Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-29

I are full of gypsy countryside lore and
| sUperstitions which have been the out
| growth of very genial and close rela
| ton between gypsies and Scottish peas
! antry. Gypsy blood is known to course in
| the veins of many of the Scottish nobility.
| These people actually secured the counte-
| nance, If not the favor, of james ". James
| '. entered into league with "John Faw.
| lord and earl of Little Egypt in 1910,
| directing.all IN authority'in his realm to com
! pei the return 10 Flaws submission all those
| Egyptians who had rebelled against him,
| and that all officers should assist in detain-
| ing and Furnishing those people Sin con-
fOTmity with his laws so that. as the
| edict read, the said John have no cause OF
| complaint in time coming"
This I'aw, whose shrcwdness stamped the
| genuine gypsy upon his character, was the
icogenitor of the many tribes of Flaws,
tIaas on Fails, who. with the Baillies. have
! been the most noted and numerous of Scot
| fish gypsies, whose descendants l have
! found in respectful numbers and condition
! throughout the United States.
The environs of Edinburgh and Glasgow
! are full of gypSieS who are superior in ply
| sique to their English bret hren about Lon
! don, Birmingham, Manchester and Liver
pool. In Twecddale, Anandale and Niths-
dale are many families of gypsieS whose re-
spectaDility and individual means, although
they lead a rowing life, would compare IA
vorably with those of the small farmers of
the same regions. The gypsies whom
have met in Aberdeenshire and Perthshire
are not so well off, but are much liked and
always welcomed
AMONG TIRE PEAsANTRY.
Within few Years much good fortune,
from pecuniary standpoint, has come to
Scottish gypsieS through the vast increase
of summer visitors, American as well as
English. to the Highlands and islands of
-=.,,,, Of
Oban, RotheSay, mveraray, even across to
the outer Hebrides, and are found III every
romantic glen in the TrOSSack and along the
Highland lakes. These are gradually aban-
douing the life of the road for the greater
and quicker profits of show gypsies in
summer, and during tie winter seek lowly
quarters in cities.
These Yetholm. as we'll rs all other Scot
fish drom or road gypsies, ichiefiy subsist by
hawking eartheu, tin and white ironware
horn spoons, ''Scru bberS" ond blossoms, =
the latter a sort of willow broom, about the
country. They travel as far As into Eng
land as Newcastle and Staffordshire for the
earthenware, buying faulty pottery cheaply,
and selling the same at ii good profit. Inc
remainder of their wares they make in a
rude way among themselves, the women
being quite as adept as the men. Some
drive asses before their little carts. but more
possess the hardy "Sheltie' or Shetland
pony. For their own shelter at night their
carts are .'whummeld" or 'whomel'd, =
that IS,
TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.
The smallest and largest collection of
gypsies | ever found inssScotland We're, re-
spectively. in the far north and At the very
southern boundary. The first was discov-
cred one early morning in July. l was
coming with an eminent Northern Pres
byterian divine from Grand Strathglass
over the bleak moors, down through fairy
Glen Urquhart. TO Drumnadrochit by Loeb
Ness side. On one of the fern-spread
braes of little loch stood solitary gypsy
tent-the tiny wooden head of the true
Romany Is flaps were Skewered close.
The inmates were asleep. II was the tint
est, Suggest home human eyes ever be-
held. l could not but repeat aloud to my
reverend companion
SOME GYPSY SAYINGS.
perhaps 5000 years old. such as Firm as
i rounded hill are the tents of our people. :
My loves breasts are as hillocks Of
amber: as bright tents FURNISHED by the
sun" "Our tents are firm against the
sand-wind.'' And LAS still as the red stars
sleep shall nestle our tents in the valleys
But as the startled look in the dominie's
face merged into inefable Scotch scorn,
presently desisted.
Generally speaking, the gypsies of Eng
land are comfortable gypSieS in proportion
10 the distance they make their hauuts
from the great centers of population. The
same is measurably true of all other Eng
lisn lowly folk. The gypsy class, which
also includes all manner of travelling and
trampiug non-gypsy vagabonds, the radical
improvement of whose condition has be-
come the heroic work of George Smith of
Coalville, never pilgrim far from London.
Bristol. Birmingham, Manchester and
Liverpool. Their members sally out from
these cities and forage around and around
them in well-defined circles. going and
coming as they are prompted by impulse or
scourged by necessity. They are Bedouins
of civilization. indeed, and their reforma-
ton or eXtIrpation would prove public
good. My own observation and experiences
have been almost wholly among another
and better class. and the latter is more
like our American gypsies than any OF the
Romany in all foreign lands.
The largest aggregation of Scottish gyp-
sizes, now sadly dwindled, is at the border
Teviotdale town Of Yetholm. These might
be called house gypsies. as they occupy
matched cabins In Kirk Yetholm. the
property Of the Marquis of -Tweeddale,