dy-hen sitting; she had been so occupied
one week, and the presence of the children and adults, who shared her
straw bed, in no way discomposed her. We found that baccy and 'suckers'
were the most negotiable exchanges with these people. The women, young
and old, small boys and the men, all smoked, and the day became historic
with them because, of the extra smokes they were able to have. The
'suckers' were the largest specimen of 'bulls' eyes' we could find--not
those dainty specimens sold at the West-end or in the Strand, but real
whoppers, almost the size of pigeons' eggs; and yet there was no baby
whose mouth was not found equal to the reception and the hiding of the
largest; and we noticed as a strange psychological fact that no baby
would consent, though earnestly entreated by its mother, to suffer the
'sucker' to leave its mouth for the mother to look at. The babies knew
better, shaking their wary little heads at their mothers. Instinct was
stronger than obedience. We were not sorry to get away from Lamb-lane,
with its filthy habitations, blanket washings, ragged boys and girls,
lazy men and women. For the genuine Gipsy tribe, and their mysterious
promptings to live apart from their fellows in the lanes and fields of
the country, we have a sentimental pity; but with such as these Lamb-lane
people, off-scourings of the lowest form of society, we have no manner of
sympathy; and we hope that a gracious Act of Parliament may soon rid
English social life of such a plague, and teach such people their duty to
their children and to society at large--things they are too ignorant and
too idle to learn for themselves."

My son sends me the following account of a visit he made to a Gipsy
encampment near London:--I visited the camp at Barking Road this
afternoon. Possibly you thought I might not go if you gave me a correct
description of the route, for I certainly went through more muddy streets
and over lock-bridges than your instructions mentioned. Presuming I was
near the camp, I inquired of a policeman, and was surprised with the
reply that there used to be one, but he had not heard anything of it for
a long while. His mind was evidently wandering, or else he meant it as a
joke, for we were then standing within three hundred yards of the largest
encampment I have yet seen. It is situated at the back of Barking Road,
in what may be termed a field, but it certainly is not a green one, for
the only horse and donkey t