Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-09-13
aalistellansuus Readina.
Gypsy LIFE AND LEGENDS.
Strange Stories About an Interesting
People.


People.
The birth Of a princess, swart and
black-eyed, after the manner Of gip-
sizes, reconciles two warning clans,
temporarily encamped within the
alien boundaries of Greater New
York. 1t makes a pretty story to be
read and forgotten. Gripped with
the pains Of hunger, a Romany band
runs amuck among the coast towns
Of Jersey, and after the good old man.
ner of correcting sturdy beggars its
members are beaten from tithing to
tithing until they melt away beyond
the borders. A social career in ex-
elusive Baltimore is abandoned for life
on the open trail until the gipsy
kings consort surrenders her life to
motherhood, and is brought home to
sleep among her own people.
Such incidents are but the fiotsam
on the sea Of current events. They
excite a momentary interest and the
gypsy and all his works are put out
Of mind. And yet not one Of all the
races of the earth Is so enshrouded
in romance and mystery, while few
have exercised a more important in
fiuence on the unfolding history of
the times.
Studies based chiefly upon the
structure Of their language have in
recent years resulted in common
agreement that the gipsies were orig
inally from India. In the first stage
of their migrations they settled In
the Balkan peninsula, only to be driv-
en- westward by wave after wave of
invading Turks. The name they gave
themselves is derived from the word
Rom, which simply means man, and
Romani meaning a woman. When
they started on their great trek for
the west of Europe, in the middle OF
the fifteenth century, their leader
bore a letter of recommendation and
safe conduct from the Emperor
Sigismund. They were kindly re-
ceived. In four centuries and a half
their characteristics have changed so
little that, then as now, they were
tinkers, horsetraders, and above all,
fortune tellers. 1t is generally agreed
that they were the first to bring play
ing cards into Europe. Then as now
they were natural musicians and dan
hof 10
music Of Hungary was wholly in
debted to the gipsies.
But then, as now, they were petty
pilferers and were soon suspected
of graver crimes. In their magic in
carnations they invoked the name Of
Lilith, the generic patroness Of child
stealing. Suspicion soon took form
in severe laws against those wicked
people, known as Egyptians" Having
no religion Of their own they were
ever ready to adopt veneer Of the
prevailing creed, wherever they might
be. In western Europe they told
wierd story of having come from
country Of their own known as Little
Egypt, where they had sinned
against the light, and were on a PEN
itential pilgrimage. But even the
church at last had to withdraw its
protection. Fifty years Of immunity
was followed by four hundred years
Of restriction and sometimes Of per-
secution. In Germany no longer ago
than 1907 there was a drive" OF
gipsies as the elimination Of a long
period Of growing hostility.
1t was in the beginning of the fif-
teenth century that they made their
first appearance in England and Scot
land. There they soon made COM
mon cause with the wondering vag-
abonds and beggers with the result
that they gave an impetus to the lam
.guage Of thieves which is one Of the
most interesting studies Of the ety.
mologists. The very word slang
was their own name for the language
they spoke-together with its syno-
nym "gibberish." In Cribb's "Gip-
sies' Advocate" written in 1881, 1t Is
definitely set forth:
"This (Gipsy) language, called by
themselves slang, or gibberish, invent
ed as they think by their forefathers
for secret purposes, is not merely the
language Of one or a few Of these
wandering tribes, but is adopted by
the vast numbers that inhabit the
the EARTH" Such Gipsy terms as
"bamboozle," "jockey and "pal'
have found their way into the Ian
guage of everyday life.
History and literature furnish few
characters more piquant than Bam-
fyle Moore Carew, prince of char
latans and titular king Of medicants.
The native wanderlust was strong
upon him from childhood, and in spite
Of his gentle blood and all the ef-
forts to make home attractive to
him, he found his most congenial
companionship among the English
gipsies. This aristocratic snapper-up
of unconsidered trifles so far sur
passed his tutors and companions
that he was chosen their chief amidst
barbaric pomp. But fate and the
tipstaves finally overlook him, and he
was sentenced to transportation to
the American colonies. His adven-
lures in Maryland, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania as written out in a
quaint volume published more than
a hundred years ago. make interest
ing reading. Wheedling proprieties
and pious pastors were all one to this
clever knave. who knew the sisters
and the cousins and the in-laws Of
half the colonists, and could tell many
details of what they were doing when
he left the mother country. At Moth
er Passmore's tavern in Boston he
made many bosom cronies, who en-