Cotton Noe

“ But a statue was there that Art can not know,
That filled the rude room with a musical glow,—
'Twas Ruth at the Old Spinning Wheel!
Long years have passed by; its music was stilled
At rattle and whirr of machinery.
And the pea-fowl now screams where the mocking bird trilled,
And the landscape is dead where once the heart thrilled
At wildwood and picturesque scenery.
The opera may boast the diva of song,
To me she makes no appeal;
To flute obligato my heart is still dumb,
But oh! for the song and musical hum
Of Ruth and the Old Spinning Wheel! ”

“ Zeresh
[Who has been concealed in a corner of the hall, advancing.]
At Esther's feet! An Aggagite! Ha, Ha!
A hater of the Jews! You hypocrite!
A lover of this queen! A paramour
Of her who boasts that she can trace her blood
An unpolluted stream a thousand years
To one who watched his humble flocks on bleak
Judean hills. A shepherd queen that rules
The Persian throne, and you, O Haman, you
That fed on venom for her race, are now,
Though premier, a cringing, craven wretch,
Begging this Jewish girl for worthless life.
"A rainbow over polar snows," ha, ha! ”

“ Ahafid, you do seem to think the first
Great business of a king is war. Now pray
You, why should Xerxes waste the lusty days
Of youth in bloody strife? To furnish themes,
No doubt, for dullard bards and minstrelsy.
Ahasuerus is the wisest king
That ever sat upon a Persian throne.
You graybeard fool, stupid as poets are.
Can you not see the wisdom of our king
In substitution of the flight for death,
Of feast for fight, of wine for blood? Think you
'Tis wise to wear the plaited mail of Mars
When Venus bids you to the festival
Of love?
[3] Ahafid
You call me then a graybeard fool! ”

“ Has a sky of such a hue—
In the mountains of Kentucky
Lives my sweetheart pure and true.
Refrain
In the Blue-grass of Kentucky
Now Rowena waits for me,
With a brood of little fairies
That my heart so longs to see;
For their eyes are bright and sparkling
As the drops of diamond dew—
In the Blue-grass of Kentucky,
Live my sweethearts pure and true:
Yes, I love the lofty mountains,
And the deep and darkling cove,
Where the redbirds gloom and glimmer,
And the sky is bright above ”

“ This is no time to cloud the royal brow!
Bring forth the vintage from the deepest vault.
Here are a hundred irised pearls. They cost
A million sesterces. Let each man crush
A lustrous shell and drink it to the health
Of Esther, beauteous queen of all the East.
Arise! She comes! A blaze of splendor. Now
Let every instrument be sounded.
The revels shall continue till the dawn!
[74] Zeresh
[Rushing in with uplifted dagger and thrusting it into the heart of Esther, crying as she flourishes it before the astonished court.]
The dawn, O king, is breaking in the east!
[Curtain.] ”

“ Deep in the liquid blue of Psyche's eyes,
Then took three strands of raveled midnight skies
And strung his silver bow with these, and laughed,
Thy doom, O son of Esculapius' craft,
Was sealed:—the fatalest dart that flies
Is Eros' bolt, and surest of its prize—
And now, physician, take thy healing draft.
Ah, no; it is not unto death but life,
That thou art sick, although pierced through the heart!
Wondrous disease that no physician's art
Can heal, that will not yield to surgeon's knife,—
A blessed wound that ever must grow worse. ”

“ Last night the queen invited me
To banquet with her lord. The necklace that
She wore of iridescent pearls was like
A rainbow over polar snows. Ah, she
Was fair to look upon! And now my cup
Was filled to overflowing—
[Zeresh shows great emotion.]
(Zeresh, are
You ill?) —when Esther begged that I would come
Again to-morrow to another feast
Her hand would lay for Haman and the king.
My wealth is multiplied beyond my ken;
The sceptre is almost within my grasp.
But all these things avail me naught, so long
As yonder hated Jew remains unbent.
A Friend
Destroy the brute at once! ”

