The peculiar fact that the one true indigenous class of American folk-song is the product of an African race is, as we have seen, due to circumstances alone. It is no reflection upon the capabilities of the other races for artistic expression. It simply demonstrates the fact that folk-song grows under certain conditions and no other. A nation that is prosperous, that is plunged headlong into the feverish activities of industrial progress, cannot be expected to bring forth melancholy 'complaints' or gems of contemplative lyricism. But there come even to such nations moments of national stress that give rise to unusual outbursts. While these are usually voiced by single individuals, they reproduce so vividly the spirit of the people that they often rank with folk-songs in spontaneity and directness. Such are the patriotic songs, whose creation accompanied every war and every revolution. Often they are mere adaptations of freshly composed words to old but stirring tunes, which thus take on a new significance--often these very tunes are 'captured' from the enemy and annexed to the country's flag. Such was the case in the War of the Revolution, in the War of 1812, and again in the Civil War. These songs--not strictly folk-songs--might better be described as 'songs in the folk manner,' a distinction indicated in German by the adjective _volkstümlich_ or _volksmässig_. Such songs in the folk manner follow in the wake of every considerable folk-song tradition. They have not failed to do so in America, and it is significant that the spirit which they reproduce or aim to reproduce is the spirit of the negro folk-song. The movement, or after-movement, started with the imitation of negro ditties by white composers in connection with the so-called negro minstrel troupes which, beginning about 1845, became a favorite form of amusement in the United States. Its culmination must be recognized in the work of such men as Stephen Foster and Henry Clay Work, whose works are part of the permanent stock of American lyrics. Beyond this the negro song has had an influence upon the so-called American popular song, a degenerate type which has appropriated, often in distorted form, some of the character of plantation song, notably the peculiar form of syncopation known as 'ragtime.' We have now enumerated all the subdivisions of folk-song in its broader sense: the native folk-song proper, exemplified by the negro plantation song; the song in the folk manner, exemplified by the negro minstrel tunes, the work of Stephen Foster and the patriotic songs, adapted or original; the adapted folk-song of the French-Canadian, Spanish-American, the Kentucky mountaineer, etc.; and, finally, the simon-pure folk-song of foreign birth, perpetuated in America by immigrants. All of these are vital forces in American composition and as such must receive more detailed attention. II