Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-07-13
DECAY oF TRADITION.
The Invention OF writing Seems to Have
Put an End to Folk Lore


The Invention OF writing Seems to Have
Put an End to Folk Lore.
It IN said that the invention OF writ
ing injured the power of memory, and
years ago, before the schoolmaster was
abroad, asshe is nowadays, it was pos
sible 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 tally" only, and
the memory Of many a small farmer or
petty rural shopkeeper was his only
ledger and order book. 1t is certain that
since the art of writing has become an
almost universal accomplishment the
faculty Of memory, being less needed, is
less cultivated. Long after the inven-
tion OF letters our forefathers rested
much upon oral tradition. Antigua
rians assert that one of tho ancient
races OF Italy possessed no written
language and even where written char
acters 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 centu-
ries with curious fidelity.
When oral tradition was recognized
as vehicle for actual information
more care was taken regarding the
accuracy than would be the case in
these days. The old reciters jealously
guarded time-honored form OF words
even in their prose narratives. Breton
peasants, notably those who possess a
talent as raconteurs, will repeat le-
gend or a story with scrupulous fidelity
to the established form in which they
have always heard the incidents related,
and will check a traveller who at
tempts to deviate from the orthodox
version with "Nay, Monsieur the
story should begin thus" repeating the
regular form of the tale. The Eastern
story teller deviates little in his time
honored recital of tales of love, ad-
venture and magic; we recognize all
our old friends from the arabian
Nights" il we halt to listen to pro-
fessional raconteur in the streets OF
any oriental town. In the days of war
against prescribed books faithful
memories were often utilized to pre-
serve prohibited WORKS from oblivion
During the persecution of the Wald-
enses, in the thirteenth century, when
their version of the Scriptures
was prohibited and destroyed wher-
ever found, their ministers COM
mitted whole books of the sacred
volume to memory, and repeated chap
ters at their religious meetings. 1t
would be tedious to enumerate the
many instances in which tradition has
preserved what written histories were
forbidden to chronicle On the whole,
oral traditions are strangely accurate;
strangely, when VIC consider how facts
are frequently altered and distorted
when occurrences are related by
successive story tellers. The childs
game OF Russian Scandal" (in which
a secret is whispered to one person
and repeated to circle OF others, is
usually altered out of recognition when
repeated aloud by the last hearer) is
played every day in society. And yet
local tradition will faithfully chronicle
the site of battle, the burial place of
a hero, the date of siege, and some
times. after generations of historians
and antiquarians have scolfed at the
unreliable local legend, later investi-
cation will discover that the despised
traditional story was the true one after
all. Centuries OF repetition may have
added to the incidents or distorted
some OF the facts, but the main tale is
strictly exacs. The reputed treasure
trove may prove but a triiling hoard,
the battIeiields smaller in extent the
graves of the heroes less numerous; but
in each case local tradition is true re-
garding the facts that occurred and the
locale whore they took place
Tradition may at least claim to be as
accurate as written history; though
this, perhaps, is faint praise. Oral
tradition is usually free from conscious
party bias. The repeaters of traditional
lore carry on the tale as they heard it,
but now 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
facts, but of representing
certain historical characters as angels
or the reverse. Such writer's are al
ways the pleasantest to read; an ''im-
perial historian" is sadly dull, as a
rule; but when biased writer plays
the part OF Clio, tradition may often
prove the safer guide of the two Folk
lore il not an altogether reliable
guide, is seldom totally at fault in its
statement OF facts, and tradition has
kept alive memories which
might otherwise have perished alto
yether Books may be destroyed and
history willfully garbled, but it is less
easy to distinguish local tradition.
(Eng.) Courier.
"A Kansas City confectioner says ii
Is safe to bet that nobody can eat 80
cents worth of candy. A young fellow
,vbo hat that ha could do IL sta,tad o,,t |