The above song is difficult to classify. It would seem to be very much like some rhymes that the negro had seen published in a newspaper but for all his purposes it was a good song and it mattered little where he had obtained the ideas. It was indeed his own song. One other example of an effort to compose a new song shows the tendency of the negro to mix his serious themes with ridiculous expressions. There was a man by the name of Cy, He never prayed an' he never try, So when ole Cy was come to die, He hollow out, "in hell I'll cry." _In hell ole Cy did cry, In hell ole Cy did cry, In hell ole Cy did cry_, Now don't you die like ole Cy die. The song is a variation of two or three secular songs and becomes a religious song because of its chorus. It is actually sung in the churches. The "author" continued, Ole Cy did lead a mighty bad life, He was always after some other man's wife, which clearly showed the trace of the secular element; this phrase is applied to many of the notorious characters in the negro secular songs. Still there was an opportunity for the moral and the song represents the peculiar gratification which the negroes find in having composed something more or less original. Enough has been said to give a definite idea concerning the actual and possible origin of some of the negro folk-songs. Further examples will be given when the discussion of the negro's secular song has been reached. The psychology of negro music and song is not difficult to explain in the light of the facts already suggested. His plaintive appeals in prayer, his emotional and religious nature, his primitive expression, his love of rhythm and melody, his feelings and misguided imagination, his interpretation of life and Scripture, his faith in dreams and visions quickly exaggerated into fabrications, his whole nature but reveals within him what we call the musical nature of the race. With the negro, motion and song instinctively go together. Systematic movement is more conducive to singing than a careless, haphazard motion. Movement and song give rhythm that is not to be found under other circumstances. Regularity and rhythm in movement, emphasis and rhythm in music, these give the negro songs essential pleasure-giving qualities that appeal strongly to the negro's entire being. If his music is primitive and if it has much of the sensuous in it; if his songs and verse are full of primitive art having many qualities of possible worth, nevertheless they are not thereby rendered less distinct.