New-York tribune., 1921-12-11
WHERE SONGS
NEVER CHANGE

biSA f~Vtb, tbS tdl dStTI1G ffIg 4nrIl ##
mule upon the rock-strewn ridge i #
girl "battling" the family w.s,.
beside mountain stream, the white-nsi,., M
fiddler propped against cabin wal, ! W
lover drumming his banjo along the mo,.,. b
trails in the Appalachian highlands, sin. !. 81
day the folksongs Of the utterly vanished D.. n
of far-distant land. Here, in these Ane,;..
upIands, segregated from the march ~ c;~a. 81
zation by the barrier Of the hills where iIr... o.
acy still fingers and isolation rules, the baIi,s Ri
of Elizabethan England survive the lanso :, 81
years as they have rot survived elsewb... #
Here, where the art Of letters is but liz, E
known and the printed page is seldom So, &
the real spirit of nninstrelsy remains. and &. E
mountain bard serves the ancient purnose :. G
chronicer of his time. M
These people Of the American highlands -,
descendants Of Revolutionary stock. within
the present generation 500 pensioners Of sbs.
early war were living in the mountain ea.
ties of Kentucky alone. These people Of tss
hills constitute a 100000 reserve of natrs
blood, about the only supply of such prouor
tions from which the tide of westward em.
grafton baked by the well-nigh impassas,
natural barriers, was turned aside Tod,
they are living much as their pioneer ancss
tors lived century and half ago-in The
same mountain fastnesses, in the same simpIs
and primitive way-and they are preseryi,,
many of the customs, traditions and even the
language of their Scotch-Irish and Engjsi
forebears.
To-day one hears in this pioneer land The
rustic idiom that has preserved many Of tie
quaint characteristics of Shakespeare's time, d
even the earlier days of Chaucers England
and one hears in the far corners of the hills
the ballads and folksongs that bark back to
time equally remote in English history It's
much like the restoration of dead Literature
the unearthing of precious heritage that else
where has largely vanished from our reach.
While the freedom and isolation of these Ap
palachian highlands have brought living condt
tions OF almost perfect democracy the songs
these people sing are Of kings and queens Of
lords and ladies. While poor in material
sense, their ballads are of riches reckoned in
silver shillings and golden guineas; while
dressed in homespun, they sing of silks and
iaces, and, far from sea they have never
known, they delight in songs of the Spanish
Main and buccaneers of the rolling Deep OF
the f3ty-odd English and Scotch ballads which
have been found surviving in the United States
more than one-half are sung by the mountain
people Of Kentucky alone. Barbara Aliens
Cruelty most popular with the highland
singers, was known to Pepys and Oliver Gold
smith. "Pretty Polly" "The Salt Sea- 1.-THE
Turkish Lady," Little Hugh" and "Lord
Thomas and Fair Ellender'' are others of ths
folksongs Of early England which one may
hear sung at cabin hearthstones or "idded'
at gatherings in the hills-a dead song liser
ature restored to life.
AS one hears these ballads of long forgot
ten past sung in the Appalachians the corrup
items that time and environment have brought
add much to their quaint charm and detrac
not at all from the convincing evidence O
American settlement. And hand in hand wit
these ancient folksongs there goes the othe
ancient form of descriptive ballad, like th
old English broadsde, that is often the com
position of the individual bard and varies a
his mood or memory may impose. Events o
moment IN the life Of the mountains are thu
chronicled in crude verse. for where news
papers are SO few the singer becomes the jour
nalist and often the historian of his day.
The melodeon, or small reed organ, is par
ticularly in favor of the highland peopl
for use in their homes and in the "church
houses" as it can be transported over tn
mountain trails; but the fiddle" and the banl
are the instruments of most common usage
and while the .ducimer is fast disappearing
from the hills, it is the traditional instrumen
OF mountain music and is descended directl
from Elizabethan England. Made of carefull
seasoned black walnut by native craftsmen, 1t
three strings of gut or wire, as fancy dictates
are sometimes bowed and sometimes plucket
but whatever the method of playing the resul
is music of singular and almost uncann
charm, especially when heard in the nloon
soltudes of Appalachian nights.
1t has fallen to Berea College, the insttu
ton that has grown up at the AppaIachia
gateway, to aid in revealing in these Amer
can highlands this survival Of the folk song
ool v..,v, IL.