CHAPTER VI
FROM time out of mind to the present day, country fairs have been noteworthy resorts of gypsies of high or low estate. In this connection—without even a passing thought of disparaging Romany folk—one is irresistibly reminded of the passage:—
Wheresoever the body is, “thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
For fairs seem to possess a certain fascination for gypsies apart from their recognition of such institutions as opportunities for doing business. Horse-dealing is a line of business that is frequently adopted by those who have the necessary capital, and so well qualified are they as judges of horseflesh, and so expert do they become in the art of presenting an animal to a prospective purchaser so that it appears to possess all the points he desires, that “cute as a gypsy horse-dealer” might well become a standard aphorism.
Stalls and side shows in the hands of Romany proprietors who need no instruction in their particular style of oratory, and various forms of amusement are also offered by the “people of Egypt,” most of whose dusky daughters are adepts in the wiles that effect the transfer of coin of the realm.
At most gatherings of this nature will be found good Romany types, half-breeds and nondescripts, and it is a fact worthy of noting that usually one hears the best and fullest Romany spoken by the best types of the race, while the language of the half-and-half and mongrels is not infrequently fearful jargon combining Romany jib of a sort, slang and profanity, mixed in different proportions by different individuals, and used with scant regard to either grammar or propriety.
Perhaps one would not be surprised at this if the conditions under which their early life is passed be taken into consideration, for the low, nondescript wanderers—from whom the Romanies for the most part keep aloof—constitute an appreciable proportion of the entertainers at most fairs and the like, and provide a school for the apt pupils of the rising generation, in which they graduate in most of the unholy attainments of the class.
However, fairs change as does all else in a changing world. I recall a visit I paid to a fair in north Hertfordshire years ago, and a brief description of some of the units in its composition will be interesting in comparison with those of to-day. In this particular instance Romany folk were well represented, the women at the stalls and shooting galleries being as usual dressed in black; in their ears were gold earrings, and nearly all wore black hats having ostrich feather adornments. At one stall, presided over by a voluble “Egyptian,” was a large brass arrow pivoted at the centre, like the needle of a large compass; around this was ranged a tempting display of rock,—that sweetstuff beloved of the juvenile who could even eat it after he had “peeked” at the process of manufacture behind the van,—and this was disposed in such a manner that no matter in what direction the arrow pointed when it came to rest after being set spinning by the expectant youngster, the proprietress was always able to see that it pointed to a small piece of rock, so that the speculator received about the value of a farthing in return for his penny; but let us entertain the charitable supposition that this was done to create disgust for games of chance and suppress an incipient taste for gambling. “Yes, my dear,” I can imagine I now hear her saying, “it’s quite fair, we never cheat,—now, young man, have another try.”