Chapter 16

[_Leaves his work, holds himself up straight; solemnly._] Gottlieb!--you heard all your wife said to us. Look here, Gottlieb! [_He bares his breast._] Here they cut out a bullet as big as a thimble. The King knows where I lost my arm. It wasn't the mice as ate it. [_He walks up and down._] Before that wife of yours was ever thought of, I had spilled my blood by the quart for King an' country. So let her call what names she likes--an' welcome! It does me no harm--Frightened? Me frightened? What would I be frightened of, will you tell me that? Of the few soldiers, maybe, that'll be comin' after the rioters? Good gracious me! That would be a lot to be frightened at! No, no, lad; I may be a bit stiff in the back, but there's some strength left in the old bones; I've got the stuff in me yet to make a stand against a few rubbishin' bay'nets.--An' if it came to the worst! Willin', willin' would I be to say good-bye to this weary world. Death'd be welcome--welcomer to me to-day than to-morrow. For what is it we leave behind? That old bundle of aches an' pains we call our body, the care an' the oppression we call by the name o' life. We may be glad to get away from it,--But there's something to come after, Gottlieb!--an' if we've done ourselves out o' that too--why, then it's all over with us!

GOTTLIEB

Who knows what's to come after? Nobody's seen it.

OLD HILSE

Gottlieb! don't you be throwin' doubts on the one comfort us poor people have. Why has I sat here an' worked my treadle like a slave this forty year an' more?--sat still an' looked on at him over yonder livin' in pride an' wastefulness--why? Because I have a better hope, something as supports me in all my troubles. [_Points out at the window._] You have your good things in this world--I'll have mine in the next. That's been my thought. An' I'm that certain of it--I'd let myself be torn to pieces. Have we not His promise? There's a Day of Judgment comin'; but it's not us as are the judges--no: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

[_A cry of_ "Weavers, come out!" _is heard outside the window._

OLD HILSE

Do what you will for me. [_He seats himself at his loom._] I stay here.

GOTTLIEB

[_After a short struggle._] I'm going to work too--come what may.

[_Goes out._

[_The Weavers' Song is heard, sung by hundreds of voices quite close at hand; it sounds like a dull, monotonous wail._

INMATES OF THE HOUSE

[_In the entry-room._] "Oh, mercy on us! there they come swarmin' like ants!"--"Where can all these weavers be from?"--"Don't shove like that, I want to see too."--"Look at that great maypole of a woman leadin' on in front!"--"Gracious! they're comin' thicker an' thicker."

HORNIG

[_Comes into the entry-room from outside._] There's a theayter play for you now! That's what you don't see every day. But you should go up to the other Dittrich's an' look what they've done there. It's been no half work. He's got no house now, nor no factory, nor no wine-cellar, nor nothin'. They're drinkin' out o' the bottles--not so much as takin' the time to get out the corks. One, two, three, an' off with the neck, an' no matter whether they cuts their mouths or not. There's some of 'em runnin' about bleedin' like stuck pigs.--Now they're goin' to do for Dittrich here.

[_The singing has stopped._

INMATES OF THE HOUSE

There's nothin' so very wicked like about them.

HORNIG

You wait a bit! you'll soon see! All they're doin' just now is makin' up their minds where they'll begin. Look, they're inspectin' the palace from every side. Do you see that little stout man there, him with the stable pail? That's the smith from Peterswaldau--an' a dangerous little chap he is. He batters in the thickest doors as if they were made o' pie-crust. If a manufacturer was to fall into his hands it would be all over with him!

HOUSE INMATES

"That was a crack!"--"There went a stone through the window!"--"There's old Dittrich, shakin' with fright."--"He's hangin' out a board."--"Hangin' out a board?"--"What's written on it?"--"Can't you read?"--"It'd be a bad job for me if I couldn't read!"--"Well, read it, then!"--"'You--shall have--full--satis-fac-tion! You--you shall have full satisfaction.'"

