The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-05-01
WAYS OF GYPS|ES
These Queer People Are the Same
All Over the World.
A RACE WITHOUT A NATION.

A RACE WITHOUT A NATION.
Originally From India, Now Outcasts
In Every Land In Which They Live,
They Are Natural Rogues, Without
Laws, Literature or Religion.
The gypsies are the most unchanging
race in the world. Wherever they are
found-and they are found everywhere,
from Persia to Mexico. from central
Africa to Siberia-they are the same,
a race of outcasts, despised by the peo-
pie among whom they dwell, yet keep
ing their own ideal unchanged, true to
their barbaric law, jealous of stran-
gers, clever enough to make living
from the weaknesses and foolishnesses
Of the people who despise them. Gil
mate seems to make no difference to
them.
In all environments they remain un-
changed; the same sharp faces, the
same black, keen, inscrutable eyes; the
same bronzed skin; change in food or
conditions of living make no mark on
them, and they only take on the Gus
toms or beliefs or costumes of other
races in order the better to cheat and
fleece them-a race without national
ity, without laws, without literature,
without a religion, for it is said that
in their tongue there is no word for
God, none for the soul, none for i'm
mortality.
Where did they come from? From
Bohemia, say the French, but they are
not really Bohemians nor more nu-
merous there than elsewhere; from
Egypt, they sometimes say themselves.
to get a better price for their sooth-
saying. But there is nothing genuine
~ Egyptian about them. In reality
they came from India. Their strange
language shows that jealousy guard
ed from the knowledge Of strangers. it
has yet been learned little by little.
and comparison shows it is full Of Hin
du words. words that you may hear
even now all over India.
Surprising. perhaps. at first blush,
that there should be millions Of low
caste or outcast Hindus scattered all
over Europe and even wandering
through the byways Of America. but
only strange because we do not think
about it. In reality Europe is full of
Asiatic peoples. For long centuries
they came pouring in. especially
through the gate between the Ural
mountains and the Caspian sea. The
bitter proverb. "Scratch the Russian
and you find the Tartar may remind
us that the great Tartar invasion. un-
der the grandsons Of Ghengis Khan.
conquered all eastern Europe and set
tied the Tartar tribesmen all down the
vast Volga valley. across the steppes
and along the shore of the Black sea.
The Huns and the Turks are also Ash
atics. as are older peoples. like the
Firms. So all eastern Europe is soak
ed with Asiatic blood. and if so many
peoples came from northern Asia why
! should it be incredible that one race
should come from southern Asia?
1t seems probable that the gypsies
| Bait Khans invasion. when he came
down on Russia with his vast locust
swarms Of Tartar horsemen. 100000 in
number. The gypsies came from cen.
trail Asia. whittier they had been driy.
en- from India by the implacable and
destructive invasion Of Mahmud OF
Ghazni. about 900 years ago. 1t was
about 1885 that Bait Khan and his 10.
Gust swarm began to devastate En-
rope. And century later rowing bands
of gypsies were scattered through east
ern Europe-Wallachia, Moldavia, Bull.
garia. By 1417 horde Of gypsies made
their appearance in northwestern Ger.
many, claiming to be Christian pill,
grims from Little Egypt" but their
Christianity was about as genuine as
their Egyptian origin. Their thievish,
vagabond character was already man
ifest then. and they were driven from
northern Germany to begin their per.
petual wanderings through every En-
ropean country and in due time to
cross over to America in the wake of
the white races.
But the great bulk of them still re-
main in the Danube valley, where
they first appeared some six centuries
ago. In Roumania there are between
a quarter and half million of them.
In Pennsylvania there are a hundred
thousand more, while Servia and Bull
garia and Macedonia have from thirty
to hundred thousand each. The con-
dition Of the gypsies in the valley of
the Danube is in some respects Pc
culiar, with considerable differences in
the different countries. In Servia the
leveling power Of Turkish rule. exert
ed century after century, had the ef-
feet Of bringing the gypsies closer to
the condition Of the mass Of the peas
antry In Servia. therefore, though
they are still an inferior caste and are
not allowed to exercise the rights and
powers of citizenship. the gypsies are
perhaps less widely separated from
the peasantry than in any other coun-