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diff --git a/old/62269-0.txt b/old/62269-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e5c39a3..0000000 --- a/old/62269-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1732 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Gypsy Coppersmiths in Liverpool and -Birkenhead, by R. A. Scott Macfie - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Gypsy Coppersmiths in Liverpool and Birkenhead - - -Author: R. A. Scott Macfie - - - -Release Date: May 29, 2020 [eBook #62269] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GYPSY COPPERSMITHS IN LIVERPOOL -AND BIRKENHEAD*** - - -Transcribed from the 1913 Henry Young and Sons edition by David Price, -email ccx074@pglaf.org - - [Picture: Book cover] - - [Picture: Vola. Photo, by Fred. Shaw, Esq.] - - - - - - GYPSY COPPERSMITHS - IN LIVERPOOL AND - BIRKENHEAD - - - BY - ANDREAS - (MUI SHUKO) - - [Picture: Graph of serpent with letters R. A. S. M. around it] - - LIVERPOOL - HENRY YOUNG AND SONS - 1913 - - * * * * * - - Printed by ROBERT MCGEE & CO., Ltd., - 34 South Castle Street, Liverpool. - - * * * * * - - - - -To E. O. W., - - -as amends for his annoyance when the railway-officials refused to allow -the donkey to travel with a dog-ticket, and - - - - -To B. G.-S., - - -in gratitude for comforting portions of St. Luke and scrambled eggs -administered in hours of depression, these sketches are dedicated. - - _December_, _1913_. - - - - -TABLE SHOWING THE RELATION OF THE GYPSIES MENTIONED. {v} - - Tomo. -Gunia = Binka (f.) Grantsha (b. 1825) = Lolodzhi (f.). - -Descendants of Gunia: - - Gunia = Binka (f.) - Kokoi (Fanaz). = Vorzha (f.) -Worsho (Garaz) b. 1881. = Saliska (Anastasi). Luba, a widow. - -Descendants of Grantsha: - - Grantsha (b. 1825) = Lolodzhi (f.). -Worsho Fardi Yishwan. Yantshi. Vorzha 3 other -(Nikola (Andreas) = = Worsha (f.). = daughters -or Kola b. 1860. Parashiva (f.). Yono. -Tshoron) = Lotka (f.). -the (f.). -chief. = -Tinka -(f.). - Worsho 5 6 2 married - (Vasili). children. children. sons. - 4 other - children. Milanko. - - 4 other - children. - -Descendants of Worsho (Nikola or Kola Tshoron) the chief: - - Worsho (Nikola or Kola Tshoron) the chief. = Tinka (f.). -Kola Yanko b. Terka (f.). Zhawzha 2 other -(Nikola) 1893. = = Burda (Sophie). = daughters. -the Vola (f.). (Morkosh). Pudamo -younger. = (Adam -Liza (f.). Kirpatsh). - - - - -CONTENTS {vi} - - PAGE - 1. Everywhere strangers: everywhere at home 1 - 2. Imperium in imperio 7 - 3. Gypsy bagmen 13 - 4. The tale of a tub 20 - 5. Parliaments 26 - 6. The photograph 32 - 7. The sick boy 38 - 8. A good work 44 - 9. The revelation 50 - 10. An unwritten tongue 57 - - - - -1. EVERYWHERE STRANGERS: EVERYWHERE AT HOME. {1} - - -WHEN you want to find a Gypsy the police are more likely to be able to -give you his address than directories, bankers, or ministers of religion; -and it was a Liverpool policeman who sent me to the back of the municipal -slaughter-house to seek a horde of “Hungarian” _Roms_ whose arrival had -been announced by the evening papers. In a squalid street, at a corner -where insanitary dwellings had been demolished, I found a vacant plot of -brick-strewn ground surrounded by high walls. There, evidently, were my -Gypsies, for a crowd of boys had gathered round the one door, struggling -for a glance through its keyhole. Mistaking me for a detective, they -made way, and I knocked loudly and long. - -The boys were not mistaken. There was a scene within which was worth -looking at. The strangers had journeyed so rapidly from Marseilles to -Liverpool that they had outstripped their heavy baggage, and, arriving -before their tents, were obliged to bivouac under tiny extemporized -shelters propped against the windowless house-walls which formed two -sides of the square. They were making the best of circumstances with -considerable success, for they had with them countless beds of eiderdown -in brilliantly coloured covers, and they had their all-important -samovars. The men were out, but the women, protected by a -police-serjeant from the inhospitable attentions of their neighbours, -were in the camp, and into that shabby yard they had brought an -unaccustomed glory which was altogether foreign and oriental. - -He who stepped through the battered door in St. Andrew Street travelled -fifteen hundred miles in a second. Without, the slaughter-house and -slums—dull, drab Liverpool; within, the glorious East—strange dark faces -of exotic beauty, a blaze of scarlet gowns and yellow gold. For the -women were bedizened with much jewellery: rings shone on their fingers, -barbaric bracelets on their arms, chains and corals dangled from their -necks, heavy pendants from their ears, and on their blouses sparkled many -trinkets and brooches. Their jet-black hair hung in two plaits over -their shoulders, and in each plait was woven a cord to which were -attached six or seven great gold medals, generally Continental coins of -100 francs, but often our own magnificent five-pound pieces. And -everywhere children gambolled—pictures of health and happiness, fawn-like -creatures whose scanty shifts scarcely concealed their lithe brown -bodies. - -Centuries ago man’s inhumanity taught Gypsies the lesson that language is -given them for the purpose of concealing their thoughts, and even now a -Gypsy invitation, especially if it be pressing and cordial, often proves -to have been a device for preventing a second visit. I was assured that -carts had been ordered for seven o’clock to effect the removal of the -band to two houses they had rented in Pitt Street. Wishing to see the -flitting, I returned earlier than the time stated, found that they had -departed at six, tracked them with difficulty, and overtook them, not in -Pitt Street, but on the Landing-stage, awaiting the Birkenhead -luggage-boat. At the head of the procession was a large tilted cart in -which squatted all the women and children, from elderly and angular -Mothers of Egypt to beautiful Vola, the chief’s daughter-in-law, carrying -her little baby. Two waggons followed, loaded with luggage, over which, -high piled, was the bedding, and on top of all, dressed in the costume of -theatrical brigands, the black-bearded men carrying long staves -elaborately decorated with silver. - -There were full forty souls in the party, but when the boat arrived at -Birkenhead, Kola, the chief, held up the traffic by engaging the -ticket-collector in an altercation as to the exact number. Since he -spoke in Russian and the official in English, neither convinced the -other. The chief maintained that there were only fourteen; the collector -set the figure considerably higher, but as no two of his repeated -attempts at enumeration agreed with one another, while the chiefs -estimate never varied, Kola may be said to have had, on the whole, the -best of the argument. At all events the management preferred giving way -to being detained all night, and Uncle Kola triumphantly led his -procession up the bridge. - -Meanwhile a spectator passing along Green Lane, Tranmere, might have seen -a very curious spectacle in the English Gypsies’ camp, for that was the -destination of the aliens. On a bare patch of cindery earth between the -dark brown tents of the Boswells and Robinsons, a piece of carpet had -been spread, and on it, as advanced guard awaiting the main body, sat -portly Tinka, the chief’s wife. Cross-legged, motionless, aloof, her -eyes fixed on a distant infinity, quite alone yet totally unconcerned, -she smoked her cigarette calmly in a long meerschaum holder. Red-robed -as ever, wearing an immense weight of solid gold, brilliant as a flame, -she contrasted strangely with the dingy colouring of the place: a Chinese -idol in a Methodist chapel would have been less incongruous. But the -English Gypsies, aping her detachment, feigned absence of interest; no -one was visible—nevertheless many an eye was eagerly pressed to a hole in -the tent-blanket. - -This invasion by foreign Gypsies was not relished by the old inhabitants -of the pitch, and they threatened to drive the aliens out. But the -aliens neither valued popularity nor feared the _Sinte_, as they -contemptuously called their British brethren; with scarce a glance -towards, or a thought of, their neighbours, they went diligently to work -to make themselves comfortable. First they removed, without permission, -all the carts from stables near the camp, and set them, shafts in air, to -make shelters for the night, one for each family. Then, needing coke, -and brooms, and water, and other necessaries, they turned to the despised -_Sinte_ and borrowed what they required from them. And then the English -Gypsy women fell in love with Vola’s baby, and the English Gypsy men were -impressed by Kola’s size and ability, and the gorgeous display of gold -touched a responsive chord in all their hearts. And so in an incredibly -short space of time the strangers became completely at home. - - [Picture: Kola (on right). Photo, by Central News] - - - - -2. IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO. {7} - - -MANY kinds of foreigner tread the streets of Liverpool, and thus, when -Uncle Kola and his tribe appeared on the banks of the Mersey from nowhere -in particular the little boys put him down as a new species of “Dago,” -and did not embarrass him with unwelcome attention. Yet Kola is