The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-11-17

kat village, the entire family on ooAtu
as in Holland; and now perhaps some
lone naturalist In hungary, harmless
quest Of rare butterflies and bugs.
Then came evenings when the sun
went down in forests Of waving reeds
flaming the thatches Of some loW.lylnG
cottage on opposite shore, Weird!y
lighting the arms Of the huge wind
mills OF the region, bringing TO loom
ing nearness the grim Norman tower
Of some far olden church. or gliding the
top OF some medieval ruin IS with gold
As the red globe sank from sight, the
waters for q moment were purple, the
reeds puee, and then. in another mo-
ment, everything was pitchy black
until the stars, shining from above and
from the waters beneath, seemed to en-.
yslop all. Then tho songs aud chirps Of
myriad insects; the whirr and splash Of
late.homing waterfowl; and the witch
ing, whispered soughing Of the breeze
in the rushes and the reeds. And then
"Gran'p op" Wharton, huggiug his
thin old fiddle to his thin old breast,
played many atuneiul Gipsy lullaby that
seemed to merrily or plaintively answer
back the witch-tongues Of the reeds /;
until, as the "peat-hovers" tiickercd
fainter and fainter In our cabin, all na'
ture in the "Broads" seemed TO have
gone with rs into the land Of silenCes
and OF dreams
But all idyllic hours like these have
their glad or rude awakening.
My confession is an Unavoidable one
that from the yagarous and genial mood
OF happy, contented guest, my feelings
gradually merged into strange torebod'
ings aud unrest
/ was In the presence OF tremendous
human study. In my wauderings ! had
known scores OF Gipsies like good old
''Gran'pop" Wharton; hundreds more
like the stolid, philosophic father, calm
and sunny fatallst in the face OF all good
or III happening; thousands like the
canny mother, marvel OF cunning &C.
QUESTION and thrift; aud tens Of thou.
sands like the happy-hearted chauvies
OF our ouse-boat, for Gypsy children
are alike the world over in their endless
outbursts OF wild and irrepressible
hilarity and mirth.
But these three Gypsy maidens,
Fashion, Melinda and Bess, startled me
into new and limitless fields OF thought
and conjecture.
Romany true in their keen and almost
savage affection for any condition that
would bring them and hold them close
to the throbbing OF natures tender
heart, they were still unconsclously
nodded in the most winsome graces OF
chaste refinement Marvellous in their
knowledge OF myriad passages from ma
lures open book, masters OF her most
stealthily whispered and uncouth and
gentle secrets, they also bore the added
charm springing from auickened hui
man sympathies, from the revelation of
human activities. from the uplifting
and mellowing influences OF music, art
and books.
These things came TO me in countless
little surprises. They awakened pride
in me that my friends, the despised
Gipsies, had precisely the same capa-
bilities OF improvement and evolution
as all humble, aspiring, heart-open folk
Of any other race.
They filed me with pain and forebod-
ing for the future OF any three souls
like them, in that time which must In.
evitahly come when three wonderful
characters like these, when three beau
titul women like these, must fix, or by
circumstances he allotted, their separ-
ate life horizons.
Would the environment be like ours
who ever seek, II we fail in finding,
higher lands OF brightness and upgorw-
ing? Or, would they sink back to the
lowly life Of the houseboat, the tont, the
van and tho road?
Day by day as looked in their hand
some faces, watched their graceful move
ments and pondered over the possible
fates Of such strangely environed ma
lures, q curious strain OF reflection
crowded in upon me.
I found myself longing to prevent
their gradual fading out OF tho new
world their intellectual gaining had
dawned upon them. I became at least
mentally deeply concerned in adjusting
their future lives on tho plane OF my
own and that OF my fellows. even
opened the door, through these keen
aud persistent human compositions, to
the soft and stealty tread Of thoughts
and fancies which, back with Aunt Prue
at Three Bachelors Court, in London,
would have tingled my cheeks with the
flush OF conscious weakness or set me
roaring with derisive laughter at my
own objectionable and inexplicable
knight errautry.
(Which OF us have you chosen?"
archly inquired Fashion, looking up
from her work one day, and instantly
reading my thoughts with that marvel
GUS intuition Of the female Gypsy.
Tho abruptnesq aud incisivenesa OF
the girls divination confused me for a
moment, as tho laughter OF the three
Gypsy maidens rang taurtingly out over
the silent waters OF tho Broad.
But l had an answer ready; one that
sileuced them amid bushes and deeper
confusion than my own for little; ono
which had for days been ready for some
opportune moment like this; an answer
in verse.
TO THREE dIPsEY MAIDESs.
o Fashion, Melinda and BesS!
Not in nll the far lands where, nilgfimInE free
Meath tho tents aud the stars, thy tawny race
Have lustreful face and tho trees
OF the raven SO haunted my waking and sleep.
So thrilled all my heart 10 It's uttcrmost deep,
As Fashion, Melinda and l'ess
o Fashion, Melinda aud Boss,
With dainty step light as tho fall Of tho
with graceful forms 1.-THE rs the marginal
SheHveS
OF willows III wild winds cRress
Your eyes arG like slocS in dark copScwOod
hooks:
Your voices wCro stolen from the songs OF the
brooks,
o Fashion Melinda aud BeSsI
o Fashion. Melinda and BcsS!-
Brave hearts HS the Hons In Afrlcn's caves
hut COY Ag the tribes beneath rlpplIng waves