Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-10-02

States-They Are Good Horse Traders
Loyal Friends and the PawnbrOkers'
Hest Patrons-Kind to Their Offspring.
1.-The gypsy race shows no signs of
extinction. The Romantics are as
strong and as numerous to-day as they
have ever been"
Thus spoke Paul Kester, playwright,
ethnologist and student of the lives,
habits aud language of the gypsies.
Mr.. Kester is one of the greatest living
authorities upon the American Romany.
In his play "Ramar," one of the late
Alexander Salvini's successes, he dealt
broadly with his favorite subject; and
volume from his pen, soon to be pub
lished, will shRl st;ii ''.er hght up
1.-The gypsies," he says, "came or
/ iginally from Hindoostan. The mi
grafton of the race occurred during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centur-
les. The sobriquet Egyptian which
they assumed was, it is supposed, ow
ing to their temporary sojourn in
Egypt. The name Romany ethnolo-
gists derive from the Hindu rom,
man. Armed with protecting letters
from one or more of the popes, they
appeared in Germany; and thereafter
swarmed over Europe. 1 cannot say
when they first came to America; but
certain it is that they We're not long
after the first white colonists.
"There are many thousands of them
in the United States, and they per-
meate all branches of society. Iknow
of an eminent and respectable Episco-
pal clergyman in Boston who has Ro-
many blood in his veins. Once year
the old wandering fever comes over
this good man; and then, hey, presto!
the pulpit is temporarily abandoned,
and he follows the pattrin trail or
lounges contentedly among his kim
dred in the shade OF the caravan tent.
In many of our cities there are wealthy
men and women, millionaires and So
called society people, who are Ro-
many ohals (gypsy men), or Romany-
CHS Gypsy girls, and who cannot re-
sist following the pattrin when sum-
mer time comes round. But, of course,
the great majority of the race live in
their caravans all the year round, tell
ing fortunes and trading in horses for
living-going south with the ap-
proach of winter, and returning north
ward when summer is at hand. An
American gypsy has only one wife, and
very good husband he generally
makes her. They are excellent faith
ers, too. In all my long experience I
have never seen Romany father beat
his offspring.
Since the death of Matilda Stanley,
H., OF Dayton, Ohio, few years ago,
the American gypsies have had no
generally recognized queen. This
Matilda succeeded her aunt of the
same name matilda Stanley I. whose
great funeral and the vast hords of
gypsies that attended it will still be
remembered. The Irish-American and
German-American gypsies have rulers
of their own. There are 7G0 families
of German American Romantics, and
their queen is Sophia Freyer, Rom
any chi OF nearly eighty years.
"The nomadic gypsy bands are not
80 large as in less settled times, when
the Romany was forced to travel in
large numbers for self-prOtection.
From twelve to twenty persons make
up the average caravan to-day; al
though in some cases the bands num-
ber fifty or sixty. A very large band
is the famous one of which old Chiv-
odine Lovel is the chief. Every year
Loyels band comes north and camps
between Newark and Elizabeth, N. j.,
in the woods by the boulevard. These
Lovels are over sixty in number.
Chief Stanley's big family yearly en-
camps on Grow Hill, Kings County,
N. Y. In the suburbs of Denver,
COL, the gypsies ruled by Mrs. Caro-
lima Smith meet annually, while
branches of the royal Stanley family
of Ohio encamp near Dayton, Cincin-
natl and Cleveland.
1.-THE pattrin is the code Of signs by
which gypsies tell each other the road
to be followed. The word comes from
the Sanscrit pattra, leaf; and the
commonest form of pattrin is the scat
tering of little tufts of grass or tiny
bundles of leaves along the route pur-
sued. Straw, sticks, pebbles and
crosses in the earth are also used. The
form of pattrin for night guidance is the
placing of small forked stick upward
in the ground, with smaller stick
poised in the cleft to show the direc-
tion. Nowadays, however, the gypsies
are getting so unromantic that they
do great deal of telegraphing. Oddly
enough, the great gypsy exchanges in
the various cities are livery stables
and pawnbrokers' shops. The first
fact is explicable when one recalls the
horse trading of the Romany; but the
second calls for explanation. Gypsies
are the pawnbrokers' best customers.
They buy lavishly all sorts of gold,
silver and amber and cowrie orna-
ments, and nearly all their dealings is
done with the pawnshops. The gypsy
woman has an oriental taste in jewelry,
and every Romany-chi possesses box
full of trinkets, especially in silver,
amber and inheritance from Hindu
ancestors) cowrie beads. The pawn
brokers keep in touch with the various
caravans and at the sign of the three
golden balls the Romany learns the
whereabouts of relatives aud friends.
MANY curious customs prevail
among our Romantics. For instance,
it is common among the Colsrado and
California gypsy women, while secret
ly conniving at the marriage of their
daughters to apparently oppose the
suitor's advances bitterly. This ne
cessitates an elopement; after which
the young pair, having shown their
Romany spirit, are welcomed back to
the maternal tent pole. Their cook
ing and eating habits are often odd
enough. For pork they have great
fondness: and in old times they were
accustomed when passing farm
house to 'drab the baulo' (poison the
pig) and beg the carcass from the
farmer. The poison known as 'drab'