"But was roused from his swoon by a beautiful Yankee Who brought dough-nuts and tea, it was genuine Twankay. An angel of light in the garb of humanity, And that garb of the Saxony's best superfine, What her countrymen term the 'real genuine.' Bill was charmed and concluded, with some show of reason, That to her annexation could never be treason."
And he was annexed in due time.
We have some poets still living, Gordon Fraser, John W. Fraser, and others; on them I must touch lightly. Gordon is a writer on "Lowland Lore," and writes good ballads of his own, like the one beginning:
"'Twas an eerie nicht, an' the storm-cluds lower'd, An the lichtnin's glent was keen, An' the thunner roll'd, but nane were cower'd I' the clachan till-hous bien."
It is a fearsome ghost story well told.
John W. is a very charming writer. His ballad of the courtship of "Bell" is first-rate, and it begins:
"Sin' Bell cam' to bide in our toun, The warl' has a' gaen ajee; She has turned a' the heads o' the men, And the women wi' envy will dea. O, but Bell's bonnie! Dink as a daisy is she; Her e'en are as bricht as the starnies That shine in the lift sae hie."
Such are some of our literary men, and they are very creditable specimens. I know that I have left out more than I have given. I have not said a word about all the Frasers in Gaelic literature, whose name must be legion, because I cannot follow them in that language.
Our Clan has a good proportion of the literary in it, and I believe we are all literary critics. I never knew a Fraser yet who had not excellent literary taste and judgment. The reasons why more literature has not been produced is very clear to my mind, and depends on a prominent characteristic of the Clan—great modesty. This must be thrown aside if you are going to rush into literature. Many a Fraser has had it in him to produce the highest sort of literature, who from this cause has never written a line for the public. When the Clan succeeds in throwing off this defect, we may expect the production of literary works on a par with the best that has been written.