been overlooked by Her Majesty the Queen, who, with her accustomed care
and kindness, has expressed her special interest therein." She was a
good, Christian woman, and I think I am speaking within bounds when I say
that there is not one in five hundred like she was. Before she died she
wished for two things to be carried out at her funeral--one was that she
should be carried on Gipsies' shoulders all the way to Brompton Cemetery,
a distance of some miles; and the other was that Mr. Adams, a gentleman
in the neighbourhood, should conduct a service of song just before the
funeral _cortege_ left the humble domicile; both requests were carried
out, notwithstanding that it was a pouring wet day. The service of song
was very impressive, surrounded as we were by some two hundred Gipsies
and others of the lowest of the low, living in one of the darkest places
in London. Some stood with their mouths open and appeared as if they had
not heard of the name of Jesus before, and there were others whose
features betokened strong emotion, and upon whose cheeks could be seen
the trickling tears as we sung, among others:--

"Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angels' feet have trod,
With its crystal tide for ever
Flowing by the throne of God?
Yes, we'll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river,
That flows by the throne of God.

"Soon we'll reach the silvery river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease,
Soon our happy hearts will quiver,
With the melody of peace.
Yes, we'll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river,
That flows by the throne of God."

It has frequently been stated that the Gipsies never allow their poor to
go into the union workhouses; this statement is both erroneous, false,
and misleading. Clayton, a Gipsy, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, told me only the
other day that he knew an old Gipsy woman who was living in the Melton
Mowbray Union Workhouse at the present time, and mentioned some others
who had died in the union, a few connected with his own family. Abraham
Smith, a respectable and an old Christian Gipsy, mentioned the names of a
dozen or more Gipsies of his acquaintance who had died in the union
workhouse, some in the Biggleswade Union, of the name of Shaw. There was
a time when there was a little repugnance to the union, but this feeling
has died out, thus adding another proof that the Gi