, 1890-03-06
A Gypsy ENCAMPMENT.
A Most Picturesque Noun
tain Valley.
RICHES OF A SPANISH BAND.
The Raco Becoming Civilized
oipsy Juggling and Fortune
Telling Are Dying Out

gCopyrfaht. 1900.
BARcEK0NA, Spain, Feb. LIT IL
now over fifty years since the En-
elish missionary, George Barrow,
In his fruitless effort to circulate
tho Protestant Bible among the
eitani or gipsles Of Spain, got into
al sorts Of dlfiieulties with the
Spanish authorities for his, to them,
incxplicable and apparently evil
Gisposod consorting with thcse irre-
oponsiGle vagrAnts, and his half
UynfspDpusand always stubborn and
defiant attitude toward existing
cus4ons, lswsand bclicfs. His con-
Asosicn was " frank one that no soul
opnnng.this outlaw rscc WAS in any
daGreeieonverted or evangelized by
~ elFer>s among them. Indeed,
enc mag 20 farther and state the
concise fact that In all iais wander
fnss, both In Spain and En-
gland, he never effected
the conversion Of q gipsy, or
cssnsxapon q gipsy chvistianixed by
nny other penson's efforts. To one
possessing any real knowledge Of
this race, the Romany, It need
scarcely be urged that his failure
came not 40 much from what ought
tobefhilure In any like effort to
elsvAts the lowly, that IL, the pres
sntatton of . stony and unwelcome
t1eoIoeic fact to an empty and
ysarning stomach, ~ nom the uni
vnuaI and undeniAblc fact that all
xips3ss nre an Interchangeable race Of
aencstics- They can not departfron
that rank OF spiritual vacuity and
sodtIenness without ~ once ceasing
70 be gipsics. Borrow, however,
made intelligible to Others, even II
the details wore Ineager, ut least
what he was able to find out about
Spanish Eipsles. Since his time, no
one possessing Romany knowledge
has ventured 70 treat of the
sabjcct, just as Irving has
made Granada and the Al
hambra supporititiously lmpossi-
BILE subjects for later writers pens.
but there Is still a difference in
which find good cause for chap
ter upon spanish gipsies. Irving
WROTE az facts in stone and mortar,
80 ~ s,,-,,tx, In Snanish and Moor
-. s.,..-..,, p.,roxy wrote AGAINST
mn n'7y - 's.,, s.,a,,;sL -
tIeiiienoous o''''s u Wy : "n ",'Lp'.. -
tion or a race whose chiei ci''sr"c,sr-
Istic Is wandering and change. Ex-
cept I'm few general race
characteristics, the gipsies Of Spain
to-Jav are no more the pipsies of
S.sr - ,nwards n half century,
''i"'a ..,,s,, ,,,nro,y nr,rcc
ago, tnan - theg'psy ,noney p''noe,
Smith, OF Honiton, Engianu' IKE
his father, who plated osier baskets
and sold pewter spoons among the
peasants Of Devonshire, or that
.,,I~-,a,d s,.ecin,eu If man and pipsy.
s' ,.,ah Io,,, s,anl.v ~
ne hom .. ,.soo,,t,or-,
Onio, IKE nus ienoran. P'ossr'
amongthe donkeys and rags Oh MIX
Yethclm, the Scottish gipsy Mecca on
tho Chovtot hills; or indeed than you
~s...s,s...'+.d h,gots your fore
.n. s,ho hnnu the in
s.'t ,,r.'s.hes yo,r other fore
fnthers, upon Gallows-hill In Salem.
The fact made clearest and plidn-
sBt to me during more than a quarter
century's personal s.uay oi ,ne
NQmhny @ , .t,nna ~ ona' ,,aonla o % shauid
Fas, ~ r.cnsnize that even the most
earnest writer OF from half a century
10 two centuries ago, wrote from
within lesser horizons OF observation
than are granted 70 any earnest op-
eerveroI po,day;a anu .ns' M, tne e,ps'sss -
cM "ays, ara An' nv xvrstahed @ a ,ot
s,sst .,,v 5,.scrintion Of them then
r,s,st, necessarily be untrue Of them
now. Change, progress, evolution,
are true OF all peoples, of
all trades, proiesssons, arts,
almost oi al rsi,g,ons. eng IONS.
lnat wonsu s,ssnmr e'u ,"u s,;ends % the
- n,,PPies Pi I shall most sfurdiIy claim.
5cr / know il; and nowhere on earth
has IL been more marked and far
I reaching than 1t has been In this
eemi-barbaric land, where almost a.,
eIse would M, Seem 70 nave re'rotr'"'eu
Or $1,000 s.n
A eoh"io '''Ah
In 1877 my acquaintance mas pro-
gressed SO farand favorably with gip-
sies, and their trust In me as an un-
vsryingIy kindly disposed friend,
had in many ways grown so secure,