an -extraordinary man, and even his costume is conspicuous. His trousers, -superfluously baggy and decorated with wide stripes of bright green and -red, are thrust into great top-boots elaborately stitched. The -complicated braiding of his dark blue coat and waistcoat would be -remarkable were it not eclipsed by the glory of his enormous buttons, -splendid examples of the silversmith’s craft. Kola is tall and -powerfully built, and he wears his finery with effect, supporting himself -by a five-foot staff almost covered with silver, on which shine countless -little images of Buddha. His keen eye, aquiline nose, strong mouth, and -venerable beard tinged with grey make derision impossible; and he walked -our thoroughfares with dignity, slowly, gravely scrutinizing the town as -if it owed him money. - -And Kola intended that it should—before he left it. That was why he had -come. He was already rich; his pockets contained bank-notes which he -could have exchanged anywhere for several hundred golden sovereigns, and -his relations believe that he is worth £30,000. On great occasions he -can decorate his table, which stands only fourteen inches high, with -lordly plate; a silver samovar weighing twenty-three pounds is matched by -a huge salver and an immense bucket of the same precious metal decorated -in high relief. The weight of solid gold which his wife carries in her -hair, on her blouse, and round her neck and wrists is nothing less than -royal. Kola is, in fact, a ruler; and, if the citizens of Liverpool took -but little interest in him and his subjects, he reciprocated their -contempt, regarding them simply as so many more or less stupid persons -who were destined to provide for him and his tribe what they were then -seeking—copper pots to mend. - -Kola is suave and courtly, and if you had asked him what were his name -and nationality he would have replied at once that he was Nicolas -Tshoron, a Caucasian, Russian, Ruthenian, Galitsian, or Hungarian. He -has now removed his kingdom to Brazil, and if you were to follow him -across the Atlantic and repeat the question it is probable that he would -elect to call himself Italian, French, or English. He may be all of -these if a short period of residence is sufficient qualification; but, -though he knows it not, Rumania has stronger claims to him, and India -stronger claims still. Sitting on the carpeted floor of his great -pedimental tent, surrounded by his family and connexions, you would have -found that he is really Worsho, son of Grantsha, and that he is a Gypsy. -Not, of course, exactly the kind we know; he would call our Gypsies -scornfully _Sinte_, and claim that he and his tribe alone are the _Roma_. -Intellectually he is a giant. In the morning his subjects would set out -to solicit orders, returning despondently as night fell with empty hands -or single pans on their shoulders. But Kola would march triumphantly to -the camp followed by a lorry heavily laden with cauldrons he had -collected for repair. It was Kola who directed the work, and when any -special difficulty arose it was he who sat down and overcame it. He was -completely illiterate; yet he used a complicated form of contract which -he dictated and his patrons wrote and signed. It concealed artfully the -extortionate charges he proposed to make, and hoodwinked not only the -authorities of a great political club but even those of a municipal -kitchen. And it was Kola who faced the indignant customer who came to -protest against the charge, and either browbeat him into submission or -put him into court. - -The craft of the Gypsies was magnificent, and they wielded their hammers -sensitively, as if there were nerve-endings in the heads. They were -admittedly more skilful than British coppersmiths, ready to undertake and -execute successfully work that would elsewhere be refused as impossible. -But their ideas of remuneration were grandiose, and in a country where -bargaining is a neglected science they retained an oriental habit of -demanding ten times as much as they were prepared to accept. It mattered -not if his customers were offended—Kola never intended to see them again. -And so he and his subjects spent a few weeks in each town collecting -work, a few weeks in doing it, and a few turbulent and glorious weeks in -exacting payment. Then they shook the dust from off the soles of their -feet, and departed for ever from the city they had exhausted. - -Kola’s policy is successful; it has made him rich. Other Gypsies have -attached themselves to his family, married his relations, and placed him -at the head of an important tribe, whose activities he regulates, whose -well-being he cares for, whose movements he directs, which he governs as -“king.” When dissatisfaction arises the malcontents are free to migrate -to another monarchy; but so long as Kola is successful and so long as his -subjects share his success, thus long will his kingdom endure. - -Kola’s kingdom should be impossible. It is contrary to reason, contrary -at all events to what we call reason, that a community should prefer the -primitive ways of the Middle Ages to the latest improvements of modern -civilization. His bellows were old-fashioned even in the fifteenth -century and survive now only among savages; yet in his eyes they are -still the best bellows, and if out of curiosity he were to purchase a -mechanical blower he would probably hand it over to his grandchildren for -a toy. With pockets well lined with money he neglects to buy table -cutlery, tears his portion of bread from the loaf and scrapes it clumsily -in the butter-dish. The luxurious chairs and sofas with which he -furnishes his royal tent are vain ostentation; guests may use them, but -Kola himself prefers to sit, as his ancestors have sat for countless -centuries, cross-legged on the ground. Us and all that we value, with -the single exception of money, he despises even more cordially than we -despise him. Like a drop of oil in a glass of water he and his tribe -live in our midst untouched, strangely aloof and alien, a wonderful -spectacle of an _Imperium in Imperio_. - - - - -3. GYPSY BAGMEN. {13} - - -THE commercial traveller is more truly born to his profession than the -poet, unless an unreasonably exacting definition of poet be accepted; and -to those who are not thus born, it seems inexplicable that any sane -person should willingly adopt so toilsome and disagreeable, yet thankless -and inglorious, an occupation, and even learn to like it. Paradoxically -the Gypsy coppersmiths, in travelling, combined the methods of a raw -apprentice, foredoomed to failure, with diligence, enthusiasm—and -success—which proved them born bagmen. They evidently enjoyed being “on -the road” in this very un-Gypsylike sense; yet, Gypsylike, retained their -independence, differing from the common “drummer” in that they -represented, not an exacting master, but their own still more exacting -selves. The fact that they travelled was not remarkable—travelling was -the necessary prelude to their industry. What was astonishing was the -versatility which enabled them both to beat our native coppersmiths in -smithcraft and to rival British agents in the energy with which they -canvassed for the orders they were themselves to execute. - -With patience anybody can become a fairly good commercial traveller who -has a respectable appearance and good address, carries a useful article, -and asks a reasonable price. The Gypsies certainly carried a useful -article, inasmuch as their repairs were skilful and thorough, but all the -other circumstances were against them. Their extravagant costume -reminded those on whom they called of brigands rather than of sober -business-men, and brigands are not welcome in offices or factories. In -combination with their black hair and glittering eyes it was apt to -betray their nationality. If it did, so much the worse, for a commercial -transaction with a Gypsy is several degrees more unpopular than a -commercial transaction with a Jew. - -As for address, it mattered not at first whether they possessed it or -not, for they spoke no English. They soon discovered and engaged -threadbare ungrammatical aliens to talk for them, but until they obtained -such assistance they were content to carry tattered scraps of soiled -paper on which their qualifications were set forth in a handwriting and -dialect which were very far from commanding the respect of possible -customers. Here again they reared an unnecessary obstacle against their -own success, for it is an axiom that the worse the business, the better -must be the quality of the stationery. Even when they had learned a -little English—and, belying Gypsy reputation, they learnt it very -slowly—they scorned to use ingratiating behaviour, delicate compliment, -or even funny stories; their whole persuasive stock-in-trade was a whine, -a dogged and irritating perseverance, inability to recognize the moment -when it is more profitable to go than to stay, and stone-deafness to the -most emphatic “no.” In short, their method was simply the endless -importunity which their wives and children devoted to shameless and -successful begging. - -It is easy to give goods away; only an expert bagman can get a high -price. Price is the real criterion of the traveller. In this respect -the Gypsies were nothing if not ambitious, for they set out with the -intention of exacting