d policemen, abler hands than mine. I
may not be able, nor do I profess, to understand the singular number of
the masculine gender of _dad_, _chavo_, _tikeno_, _moosh_, _gorjo_,
_raklo_, _rakli_, _pal palla_; the feminine gender _dei_, _tikeno_,
_chabi_, _joovel_, _gairo_, _rakle_, _raklia_, _pen penya_, or the plural
of the masculine gender _dada_, _chavi_, and the feminine gender _deia_,
_chavo_; but, being a matter of fact kind of man--out of the region of
romance, fantastical notions, enrapturing imagery, nicely coloured
imagination, clever lying and cleverer deception, beautiful green fields,
clear running rivulets, the singing of the wood songster, bullfinch, and
wren, in the midst of woodbine, sweetbriar, and roses--with an eye to
observe, a heart to feel, and a hand ready to help, I am led to
contemplate, aye, and to find out if possible, the remedy, though my
friends say it is impossible--just because it is impossible it becomes
possible, as in the canal movement--for the wretched condition of some
eight to ten thousand little Gipsy children, whose home in the winter is
camping half-naked in a hut, so called, in the midst of 'slush' and snow,
on the borders of a picturesque ditch and roadside, winterly delights,
Sunday and week day alike. The tendency of human nature is to look on
the bright side of things; and it is much more pleasant to go to the edge
of a large swamp, lie down and bask in the summer's sun, making
'button-holes' of daisies, buttercups, and the like, and return home and
extol the fine scenery and praise the richness of the land, than to take
the spade, in shirt-sleeves and heavy boots, and drain the poisonous
water from the roots of vegetation. Nevertheless, it has to be done, if
the 'strong active limbs' and 'bright sparkling eyes' are to be turned to
better account than they have been in the past. It is not creditable to
us as a Christian nation, in size compared with other nations not much
larger than a garden, to have had for centuries these heathenish tribes
in our midst. It does not speak very much for the power of the Gospel,
the zeal of the ministers of Christ's Church, and the activity of the
schoolmaster, to have had these plague spots continually flitting before
our eyes without anything being done to effect a cure. It is true
something has been done. One clergyman, who has 'had opportunities of
observing them,' if not brought in daily contact with them, tells us that
some eigh