Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1913-04-19
WAYS OF CYpSlES
These Queer People Are the Same
All Over the World.
A RACE WITHOUT A NATION
Originally From India, Now outeasts
In Every Land in Which They Live,
They Are Natural Rogucs. Without
Laws, Literature or Religion.

Laws Literature or Religion.
The -tpsies are lhc most mehWgiuc
race u ihc world Wherever thcy are
found ai4d tAcy arr found every whorc.
from Persia % Mexico. from central
Africa Ia Siberia they are Tie same.
a race ~ uuteast~. d--pi>cd by the peo.
pie AMONG whom they dwell. yet keep
iug their own ideal unchanged. trnc to
their barbaric law Jealous Of stran
gers clever enough Ia make living
from The Weaknesses and fpoliSllnr~-cs
Of the people who de,plse them. Cli.
matte -cens Ia make no difference to
them
Ia ali environments they remain un
changed the SAINT sharp fices. the
same black. keen. imscruiable eyes the
same hrauzed skin. change IN food OF
conditions If living make no mark on
them. aud they only take on the Gus
toms or h"iicfs cor costumes of other
races be- order the better Ia cheat aud
fleece them race without national
ity. without laws. without Il literature.
without religion. for il IS said that
III their tongue there Is no word for
cod none for the soul. none for i'm
mortality.
Where did they come from: From
bohemia. say the French. hut they are
not really BohcmianS nor more m
mcrou> there than elsewhere, from
Egypt. They sometimes Say themselves.
to get a better price for their sooth
saying iiut there is nothing genuine
Is Egyptian about them. In reality
they came from India Their strange
language shows that. jealousy guard
ed from the knowledge Of strangers. II
has yet been learned little by little
and comparison shows IL is full Of Hin
du words. words that you may hear
even now all over India
Surprising. perhaps. at first blush.
that there should l,r millions of low
caste or outcaSt lIindus scattered all
over Europe and even wandering
through the byways Of America. but
only strange because We do not think
about Il 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 nnd the Tartar. may remind
Us that the great Tartar invasion. IN
der the grandsons of G;hcugis Khan
conquered all eastern Europe and set
tied the Tartar trinesmen ali down the
vast Nniga valley. across the >trppes
and along the shore Of the Black sen
The Huns and the Turks are also Ash
aiicS as are older peoples. like the
Firms So an eastern Europe Is soak
ed with Asiatic blood. aud II SO many
peoples came from northern Asia why
should Il he incredible that one race
should come from southern Asiaf
II seems probable that the gypsies
drifted into Europe in the wake OF
Bait Khnn's invasion, when he came
down OH Russia with his vast locust
>warns of Tartar horsemen. 100000 in
number. The gypsies came from cen
tral Asia. whittier they had been driv
en- from India 10y the iInplacable and
destructive invasion Of Mahmud Of
Ghazni. abent 800 years ago II was
about 1870 that Bait Khan ana his 10
Gust swarm hogan Ia dcvastate Flu.
rope And century later rowing bands
Of gypSies We're scattered through east
ern Europe Wsllachia. Moldavia, Bul.
garia By lIl1 a 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 n
their Egyptian origin. Their thievish
vagabond character was already man.
fest then and they were driven from
northern Germany 20 begin their per
petnal wanderiugs through every En-
rOrean conutry 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 ia the Danube valley. where
they first appeared some six centuries
ago. In Ronmania there are between
quarter ana half n million OF them.
In PENNSYLVANIA there are hundred
Thousand more. while Servia and Bul-
garin and Macedonia have from thirty
10 hundred thousand each. The con
dition Of the gypsies in the valley Of
the Danube is IN some Respects pc
culiar with considerable differences Ia
the different countries In Scryin the
dwelling power 81 Turkish rule exert
ed century after century. had the 81
feet Of bringing the gypsics closer To
the condition OF the mass ~ the peas
antry. IN Servia. therefore though
they are still an inferior caste aud are
not allowed to exercise the rights aud
powers ~ citizenship. the gypsies are
perhaps less widely separated from
the pcasantry than in any other coun.
iry In Europe In Roumauia the gyp-
Iies were terribly oppressed They
were captured and held as slaves and
were treated with savage brutality.
rhey lived In utter squalor and wretch