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GYPSY MOTHER AND HER BABE What would you think about a baby that has no real home? It does not even belong to a country. This is because its father and mother are always traveling about. Maybe you have guessed. This little baby asleep in its mother's lap is a gypsy baby. Have you ever seen a gypsy camp? This baby's mother is very poor. Her baby was born in Rumania. That is a country where many gypsies live. The baby's father mends pots for a living so he can buy food. Sometimes he makes baskets to sell. Gypsies do not worry much about clothes. They get along with what they have until it wears out. Then by some means or other they get something to take its place. Gypsies love their babies. Gypsy children do not have a bad time of it. There is no school but the children learn many things a gypsy needs to know. Before this little baby is six years old it will know how to take care of itself. The baby's mother is spinning. Did you ever see anyone spin? Long, long ago American mothers used to spin. Some spinning is done like this. See the long stick in the mother's hand. It is called a distaff. At the top is a bunch of wool. On a shorter stick is the thread she has twisted from the wool and wound around the stick. This thread will be woven into cloth. Perhaps, first, it will be dyed some bright color. Copyright by Keystone View Company |
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