A vague impression prevails in some quarters that the study of folk ethnography and lore properly belongs to European students. Facilities, it would seem, are all in their favor, and the ancient legacy itself is merely the privilege of unprogressive old-country folks. Our greatest difficulty in organizing an Ontario Branch of the Folk-Lore Society comes from the refusal of most people to believe that there is any folk-lore in English Canada. Quebec is pointed out to us as the only promising field. Lack of insight, of course, is the only ground for such a notion. The material to be obtained almost everywhere in America is of great value to science and art, and we should have a deep interest in its ultimate preservation.

When the early settlers, or even the modern immigrants, arrived here, they did not renounce their ancestral traditions and culture, which still cling to them as a birthright. Far from being shorn of this patrimony, they unconsciously grew more attached to it on account of their isolation. Many a survival of ancient culture has to this day thrived on these shores, that in Europe has now been abolished by modern conditions. There is no reason, therefore, why American scholars should feel indifferent when the study of a rapidlyvanishing phase of European history lies well within their grasp.

We often hear of the well-advertised aim of making American art more self-reliant, and independent of European dictates. Musicians, painters, literary men, are seeking their way to a healthy national art; but we may wonder at the reason for their comparative failure. The standards of their art still remain overseas, as they have not fully developed their individuality and style in contact with the themes of their own environment. The Russian school of music for the past fifty years has made wonders out of the folk-melodies of the peasants; but here no serious attempt has been made at the utilization of endless thousands of folk-songs from the white settlers or the Indians. Still their intrinsic value is second to none. Some musicians, it is true, have indicated the direction, but it is about all that has been accomplished.

The historic value of the folk-materials is here of more concern to us. Although the various European fields in America were included in the original programme of the founders of this Society, in 1888,1 Indian and British materials have until recently monopolized its attention. The credit for the results achieved goes to American folklorists interested exclusively in European-American materials, and to ethnologists devoting themselves to the study of the natives. The connection between these two sets of scientists within the American Folk-Lore Society seems to have been somewhat artificial. The need felt by many ethnologists of disentangling their interwoven

1 JAFL 1 (1888): 3.

European and Indian data, in order to arrive at safer historic deductions, has recently developed in them a genuine interest in the study of the European primary sources. The gathering and publication of Spanish, French, and African traditions by members of our Society since 1913 are largely due to the sound policy of Dr. Boas, our editor. Interest in the French field was at first limited to the folk-tales that had penetrated the Indian lore; but such limitations were soon cast aside when the possibilities were better understood. There is no reason, indeed, why ethnologists should not welcome the most complete survey of intrusive lore in America for its own sake. If such data are indispensable for their comparative studies, they are by themselves of the greatest value. No loss of effort through useless duplication of results on the new and the old continents need be expected. Too little has yet been done to impair the novelty and attractiveness of our subject. If we should fail to secure for posterity the ancient documents left to our care, a permanent and heavy loss for European history will inevitably result.

Being agreed, I presume, upon the urgency of systematizing folklore research, what plans and methods, we may ask, should be adopted in the survey of our inexhaustible fields and in the preservation of recorded materials?

Private initiative and casual observation are mostly responsible for what science has as yet derived from the primary sources of neoAmerican folk-tradition. No official, permanent, and sufficiently subsidized attempt in that direction stands to the credit of any institution. No survey has yet been contemplated anywhere, as there are no establishments for financing this kind of field-research, no professional folk-lorist and staff in charge of a consistent plan, no adequate means of storing specimens or information, and no great facilities for publication. The Journal and Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society have until now been the only suitable serial for folk-lore; and its random supply of contributions and articles is exclusively due to the personal generosity of ethnologists, professors, chance folk-lorists, or amateurs. We all regret that its painfully small budget should not even suffice for the printing of available manuscripts. It is gratifying, however, to realize how much has

1 Spanish-Mexican materials were collected, before the war, under the auspices of the International School of Archæology and Ethnology in Mexico. "As part of a general survey of Porto Rico conducted by the New York Academy of Sciences in co-operation with the Insular Government, Dr. J. Alden Mason was sent, during the years 1914-15. to collect the folk-lore of the island" (JAFL 29 : 423). Although several extensive surveys in Quebec have, since 1914, been undertaken under the ægis of the Anthropological Division of the Geological Survey of Canada, the subject has not an independent status in that institution.

been achieved, since 1888, through a loose organization of casual and dispersed elements.

As Dr. Pliny Earle Goddard pointed out, in his address to this Society in 1914, "it is certain the time will come when the study of folk-lore as a scholastic pursuit will stand by itself," and when "a critical method will develop which will make the study of primitive literature an end by itself, a serious and worthy pursuit." We may add that the diversity and immensity of each subject within the science of folk-lore and the aptitudes and technical abilities required of the specialist make it imperative that a judicious subdivision of functions should be planned in the early stages.

If full use is to be made of field opportunities and the materials obtained, greater technical knowledge than in the past should be the personal endowment of every investigator. Vocational training here is indeed indispensable. The special study of English, Gaelic, German, French, and Spanish sources can best be carried on by students designated in advance by temperament, early training, and culture affiliation. Folk-music, literature, and technology, in particular, are highly complex subjects, requiring experienced and delicate handling at the hands of experts.

Accurate observation and speedy recording in the field are among the essentials, and it is here that amateurs are naturally most deficient. A well-equipped collector may in a day make an adequate record of data that an untrained observer will fail to secure even imperfectly in a month of labor, or even dismiss altogether.

A few "stay-at-home" folk-lorists have in the past succeeded in getting information from distant correspondents. An elaborate attempt was made in 1852 by the French Government to collect the folk-songs of France through the medium of government departments and schools. Although bulky, the results were so disappointing that 1 JAFL 28 (1915): 18.