“ Sue Winn and Josh Bell were happily wed;
And the cowslips that bloomed in the side of the glen
Were fragrant as roses in the gardens of men.
Their home was a cabin, the mountain above
Was rugged and rough, and their fortune was love:
But a cabin with love and vigor and health
Is better than sin and a palace of wealth. ”

“ To perish and be slain.
Ahasuerus
[Surprised and dazed.]
O where is he—
Oh, who is he, that dare presume to lay
The hand of violence upon my queen!
[41] Esther
There stands this adversary, O my king,
The wicked Haman!
Ahasuerus
Haman! Haman! What
Can be the meaning of this speech? This man
I have advanced to be my premier?
Esther
I mean this craven whom you have advanced
To put to death with your own royal seal
The queen, as well as every other Jew
That breathes the Persian air, both young and old
Alike, the laughing child and gray-haired sire.
Ahasuerus
What! ”

“ Thy act is a crime in the eyes of the law,
No matter the motive, it weighs not a straw;
No matter the liquid distilled be as dew
That drips from the stem and chalice of rue.
But the comforts of life that lessen the pain
Of those whom we love, ease conscience and brain;
And Josh half forgot the cave in the hill,
And the white sparkling liquor that flowed from the still,
When Sue smiled and said, "By thy great sacrifice
Of unceasing toil and love without price,
I am better to-day; with return of the spring
We can labor together where the brown thrushes sing." ”

“ And sit in majesty upon a throne.
Esther
[Dejectedly.]
Four years I have been queen, which time I have
Not heard the voice of any one I love;
And though disguised, I hardly dare to speak
My heart even to you. This palace is
A gloomy prison cell. The Persian crown
[12] Is meaningless to me. The hundred gems
That blaze upon its field of gold are dull
And heavy lead. I would exchange it all
For but a glint of sunshine on the hills
Where I was born. But why this interview?
Mordecai
My royal niece, I know that you are queen.
Esther
A queen? ”

“ Zeresh
The servant must obey his Lord.
Mordecai
I did not plot the Persians' death. The plan
Of God was in it all.
Zeresh
Else why were you
Made premier at the moment when the Jews
Faced death in every province of the king?
Mordecai
It was my hand that stopped the massacre,
But God avenged the awful wrong!
Zeresh
And Esther! How is it with her? You made
Her queen. She was a humble Hebrew girl,
Unknown and friendless, but for Mordecai.
Mordecai
She should be grateful for the crown I gave. ”

“ And the mountain redbirds flashed and flew
Around the rude cabin of Josh and Sue.
Ah, little you know, ye daughters of Jove,
The sweetness of poverty wedded to love;
Untrammeled by fashion, unsated by sin,
With the feeling that life and the dewdrop are kin.
Ah, little you know who dwell among men
The freedom and freshness of mountain and glen,
Where the Diva of Nature gives her grand matinee
In the opera of Love from a rich elder spray! ”

“ Ahafid
[Sings.]
A country but no king,
An empire but no throne,
An upstart wears the signet ring,
My harp has lost its tone.
I can no longer sing great Persia's praise.
[29] Smerdis
The trouble isn't with the harp, the country, king, nor throne;
Nor that an upstart wears the ring: Ahafid's voice is gone.
Ahafid
What say you, Smerdis?
Smerdis
Art is marvelous.
Ahafid
Even Ahasuerus once was king,
He was a despot, it is true, but still
A prince.
Smerdis
If prince, then why not still a king?
Ahafid
Eh, Smerdis? ”

“ The mating birds, their nests, their songs of love—
All this, dear Lord, through years of mist and haze!
And then I turn and look beyond the Shade,
And those who wrought for us are waiting there:
Our mothers with their crowns of silver hair,
And radiant smiles of love that will not fade;
Our fathers with the keys to all the creeds
Are there still strong in faith and pure in deeds. ”