remuneration so exorbitant that their repairs often -cost more than a pot new from the maker. Thus their only practicable -policy was to conceal carefully the sum they proposed to ask, and escape -at all costs from the danger of giving the estimate which was always -demanded. The form of their contract was ingeniously designed to serve -this purpose, and they also attempted to disarm natural suspicion by -offering to mend—or insisting on mending, for they were very -masterful—the first article for nothing as a proof of their skill. The -latter device was generally unsuccessful, for in Great Britain the offer -of something for nothing, or the pretence that it is work, not wages, -that is wanted, is apt rather to increase than diminish mistrust. -Moreover their conduct was in other respects far from reassuring. When -the owner of a pot, wearied by their persistence and, if convinced of -nothing else, convinced at least that his only hope of getting back to -business lay in surrender, had resolved reluctantly to entrust the vessel -to their care, they would reawaken his slumbering suspicions by -suggesting that he would require surety for its safe return. And the -unhappy man was obliged to postpone his relief from torture, and set his -tired wits to work devising non-committal receipts for gold coins and -foreign bank-notes in the genuineness of which he very shrewdly -disbelieved. - -The deposit was part of a game which the Gypsies refused to play -otherwise than by rule. And so humble Worsho Kokoiesko would fish out -the single gold piece which represented all his fortune which his wife -did not wear, and the great Kola would brandish bundles of French notes -in the face of his victim. Kola was accustomed—perhaps wisely—to flaunt -his wealth, but some of his relations who were also well-to-do used -professions of poverty as arguments when soliciting work. To their -strangely illogical minds simulated indigence was not inconsistent with -the exhibition of large sums of money. I have myself assisted, as -dragoman, in their negotiations with an important manufacturer of jam. -“Tell him,” they said, “that we are Hungarian coppersmiths.” This I did, -without serious scruples, adding at their command, and with a clear -conscience, that their work was excellent. To their next instructions, -“Tell him that our wives are starving and our children crying for bread,” -I was inclined to demur, but was sternly overruled. The jam-manufacturer -was visibly affected, and pity for these strangers within our -inhospitable gates appeared for a moment in his face. But only for a -moment; hurriedly thrusting a bundle covered with red silk into my hands, -the Gypsies added: “Show him this; tell him not to be afraid to trust -us.” And as I untied the knots twenty great yellow coins appeared—£80 in -solid gold! - -No less conspicuous than their want of finesse was their want of -organization. They neither divided the city into districts to parcel -them out among their members, nor even the users of copper vessels into -classes. Collecting addresses from strangers they met casually, they -visited factories and institutions at random, wasting much time in long -tramps from one extreme end of the town to the other and then immediately -back to the first district. Lucky the man who discovered a new, -unvisited manufactory; a courteous reception and patient hearing were -generally given him. The patience of most manufacturers had been early -exhausted by the repeated and lengthy invasions of other members of the -tribe, and they were in no mood for further interviews. Some of the more -enterprising and wealthy Gypsies seemed to realize this, for they made -expensive journeys from Birkenhead to Manchester, Leeds, and even the -Isle of Man. The disappointingly small results would have disheartened -an ordinary commercial traveller, but the Gypsies were anything but -ordinary travellers. And gradually their patience was rewarded, and the -camp became littered with cauldrons and pots awaiting repair, striking -evidence of the almost miraculous power of sheer, unreasoning tenacity. - - - - -4. THE TALE OF A TUB. - - -MILANKO, son of Yono, was an impertinent lad, but good-humoured, rather -ugly and always grinning. I had assured him repeatedly that in the -sugar-refinery to which I have the misfortune to be attached all the -“pots” were as big as houses and in perfect repair, so that to my deep -regret I was unable to take advantage of the offer of his professional -services. Milanko, however, with the incredulity of an habitual liar, -made an independent reconnaissance through a window and caught sight of -an ancient copper tub, some six feet in diameter and about a quarter of a -ton in weight. Moreover he ascertained, by means best known to himself, -that it was cracked and patched; and I was weak enough to admit, under -his searching cross-examination, that it would be an advantage to have -its inner surface coated with tin. It was a huge vessel, but Milanko was -ambitious, and thereafter called regularly at inconvenient hours to -present a series of petitions: first, for the order to mend and tin the -pan; second, for the loan of a pound to purchase solder; third, for half -a sovereign to get boots; fourth, for five shillings to buy a hat; and -fifth, for three pence, the price of a packet of cigarettes. He accepted -the emphatic refusal of his larger requests philosophically and without -resentment. To the last I gave a favourable hearing, even at our first -interview, and we parted with a friendly exchange of _Zha Devlesa_ (Go -with God) and _Ash Devlesa_ (Remain with God), well understanding that a -second rehearsal was ordered for the morrow and that it would be -succeeded by daily performances. The play had not a long run. One -ill-starred afternoon I granted the main petition, and the cauldron was -carted to Birkenhead to be deposited in the camp. - -Knowing that the Gypsies’ policy was always to do as much work as -possible, and generally far more than their customer expected or -required, I sent the chief engineer to Green Lane to make plain to them -that the vessel was only to be tinned, and that the cracks and patches -were to be left unmended. No contract was signed, though there was a -distinct verbal agreement that the cost was to be one pound. I was, -however, prepared to pay as much as three, the price for which a -Liverpool firm had offered to do the same work, because I recognized that -the pan was large and heavy and was interested to see how the -coppersmiths would handle it without either blocks and tackle or large -fires. To my great disappointment I was allowed to see nothing. When I -visited the camp the cauldron was always discreetly covered with a sheet, -and the Gypsies found ingenious means to keep me and it as far apart as -possible. But occasionally they would draw me aside and expatiate -alarmingly on the amount of tin, acid and labour that were needed, and, -ignoring their estimate, talk tentatively of forty pounds as a just and -probable charge. - -At last, one morning, a messenger arrived to report that the cauldron was -ready for delivery, and on the afternoon of the same day the chief -engineer, instructed that he might pay three pounds but not a penny more, -took with him a cart and crossed the river to Birkenhead. He found the -pan turned upside down on the cindery ground of the camp and proposed to -remove it to the refinery in order that the quality of the work might be -examined. But the Gypsies, holding that possession is nine-tenths of the -law, refused to permit the removal before payment was made. The wisdom -of their decision became evident when bargaining began, for the engineer -offered one pound while they, with fierce indignation, demanded -twenty-five, making the sum unmistakably clear by placing a sovereign on -the pan and indicating the numeral by means of their outstretched -fingers. The discrepancy between claim and tender was too wide for easy -or rapid adjustment, and neither side showed any willingness to -compromise. The engineer, accustomed to dealing with Orientals, stuck to -his terms, but finding the Gypsies equally stubborn and much noisier, and -convinced as tea-time approached that no settlement was then possible, he -ordered the cart back to Liverpool and himself withdrew from the -conference. - -And then the Gypsies made a false step. The engineer had scarcely -settled down to his evening meal when, to his amazement, word was sent -from the refinery that the cauldron and the coppersmiths were at the -gate. They had changed their minds, hastened to overtake the cart aboard -the luggage-boat, and persuaded the carter to return to the tents and -bring the pan away. The office being closed when they arrived, -settlement of their little account was out of the question, and, obliged -to surrender the only security they had for payment, they could but -protest loudly and depart with an invitation to call again the next day. - -Other duties kept me away from business, and I was not a spectator of -their visit. But I heard afterwards long, eloquent and indignant stories -of how Milanko, apparelled like a mountebank, with his father and the -deformed dwarf Burda or Morkosh, his cousin’s husband, dared to profane -the solemnity of the counting-house, a sanctuary where the cumulative -respectability of five generations of