THE CONFLAGRATION
PERSONS:
FIELITZ, _Shoemaker and Spy. Near sixty years old._
MRS. FIELITZ, _formerly MRS. WOLFF, his wife. Of the same age._
LEONTINE, _her oldest daughter by her first marriage; unmarried; near
thirty._
SCHMAROWSKI, _Architect._
LANGHEINRICH, _Smith. Thirty years old._
RAUCHHAUPT, _retired Prussian Constable._
GUSTAV, _his oldest son, a congenital imbecile._
MIEZE, LOTTE, TRUDE, LENCHEN, LIESCHEN, MARIECHEN, TIENCHEN, HANNCHEN,
_his daughters._
DR. BOXER, _a vigorous man of thirty-six. Physician. Of Jewish birth._
VON WEHRHAHN, _Justice._
EDE, _Journeyman at LANGHEINRICH'S._
GLASENAPP, _Clerk in the Justice's Court._
SCHULZE, _Constable._
MRS. SCHULZE, _his aunt._
TSCHACHE, _Constable._
A FIREMAN.
A BOY.
JANITOR OF THE COURT.
VILLAGE PEOPLE.
Scene: Anywhere in the neighbourhood of Berlin.
THE FIRST ACT
_The work shop of the shoemaker FIELITZ. A low room with blue tinted
walls. A window to the right. In each of the other walls a door.
Under the window at the right a small platform. Upon it a cobbler's
bench and a small table. On the latter a stand upholding three
spheres of glass filled with water. Near them stands an unlit
coal-oil lamp. In the corner, left, a brown tile oven surrounded by a
bench and kitchen utensils of various kinds._
_SHOEMAKER FIELITZ is still crouching over his work. On the platform
and around it old shoes and boots of every size are heaped up.
FIELITZ is hammering a piece of leather into flexibility._
_MRS. FIELITZ (formerly MRS. WOLFF) is thoughtfully turning over in
her hands a little wooden box and a stearin candle. It is toward
evening, at the end of September._
FIELITZ
You get outta this here shop. Go on now!
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Briefly and contemptuously._] Who d'you think'll come in here now? It's
past six.
FIELITZ
You get outta the shop with that trash o' yours.
MRS. FIELITZ
I wish you wouldn't act so like a fool. What's wrong about this here
little box, eh? A little box like this ain't no harm.
FIELITZ
[_Working with enraged violence._] It's somethin' good, ain't it now?
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Still thoughtfully and half in jest._] The sawdust comes up to here ...
An' then they go an' put a candle plumb in the middle here ...
FIELITZ
Look here, ma, you're too smart for me! If that there smartness o' yours
keeps on, I see myself in gaol one o' these days.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Harshly._] I s'ppose you can't listen a bit when a person talks to you.
You might pay some attention when I talks to you. Things like that
interest a body.
FIELITZ
I takes an interest in my boots, an' I don't take no interest in nothin'
else.
MRS. FIELITZ
That's it! O Lordy! That'd be a nice state for us. We'd all go an' starve
together. Your cobblin'--there's a lot o' good in that!--They puts the
candle in here. Y'understand? This here little box ain't big enough
neither. That one over there would be more like. Let's throw them
children's shoes out.
[_She turns a box full of children's shoes upside down._
FIELITZ
[_Frightened._] Don't you go in for no nonsense, y'understand?
MRS. FIELITZ
An' then when they've lit the candle--... then they stands it up in the
middle o' the box, so's it can't burn the top, o' course. Then you puts
it, reel still, up in some attic--Grabow didn't do that different
neither--right straight in a heap o' old trash--an' then you goes quiet
to Berlin, an' when you comes back ...
FIELITZ
Ssh! Somebody's comin'! Ssh!
MRS. FIELITZ
An' the devil hisself can't go an' prove nothin' against you.
[_A protracted silence._
FIELITZ
If it was as simple as all that! But that ain't noways as easy as you
thinks. First of all there's got to be air-holes in here. O' course this
here awl--: that'll do for a drill. That thing's got to have a draught,
if you want it to catch! If there ain't no draught, it just smothers!
