charge how to read the sacred gift, they were much affected: the boy, in particular, listened with eager attention, fixing his eyes first on me, then on the Bible. After I had inscribed their names in the title-page, they departed with my blessing; and what is better—with the blessing of God.”
At another part of the year, this clergyman returned to the same spot where he had before been so delightfully engaged in attempting to benefit the poor Gipsies. He found out another camp, and thus writes of them.
“On my approach to the camp (where was a group of nearly naked children,) the Gipsy girls rose up, and, in a modest and respectful manner, answered my questions; while the little swarthy group of children gathered around me. To one of these girls I said, ‘How is it that you bear such a wandering and exposed life?’ In reply, she said, ‘Sir, it is use; use is second nature.’ ‘But have you any religion? Do you think about God, about judgment, and eternity? Do you know how to pray?’ She answered, ‘I say my prayers, sir, night and morning.’ I then said, ‘can any of your people read?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ she replied, ‘one of our men that is not here, can read very well.’ ‘Have you a Bible among you?’ ‘No, sir; we should be thankful for one, sir.’”
On leaving the camp, the clergyman promised to call on them again, when the other part of the family should be returned from the town, where they were gone to vend their wares.
“On my return to the encampment,” says he, “I
was met by two men who came out to greet me. I asked them kindly of their names. They informed me it was Bosvill. The women and children were now collected around me. I inquired who among them could read. Captain Bosvill, for so I called him, answered me, ‘My wife, sir, can read any thing in English.’ I was glad to hear this, and asked them if they had any books. Bosvill went to a package and brought forth his stock, fragments of an old Testament, and an old spelling-book. ‘And what use do you make of your spelling book?’ asked I. ‘My wife,’ replied Bosvill, ‘when she has time, teaches the children their letters.’ I now shewed them the Bible I had in my pocket, saying, that as it was so holy and blessed a book, it ought not to be given in an indifferent and common manner; and asked, if I were to ride over in the evening to give it them, and to explain to them its use, whether they would be all together to hear me. ‘Yes, yes;’ was the reply, from many voices. I appointed seven o’clock for the purpose. I then distributed amongst them some tracts, containing passages for every day in the week, and also the tract of Short Sermons; for which they were very thankful. I told them that I intended to give them a Bible in the evening, a book which few of them had ever seen, and which fewer understood. I was pleased with the modesty of their deportment, and with their eagerness for instruction. Surely they are a people whose hearts the Lord has prepared for the reception of his word.
“At the hour appointed, I put the Bible in my
pocket, and rode again to the camp. The evening was particularly fine: the sun, hidden behind some thick fleecy clouds, had thrown around a mild and pleasing tint; the birds were every where singing their evening song; the ploughman was ‘whistling o’er the lea;’ and nature, after the labours of the day, was preparing for her wonted rest. It was a fit time for meditation, prayer, and praise. Such an evening, perhaps, as that which led the patriarch of old to meditation, when he lifted up his eyes and saw the returning servants of his father bringing home his future wife. As I drew near to the camp, I began to revolve in my mind the best way of making them acquainted with the importance of the most essential doctrines contained in the holy book I was about to give them. On my arrival, I found that I had been long expected. The men, however, were not there; they were gone to water a horse, which they had lent all the day to a farmer; but a tawny girl ran with great speed, barefooted, and brought them to the camp. I now dismounted, and gave my horse, with my stick, to the care of one of the men. The family circle was formed into an irregular circle round some pale embers, some of them sitting cross-legged on the grass, and others standing. I placed myself so as to have the women and children chiefly before me. The woman who could read, was seated opposite me: the men, the tents, and the package to the right; while the horses and asses belonging to the tribe, were quietly grazing at a short distance in the lane. All was solemn stillness; all was attentive expectation.
As I took from my pocket the Bible, the eyes of the whole company were instantly fixed upon it. This book, said I, which I bring you, is the book of God; it is sent from heaven to make poor miserable and dying man happy. I then spoke a short time on God; on creation; how God created man upright; how he was once happy in paradise; the way in which he sinned, and broke the law of his Maker, and became guilty, polluted, and exposed to death and hell; that to save men from this dreadful state, God devised a plan of mercy; that he sent his Son, and the Scriptures of truth, which shew unto us the way of salvation. This was something of the outline of my lecture; but I added the responsibility of men to read the book, and to seek to understand it. I solemnly charged them, by the sacred book itself, and by the account which they, at the day of judgment, must give to God for it, to make the most sacred and constant use of it, by reading it together daily in their camp. In the course of my discourse, I stopped, and said,—‘Now do you understand what I say?’ Captain Bosvill’s wife replied, ‘We understand you, sir; but we have not the same words which you have.’ In conclusion, I spoke of the coming judgment, when they and all men must stand and be judged at the righteous bar of God. The Bible was then delivered to the care of the captain of the gang, and of his wife, the woman who could read.
“Now, I said, let us all kneel down on the grass, and pray for God’s blessing with this holy book. Instantly a female brought from her tent a small piece of