Wichita eagle., 1888-06-14
A FOLK LORE SOCIETY.
GATHERING LEGENDS OF THE PEO-
PIE AND MYTHS OF THE SAvAGES.

GATHERING LEGENDS OF THE PEO-
PIE AND MYTHS OF THE SAvAGEs.
The Study of Folk Lore in Europe-wash-
ington Irving's Work Joel Chandler
Harris uncle Recus'-Duty Of the
New Folk Lore Society.
Last November a circular letter containing
a proposal for the formation Of society for
the study of folk lore was quietly, and per-
haps timidly, sent to @ faithful few Accord
ingly, number of well known scholars as
sembled some weeks ago in University hall,
Harvard university, and there formed folk
lore society. The very first rule Of the new
society reads as follows:
"The American Folk Lore society has for
its object the study of folk lore in general,
and in particular the collection and publica-
ton of the folk lore Of North America"
The student Of folk lore soon finds that
many of the customs and ideas of savages
are still retained by the folk, by the people
who have shared least in progress. Indeed,
he need only read newspaper reports Of
"clairveyants," "palmistry," mediums, :,
spirit painting etc, to see primitive ideas
still flourishing in our midst; the Irish maid
servant, the gambler, the lawyer, alike per-
sisting In the belief that wise women can
foreten fortune and invisible artists paint
fine pictures. Why do people carry things in
their pockets for luckg Why are horseshoes
nailed over the door and to the masthead?
Why do people carry stones and bits Of bread
to keep away diseased Why is group of
stars called tho Bear or the Swan or named
after the Pleiades? This later fact was es-
pecially puzzling TO Artenus Ward what
beats me about the stars" he used to say in
his quaint way, sis how we come to know
their names"
In the next place we have the Marchen or
Contes, or household tales Of the modern Eu-
ropean peasantry-the tales known to us as
fairy stories, handed down from generation
to generation by word of mouth. These tales
make up a large part of the peoples lore, in
contradistinction to their book lore or
scholastic learning. They form by far the
larger part Of their inheritance from their
ancestors
1t was not until the brothers Grimm made
their famous collection that much attention
was paid to the childish tales current among
the European peasantry. Since then the by
ways and hedges Of all Europe have been
ransacked by eager and keen eyed disciples
Of the Grimms, taking carefully down the
marvellous stories as they fell from the lips
of the simple minded folk Now, what was
thus taken down not only found its way into
print, but also found thousands of delighted
readers Today there is hardly province in
Europe that has not furnished some item. to
:. -, - - t. \
ton to this folk lore, societies have been es-
tablished for the express purpose Of collect
ing and preserving those wonderful tales Of
princesses, heroic knights, baleful sorcerers,
which, with most Of us, form one of the
pleasantest "reminiscences of childhood.
About the time that the Grimms Were col
lecting these household tales Of the German
peasant, the genial Godfrey Crayon" was
giving to Americans the legends of the
Dutch along the Hudson. Washington Irv-
ing was the first Of our folk loriSts. Tho
legends Of Sleepy Hollow" have now be-
come part and parcel Of American folk lore.
The story Of Rip Van Wrinkles entice-
ment into the CatskiL mountains by
the love of whisky, his long sleep and his re-
turn to the village is often regarded as a
peculiarly American legend. Yet the simple
truth is that the legend is found among half
a dozen differently peoples, among the Germans,
the Scotch, the Russians, the Jews, etc
Another charming contribution to Aneri-
can folk lore was Joel Chandler Harris
Nights with Uncle Remusn The book is
made up Of a number of animal stories, or
fables, current among the southern negroes
in Georgia. We have number Of harmless
tricks and 'pranks played by Brer Rabbit,
which Grimm has made so familiar to US
under the name of Reynard the Fox. Thus,
Professor Crane has traced great number
of the Legends CT the Old Plantation" to
their medieval or classical variants. 1t is
curious for example, that many Of Uncle
Remus" best stories were heard in all their
simplicity by Professor Hart and Mr.. Smith
on the Amazon river; still more curious is it
to find that many Of the stories related of Mr.
Wolf and Brer Rabbit were printed in Latin
and italian before "Uncle Remusn was "bred
and bawn." How can we account for these
wonderful resemblancesi
Obviously, it will be the duty Of the new
Folk Lore society to gather all these popular
tales wherever they can be found, be it in the
market place or IN the pcrlor. First, some
one must do for American folk stories what
the brothers Grimm did for thu Marchen of
the German peasantry. Secondly, some one
must do for Indian myths, negro legends,
Mexican, Canadian and South American folk
lore what DIR. Taylor and Mr.. Lang in Eng
land, and Preller and Lobeck In Germany,
have done for folk lore in generaL-L J.
Vance in The Epoch.