A MYSTERIOUS RACE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3553, 19 June 1912, Page 3

A MYSTERIOUS RACE.

THE REMNANT OF THE GIPSIES

There remain in England about 12,000 'gipsies, nomad and sedentary, while Scotland and Wales have a emit (5000 of the same people. The gipmas of Wales and of the Northern English counties are noted as retaining moi© of the ancient Romany than thenkinsfolk of Southern England, who indulge in red hair, snub noses, anti blue eyes, and speak with such very corrupt Romany that the better class clans refuse to recognise them. Even in the North, inquiring members ol the Gipsy Lore Society must distinguish between the true Romanichel and those descendants of Scottish tinkers and degenerate English dipsles who at large horse -fairs may be camping on the same ground wrtli the superior Hornes and Bosvfeils. Just nmv, of course, rural England is enriched by that host of splendid Continental nomads who scattered .from their first camp at Birkenhead to test, the charms of common and highway, and have not yet reassembled for the further trip to Canada or Brazil. But, still, gipsyism is. declining, say observers; and the modern Romany, not to speak of the “posh-rat,” or halfbreed, seems to take more kindly than lie should to the ways of city life. Th© poor gipsy drifts to the slums, the prosperous gipsy does not despise a prosperous villa. Even mi the country a Romany of unimpeachable wandering descent-may be- found settled down.quite happily within the limits of liis farm. Between the attractions of the town, the increasing tolerance of mixed marriages and the sophists cation of once Arcadian lanes and roads, the. lingering remnants )of a mysterious race seem hound to be absorbed by degree’s in the everyday life of the English people.