COMPARATIVE AFRO-AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
To adjust with scrupulous nicety the scale of values in any line of investigation one must train his eye, his heart, and his brain in the work of faithful comparisons. If this be true in the general literary, scientific or sociological departments of research, it is doubly so in the comparatively new field of thought presented by Folk-lore. One may unearth from lower strata of soil curios of unique and wonderful workmanship. What are they more than objects for pleasant speculation and admiration unless, by comparison with objects found elsewhere, and in many far separated localities, they go to support or establish certain theories of value in the general summing up of human knowledge?
It is to the unearthing of Folk-lore curios we must look for facts found in no so-called chronicles, for truths that have eluded the most faithful historians, for secrets that have escaped the scrutiny of closest observers along the usual lines of investigation. Through the researches of Folk-lore will be presented to us the everyday lives of a people, and at the same time there will be presented, as by the power of a spirit lens, a psychological picture, a representation of the thoughts and inner existence, the intellectual, moral, and social conditions of those to whom the research relates. It has been said in this connection that, "out of the ignorance of a people may be built their only monument of lasting fame." Posterity may have received from them no legacy save a testimony to certain truths borne by their customs and beliefs; but when these, through the typical legends of all primitive peoples are secured, brought together, and compared, we will have received the most valuable and incontestable evidence as to the origin and first principles of the species.
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