2 The instructions to would-be collectors prepared by J.-J. Ampère, acting on behalf of the French Government, are often cited or referred to. T. T. Crane's Chansons populaires de France (p. XXII) contains interesting details on the origin of the enterprise. We quote: "In 1852 M. Fortoul, then Minister of Public Instruction, brought in a project for the collection of the popular poetry of France, which was approved by the President of the Republic. It is said that Prince Louis Napoléon, before his accession to power, met in Switzerland J. M. Firmenich, the author of Germaniens Völkerstimmen (Berlin, 1843-65), who spoke to him enthusiastically of the popular poetry of his own country and made the prince promise, if he came into power, to have an official examination made of that of France. The whole subject was referred to the philological section of the 'Comité de la langue, de l'histoire, et des arts de la France,' and J. J. Ampère, of the French Academy, was charged with drawing up instructions to be sent into the various departments. . . . A great mass of material was sent in, in response to the circular of the government, and was classified by MM. Rathery and Villegrille, members of the committee. The worth of the material varied, of course, but much that was valuable was

they were never published. A recent investigation on SpanishMexican lore, with the help of school-teachers and pupils, has proved, it is said, of considerable value. While this procedure has in some cases succeeded to a certain degree, it almost inevitably leads to disappointment in British and French countries. After some experiments, we have come to the conclusion already reached by Rossat,2 in French Switzerland; that is, personal investigation in the field by trained observers is the only satisfactory method of obtaining good and extensive results. An expert field folk-lorist finds no difficulty, when he has secured good informants, in collecting an average of forty or fifty songs or ballads in a day's work, the texts being taken in stenography, and a few stanzas recorded on the phonograph.3 Folktales and anecdotes are best taken down in short-hand under speedy and unchecked dictation. The story-tellers cannot easily depart from their habits and accustomed style, and they do not usually narrate well under difficulties. Notes on technology and useful arts have to be supplemented by drawings, photographs, or the actual specimens for museum study. In every case the most complete local history of the data must be secured. And the fact that such care has not been shown by many ethnographers is no excuse.

Our customary inquiries on the remembered origin of songs and folk-tales have brought us valuable knowledge. They usually made it possible to trace a narrative back to the place where it was learned by the informant so and so many years ago. If most of the texts are memorized before the age of twenty, within the family or the village, there are many others that are picked up as chance offers, in the course of travels or from visitors. It is thus quite possible to find that the minimum age of a tradition is more than a hundred and fifty years; and if at that time it was known under divergent forms, well diffused over regions distant from each other, useful notions may be gained as to the ultimate time and place of origin. Such notes also enable one to judge of the extent of family or group traditions and of foreign elements. That such information should be undoubtedly saved from destruction. For some reason the law for the publication of the collection was repealed and the manuscript was deposited in the National Library. . . . It may be of interest to American scholars to know that a complete copy of the collection was made some years ago for the library of Harvard University." After sending our manuscript to the printer, we found an earlier account of the same event, by E. Rolland (Mélusine, 2 296), from which Crane is likely to have derived his information.

1 Only seven per cent of the letters requesting general information on prospects for local folk-lore investigations, sent to the parish priests of Rimouski and Gaspé Counties (Quebec), received any acknowledgment.

Les chansons populaires recueillies dans la Suisse roman de . . . par Arthur Rossat; tome premier (Publications de la Société suisse des traditions populaires, 1917), p. 5.

The small Standard Edison phonograph is the only recording-machine that has yet been used extensively for field-work, in America.

sought, offers little doubt, particularly in America, where racial elements are mixed in almost every district. The most conservative and undisturbed centres themselves have surprises in store for the careful student.

It is not enough to make a faithful and complete record in the field. The publication of first-hand materials should also be made according to the same high standards. Much is unfortunately left to be desired in this respect. To speak of folk-music only, it seems that barely any publication thereof has yet shown great accuracy, or even real concern with the fundamental problems involved. Collections of European or Indian tunes usually are made by musicians or amateurs readily satisfied with their own subjective reactions and resulting hasty transcriptions. Extensive adulterations are afterwards introduced in the script so as to make it more acceptable to the unsophisticated reader. Even specialists do not seem, in most cases, to have overcome difficulties in making an accurate written reproduction of their phonographic documents.1 Yet recent experiments have shown how insufficient and faulty are simplified or "doctored" transcriptions of strange folk-melodies. If European tunes are, at least in cases. we know, very intricate, the Indian music is incomparably more puzzling to our ear. Subjective appreciations, when critically directed, may lead to more or less satisfactory results, but nothing short of objective tests with mechanical devices can help in solving the riddles of unknown systems of intervals and rhythm. If they were merely to rest upon available published documents, conclusions on English and French folk-tunes would be quite misleading. For one thing, the texture and quality of the traditional melodies so far recorded in Quebec are far superior to anything we should have expected, had we depended upon published parallels at our disposal. In the absence of critical field-studies in western Europe, we cannot soundly compare materials yet; but we presume that, if the facts were at last revealed in their entirety, the same traits and intricacies would, in different directions, manifest themselves as part of an archaic system of music formerly existing in Europe.2 No feature in traditional tunes should be dismissed without full and critical examination; for a casual listener is no judge of what is essential and what is due to individual peculiarities or interpretation.

1 Miss Frances Densmore, in her remarkable study of Teton Sioux Music (BBAE 61: 7), makes the following statement: "It has been found that the final transcription [the result of six or more readings of the phonograph cylinder] is usually the simplest, as by repeated observations the ear eliminates bytones and the mannerisms of the singer."

2 An amusing statement is made in print by an eminent French collector of songs, to the effect that for many years all the folk-songs he recorded were in major or minor, because it had not yet dawned upon him that other modes were also in current usage.