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Show OLD BILL STILL WEARS 'CROWN' s . 'rF : A. 1 LL -5TAN LEY S f c v ZOE BECKLEY, N 1. A. stuff Correspondent. LYNX, Mass.. Dec. 11. Kings and 1 crowns have been going fast In recent re-cent years. Yet "Old Hill" Stanley. I 93 wears more firmly tlpui ever the 1 Invisible crown of Gypsy majesty 1 "Old Bill" is pit'riaroh of the St.m- ley clan of English gypsies who roam .N. m England from .May Ua till only November. Like the circus, Kill has folded his tent and gone Into winter 1 quarters a pretty whlto cottaRO on I Lynnfleld street in the outskirts of this city M Y .K WI" 1111 OKI N 1 W hen 1 called there was quite a I flutter, A half dozen babies, UlU's rt;it grandchildren, tumbled from ; ihe. kitchen door to greet me. And i the old king's son, James, a hand some fellow of 40. went amiably in ' searcn of his aKtd parent. He found him in the cellar, stowing : wood, old Bill emerged, a little bent ' old figure, thin and wiry, with peering peer-ing yes. He chuckled toothlessly when 1 asked him how the king business wou ' doing. "Well. now. perhaps I'm like the king of England more of a democrat than I am a king!" ho said. "11 always makes mo mad for folks 10 give gypsies a bad name. It ain't rlKlit to think hec.'rttse we're waiider-i waiider-i ol.lftlova ..I- f I lulu m est PROl l OP I MII "The Stanleys" He drew himself up with a repal pride that blinded one t'O his tattered clolhe-s "the Stan-! Ies have family, lady My mothei was a squire's daughter from the ' north Of England. "They cast her off because sh-married sh-married one of a wondering clan. But why'. Wo dealt in horse. We !je. the woods uiid the open road ""I Clod's pure air and the simple life. ils that any disgrace? No, lady. I tell vou that is the best life " Old BUI and his wife, Marilja. cam. ! from England here nearly 60 years I ago. They lived In u gay-painted , wufron and often in a tent. Papa j Stanley kept up his horse trading. riMES HA! B M NG1 D Mamma Stunles wove beautiful bas-kets bas-kets and told fortunes and some-I some-I limes danced. The healthy Stanley j babies grew up and married and had I babies of their own. Tbe Stanley clan I increased. There are close to -'0U now. Times have changed. ' says the little lit-tle bent king. "My wife has one Yes, I suppose you may call her queen if jrou want to. She was a queen in brains and heart. ( "The Stanleys have never been the 1 same since. Wo don't go far away how Nothing Is like it used to be. I Everything costs so much People ! hurry so. And they don't buy horses. Why, one .a' my sons even travels In j ! a In a auty! too Ml ll WOBRI "That's the trouble with living nowadays now-adays everything's hurry. Folks wear themselves out. They ouglu to' j copv us gypsies. Look how long we live! And our kind have survived I from the time of the first wondering ' tribes of Egyptians. That's how the name 'Gypsy' cinie. I'll probably live years yet, there tn't nothln' much tho matter wTh inc. . I've always ate and drank what I wOnted and smoked. It ain't foofi and drink and smoking that hurts a man It's worry We don't worry." . ld Bill stopped talking and puffed silently at hl3 pipe. There are certain sartorial embellishments embel-lishments that would improve him. But sound In heart and clean in mind is this sovereign Stanley of the open wad, this surviving king in a world of tottering thrones. |