Fire's gotta have a draught or it won't burn. Somebody's got to lend a
hand here as knows somethin'.
MRS. FIELITZ
Well, that'd be an easy thing for you!
FIELITZ
[_Forgetting his point of view in his growing zeal._] There's gotta be a
draught here an' another here! An' it's all gotta be done just right! An'
then sawdust an' rags here. An' then you go an' pour some kerosene right
in.--There ain't nothin' new in all that. I was out in the world for six
years.
MRS. FIELITZ
Well, exactly. That's what I been sayin'.
FIELITZ
You c'n do that with a sponge an' you c'n do that with a string. All you
gotta do is to steep 'em good an' hard in saltpetre. An' you c'n light
that with burning glasses. It c'n be done twenty steps away!--All that's
been done before now. There ain't nothin' new in all that to me. I know
all about it.
MRS. FIELITZ
An' Grabow's built up again. If he hadn't gone an' taken his courage in
both hands, he'd ha' been in the street long ago.
FIELITZ
That's all right, if a man's in trouble like water up to his neck an' is
goin' to be drowned. Maybe then ...
MRS. FIELITZ
An' there's many as lets the time slip till he is drowned.
[_The doorbell rings._
FIELITZ
Go an' put the box away an' then open the door.
_JUSTICE VON WEHRHAHN enters, wearing a thick overcoat, tall boots
and a fur cap._
WEHRHAHN
Evening, Fielitz! How about those boots?
FIELITZ
They's all right, your honour.
MRS. FIELITZ
You better go an' get a little light so's Mr. von Wehrhahn can see
somethin'.
WEHRHAHN
Well, how is everything and what are you doing, Mrs. Wolff?
MRS. FIELITZ
I ain't no Mrs. Wolff no more.
WEHRHAHN
She's grown very proud, eh, Fielitz? She carries her head very high? She
feels quite set up?
MRS. FIELITZ
Hear that! Marryin's gone to my head? I could ha' lived much better as a
widder.
FIELITZ
[_Who has drawn the lasts out of WEHRHAHN'S boots._] Then you might ha'
gone an' stayed a widder.
MRS. FIELITZ
If I'd ha' known what kind of a feller you are, I wouldn't ha' been in no
hurry. I could ha' gotten an old bandy-legged crittur like you any day o'
the week.
WEHRHAHN
Gently, gently!
FIELITZ
Never you mind her. [_With almost creeping servility._] If you'll be so
very kind, your honour, an' have the goodness to pull off your right
boot. If you'll let me; I c'n do that. So. An' if you'll be so good now
an' put your foot on this here box.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Holding the burning lamp._] An' how is the Missis, Baron?
WEHRHAHN
Thank you, she's quite well. But she's still lamenting her Mrs. Wolff ...
MRS. FIELITZ
Well, you see, I couldn't do that no more reely. I washed thirty years
an' over for you. You c'n get enough o' anything in that time, I tell
you. I c'n show you my legs some day. The veins is standin' out on 'em,
thick as your fist. That comes from the everlastin' standin' up at the
tub! An' I got frost boils all over me and the rheumatiz in every limb.
They ain't no end to the doctorin' I gotta do! I just gotta wrap myself
up in cotton, an' anyhow I'm cold all day.
WEHRHAHN
Certainly, Mrs. Wolff, I can well believe that.
MRS. FIELITZ
There was a time an' I'd work against anybody. I had a constitootion! You
couldn't ha' found one in ten like it. But nowadays ... O Lord! Things is
lookin' different.
FIELITZ
You c'n holler a little louder if you want to.
WEHRHAHN
I can't blame you, of course, Mrs. Fielitz. Any one who has worked as you
have may well consider herself entitled to some rest.
MRS. FIELITZ
An' then, you see, things keep goin'. We got our livin' right along.
