Gipsy Life: Being an account of our Gipsies and their children, with suggestions for their improvementSmith, George
History
Gipsy Life: Being an account of our Gipsies and their children, with suggestions for their improvement
Smith, George
Romanies -- Great Britain
“‘When I come again what shall I bring you?’ said Mr. Smith, in most
reckless fashion, to the Egyptian Queen. ‘Well,’ said she, without a
moment’s hesitation, ‘if there is one thing more than another that I do
want, it’s a silk handkercher for my head—a real Bandana.’ The request
was characteristic. Of the tales we heard one or two were curious, one
positively laughable, and one related to a deed of blood. Mr. Smith,
going into a tent, found an aged Gipsy woman, to whom he told the object
of his visiting the Gipsies, and what he hoped to accomplish for the
children, and she forwith handed him a money gift. On more than one
occasion a well-polished silver coin of small value, a penny, or a
farthing has been quietly put into Mr. Smith’s hands, in furtherance of
his work, by some poor Gipsy woman. The story which made us laugh was of
a Gipsy marriage. It is one of the unwritten laws of Gipsy life that the
wife works while the husband idles about the tent. The wife hawks with
the basket or the cart and sells, while the husband loiters about the
encampment or cooks the evening meal. But one young Gipsy fell in love
with an Irish girl named Kathleen, and from the day of their marriage Tom
never had an idle moment. In vain did he plead the usages of Gipsy
married life. Kathleen was deaf to all such modes of argument, and drove
her husband forth from tent and encampment, by voice or by stake, until
she completely cured him of his idleness, and she remained mistress of
the field. Whenever a young Gipsy is supposed to be courting a stranger,
the fate of Tom at the hands of Kathleen is told him as a warning.
During the afternoon we were continually exhorted to see ‘Granny’ before
we left. Every one spoke of her with respect, and when we were about to
leave, Patience offered to show us ‘Granny’s tent.’ Repentance joined
her sister, and before we were up and out of the tent opening, we saw
Patience at a tent not far off; she dived head and shoulders through an
opening she made, and then appeared to be pulling vigorously. Her
activity was soon explained. We thrust our heads through the opening,
and were face to face with a shrivelled-faced old woman, whose cheeks
were like discoloured parchment, and whose hands and arms appeared to be
mere bones. But her eye was bright, and her tongue proved her to be in
possession of most of her faculties. She could not stand or walk, nor
could she sit up for many minutes at a time, and the action of Patience
was caused by her hastily seizing the old woman by her arms as she lay on
her straw floor, and dragging her into a sitting position. If the old
dame had been asleep, Patience had thoroughly aroused her. She greeted
us with Gipsy courtesy, and told us she was ‘fourscore and six years of
age.’ Her name, in answer to our query, she said was ‘Sinfire Smith.’
‘Why, that’s the same as mine,’ said Mr. Smith. ‘O, likely,’ said
Sinfire, ‘the Smiths is a long family.’ For four score and six years
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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