HORNIG

He might ha' spared hisself the trouble--_that_ won't help him. It's something else they've set their minds on here. It's the factories. They're goin' to smash up the power-looms. For it's them that is ruinin' the hand-loom weaver. Even a blind man might see that. No! the good folks knows what they're after, an' no sheriff an' no p'lice superintendent'll bring them to reason--much less a bit of a board. Him as has seen 'em at work already knows what's comin'.

HOUSE INMATES

"Did any one ever see such a crowd!"--"What can _these_ be wantin'?"--[_Hastily._] "They're crossin' the bridge!"--[_Anxiously._] "They're never comin' over on this side, are they?"--[_In excitement and terror._] "It's to us they're comin'! They're comin' to us! They're comin' to fetch the weavers out o' their houses!"

[_General flight. The entry-room is empty. A crowd of dirty, dusty rioters rush in, their faces scarlet with brandy, and excitement; tattered, untidy-looking, as if they had been up all night. With the shout:_ "Weavers, come out!" _they disperse themselves through the house. BECKER and several other young weavers, armed with cudgels and poles, come into OLD HILSE'S room. When they see the old man at his loom they start, and cool down a little._

BECKER

Come, father Hilse, stop that. Leave your work to them as wants to work. There's no need now for you to be doin' yourself harm. You'll be well taken care of.

FIRST YOUNG WEAVER

You'll never need to go hungry to bed again.

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

The weaver's goin' to have a roof over his head an' a shirt on his back once more.

OLD HILSE

An' what's the devil sendin' you to do now, with your poles an' axes?

BECKER

These are what we're goin' to break on Dittrich's back.

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

We'll heat 'em red hot an' stick 'em down the manufacturers' throats, so as they'll feel for once what burnin' hunger tastes like.

THIRD YOUNG WEAVER

Come along, father Hilse! We'll give no quarter.

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

No one had mercy on us--neither God nor man. Now we're standin' up for our rights ourselves.

_OLD BAUMERT enters, somewhat shaky on the legs, a newly killed cock under his arm._

OLD BAUMERT

[_Stretching out his arms._] My brothers--we're all brothers! Come to my arms, brothers!

[_Laughter._

OLD HILSE

And that's the state you're in, Willem?

OLD BAUMERT

Gustav, is it you? My poor starvin' friend. Come to my arms, Gustav!

OLD HILSE

[_Mutters._] Let me alone.

OLD BAUMERT

I'll tell you what, Gustav. It's nothin' but luck that's wanted. You look at me. What do I look like? Luck's what's wanted. Don't I look like a lord? [_Pats his stomach._] Guess what's in there! There's food fit for a prince in that belly. When luck's with him a man gets roast hare to eat an' champagne wine to drink.--I'll tell you all something: We've made a big mistake--we must help ourselves.

ALL

[_Speaking at once._] We must help ourselves, hurrah!

OLD BAUMERT

As soon as we gets the first good bite inside us we're different men. Damn it all! but you feels the power comin' into you till you're like an ox, an' that wild with strength that you hit out right an' left without as much as takin' time to look. Dash it, but it's grand!

JAEGER

[_At the door, armed with an old cavalry sword._] We've made one or two first-rate attacks.

BECKER

We knows how to set about it now. One, two, three, an' we're inside the house. Then, at it like lightnin'--bang, crack, shiver! till the sparks are flyin' as if it was a smithy.

FIRST YOUNG WEAVER

It wouldn't be half bad to light a bit o' fire.

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

Let's march to Reichenbach an' burn the rich folks' houses over their heads!

JAEGER

That would be nothin' but butterin' their bread, Think of all the insurance money they'd get.

[_Laughter._

BECKER

No, from here we'll go to Freiburg, to Tromtra's.

JAEGER

What would you say to givin' all them as holds Government appointments a lesson? I've read somewhere as how all our troubles come from them birocrats, as they calls them.

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

Before long we'll go to Breslau, for more an' more'll be joinin' us.

OLD BAUMERT

[_To HILSE._] Won't you take a drop, Gustav?

OLD HILSE

I never touches it.

