I am also much indebted to the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette for his sketch and valuable help, and also to others with kind heart and ready pen, whose names would fill a volume, for assisting me to place upon the statute book the Canal Boats Act of 1884, which will, when the whole of my plans are carried out, bring education and protection to 60,000 canal and gipsy children, with but little cost or inconvenience to the van and cabin dwellers.
GEORGE SMITH, of Coalville.
Michaelmas, 1884.
CONTENTS.
I. SUNDAY RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIESUPON PUMP HILL. | |
Gipsy Smith’s quarters—Gipsy Brown’swigwam—What I saw at the “Robin Hood”—Teaat Pethers’—Pethers’ trials and reception byhis mother | p. [1]–20 |
II. RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES IN EPPINGFOREST. | |
My companion “on the road”—Thewidow—Telling fortunes—My reception—A youth whohad taken to gipsying—A drunken lot—The Foresthotel—A gipsy hunt—Back to my lodgings | [20]–33 |
III. RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES UPONWANSTEAD FLATS. | |
The Philanthropic Institution, Southwark—MaryCarpenter—Mr. Stevenson—Meeting with “an oldfool”—A fire king—A showman’sintroduction—A school teacher—A gipsy convert’sstory—A flat’s row—My lodgings—Returnhome | [39]–59 |
RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES ATNORTHAMPTON. | |
“On the road”—Upon thecourse—Seeds of thought—My salutation—A gipsydrinking rum out of a coffin—A communist—Agipsy’s earnings—A gipsy child—A gipsysteam-horse owner’s tale | [60]–74 |
V. RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES ATWARWICK RACES. | |
What I saw and heard in the train—Mylodgings—Germs of thought—A race after adog—Meeting with the gipsy Hollands andClaytons—Alfred Clayton’s trials and change forgood—The death of his child—Meets with an educatedyouth—Clayton begins to pray—Race-goers | [75]–91 |
VI. RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES ATBOUGHTON GREEN. | |
Polls, Jims, and Sals—Drawn to theGreen—Northampton Mercury—Cowper’spoem—History of the Green—Spectacle lane—Gipsymurders—Rows—Captain Slash—Sights upon theGreen—Gipsy dodges—My lodgings—Attea—Gipsy fight—Mine hostess sings—My bed | [92]–121 |
VII. RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES AT OXFORDFAIR. | |
Woman and child in the arms of death—Tramping withmy loads—What I saw on the way—Travellers atPaddington—Arriving at Oxford—What I saw onSunday—My lodging—Meet with Jenny Smith—Numberof gipsies at Oxford—Sights at Oxford—My visionsduring the night—A gipsy showman—A walk with NabobBrown—Gipsy fairies—Gamblingstalls—Boscoe—Backsliders turned gipsies—Mylast peep—Letter in The Daily News—A gipsyteaching her children to pray | [122]–164 |
VIII. Rambles amongthe gipsies at hinckley. | |
My tramp—A gipsy woman’shardships—Row—Gipsy horse-dealing—A gipsySmith—Salvation Army—My lodgings—Aphorisms—A Sunday morning turn-out—Meetingwith the gipsies Bedman—Breakfast—A gipsy’screeds—Present-day gipsies—Burden’s poems | [165]–196 |
IX. AMONG THE GIPSIES AT LONGBUCKBY. | |
Romany—In the bye-lanes—By the side of thecanal—Aphorisms—In the meadows near Murcott, and whatI saw—Scissor-grinding gipsy—A gipsy with herbasket—A stolen child among thegipsies—Friends—At the gate—Coronationpole—G. Flash—Tear-fetching scene—An engineergipsy—His wife’s sufferings—Tramp fromHeckington to Spilsby | [197]–225 |
X. RAMBLES AT BULWELL ANDNOTTINGHAM. | |
