Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 43.djvu/613

Rh in which opportunities to gather valuable material are found: for example, in the Pennsylvania coal fields, where Hungarians congregate; in the Southwest, where the negroes and "poor whites" touch elbows; in the Northwest, where the Scandinavians are numerous; and on the Pacific coast, where Indians, Chinese, and half-breeds mingle.

A few words as to the work of the officers and leaders of the national Folk-lore Society, The honor of holding the presidency rightfully belongs to Prof. Horatio Hale, whose studies date back to a time when the term "folk lore" could not be found in Webster's Dictionary. His first important contribution was to the volume of Ethnography and Philology of the United States Exploring Expedition under Wilkes (Volume VII). Then Prof. Hale increased his reputation by editing The Iroquois Book of Rites, This Iroquois book is almost pure folk lore, and has a special interest, as showing how authentic history can be derived from popular tradition where this has been handed down in public and solemn recitations. To this evidence alone we owe the establishment of the fact that Hiawatha was not a mythical hero, but an actual Onondaga chief, who lived between four and five centuries ago, and helped to form the great Iroquois Confederation. For further information on the story of Hiawatha, see Mr. Beauchamp's scholarly paper entitled Hi-a-wat-ha, in the Journal of American Folk Lore (for 1891, p. 295).

The man who is responsible for the very existence of such an organization as The American Folk-lore Society is William Wells Newell. He it was who issued the call to arms, who drafted the circular letter already referred to, who put the new organization in line with the great anthropological movement in America, who has generously given his time and services to the cause of folk lore; who, in short, has been the general executive officer of the society from the beginning. All this has been a labor of love with our honored permanent secretary. Mr. Newell won his reputation as a folk-lorist by his book of Games and Songs of American Children (1883). Since then he has contributed to the Journal of American Folk Lore a large number of valuable papers, which we all hope to see some day within the covers of a book.