Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/95

Imported Ballads 507 the process of importation from England has not yet entirely- ceased. In almost any community some new arrival from the Old World may bring over an old song ; though as time passes the chance for survival grows less. The communities richest in these pieces are, as might be anticipated, the North Atlantic and the Southern ; that is, the older, not the more newly settled sections of our country. At present, representatives of nearly eighty of the three hundred and five ballads, or lyric-tales, in- cluded in the collection of Old World pieces by Professor Child have been salvaged in the United States, besides many not in- cluded in his collection, some of which he may not have known. They come from New England, from the Middle Atlantic, North Central, Western, and Southwestern states, and from the Southern mountains. Some of the most popular of these traditional pieces, their popularity varying in varying regions, are Barbara Allen' s Cruelty, which leads in geographical distribu- tion and in number of variants. Lord Lovel, The Two Sisters, The Two Brothers, The House Carpenter, Young Beichan, The Wife of Usher's Well, and Lord Randal — who appears as Johnny Randall in Colorado, Jimmy Randall in Illinois, Jimmy Ran- sing in Indiana, Johnny Ramble in Ohio, and Jimmy Randolph in North Carolina. Sentimental ballads are well represented, among these emigrants from the Old World, and ballads of romantic tragedy and adventure. A riddle ballad remains. The Cambric Shirt, deriving from The Elfin Knight, and in Little Harry Hughes, from the Old World Sir Hugh, a relic of the mediaeval superstitions concerning the Jews ; and there are some sea narratives. Heroic ballads, or local or border ballads, have not found diffusion in the New World. These traditional pieces find their best chance for survival in outlying, isolated, or secluded regions, those least invaded by modem songs or song modes. Sometimes city dwellers remem- ber and hand them on ; but for the most part they are best sought for in mountain districts or in rural communities in the South and East, and on isolated farms or ranches in the West. The Southern Appalachians are pecuHarly rich in the preservation of Old World ballads. Sometimes traditional ballads remain, in degenerate form, as nursery songs, where adults have no longer cared to preserve them; examples are Lamkin, Lord Randal, The Two Brothers. Usually these transplanted pieces are sung