The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-03-03
DECAY OF TRADITION.
The Invention OF Writing seems tO Hsva
Pot IN End To Folk Lore.

The Invcn.i0u Of Writing seems TO Hsvs
Pot m End to Folk lore.
II is said that the invention Of writ
ing injured the power OF memory, and
years ago. before the schoolmaster was
a., Dad, as he is nowadays. it was pos
sible TO meet with macy 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 small far
mer or petty rural shopkeeper was his
only ledger and order book. Il is Ger
tain that since the art of writing has
become an almost universal accom-
plishment the faculty Of memory. be-
ing less needed, is less cultivated.
Long after the invention of letters our
forefathers rested much upon oral ira
dition- Antiquarians 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 supple
ment TO them. Folk lore tales and
ballads have been handed down from
lip TO lip for centuries with curious
fidelity.
When oral tradition was recognized
as a vehicle for actual information
more care was taken regarding the ac-
curacy than would be the case in these
days. The old reciters jealously guard
ed time honored form of words even
In their prose narratives. Breton
peasants, notably those who possess q
talent as raconteurs, will repeat a
legend or story with scrupulous
fidelity TO tho established form in
which they have always heard the In
cidents related, and will check trav-
eler who attempts to deviate from the
orthodox version with NAY, mon
sieur, tho story should begin thus"
repeating the regular form Of the tale.
The eastern story teller deviates little
III his time honored recital of tales OF
love, adventure and magic; we recog-
nize all our old friends from the
Arabian Nights" If we halt to listen
to professional raconteur in the
streets of any oriental town. In the
days of war against prescribed books
faithful memories were often utilized
TO preserve prohibited works from OBJ
Gvion. During the persecution of the
Waldenses, in the Thirteenth century,
when their version Of the Scripture
was prohibited and destroyed wher-
ever found, their ministers committed
whole books Of tllu sacred volume to
memory, and repe. ID chapters at re-
ligious 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
we consider how facts are frequently
altered and distorted when occurrences
arc related by successive story tellers.
The child's game of Russian Scandal"
Tin which q secret whispered to one
person and repeated to a circle o.
others, is usually altered out of all
recognition when repeated aloud by
the last hearer) is played every day in
society. And yet local tradition will
faithfully chronicle the site of q battle,
the burial place of hero, the date OF
siege, and sometimes, after gener-
ations Of historians and antiquarians
have scoffed at the unreliable local le-
gend, a later investigation will dis
cover that the despised traditional story
was the true one after all Centuries
of repetition may have slightly added
to the incidents or distorted some Of
the facts, but the main tale is strictly
exact. The reputed treasure trove
may prove but trihing hoard. the
battle field smaller in extent, the graves
OF the heroes less numerous; but in
each case local tradition is true regard
ing the facts that occurred and the
locale where they took place.
Tradition may at least claim to be
as accurate as, ncient history; though
this, perhaps, is faint praise. Oral
tradition is usually free from con-
scious. party bias. The reporters of
traditional lore carry on the tale as
they heard it, but now many an elo-
quent historian appears to assume q
brief for one side or smother in every
party contest and to write his history
with a view, not of calculating facts,
but of representing certain historical
characters as angels or the reverse.
Such writers are always the pleasant
est to read; an impartial historian"
is sadly dull, as rule; but when a
biased writer plays the part of Clio,
tradition may often prove the safer
guide of the two. Folk lore, If not
an altogether reliable guide, is seldom
totally at fault in its statement Of
facts, and tradition has frequently
kept alive memories which might
otherwise have persisted altogether.
Books may be destroyed and history
willfully garbled, but it is less easy to
extinguish local tradition. -Manches-
ter (Eng.) Courier.