sugar-boilers is devoutly -worshipped. Never during the whole course of its long business -experience had that chamber entertained guests so unwelcome. They -arrived at ten in the morning and stayed until half-past two, demanding -payment from the cashier and relenting gradually from twenty-five to -seven pounds, less than which they long refused to accept. Nobody knew -what to do with them—the situation was unprecedented. When tired of -standing and worrying busy clerks with the question “Master, what you do -now?” they scandalized the whole staff by sitting cross-legged on the -floor. It was a contest of endurance; and, thanks to the definite orders -I had left, we won. Just as the problem of what was to happen at closing -time, if they were still in possession, was becoming insistent, the -Gypsies gave way, accepted three pounds and retired, after desecrating -the office for four hours and a half. - -It would have been absurd to expect Kola’s disciples to rest content with -a reasonable reward, and indeed they often begged for supplementary -payments. Even the chief’s wife condescended to interest herself in the -matter and complained to me about the character of the engineer—a bad -man, as she said; and I had to explain that it was partly for this -particular fault of character that we valued him. Yono never forgave me, -but Milanko resumed friendly relationships at once, and I believe that -the tribe in general respected me the more for my victory. - - - - -5. PARLIAMENTS. - - -THE profession of the Gypsies, according to a reverend Spanish professor, -whom Borrow quotes, is idleness; and by their proverb _Butin hi -dinilenge_ (Work is for fools) the German Gypsies plead guilty to the -charge. In this respect the coppersmiths were exceptional, for among -them diligence raged almost as an epidemic fever. The missionary of the -eight-hours day would not have found a welcome in their camp, nor the -agent of a Sabbath-observance society any encouragement. On all days of -the week, at all hours of the day, the rhythmic tap of their hammers and -the muffled gust of their bellows preached eloquent sermons on industry, -while knots of busy women, sewing, washing and cooking, gave an equally -striking object-lesson in the same subject. - -Nor did they seek to compensate by recreation for long hours of labour. -The young people showed a certain skill in games like knuckle-bones or -pitch-and-toss, and took a slight interest in boxing and wrestling but -seldom practised them. Only on rare occasions did they and their elders -play cards or visit music-halls, and the gramophones which several -families possessed were little heard. If they danced it was when there -was a prospect of extorting baksheesh from visitors, and the -ill-remembered tales and songs which they sold to collectors of such -curiosities seemed to be rather what they had heard others tell or sing -than what they cherished for their own amusement. Unlike many of their -brethren they were not entertainers, and they had no strong desire to be -themselves entertained. - -Judged from a trade-union point of view, or even from that of a -picture-palace proprietor, this excessive devotion to work would be -regarded as a symptom of savagery; yet, as increasing productiveness and -wealth, it might with equal justice be taken as a sign of advanced -civilization. In one respect, however, the Gypsies were undoubtedly -primitive, and that was in their faith in parliaments. When day had -faded into night and toil had ceased, if they were not eating their -irregular meals or drinking glasses of tea made in samovars whose hours -of work were scarcely less than their own, the coppersmiths were holding -interminable divans. In wet or cold weather parliament assembled within -a tent; but on warm evenings sessions were held in the open air, the -members sitting in a ring cross-legged on the ground or lolling on beds -of eiderdown. Although the children were kept at a distance these -meetings were not councils of elders, since the young men as well as the -old were present. Their wives and daughters sat apart engaged in womanly -occupations, for there was in the tribe no need to blow a “trumpet -against the monstrous regiment of women.” - -Probably Kola, the chief, would not have permitted the constant presence -of inquisitive visitors when important matters were under discussion, or -would have changed the subject on their arrival. In any case to have sat -evening after evening, as it were in the distinguished strangers’ -gallery, listening to debates which were only half intelligible, was an -entertainment drearier than any of his visitors was prepared to face. -Thus it is impossible to decide whether these parliaments had legislative -and judicial functions, or whether, as Kola’s privy council, they were -only deliberative and advisory. When strangers were present Fardi -sometimes improved the occasion by producing a little ragged map of the -world to question them about the amenities of different countries. It -was a projection after the method of Mercator, in which Greenland -appeared, grossly exaggerated, as an attractive patch of bright colour -equal in size to the whole of Europe and pleasantly unspotted by the -names of icy mountains or any other geographical complexities. This -image of Greenland had for Fardi the same attraction as the bellman’s -chart for the Snark-hunting crew, and he was convinced only with -difficulty that, the climate being intolerable and the natives poor, he -was unlikely to do there a great trade in mending copper pots. To -parliament, too, Kola exhibited his first large payment in British money, -a big bundle of Bank of England notes. His subjects passed them from -grimy hand to grimy hand, tugged them viciously, held them up to the -light, and then delivered judgment: “Ugly notes, but tough paper.” - -The discussions were as solemn as those of the mother of parliaments at -Westminster, and much more sincere, although they were neither opened -with prayer nor encumbered by any decorative formalities. If the chief -was chairman—and he sometimes enthroned himself upon an upturned -cauldron—his services were seldom required either to keep order, which -was amply secured by the native dignity of the members, or to direct a -debate that had no tendency to stray from the one subject which was -uppermost in all their minds. Generalities that had no concrete -application to their trade did not interest them, and they would have -refused to send a representative to the congress which was held in -Hungary in 1879 to deliberate on the common interests of Gypsies -everywhere. Sometimes when Russians visited the camp the coppersmiths -would listen so eagerly to long accounts of events in the outside world -that it seemed as though the divan was their newspaper or club, and stood -to them in the same relation as the “crack i’ the kirkyard” to Scottish -farm-folk a century ago, or as his favourite public-house to the British -workman. But in truth only those facts really interested them which -affected their work and industry, and most of what they heard passed in -at one ear and out at the other. They were greedy for knowledge of the -wealth of nations, the size of cities, or the trades by which towns -prospered; they collected scraps of paper on which chance acquaintances -had scribbled the addresses of factories; and in fact all their -conversation and all their thoughts were concerned with the problem of -work and where to find it. - - - - -6. THE PHOTOGRAPH. {32} - - -CONVERSATION was difficult, not because there was nothing to talk about, -but because Lotka, Fardi’s comely wife, returned at every opportunity to -the subject of my study carpet. I had invited them to afternoon tea and -they were taking it in my room, behaving with the perfect propriety -Gypsies always observe under circumstances in which the manners and -self-possession of a British workman would fail. But my carpet was thick -and soft, catholic in its colour-taste though red in the main, and -decorated with a large angular sprawling Indian pattern—and Lotka had -fallen in love with it. She had proposed to take it up at once and -transfer it to her tent at Tranmere, waiving aside my objected fear of -cold feet with the reply that I could go to bed then and buy a new one in -the morning. All will sympathize with my eagerness to change the subject -who know what serious Gypsy begging means: it is dangerous as oratory, -convincing a man against his reason, and leading to bitterly repented -sacrifices. But those who have experienced it will know also the -impossibility of escape. Like a skiff in a whirlpool our talk might seem -to be sailing pleasantly North, South, East or West, and yet be tending -inevitably towards the central peril. No matter what conversational -subject was started it led relentlessly back to the carpet. - -Amongst other fruitless devices for escape which ingenuity, quickened by -despair, suggested, was the production of albums of Gypsy pictures, the -leaves of which my guests turned indifferently, punctuating their talk -with contemptuous exclamations of “_Sinte_”—but the talk was still of -carpets. There were photographs of real Gypsies from everywhere on -earth, engravings of artists’ Gypsies such as have never been seen -anywhere in the world, highly coloured illustrations of camps, and -ancient woodcuts