OLD BAUMERT

That was in the old world; we're in a new world to-day, Gustav.

FIRST YOUNG WEAVER

Christmas comes but once a year.

[_Laughter._

OLD HILSE

[_Impatiently._] What is it you want in my house, you limbs of Satan?

OLD BAUMERT

[_A little intimidated, coaxingly._] I was bringin' you a chicken, Gustav. I thought it would make a drop o' soup for mother.

OLD HILSE

[_Embarrassed, almost friendly._] Well, you can tell mother yourself.

MOTHER HILSE

[_Who has been making efforts to hear, her hand at her ear, motions them off._] Let me alone. I don't want no chicken soup.

OLD HILSE

That's right, mother. An' I want none, an' least of all that sort. An' let me say this much to you, Baumert: The devil stands on his head for joy when he hears the old ones jabberin' and talkin' as if they was infants. An' to you all I say--to every one of you: Me and you, we've got nothing to do with each other. It's not with my will that you're here. In law an' justice you've no right to be in my house.

A VOICE

Him that's not with us is against us.

JAEGER

[_Roughly and threateningly._] You're on the wrong track, old chap, I'd have you remember that we're not thieves.

A VOICE

We're hungry men, that's all.

FIRST YOUNG WEAVER

We wants to _live_--that's all. An' so we've cut the rope we was hung up with.

JAEGER

And we was in our right! [_Holding his fist in front of the old man's face_.] Say another word, and I'll give you one between the eyes.

BECKER

Come, now, Jaeger, be quiet. Let the old man alone.--What we say to ourselves, father Hilse, is this: Better dead than begin the old life again.

OLD HILSE

Have I not lived that life for sixty years an' more?

BECKER

That doesn't help us--there's _got_ to be a change.

OLD HILSE

On the Judgment Day.

BECKER

What they'll not give us willingly we're goin' to take by force.

OLD HILSE

By force. [_Laughs._] You may as well go an' dig your graves at once. They'll not be long showin' you where the force lies. Wait a bit, lad!

JAEGER

Is it the soldiers you're meanin'? We've been soldiers too. We'll soon do for a company or two of 'em.

OLD HILSE

With your tongues, maybe. But supposin' you did--for two that you'd beat off, ten'll come back.

VOICES

[_Call through the window._] The soldiers are comin! Look out!

[_General, sudden silence. For a moment a faint sound of fifes and drums is heard; in the ensuing silence a short, involuntary exclamation:_ "The devil! I'm off!" _followed by general laughter._

BECKER

Who was that? Who speaks of runnin' away?

JAEGER

Which of you is it that's afraid of a few paltry helmets? You have me to command you, and I've been in the trade. I knows their tricks.

OLD HILSE

An' what are you goin' to shoot with? Your sticks, eh?

FIRST YOUNG WEAVER

Never mind that old chap; he's wrong in the upper storey.

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

Yes, he's a bit off his head.

GOTTLIEB

[_Has made his way unnoticed among the rioters; catches hold of the speaker._] Would you give your impudence to an old man like him?

SECOND YOUNG WEAVER

Let me alone. 'Twasn't anything bad I said.

OLD HILSE

[_Interfering._] Let him jaw, Gottlieb. What. would you be meddlin' with him for? He'll soon see who it is that's been off his head to-day, him or me.

BECKER

Are you comin', Gottlieb?

OLD HILSE

No, he's goin' to do no such thing.

LUISE

[_Comes into the entry-room, calls._] What are you puttin' off your time with prayin' hypocrites like them for? Come quick to where you're wanted! Quick! Father Baumert, run all you can! The major's speakin' to the crowd from horseback. They're to go home. If you don't hurry up, it'll be all over.

JAEGER

[_As he goes out._] That's a brave husband o' yours.

LUISE

Where is he? I've got no husband!

[_Some of the people in the entry-room sing_:

Once on a time a man so small, Heigh-ho, heigh! Set his heart on a wife so tall, Heigh diddle-di-dum-di!

