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HE camp was not near the village. It was near the woods. The Gypsies chose the place because they could get plenty of dry brush to burn. And there was a brook near by where they could get good water. Some of the village children thought at first that it would be fine sport to live so: never to go to school—never to learn lessons—never to dress up clean—always run about as they pleased and where they pleased.
But after the Gypsies had been there a long time, they thought differently. They saw the dirty, ragged children carrying big kettles of water from the brook, or large bundles of brush from the woods. They learned that the women and children did all the work. Perhaps the men stole many of the things they had to eat. And one day when two or three boys ventured into the camp, they saw, in one of the tents, a poor, sick child lying on the bare ground. No one was near it.
They went to their pleasant, comfortable homes, feeling that it was better to have a good father and mother to care for them, even if they did send them to school and require them to learn lessons.
THE GIPSY
WALTER'S BUTTERFLIES.
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