Wednesday, August 19, 2009 10:13 PM CDT
Visitors to the village: other gypsy encounters
By Rachel Sykes
A faithful employee of J.O. Toland’s Seed Store, Mr. Burch, once followed close on the heels of a gypsy in the store, as though there were a magnetic force causing him to mime the looker’s every move. The distance between them could have been very intimidating to most potential customers, but it is questionable whether it phased the gypsy.
Parents would fear that their children would be kidnapped. Lola Adams of Cooks Mills would be sternly warned by her mother not to go near them when they camped nearby on the west end of their small town.
Lola did not believe this was true. She would go to their area and in friendship ask what their names were. This seemed to satisfy Lola, and this was the extent of their contact.
Someone told me that a warning was sounded to country neighbors that there were gypsies in the area. I would assume one alarm might have been ringing the outdoor “dinner” bells, which were easily heard across the silent fields. There may have been regular routes through the country followed year to year.
One lifetime resident west of Arcola told me that the buggies went south past her farm every summer. How far did these horses have to travel, is something to think about.
Louis Blume told how gypsies traded horses with his father every summer. The women and growing girls feared leaving the house, so stayed inside. Perhaps fresh horses were needed for their continuing journeys. There is so little we understand about their lives.
A resident of the area around the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church east of Dorans said gypsies camped every summer on the grounds of a country school south of the church. “They were always trying to sell you something, especially jewelry.”
In one of Gene Hoots’ books he describes an incident when some gypsy men came to their country home west of Humboldt and asked for the exact number of a particular canned food that was still in their cellar. It was a mystery how they would have happened to know the exact number that was still there. Coincidence? Well, perhaps?
Willis Bennett lived near the Poorman School on the west side of Humboldt. He once told about stopping to talk with a neighbor on the country road when a young gypsy girl rode past them on a horse.
She hesitated, then stopped to say, “If you’ll just give me that thar tobacco I’ll just take some of it and hand it back.” She broke off a piece, handed back the remainder, then galloped away.
The Carpenter family lived across from an uninhabited area near the railroad as you enter the village from the north. “Little” Dorothy still recalls how sojourners from the town of Arcola, quite often on foot, would stop at their house for a refreshing drink and even a bite to eat.
Gypsies with their horses and buggies stopped there also. “They walked all through the house, and you had to watch them.” They camped in the empty area directly across the road.
The local undertaker, Mr. Mullikin, was responsible for the burial of a little gypsy baby girl once. A suitable small garment was needed for the baby’s burial. Mr. Mullikin turned to his friend, fellow local businessman, Mr. Toland.
He had a very small daughter. The very dress that was Sancy’s favorite was selected. Mr. Mullikin took Sancy to the graveside rites, and she still recalls holding his hand while the gypsies “sang and sang and sang.”
It is moving to think that this small observer still recalls the spot in the cemetery that was the little girl’s final resting place. The tree under which the burial was finalized is no longer there as a reminder, but after 80 years or so she can still find it... family love and mourning over losses are universal.
Gypsies have been romanticized; appealing little songs dedicated to their way of life sprang up for choruses now and then in the past. I still remember the one taught us by our first singing classes when I was an eighth-grader. Burl Ives’ sister, Argola Walker, was our dedicated teacher. Here is my recollection, which may not be totally accurate:
I have followed gypsies, over hill and dale;
Traced the signs that were set to show,
Point out the way that we must go---
Gypsy trails I will always know
By the gypsy signs.
Today’s gypsies can establish more permanent residences. They can hold down factory jobs (which may be a problem in the present economy). They usually adopt the predominant religion of the area where they live.
They can even become dancer and movie star like Rita Hayworth, or a Pablo Picasso. Both were of the Roma Tribe.
The tribe was thought to have originated in India as entertainers for a particular army group that was disbanded. Because they traveled west, but entered Europe through the Iran area, they were thought to have originated in Egypt, which led to their identity as “gypsies.”
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