conversion OF
o cfDsy. or came upon Gypsy Christian
I'D Inv any other PERSONS efforts. To
mo possessing any real knowledge of this
-oce the Romany, it need scarcely be
.oa that his failure came not so much
q 60, what ought to be failure IN any
\ iis.a affort 70 elevate the Iowly, that Is,
+La Drpsentation of stony and unWel-
o.r,s treoIogic fact to an empty ana
corning stomach, as from the uniFersal
md undeujable fact that all Glpsles are
4 o., u,,rhanreable race of agnOstics. Ihey
nanuot depart from that rank of spiritual
,-ocI,ifv and sOddenness without at once
ceasfnr TO be GipsieS. Borrow, now
over made ineligible to others, even II
the details were meager, at least What
he WAS able to find out about spanish
Gfnsies. Since his time no one possess
ing Romany knowledge has Yentured 10
treat of the subject, just as Irving mas
made Granada and the AlhamDra sup
posititously impossible subjects Ior lateF
writer's pens. But there Is still uit-
terence in which [ find good cause for a
rhapter upon Spanish Glpsies. Irving
wrote of facts in stone and mortar, SCI
90 firmly in Spanish and Moorish history
Rorrow wrote against tremendous odds
,f fhe Srauish portion of a race whose
chief characteristic is wandering and
change Except in few general race
characteristics, the Gipsies OF Spain to-
dav are no more the GIpsies of Spain OF
upwards a half century ago than Is
THE Gypsy MONEY PRINCE,
Smith of Honiton, England, like his
father who plated osier baskets and sold
pewter spoons among the peasants OF
Deronshire, OF that splendid specimen OF
man and Gipsy, the honestIy-rich Lew
Stanley of Ohio, like his ignorant pro-
genitnrs among the donkeys and rags OF
Kirk Yetholm, the Scottish Gypsy Mecca
of the Cheviot hills; or indeed than yol
are like the long haired, jaundiced
Hintv-hearted bigots, your forefathers
mayuap, who hung the innocent
wretuhes. your other foTefatheTs, upoi
Gallows-hi in Salem.
The fact made clearest and PLANES
10 me during more than a quarter cen
turv's personal study of the Roman.
race, is that 10 one interested IN thes
strange people should fan TO recognize
that even the most earnest writer o
from half a century 20 two centurle
ago, wrote from within lesser horizon
of observation than are granted to an
earnest observer of to-day: and that tn
Gipsies of those days, like the peasant
of those days, were so wretched 10
that any description of them then mus
necessarily be untrue of them now
Change, progress, evolution, are true c
ali peoples, of all trades, professions
arts, almost of all religions. That
wonderful evolution has been in progre:
among my friends, the Gipsies, l sna
most sturdily claim, for l know it; an
nowhere on earth has it been MOI
marked and far-reaching than 1t ha
been in this semi-barbaric land, whel
almost all else would seem to have retro
graded or stood still.
In 1877 my acquaintance had pre-
crossed so far and favOrably with GlI
sizes, and their trust in me as an unyarl
iugly kindly disposed friend, had
many ways grown SO secure, that at 9
encamDment on the banks of the De
PLANES river, in Illinois, L was une'
pectedly. and with some curious rite
admitted to Gypsy brotherhood, that !
! was made ''GOrgIo chat, or mol
Gypsy brother. At that momentous Ger
mony l was placed in possession OF tnr
RomRny words, which, IN nearly eve
one of the United States, alol
the hedges of England, in the 10y
lands of Scotland, among the gle
of Ireland, in the canonS OF Cuo
through the Rhine valleys and Bavarl
villages. in the streets of Paris or t
Ieaf-fIed lanes of Brittany, and, whe
ever have uttered them IN Spain, ha
unreservedly opened to me the ten
hutS. houses hearts and 5"lerm'
thoughts, feelings, and often 80 sec
aspi rations of the Romany poop
There has been no exception, nor 81
gle timidity or hesitancy. / have kno
the b!tterest indifference from prete
tious Christian men in soFest want WI
infinitely greater matters than my O
success or personality were at stake;
this outcast and despIsed race ne
turned coward friend face upon me,
never once upbraided me, save for
permitting them TO become
ALL-sUFFICIENT SUCCORERs.
And SO when I had been among
Madrid Gipsies an hour was in poss
sion, without the asking, of informal
where should find one who when fol-
could truly tell me more in another n
of Gipsies in spain than can be fol
within the lids of all books ever writ
upon the Romany race This man
Francisco or Panobo Tomas; and aftel
-hasty trip through Saragosss, at WI
eapital city the fair maid. Agustiua,
immortality of fame for her bravery
-. ,aao,5 lover,s side IN defense of