



Produced by David Garcia, David E. Brown, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)









  VIRGINIA
  A Tragedy

  AND OTHER POEMS

  MARION FORSTER GILMORE




  VIRGINIA

  A Tragedy

  AND

  OTHER POEMS

  BY

  MARION FORSTER GILMORE

  JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY
  Incorporated

  LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
  1910


  COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
  MARION FORSTER GILMORE




Dedication


  TO MY FATHER

  Years can not cloud the light of your clear eyes,
  Steadfast and bright with high integrity;
  Nor rob your spirit of the strength that lies
  On those firm lips; nor dim the purity
  Of a high soul, which bears the shield of Love
  Untarnished, as it was upon the day
  When One, with tender faith, desired to prove
  Her "Royal Knight," and gave her heart away.
  Bear her bright shield, and smile, as years roll by--
  Years that have crowned you with the priceless crown
  Of steadfast faith and worldwide charity--
  Until you reap the joy that you have sown,
  In that near land, where, with a light divine,
  The eyes you love through all the ages shine.




[Thanks are due to the proprietors of The Cosmopolitan Magazine and
Leslie's Weekly, for their courtesy in allowing the republication herein
of a number of poems which have previously appeared in issues of their
copyrighted magazines.]




CONTENTS


                                         PAGE

  VIRGINIA                                  1


  Stewardship                              61

  The Sea Gull                             62

  Mt. Vernon                               63

  My Mother                                64

  The Cradle Song                          64

  Out of the Dark                          65

  Niobe                                    66

  To the Genius of Death, by Canova        66

  To the Winged Victory of Samothrace      67

  Beatrice Triumphant                      68

  The Call of the Irish Sea                68

  The Lion of Lucerne                      69

  Sonnet to Niagara Falls                  70

  The Lost Heart                           70

  Is He Not Mine?                          71

  Two Gifts                                71

  The Moonflower                           72

  Three Kisses                             72

  A Song of the West                       73

  To Esther                                74

  The Thrush                               75

  The Light of the Star                    76

  The Message of the Pines                 77

  The Lost Sunbeam                         78

  Heritage                                 79




VIRGINIA

A Tragedy




CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

  APPIUS CLAUDIUS,
  Chief of the Ten and lawgiver of the Romans.

  MARCUS CLAUDIUS,
  His client.

  OPPIUS,
  One of the Ten.

  VIRGINIUS,
  A Roman centurion; a plebeian.

  ICILIUS,
  A tribune of the commons and lover to Virginia.

  SICINIUS,
  A plebeian soldier and an enemy of the Decemvirs.

  HORATIUS,
  GALBA,
  MARIUS,
  HORTENSIUS,
  Four Roman citizens.

  TIBERIUS,
  A boy of noble birth; brother to Cornelia.

  THE TEN DECEMVIRS.

  A PORTER.


  VIRGINIA,
  Daughter of Virginius.

  CORNELIA,
  A patrician lady, secretly betrothed to Sicinius.

  CAMILLA,
  Nurse to Virginia.

  JULIA,
  A maid.

  A SIBYL.

  A SLAVE GIRL IN THE HOUSE OF APPIUS CLAUDIUS.

  SOLDIERS, LICTORS, WOMEN, RABBLE, AND SERFS.


  _Setting--Rome._ _Time--During Supremacy of the Decemvirs._


    ACT I--Scene I--The Forum. Scene II--A Street in Rome.

    ACT II--Scene I--The House of Appius. Scene II--Women's
    Apartments in the House of Virginius. Scene III--Garden in House
    of Virginius. Scene IV--Home of Cornelia.

    ACT III--Scene I--The Forum. Scene II--Home of Virginius. Scene
    III--The Forum.




VIRGINIA

A Tragedy




ACT I.


Scene I--The Forum.

    _A multitude of citizens gathered therein. Disturbance shown
      among them by sullen looks and murmurings. Four citizens, two in
      patrician and two in plebeian garments, confer together._

  _1st Cit._ Enough, enough! I see we all agree
  Upon this common cause of our grievance;
  Our ranks, our unmixed blood, our differences,
  Are all forgotten