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 Correspondence. 225

or records of communal property or the collective organization of labour ; popular morality, including brigandage and the vendetta ; civic ceremonies and customs when traditional and purely local ; domestic ceremonies and customs, prominent among which are those in use on the occasions of marriage, birth, and death, the education and status of children, the government of the family, family festivals and anniversaries, and so forth ; nursery rhymes and games of children and adults ; popular festivals and dances, including ritual and ceremonial dances ; popular art, both graphic and glyptic; folk-music and folk-songs, with the musical instru- ments of the various localities ; the snatches of verse which under various names are so characteristic an expression of the mood of the Italian peasant, as well as longer forms of folk-poetry ; legends, nursery tales, and other traditional narratives ; and religion, superstition, and folk-medicine in all their popular forms, too numerous and too well known to be repeated here.

It will be seen that the programme is ambitious. Nothing has been forgotten. If fully realized, — if only half realized, — it will be the best representation of the life of the folk that any European nation has been able to achieve. The Italian people, with its long and illustrious history, and its comparative seclusion for centuries from the currents of thought that have changed the ideals, the aspirations, the very life of some of the more northern nations, offers an incomparable field for such a harvest as is here contem- plated. Annexed to the exhibition will be a library containing all sorts of publications relative to the objects exhibited, the customs and beliefs illustrated, and of course the tales, poetry, proverbs, dialects, and other manifestations of Italian folk-life. It is needless to say that much of the work of collection of the traditions (using that term in its widest sense) has already been done. The names of Pitre, De Nino, Finamore, Nigra, De Gubernatis, and others will occur at once to every student. Their books will of course find a place in the library, and appeal is made to the authors of ethnographical, historical, and literary works and works on folklore to enrich this portion of the exhibi- tion with copies of their publications.

The pamphlet which embodies the proposals of the committee is illustrated by figures representing among other things the

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