On the way to Leicester—My train experiences—ASunday evening at Leicester—My lodgings—Meeting withgipsies Winters and Smith at Nottingham—A childstolen—Congress papers—Return home—Gipsiesspreading disease—Morning Post | [226]–251 |
XI. RAMBLES AMONG THE GIPSIES ATDAVENTRY AND BANBURY. | |
My companions—Meeting with gipsy Mott—Gipsyhorse-stealing—Gipsy showmen—Gipsy Smith’sexperiences—Start to Banbury—Gossip on theroad—Children’s revival at Byfield—Mylodgings—My hostess’s cats—My bed—What Isaw on the way to Banbury—Gipsy shows—Number of vansattending Banbury fairs—Solo needed | [252]–277 |
XII. SHORT EXCURSIONS AND RAMBLES. | |
Gipsy sham—On the way to Edinburgh—What I sawat Leicester—Cherry Island—HackneyMarshes—Bedford—Leicester fair—What otherssay—Letter from Mr. Mundella—Essex quartersessions—Question put to the Government—How theytreat gipsies in Hungary—Question put to the Governmentthrough Mr. Burt—My Bill—Visit to TurnhamGreen—Fortune-telling—Gipsies round London | [278]–303 |
RAMBLES AMONG THE SCOTCHGIPSIES. | |
Wanderings of the brain—My start fromLeicester—On the way to Carlisle—Germs of thoughtgrown on the way—Arrival at Kelso—My lodgings—Acold night—Aphorisms—Start to Yetholm—Lovelysnow—Arrival at Yetholm—Leydon’spoems—Introduction to Blythe—Parting—Meeting anold gipsy—Gipsy queens—Return to myquarters—Baird’s work—Child sold to thegipsies—Gipsy frozen to the ground—What England hasdone—What she ought to do—Poem: Zutilla | [304]–338 |
APPENDIX A. | |
My plans explained and objectionsanswered | [339]–351 |
APPENDIX B. | |
Letter to the Right Hon. Earl Aberdare | [352]–355 |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| MY VISIT TO ENGLISH GIPSY CHILDREN ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF LONDON (by E. Weldon) | Frontispiece |
| A HOUSE-DWELLING GIPSY’S WIGWAM NEAR LOUGHTON | [1] |
| INSIDE A HOUSE-DWELLING GIPSY’S WIGWAM, PUMP HILL, EPPING FOREST | [7] |
| AN ENGLISH GIPSY COUNTESS ON THE “LOOK-OUT” (by E. Weldon) | [35] |
| TWO ENGLISH GIPSY PRINCESSES “AT HOME” (by F. Weldon) | [51] |
| AN ENGLISH GIPSY DUCHESS—SMITH—“RHEUMATICKY AND LAME” (by E. Weldon) | [69] |
| THE “SWEETS” AND “SOURS” OF GIPSY MARRIED LIFE (by E. Weldon) | [116] |
| “ON THE ROAD” TO OXFORD FAIR | [123] |
| A SCISSOR-GRINDING GIPSY. “SCISSORS TO GRIND” | [207] |
| GIPSY QUARTERS, PLAISTOW MARSHES | [281] |
| AN ENGLISH GIPSY KING—“KRÁLIS”—LYING IN WAIT IN HIS PALACE, KRÁLISKO-KAIR (by E. Weldon) | [283] |
| GIPSY WINTER QUARTERS, YETHOLM | [321] |
| ESTHER FAA BLYTHE—A SCOTCH GIPSY QUEEN | [328] |
A Sunday Ramble among the Gipsies upon Pump Hill and Loughton.
Sunday, April 23, 1882, opened with a wet morning. The clouds were thick and heavy. The smoke seemed to hover, struggle and rise again as if life depended on its mounting higher than the patched and broken roofs of London houses. The rain came down drearily, dribbly, and drizzly. It hung upon my garments with saturating tendencies, and I really got wet through before I was aware of it. The roads were very uncomfortable for feet in non-watertight boots. Umbrellas were up. Single “chaps,” and others in “couples” were wending their way across Victoria Park. The school bells were chiming out in all directions “Come to school,” “It is time,” “Do not delay,” “Come to school.” In response to the bell-calls the little prattlers and toddlers were hurrying along to school. Their big sisters, with “jerks and snatches,” frequently called out, “Now, then, come along; we shall be too late; singing will be over, and if it is I’ll tell your mother.”