The age-herald., 1899-05-14
A NATIONAM MEET OF THE
 GYPSIEg AT CHICAGO, ILL., T Ere 6Omu in Spite t8 Suburt6S 5OJu 6 Doors
 Keeping the Children in.

They say that the Gypsies are one of the wandering tribes of Egypt who, having quarrelled with their leader in the sixteenth century, scattered to all parts of Europe. Their leader, who called himself Duke of Lower Egypt" lived in the suburbs of Lon- don for many years ,and there established an unenviable reputation which the tribe has never lived down.
 The Gypsy is like no other people in the world. The Gypsy women are noted for their tall, beautiful forms, their clear olive skin and shining black eyes. They are quick, clever and attractive. Nevertheless, they do not marry out of their tribe, but cast their smiles upon the small misshapen men of their own race.
 The Gypsy nature is peculiar. It resem- bles no other known people and is most nearly allied to the wandering tribes of Arabia, the tribes that are hunted and are outcasts from generation to generation.
 They will not work and yet live well without occupation. The men of the Gypsy tribe adopt the occupation of tinker and when starvation stares them in the face, if 1t ever does, they go to the nearest town and beg from door to door for work which they readily secure and for which they re- ceive good pay, for they are clever with their hands.
 But the Gypsy never does want. By some peculiar provision of nature he has always enough. If you were given a peep into Gypsy wagon you would see big hams mad long slabs of bacon stored away. You would see a bin of new potatoes, many kinds of dried fish, quantities of early veg etables and even canned goods A freshly killed beef will be found on the block out side the wagon if the tribe be large one, and the fire that is burning brightly near by is turning spit upon which hangs birds that have been recently brought down The Gypsy has only. the pleasure of food and of this he allows himself plenty.
 hn n nf Cxyfac hoe haa BIra, ed to that of the cow He is proverbial1y a thief. He helps himself to anything he sees and remains as long as they is any left. Then he travels on to the next fields
 The Gypsy asserts that he earns all that he has. That his thefks are from Mother Nature who owes him, well as the rest of her children, living. In proof of this he points to the birds and to his gun. He indicates that the potatoes and the open fields which he says he has tiled He tells you that there are open farm lands in the west, that he is taking his substance from them, and when you shrug your shoulders he will hint of national treasury of the Moors of Spain from which comes a cer4s tain amount of money annually to each tribe. He will inform you that once tho Moors owned Spain. Italy and France and that they have still enough of this worlds goods to maintain the few remaining Gypsies
 But the people who inhabit the cities near which the Gypsies dwell tell a different tale. They say that during a Gypsy visita- tion it is not safe to venture out at night Mysterious missiles are hurled into the air and the victim stumbles into the ditches. When he recovers he finds that unseen hands has robbed him. The trees, they complain, are stripped nightly, the hen roosts robbed, the vegetables dug from tho fields, the cattle milked in the night Sheep are missing from the pens and when the Gypsies go 0 horse disappears at the same time. The suburb in which they have camped is stripped as bare as an apple tree after a hurricane. +~,
 The supposition that the Gypsies kidnap small children is probably untrue, for they are adverse to infants of any descriptions. They lead life so nomadic that childhood bothers them and they would kill their own if they had the heart. But the Gypsy mother is fond of her child and tenderly cares for it until 1t ceases to cry at night and annoy the father. Then she brings it into the wagon at night and from the time it is two years old the father begins to like it. If small children are ever kidnap- ped it is for their clothes Instances are on record where a Gypsy mother has stripped @ child to get it's little dress and under garments for her own baby.
 A band of seventy-five Gypsies has been encamped at Terre Haute, but was invited to go by the police. They were waiting, it is said. for a southern tribe located in Geor%ia. then with the tr1beS that are on the way from Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana they will march upon Chicago. The most easterly tribe is from Pennsylvania; and it is by the merest chance that the national meet ing was not held in the suburbs of Pitts burg for the eastern tribes begged for it.
 The object of the encampment is to select leaders to succeed the old ones in case of death, to appoint fortune tellers, to agree upon signs and omens for the coming sea- son, and to divide rations. The southern Gypsies annually supply their poorly pro- visioned northern ones with fruits and nuts while receiving corn and wheat In ex-' change.
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