106 GYPSIES. 



The wealth of a Gypsy may be uoticed in his tents 

 almost as well as in his horses. Your poor Romany is 

 content with one dirty, ragged, black covering hardly 

 big enough for six grown people crowding around the 

 stove, always so full of smoke that the tears come to 

 your eyes, and letting in wind and rain. This tent is 

 pitched on the sod without a floor, and cluttered up with 

 baskets, clothes and the boxes and cases of provisions. 



Here the wife of the poorer Gypsy spends the day with 

 her children, dogs, and chickens rolling round her in the 

 dirt. In this tent or in the wardo, the cJial^ his wife 

 and chdbos (children) sleep when they do not rest under 

 the open sky. But where your Gypsy is prosperous he 

 will have a fine, handsome, white tent. 



My first visit to a large tribe of Gypsies was in the 

 early summer of 1890. The Wells family of half-breed 

 Gypsies, or Didikai, were camped in what is called 

 "Gypsy Hollow," on Dorsey's Lane, near the North 

 Road, above Poughkeepsie. I knew some of the tribe 

 already and went out to see them with a friend of mine. 



The spot is picturesque and in fact you can generally 

 trust the Romany to choose a sightly place to hdch his 

 tan in (pitch his tent). Some vacant, unenclosed lots, 

 lying to common, slope down from the road to a wooded 

 dell through which a stream runs. The stream comes 

 from the bush across the road and is dammed into a 

 large pond, below in the lots, where the chdbos (Gypsy 

 lads) go swimming. On the broken, uneven ground 

 rising above the stream to the road, there stood this 

 morning several Gypsy vans, some buggies, and two 

 or three tents, showing that several families of the 

 Romany were camping there at once. A number of 

 horses were tied about and some men were currycomb- 

 ing them, but probably most of the grais (horses) were 

 holing chor (pasturing) along the road. The men lay 

 around on the grass, gossiping and loafing, while thQ 



