even a Dance Song, by
Nature an ordinary ballad, there may be interwoven comedy, tragedy, and
nearly every kind of imaginable thing which goes rather with other
general forms of poetry than with the ballad. As an example, in the
Dance Song, "Promises of Freedom," we have mustered before our eyes the
comic drawing of a deceptive ugly old Mistress and then follows the
intimation of the tragic death of a poisoned slave owner, and as we are
tempted to dance along in thought with the rhymer, we cannot escape
getting the subtle impression that this slave had at least some "vague"
personal knowledge of how the Master got that poison. It is a common
easy-going ballad, but it is tinted with tragedy and comedy. This
general principle will be found to run very largely through the highest
types of Negro Folk Rhymes. It is the Nature method of construction, and
thus we call them Nature Ballads in structure, or form.

Other good examples of rhymes, Nature Ballads in structure, are "Frog
Went a-Courting," "Sheep Shell Corn," "Jack and Dinah Want Freedom."

I now direct attention further to the classification of Negro Rhymes as
Ballads. My earnest desire was to classify Negro Rhymes under ordinary
headings such as are used by literary men and women everywhere in their
general classification of Ballads. I considered this very important
because it would enable students of comparative Literature to compare
easily the Negro Folk Rhymes with the Folk Rhymes of all peoples. I was
much disappointed when I found that the Negro Folk Rhymes, when invited,
refused to take their places whole-heartedly in the ordinary
classification. As an example of many may be mentioned the little Rhyme
"Jaybird." It is a Dance Song, and thus comes under the Dance Song
Division, commonly used for Ballads. But, it also belongs under Nature
Lore heading, because the Negroes many years ago often told a story, in
conjunction with song, of the great misfortunes which overtook a Negro
who tried to get his living by hunting Jaybirds. Finally it also belongs
under the heading Superstitions, for its last stanza very plainly
alludes to the old Negro superstition of slavery days which declared
that it was almost impossible to find Jaybirds on Friday because they
went to Hades on that day to carry sand to the Devil.

But so important do I think of comparative study that I have taken the
ordinary headings used for Ballads and, after adding that omnibus
heading "Miscellaneou