Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/76

 68  for, unless he sung to it, no butter would come. She then went to the croft, cut down some barley, burnt the straw to dry the grain, rubbed the grain between her hands, and threw it up before the wind to separate it from the ashes; ground it upon a quern or hand-mill, sifted it, made a bannock of the meal, set it up to bake before the fire; went to her cow, singing all the while, varying the strain according to the employment to which it was adapted. In the meanwhile a hen cackled under the eaves of the cottage; two new-laid eggs were immediately plunged into the boiling kail-pot, and in less than half an hour the poor, starving, faint, and way-worn traveller, with wonder and delight, sat down to a repast that under such circumstances would have been a feast for a prince."

In this address, which I think will about complete my work as President, I have been too discursive to be exact; but I wish to add to what I have already had the opportunity of saying from this chair, something to fill up gaps in my previous addresses, something to emphasise important matters of principle previously stated, something too by way of regret and apology for having done so little for the grand subject to which this Society is devoted—a subject nearly identical with the psychical evolution of humanity. I attempted in my first year of office to indicate the work which was needed from the Society by way of collection and by way of classification. When I compare my statement of the requirements with what we have done, I am satisfied with the quality and direction of our labours, but I am disheartened as to the quantity. In my second address I was able to speak about the principles of folk-lore research, and to formulate some for our guidance. Again, comparison of hopes with realisation does not show much in favour of realisation. Still, that what we are doing now is done upon clearly defined lines, with some idea of order and method, is an immense gain, the import of which will probably be more realised in future years.

There is so much that deals with the pathos, the humour, the grandeur of human life in the work which falls to the