of the costume Gypsies wore of old; but none represented -“Our _Roma_” and for Fardi and his spouse all were devoid of any kind of -interest. In the middle of a page, however, was a somewhat mean -picture-postcard which had reached me through several hands, but came -originally from Lemberg in Galitsia. It represented a troop of -elaborately costumed performers, whom I had always taken for “counterfeit -Egyptians,” dancing and playing huge accordions on an artistically -decorated stage, and the subscription was “Gypsies from the Caucasus.” -Fardi never allowed his emotions to appear conspicuously, but it was -evident from the close scrutiny he and Lotka made of the postcard that -they were genuinely interested: “Our _Roma_,” they said, approvingly, but -without surprise. Then they gave me the names of some of the party, and -apropos of the stage-drapery, reverted to the subject of carpets. - - [Picture: Tinka: Photo. by Central News] - -During the next few days occasional questions showed that my guests had -carried news of the picture to the camp, and that the tribe hid beneath -their affected indifference some curiosity as to how it came to be in my -possession. But I was totally unprepared for the demonstration of deep -concern which the paltry print was to wring from the great Kola’s -dignified wife. Taking me quietly aside she invited me to sit near her, -told me that she had heard about the photograph, and expressed a desire -to see it. I gladly seized the opportunity to give her a cordial -invitation to come with her husband to tea. Without such an excuse I -should not have dared to suggest a visit; for, absurd as it may seem to -those who do not know these people, I felt instinctively that the chief -and his lady were personages of rank so high that it would have been -presumptuous to ask them to my poor house. My instinct was probably -just, for Tinka refused politely, alleging as excuse the weakness of her -chest. Unwilling to renounce the honour of entertaining royalty, I -offered to take her and the chief by rail to Liverpool and thence to -Alfred Street in a taxicab; and, when this proposal was rejected, to -bring the taxicab to the camp, cross the river on the luggage-boat, and -take them all the way without change. But Tinka was adamant and demanded -that the book should be brought to the tents. The idea of subjecting my -treasured album to the eager unwashed hands of working coppersmiths did -not commend itself to me, and I replied that the book was too large and -too heavy to bring. “Tear the page out” she ordered, royally regardless; -but I refused to mutilate the volume. Then she begged, the queenly -Tinka, begged just as Lotka had begged for my carpet—earnestly, -eloquently, passionately, almost irresistibly. Hardening my heart to -withstand this more than usually distressing exhibition of skill in the -ancient Gypsy accomplishment, I turned to look at my tormentor—she was -weeping bitterly! Instead of a typical case of adroit Gypsy imposture I -had found an equally typical case of Gypsy family affection. With a -voice broken by sobs she offered in exchange for a brief glance at the -picture, first a silver plate a foot in diameter, and then a great gold -ring such as she herself wore. For among those whose portraits appeared -on the card was her brother, and she had not seen him for twenty years. - -Need I add that in my book a blank space, of which I am prouder than of -my rarest Callot, bears witness to-day to the fact that Tinka had her -will? “Aunt,” I said, “you have been very hospitable to me. I do not -want your silver plate, I will not take your gold ring; but to-morrow you -shall have the little picture.” And when I brought it, framed gaudily, -to give it some semblance of a gift for presentation to royalty, the -Gypsies crowded excitedly round, and Tinka, almost in tears again, raised -her proud hands to Heaven, and called down blessings on my head in -showers so liberal that, if but a tithe be sent, I shall be among the -most fortunate of men. - - - - -7. THE SICK BOY. {38} - - -SEDATENESS was characteristic of the coppersmiths’ camp. Even when the -air reverberated with the tapping of many hammers there was no bustle; -work went on steadily, certainly, slowly, and with dignity. The arrival -of a stranger was the pretext for an animated and noisy chorus of begging -by the women, but on ordinary occasions the foreign Gypsies applied -themselves solemnly to labour, or still more solemnly to interminable -divans. Blood-curdling oaths in gentle Romani were hurled even at the -spoiled children when they manifested their spirits and happiness too -noisily; yet among them there was one who was privileged to be as -troublesome as he chose without reproof, and he was the sick boy. - -His exceptional position seemed to have had a malign influence on his -character, for he was not a nice child. With the want of their robust -health he lacked also the sturdy independence of his playmates. They -were self-reliant, forward, often impertinent, but always lovable—he was -petulant, fretful, even peevish, and instinctively one pitied rather than -liked him. Yet in all the tribe there was nobody—man, woman, or child, -from the great chief Kola himself to the half-naked little ones—who would -have hesitated to make any effort or any sacrifice by which to mitigate -the sick boy’s distress. To his mother he was more than all the world. -She was Zhawzha, the chief’s daughter (though to those who were not of -the _afición_, she would have called herself Sophie), a strangely -pathetic figure in whose face one could see traces of great beauty marred -by bitter anxiety for her son. Among our first duties as friendly -visitors to the camp were those of acting as her dragoman in the local -surgery and bringing an eminent specialist from Liverpool to visit the -patient. But we discovered gradually not only that she had consulted -other doctors in Birkenhead, but also that she had prescriptions and -drugs, enough to have stocked a pharmacy, which she had obtained from -continental physicians. And all had prescribed bromides, prohibited -excitement, and bidden the distracted mother wait patiently and hope—for -the boy was epileptic. - -He was the one disturbing influence in the tribe, and when the illness -seized him, always suddenly and unexpectedly, frantic crises of shrill -emotion broke the tranquillity of the camp. From all sides gesticulating -women would rush screaming wildly, and the men would leave their work to -return soon after in gloomy silence bending their heads to an inevitable -fate, while the poor little figure in all the ridiculous bravery of his -gaudy clothes and pale blue plush hat would be carried under shelter and -nursed tenderly. The distracted mother, meanwhile, would pace the -ground, her face distorted with agony, clutching convulsively at her hair -and singing a wild lament; and even the queenly Tinka would sink to the -ashes where she stood, raise her kindly face to heaven and weep aloud. -Such scenes were frequent and very painful. Even more painful was one’s -sense of impotence afterwards, when Zhawzha offered all she had, even the -gold coins from her hair, in exchange for her boy’s health. Time alone -could give what she demanded; but she scorned patience and would not -wait. - -No cure which anybody recommended was left untried, it mattered not what -it was nor how much it cost. And so the child wore amulets, and to the -tent-pole mysterious bunches of thorn-twigs were tied. But the malady -was stubborn, and recourse was had to quacks who poisoned the little -fellow with excessive doses so that he ceased even to speak, and wandered -aimlessly in a comatose condition. And then, most wonderfully—for which -of us in our own land could find, at need, a sorceress?—they discovered -that there was a witch-doctor in Bradford. Letters were dictated, -symptoms described, medicine bought at exorbitant prices, and Harley -Street fees paid. A lock of hair was cut and sent, untouched by human -hands, for some kind of sympathetic magic. But this, like everything -else, failed to effect the instantaneous cure the mother demanded, and -she and her lad, with his father, a very black and rather stupid little -Gypsy named Adam Kirpatsh, journeyed to Bradford for a personal -interview. - -Adam was not wealthy in the same sense as Kola, the chief, might have -been called wealthy; but he had savings, and it was pitiable to watch him -squander them in vain efforts to gratify the sick boy’s whims and set the -anxious mother’s mind at rest. Protest was useless—equally useless to -urge a longer trial of rational treatment; he was determined that no -stone should be left unturned. His confidence in the witch-doctor lasted -longer than his faith in any legitimate practitioner had lasted, but it -crumbled away gradually, undermined by the obvious failure of her -treatment. And then Adam heroically resolved to incur the great expense -of taking his wife and child for a pilgrimage all the way to Czenstochowa -in Russian Poland. The celebrated shrine has since become notorious, for -the dissolute priests robbed the holy image of its gems; but in July, -1911, it was in high repute among the Gypsies, and some of them had -pictures of the Virgin of Czenstochowa in their tents. The journey must -have been a trying one for the invalid, but on their way