[_She give FIELITZ a friendly nudge on the head._] An' he does his part
all right now. We ain't neither of us lazy, so to speak. If only a body
could keep reel well! But Saturday I gotta go to the doctor again. He
goes and electrilises me with his electrilising machine, you know. I
ain't sayin' but what it helps me. But first of all there's the expenses
of the trip in to Berlin an' then every time he electrilises me that
costs five shillin's. Sometimes, you know, a person, don't know where to
get the money.
FIELITZ
You go ahead an' ram your money down doctors' throats!
WEHRHAHN
[_Treads firmly with his new shoe._] None of us are getting any younger,
Mrs. Fielitz. I'm beginning to feel that quite distinctly myself.
Perfectly natural. Nothing to be done about it. We've simply got to make
up our minds to that.--And, anyhow, you oughtn't to complain. I heard it
said a while ago that your son-in-law had passed his examinations very
well. In that case everything is going according to your wishes.
MRS. FIELITZ
That's true, of course, an' it did make me reel happy too. In the first
place he'll be able to get along much better now that he's somethin' like
an architect ... an' then, he deserved it all ways.--The kind o' time he
had when he was a child! Well, I ain't had no easy time neither, but a
father like that ...
WEHRHAHN
Schmarowski is a fellow of solid worth. I never had any fears for him.
Your Adelaide was very lucky there.--You remember my telling you so at
the time. You came running over to me that time, you recall, when the
engagement was almost broken, and I sent you to Pastor Friederici:--that
shows you the value of spiritual advice. A young man is a young man and
however Christian and upright his life, he's apt to forget himself once
in a while. That's where the natural function of the spiritual adviser
comes in.
MRS. FIELITZ
Yes, yes, I s'ppose you're right enough there. An' I'll never forget what
the pastor did for us that time! If Schmarowski had gone an' left the
girl, she'd never have lived through it, that's certain.
WEHRHAHN
There we've got an instance of what happens when a church and a pastor
are in a place. The house of God that we've built together has brought
many a blessing. So, good evening and good luck to you.--Oh, what I was
going to say, Fielitz: the celebration takes place on Monday morning. You
will be there surely?
MRS. FIELITZ
Naturally he'll come.
FIELITZ
Sure an' certain.
WEHRHAHN
I would hardly know what to do without you, Fielitz. In the meantime,
come in for a moment on Sunday, I'm proposing certain points ... certain
very marked points, and we must pull together vigorously. So, good
evening! Don't forget--we've got to have a strong parade.
FIELITZ
That's right. You can't do them things without one.
[_Exit WEHRHAHN._
FIELITZ
You go an' take that candle out! Will you, please?
MRS. FIELITZ
You're as easy scared as a rabbit, Anton! That's what you are--a reg'lar
rabbit.
_She takes the candle out of the little box. Almost at the same
moment RAUCHHAUPT opens the door and looks in._
RAUCHHAUPT
Good evenin'. Am I intrudin'?
FIELITZ
-- -- -- --
MRS. FIELITZ
Aw, come right into our parlour!
RAUCHHAUPT
Ain't Langheinrich the smith come in yet?
MRS. FIELITZ
Was he goin' to come? No, he ain't been here.
RAUCHHAUPT
We made a special engagement.--I brought along the cross too. Here,
Gustav! Bring that there cross in! [_GUSTAV brings in a cross of cast
iron with an inscription on it._] Go an' put it down on that there box.
FIELITZ
[_Quickly._] No, never mind, Edward, that'll break.
RAUCHHAUPT
Then you c'n just lean it against the wall.
MRS. FIELITZ
So you got through with it at last. [_Calls out through the door._]
Leontine! You come down a minute!
RAUCHHAUPT
Trouble is I had so much to do. I'm buildin' a new hot house, you know.
MRS. FIELITZ
Another one, eh? Ain't that a man for you! You're a reg'lar mole,
Rauchhaupt. The way that man keeps diggin' around in the ground.
RAUCHHAUPT
A man feels best when he's doin' that. That's what we're all made
of--earth: an that's what we're all goin' to turn to again. Why shouldn't
we be diggin' around in the earth? [_He helps himself from the snuff-box
which FIELITZ holds out to him._] That's got a earthy smell, too,
Fielitz. That smells like good, fresh earth.
