Chapter I: Front Matter

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Additional notes are located at the end of this e-text.

The Blood of Rachel

=A Dramatization of Esther=

AND OTHER POEMS

BY COTTON NOE
_Author of "The Loom of Life"_

JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY
INCORPORATED
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
1916

COPYRIGHT 1916
BY COTTON NOE

All producing rights reserved, including photo play.
Permission to produce must be obtained from the author.

To
HONORABLE MOSES KAUFMAN

From whom I differ on some political and religious
questions, but whose warm friendship and
keen literary appreciation have been a
source of much inspiration to me,
particularly in the writing
of this drama.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

The Blood of Rachel 1

The Old Dog Irons 79

The Age Electric 82

Grandmother Days 86

Just to Dream 88

Amnemon 90

A Romance of the Cumberland 102

Morning Glories 111

Christmastide 112

Kinship 113

Precocity 114

The Secret 115

A Rhymeless Sonnet 116

Ambition 117

Opportunity 118

Holiday Thoughts 119

The Old Year and the New 120

Fellow Travelers 121

James Whitcomb Riley 122

Cale Young Rice 123

Pilate's Monologue 124

The Virile Spirit 128

Bluebird 131

An Autumn Minor 132

Slabs and Obelisk 133

On Broadway 134

An Ember Etching 137

A Tragedy in Birdland 140

PERSONS OF THE DRAMA

AHASUERUS _King of Persia_

VASHTI _Queen of Persia_

ESTHER _Second Queen of Persia_

HAMAN _Premier_

MORDECAI _A Jew, afterwards Premier_

ZERESH _Wife of Haman_

MEHEUMAN _A Chamberlain_

ABAGTHA _Another Chamberlain_

AHAFID _Court Poet_

SMERDIS _Court Fool_

SAADI _Young Court Poet_

PARSHANDATHA _Lady in Waiting to Zeresh_

ZETHAR _Lady in Waiting to Vashti_

_Chamberlains_, _Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court_,
_Heralds_, _Royal Dancers_, _Nubian Slaves_,
_Waiters_, _and others_.

The Blood of Rachel