“ Parshandatha
Madam, your husband has
A ready wit. The queen enjoys life.
Zeresh
Enjoys life!
And so do I, and likewise death. Now hold
Your blasted tongue. My husband sups again
To-morrow with the Jewish queen. They say
When Haman dines her majesty prepares
The banquet with her own most dainty hand!
Parshandatha, whose hand, think you, has laid
The feast of Adar?
[24] Parshandatha
Zeresh! call you death
A feast!
Zeresh
A glorious feast on which my soul
Already feeds, and Esther shall be there!
[Re-enter Haman and Friends.]
Haman
Be seated at the table. ”

“ This is a joyous night! Oh, queen, your wit
Has filled my cup with wine of happiness.
What think you, Haman, should be done to him
The king delighteth most to honor now?
[39] Haman
Bring forth the robe, O king, your majesty
Does wear, and place it on the one your grace
Does most delight to honor. Xerxes, set
This man upon your royal horse, and place
Your majesty's own jeweled crown upon
His head, and let him be proclaimed
Throughout the public streets.
Ahasuerus
[Rises. Emphatic.]
So let it then
Be done to Mordecai, the Jew beside
The palace gate.
Haman
What words are these? ”

“ But the sleuth-hounds of law found the cave in the hill
At a late hour of night and raided the still;
Then surrounded the cabin, and woke Josh and Sue
And demanded surrender of the moonshiners, too.
[Pg 89]
With Winchester rifle Josh leaped from his couch,
"I'll never surrender, nor cower, nor crouch
To cowardly villains that plunder the poor,
In the guise of the law; who crosses my door,
Had best make his peace with the angels above;
By my life I'll protect the darlings I love."
Like a lion at bay, the flash of his eye,
Told the brave mountaineer would shield them or die. ”

“ Ahafid
It seems Ahasuerus means to drink
The cup of revel to its bitter lees.
Smerdis
The deeper in the cup he goes
The sweeter is the wine that flows;
The closer to the lees, he thinks,
The purer is the wine he drinks. ”

“ Were eyes divine!
[Pg 56]
JACK FROST
In a pixy chariot, drawn,
Not by deer, but elfin fawn,
Thou hast come, Jack Frost and gone.
Silently, unheralded,
O'er the earth thy chariot sped;
Dear Jack Frost, where hast thou fled?
Thou the child's and poet's friend,
Brings't us blessings without end,
Joys the world can not transcend. ”

“ Zeresh
[With contempt.]
Ahasuerus wears a pigeon's heart.
The Persian robe's a Jewish gabardine;
The crown, a Hebrew priest's phylactery.
But did you say forget? Have you been so
Long with me, dear, and doubt my memory?
Forget Ahasuerus, did you say?
That minion of a Jewish girl, who sealed
The death of Haman and his sons? His face
Is seared upon my heart, his image burnt
Into my brain. I tell you Xerxes is
No longer king.
[57] Parshandatha
But is not Esther queen? ”

“ Upon thy mountain cliff:
And there secure from all the world,
Nestle, with plumed wings closely furled
That sustained thee and o'er earth whirled
Thee with a haughty air.
Ambitions would disturb thy dreams,
The night air shudder with thy screams,
And like the human soul that teems
With vain-glorious care,
Thy heart would ache, thy soul would long,
To move the world, to sway the throng,
Or be the hero of the song
Of some great epic pen.
[Pg 58] 'Tis well O bird that thou art free
To soar the air, 'tis well with thee,
'Tis well that thou hast eyes to see,
But not the human ken. ”

“ Mordecai
The wicked Haman would have slain
Even the queen herself and every Jew
That lives within the hundred provinces
Of Xerxes' weak and vacillating rule.
Zeresh
Thy action was no more than self-defense?
Mordecai
Not self-defense of Mordecai alone,
But of my blood, of Esther and the sons
Of Jacob, exiled and defenseless else.
The God of Abraham may chasten, but
He keeps his promises, nor will forsake.
[49] Rameses sat upon his haughty throne
And knew not Joseph, for my people were
Oppressed with bitter bondage and their lives
Made hard in mortar and in brick ”