uncared for, unprotected,
and abandoned, while they are living and indulging in sin to their
hearts' content, without the least shame and remorse. Inquire of whoever
I may, and look whichever way Providence directs me among the various
phases of Gipsy life, I find the same black array of facts staring me in
the face, the same dolorous issues everywhere. The words reason, honour,
restraint, and fidelity are words not to be found in their vocabulary.
My later inquiries fully confirm my previous statements as to two-thirds
living as husband and wife being unmarried. I have not found a Gipsy to
contradict this statement. Abraham Smith fully agrees with it.

The marriage ceremony of the Gipsies is a very off-hand affair. Formerly
there used to be some kind of ceremony performed by a friend. Now the
ceremony is not performed by any one. Of course there are a few who get
married at the church, which, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, is
performed by the clergyman gratuitously. As soon as a boy has arrived in
his teens he begins to think that something more than eating and drinking
is necessary to him, and as the children of Gipsies are under no kind of
parental, moral, or social restraint, a connection is easily formed with
girls of twelve, some of them of close relationship. After a few hours,
in many cases, of courtship, they go together, and the affair so far is
over. They leave their parents' tents and set up one for themselves, and
for a short time this kind of life lasts. In course of time children are
born, the only attendant being, in many instances, another Gipsy woman,
or it may be members of their own families see to the poor woman in her
hour of need. If they have no vessel in which to wash the newly-born
child, they dig a hole in the ground, which is filled with cold water,
and the Gipsy babe is washed in it. This being over, the poor little
thing is wrapped in some old rags. This was the custom years ago, and I
verily believe the Gipsies have gone backwards instead of forwards in
matters of this kind.

The following brief account of a visit--one of many I have made to Gipsy
encampments at Hackney Marshes and other places during the present
winter--will give some faint idea of what Gipsy life is in this country,
as seen by me during my interviews with the Gipsies. The morning was
dark; the snow was falling fast; about six inches of snow and slush were
upon the ground--my object being in this ca