The sun., 1915-10-17

And Mr.. Hall meeting Q gypsy girl
named Froniga said "that ID like
Veronica" and found that indeed she
was named after the saint who wiped
the Lords face with a handkerchief.
There seems to he no doubt that
Romany Is Il tongue Of Indian extrac-
ton. Rudiger In 1777 pointed this out.
Indeed the language Is now generally
admitted to he an independent eighth
among the seven modern Indian Ian
guages Of Aryan stock. based on
Sanskrit. The grammatical peculiari-
ties Of the gypsies resemble those OF
the modern Aryan languages Of Italy
so closely that It is impossible not to
believe that they developed side by
side. Still there are words undoubtedly
borrowed from Persia, Armenia and
Greece. and from this We derive the
fact that emigrating from India they
must have passed westward by way
OF these countries. The gypsies them
selves tell two legends: one that they
were Egyptian penitents starting on a
seven years pilgrimage. but having
been attacked by the Saraccns they
surrendered to them and gave up the
Christian religion. For this they were
doomed to travel and never to sleep
In a bed. A second tale Is that their
exile Is a punishment for the sin Of
having refused hospitality to Joseph
and the Virgin Mary when they fed
into Egypt with the Christ child.
These two legends both point TO the
gypsies' belief In their Egyptian ex-
traction.
Another old tradition says that Kas-
par. one Of the Magi. was a gypsy
and that II was he who first converted
them to Christianity. The Lithuanian n
gypsies say that stealing is permitted
them by God because the gypsies who
were present at the Crucifixion stole
one Of the four nails and II was not
accounted a sin against them.
An old gypsy named Alma was told
by Mr.. Hall that his people were sup
posed to come from India.
"oh. ! think that's wrong" said
Alma. Far more likely we came
from the land Of Bethlehem. Being a
rashai. you'll know the Bible. I sup
pose. from cover to cover. Well. then.
you've heard Of the man called Cain.
Now don't the old Book say that he
went away and married a black eyed
camper gal. one Of our rowing folk? I
reckons we sprang from them. We
was the first people what the dear
Lord made, and maybe we shall be
the last on earth. When all the rest
is wore out there'll still be a few OF
our folks travelling with tents and
wagons"
The gypsies also have their own
ideas Of caste. Not by any means are
they all one class. Highest among
them stand the Black Romanitshels
"the real thing; then come the Dida-
kais or ha.fbreeds: and third the
hedge crawlers or mumpers. Said
Alma Of this last lot. Wed scorn 10
go near the likes Of them"
The author tells an amusing anec-
dote OF giving lecture once on
Gypsy Customs" Just in front Of the
platform sat a we'll to do horse dealer
who had married pure breed gypsy
The vision OF his face. all alertness
and curiosity. caused the speaker some
perturbation. and what was his relief
upon hearing him from time to time
calculate. That's right" Hes got
it," Praise from Sir Hubert.
The pictures in the volume are done
from the authors own photographs,
and 1t is no easy matter to photo
graph gypsies, for they with many
other simple folk believe III fortune fol.
lows him whose picture is in another's s
Il n nd Th. ah.,tr atNt,u