The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-07-12

grafton. History is full of similar
ones. But usually the migrants hav.
settled again at the first favorable
opportunity and have been largely alb
sorbed by the Gypsies have kept NOV
ing and have remained. unchanged
The Jews of course offer the neares,
thing to parallel, but the Jews have
attached themselves to various coun
tries, adopting their languages anc
customs, playing an important par1
in the making of civilization. The
Gypsy adopts nothing and remains as
completely outside of civilization a:
the rabbits and birds.
1t is plain the secret of Gypsy ma
ture is in the love of wandering
which scientists call the nomadic i'm.
pulse. This component of human ma,
ture has been scientifically studied by
Davenport. He decides that the no,
hadic impulse is native to all human
nature, but has been largely inhabited
in most individuals because of the
necessities of civilized existence. Most
of us some time in youth have dream
ed Of long and adventurous journey
ings, and a good many of us have
yielded to the temptation at some
time or other, if the delinquency
amounted to no more than playing
hockey from school. Many persons
keep this desire all Of their lives,
even though they never yield to it.
Some cannot resist it, and these be-
come tramps, itinerant peddlers, ex-
plorers, globe trotters, or whatever
else their abilities and opportunities
enable them to become. There are
few of us, even those most rooted
in habit and settled, who cannot feel
the romantic appeal of a free roam
ing life.
The Gypsies, then, are race of
+, men who embody this characteristic
of all men most intensely. Think of
Ia Gypsy as a personifcation of your
own love of change and adventure,
your hatred of routine and monotony,
the wandering dreams Of your youth
which you never had the. chance or
the courage to fulfill, and you will
understand him better. .,
The Gysies might perhaps be ex-
planned by the fact that part of a
race or tribe had to migrate in that
far away day, and that all of those in
whom the nomadic impulse was
strongest naturally volunteered to go.
Perhas circumstances made it impos-
sible for them to settle anywhere as
a whole, and so they kept moving, the
less strong and adventurous dropping
out one by one, until only a band Of
hardy, born wanderers remained.
The fact that the Gypsy personifiies
the vagabond and the nomad in all of
US doubtless explains the different
accounts Of him that. you get. By
most respectable people he is regard
ed as a cheat, a thief, a kidnapper,
and bad fellow generally. On the
other hand, many distinguished per-
sons, of whom George Borrow, the
English author, is the most famous,
have learned the Gypsy language and
lived among the Gypsies, and these
without exception testify to the sim
cerity, kindness and hospitality of the
road people, and to their great capa-
city for friendship.
No doubt there is the instructive
antagonism between respectable set
tied life and the life of the Gypsy,
but POSSIBLY it is not too much to i'm
agine that respectable settled life is
achieved only by repressing and con-
Qu6TlNS tllc uOuldOS III ipulSc IlfC
Gypsy represents. The Gypsies who
come to this country from Ireland
and England, on the fact his own
other self, the self that he has had to
|fgt-te self tat led him to play hook
ey at school, and tempted him to 60 to
sea, and even now causes him to leave
blowing for fishing once in a while.
His attitude toward this self, an incar-
nate in the Gypsy, is one of mingled
envy and antagonism. He despises
the Gypsy and still he hangs around
the Gypsy tent and has his fortune
told and swaps horses and loses mon
ey on the trade.
Needless to say some of the Gypsies
have earned their bad names. The
Gysies from the south of Europe are
usually the dirtiest, the most inclined
to pilfer and cheat-though none of