THE LIFE OF THE GIPSY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18713, 20 May 1924, Page 8

THE LIFE OF THE GIPSY.

DESCENT FROM IBHMAEUTE9.

STRANGE AND ANCIENT PEOPLE.

"Our people : are a; strange people and an ancient people,' *P said Captain ■'•' Gipsy Pat "Smith, the evangelist, in the course • of ■ a,racy ', and interesting . address on Romany, life at the :■ weekly ':■ luncheon of the '•; Auckland Rotary :((■; Club .(• yesterday. Ho explained that the word Gipsy was not known in 'the : Romany :( vocabulary but Ms people now ( called themselves by that, name .as the Gorgios, or those not of Romany blood, had bestowed that title upon them. The name -Gipsy, however, was no clue to' the origin oij the people/ and when lan • MacLaren and Sir ; James Barrie spoke 'of ,them as \ "these Egyptians " they erred. The best clue f» the origin 1 ; of fa people- was • their traditions, arid the v legend handed down by the old people was P that they were the direct descendants of .the Ishmaelifes mentioned in the(l6th Chapter of Genesis. They had a language of their -own and. the. speaker was of opinion . that ' the ..word. Romany had been adopted as being,..the language of a. roaming people. -.•':;■:-: ; The English gipsies, said the speaker, could trace their ancestry back to the year (1066 > A.D. He (was, however, i not, keen on those who were for ever speaking of 'their ancestry for the reason that} he feltj that they were like the potafb-~the i beat part of them was( underground. He explained ■ that : there % .were ($■ gipsies P as \ English as (the English themselves, :whila J Chose of the tribe in Scotland and Ireland had ; acquired most of the characteristics j of the people among whom they roamed, yet they were ■ at .distinct; race with! cus- j toms and language of their own. In -all his travels he had never met! a Romany, with the exception (of his own father, who could read: or [write, but all Could relate the story of the Ishmaelites. ■-.■ They were taught \ from their (earliestf years that : the hand of r the Gentile was "against them and so : they were against the *'Gentile/ • Dealing with their .-means';.of livelihood* Captain Smith' said that : apart -from " finding" things, ■ not - stealing )as was generally supposed, the chief 'sourcev of revenue to the gipsies was fortune-telling. ; He found when he became converted that he could no longer live the life ; of : -his people for, as he put it, " you cannot Cell fortunes if ' you cannot '<(- tell-i i lies. P To this difficulty he attributed ■ tha'rfact«that few of ;', his people embraced ;(!religion (be-' cause they were not? willing to live in the ( street called ( "Straight." It (.(.;; was somewhat '■ different with the ( Gentiles, he naively stated, mentioning thai? in > his younger days he was .wont to think that if a man went to( church he must( be good in all things, but he had since been disillusioned. . .. . ■ .•-(.•'•'" '

. .The speaker, who was frequently applauded, concluded his address with €he ■ story of his conversion at. a time when he was the leader. ©!■.<«& gang of city roughs. '"*'.■•.'