The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-05-28
Not Wholly Forsaking the Road.
They Arc Becoming Men Of
Affairs.
wAkernau Describes Some OF the
Profitable Callings Of the
Tribe.
Progressing Through Vocation,
and the Naturalization OF Mate
rial BstterMent.

ism dlpalo0 WIZ uhVe OO0n oA
main Ii their own land. In 1867, while IN
England, I had meant Of knowing from
personal observation that almost universal
sQuslor and wretchedness was characseris-
tic of Irish and English, and particularly
OF London Gipsies. No n can make of o
Gipsy anything but I Girsy; but . genera
ton Of change here has effected a more
marked advancement in q rugged sors OF
prosperity with this than with any other
lowly class.
II has not seized the Gipsy bodily and In
! moment, or 4 year. or a decade. put n
clothing upon him and made him q man OF
affairs; but, something AS with the dssti-
tute Italians who have landed upon Amsri-
can shores, who We directly find 40 hawk
81. willing lnborers. restaurant keepers.
newsboys, h%ootblacks, controllers OF retail
and wholesale fruit and mus trades. and on
the high road to prosperity. because they
are quick witted and willing to labor-the
British gypsy has found. along with old
makeshifts for livelihood, many new though
rude occupations and means OF getting on
ia the world, all after his own mind and
heart.
While the race characteristics Of these
folk will require many generations IN which
to undergo radical change. their conditions
ana environments are in the main entirely
different from those In which Crabbe. Hoy
land, Borrow and Simson found them and
Of which they wrote. In other words. there
81 to-day litsle or nothing In book htera-
allure altogether true of British Gipsies.
OF she four standard authors Borrow was
the most romantic; Simson she most inex-
orally true. Yet both write Of a tim and
a nerripen Of Gipsy life which. with few
exceptions. has wholly passed away. These
exceptions comprise the poorest English
ana Scottish Gipsies Of to-day; some fam
lilies In the north of England whose NOM
bers have continued Almost liter
Me BY the r%oadside-the tinkerinR,
the dickering. the dukkering or fortune
telling and often the tiny sales OF imperfect
delft and tinware, content with a "whum-
meled" or upturned Gait for a roof In
summer, and any sort of q town tenemens
in winter; the tiny, asragglin0 bands in
Dsvonshire and Cornwall, where there has
been little change in all social conditions
for the past fifty years, the few remaining
,Gipsies Of Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and
the Highland districts of Scotland; and the
sGipsies of Wales, whore is found the most
primitive and idyllic form OF Gipsy life vet
remaining in Britain. The Welsh Gipsiss
"a ely leave Wales. All Welsh people are
fond OF them; and they are almost as much
On integral part of the concrete rural so
cial structures az are the Welsh people
themselves.
The fact that British Gipsies. as we'll as
our American Gipsies. hundreds of whom I
could name who are worth from $1,000 to
.$1GO, COO in landed property, have. during
the past quarter of a century. developed a
OF trade. These have been a natural out
growth, in most instances. of the petty way
aide dickerinQ of less fortunate times. but
they are still pursuits requiring the exe:-
else OF good thrift and Judgment and of a
genuine probity that make the Girsy mid
dieman welcome both where occasional
credit is necessary, and among his country
side customers. In the main they are van
dwellers, in the summer time, as with us.
travelling certain well-defined routes and
rurveyinR in villages and even in the out
skirts oftowns and cities, articles WHOSE
annual sgg tegate value mount to a stipend
Gus sum.
Their cavalcades at the outset may com
prise one or more vans. They are, briefly
They are drawn by donkeys. o:
often by broken down city tram
horses which the Gipsies get in the
cities for a song. and which with care are
finally transformed into excellent cattle.
Following these may be three or four. or a
half dozen little donkey carts. after the
fashion of the costermonRers city carts.
These will hold the real resources of the
band, An examination of the latter would
reveal almost enough material in quantity,
certainly enough In variety. to stock alittle
country store.
This stock in trade has not been picked
up at random. In the London White
chapel district there are great storehouses
of IT. travellers goods" Their owners. who
I find include wealthy Gipsies. could not
continue in business without the Gipsies'
trade. The goods handled are somewhat
similar to our American ''bargain counter
odds and ends. especially in tinware and
metal goods, hardware, crockery. cheap
oilcloths and household %nicknacks. with the
coarsest beads and Rilded j~ewelry. 1t
would be a revelation TO ordinary English
tradesmen to realize the enormous quanti-
ties OF stuff annually disposed Of in this
manner ~throuehout England. Scotland and
Wales, and the integrity of these Gypsy
wanderers where they ask and receive crodit
for their supplies, as they often do.
Smaller travellers goods" may be found
cats may be refilled in the lazy journsyingp;
but small shipments from time to time arc
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. Halt
of this trade 10 done on credit, and the
fruiterers all inform me they have nsye,
lost n penny at the hands of their thousands
of Girsy small customers. All these goods
fruits and nuts, are hawked in little villages
and sold at fairs n on market days. In
deed the English country fair of to-day
would lose all its picturesqueness and mos
OF It's attractions for younger people wer,
the pretty Gypsy booths and Gipsy showme1
withd fawn.
About the middle of the century wher
the British rural police act. which wa
directed against the Gipsies mt ell wan,
dering folk of the road, came in force, ",
fnd Borrow lsmentinR that the "Gipsy hnt
nowhere to lay his head" The oppressiv
measure undoubtedly sent America SO. 00'
English Gipsies within a period of ter
dom In Great Britain. But the comm.
Gypsy soon saw o way to mend his fortunes
lilo took out u license to become II travelling
merchant. 1.-TWO and six-pence'' give
Linn this right for the period OF one year
he could still remain Gypsy in every oths
particular. Insensibly and by degrees h
actually became tho fellow whose vocation
ne originally assumed in order to merel.
exist.
There gradually followed a systsm anon
the wanderers Of providing Gypsy ground
ON which to camp in safety from the raid
of the mounted constabula'y. Gipsiss her
and there who had got a footing and couI
be trusted. bought or leased bits of vast.
land, unused lanes. idle tracts at the out
skirts OF cities and towns. or camping right
in ioomy old stable yards. These are il
tn n auhlet to arriving piIorima NJ fvon m