home the family -rested for a while at Berlin, and Adam sent triumphant telegrams to -Birkenhead announcing that the boy was cured. - -Alas! As I approached the camp on the occasion of my first visit after -their return, the little lad saw me from a distance, and ran forward to -take my hand. He looked well and happy, and we walked on gaily towards -the tents. But suddenly the weight on my wrist increased, the child -seemed to stumble, and looking down I saw that he was unconscious. - -Misfortune dogged that unhappy family. Poor Zhawzha, enervated by -constant solicitude, died at Mitcham, and was buried with ceremonies the -barbaric extravagance of which was probably without parallel in this -country. There followed unseemly bickerings about the possession of her -property and the custody of the children, and Adam parted from the band -to return to his own tribe. But it is comforting to know that, whatever -may have happened during these days of grief, whatever sorrows the future -may hold in store, that little afflicted boy will not be allowed to -suffer unnecessarily. May his health be restored gradually as the years -pass! But should fate decree that he must remain infirm during all the -days of his life, it is certain that the tender care which was lavished -on the sick Gypsy by his warm-hearted compatriots when he was a child -will not be withdrawn when he becomes a grown man. - - - - -8. A GOOD WORK. {44} - - -I DO not think the old Drill Hall in Birkenhead has ever been a cheerful -place: deserted by the military and transformed into a boxing booth, it -is now positively dismal. But for two months during the summer of 1911 -it was ablaze with Oriental colour. Kola, the Gypsy chieftain, with his -tribe of coppersmiths, had taken possession of it, having left the -English Romany camp at Tranmere to make room for his brothers, Yantshi -and Yishwan, who had arrived from Marseilles with their wives, children -and followers. The ruling family had established itself upon the high -platform where once bruisers proved their mettle, and from it the royal -tenant looked down a crooked lane bordered on either side by the tents of -his subjects. From irregular skylights in the black roof dusty, -mysterious sunbeams fell upon gay drapery and piles of eiderdown beds -gaudily covered with scarlet and yellow stuff, on black-bearded men and -strange groups of dark women in bright red dresses loaded with gold, on -the little low round tables at which they sat cross-legged, and on the -blue tendrils of smoke that rose from their brass samovars. In the yard -outside was the din of many hammers beating cauldrons of copper, but it -was almost drowned by a babel of shrill voices quarrelling in a strange -and strongly aspirated tongue. - - [Picture: Worsho. Photo. by F. A. Cooper] - -For all was not well in Kola’s kingdom: disaffection was brewing, and a -schism was imminent. And in the midst of all the trouble the wife of -young Worsho Kokoiesko presented her husband with a little brown girl, -his first child. No stranger ever knew what secret rites were practised -in the distant corner of the great barn where Worsho, as a poor relation, -lived humbly. Mother and child were screened carefully from observation, -and the first token of the arrival of a new recruit was the healthy voice -of a crying baby. There was no general rejoicing, no excitement; but -Worsho slipped shyly to my side and, in his rich mellow voice which -resembled singing rather than speaking, invited me to be godfather. - -Thus it happened four days afterwards that I made a morning visit to the -camp ready to add to the solemnity of the occasion such dignity as a -frock-coat and top-hat could lend. Knowing the ancient and universal -Gypsy fondness for baptism I had hoped that there would have been a -tribal festival. It was therefore disappointing to find that the -appearance of the hall was normal, and that Worsho himself was still in -bed, although the time appointed for the ceremony was near at hand. -After some exhortation he got up, stretched himself, breakfasted -leisurely, and dressed in his ordinary clothes: but Saveta, daughter of -Michael, who was to be godmother, kept me in countenance by putting on a -white dress gaudy with floral patterns. At last the little procession -set out for St. Werburgh’s Church—the strikingly handsome Worsho, his -young widowed sister Luba, the two godparents, Saveta’s pretty little -niece Liza, an assistant librarian from the Bodleian, and the -indispensable baby. - -We were shockingly late, and on our arrival found that the christening -ceremony had already begun for the benefit of another infant. But the -good priest left the font, came politely to the door to receive us, put -us in our places, and recommenced the service. Although unprepared for -the solemnity and thoroughness of my godchild’s reception into the -Church, I played my unrehearsed part to the best of my ability, stumbling -only once when, some ancient memory of a grammar school in the Midlands -awaking suddenly at the command, “Say the Paternoster,” I said it -bravely—in Latin! And indeed this fault causes my conscience less -trouble than the problem of how to fulfil my godparental obligations when -my wandering goddaughter may be anywhere at all in either hemisphere. - -All Gypsies have two names, one for public, the other for private use; -and it may be that the baptismal name is the one they value least. At -all events the duty of choosing it devolved, in this instance, on me, and -the parents gave no indication as to what were their wishes. Unable on -the spur of the moment to remember anything really monumental, I called -the child Saveta after her godmother, and thus she was registered in the -great book when our picturesque little party withdrew to the sacristy. -The mother’s name, Anastasi Fiodorana Shodoro, was also placed on record, -the last element being probably that of the child’s maternal grandfather. -But when I began to dictate W-O-R-S-H-O, Worsho excitedly plucked my -sleeve and protested. I had never heard him called by any other name, -and was amazed; but he produced documents and passports to prove that he -was, officially, Garaz son of Fanaz, the son of Zigano, and as “Garaz -Fanaz Zigano” he was written down. The absence of a surname caused no -difficulties with our sympathetic Irish priest; but it was quite -otherwise when we paid a necessary visit to an ignorant registrar. He -declared, “The man must have a surname,” and regarded the want of so -necessary a distinction as little less serious than the want of a head or -heart. There was a column for surnames in his register, and it would -have been a scandal to leave it empty. We filled it. - -Of all the pleasant recollections associated with this adventure, one -lingers in my memory as especially bright and comforting. When we left -the church the kindly and venerable Father, who had shepherded us so -lovingly through the ceremony, conducted us courteously to the door, held -up his hands in benediction and exclaimed in a voice that quivered with -sincerity, “You have done a good work this day.” - - - - -9. THE REVELATION. - - -ALMOST a year after the arrival of the coppersmiths, old Grantsha, his -sons Fardi, Yantshi and Yishwan, and his son-in-law Yono, with their -wives and children reappeared in Liverpool, meaning to take ship and -follow Kola, who had already gone to Monte Video. But no boat could be -found to convey them, and after waiting a week in an emigrants’ -lodging-house in Duke Street, they were obliged to go by rail to Dover -and embark there. It was a gloomy, undecorated dwelling in which they -stayed, a warren of scantily-furnished rooms, in each of which one family -camped like bears in an overcrowded menagerie. Since there was nothing -else to do, their idle misery found expression in begging. At home and -abroad, in season and out of season, whenever there was anybody to beg -from, they begged immoderately—all except Fardi. He and his family were -exceptional, cultivating little courtly airs and holding themselves -somewhat aloof from the rest of the tribe; and in the matter of -respectability the chief himself could hardly hold a candle to his -brother, though they had this in common, that neither ever begged. - -I spent the afternoon of the day of their departure with the -coppersmiths. It was a naturally dispiriting afternoon of steady, -drizzling rain, and the conduct of the Gypsies made it almost -insufferably unpleasant. Throughout a long wet promenade Milanko begged -dismally for a silk scarf. A smaller boy, inspired by a well-founded -conviction that I would give him a cap, accompanied me and a friend when -we went home for afternoon tea. He begged in the streets and at table as -continuously and mechanically as a Chinese praying wheel, refused food -and drink in order that his mouth might be free to exercise its main -function, and afterwards, drenched but undaunted, droned petitions during -half our walk to the station. Yono enticed me into an apartment on the -first floor where he and his family lived, in order that we might debate -at tiresome length a proposed supplementary payment for tinning the -cauldron. Even Fardi’s wife and daughter forgot their manners. He -himself was out, but his women locked the door and removed the key in -order that I might not escape from their room at the top