Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-07

Newark and Elizabeth, N. J., in the woods
by the boulevard. These Lovels are over
sixty in number. At ore time they were
suspected of having abducted Charley ROSS;
but the fair-haired boy found in their camp
and supposed to be little Ross was proven
nephew of old Chivodine, and Is now heir
apparent to the chieftaincy. Chief Stan
leys big family yearly encamps on Crow
Hill, Kings county, N. Y. In the suburbs
OF Denver, Colo, the gypsies ruled by Mrs.
Carolina Smith meet annually, while branch
es Of the royal Stanley family of Ohio en-
camp near Dayton, Cincinnati and Cleve-
land.
THE pattrin is the code of signs by which
gypsies tell each other the road to be fol-
lowed. The word comes from the SanScrit
pattra, leaf; and the commonest form of
pattrin is the scattering of little tufts of
grass or tiny bundles of leaves along the
route pursued. Straw, sticks, pebbles and
crosses in the earth are also used. The
form of pattrin for night guidance is the
placing of a small forked stick upward in
the ground, with a smaller stick poised in
the cleft to show the direction. Nowadays,
however, the gypsies are getting so unro-
mantle that they do a great deal of tele-
graphing. Oddly enough, the great gypsy
exchanges in the various cities are livery
stables and pawnbrokers' shops. The first
fact is applicable when one recalls the horse
trading of the Romany; but the second
calls for explanation. Gypsies are the
pawnbrokers' best customers. They buy
lav1Shly all sorts of gold silver and amber
and cowrie ornaments, and nearly all their
dealing Is done with the pawn shops. The
gypsy woman has an oriental taste in Jew
elry, and every Romany-chi possesses a
box full of trinkets, especially in silver,
amber and inheritance from Hindu ances-
tors cowrie beads. The paWnbrokers keep
in touch with the various caravans and at
the sign of the three golden balls the Rom
any learns the whereabouts of relatives
and friends.
The ROmany Religion.
ut is difficult indeed to win the gypsy S
confidence. He is distrustful of the Gorgio,
or gentle, by whom he has been prosecuted
and whom in turn he has hated and preyed
upon for ages. 1t took me four long years
to break the ice with single Romany fam
lily: but, once broken, the rest was easy.
Very soon l had a good, colloquial knowl-
edge of Romany. My friendship with the
enc family, and my acquaintance with the
mystic pattrin code, proved adequate In
Productions to the gypsies everywhere. The
American gypsy, a rule, has no real re-
ligion. Frequently he ostensibly follows
some faith, but he does it with his tongue
in his cheek. Their word for God is Deva
or Devel from the Sanscrit deva, a deity;
but the word has to them little or no sig
Eificance. Broadly speaking, they are pa
gans. Yet superstition exists among them;
though they affect to sneer at the spells
and lamentations with which their trick
sters deceive the Gorgios.
Many curious customs prevail among
Cur Romanys. For instance, it is common
among the Colorado and California gypsy
women, while secretly oonniving at the
marriage of their daughters, to apparently
oppose the suitors advances bitterly. This
necessitates an elopement, after which the
young pair, having shown their Romany
spirit, are welcomed back to the maternal
tent pole. Their cooking and eating habits
are often odd CROUCH. For pork they have
a great fordness, and in old times they
were accustomed, when passing a farm
house. to 'drab the baulo' (poson the pig)
and beg the carcass from the farmer. The
poison known as 'drab' Is one of the Rom
any secrets. 1t Is a curious drug which
affects only the animals BRAIN leaving the
rest of the body imprisoned. Many old
Romany -chals have admitted to me that
| they still occasionally yield to the tempta-
| ton of 'drabbing the baulo' and thereby
smack their lips over the memories of
toasted atchi-witchi, or hedge hog The
gypsy way to cook fowl is to do 1t I'D,
feathers and all, in clay, and bake 1t in the
heart of the fire for little more than thir-
ty minutes. The clay is then removed, TAX
ing with 1t the feathers: the fowl is clean
ed and the feast is ready. Yorkshire pud-
ding, apple dumplings and other English
dishes are great favorites with the gypsies
IN so far as l know him (and l may
safely say that know him welD the Amer
ican gypsy Is one of natures gentlemen
courteous, considerable and loyal. sacri-
ficing friend to his friends The average
G6rgio, OF course, the Romany dislikes and
dlstrusts: bur win the gypsy's affection and
you Keep 1t always. The vagrant tenden-
cies OF the race can never be crushed Out.
Ihey are in the blood, Lred in the bone OF
the true Romany. So long as the pure gyn-
sy strain exists, chal and chi will follow
the pattrin trail, tell fortunes, trade horses.
WOO the Gorg1o's gold and sleep with the
broad arch OF heaven for their canopy"