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246 DAYS IN THE SUN
ber of apprentices, is a member of the organized citi-
zenry, and a respected individual. He has not many
words of praise for his own race, but prefers to employ
gypsies in his establishment, in order to make them
acquire more orderly habits.
The gypsies of Andalusia are gradually becoming
members of organized society. The task has been
made easier for them in this country since society here
does not make such stringent demands on its members
as in the north. The concept of order here is itself so
vague, and it takes little to let one live with a sense of
comfort. The problem becomes even easier because of
the great tolerance and the fundamentally democratic
attitude of the present-day Andalusian. In Granada
the population is more reserved toward the gypsy than
in the region of Seville, but, on the whole, these tor-
mented pariahs are treated better in Andalusia than
anywhere else in Europe. And they seem to appreciate
this fact.
The caves serve as a transition between the tent of
the nomad tribe and the foundation walls of settled
society. Hundreds of the cave-dwellers may already
be regarded as established citizens, for they pay taxes,
have the right of suffrage and serve their three years’
military period. The once foot-loose gypsy is now
often eulogized for his obedience and good discipline
as a soldier. Sic transit gloria mundi.
It was a cold morning toward the end of January;
it was Friday, the gypsy market-day. The snows on
the Sierras had crept down during the night as far as
to the upper edge of the town. There was a thin sheet
of ice in the fountain-basin in Alhambra’s Court of the
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