it was
wonderful to see with what avidity they stretched out the dirtiest little
hand imaginable as Mr. Smith prepared to distribute some sweets he had
brought with him for that purpose. As we entered, all the vans were shut
up, and the tents only were occupied, the vans being apparently deserted
but presently a door was opened half-way, and out popped a little Gipsy
head, with sparkling eyes and curly hair; and then another door opened,
and a similar spectacle was to be seen. Let us look into the van, about
the size of a tiny cabin, and chock full, in the first place, with a
cooking-stove; and then with shelves, with curtains and some kind of
bedding, apparently not very clean, on which the family repose. It is a
piteous life, even at the best, in that van; even when the cooking pot is
filled with something more savoury than cabbages or potatoes; the usual
fare; but the children seem happy, nevertheless, in their dirty rags, and
with their luxurious heads of curly hair. All of them are as ignorant as
Hottentots, and lead a life horrible to think of. I only saw one woman
in the camp, and I only saw her by uncovering the top and looking into
the tent in which she resides. She is terribly poor, she says, and
pleads earnestly for a few coppers; and I can well believe she wants
them, for in this England of ours, and especially in the outskirts of
London, the Gipsy is not a little out of place. Around us are some
strapping girls, one with a wonderfully sweet smile on her face, who, if
they could be trained to domestic service, would have a far happier life
than they can ever hope to lead. The cold and wet seem to affect them
not, nor the poor diet, nor the smoke and bad air of their cabins, in
which they crowd, while the men lazily work, and the mothers are far
away. The leading lady in this camp is absent on business; but she is a
firm adherent of Mr. George Smith, and wishes to see the children
educated; and as she is a Lee, and as a Lee in Gipsy annals take the same
rank as a Norfolk Howard in aristocratic circles, that says a good deal;
but, then, if you educate a Gipsy girl, she will want to have her hands
and face, at any rate, clean; and a Gipsy boy, when he learns to read,
will feel that he is born for a nobler end than to dwell in a stinking
wigwam, to lead a lawless life, to herd with questionable characters, and
to pick up a precarious existence at fairs and races; and our poets and
novelists and artists wi