Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/50

36 were awaiting classification and sifting. Mr. Cecil Sharp's Somerset collections grew under his hands, and filled volume after volume. Some months ago, a visitor at a country-house where I was staying entertained the party for the whole evening with Somersetshire songs, collected by Mr. Sharp from labourers on the estate of the singer's father,—old men whom he and his family had known all their lives without ever having discovered their musical powers. It is the same with folklore. Those who look for it will find it.

I do not mean of course that British folklore is of more value than that of other European countries, but that, as most countries have now taken up the study of their own lore, Great Britain and India are the principal fields lying untilled.

The German and Swiss Folklore Societies confine their output of Nachrichten and Zeitschriften mainly to the folklore of their own countries. We can hardly go so far as that. For our own sakes we must not confine ourselves to Great Britain. We must not get out of touch with the travellers who return to us from time to time, bringing their sheaves with them. Nor must we forget the needs of our Indian and Colonial members, some of whom are ill-placed for obtaining books, and depend on Folk-Lore to keep them in touch with the world. But some sort of concentration of our work seems to me desirable and even needful. I will not enter into details until I have some assurance of your support, but, if my views find favour with the Council and with the Society at large, I feel convinced that we shall be able to frame some definite proposals to lay before you at our next Annual Meeting.

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