Evening star., 1912-09-04

| 1t was in the beginning of the sixteenth
century that they made their first appear
| ance in England and
| Appearance in Scotland. There they
soon made common
0A6AoAu. cause with the wan
dering vagabonds and beggars with the
result that they gave an impetus to the
language of thieves which is one OF the
most interesting studies Of the etymolo-
gist The very word slang was their
own name for the language they spoke
together with it's synonym, 'glbberisn.
In Cribb's "Gipsies' Advocate" written In
1881, 1t is definitely set forth:
This Gypsy language. called by them
selves slang, or gibberish. invented as
they think by their forefathers Tor secret
purposes is not merely the language OIL
one or a few of these wandering tribes.
but is adopted by the vast numbers that
inhabit the earth" Such gypsy terms as
..bamboozle," Jockey" and pal have
found their way into the language OF
everyday life.
History and literature furnish few
characters more piquant than Bamfyide
Moore Carew, prince of charlatans ana
titular king of mendicants. The natiVe
Wanderlust was strong upon him from
childhood. and, in spite of his gentle blood
and all the efforts to make home attrac-
| tive to him, he found his most congeniai
companonship among the English gypsles
This aristocratic snapper-up of uncon-
| sidered trif1es SO far surpassed his tutors
and companions that he was chosen their
chief amid barbaric pomp. But fate ana
the tipstaves finally overlook him, and ne
was sentenced to transportation TO the
American colonies. His adventures IN
Maryland. New Jersey and Pennsylvania
as written out in a quaint volume pup
lished more than a hundred years ago
make interesting reading. Wheedling pro-
prietors and pious pastors were all one
to this clever knave, who knew the Sis
ters and the cousins and the in-laws OF
half the colonists, and could tell many de-
| tails of what they were doing Wnen ne
left the mother country. At Mother Pass
more's tavern in Boston he made many
bosom cronies. who enabled him to return
home after a second transportation.
| Far less apocryphal than the adventures
| Of Carew, and yet by no means less in
| teresting, was the life Of George Borrow.
| who spent the greater part of his four
| score years in intimate association with
the gypsies, particularly in England and
| Spain. Romany was but one of the
| twenty languages he had mastered while
vet a young man, but he knew it as no
| other gorgio-or outsider-ever did. In
"Zincali, or the Gypsies in SPAIN pub
lished in 1S41; in "Iavengro," published
| ten years later, and its sequel. THE Rom
| his studies Of the gypsy life and char
| acter with a charm of style which has
| made his works classic. Some of his
portraits seem to be idealiZed. particu-
| larly when compared with the descrip-
tions set forth by that other authority,
Francis Hindes Groome. who wrote In
| Gipsy Tents. but Borrow must always
| remain the one name which is pre-emi-
nently associated with the life Of the
| modern gypsy.
| That the rowing life Of the gypsy trail
is conducive to longevity seems to be
| established by the many
Conducive to instances which Groome
T:A~, has cited. He himself
Longevity. had talked with Betsy
Letherland, who died at the age Of Ill.
At Turney, in Bradfordshire. was buried
James Smith, gypsy king, the inscrip-
| ton upon whose tomb confirms, in part.
the lines written by Leigh Richmond.
author Of ANNALS Of the Poor;
| Here lies Jim, the wandering gypsy,
! Who was sometimes sober. but often tipsy;
| But with the world he seemed to thrive.
| For he lived TO the age OF 1oo.
| By his side was buried his mother-in-
law. who died three years later at the
same ripe age of 1O0 These instances
/ of longevity among the gypsies are curl
| ously confirmed by the current news
| Lowell, gypsy queen died in an en-
| campment near Parkersburg. w. Va, at
the age of 1O7. and was buried in Mount
Olivet cemetery. at Frederick. Md.
/ Many curious stories are told to the ef-
feet that the burial customs observed by
the gypsies are as old as the race, and
that. whether they be celebrated by the
Lucas tribe In New York or by the clan
lOHara in Georgia. they are identical with
those which took place under the friendly