The first American collectors were naturally so desperate to collect Child Ballads that anything with a slight connection was pounced upon and so in every American anthology upto the 40s Child Ballads were placed in a separate section at the beginning. Then upto the 50s (Laws' time) the 'secondary' ballads were given in a middle section. Most academics now see these so-called 'secondary' ballads for what they are, not directly connected to the Child ballads. The Bold Soldier for instance has only a very tenuous connection to Earl Brand.