George Smith, as they
always do."

[Picture: A Gipsy Tent for Two Men, their Wives, and Eleven Children, and
in which "Deliverance" was born]

Leading article in the _Primitive Methodist_, November 27th:--"Mr. George
Smith, of Coalville, is endeavouring to do a work for the children of
Gipsies similar to that he has done for the children employed in
brick-yards and the children of canal-boatmen--that is, bring them under
some sort of supervision, so that they may secure at least a small share
in the educational advantages of the country. Recently he published an
account of a visit to an encampment of the Gipsies near Wandsworth
Common, and it is evident that these wanderers without any settled place
of abode look on his efforts with some considerable approval. The
encampment was made up of a number of tents, huts, and vans, and
contained some sixty half-naked poor Gipsy children and thirty Gipsy men
and women, living in an indescribable state of ignorance, dirt, filth,
and misery, mostly squatting upon the ground, or otherwise making their
beds upon peg shavings and straw; and it turned out upon inquiry that not
more than four of these poor creatures could read a sentence or write a
letter. They are, however, not indisposed to be subject to regulations
that will contribute to their partial education, if to nothing more. In
passing from one of these miserable habitations to another, Mr. Smith
found an old Gipsy woman proud of her name and descent, for she was a
Lee, and a Lee of the fourth generation. To this old woman he explained
his purpose, sitting on a low seat under the cover of the tent with his
knees on a level with his chin. He wanted, he said, 'to get all the
Gipsy tents and vans, and other movable habitations in the country,
registered and under proper sanitary arrangements, and the children
compelled to attend school wherever they may be temporarily located, and
to receive an education which will in some degree help to get them out of
the low, heartrending condition into which they have been allowed to
sink.' Mrs. Lee listened with pleasure to this narration of Mr. Smith's
purpose, and, though in great poverty, desired to aid this good work.
Her stock of cash amounted to three-halfpence; but this she insisted upon
giving, so that she might contribute a little, at any rate, towards the
improvement of her people. We hope Mr. Smith may succeed in his work,
and succeed speedily, so t