The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-14
suNrHN' HAPPENS.

uOOutu b6ubS bOOh buc uGlOuY. NTEl0-
ming heads, musical as the morning, pro-
truded from snug wagon-coVers. Half
dressed Gipsies came into sight every
where. AS if possessed by some swift
and unaccountable spirit of mirthful mis-
chief, all seemed ready for frolic The
tinker repeated the refrain. More and
more voices joined. Zeb looked up from
his mending knowingly, conscious Of the
ballads power upon his fellows, and,
after briskly patting some dogs which
had bounded to his side as If they too
knew the merriment in store, began the
roaring song of
ITS "CREEi CHEEl' WHEN PIE boobies COME
On the drom (roadJ there's much that is try.
ing;
Be as wise as an owl.
But IL boobies should prowl,
Just give them lesson in lginRl
Look them square In the yak (eye),
Hit them plump in the max (nose),
II they scorn vel
For its "cheel cheel" when the boobies
come;
Then its ''chee! cheel"-when the boobies
come
Far better be lying than crying
On the drom there's much that is trying;
Listen soft when the grye (horseJ is a-shy-
ing;
When the dugaI Cdog) lies low;
Get behind the hedgerow:
For then the sly boobies are pryingi
Look them square In the YAK,
For thy raunie (wife);
Hit them plump In the max
Save thy caunie (hen, fowDi
For its chee chez !" when the boobies come;
Then its "ohee! chee!"-Wheh the boobies
come
Gradually moving 20 the c<nt9r Of the
camp from all diToetions, GtiN sirAing,
came the 0ypsies every tscs, from Spae-
irrepressiblc AtaZbr Of the seMg, Seine III
the men sang IN wonderful Daytime, ann
powerful bass voices were heard. TAe
women aad cfiilHFUn carried tie soprano,
rich, hearty. Eloanent ana nAay an old
and toothiess woman, lifting her tones to
thrilling falsetto, sang clear and true
above all the rest -....-tt.
How they sang, thought It was as IL
one voice and spirit wefe bent on reveal
ing the whole strange, weird, drama of
the tent and the road. The melody. too,
was almost lyric in its fitness to the brave
situations disclosed; the whole conciud-
ing with the marvelously rollicking and
vociferous refrain:
Far better be lying than cryingi-"
Immediately upon which the entire band
| INDUCED in a glorious frolic, wherein
many an old dame found himself carried
above stout gypsy heads to the covered
wagons to complete her toilet, and tinker
Zeb himself was many . time sent mer-
rily 10 grass, Hnally being tossed over the
fence into young hazel cOpee for raising
the acceptable Disturbance
Tinker Zeb, recovering his breath
while still laughing uproarously, had Just
parted the hazel branches with his hand
( preparatory to returning TO camp by way
of the open farm-lot and road, when his
eyes met pitiful sight. An old woman
| lnt
a few rods distant, her white face pressed
close to a narrow mound of earth. and his
| thin arms clasped tightly around the lit
| tie weed-stained stone at its head.
| A few bounds like those of some ponder
Gus animal brought Zeb beside her. He
peered sharly in her face placed his ear
| upon her breast, and then beloved out
"Everlasttn' hammers and tongsl Wat
hever's tn matter wi Grandma 'Unllp'
He lifted her in his arms and carried
her into camp as lightly as though she
had been an infant; with a few quick
| words in Romany to his companions he
left her tenderly nursed by the women in
Chief Stanley's tent: and hurrying away
in few minutes had returned with
Mary Hull, who, ghostly white but with
+ something of the calm of her mothers
early days in her quiet eyes, set straight
| about reviving the broken old life; while
Jane and Josh, trembling in feeble help
lessness and terror, soon crouched and
moaned beside the hopeless pair.
Then these strange gypsy folk, marvel
Gus in their cunning as in their boundless
compassion, drew from Mary and Josh
the whole sad tale; of the soldier-lad
who had suddenly stopped whiting TO
| his mother, and had never returned,
| though the ever and never-despair-
ing mother-heart refused 70 believe him
dead; OF debt growing to obligation and
it IN turn to incumbrance, which swal-
| lowed even the lifetime savings of loyal
Jane and Josh, leaving them weakly
staring at the poor-house door as at an
open grave, and which was to take Maple
Hill farm forever from Grandma Hull
this very day; and, finally. of the one re-
entless hand that had swept hope and
leace from this wrecked victim Of
pr own good deeds, and ripened the
hen of defenseless home; when poor
rui Josh in an agony of helplessness piped
old:
Its all the doin's-cuss him!-of old
out"
Sila'sSlater!"
The whole camp Kissed the name with
| lowering brows that told OF gypsy dread
and hate.
AS if the Old One is ever ready at call,
at this moment smart open buggy, in
which sat two men--one a weakened old
man, with frowsy white head, dropped
almost out of sight between thin, peaked
shoulders; the other, a hard-faced. OIL
cious fellow of perhaps forty, the village
constable-was driven from the highway
into the edge of the camp. The younger
man bawled out blusteringly:
Squire Slater here owns this ranch
arter noon to-day. You fellers kin hev'
jess twenty-four hours TO mosey outer
this Dye herel"
IN Jail ev'ry one If they don't Tell
'em that, JEFF. Tell 'em, too" shrieked
the old wretch, with a savage gesture of
his shriveled hand towards Maple Hill
farmhouse, that old fool goes, TOO. She's