Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-05-19
DRIFT.

were you as the concert for b. Joseph
no ,pital on Thursdsy evening II wasou
Of the nness popular concerts We have eve
he'd at Lancaster There were two thiog
about Il that were particularly satisfactorJ
70 me- First, II demonstrated thst 10 u no
necessary, In order 10 have . concert On
joyed by general audience, 10 spoil tht
slsvating effects Of classic pisses By inter
spersing among thcm comic socgs and per
formsnces to propitiats the "popular tasts.'
Whatever relief 10 needed 10 keep an even.
ing's performance from becoming "heevy
can be better supplied By here and there
pretty ballad, - Was done ct the coucere
from Beethoven, LESSEN, Rubsnsesin and
such masters, than by minstrel souke sna'
are In hsrsh and painful oontrsst with the
tone OF the rest To bs popular dos
not require to-be coarse, nor even funny.
Thursday' q concert wss oertainy popular,
YET I, Wa refined and elsvating In every
part The only funny thing about it Wa
when the footlights hsd to be turned up 70
show:of the charms and ersces ofthe little
baritone ex quisite and that was an uninten'
tional diversion.
Tho second feature that delighted me
was the convincing proof afforded by the
Rev. H. q. Gsnss that q hrst-class pianist
can also be first class sccompanisf. AZ .
rule great pianists cannot, or ut least dc not,
acc mpaDyt the singers voice at all, but rather
seem to try to drown 1t, and too often they
succeed. This failing Mr.. Ganss II not sub.
ject to. have never In my life heard any.
Thing more perfect than his Q accompaniment
on the piano OF Mrs. Wagner's wonderful
vocal gymnastics from the Carnival Of
Venice, or Mr.. Bakers sweet and pathetic
tenor solos indeed oil his accompaniment
was ss nearly perfect - anything ever
heard In this city.
But don't intend to talk about music
to-day. but aboat . couple of new books
iat win, think, interest you. l have just
been looking through two books, both con
tributiops to the important ar interesting
eubject OF folk lore, that IL getting to be
one Of the most popular, - II 10 one Of the
most fascinating subjects OF study. One OF
them 10 little volume, very quantity yet
approp priately bound, which may be con.
eidered a. q se quel or supplement- TO Joel
Chandler Harris famous Uncle Remus" "
storiee. 1t IL entitled Negro Myths from
the Georgia Coast" aud Is the work OF
Charles q Jones, ,jr the historian OF Georgia
As Mr.. Harris work gave as the myths,
legends ard tales prevalent among the
negroes Of middle Georgia, so Mr.. Jones
has diligently gathered those OF the negroes
OF tho coast region, the former slaves OF the
rloe swamp aud the marshes and 1t must
be said that the harvest of his researches IL
rich and highly interesting one.
1t IL Yemar able how different the tales
of the coast negroes are from those OF the
negroes Of the interior, and no less singu
lar that their dialect should also DO 90 dif-
fereut OF course We meet among them
many Of the same characters, Buh ksb-
bit, ~" Buh Wolf" Buh Fox, and others
Bot even these play roles often quite other
than those OF Uncle Remus'" Brer
Rabbit" and Brer Fox" While the
swamps and marshes produce for us .
multitude of other new characters appa-
rently but little known In "Uncle Remus'"
cabin such are "Buh Alligator" " Buh
Msrsb.H Hem" {" Buh Galiinipper." to say
and de Groun' mole, !" and host OF others.
To give you q specimen Of the peculiar
"lingo" OF the coast negroes, and also OF
the humor that charactefizss me- 81 OF their
stories, let me give you the fable OF
"BUH TURKEY BUZZuD AN DE RAIN.
"Buh tuk rsy buzzud, him yent had no
O6nH9
"Wen de rain do po down, oh set on dc
fench an oh fquinch up isself. Eh draw In
eh neck, an eb try fur hide eh head, an oh
look dat pity full you raie sorry for um.
En- duh half cry, an eh say to isself
'Nummine, wen dis rain ober me gwine
len dis rain lick me dis way no mo-.
"Wen de rain done gone, an De win
blow, an de- sun shine, wuh buh tukrey
buzzud do2 Eh Bet on de top or de dead
pine tree web de sun kin wan uD, an oh
tretch Dutch wing, an eh tun roun an roun
30 de win kin dry eh ifstder, an eh laugh
Eh ysnt gwine rain no me-. No use fur Inc
fur bull house now Caless man dis like
buh tukrey buzzud."
In It's way that is about as neat and Ter.
foct q specimen of fable as can be found
requirement Of that form OF literature than
the whole host OF fables produced, for ex.
ample, by the Ge man poets who had such
weakness for it until Leasing brought
them to their senses. And 20 with most OF
those found in Mr.. Jones' volume /; though
the majority OF them are longer and cannot
be called mere fables.
1t is highly inter resting to trace the real
meaning and origin Of many OF the negro
myths, which can quite readily be done
with the help of the keys furnished by
Prot John Fiske in his admirable book on
"Mytbs and Myth.makers," OF which
told you some time ago The same can be
done also with the myths and semi myths
okthe IIisb, many OF which are given In
the other work to which 1 referred, Mr.. ID.
X. McAnally, Jr's "Irjsh Wonders," just
published, like the "Neero Myths," by
Houghton, Mitii!n d Co, OF Boston.
'Irish Wonders" is the fruit OF its
authors recent extended visit TO every
county In Ireland during which he had
abundant opportunity Of hearing from the
lips OF the psasantry, all those fanciful tales
he has recorded for us, 30 full OF broad wit
and rich humor, 10 good natured and sun.
shiny, that from them one would scarcely
the oppressed OF the earth, with far more OF
sorrow and darkness In their condition
and surroundings than OF sunshine and
Brightness. ct under the laugh one can
even In many Of these tales discern, II one
watches closely, the quiver as of q tear ul
voice; and under the joke tone % OF bitter
despair.
The Irish are storytelling race. Full
OF fancy, quick wit, rscy humor, and not
little of deep pathos too, they add to these
dramatic sense aud taste that gives to the
telling OF their stories peculiar charm to be
found among no other people. To this Mr..
McAnalIy refers when he says In the pre-
face to his delightful volume that, Go
where you will In Ireland, the story teller
is there, and on slight provocation will re-
peat his narrative smplifying, explaining
embellishing, till from a single fact con-
nected history is evolved, giving motives,