Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-12-18

| uIiuChS VI dluUeT DIS OT]SuU tents DHTneG
by the sun ''Our tents are firm against
the sand wind" And, As still as the
red stars sleep, shall nestle our tents in
the valleys" But as the startled look in
the dom MES face merged into ineffabe
Scotch scorn, presently desisted.
The largest aggregation of Scottish gyp-
sizes, now sadly dwindled, is at the border
Teviotdale town of Yetholm. These might
be called the house gypsies, as they occupy
thatched cabins in Kirk Yetholm. the
property of the Marquis of Tweeddale,
held under the curious tenure of ''nineteec
times nineteen years" at nominal rent.
But few families remain. Nearly all
| the old stock has died off or emigrated to
America, though no longer ago than 1S47
! they mustered from round about over 500
souls and 800 asses to escort tie remains
o their old king, canny ''Wull (Wil)
Faa, from Coldstream to the burying
ground at Kirk YethQm. 1t was here,
too, that my late friend the brightest, wit
tiest, and most sensible gypsy woman that
ever lived, Queen Esther Faa, reigned so
long, so wisely and so we'll These Yet
holm, as well as other Scottish drom or
road gypsies, chiefly subsist by hawking
earthen, tin and white iron ware, horn
spoons, 'scrubbers, and "hosoms," the
latter sort of window broom. about the
country. They travel as far into England
as Newcastle and Staffordshire FOR the
earthenware, buying faulty pottery cheap
| ly, and selling the same at a goou profit.
| The remainder of their wares they make
IN 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 ''Shetie," or
Shetland pony. For their own shelter at
night their carts are "whummel'd" or
"whomnel'd' that is, turned upside down.
Generally speaking the gypsies of
England are comfortable gypsies in pro-
portion to the distance they make their
haunts from the great centers OF popuIa
ton. The same is measureably true of all
| other English lowl y folk. The gypsy class,
which also includes all manner OF travelling
and tramplng non-eypsy vagabonds, the
radical improvement of whose condition
has become the heroic work of George
Smith, of Coalville, never pilgrim far
from London, Bristol, Birmingham, Man
chester, 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 ne
cessity.
They are Bedoulns of civilization, In.
deed, and their reformation or ex irpation
| would prove public good. My own oh
servation and experiences have been almost
wholly among another and better class,
and the latter is more like our Amer can
gypsies than any of the Romany in all for
eign lands.
Probably the most idyllic form of gypsy
life yet remaining in England may be
found in Wales and the English lake
district of Northern Lancashire, West
moreland, and Cumberland. have been
much among the Statesmen" or land
owning peasantry of the latter region, as
well as with the gvpsies there. Perhaps ]
have questioned 800 small farmers and
others as to the gypsies status among
them. have never secured an answer un-
favorable to the nom DIS. On the contrary.
much as is the case in remote countrys de
districts in America, the gypsies' annual
coming is looked forward to with eager
ness and delight; while the summer mar
ket day and the little village fair would be
sh0rn OF much of their attractiveness were
| the gy p5y folk absent. Nor could | learn
IN all this romantic region of a single act
of downright dishonesty on the part OF
any gypsy within the memory of man
Again In Yorkshire, away from its
manufacturing towns. the gypsies have
we'll defined roads of travel and are never
scourged or chased by the constabuIary as
they are IN the midland shires, where they
have chiefly come under Mr.. Smith
observation. In Wharfedale, in the vicin-
ity of Ilkley, are many families of respect
able gypsles. Up ab~ut Northallerton
they are the only country side peddlers
and thinkers and do much in the way of
buying and selling horses and other stock
In Lincolnshire and Noting hamshire
from Grimsby to Trent, and particularly
about Nottingham and Hucknail. Torkard,
are very many prosperous gypsies, whose
families can be traced nearly as far back
as some of the nobility, and often with
quite as favorable results. In the county
of Norfork | have passed some of the most
delightful days Of my life as the guests of
the gypsy families, who, making summer
households of large punts, provide the
hosts of sportsmen that annually resort to
the 'Broads," or marshy lakes, with
wicker baskets and bait. and often act as
guides to the most desirable fishing and
hunting grounds.
In all the west and southwest of Eng
land the gypsies are welcomed and treated
most generously. In Cornwall they are
SOhOId'IJ Stiipo fdSIOu uueu, DIS Jne
sturdy Cornish folk class all persons. even
commercial travellers, literary tramps and
tourists who for any reason wander from
place to place; while in Wales a simpler,
more unsophisticated, kinder hearted peo-
pie do not live than the gypsies. Ali
Welsh people love them They never
leave Wales, and they are as much an in
tegral part of the concrete social structure
as the Welsh peasantry themselves
The difference between British gypsies
and American gypsies is astounding But
after all it is only difference of condi-
ton. The evolution of our gypsies from
Ignorance and degradation to opuIence, in
telligence and some considerable educa-
tional acumen, is simply the result of lib.
Grafton from hard and often grinding
life here, which anywhere fosters the
worst Of human traits; precisely as Brit
ish lowly transplanted from life battle
for mere existence, shortly become with
US men and women often of competence
and frequently of culture.
The British lowly are hard to get along
with anywh in Ireland, Scotland and
England, because they suffer soreIy from
grinding labor, and, to us, almost in
conceivable.poverty. British gypsies, like
Gorglo brethren, are degraded and bestial
just In their proportion to their degree of
poverty. The same family which phil
anthropist Smith finds shiveripg under a
rotten sheet by an En-. lish hedge, with per-
haps not even skinny ht dgedoo for the
Sunday dinner transferred to America
neyermore Is found among lawbreakers
and in 10 years time become one of the
vast army Of oyer olcoma midi iopnon no.