The difference between the negro songs and the labor songs of other peoples and places is, that the negroes had no special labor songs but sang their religious songs, which they adapted to all purposes and occasions, while the true labor song was composed to fit the occasion. In old England we hear of the “Labor-lilts” which were all work songs of spinners, milk-maids and shepherds. And we must not neglect the old night-watchman whom we meet in Wagner’s _Die Meistersinger_. Neither can we let go by unnoticed the “town-crier” who told the news, good and bad. The street calls and cries of the Middle Ages were labor songs, later, in England and in France made into real compositions. We, in America, have the old Cow-boy songs, the Mining songs of California, and the Lumberjack songs of Maine. These are not exactly labor songs but are first cousins to them. The stage coach _postillons_ with their fascinating horn calls are really music of trades or occupations, too. Isn’t it too bad that the inartistic jangle of the tram-car and the “honk-honk” of the automobile tear our ears instead of the tuneful hunting horns and postillon horns which are still occasionally heard in European forests! The world’s workers sing to make work slip along easily, so you see song is a great lubricant. (6) DRINKING SONGS In the great dining halls of the Middle Ages, when hunting parties gathered, and guests were received from near and far, or at Christmas time, when in old Britain the Wassail-bowl flowed freely, drinking songs were an important part of the banquet. At the splendid feasts in Rome, drinking songs were popular. In fact, all over the world there are thousands of this kind of folk song. The name Wassail dates back to the day when Vortigern, King of the Britons, visited Hengist, the Saxon. Rowena, Hengist’s daughter greeted him with, “Was hail hla, ond cyning!” which mean in plain English, “Be of health, Lord King!” to which the king replied, “Drink heil” (Drink health). THE WORD VAUDEVILLE In the second half of the 15th century, two men named Basselin and Jean de Houx wrote many drinking songs. As they lived in the little valleys (in French called _vaux_) near Vire in Normandy, drinking songs came to be called _vaux-de-vire_. At the same time, songs that were sung in the streets, in fact, any folk songs with gay melodies and light words, were called _voix-de-ville_, (or voices of the city). So, in some way, these two terms became mixed, and the familiar word, _vaudeville_ is the result! (7) DANCING SONGS