Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-01-02
THE Gypsy A HINDU
SOMETHING ABOUT HIS HISTORY
AND HABITS.
PADEREWSKTS NEW OPERA
The Name Gypsy Corruption OF the
Word Egyptian-The Romany Ian
ouage-A Tribe With Practically
no Reiieion-Some Interesting
Stories of Their Life.

New York TimeS:-The production
of NJ. Paderewski's new opera, Manru'
brings up the Gypsy once more as
subject of romance. And now the
question recurs: Who is he? What
is he?
So much nonsense has been written
about him and such a veil of secrecy
| drawn over his origin that to most
people he is now hat he once was to
science, a mystery. To put it briefly:
! The Gypsy is Hindu. He Is de-
| seconded from a tribe who migrated
from India about the fifteenth cen
| fury. and scattered through Asia and
Europe. He talks a language which
| is closely allied to Sanskrit, and is, II
anything, older than that tongue.
The word Gypsy is corruption OF
! Egyptian" which is the name igno-
rantly bestowed on them by the Eng
lish when the tribe first appeared in
the British Isles. In France they are
known as Bohemians, from the false
idea hat they were natives of Bo-
hemia. Zincali, zingari, and Zigeu-
ner, as they are severally called in
Spain, Italy and Germany, are different
forms of the same name. which Mr..
| Leland traces to an ancient sun
myth of the tribe, the story of Chen
gan. Not to venture on such misty
ground as that, it is interesting to
learn that whenever or wherever we
find them in history the Gipsies are
practically the same as we know them
today The men are horse traders.
blacksmiths, fiddlers, the women
fortune tellers, peddlers, and dancers.
In the orient they tattoo. In Russia
and Hungary they are famous for their
music. Wherever VIC find them, it is
a wandering tribe, dishonest toward
the world at large, but united among
themselves.
Their anguage-Romany- spoken,
in varying dialects, by every branch
of the tribe the world over. This
language, However, is fast dying out
and in a few more generations will be
extinct The English dialect of it is
rude and incomplete, few thousand
forms being the most in possession of
any Gypsy scholar, while only few
hundred are in common use.
The Gipsies have practically no
religion. AS with most jewellers in
the wild places of nature, superstition
takes the place of faith in their minds
They believe in the efficacy &C
charms, and an amulet is regarded b.
them as a priceless gift. A Clips,
family of my acquaintance were mad
perfectly happy by a worthless coli
which l hung around the neck of thei
youngest child.
"AdOvo kairs kusto bak," (tha
makes good luck) as the old grand
mother said in Romany The same Gle
woman thrust out her hand ito be
dukkered," (haye the fortune told,)
thinking that |, as q Romany scholar,
must surely be chOvihani (switch)
as well.
Wonderful stories are told of Gypsy
| magic" but the wonders they often
perform are easily attributable to that
power of intuition which Gipsies. in
common with lower animals. possess
to great degree. A Gypsy fortune
teller regards her own palmistry as
pure humbug, for the deception of the
'gorgios," (gentiles as they call those
outside their tribe)
The family life of the gipsies, or
R0ms, as the name is in their own
! language, is the most interesting part
| of gipsydom. To speak the ''kalo jib'
| (black language or Romany) is to be
sure of welcome in every tent, and
| Ihaye visited score of Gypsy homes
in all parts of the country. In no
! single case have | found them other.
wise than united and happy among
| themselves; the affection between hus-
| bands and wives and of parents for
| their children being wonderfully
| strong. The old are much considered.
and in almost every family there is an
! old grandmother who cherishes the
Romany languages and traditions.
Some of them possess stories OF
ancient silver and jeweIry, brought
from England, and carefully guarded
as heirlooms. The devotion Of the
gipsies to their families and tribe ia
the cause of their survival as a sep
arate race after so many centuries of
wandering and separation.
The wanderings instinct with which
we always connect the gypsy name is.
indeed his strongest characteristic.
AS Mother Cooper once said TO me.
In winter time We can jiv adrey to
CAV, Give in the city,, but when spring
comes, then every Rom wants to jawI
adrey the drom Ego on the road, and
go he must"
Such then is the gipsy-the vagrant
son of Hindu race, descendants of
long line Of fagirs, horse traders
and musicians. To the world at large
he will be ever a rascal and ne'er do
well, in his private life the kindest of
husbands and fathers, the most faith
full of sons. An unconscious lover of
nature, his home is in the open.
He is, in short, kind of satyr
more animal than human, not to be
judged by our standards, but interest
ing and fascinating in his way, as the
birds of passage whom in character he
so closely resembles