Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 8, 1897.djvu/43

 Annual Report of the Councit. 21

mittee ; and the Committee have also in hand a quantity of Aberdeenshire Folklore collected by Dr. Gregor. No diffi- culty will be experienced, therefore, in finding matter for the press.

The Council again invite offers of help from mem- bers in undertaking the collection of the folklore from printed sources of the unallotted counties. At present the only counties allotted, besides those the folklore of which has been already published, are, in England : York- shire (North Riding), Notts, Staffordshire, Norfolk, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey ; in Scotland : Morayshire, Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, Kincardine, and Forfarshire ; in Ireland: Antrim and Tyrone; and the Isle of Man. Although no response was received to a similar invitation given a year ago, they hope that this renewed appeal may secure co-operation in a work which can only be successfully carried out by the voluntary help of members generally. Its practical utility has already been pointed out, and need not be here insisted on. Many of the sources are inaccessible save to inhabitants of the counties concerned. Hence it can only be undertaken by country members, to whom it affords an opportunity, even when they are not in a position to assist in the collection and preservation of still living traditions, to render permanent service to science, and whom it brings into touch with the general work of the Society. Wherever there may be a sufficient number of members resident in a county, the formation of a local committee for the purpose will perhaps be found useful. Division of labour tends to lighten and expedite the task ; the multiplication of workers, if properly organised, increases the probability of thoroughness in its performance ; while their re-union from time to time, as it proceeds, for the discussion of incidental questions helps to quicken their interest, not merely in the remains of the past within their own county, but also in the wider problems offered by the Science of