CARAVAN, SHOWING FIREPLACE.
“Why shouldn’t I?” retorts the gypsy, “my people have always worked hard for all they’ve had, and so have I. If I love the beautiful shapes and colours of the old china that’s belonged to my people time out of mind, that’s more than these nobs would; they don’t care twopence for what’s beautiful in ’em, they only want ’em so they can say I’ve got something nobody else can get and it cost me hundreds of pounds.” The gypsy has a love for beauty of form, quaintness of design and richness of colour, and if his worldly goods are few, he still has his lares et penates, and if to use them in a legitimate way gives him pleasure, “why,” as he asks, “shouldn’t he?”
For the preservative painting and exterior decoration of the caravan, the most popular colours are green and yellow, a preference which may perhaps be attributed to a reflex action on the mind of predominant colours in nature they know and love so well.
Gypsies know well how to drive a bargain; despite this, or perhaps because of it, the cheapest colour is not always used, as the proprietor of the van has an eye to the lasting brilliance of the colour. I know of an instance when a colour dealer offered a Romany man a choice of lemon-coloured paints varying from fourpence to half a crown the pound, and although the van owner appeared to be a good deal exercised in mind as to the propriety of using a high-priced article, which in appearance seemed exactly like the low-priced, he eventually purchased the most expensive, it being explained to him that it would retain its original brilliance for years, while the lower qualities would probably fade in a short time. I did not see this van after it had been painted, but it was, I believe, entirely of the brightest lemon chrome procurable. As I have already indicated, green is favoured by many as the principal colour for the outside of the van, and in effect it is usually much less aggressive.
The Romany love of brilliant colour is, after all, but another Oriental characteristic which persists, and, upon reflection, one cannot fail to be impressed with the idea that it is not consistent to decry the taste of the Romanichal as barbarous and at the same time select a mustard colour for one’s own motor-car.
A GOOD TYPE OF CARAVAN.