ors, words and music were one
spontaneous creation, and it is the _music_ that gives to the words
the accent, instead of the words forming the basis of the accentuation
of the music, as with us. This reproduction in verse of the original
Negro rhythms which are full of unexpected emphasis and captivating
syncopation forms a new departure in the manner of writing Negro poems
and it is believed that modern poets and writers of vers libre will
find interest in the richness and variety of Negro rhythms here shown.

Each song is prefaced by a few paragraphs of descriptive text and the
dedications of the different records to men who have helped to advance
the Negro summarize, in a sense, the progress of the race since
emancipation.

The recording of Negro folk-songs was prefaced by Mrs. Burlin by a
year's study of the native music of Africa. Doubleday, Page & Co. will
bring out in the autumn her book entitled _Songs From the Dark
Continent_, containing the results of careful study of native
folk-lore and music told and sung by two African boys (one a Zulu and
the other from the Ndan tribe) who had come directly to Hampton
Institute from the Dark Continent. This book plainly proves the
relationship of American Negro music to its parent stem in Africa, and
reveals the poetic as well as musical gifts latent in the black race.

* * * * *

_The Black Man's Part in the War._ By SIR H. H. JOHNSTON. Simpkin
Marshall, London, 1917.

Taking into consideration that the United Kingdom now rules 50,000,000
of Africans who are well represented in the battle line by the
thousands of Negroes fighting to make democracy safe in the world of
the white man, from which the blacks are excluded, this sympathetic
writer here endeavors to give these soldiers of color credit for their
unselfish services. The highest tribute which he pays them is that
their loyalty is incontestable. The writer, therefore, makes an appeal
in behalf of safeguarding their interests and reasonably preserving
their independence after the war. Having in mind the new alignments of
trade, he sees the Africans as the producers of the tropical products
which white men will need. Their future loyalty in the competitive
commercial world after the war is also necessary to the salvation of
the English people in the tropics and at home.

The writer believes too that to secure this necessary loyalty the
natives must be given political recognition.