The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-17


The only songs of Europe which even re-
motely resemble negro music are some
of the Highland airs. and there is not
much resemblance there.
When the missionary schools were es-
tablished here and there in the South, and
other schools and colleges followed in
their wake the first thing that was done
was to train the students out of singing
anything: they were discouraged from
singing and dancing, and taught to put
their minds on other things. When they
were taught music at ALL they were made
to sing songs totally different from their
own, and the majority of them did it
about as badly as the average white sing
er would sing. Roll. Jordan" which is
saying a great deal. Those denominations
of desOlation. the Moody and SanHey
Hymnals have been spread broadcast all
over the South, and the effect is analO-
gous to that of the introduction of the
English sparrow among our native song
sters. The sparrow can neither sing him
self. nor allow any other bird to sing
Nearly coeval with the gospel hymn came
the popular song. which is generally not
of a high order. and out of the conjunc-
ton of this with the original plantation
melody was born the coon song, which
is not as bad as the gospel hymn, but
generally bad enough. Its popularity in
/ duced white music-haiI composers to
write limitations, and then limitations of
/ the limitations were produced by other
! negro singers, and rag-time became as
| badly demoralized as any hybrid thing
[ can be. Here was case, certainly, where
I the pure plantation music was far better
/ than that which has taken it's place.
| There is no other instance of so fla
/ grant n corruption of musical ideals as
this, because in no other instance has
race been subjected to just such condi-
tions. The Irish. the Germans, the Hun
/ garians migrating to this country, have
not been so segregated as to develop
| particular kind of music; in their own
| country. though they have been iniu-
I enccd by commerciaIism somewhat in
music, as in other things. the pure folk
/ song has not been lost because there were
Away splenty of native musicians educat-
ed enough to appreciate and develop it,
and having all the opportunity to do so
which the negro musician lacks through
I his poverty and the prejudice which pre-
vents his getting either training foot
hold.
Another corruption of artistic ideals
among a primitive people has taken place
in the Oriental rug market. This case is
analogous to that of the plantation mel
ody, though in totally different field of
art because in both cases the ideals were
developed among the ignorant, not the
cultivated classes; in both cases they
were mainly religious in origin; in both
cases the people who have the secret Of
the art are too poor and too ignorant to
realize how precious possession 1t is
When the tribes of Kurdistan Jr Asia
Minor forsaFe the original designs of
their art for mongrel mixture of colors
and figures, without meaning or conti-
uuty. they do not realize that their de-
parture is demoralizing; they understand
only that they have found something
new. and with the childish love of novelty
inherent in human nature they adopt the
new fashion. The aniline dye may rot
the fabric. it may be inartistic, worth
less and adulterated while the old-fash-
toned dye may be priceless in artistic
value; but unless the rug maker is a
born artist he will do his work as it is
easiest and adopt a new method for the
the mischief has been done. after the old
dye makers and designers, loving their
art as Raphael loved his. mixing their
colors as Aiurillo might, have died and
left no disciples. that the world Hrill come
to understand how great treasure of
traditional and instructive knowledge has
been despoiled because some Western
dye maker was greedy of profit and
Western buyers ignorant of true beauty.
From the point of view of art, the mis-
chlevousness Of this contact of pseudo
civilization with primitive ideals is evil
dent enough. The schools can teach &C
cording to their traditions. but there is
no Occidental dye maker on earth who
knows the secret of those marvellous
blues glowing like mid-heaven in June;
those deep, mysterious reds glinting like
live Goals, found in some Oriental rugs
The knowledge of their making rests in
the turba ned head of some shaggy Kurd-
ish chief or cunning Persian workman
and it is not to be trusted In any book,
only transmitted to some honored pupil,
If one can be found worthy. IL the pres
ent generation is demoraliZed with ami
line dyes and falsely constructed design.
the old dye makers and designers will
leave no SUCCESSORS. The schools of Eu-
rope cannot teach a man to write songs
like the negro melodies of the Old South. !
They came of the spontaneous emotion Of
a primitive people, and their simplicity
is their charm. All the ceverness of |
Worth could no more evolve a peasant |
costume than one man can write a Book |
of Proverbs. The reason of all this is |
that the untutored genius Of unframed |
people is the product of the traditions, |
Thoughts, emotions, and instincts of a |
whole race and not of any one individual, |
and when the community in which these |
things are evolved is broken up and its |
environment changed, or when it Is faint |
ed by contact with false and meretricious |
ideals the individual cannot rise above |
the mass; he must still feel and think |
as they do, and his work is affected by |
their decentralization.
This is why n half-educated people is
almost invariably inartistic Here and |
there an individual. struggling up to a
higher and truer ideal than those in !
which he has been reared. becomes what |
we call a genius; but there must be uni
~ of feeling and thought If one would
have spontaneous art, and until the indi-
vidual reaches that high level on which
all artists can meet in some kind Of COM
mon intercourse. he can get no inspira-
ton from his environment; he is rather
those about him. and great enough to he
of them, before he can shake
off their influence toward crudity and imi-