Page:Transactions of the Second International Folk-Congress.djvu/37



,—We are met to begin, for Folk-lorists will not say to "inaugurate", the second Folk Lore Congress. The honour of having to welcome you is to me embarrassing in more ways than one. I feel that, among so many students, far more learned and more specially devoted to our topic, I am but an amateur, and again, that on the matters of which I am least ignorant 1 have said, many times, at least all that I know. Leaving this personal apology, one may be asked what is the purpose of our congress. The cynic will say that we, like all congresses, want to advertise, if not ourselves, at least our objects; or, if he be more polite, that we want to keep our objects before the public. And so we do. In these studies of ours every one may help us; from the mother who observes the self-developed manners and the curious instincts of her children, to the clergyman who can record the superstitions of his flock, or the rural usages that survive from a dateless antiquity. Folk-lore, as we shall see, is very much like that study of man which the poet recommends to mankind; it is a study to which every one who keeps his eyes open can contribute. For example, I lately had the pleasure of meeting a young lady who, unconsciously, was the very muse of Folk-lore, and perpetuated all the mental habits which we attribute to early if not to primitive man. When she met a flock of sheep she said, "September 12, 1891, "and this she repeated thrice for luck. On encountering a number of cows she remarked whether