Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-01-30
SONGS OFWORKERs.
How LaDors Burdens are Lightened
by Music and Singing.

mere ID SCdlCcif Oil OCCuptllOb, Sci-
tainly none that demands unity of pur-
pose and regularity of attack, that has
not. or has not had, Its own peculiar
kind of song or accompanying chant.
The anvil, the loom, the dairy, the
field, the wharf. the plantation, ay,
and even the collier's dreary world, are
each IN themselves an incentive to
some sort of music, and their laborers
in all parts make for themselves, if not
a pleasing recreation, at any rate a
soothing monotony by grooming, or
humming, or chanting, some rhythmi-
cal measure. Athenaus has preserved
the Greek names of different songs as
sung by various trades, but unfortu-
nately none Of the songs themselves.
There was one for the corn grinders, an
other for wool workers, another for
weavers; the reapers had their carol,
the herdsmen song composed by
Sicilian OK driver; the kneaders, the
bathers, and the galley rowers were not
without their chant. 1t is still the
custom in Egypt and in Greece to carry
on an immense labor by an accompani-
ment of music and singing; hence the
story of Amphion building Thebes
with his Tyre. In Africa to this day
the laborers on the plantations at
Yaoorie work to the sound of drum.
Almost all these old Grecian trade
songs have their counterpart at the
present time, in some land, if not uni
versally. The corn grinders song is
initiated on the Russian wharyes, v here
the women sing in chorus as they crush
the grain for exportation, The weavers
in Ayrshire, where are still to be found
the almost absolute hand looms, Groom
some weird Highland tune as they sit
at their work; the reapers in Russia
have their wheat chorus and rye chorus,
and the haymakers in many countries
have special songs of their own. The
beautiful chansonS de yendanGe, or
vineyard songs, of the champagne dis
trict are world renowned for their har-
monious gayety; these. like the wheat
gatherers' chorus in Russia, are sung in
procession; the men and women, each
with basket on their arm, assemble at
the foot of a hill, and, stopping there,
arrange themselves in circle; one OF
them then bursts into a joyous song,
the burthen of it is chorused; then they
ascend and disperse In the vineyard
and work and sing. Now and again
new coupletS VIII reSound from some of
the dressers.
The herdsmen's songs live to-day in
lllo VI DMllLcllduu lllC
wide Mexican plains. Texas provides
hog feeders with ditty that if not po
etic is certainly realistic i'll tone. The
kneaders must have suggested the chant
du boulanger OF the bread eating
France of to-day, and the galley rowers
have numberless imitators i'll the pene-
tian gondoliers, the Nile boatmen, and
the Chinese trackerS, whose songs have
become SO much a part of themselves
that one never thinks of diSSocIating
them. DIR. johnson noted in the III lgh-
lands that the strokes of the sickle were
timed by the modulation of the harvest
song, in which all the laborers' voices
We're united. They accompany every
action which can be done in equal time
with an appropriate strain, which has
not much meaning, but its effects are
regularity and cheerfulness. Like the
Greek herdsmen and shepherds of old,
the Scotch have their sheep farmers
songs and their herders' choruses, AM
even the potato workers in Ayrshire
their own style of singing while they
pursue their occupation. Any evening
| in August you may see picturesque
| looking group of women vending their
| homeward way and singing as they go
along; the bright red kerchlef they
adopt as headgear, and their striped
petticoats and bare feet are quite feat
ure in the most pastoral of all Scot
lands countries.
From the cradle to the grave song is
the constant companion of the Russian's IS
life. 1t is the delight of both sexes
and of every age. The sports of child
hood, the pleasures of youth, and all
the varied occupations of mature years
have each their own appropriate accom-
paniment of song. Tie "khorovod'' -
is the choral dance with which Russian
boys and girls greet the approach of
| spring. The ''Zaplachki'' or wailing
songs bring relief TO the grief stricken.
| The ''BylInas," +" long metrical romances
sung or recited 10y village minstrels,
supply the epic rment by recording
famous historic exploits; and even that
most prosaic of employ loymentS-Ioading
with grain the ships lying in the wharf
add some beautiful melodies to the
repertoire of Russian national song,
the women who carry on the work sing
ing in chorus the while. The vaude-
villeS that are SO prominent feai ure in
the repertoire of French recreation
songs to-day originated as songs of
labor. There was once fuller of Vau
de Wire, or the valley by the river VIre,
who used to make his men sing as they
spread their clothes on the bank of the
river. Usually the theme would be
some incident or adventure of the day,
set to rhythmical measure; and thus
from the labor of the apprentices of a
fuller on the banks of the Wire we get
the gay, rollicking songs that resound
from every music hall and cafe in
Paris.
Mill songs are especially common in
Normandy, and have a character of
their own. Their ''coupletsr are wont
to consist of two lines with a refrain,
and the refrain is the principal part of
the song. Auyergne is famous for its
bourries, and Burgundy is rich in n oels
and drinking songs. The Italians have
no special labor songs; they seem to en-
llyen their working hours with snatches
of national music, and in Tuscany you
may hear the straw platters singing as
they ply their busy fingers some of the
lovely stornelli or rispetti of the coun-
try. The stornello, known as Flower
of the Pea" is a particular fayorite
with these straw workers. What of
music's past vocation as q work in
spirerp Is there not ample proof of it
III the many songs of many tongues
that stand out as beacons of light along
the dull road of labor? What of the
sailors chantles, the fresh, breezy, roll
ing choruses that helped to tighten
Jacks manifold labors, and that the
present, with its ever increasing power
of steam. has made things of the past?
What of the weavers' songs, that form
ed so much part of the daily life at the
loom that they seemed almost woven
into the fabric? The factory girls and
the mill hands" of ty-day sing to the
whirring accompaniment of the latest
machinery, not as sang those refugee
handweavers of old whose own limbs
were the wheels they had to set in mo-
ton, and whose own brains blended the
harmonious colors together and traced
the wonderful and intricate designs.
Here was truly need for a work inspir-
er, and here was 1t found in song.
ELANNELS-If tn ba worn DeYt fha