_LEONTINE enters. A pair of scissors hangs by her side; she has a
thimble on her finger._
LEONTINE
Here I am, mama. What's up?
MRS. FIELITZ
He just brought in papa his hephitaph.
_LEONTINE and MRS. FIELITZ regard the cross thoughtfully._
MRS. FIELITZ
Light the candle for me, girl. [_She hands her the tallow-candle with
which she has been experimenting._] We wants to study the writin' a bit.
RAUCHHAUPT
I fooled around with that thing a whole lot. But I got it to please me in
the end. You c'n go an' look through the whole cemetery three times over
and you'll come away knowin' this is the finest inscription you c'n get.
I went an' convinced myself of that.
[_He sits down on the low platform and fills his nose anew with
snuff._
_MRS. FIELITZ holds the lighted lamp and puzzles out the
inscription._
MRS. FIELITZ
Here rests in ...
LEONTINE
[_Reading on._] In God.
RAUCHHAUPT
That's what I said: in God. I was goin' to write first: in the Lord. But
that's gettin' to be so common.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Reads on with trembling voice._] Here rests in God the unforgotten
carpenter ... [_Weeping aloud._] Oh, no, I tell you, it's too awful! That
man--he was the best man in the world, he was. A man like that, you c'n
take my word for it, you ain't likely to find no more these days.
LEONTINE
[_Reading on._] ... the unforgotten carpenter Mr. Julian Wolff ...
[_She snivels._
FIELITZ
--Don't you be takin' on now, y'understand? No corpse ain't goin' to come
to life for all your howlin'. [_He hands the whiskey bottle to
RAUCHHAUPT._] Here, Edward, that'll do you good. Them goin's on don't.
[_He gets up and brushes off his blue apron with the air of a man who
has completed his day's work._
RAUCHHAUPT
[_Pointing with the bottle._] Them lines there I made up myself. I'll say
'em over for you; listen now:
"The hearts of all to sin confess" ...
'Tain't everybody c'n do that neither!--
"The hearts of all to sin confess,
The beggar's and the king's no less.
But this man's heart from year to year
Was spotless and like water clear."
[_The women weep more copiously. He continues._] I gotta go over that
with white paint. An' this part here about God is goin' to be Prussian
blue.
[_He drinks._
_The smith LANGHEINRICH enters._
LANGHEINRICH
[_Regarding LEONTINE desirously._] Well now, look here, Rauchhaupt, old
man, I been lookin' for you half an hour! I thought I was to come an'
fetch you, you chucklehead.--Well, are you pleased with the job?
MRS. FIELITZ
Oh, go an' don't bother me, any of you! If a person loses a man like that
one, how's she goin' to get along with you jackasses afterwards!
FIELITZ
Come on, man, an' pull up a stool. You just let her get back to her right
mind.
LANGHEINRICH
[_With sly merriment._] That's right, I always said so myself: this here
dyin' is a invention of the devil.
MRS. FIELITZ
We was married for twenty years an' more. An' there wasn't so much as one
angry word between us. An' the way that man was honest. Not a penny,
no,--he never cheated any man of a penny in all his days. An' sober! He
didn't so much as know what whiskey was like. You could go an' put the
bottle before him an' he wouldn't look at it. An' the way he brought up
his children! What _d'you_ think about, but playin' cards and swillin'
liquor ...
LEONTINE
Gustav is poking out his tongue at me.
RAUCHHAUPT
[_Takes hold of a cobbler's last and throws himself enragedly upon
GUSTAV, who has been making faces at LEONTINE and has poked out his
tongue at her.] You varmint! Ill break your bones!--That rotten crittur
is goin' to be the death o' me yet. I just gets so mad sometimes I think
it's goin' to be the death o' me.
LANGHEINRICH
The poor crittur ain't got his right senses.
RAUCHHAUPT
I wish to God the dam' brat was dead. I'll get so dam' wild some day, if
he ain't, that I'll go an' kill my own flesh an' blood.
FIELITZ
I'd go an' have him locked up in the asylum. Then you don't have the
worry of him no more. D'you want me to write out a petition for you?
