The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-11-24

! lies W tidNti III buinpbubuS WdkOuS iioil
central Ohio to eastern Maine and return
the same season, IL is truly as interesting
20 meet-as have met-London Gipses
who travel with numbering vans or don
KEYS and carts in the most remote mining
villages OF Cornwall among the states
men" in the hills of Cumberland. among
I the moorland villages of Yorkshire, on the
reedy shores of the Norfolk "Broads,"
along the banks Of the Till and Tyne on
the southern slopes of the Cheviot Hills,
beside the lochs Of the far Hebrides, or nes-
tied against some old clachan in the misty
corries Of the Scottish Highlands.
The evolution OF the Gipsy-or, more
properly, the rise of the Gipsy-is, though
slower, as certain here rs it has been in
our country. With us hosts have gained
OF are securing little properties. These
largely consist of fine farms, country tav
ern stands, tollgate privileges, tracts of
woodland-of which they are very fond
/ livery and sales stables in the smaller
towns and villages, and not infrequently
/ extensive town neutrality-suspicious.
[ large sales stables in our metropolitan
! cities. All who are at all interested in
! American Gipsies, whatever may be the
! basty judgment from the appearance Of
occasional dusty roadside bands, should
i know once for all that as class or race
I they have become rich and prosperous.
! In n similar degree the last quarter of
/ a century has wrought n wonderful change
| for the better with the majority Of all
/ London and English Gipsies who have been
content TO remain in their own land In
/ 1861 while in England | had means of
knowing from personal observation that
almost universal squalor and Indebtedness
was characteristic of English, and particu
/ larly of London Gipsies No one can make
Of Gypsy anything but Gypsy; but
| generation of change here has effected
more marked advancement in a rugged
sort of prosperity with this than with any
| other lowly class 1t has not seized him
! bodily and in moment, or year, or a de.
cade, put fine clothing upon him and made
( the Gypsy man Of affairs, but something,
| as with the destitute Italians who have
landed upon our shores, who we directly
/ find as hawkers, willing laborers restau
rant keepers, newsboys bootblacks, con.
trolers of retail and wholesale fruit and
nut trades, and or the high road TO pros
/ perity, because they are quick witted and
/ willing to labor-the English Gypsy has
| found, along with old makeshifts for live
/ lihood, many new though rude occupations
and means of getting on in the world, all
/ after his own mind and heart.
The cavacade at it's outset may COM
! prise one or more vans. These are, briefly
I described, tiny houses upon wheels. They
/ are drawn by donkeys, or often by broken
/ down city tram horses which the Gipsies
| get in London for a song, and which with
care are finally transformed into excellent
cattle. Following these may be three or
four or half dozen little donkey carts
after the fashion of the costermongers
! city carts. These will hold the real re
sources of the band. An examination Of
the latter would reveal almost enough
material in quantity, certainly enough in
variety, TO stock little country store.
This stock in trade has not been picked
up at random. In the London Whitechapel
/ district there are great storehouses Of
Travellers Goods" Their owners, who
/ find include wealthy Gipsies, could not
continue in business without the Gipsies'
! trade The goods handled are somewhat
| similar to our American bargain cOuh-
ter" odds and ends, especially IN tfnware
and metal goods, hardware, crockery,
! cheap oicOths and household knickknacks
with the coarsest of beads and gilded jew
elery. ItwOuld be a revelation to ordinary
English tradesmen to realize the enormous
quantities of stuff annually disposed Of in
this manner throughout England, Scotland
and Wales, and the integrity Of these Gypsy
wanderers where they ask and receive
credit for their supplies, as they often do
Smaller "Travelers' Goods" stores may be
found near the Bull Ring in Birmingham,
where carts may be refilled in the lazy
journeyings, but small shipments from
time to time are forwarded by rail from
London.
have friends in the fruit and nut trade
in the Drury Lane quarter of London who
have supplied Gipsies in all parts of the
provinces for the past twenty years. Half
of this trade is done on credit, and the
fruiterers all inform me they have never
lost a penny at the hands of tlreir thou
sands of Gypsy small customers. All these
goods, fruits and nuts are hawked in little
villages and sold at fairs and on market
days. Indeed the English country fair of
today would lose all its pcturesqueness
and most of its attractions for younger
people were the petty Gypsy booths and
Gypsy shOwmen withdrawn.
About the middle of the century, when
the British Rural Police Act, which was
directed against Gipsies and all wandering
folk of the road, came in force, we find Dor
row Iamenting that the Gypsy had no
where TO lay his head" The oppressive
measure undoubtedly sent America $4,000
English Gipsies within period of ten
years Indeed il almost extirpated Gypsy /
dom in Great Britain, but the cunning
Gipsy soon saw a way to mend his for /
tunes. He took out license to become
travelling merchant. 1.-TWO and sixpence"
gives him this right for the period of one
year He could still remain Gypsy in every
other particular Insensibly and by de-
grees he actually became the fellow whose
vocation he originally assumed in order to
merely exist.
There gradually followed a system among
the wanderers of providing Gypsy ground"
on which TO camp in safety from the raids
of the mounted constabulary. Gipsies here
and there who had got footing and could
be trusted bought or leased bits Of waste
land, unused lanes, idle tracts at the out
skirts of cities and towns, or camping
rights in roomy old stable yards. These
are in turn sublet 10 arriving pilgrims al
from one shilling down to pfnny day.
And thus with London Gipsies-whose