Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-09-10
THE NOMAD sCAvENGERS.
Providing Bands Of Gipsies to be Found
Everywhere on ~Earth-Their
History and Origin.

has been, for a time, the home ola
rowing band of gipsies, and not a
few of our young folks have sought
thes'fortune tellers''that the veil Of
futurity might be for a time raised,
and the joys of the beyond be real.
lied by anticipation. Not all of
my young friends know who gip-
sizes are, or what they are. Upon
investigation many viii be sur
prised to learn that these peculiar
people had an existence as such
as far back in the worlds history
as the eighth century. They are
scattered over every civilized
country in Europe the greater part
of Asia, along the coast of Africa,
and into the celestial kingdom OF
China, and all over North Amer
lea. They are more numerous than
is generally supposed. Travellers
and historians have estimated that
there are sixty-seven thousand in
Turkey sixteen thousand in Egypt
and seven hundred thousand in
Europe. In 1874 there were l..
AT $40 gipsies in Russia alone. Sc
we see that this wandering, aim.
less, useless people, who contrib
ute nothing to the advancement Of
civilization, education, morals, Oh
virtue, like the frogs and lice o.
Egypt, have invaded almost every
habitable portion of the globe, wan
dering forth from India. Withou'
any nationality they have made
every nation theirs, and every
State and province their home
They rarely stop longer than thirty
days in any locality. They hav'
been driven to barren coasts ant
caught by night and burned il
companies, hanged by droves at
time, drowned in droves, beheadet
and quartered in order to driv'
them out of civilized society, bu
all in vain. They have a dialec
peculiar to themselves, and severa
dictionaries of their language
They have no literature excep
rude ballads, love and dance song
and tales of love and wooing
Their religion, if worthy of tn
name, resembles the red mans G
the plain as they worship as thei
chief deities the groves in whic
they pitch their tents and tn
moon god. Their family affectio
is said to be generally intensel
strong. Their love of nature an
of pets is also very marked. Th
same peculiarities of female dres
which you now notice has charat
terized them for centuries. Thei
fashions seldom change. Man
years ago the male gipsies wore
sort of uniform, but low dress
citizen clothes. I think Simo
Magus, the sorcerer, spoken of 1
9Th of Acts of Apostles, was a gil
sy. At one time in Englan
Q592) it was an offense against th
law to be seen in company wit
gipsies. We certainly all kno'
that these prowling bands of me
and women do nc good in th
world and every sensible person
free to admit that the gipsies' clai,
to foretelling events is based upo
the most objectionable ignorant
and superstition;and will love-sic
maidens pine for an audience wit
these wandering scavengers
. neighborhood scandal in order
satiate an unquenchable desire
know something of the destiny an
objects of their affections, and foo
ish old women hang over the BAG
yard fence at late supper hour
| tattle of what they heard the gil
sizes say2 While all this is 30 o,
, country would be better off will
out the gypsy. Our childre
would be freed from an III
worthy example of an aimles
giddy, devil-may-care kind of Iii
, the gypsy leads. In the way of
, living, what they fail to obtain b
begging, stealing and horse joke!
ing, they get by drawing heavil
on our credulity and unquenchabl
curiosity in fortune telling. Or
statutes should come to our reli'
and rid the country of the nuisane
or put them to work on the roc
pile. J. V. W.
nllol TNaIun.a,, Ns-Lk