RAUCHHAUPT
Don't I know all about petitions? What does they say then: he ain't
dangerous bein' at large.--The whole world ain't nothin' but a asylum. It
ain't dangerous, o' course, that he fires bricks at me, an' unscrews
locks and steals house keys--oh, no, that ain't considered dangerous. No,
an' it's all right for him to eat my tulip bulbs. I c'n just go ahead an'
do the best I can.
MRS. FIELITZ
How did that happen at Grabow's the other day--I mean when his inn the
"Prussian Eagle" burned down?
LANGHEINRICH
Aw, Grabow, he needed just that. It wasn't no Gustav that set that there
fire. He wasn't needed there.
MRS. FIELITZ
They say he's always playin' with matches.
RAUCHHAUPT
Gustav an' matches? Aw, that's all right. If he c'n just go an' hunt up
matches some place, trouble ain't very far off. You know I needs
coverin's for my hot house plants; so I built a kind of a shed. I stored
the straw in there. Well, I tell you, Mrs. Fielitz, that there idjit went
an' burned the shed down. It was bright day an' o' course nobody wasn't
thinkin', an' I got loose boards all over my lot. The shed crackled right
off. It wasn't more'n a puff! But Grabow--he took care o' his fire
hisself.
MRS. FIELITZ
I'd give notice about a thing like that, Rauchhaupt--I mean burnin' down
the shed.
RAUCHHAUPT
I don't get along so very well with Constable Schulze. That's often the
way with people in your own profession. I was honourably retired. He
don't like that. He ain't sooted with that. All right; all that may be
so. An' that I own my own lot, an' that my old woman died. Sure, it ain't
no use denyin' it! I made a few crowns outta all that. An' that my
gardenin' brings in somethin'--well, he don't like to see it. So then
it's easy to say: Rauchhaupt? He don't need no help. He c'n take care o'
hisself. An' that's the end of it.
MRS. FIELITZ
Fred Grabow, he's all right now!
LANGHEINRICH
[_Eagerly._] An' he's got me to thank for it. Only thing is, I pretty
near got into a dam' mess myself that time. You see, I'm captain of the
hook an' ladder. Well, I says to my boys, says I:--I don't know but I
must ha' had more'n I could carry. The whole crowd was pretty well
full!--Well, I says to my boys: Sail right in an' see that there ain't a
stone left standin', 'cause if there is, Grabow'll get one reduction of
insurance after another an' then the whole thing ain't no good to him. I
guess I hollered that out a bit too loud. So when I takes a step or two
backward I thinks all hell's broke loose, 'cause there stands Constable
Schulze an' stares at me. Your health, says I, your health,
captain!--Grabow, you know, was treatin' to beer!--An' then Schulze was
real sociable and took a drink with me.
MRS. FIELITZ
It's queer that nothin' don't come out there. That fellow ain't a bit
cute. How did he manage to do it?
LANGHEINRICH
Everybody likes Fritz Grabow.
MRS. FIELITZ
He ain't got sense enough to count up to three. An' anyhow he had to go
an' take oath.
RAUCHHAUPT
Takin' oath? Aw, that ain't so much! I'll just tell you how 'tis, 'cause
you never can't tell. Who knows about it? Anybody might have to do that
some day. All you do is to twist off one o' your breeches buttons while
you goes ahead and swears reel quiet. You just try it. That's easy as
slidin'.
[_General laughter._
MRS. FIELITZ
He's got one o' his jokin' spells again. I won't have to go an' twist off
a button, I c'n tell you. Things can't get that way with me.--But tell me
this: whose turn is it goin' to be now? It's about time for somebody, you
know. Somethin's got to burn pretty soon now.
LANGHEINRICH
It could be most anybody. Things is lookin' pretty poor over at
Strombergers. The rain's comin' right down into his sittin' room,--Well,
good evenin'. A man's got to have his joke.
MRS. FIELITZ
But who's goin' to drink my hot toddy now?
FIELITZ
You stay right where you are!