WITTIG, THE SMITH

[_Comes downstairs, still carrying the stable pail; stops on his way through the entry-room._] Come On! all of you that is not cowardly scoundrels!--hurrah!

[_He dashes out, followed by LUISE, JAEGER, and others, all shouting_ "Hurrah!"

BECKER

Good-bye, then, father Hilse; well see each other again.

[_Is going._

OLD HILSE

I doubt that. I've not five years to live, and that'll be the soonest you'll get out.

BECKER

[_Stops, not understanding._] Out o' what, father Hilse?

OLD HILSE

Out o' prison--where else?

BECKER

[_Laughs wildly._] Do you think I'd mind that? There's bread to be had there anyhow!

[_Goes out._

OLD BAUMERT

[_Has been cowering on a low stool, painfully beating his brains; he now gets up._] It's true, Gustav, as I've had a drop too much. But for all that I knows what I'm about. You think one way in this here matter; I think another. I say Becker's right: even if it ends in chains an' ropes--we'll be better off in prison than at home. You're cared for there, an' you don't need to starve. I wouldn't have joined 'em, Gustav, if I could ha' let it be; but once in a lifetime a man's got to show what he feels. [_Goes slowly towards the door._] Good-bye, Gustav. If anything happens, mind you put in a word for me in your prayers.

[_Goes out._

[_The rioters are now all gone. The entry-room, gradually fills again with curious onlookers from the different rooms of the house. OLD HILSE knots at his web. GOTTLIEB has taken an axe from behind the stove and is unconsciously feeling its edge. He and the old man are silently agitated. The hum and roar of a great crowd penetrate into the room._

MOTHER HILSE

The very boards is shakin', father--what's goin' on? What's goin' to happen to us?

[_Pause._]

OLD HILSE

Gottlieb!

GOTTLIEB

What is it?

OLD HILSE

Let that axe alone.

GOTTLIEB

Who's to split the wood, then?

[_He leans the axe against the stove._

[_Pause._]

MOTHER HILSE

Gottlieb, you listen, to what father says to you.

[_Some one sings outside the window:_

Our little man does all that he can, Heigh-ho, heigh! At home he cleans the pots an' the pan, Heigh-diddle-di-dum-di!

[_Passes on._

GOTTLIEB

[_Jumps up, shakes his clenched fist at the window._] Beast! Don't drive me crazy!

[_A volley of musketry is heard._

MOTHER HILSE

[_Starts and trembles._] Good Lord! Is that thunder again?

OLD HILSE

[_Instinctively folding his hands._] Oh, our Father in heaven! defend the poor weavers, protect my poor brothers.

[_A short pause ensues._

OLD HILSE

[_To himself, painfully agitated._] There's blood flowin' now.

GOTTLIEB

[_Had started up and grasped the axe when the shooting was heard; deathly pale, almost beside himself with excitement._] An' am I to lie to heel like a dog still?

A GIRL

[_Calls from the entry-room._] Father Hilse, father Hilse! get away from the window. A bullet's just flown in at ours upstairs.

[_Disappears._

MIELCHEN

[_Puts her head in at the window, laughing._] Gran'father, gran'father, they've shot with their guns. Two or three's been knocked down, an' one of 'em's turnin' round and round like a top, an' one's twistin' hisself like a sparrow when its head's bein' pulled of. An' oh, if you saw all the blood that came pourin'--!

[_Disappears._

A WEAVER'S WIFE

Yes, there's two or three'll never get up again.

AN OLD WEAVER

[_In the entry-room._] Look out! They're goin' to make a rush on the soldiers.

A SECOND WEAVER

[_Wildly._] Look, look, look at the women! skirts up, an' spittin' in the soldiers' faces already!

A WEAVER'S WIFE

[_Calls in._] Gottlieb, look at your wife. She's more pluck in her than you. She's jumpin' about in front o' the bay'nets as if she was dancin' to music.

