HO IV THE GIPSIES ARE REARED, 



135 



to do to " cease to be a Gipsy," and 

 become more a native of the coun- 

 try of his birth than he is already ? 



3d. In what relation does the race 

 stand to others around it, with refer- 

 ence to intermarriage and the des- 

 tiny of the mixed progeny, and that 

 of the tribe generally ? 



An investigation of this kind 

 would involve a search for so many 

 facts, however difficult of being 

 found ; and should be conducted as 

 I have stated of snakes swallowing 

 their young, that is, " as a fact is 

 proved in a court of justice ; difficul- 

 ties, suppositions, or theories [or anal- 

 ogies] not being allowed to form 

 part of the testimony " (p. 28). 



As I do not anticipate having 

 another opportunity to say anything 

 on the subject of the Gipsies, I 

 avail myself of this one to give a 

 few more extracts from the History, 

 as illustrative of some of their pecu- 

 liarities, and of the relation exist- 

 ing between them and those among 

 whom they live. The first extracts 

 describe how a Gipsy is reared, 

 which is the most important point 

 connected with their history. 



And how does the Gipsy woman 

 bring up her children in regard to her 

 race ? She tells them her " wonder- 

 ful story " informs them who they are, 

 and of the dreadful prejudice that ex- 

 ists against them, simply for being 

 Gipsies. She then tells them about 

 Pharaoh and Joseph in Egypt, terming 

 her people " Pharaoh's folk." In short, 

 she dazzles the imagination of the 

 children, from the moment they can 

 comprehend the simplest idea. Then 

 she teaches them her words, or lan- 

 guage, as the "real Egyptian," and fright- 

 ens and bewilders the youthful mind 

 by telling them that they are subject to 

 be hanged if they are known to be 

 Gipsies, or to speak these words, or will 

 be looked upon as wild beasts by those 

 around them. She then informs the 

 children how long the Gipsies have 

 been in the country ; how they lived 

 in tents ; how they were persecuted, 

 banished, and hanged, merely for be- 

 ing Gipsies. She then tells them of her 

 people being in every part of the world, 

 whom they can recognize by the lan- 



guage and signs which she is teaching 

 them ; and that her race will every- 

 where be ready to shed their blood for 

 them. She then dilates upon the bene- 

 fits that arise from being a Gipsy bene- 

 fits negative as well as positive ; for 

 should they ever be set upon gar- 

 roted, for example all they will have to 

 do will be to cry out some such expres- 

 sion as " Bienerate, calo, chabo " (good- 

 night, Gipsy, or black fellow), when, it 

 there is a Gipsy near them, he will pro- 

 tect them. The children will be fon- 

 dled by her relatives, handed about and 

 hugged as " little ducks of Gipsies." 

 The granny, while sitting at the fireside, 

 like a witch, performs no small part in 

 the education of the children, making 

 them fairly dance with excitement. In 

 this manner do the children of Gipsies 

 have the Gipsy soul literally breathed 

 into them. 



In such a way what with the su- 

 preme influence which the mother has 

 exercised over the mind of the child 

 from its very infancy ; the manner in 

 which its imagination has been dazzled ; 

 and the dreadful prejudice towards the 

 Gipsies, which they all apply, directly or 

 indirectly, to themselves does the 

 Gipsy adhere to his race. What with 

 the blood, the education, the words, and 

 the signs, they are simply Gipsies, and 

 will be such as long as they retain a 

 consciousness of who they are, and any 

 peculiarities exclusively Gipsy (Ed., p. 

 379). 



Imagine, then, a person taught from 

 his infancy to understand that he is a 

 Gipsy ; that his blood (at least part of 

 it) is Gipsy ; that he has been instruct- 

 ed in the language and initiated in all 

 the mysteries of the Gipsies ; that his 

 relations and acquaintances in the tribe 

 have undergone the same experience ; 

 that the utmost reserve towards those 

 who are not Gipsies has been continu- 

 ally inculcated upon him, and as often 

 practised before his eyes ; and what must 

 be the leading idea, in that person's 

 mind, but that he is a Gipsy ? His pedi- 

 gree is Gipsy, his mind has been cast in 

 a Gipsy mould, and he can no more 

 " cease to be a Gipsy" than perform any 

 other impossibility in nature (Ed., p. 

 457). 



It is even unnecessary to inquire, par- 

 ticularly, how that has been accomplish- 

 ed, for it is self-evident that the process 

 which has linked other races to their 

 ancestry, has doubly linked the Gipsy 



