The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-02-23
ORAL TRADITION.
Tales Handed Down from Lip to Lip fol
Many Centurion.

1
Tales Handed Down from LIP to Lip fol
| Many Centuries.
| 1t Is said that the invention CT writ
Ing injured the power of memory, and
years ago, before the schoolmaster
was abroad as he is nowadays, it was
possible to meet with many instances
of strong memorizing capacity among
persons who could neither read nor
write. Complicated accounts could be
kept by the aid of italy" only, and
the memory OF many a small farmer or
petty shopkeeper was his only ledger
and order book, It is certain tina,
since the art of writing has become an
almost universal accomplishment, the
faculty OF memory, being less needed,
Is less cultivated. Long after the in
vention of letters our forefathers rested
much upon oral tradition. Antiquari-
ans assert that one of the ancient
races Of Italy possessed no written
language, and even where written
characters were in use, oral tradition
formed an important supplement to
them. Folk lore" tales and ballads
have been handed down from lip to
lip for centuries with curious fidelity.
y writer OF some thirty years ago
mentions that one OF Herrick's finest
devotional pieces, his "Litany," was
repeated uerbatim by poor old woman,
one of whose ancestresses had been
servant to Herrick's at Dean Prior
The old woman had never seen the
poem in print; and neither she nor her
predecessors could read. These might
prayers, as the old dame described
them, had come down on the lips of
these unlettered women for nearly
two centuries. and the ten verses
OF the hymn were as accurately
recorded in the memory of the last
reciter as in the printed pages of Her
rick's Noble Numbers" When oral
tradition was recognized as a vehicle
for actual information more care was
taken regarding its accuracy than
would be the case in these days. The
old rectors jealousy guarded time
honored form of words even in their
DlOoC uttItUlNCS. DGctOll DCuounJS,
nowadays, notably those who possess
talent as raconteurs, will repeat Il leg
end or story with scrupulous fidelity
to the established form in which they
have always heard the incidents rela-
ted. and will check traveller who at
tempts to deviate from the orthodox
version with "Nay, monsieur, the story
should begin thus" repeating the reg
ular formula of the tale. During the
persecution of the Waldenses, in the
thirteenth century, when their version
of the Scriptures was prohibited and
destroyed wherever found, their min
isters committed whole books of the
sacred volume to memory, and repeated
chapters at their religious meetings.
Even the lay members of their body
adopted the same means of preserving
their beloved provencal version. Reiner
mentions knowing one rustic, unable
to read or write, who could yet repeat
the entire book of JOB, according
to the translation condemned by
the council of Toulouse, in 1929.
"They have taken away my dear
tutor, but they can not take away
my 'Telemachus, for have it safe in
my heart" said the little Duke of Bur-
gundy, when deprived of the instruc-
tions of Fenelon, whose "Telemachus"
was represented to Louis XIV. as a
covert attack on his mode of govern
ment. 1t would be tedious to enumer-
ate the many instances in which tradi-
tion has preserved what written histo-
ries were forbidden to chronicle. Ira
ditions may claim to be as accurate as
written history; though this, perhaps,
is faint praise. Oral tradition is usu-
ally free from conscious party bias.
The repeaters of traditional lore carry
on the tale as they heard it; but how
many an eloquent historian appears to |
assume brief for one side or another
in every party contest. and to write his |
history with view, not OF calculating |
facts, but of representing certain his
torical characters as angels or the re-
verse. That ugly popular adjective
will adhere to Queen Mary's name in
spite of the efforts of her best apollo
yists; and even Lingard's eloquence
ails to shake popular belief in the ex-
,ellencies of "Good Queen Bess," and
he golden days" of her reign. Some
lines local tradition dares to array it.
'elf in open opposition to received
history. Folk lore, if not an altogether
'eliable guide, is seldom totally at
ault in its statement of facts, and ira
lition has frequently kept alive memo
les which might otherwise have per-
shed altogether, Books may be de-
troyed and history willfully garbled,
nut it is less easy to extinguish local