George Smith

“ When a death takes place in the camp the corpse is laid out on the ground. The body is usually kept for a week, and during that time none of us go to sleep. A light is kept burning and we
EAT NO MEAT
until the grave closes over the departed. All that we take in the way of food is a cup of tea, or a bit of dry bread. We pay great reverence to our dead, more so than any other race on the face of the earth. There is a custom universal among our people, namely, of refraining from some usage or indulgence in honour of the departed. ”

“ For some time past she has chosen Liverpool as her winter residence, pitching her camp on the waste ground near Walton Breck, and during the absence of her lord and master in Ireland her caravan has been the resort of credulous nursemaids and naïve servant girls. A more respectable tribe than that of the Smiths never trod the open heath. They might be objected to as being a little too genteel. The interior of their camp is more like a Turkish divan than the good old smoke-begrimed vagrant habitation. ”

“ The Romany, doubtless, are superstitious—they like to be free. That old customs still adhere to us, I must admit; our language is our own, and a true Gitano is as jealous of its possession as his honour. Nothing can lower one of us more than learning the house-dweller our Romanis. Strange though it is, whilst listening, as I have done lately, to the many words I have heard spoken by the Tamill, Hindoo, and Ceylonese Indians in the Exhibition, we find numerous words similar to our own, and bearing, as I understand, the same meaning. ”

“ Travelling as I have in nearly every town of note in Great Britain, it is only natural I should know and be known, I am pleased to say, in all. I have met and left many friends whom it is not easy to forget. ”

“ The women have the true Zingara beauty of face, olive-tinted forehead, sharp glittering eyes, and their black hair, that peculiar metallic hue which one sees on the wings of the dusky raven. The women are fond of jewellery, heavy earrings fall on their necks, and their small copper-coloured hands sparkle with rings. ”

“ House dwellers often have remarked as to the life we lead: many have suggested it to be unhealthy. Now to prove to the contrary, my dear mother died at the age of 75, and my father at the age of 81.
I think, speaking of one family only, this will be a sufficient answer as to whether the life of a gipsy, breathing nature’s own atmosphere, is as good as a dweller in houses or not. My family consists of eight children—four boys and four girls—the eldest whom is now 28, the youngest reaching 16. ”

“ Fortune-telling is not the stock-in-trade of the tribe, but the dark-skinned “Gitanos” do not absolutely refuse to have their palms crossed if credulous ladies will insist in peering into the future. We understand that these descendants of Romany Ri have had the honour of appearing before the Queen in Dunbar, Scotland, and although the King does not impress one by his tawny skin he is a genuine ruler and speaks Romany. ”

“ Smith is a general type of the race—gentlemanly, intelligent, and courteous. In years he must be over sixty, but he is still as straight as a poplar, and wiry and muscular as a man of thirty, He has in his time been an extensive horse dealer, and for years made regular visits to Ireland. ”

“ But fortune-telling is only a small part of the gipsy equipment. We do not attach much importance to it. We are of the dusky race, whose history began “on the dawn of the world.” John Bunyan was one of our people. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, was a gipsy, and on Christmas Day we burn an ash tree in honour of Him, because He lived and died one of us. ”

“ Selling little fancy baskets is ostensibly the only traffic carried on by the olive complexioned family; but this is not their only stock-in-trade. It is surprising to witness the large number of graudes dames who enter the tent for the sole object of having their fortunes told. This strange curiosity was supposed to exist only amongst domestic servants, p. 18but Mary Jane’s mistress seems quite as anxious to dive into the mysteries of the future. Many ladies feel ashamed to patronise chiromancy in the Exhibition, but have asked for private appointments with her Majesty Mrs. Smith. ”

“ I need not say Fairlop Fair was a little gold mine to the members of our tribe. The Cockneys to the present day consider the Gipsies to be part and parcel of the festival and annual gathering, none being so happy as the favoured ones who could boast of having had tea in a gipsy’s tent.
p. 8My horsedealing propensities grew with me as I grew.
When I arrived at the age of 26, I then took to myself a wife. Long may we both live to be in the future, as in the past, a comfort to each other. ”

“ My idea in writing this little pamphlet is to enlighten the minds of people as to the mode of living, and the customs of our tribe; and I think the reader will be convinced that we are not the desperadoes that some people think, but, on the other hand, honest living and a christian race; always ready to do good. ”

“ These certificates in every instance disproved Smith’s slanders, but he has not had the courage to withdraw them. Why, we have even here a burying ground, which has been procured from Sir Archibald Campbell. My sister is buried there, and she brought her son all the way from Galway, in Ireland, to be interred here. That does not look like neglecting our dead, does it? Then this man from Coalville says that we are filthier than the pigs. Does this little place of mine look like a pig-stye? The real gipsy, the dweller in tents, is cleaner than those who reside in houses. ”

“ Suppose the deceased was addicted to drink, it is common for the deceased’s brother to never taste liquor during the remainder of his life. That will do for an example. At our wakes no whisky is drunk, and a silence deep as the grave pervades the tents. ”

“ George Smith, the ruler of the Exhibition gipsy encampment. The absence of swarthiness in his Majesty’s case must be attributed to other causes, for if rumour is correct we believe the monarch is a staunch teetotaler. Like the great majority of Bohemians, he is addicted to trafficking in horses, while his Royal consort and her young princesses do a good business in basket selling and fortune telling. The Queen is well known in the neighbourhood of Everton, hers being one of the most familiar figures to those who are in the habit of travelling to town in trams. ”

“ Whilst at Oxford, when giving our galas in the field in Binsey Lane, near the Perch, we were patronised by many of the Collegians, amongst whom we had a frequent visitor in the person of the son of the Khedive of Egypt, who evinced great curiosity as to our people and their habits. ”

“ My first business transaction consisted of receiving a present of a pony. One day, shortly after the Epping Fair of 1842, I was sent by my parents to the Manor House at Loughton, with some basket-ware. Being some distance from our camp, one of the upper servants very kindly attended to my inward wants, and having packed the silver for the ware, for safety, in a piece of brown paper, in my breeches pocket, I started off for the forest. ”

“ They do not sit on chairs at meals, but squat in tailor-like fashion on the floor, and in the same attitude that I have seen American Indians do in their wigwams. The members of the Smith family are dark-eyed and dark-haired. ”

“ During my stay in Ireland I p. 11must mention the pleasure I feel at the advancement in their education my children received by visiting the Marlboro’ Street Schools in Dublin. Many times have I in England extended my stay in various towns for the sake of educating them, and it is with pleasure I feel in having done so, it will assuredly be to their interest and welfare. Knowing as I do that when a boy, all we of the Gipsy tribe read from and of was “Nature’s own book.” ”

“ Unlike the Laps, they have not been engaged as one of the attractions of the Exhibition, and on coming forward on their own account they display a business enterprise which does credit to their commercial instincts. ”