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STORIES OF
" 'Except the Lord build the house\ they labor in vain who build it!
" Looking up the glen from Maxwelton, the chimneys of Craigdarrock House are seen.
" It is distant about five miles, and Annie had not far to remove from her father's house to that of her husband. She was twenty-eight at the time of her marriage.
" The Fergusons are a much older family, as families are reckoned, than the Lauries. Fer-gusons of Craigdarrock were attached to the courts of William the Lion and Alexander II. (i 214-1249)."
So says F. P. Humphrey in a magazine article to which I am indebted for some points of interest in this record.
Annie Laurie was the mother of Alexander Fergusson, the hero of Burns* song " The Whistle;" while the author of " Annie Laurie" was himself the hero of " Willie was a wanton wag." In regard to the origin of "The Whistle," it may be stated that in the time of Anne of Denmark, when she went to Scotland with James VI., there was a gigantic Dane of matchless drinking capacity. He had an ebony whistle which, at the beginning of a drinking bout he would lay on the table, and whoever was best able to blow it was to be considered
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