s," have done my best. The majority of the Rhymes
can be placed under headings ordinarily used. This was to be expected.
It is in obedience to Natural Law. We see it in the Music World. The
Caucasian music has eight fundamental tones, the Japanese music has
five, while, according to some authorities, Negro Jubilee-music has
nine; yet all these music scales have five tones in common. In the
Periodic System of Elements there are two periods; a short period and a
long period, but both periods embrace, in common, elements belonging to
the same family. So with the Ballads, certain classification headings
will very well take in both the Negro and all others. The Negro Ballad,
however, does not entirely properly fit in. I have therefore resorted to
the following expedient: I have taken the headings ordinarily used, and
have listed under each heading the Negro Rhymes which belong with it, as
nearly as possible. I have placed this classified list at the end of the
book, under the title "Comparative Study Index." By using this Index one
can locate and compare Negro Folk productions with the corresponding
Folk productions of other peoples.

The headings found in this Comparative Study Index are as follows:

1. Love Songs.
2. Dance Songs.
3. Animal and Nature Lore.
4. Nursery Rhymes.
5. Charms and Superstitions.
6. Hunting Songs.
7. Drinking Songs.
8. Wise and Gnomic Sayings.
9. Harvest Songs.
10. Biblical and Religious Themes.
11. Play Songs.
12. Miscellaneous.

With the way paved for others to make such comparative study as they
would like, I now feel free to use a classification which lends itself
more easily to a discussion of the origin and evolution of Negro Rhyme.
The basic principle used in this classification is Origin and under each
source of origin is placed the various classes of Rhymes produced. It
has seemed to the writer, who is himself a Negro, and has spent his
early years in the midst of the Rhymes and witnessed their making, that
there are three great divisions derived from three great mainsprings or
sources.

The Divisions are as follows:

I. Rhymes derived from the Social Instinct.
II. Rhymes derived from the Homing Instinct.
III. Rhymes of Psycho-composite origin.

The terms Social and Homing Instincts are familiar to every one, but the
term Psycho-composite was coined by the writer after much hesitation and
with much regret because he seemed unable to find