[15] J. W. Luce & Co., Boston; Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., London.
[16] Dramatic Works, vol. I. Ed. Ludwig Lewisohn. B. Huebach., New York.
[17] For purposes of useful comparison the lines of Whittier which suggested the subject to Mr. Fitch are appended.
| On that pleasant morn of the early fall When Lee marched over the mountain wall; Over the mountains winding down, Horse and foot, into Frederick town. Forty flags with their silver stars, Forty flags with their crimson bars, Flapped in the morning wind: the sun Of noon looked down and saw not one. Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bowed with her fourscore years and ten; Bravest of all in Frederick town, She took up the flag the men hauled down In her attic window the staff she set, To show that one heart was loyal yet. Up the street came the rebel tread, Stonewall Jackson riding ahead. Under his slouched hat left and right He glanced; the old flag met his sight. “Halt!”—the dust-brown ranks stood fast “Fire!”—out blazed the rifle-blast. It shivered the window, pane and sash; It rent the banner with seam and gash. Quick, as it fell from the broken staff Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf. She leaned far out on the window-sill, And shook it forth with a royal will. “Shoot, if you must, this old gray head, But spare your country’s flag,” she said. A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, Over the face of the leader came; The nobler nature within him stirred To life at that woman’s deed and word: “Who touches a hair of yon gray head Dies like a dog! March on!” he said. All day long through Frederick street Sounded the tread of marching feet; All day long that free flag tost Over the heads of the rebel host. |
[18] The Stage in America, p. 90. Norman Hapgood. The Macmillan Co., New York.
[19] Barbara Frietchie, p. 126. Clyde Fitch. Life Publishing Co., New York.
[20] Play-Making, pp. 24-25. William Archer. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston.
[21] Les 36 Situations Dramatiques. Georges Polti. Edition du Mercure de France, 1895, p. 1.
[22] For texts of The Careless Husband and The Provoked Husband, both plays by Colley Cibber, see Works, vols. II and IV, 1777.
[23] Methuen & Co., Ltd., London.