of the house -until Lotka had made a last desperate effort to become possessor of my -carpet. They were interrupted by a loud knock, and hope rose within me -that Fardi had returned and would exercise parental authority to stop the -persecution. But it was only patient Yono wishing to resume the -discussion about the cauldron. As he came in I went out—against -resistance, precipitately. Downstairs Grantsha and burly Yishwan sat in -a larger room surrounded by children, while a group of women stitched -industriously at the opposite end. Every one of them begged. The lads -demanded watches, cigarette-holders and silver match-boxes; even the -dotard Grantsha asked for money; Yishwan’s smallest request was for the -coat from off my back; and the girls pleaded singly and in chorus: -“Brother, why have you given me nothing?” The attack was irresistible: I -was outnumbered, and the only alternative to surrender was flight. So I -rose to take my leave, assisted to my feet by two impish boys who, with -apparent politeness, seized my hands and unnoticed by me cleverly stole -my silver Zodiac ring. - - [Picture: Children. Photo, by Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.] - -The Gypsies had told me that they would go to Lime Street Station at -seven o’clock, and that their train would leave at half-past eight. -Twice before under similar circumstances they had tried to hoodwink me, -and it seemed that they had tricked me again, for when at half-past seven -I reached Lime Street there was never a gay red skirt to be seen, nor -even a braided coat. Moreover, on inquiry, I learned that no train for -Dover left that or any other Liverpool Station at eight-thirty. Almost -glad to escape a renewal of the afternoon’s hostilities I began to -retrace my steps. I had not walked a couple of hundred yards when, from -afar, I spied a flash of colour so brilliant that it could have been -nothing except a Gypsy girl’s dress. She was standing outside the -Central Station, where the tribe had assembled to wait two hours, for -their train was scheduled to start at half-past nine. A microcosm -within, yet untouched by, the greater world, these outlandish people sat -perfectly self-possessed and completely isolated amid a throng of -inquisitive strangers whose presence imported to them as little as the -presence of the vulgar sparrows. They were adventuring on a journey -longer than that which their ancestors undertook centuries ago when they -emigrated from India, yet they exhibited no greater emotion than if they -were changing parishes. On the platform they had grouped themselves by -families, and behind each group was a hillock of trunks, utensils, -bedding, carpets and tents; but before I reached them Vasili and another -lad met me and, postponing my farewell interview with the elders, I -turned back with the boys to buy them cigarettes. In the street we found -Fardi, and he accompanied us to a tobacconist. - -To my surprise Fardi encouraged the boys not only to choose the most -expensive Russian cigarettes, but also to demand meerschaum holders. -That very afternoon, to distinguish him above his brethren and mark my -approval of the admirable Fardi who never begged, I had given him as -parting present a splendid guinea pipe; and now he must needs demonstrate -that he had gulled me, that though he had played a long and cunning game -of respectability he was no whit less a Gypsy than the others, and could, -when he chose, beg with the best. My paragon produced three leather -purses which, he said most falsely, contained all the money he possessed. -Two were empty, and in the third a half-sovereign lurked among some -coppers. He begged for a loan, and, when I refused to entertain the -idea, entreated me to buy a dress for his wife. In the window of a shop -which was preparing to close he saw a gloriously green silk underskirt -marked “six and eleven” which was exactly what she would like; and I was -the more ready to surrender to his unexpected attack because I had given -Lotka nothing. But when we entered the shop he saw and preferred a long -silk scarf which was attractively festooned upon a rail. I bought it, -congratulating myself secretly that Fardi, being illiterate, would not -notice that its cost was two shillings less than that of the petticoat. -But Fardi’s sharp eyes discerned the price I paid, and immediately he -claimed the dress as well, becoming almost abusive, and telling me -plainly that I ought to be ashamed to refuse so small a favour. It was -the revelation of a new and unsuspected Fardi—a much less comfortable -character than the Fardi who never begged. - -He begged desperately and without a moment’s pause until the train left -Liverpool, ably abetted by every member of his family. Had I yielded -Fardi would have won a barren victory, because the shop was closed and -the dress beyond our reach: but higher principles were at stake—it was a -trial of strength, and the respect in which the Gypsies held me was -threatened. There were flank attacks by Yishwan, who wanted my watch, -and rear attacks from battalions of boys, whose demands a universal -provider would have been hard pushed to satisfy: but Lotka’s skirt was -the main objective, and, meeting all arguments, talking with marvellous -if ungrammatical fluency, and shouting as loudly as anybody, I held my -position without budging a hair’s-breadth. - -Even when, with their samovars and eiderdown beds, the whole party had -been packed in the carriages, Fardi stood at a door and mischievously -continued his persecution. But he and the others bade me a warm -farewell, wishing me brilliantly overwhelming blessings, all except Yono, -who angrily rejected my proffered hand; and as the train steamed out of -the station an impudent little boy waved from a window a grubby fist, on -one finger of which shone my stolen silver ring. - - - - -10. AN UNWRITTEN TONGUE. - - -PLUMBERS, and even politicians, think meanly of Gypsies. The _Oxford -English Dictionary_, apparently regarding them as a species of vermin -rather than a nation, denies them the barren honour which it awards to -Gallovidians, and spells their name with a little _g_. As an old witch -complained to Lavengro, some very respectable persons go so far as to -“grudge the poor people the speech they talk among themselves,” and, like -the magistrate, brand it “no language at all, merely a made-up -gibberish.” Mrs. Herne very properly retorted, with an ironical curtsey: -“Oh, bless your wisdom, you can tell us what our language is without -understanding it”; for to learn to understand Romani is a far easier task -than to trace it to its sources. - -The central mystery of a mysterious race, it is their greatest treasure, -whether, with Borrow, we regard it as a means “to enable habitual -breakers of the law to carry on their consultations with more secrecy,” -or share the enthusiasm of scholars who have found in it the most -fascinating, yet most baffling, problem of linguistics. On the language -of the Gypsies one of the greatest philologists wrote two volumes, -containing more than a thousand closely-printed pages, although he -confessed he had never heard it spoken; another devoted eight years to -the gradual publication of a huge quarto which, when completed, weighed -nearly a hundred ounces; and countless humbler contributors have added -their stones to the cairn of learning under which Romani lies buried. -All believed that in this unwritten tongue, the conversational currency -of “the most unfortunate and degraded of beings,” lay hid answers to -riddles which have perplexed the learned for five hundred years: Where -was the original home of the Gypsies? When did they leave it? By what -route did they reach Europe? But the hopes of scholars have been -grievously disappointed, and at the end of a century of diligent gleaning -and scientific analysis the mystery of Gypsy origin is as deep as it was -at the beginning! - -Far from being gibberish, Romani is an inflected language possessing more -cases for its noun than did Latin; and it is Indian, although the -Gypsies, true to their reputation, have begged words with which to -supplement their vocabulary from Persians, Greeks, Slavs and other -peoples among whom they have dwelt. It has been said that “the Arabic of -the Bedouin in this century is incomparably more nearly identical with -that of the tribes through whose borders the children of Israel were led -by Moses than is any one of our contemporary European tongues with its -ancestor of the same remote period.” A similar cause has enabled the -Gypsies, ever wandering, separating and reuniting, to resist more -successfully than a sedentary race could have resisted the gradual -changes which ultimately part a language into mutually incomprehensible -dialects. Their speech is an echo which has reverberated through the -centuries, for in it may be heard ancient Indian forms that have been -lost in India itself, and dearest of all to the philologist, though most -perplexing, a number of words which are almost pure Sanskrit. But if you -ask the linguistic student of the _Roma_ whence they come, you will -receive no reply more definite than a reference to north-west Hindustan -and the inhospitable mountains thereabouts; while for the date of the -Gypsy exodus you may choose at will any period between 300 B.C. and 1300 -A.D. and find high philological