Evening star., 1915-03-23
ONE PEOPLE IN EUROPE
NOT ENGAGED IN WAR
Peaceful in Action, in Intent, and
Known World Over as
Gypsies.
Race Which Enters Into the Life of
Every Nation Under
the Sun.

Europe has still today one utterly
peaceful people. a people peaceful in &C
ton. in intent and Of peaceful contem-
plation." says bulletin just issued by the
National Geographic Society. Accord
ing to press dispatches, this race is the
only such race. but, then, it is one OF
the most peculiar peoples in the worlds
history the Eypsies.
Entering into the life Of all nations
under the sun. yet part Of no single
one, mingling themselves within the high
est civilizations, yet unlettered; pilgrims
upon an eternal wander-path, yet for
ever true to the ties Of racial blood and
to customs whose origin and significance
have been fully forgotten, the gypsies
are the most mysterious OF all the
strange elements of folkdom.
Origin Not Definitely Known.
Whence they came has never been
settled to certainty. All manner OF
fables have been spun to explain their
origin. Since they first appeared upon
the stage of Europe in the middle ages
they have been identified with the lost
tribes of Israel, the mixed multitude
that followed Moses out of Egypt, the
Canaanitcs. the Amorites. the SaracenS
and the Egyptians. Some nave helo tnelii
TO be the children of Cain, ana o,Bers
have decided that they were the children
of the Wandering Jew and inheritors OF
the restless curse of their father
THE gypsies themselves have never
profesSed to know who they were OF
where they came from, but they have
shown great readiness to accept the con-
clusons on this subject of the people
among whom they lived. 1t was not until
the growth of comparative philoiosy anu %
the chance investigation OF the gypsles
tongue in the beginning OF the last
century chat scientists concluded the gyp-
sizes to be a wandering low-caste tribe from
northern India. Their language nearly
resembles Sanskrit, the foundation tongue
of all our western languages which has
held itself purest,in Indian sources.
Their Language Preserved.
This language they ha~e wonder
fully preserved in the face of over
mastering cultures and eternal wan
dering. This has not been accomplished
by a literature or by close corpora L
tion. The gypsies have no literature,
and their language is an unwritten one
while they themselves are scattered In
small bands over the whole face OF the
earth-scattered even more widely than
the Jews. The gypsy calls hl1nseii
rom meaning man, the man of all
men. His wife is 'romni,' his folk-life
is .romnipen,' and his language is ro-
mani Every one not of his race comes
under the generic term of GENTLE.
"Gypsy-folk present the strangest
problems known to philoiogy and eth-
biography An elementary, nomadlc
folk. persistiug for centuries in the
midst of complex civilizations, they
have retained their physical character
istics, their tribal rules and Gust oms
reminiscent of their far-distant, extra,
European past. their highly lnnecteo
language, and their thousand years OF
fever for rowing. They are absolutely
singular and without close parailei
among the peoples of earth.
ITO give room for wandering L. 1t
That the world was made so wide.
"Gypsy religion and gypsy aspiration
may be summed up in two lines from
tba works of the German poet, Goethe: =:
Enter Europe in Twelfth Century.
This folk entered Europe by way of
Constantinople in the twelfth century,
and overf1owed into the northern Bal
kans, Hungary, central and western
Europe, England, and thence to North
and South America. The English called
them Egyptians, after their supposed
origin, whence the name gypsy: They
reached Germany in about 1417 and
England about 1900. At first they were
treated kindly by the western nations,
but their strangeness. their uncon-
yentionality, their light-fngered ways.
their proneness for fortune-teli1ng,
necromancy, black magic, and their un-
Willingness for work in all forms soon
called down upon them bitter persecu-
tion in Germany, England, France and
the Netherlands.
In the Balkans. Russia. Hungary and
Poland they were well treated, and they
are found in these countries in great
numbers today 1t is estimated that
Europe has more than 100000 gypsies."