Show SONGS ARE ANCIENT words often seem meaningless Meaning leeg jum ble melody always within compass of home voices almost nil all popular cradle songs are very y V old d some of them so old that were ere they not familiar they might be considered the verlest curiosities ot of literature through all the changes of language they have held I 1 their beir own upon the lips and in the hearts licarte of the people from mouth to m mouth auth they have come down through the years with an irresistible swing of rhythm find and patter and jingle of words till they seem to have been rather a natural growth than a human invention in all the melodies observes a writer there la Is a certain P keness of rhythm with a national I 1 might say a temperamental difference of movement find and a meter from the blow assured major of the german to the wild plaintive minor of the scotch characterized by the short accented notes or the weird nea s of the hungarian with its sudden changes that these old songs should have embodied and retained the characteristics of the people among whom they originated gives them an importance which their crude words and the elementary character of their melodies scarcely seem to warrant the words often seem a mere meaningless jumble the melody Is always within the lie easy compass of home voices no doubt both express in some wise way the one unalterable sentiment m nt of maternal love |