Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/605

Rh Mathews, Captain Bourke, Dr. Fewkes, Mr. Mooney, Dr. Brinton, Miss Fletcher, and others have been noticed by Prof. Frederick Starr in his article on Anthropological Study in America.

Perhaps the most striking results have been obtained in fields heretofore unvisited and unworked. We refer particularly to the lore found within the past four or five years among foreign-born and English-speaking peoples, both in thickly settled districts and in out-of-the-way places. Dr. Hoffman's collection of the folk lore of the Pennsylvania Germans; Prof. Fortier's account of Creole customs and superstitions, together with his versions of Creole nursery tales; Mr. Mooney's and Miss Hoke's articles on the folk lore of the North Carolina mountain region; Mr. Culin's paper on Chinese customs and superstitions in Philadelphia and New York; Mr. Henry Lang's account of the Portuguese element in New England; Mrs. Bergen's and Mr. Newell's studies of current superstitions in different sections of the United States-these contributions, to name no others, show that emigrants to America, if they did not bring much material wealth, certainly carried with them what Carlyle calls "old clothes philosophy." Every number of the Folk-lore Journal has been a revelation to its many readers. We predict that greater surprises than those already given are in store for us.

The greatest progress in folk-lore study in this country has been made within the past six years, and it is significant to note that the Folk-lore Society has grown during the same time. Prior to 1887 the study of popular tradition in America was unorganized. Since then the investigations of special students in different fields have been collated and systematized, and, above all, those interested in the subject have been brought together. Thus to-day there is a certain esprit de corps among American folk-loristsfolklorists [sic] that was unknown some six or eight years ago.