[_Four men carry a wounded rioter through the entry-room. Silence, which is broken by some one saying in a distinct voice,_ "It's weaver Ulbrich." _Once more silence for a few seconds, when the same voice is heard again:_ "It's all over with him; he's got a bullet in his ear." _The men are heard climbing the wooden stair. Sudden shouting outside:_ "Hurrah, hurrah!"

VOICES IN THE ENTRY-ROOM

"Where did they get the stones from?"--"Yes, it's time you were off!"--"From the new road."--"Ta-ta, soldiers!"--"It's rainin' paving-stones."

[_Shrieks of terror and loud roaring outside, taken up by those in the entry-room. There is a cry of fear, and the house door is shut with a bang._

VOICES IN THE ENTRY-ROOM

"They're loadin' again."--"They'll fire another volley this minute."--"Father Hilse, get away from that window."

GOTTLIEB

[_Clutches the axe._] What! is we mad dogs? Is we to eat powder an' shot now instead o' bread? [_Hesitating an instant to the old man._] Would you have me sit here an' see my wife shot? Never! [_As he rushes out._] Look out! I'm coming!

OLD HILSE

Gottlieb, Gottlieb!

MOTHER HILSE

Where's Gottlieb gone?

OLD HILSE

He's gone to the devil.

VOICES FROM THE ENTRY-ROOM

Go away from the window, father Hilse.

OLD HILSE

Not I! Not if you all goes crazy together! [_To MOTHER HILSE, with rapt excitement._] My heavenly Father has placed me here. Isn't that so, mother? Here we'll sit, an' do our bounden duty--ay, though the snow was to go on fire.

[_He begins to weave._

[_Rattle of another volley. OLD HILSE, mortally wounded, starts to his feet and then falls forward over the loom. At the same moment loud shouting of_ "Hurrah!" _is heard. The people who till now have been standing in the entry-room dash out, joining in the cry. The old woman repeatedly asks:_ "Father, father, what's wrong with you?" _The continued shouting dies away gradually in the distance. MIELCHEN comes rushing in._

MIELCHEN

Gran'father, gran'father, they're drivin' the soldiers out o' the village; they've got into Dittrich's house, an' they're doin' what they did at Dreissiger's. Gran'father! [_The child grows frightened, notices that something has happened, puts her finger in her mouth, and goes up cautiously to the dead man._] Gran'father!

MOTHER HILSE

Come now, father, can't you say something? You're frightenin' me.

THE END

THE BEAVER COAT

A THIEVES' COMEDY

LIST OF CHARACTERS

VON WEHRHAHN, _Justice._

KRUEGER, _Capitalist in a small way._

DR. FLEISCHER.

PHILIP, _his son._

MOTES.

MRS. MOTES.

MRS. WOLFF, _Washerwoman._

JULIUS WOLFF, _her husband._

LEONTINE, ADELAIDE, _her daughters._

WULKOW, _Lighterman._

GLASENAPP, _Clerk in the Justice's court._

MITTELDORF, _Constable._

Scene of the action: anywhere in the neighbourhood of Berlin.

THE FIRST ACT

_A small, blue-tinted kitchen with low ceiling; a window at the left; at the right a door of rough boards leading out into the open; in the rear mall an empty casing from which the door has been lifted.--In the left corner a flat oven, above which hang kitchen utensils in a wooden frame; in the right corner oars and other boating implements. Rough, stubby pieces of hewn wood lie in a heap under the window. An old kitchen bench, several stools, etc.--Through the empty casing in the rear a second room is visible. In it stands a high, neatly, made bed; above it hang cheap photographs in still cheaper frames, small chromolithographs, etc. A chair of soft mood stands with its back against the bed.--It is winter and moonlight. On the oven a tallow-candle is burning in a candle-stick of tin. LEONTINE WOLFF has fallen asleep on a stool by the oven and rests her head and arms on it. She is a pretty, fair girl of seventeen in the working garb of a domestic servant. A woolen shawl is tied over her cotton jacket.--For several seconds there is silence. Then someone is heard trying to unlock the door from without. But the key is in the lock and a knocking follows._

MRS. WOLFF

[_Unseen, from without._] Adelaide! Adelaide! [_There is no answer and a loud knocking is heard at the window._] Are you goin' to open or not?

