The Washington herald., 1913-05-18
REV|VING OLD ENGLISH BALLADS.


it to her children and grandchildren. He
set down a<e words and brought the
completed form to Prof. Smith.
This variant has proved to be. in the
opinion Of Prof Smith, notable dis
covery> indeed. Other variants OF Bar
bara Allen" one of the most famous
ballads In the world. by the way, nave
been found in New England All ior
them, however. are obviously incomplete
In one particular. In the ballad as 1t
has been handed down from generation
to generation-that. is, In the form in
which It is generally known today-Bar-
bara Allen is made to be deeply grieved
at the death of her lover. but in none
of the known versions Is any explana-
ton made OF the cause of her grief
In the variant which Mr.. Gilbert has
found there are four verses more than
in any other variant hitherto discovered.
These four verses give the clue to the
grief Of Barbara. This fact leads DIR.
Smith to the conclusion that the present
variant is perhaps nearer the original
than any that has ever been unearthed
before. The verses in point are as fol-
lows:
DO you remember the other day
wiAn at the tavern drinking?
You drank a health to the ladies all
And you sighted Barbara Ellen"
YES. remember the other day
When We were at the tavern drinking:
! drink health 20 the ladies all
And three 70 Bartara Ellen.
DO you rsnenber the other night
When were At the ballroom dancng'
You gave your hand 10 the ladies all
And slizhtsd BaroarA Ellen"
Yes. REMEMBER the other night
When at the ballroom dancing:
gsrs my hand % the ladies all
And ny heart to Barbara Ellen
These four additional verses. DR.. Smith
is convinced. tend to show that beyond
question this new variant II truer YER
sion Of the original ballad than any other
known one because they make the story
complete by giving a motive FOR the
poignant grief of Barbara over the death
of her lover In all other versions the
reason for Barbara's grief Is In the
dark. In them she accuses her lover as
in this new one but he makes no defense
as he does here.
The new variant. furthermore, Is called
Barbara Ellen" not Allen DR.. Smith
thinks this Is another evidence that MI
Gilbert's discovery is nearer the original
than previously discovered variants, be-
cause Ellen throughout the ballad makes
better rhyme than does Allen
encouragement to the ballad search
which DR.. Smith believes. by means OF
new discoveries. will ultimately give the
South the place II deserves as store
house Of variants OF the pure English
and Scotch ballads. Speaking of this
phase of the question. he said
prof. Child, the greatest ballad col
lector of the English-speaking world
the greatest collector who ever lived, In
fact-refers frequently to ballad variants
found in New England and rarely to
variants found in the South. There is
so little reference TO the interesting vari-
ants in the South. chiefly because the
South has never realized the richness in
the field. Prof. Child does give one vart-
ant found in the mountains of North
Carolina 1t is the ballad of The Wife
OF Usher's Well The variant in ques-
ton was sent him from Polk County.
North Carolina. where II is still sung by
men and women who cannot read or
write and whose forefathers could not
read or write. This is an example of
what may be done II one should go at
the search with vigor.
May Find Interesting Variants
81 believe that in many parts Of the
South may be found most interesting va
Rants Of the sos standard English and
scotch BALLADS winch froI SnlIu mas Col-
lected."
Still another undeveloped field for the
future collector is 10 be found among the
Southern negroes. A former student OF
the University of Virginia, George p.
Waller, jr., recently sent Prof Smith
negro version of one OF the most famous
pure English ballads-"Sir Hugh, or the
Jews Daughter" 1t was learned from
negro NANNY" near Montgomery,
Ala Prof Smith says this Is the first
example, so far as he knows. OF a negro
variant of one of the 3O5 ballads rec
ognized by Prof. Child. It IS believed
that there must be many of these va
rants scattered among the colored people
of the South. To round them up would
add not only to the worlds knowledge
also, says Prof. Smith, to the knowledge
Of primitive syntaX and vocabulary in
the attempt to reproduce European tradi- |
tons.
In the efforts to win these survivals
from the illiterate white and black people |
of the South, a curious obstacle has been
encountered. The old people who know |
the ballads are wary OF singing them in
the presence Of strangers. 1t is often a
very difficult task to induce the old folks |
to sing them at all, and rarely to re- |
peat them so that they may be set down |
in writing. But. with judicious use OF |
''favors' and much diplomacy, this re- |
luctance no doubt can and will be over
come.