Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-04-09

both for their own defense and for pur,
poses of robbery. They formed fol
many years the wost class Of outlaws,
having regular organization, with
chiefs, pass words, pickets, detectives,
and spies in all neighboring towns anC
villages. They even granted passes fol
travellers, who often secured immunity
from foot-pads and highwaymen by cul-
tivating an acquaintance with the gypsy
chief and obtaining a written pass OF
some token which was at once respected,
1t was also popularity of gypsy life
that the wanderers adopted the manners
and language of the people among whom
they settled. This was the case in Scot.
land also, and manifested in a curious
way, for while the Scottish gypsies spoke
in the broad brOgue of whatever country
they lived in, they also adopted the
Scottish clanniShnesS, and the bands OF
rival chiefs soon became as hostile as
any set Of clans in the Highlands, so that
their feuds and battles made them un.
comfortable neighbors. Many of the
Scottish gypsy chiefs were men OF un-
daunted courage and with their thieviSh
dispositions were also characterized by
occasional curious fits of generosity.
In their way they were notable char
acters, and in the annals of South Scot
land are many gypsy storles-of VIII
Faa, who was about to rob the minis
ter OF the parish, but on learning
who was in his clutches, apolOgiZed
and conducted the reverend gentleman
through "the bad bit Of land" of Mac
donald and JamiSon, the chiefs who long
deiicd the law, but at length were taken
and hanged together and at whose exc
cution all the military in the country
were paraded for fear Of a rescue; there
was no rescue, and finding themselves
doomed to certain death, they bribed the
hangmcn "to make good job" of Jean
Gordon, who sheltered in her barn and
preserved from all harm a gentleman
who had once been kind to her; of Matt
Baltic, who, reprovcd by woman of his
tribe for plundering d gentleman who
had given her sixpence, invited the in
jured person to his tent, placed twenty
or thirty stolen purses before him and
asked him to pick out his own, then
counted the money to make sure the
count was correct, remarking, "See
among what honest people you have
fallon;" of Charley Graham, who gave a
poor widow the money to pay her rent,
and robbed her landlord of it as he was
taking it home, and, returning, gave her
a receipt in full for the money he had
loaned her.
We know the English and Scottish
gypses better than any other country.
for, although the gypsies have no litera-
ture of their own, more attention has
been given them in these two countries
than elsewhere. The persistence of this
remarkable people in their habits of life
for 400 years at least since they ap-
pearcd in Europe is one of the strangeSt
incidents in history. They are now
found everywhere; it is believed that not
less than 1, 100000 are in Europe alone,
to say nothing of those in the United
States, in Canada, South America, At
RIGA, and Australia. They are abundant
in ali parts Of Asia, are found even in
China and Siam, and are everywhere the
same. Wherever the climate permits
they live in tents, are always wanderers,
always outcasts, and the preservation of
their language. of their habits, of what
we may CAL certain national individu-
ality, is nothing less than a sociological
miracle.