LEONTINE

[_Drowsily._] No, no, I'm not goin' to be abused that way!

MRS. WOLFF

Open, girl, or I'll come in through the window!

[_She raps violently at the panes._

LEONTINE

[_Waking up._] Oh, it's you, mama! I'm coming now!

[_She unlocks the door from within._

MRS. WOLFF

[_Without laying down a sack which she carries over her shoulder._] What are _you_ doin' here?

LEONTINE

[_Sleepily._] Evenin', mama.

MRS. WOLFF

How did you get in here, eh?

LEONTINE

Well, wasn't the key lyin' on the goat shed?

MRS. WOLFF

But what do you want here at home?

LEONTINE

[_Awkwardly affected and aggrieved._] So you don't want me to come no more at all?

MRS. WOLFF

Aw, you just go ahead and put on that way! I'm so fond o' that! [_She lets the sack drop from her shoulder._] You don't know nothin', I s'ppose, about how late it's gettin'? You hurry and go back to your mistress.

LEONTINE

It matters a whole lot, don't it, if I get back there a little too late?

MRS. WOLFF

You want to be lookin' out, y'understand? You see to it that you go, or you'll catch it!

LEONTINE

[_Tearfully and defiantly._] I ain't goin' back to them people no more, mama!

MRS. WOLFF

[_Astonished._] Not goin'?... [_Ironically._] Oh, no! That's somethin' quite new!

LEONTINE

Well, I don't _have_ to let myself be abused that way!

MRS. WOLFF

[_Busy extracting a piece of venison from the sack._] So the Kruegers abuse you, do they? Aw, the poor child that you are!--Don't you come round me with such fool talk! A wench like a dragoon...! Here, lend a hand with this sack, at the bottom. You can't act more like a fool, eh? You won't get no good out o' me that way! You can't learn lazyin' around, here, at all. [_They hang up the venison on the door._] Now I tell you for the last time....

LEONTINE

I ain't goin' back to them people, I tell you. I'd jump in the river first!

MRS. WOLFF

See that you don't catch a cold doin' it.

LEONTINE

I'll jump in the river!

MRS. WOLFF

Go ahead. Let me know about it and I'll give you a shove so you don't miss it.

LEONTINE

[_Screaming._] Do I have to stand for that, that I gotta drag in two loads o' wood at night!

MRS. WOLFF

[_In mock astonishment._] Well, now, that's pretty awful, ain't it? You gotta drag in wood? Such people, I tell you!

LEONTINE

... An' I gets twenty crowns for the whole year. I'm to get my hands frost-bitten for that, am I? An' not enough potatoes and herring to go round!

MRS. WOLFF

You needn't go fussin' about that, you silly girl. Here's the key; go, cut yourself some bread. An' when you've had enough, go your way, y'understand? The plum butter's in the top cupboard.

LEONTINE

[_Takes a large loaf of bread from a drawer and cuts some slices._] An' Juste gets forty crowns a year from the Schulze's an'....

MRS. WOLFF

Don't you try to be goin' too fast.--You ain't goin' to stay with them people always; you ain't hired out to 'em forever.--Leave 'em on the first of April, for all I care.--But up to then, you sticks to your place.--Now that you got your Christmas present in your pocket, you want to run away, do you? That's no way. I have dealin's with them people, an' I ain't goin' to have that kind o' thing held against me.

LEONTINE

These bits o' rag that I got on here?

MRS. WOLFF

You're forgettin' the cash you got?

LEONTINE

Yes! Six shillin's. That was a whole lot!

MRS. WOLFF

Cash is cash! You needn't kick.

LEONTINE

But if I can go an' make more?

MRS. WOLFF

Yes, talkin'!

LEONTINE

No, sewin'! I can go in to Berlin and sew cloaks. Emily Stechow's been doin' that ever since New Year.

MRS. WOLFF