rom the house-dweller that the men of the
roads and commons draw the elements of their life, but in that life they
are as shaken and confused as the starlight in the rippling river. But
if we look through our own life we find that it is not the gypsy alone
who is merely a reflection and an imitation of the stars above him, and a
creature of second-hand fashion.

I found in the camp an old acquaintance, named Brown, and also perceived
at the first greeting that the woman Stanley had told Mrs. Brown that I
would not be _mongerdo_, or begged from, and that the latter, proud of
her power in extortion, and as yet invincible in mendicancy, had boasted
that she would succeed, let others weakly fail. And to lose no time she
went at me with an abruptness and dramatic earnestness which promptly
betrayed the secret. And on the spot I made a vow that nothing should
get a farthing from me, though I should be drawn by wild horses. And a
horse was, indeed, brought into requisition to draw me, or my money, but
without success; for Mr. Brown, as I very well knew,--it being just then
the current topic in the best society on the road,--had very recently
been involved in a tangled trouble with a stolen horse. This horse had
been figuratively laid at his door, even as a "love-babe" is sometimes
placed on the front steps of a virtuous and grave citizen,--at least,
this is what White George averred,--and his very innocence and purity
had, like a shining mark, attracted the shafts of the wicked. He had
come out unscathed, with a package of papers from a lawyer, which
established his character above par; but all this had cost money,
beautiful golden money, and brought him to the very brink of ruin! Mrs.
Brown's attack was a desperate and determined effort, and there was more
at stake on its success than the reader may surmise. Among gypsy women
skill in begging implies the possession of every talent which they most
esteem, such as artfulness, cool effrontery, and the power of moving pity
or provoking generosity by pique or humor. A quaint and racy book might
be written, should it only set forth the manner in which the experienced
matrons give straight-tips or suggestions to the maidens as to the manner
and lore of begging; and it is something worth hearing when several sit
together and devise dodges, and tell anecdotes illustrating the noble art
of mendicity, and how it should be properly practiced.

Mrs. Brown knew that to extort alms