Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1911 — GYPSIES IN AMERICA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GYPSIES IN AMERICA

t tHE number erf gypsies la America Is Increasing rapidly year by year, and of late years several circumstances have combined to bring them prominently to the attention of the public. For one thing, represeatat iv e e -of this ■warthy hued clan from all parts of the country met recently in one of our . eastern cities to elect a “king," an event that takes place only once In ten years. Then, too, gypsies have of late years been brought prominently to the attention of many of our citlkens through the growth of automobile touring. Motorists traversing

country roads and finding, at frequent Intervals, large groups of gypsies camped by the wayside, have naturally oome to have a new realization of what a numerous element of our population these nomads now constitute. The average person, encountering American gypsies in a casual way, observes no differences or distinctions between the various bands and yet, as a matter of fact, there are among the “Romanies” as many and as sharply defined classes of society as in any other division of our population. As In other sections of our cosmopolitan national community, too, we find some of these nomads who are virtually outcasts among their own people, or at least with whom the aristocrats of the wanderers will not associate.

It is by no means strange, however, if the citizen beyond the pale of gypsy<iom fails to perceive these minute distinctions, for the gypsies are a mysterious and secretive people, and for all that they seem to live so much in the public eye they in reality let the outside world know precious little regarding them. The suspicions of the rest of the world directed against them for centuries have made the gypsies wary of strangers, for all that they need the money to be obtained in barter or fortune telling—and it is practically impossible for a “gorgio” (any one not of the gypsy clan) to really penetrate the reserve of these people. Their exclusiveness is rendered the more easy from the fact that they speak a strange tongue—an aptly termed "black language,” which is almost never taught to an outsider. For all that the gypsy in this pro-

pressiye twentieth century occasionally travels by railroad, Just as he occasionally makes use of the telegraph or even the telephone, his wanderings up and down the land are principally accomplished by means of the horsedrawn vehicles which present today much the same appearance that they did in the days of his forefathers on the other side of the Atlantic. There is this difference, however, that the big sleeping vans—their gaudily decorated exteriors calculated to stir the imagination of any boy—are more roomy and comfortable than were the gypsy wagons of a few years ago. The cots have modern mattresses and the up-to-date type of wood burning stove has supplanted the tripod and kettle of bygone days.

To that portion of the public which has been wont to regard the gypsy as all but akin to a beggar it mav cr«rn“ as something of a surprise if not a distinct shock to learn that many of these wanderers are decidedly well-to-do. In the portable homes of the

better class of gyp sies one may now find china and silverware; more surprising, yet by no means all the gpyBy housewives now do their own work, many of them having domestic servants, principally negroes, who- travel with the caravan. And finally, to cite the acme of pres-ent-day gypsy luxury, It may be noted that at many a gypsy camp the washing Is “sent out,” this being regular routine among the more prosperous gypsies if washerwomen,

'black or white, can be found near the camp to undertake the work. In the same category of wonders is the growing practice of the gypsy women to employ seamstresses to make their clothing.

Other evidence of how the habits, if not the characteristics, of the American gypsies are changing is afforded by the fact that many a prosperous gypsy now owns a home, or more especially a farm, which serves as a sort of base of operations for him —a refuge that corresponds in a sense to the winter quarters of a traveling circus. The wander-lust, the love of travel, is so strong in the average gypsy that he cannot be content to remain long in any one place, even though he own the property and has fixed It up exactly in accord with his own notions, but he will spend a portion of each year in such temporary home if for no other purpose than to enable his children to obtain some schooling.