Several posters seem to think that the Puritans were conservatives. That is understandable since the social mores of the Puritans somewhat resemble the social mores of modern conservatives. It is understandable, but it is not historically correct.

In the 17th Century, the conservatives were High Church Royalists. The Puritans were the political and religious LEFT. This is irritating to the left, which despises the old Puritans, and to the right, which rather admires them.

Politically, the Puritans were so far to the left that they overthrew the monarchy and, in 1649, executed King Charles I. Their religious program was not based on conserving tradition, but rather on ELIMINATING (Roman Catholic) tradition. At least in their own minds, they were purifying England, hence the term Puritan.

Did this "purifying" include cleaning up superstition in the old ballads? I don't know. If so, one would expect the ballads collected in New England to be more "cleaned up" than those collected in the Southern Appalachians. Are they?

Kent