authority for your choice. - -To satisfy, or, better still, to stimulate curiosity about the language -of the “Brahmins of the roads,” a short nursery story in the dialect of -the coppersmiths is here reprinted from the pages of the _Journal of the -Gypsy Lore Society_, by the kind permission of Mr. E. O. Winstedt, to -whom it was dictated by one of Kola’s sons-in-law. Most of the -consonants may, without serious error, be pronounced as in English, _r_ -being rolled as in “rural,” _g_ hard as in “gas,” and s unvoiced as in -“sago.” The symbol _zh_ represents the French _j_ or the _z_ in English -“azure,” while _sh_ is the corresponding unvoiced sound in “ash”: with -_t_ prefixed the latter becomes _tsh_, the double sound heard twice in -“church,” which would be written _tshə_(_r_)_tsh_. In Romani the letter -_h_ is often found after _p_, _t_ and _k_, where, except in the mouths of -Irish speakers, it is not used in English. Thus _ph_ and _th_ have not -the values they have in “philosophy” and “theology,” nor _kh_ (as in -Oriental languages) that of the _ch_ in Scottish “loch,” but the _h_ must -be sounded after the other consonant: _p+h_, _t+h_, and _k+h_. The -vowels may be pronounced as in Italian, the additional vowel _ə_ -representing the vowels in English “but” and “cur,” and the diphthongs -_ai_ and _au_ being similar to the sounds in “aisle” and “ounce.” The -vowel in English “law” is written _aw_. For examples the following words -may be taken:— - - _but_ (much) as “boot.” - - _hai_ (and) as “high.” - - _háide_! (come!) as “high-day.” - - _kothé_ (there) as “coat-hay.” - - _le_ (take) as “lay.” - - _meklé_ (they allowed) as “make-lay.” - - _per_ (belly) as “pair.” - - _ye_ (even) as “yea.” - -The acute accents indicate the stressed syllables and do not alter the -quality of the vowels. They were not marked in the original, and are -added here merely to assist readers and not as an accurate record of the -coppersmiths’ method of accentuation. - - - - -O DÍLO HAI LÉSKE DÚI PHRALÁ. - - -SAS trin phral; dúi sa godiáver, thai yek dílo. Thai muló léngo dad. -Thai phendiá léngo dad: “Zha per talé.” Káno vo meréla, te avél sáko -phral kothé léste. Hai phendiá o phral o báro: “Zha tu, phrála dilíya, -k’ amáro dad.” Liá o phral o dílo yek kash (bórta), hai thodéla po dúmo, -hai geló ka pésko dad. Hai ushtiló lésko dad, hai diá les yek bal kálo. -Káno vo tshinól les, ənklél ándo kódo bal yek gras kálo. - -Hai phendiá o əmperáto, kon khodéla ka léski rákli ándo kher, ənkəsto, -kodoléske déla. Thai phendiá o phral o báro: “Háide! phrála, te dikás -kon khutéla ka i rákli.” Thai phendiás o dílo: “Meg me, phrále, te dikáu -ye me kothé.” Hai mardé lə lésko phral; tshi meklé les. Thai liné le -dúi phral le grastén, hai gelé-tar. Hai liás o phral o dílo o bal, hai -kerdiló léske yek gras ándo bal, hai geló-tar. Aresliá péske do phralén, -aresló palál; hai pushlé les: “Kon tu san, manushá?” Vo si mánush -depel-méshti (vityáz). Hai mardé le zoralés péske phralén; hai geló-tar -ka i rákli. Hai hukló ándo kher ka i rákli. Hai liás la rakliá péske; -hai tshumidá les lésko sókro, le dilés. - -Hai tradéla léskro sókro péske dúi zhamutrén (godiáver zhamutré) te -mudarén tshirikliá. Hai aviló-tar o dílo ka pésko sókro əmperáto, thai -phendiá o dílo te del les púshka te mudarél ye vo tshirikliá. Hai la o -dílo phagliás e púshka, hai geló-tar péske dúye shogorénsa. Vo sas o -tríto. Hai pirdé léske shogoré so (? kai) rodiás, hai tshi mudardé -kántshi tshirikliá. Hai o dílo mudardiás le kashtésa but tshirikliá -bi-pushkáko. Hai avilé léske shogoré, hai diklé le tshiriklián; hai den -pe dúma: “O dílo mudardiás but tshirikliá, hai amé tshi mudardiám -kantsh.” Hai mangén le tshiriklián kátar o dílo, te del le lénge. Hai -phendiá o dílo: “Kána la te shináv tumáro práshhau (per) le shuriása, -atúntshi dav túme le tshirikliá, hai phenáu k’ o əmperáto ke túme -mudardián le tshirikliá.” Hai kána shindiá o práshau léngo, hai del -lénge i tshirikliá, hai gelé-tar kheré. - -Hai dikliás əmperáto le but tshiriklé, hai lovodíl pésko do zhamutrén. -Hai pushél le dilés: “Tu tshi mu(da)rdán kantsh?” Hai phenél o dílo le -əmperatóske: “Me kudalá tshirikliá me mudardém le. Tu man tshi patshiás? -Me shindém le shuriása léngo práshau, tha dem lénge le tshirikliá.” Hai -vasdás əmperáto léngo gad, hai dikliá léngo práshau. E tshiriklí si but -láshi. Hai phendiás əmperáto ke léske zhamutré: “Díle mánush! sóste von -meklé te shindiás léngro práshau? - - Thai ma nai kantsh. - - - - -THE FOOL AND HIS TWO BROTHERS. - - -THERE were three brothers; two were wise, and one a fool. And their -father died. Now their father said: “I am going to take to my bed.” -When he dies, each brother is to come there to him. And the big brother -said: “Do you go, foolish brother, to our father.” The foolish brother -took a stick and put it on his shoulder, and went to his father. And his -father got up, and gave him a black hair. Whenever he cuts it, there -will come out of that hair a black horse. - -Now the emperor said that whoever climbs up to his daughter in the house, -on horseback, he will give her to that one. And the big-brother said: -“Come along, brother, let us see who will climb up to the girl.” And the -fool said: “Let me, brothers, see whether I, too, can get there.” And -his brothers beat him; they did not let him. And the two brothers took -the horses, and off they went. But the foolish brother took the hair, -and there was made for him a horse from the hair, and off he went. He -overtook his two brothers, he caught them up from behind; and they asked -him: “Who are you, man?” He is a hero. And he beats them severely, his -brothers; and off he went to the girl. And he climbed up into the house -to the girl. And he took the girl for himself; and his father-in-law -kissed him, the fool. - -And his father-in-law sends his two sons-in-law (the wise sons-in-law) to -kill birds. And the fool came to his father-in-law, the emperor, and the -fool told him to give him a gun that he too may kill birds. And the fool -broke the gun, and went off with his two brothers-in-law. He was the -third. And his brothers-in-law walked about, whom he sought, and they -did not kill any birds at all. But the fool killed many birds with the -stick, without a gun. And his brothers-in-law came and saw the birds; -and they say to themselves: “The fool has killed many birds, and we have -killed none.” And they beg the birds from the fool, that he should give -them to them. And the fool said: “When I cut your bellies with the -knife, then will I give you the birds, and I will tell the emperor that -you have killed the birds.” And when he has cut their bellies, he gives -them the birds, and they went home. - -And the emperor saw the many birds, and praises his two sons-in-law. And -he asks the fool: “Have you killed none?” And the fool tells the -emperor: “It was I who killed those birds. You do not believe me? I cut -their bellies with the knife, and gave them the birds.” And the emperor -pulled up their shirts, and looked at their bellies. The birds are very -good. And the emperor said to his sons-in-law: “Silly fellows! why did -they let him cut their bellies?” - - I have no more. - - * * * * * - - THE END - - * * * * * - - Printed by ROBERT MCGEE & CO., Ltd., 34, South Castle Street, Liverpool. - - - - -NOTE. - - -Readers who may be sufficiently interested in these strange yet -fascinating people to wish to make a closer study of them and their -speech, are referred to the able articles published by Mr. E. O. Winstedt -and the Rev. F. G. Ackerley in the _Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society_. -Information about the work of this Society and the conditions of -membership can be obtained by application to the Honorary Secretary, 21A, -Alfred Street, Liverpool. - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{v} It’s not been possible to reproduce the typography of the original. -Instead the various groups have been split into separate tables, with the -parents coming first, and the row underneath being their children, and -the row underneath that the children of the children.—DP. - -{vi} The author’s thanks are offered to the editors of _The Bazaar_, -_The Manchester Guardian_, and _The Birkenhead News_, who have most -kindly permitted him to reprint articles from their respective -publications, as well as to Mr. Fred. Shaw, Mr. F. A. Cooper, the Central -News and Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd., for leave to reproduce their -admirable photographs. - -{1} _Manchester Guardian_, Friday, August 30, 1912. - -{7} _Manchester Guardian_, Thursday, June 20, 1912. - -{13} _Birkenhead News_, Wednesday, March 26, 1913. - -{32} From _The Bazaar_, _Pictures_, _Poetry_, _Prose_, a publication -edited by Dr. William E. A. Axon and sold for the benefit of a bazaar -held at Manchester in October, 1912, in aid of the United Kingdom -Alliance, a temperance organization. - -{38} _Birkenhead News_, Saturday, March 29, 1913. - -{44} _Birkenhead News_, Saturday, March 1, 1913. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GYPSY COPPERSMITHS IN LIVERPOOL AND -BIRKENHEAD*** - - -******* This file should be named 62269-0.txt or 62269-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/2/6/62269 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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