Excerpt from The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1932, Vol. 31

I met a prominent Scotchman lately (judge Calder), who lives in Ashcroft, b.c. When I discussed folk-lore with him, I found that he had a great fund of knowledge on these subjects, derived mostly from his mother, a Nova Scotian. He stated that much of the beliefs, stories, ballads, and so on, were the same as are Obtained in the High lands oi Scotland, but that some were obsolete there that are now pre served only in the old highland-scotch settlements of Canada. In writing these things out in English, he said, much would be lost, as all is preserved and told in the Gaelic language. I told him that it might be possible some time to get out a number of 'the Journal of American folk-lore' consisting of canadian-scottish lore, as you have already published other Canadian numbers. Mr. Teit has since given us the address of several good prospective Scotch informants in British Columbia, and has spoken of some Nova Scotians who have a vast knowledge of the Subject. Similar remarks, but applying to Scotch settlements in Ontario, were also made to us a few years ago by Dr. Alexander Fraser, Provincial Archivist, Toronto, who is an authority on Gaelic matters. Mr. William mcinnes, Director of the Geological Survey, Ottawa, informs us that it is common knowledge that a large number of Come-all-yel songs are still to be heard in the Canadian lumber-camps. Among other things, he remembers having heard the ballad of a battle on Chesapeake Bay against an American commander named Brooke, and also a recent shanty-song on the remarkable career of an old gray horse. Some one with a gift for metric form is, according to a common practice, appointed in almost every lumber-camp to recount or commemorate in new songs the current events of the season. We have also heard Col. W. P. Anderson, Chief Engineer in the Department of Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa, say that years ago, Irish people living in Dorchester County, Quebec, used to spend whole evenings listening to folk-songs and bal lads, some of which, it seems, had as many as seventy verses. Other authorities have singled out Prince Edward Island and some other parts of the Maritime Provinces as being very conservative centres in which folk-lore still flourishes.

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