tered the growth of choral singing in France,
pointed out, in an account of the teaching of singing, the usefulness of
making children sing the old popular airs of the French provinces, and
of getting the teachers to make collections of them. In 1895, as the
result of a meeting organised by the _Correspondance generale de
l'Instruction primaire_, delightful collections of folk-songs were
distributed in the schools. The melodies were taken from old airs
collected by M. Julien Tiersot, and M. Maurice Buchor had put some fresh
and sparkling verses to them. "M. Buchor," I wrote at the time, "will
enjoy a pleasure not common to poets of our day: his songs will soar up
into the open air, like the lark in his _Chanson de labour_. The
populace may even recognise its own spirit in them, and one day take
possession of them, as if they were of their own contriving."[244] This
prediction has been almost completely realised, and M. Buchor's songs
are now the property of all the people of France.

[Footnote 244: Taken from the _Supplement a la Correspondance generale
de l'Instruction primaire_, 15 December, 1894.]

But M. Buchor did not remain content to be a poet of popular song.
During the last twelve years he has made, with untiring energy, a tour
of all the Ecoles Normales in France, returning several times to places
where he found signs of good vocal ability. In each school he made the
pupils sing his songs--in unison, or in two or three parts, sometimes
massing the boys' and girls' schools of one town together. His ambition
grew with his success; and to the folk-song melodies[245] he began
gradually to add pieces of classical music. And to impress the music
better on the singers he changed the existing words, and tried to find
others, which by their moral and poetic beauty more exactly translated
the musical feeling.[246]

[Footnote 245: Three series of these _Chants populaires pour les Ecoles_
have already been published.]

[Footnote 246: I reserve my opinion, from an artist's point of view, on
this plagiarising of the words of songs. On principle I condemn it
absolutely. But, in this case, it is Hobson's choice. _Primum vivere,
deinde philosophari_. If our contemporary musicians really wished the
people to sing, they would have written songs for them; but they seem to
have no desire to achieve honour that way. So there is nothing else to
be done but to have recourse to the musicians of other days; and even
there the choic