The Dramatic Works of Gerhart Hauptmann Volume I Part 150

LANGHEINRICH

Yes, ruinin' girls an' that sort o' thing, that's what. An' then beatin'

his hat around their heads an' sayin': Out with the low strumpet! That's what they is all of a sudden when it's he that made 'em--_what_ they is!--Oh, an' then he's a great friend o' Wehrhahn's an' grunts out like a swine in public meetin's: There ain't no more morality these days ... an'

there ought to be laws against such doin's ... an' so on, an' so on ...

an' if you'd like to go to church, there the old rotten sinner sits an'

turns up his eyes. [_A distant ringing of church bells if heard._] Listen to that! The sparrow is singin'.--I always calls that the sparrow, Doctor. I always says: the sparrow sings. I mean when them bells is ringin'. An' ain't I right that it's the sparrow that sings? 'Cause since Wehrhahn got that bird in his b.u.t.tonhole them bells has begun to ring.

An' if the bells didn't go an' ring, why he wouldn't have no decoration neither.

_EDE comes in grinning and carrying three steins of beer._

EDE

Oho, listen there, the sparrow is singin'.

LANGHEINRICH

Well, you see, he don't call it nothin' else no more. [_Each of the three holds a stein. They knock them together._] Your health! An' welcome back to the old country! [_They drink._] That's a fine evenin' this mornin'.

I'd like to see this night by day.

DR. BOXER

Now I'm goin' to blaspheme a bit. I'm not opposed to the building of churches at all.

LANGHEINRICH

An' I ain't neither. People gets work! I didn't get any this time, though. An' even if there's a little trouble now an' then, Pastor Friderici an' a bit o' nonsense with coloured windows an' altar cloths--that don't do no harm. People has to have a little.

DR. BOXER

Yes, those people are ent.i.tled to cultivate their own pleasures. And then, Langheinrich, a higher principle has to be represented somehow.

LANGHEINRICH

Sure, an' it brings people out here too, you c'n believe me. Buildin'

lots has gone up considerable.

EDE

That's so. An' there was a man onct that didn't have no roof over his head ... No, that ain't the way to begin what I want to say.--I was onct out on the heath--far out. All of a sudden: what d'you think I heard, Doctor! I heard a d.i.c.kens of a screechin'.--I goes up to it. Crows! Yes, sir. There was a feller hangin' high up in a pine tree--tailor's journeyman from over in Berkenbruck: he hanged hisself on account o'

starvation--hanged hisself high up.--Yes, there's always got to be somethin' higher!

[_While they finish drinking their beer the long-drawn cries of pain of a man's voice are heard from some distance. The wind has risen considerably._

DR. BOXER

What is that?

EDE

Rauchhaupt. Nothin' to worry about.

LANGHEINRICH

Sounds kind o' gruesome, don't it? 'Tain't nothin' very lovely neither.

When that feller's pains in his leg gets hold o' him an' he roars out that way o' nights--that goes right through an' through any one. No, before I'd stand pain like that I'd go an' put a bullet through my head.

EDE

Gee-rusalem! That's a wind again. Look out, Doctor, that your hat don't fly away.

_A hat is whirled by the wind along the street. SCHMAROWSKI, hatless, a roll of paper in his hand, runs chasing it._

EDE

Run along, sonny! Right on there! Show us what you c'n do!

DR. BOXER

That hat is tired of his position: wants a holiday.

SCHMAROWSKI

[_Who has recovered his hat, turns angrily to DR. BOXER._] What was that very appropriate remark you made just now?

DR. BOXER

That you are an excellent runner.

SCHMAROWSKI

Schmarowski!

DR. BOXER

Boxer!

SCHMAROWSKI

Much pleased.--Now I'd like to ask you a question. Do you know what a fathead is?

DR. BOXER

No.

SCHMAROWSKI

You don't? Neither do I. But now tell me: you know what a _schlemihl_ is, I suppose.