hat. Never mind if it is Sunday, send for
some 'fourpenny' for us." I partly did as they bid me, but, owing to the
darkness of the tent and the fog, I sat upon a seat that was partly
covered with filth, consequently I had an addition to my trousers more
than I bargained for. I told them my object was not to come to send for
"fourpenny," but to get a law passed to compel the Gipsy parents to send
their children to school, and to have their tents registered and provided
with a kind of school pass book; and, before I had well finished my
remarks, one of the Gipsies, a good-looking fellow, said, "I say, Bill,
that will be a capital thing, won't it?" "God bless you, man, for it,"
was the remark of another, and so the thing went the round among them.
By this time there were some score or more Gipsy women and children at
the tent door, or, I should rather say, rag coverlet, who heard what had
passed, and they thoroughly fell in with the idea. The question next
turned upon religion. They said they had heard that there were
half-a-dozen different religions, and asked me if it was true. One said
he was a Roman Catholic; but did not believe there was a hell. Another
said he was a Methodist, but could not agree with their singing and
praying, and so it went round till they asked me what religion was. I
told them in a way that seemed to satisfy them, and I also told them some
of its results. I could not learn that any of these Gipsies had ever
been in a place of worship.

I mentioned to them that I wanted to show, during my inquiries, both
sides of the question, and should be glad if they would point out to me
the name of a Gipsy whom they could look up to and consider as a good
pattern for them to follow. Here they began to scratch their heads, and
said I had put them "a nightcap on." "Upon my soul," said one, "I should
not know where to begin to look for one," and then related to me the
following story:--"The Devil sent word to some of his agents for them to
send him the worst man they could find upon the face of the earth. So
news went about among various societies everywhere, consultations and
meetings were held, and it was decided that a Gipsy should be sent, as
none of the societies or agents could find one bad enough. Accordingly a
passport was procured, and they started the Gipsy on his way. When he
came to the door of hell he knocked for admittance. The Devil shouted
out, 'Who is there?' The Gipsy cried out,