Many American composers have, since these lines were written, acted upon the suggestion contained in them. We need but mention George W. Chadwick, Henry Schoenefeld, E. R. Kroeger, Henry F. Gilbert, Arthur Farwell, and W. H. Humiston among those who have drawn upon this fertile treasure of thematic material. It is but the beginning, however. American music is becoming more and more distinctive. Whether intentionally or spontaneously, our musical literature is bound to absorb some of the color of so potent an element of national lore. IV A great deal cannot be said at this time about the American folk-song from other than negro sources. Doubtless there is a wealth of song to be found in the Spanish-American sections along our borders, in the recesses of the Blue Ridge mountains, whose communities still live by the guide of primitive instincts and in defiance of law and order; on the great prairies of the west, where the cowboy has developed a rude type of chivalry peculiar to himself and with it an idiom reflecting the dare-devil and man-defying existence which he leads. But little has been done to collect this scattered store, to commit it to paper, and to sift the worthy from the dross. As regards the cowboy songs, the Southwest Society of the Archæological Institute of America, under the direction of Charles F. Lummis, has recently done some pioneer work. One of the songs thus gathered, 'The Lone Prairie,' was harmonized by Mr. Arthur Farwell and published in the Wa-wan Press series in 1905. In the arranger's opinion it is probably the first cowboy song to be printed. As such it acquires a special interest. It is in the minor mode, has the rhythmic snap peculiar to negro music, though it is in triple rhythm, and acquires a certain exotic flavor by the constant use of the minor seventh instead of the leading tone. Its outstanding ethnic character, if it has any, is, however, Irish. It is not improbable that the cowboy song should have acquired a certain tone from the music of the Indian, though a generous admixture of the Celtic idiom is most certainly to be expected from the racial character of the caste. In the same number of the Wa-wan Press there are two examples of Spanish-Californian folk-songs that are extremely interesting. Their Spanish character is unmistakable, though perhaps the tone is a little more plaintive than we are wont to expect from their original Southern habitat. 'The Hours of Grief' and 'The Black Face' are both set in the minor, and the 2/4 (quasi 6/8) measure, with the characteristic dotted rhythm, only accentuates the sombreness of the sentiment. Syncopation is used sparingly, at the end of a phrase only. The subject of the latter song--the lament of a dusky youth over his unhappy love for a white beauty, would bespeak negro origin, too, and the general character of the piece is certainly reminiscent of the Creole dance songs with their Habañera rhythm.