LANGHEINRICH
Can't be done. I gotta be goin'. [_He puts an arm around LEONTINE, who
frees herself carelessly and with a contemptuous expression._]--If mother
don't hear my hammerin' downstairs she'll be swimmin' away in tears an'
the bed with her when I gets home.
LEONTINE
That's nothin' but jealousy, mama.
MRS. FIELITZ
Maybe it is, an' maybe she's got reason. You go on up to your work.--How
is the Missis?
LANGHEINRICH
Pretty low. What c'n you expect?
LEONTINE
You'll be drivin' me to work till I gets consumption.
MRS. FIELITZ
If you get consumption, it won't be your dress-makin' that's the cause of
it. You act as much like a ninny as if you was a man.
LANGHEINRICH
[_Putting his arms around MRS. FIELITZ._] Come now, young woman, don't be
so cross! Young people wants to have their fling--that's all. An' they'll
have it, if it's only with Constable Schulze.
[_Exit._
MRS. FIELITZ
Now what's the meanin' o' that?
RAUCHHAUPT
Wait there a minute an' I'll join you.
[_He gets up and motions to GUSTAV, who lifts the iron cross again._
MRS. FIELITZ
Why d'you go an' run off all of a sudden?
RAUCHHAUPT
I gotta go an' get rid o' some work.
[_Exit with GUSTAV.
MRS. FIELITZ
What's the trouble with you an' Langheinrich again? You act like a
fool--that's what you do!
LEONTINE
There ain't no trouble. I want him to leave me alone.
MRS. FIELITZ
He'll be willin' to do that all right! If you're goin' to turn up your
nose an' wriggle around that way, you won't have to take much trouble to
get rid o' him. He don't need nothin' like that!
LEONTINE
But he's a married man.
MRS. FIELITZ
So he is. Let him be. You got no sense 'cause you was born a fool. You
got a baby and no husband; Adelaide's got a husband an' no baby.
[_LEONTINE goes slowly out._
MRS. FIELITZ
If she'd only go an' take advantage o' her chances. There ain't no
tellin' how soon Langheinrich'll be a widower.
FIELITZ
I don't know's I like to see the way Constable Schulze runs after that
girl.
MRS. FIELITZ
[_Sententiously._] You can't run your head through no stone walls. [_She
sits down, takes out a little notebook and turns its leaves._] You got a
office. All right. Why shouldn't you have? Things is _as_ they is. But
havin' a office you got to look out all around. You just let Constable
Schulze alone! Did you read the letter from Schmarowski?
FIELITZ
Aw, yes, sure. I got enough o' him all right. I wish somebody'd given me
the money--half the money--that feller's had the use of. But no: nobody
never paid no attention to me. Nobody sent me to no school o'
architecture.
MRS. FIELITZ
I'd like to know what you got against Schmarowski! You're pickin' at him
all the time.
FIELITZ
Hold on! Not me! He ain't no concern o' mine. But every time you open
your mouth I gets ready to bet ten pairs o' boots that you're goin' to
talk about Schmarowski.
MRS. FIELITZ
Did he do you any harm, eh? Well?
FIELITZ
No, I can't say as he has. Not that I know. An' I wouldn't advise him to
try neither. Only when I sees him I gets kind o' sick at my stomick. You
oughta have married him yourself.
MRS. FIELITZ
If I had been thirty years younger--sure enough.
FIELITZ
Well, why don't you go an' move over to your daughter then! Go right on!
Hurry all you can an' go to Adelaide's. Then they got hold of you good
and tight an' you c'n get rid o' your savin's.
MRS. FIELITZ
That's an ambitious man. He don't have to wait, for me; that's
sure!--there ain't no gettin' ahead with your kind. Instead o' you
fellows helpin' each other, you're always hittin' out at each other. Now
Schmarowski--he's a wide-awake kind o' man. No money ain't been wasted on
him. You needn't be scared: he'll make his way all right.--But if you
knew just a speck o' somethin' about life, you'd know what you'd be doin'
too.
FIELITZ
Me? How's that? Why me exactly?
MRS. FIELITZ
What was it that there bricklayer boss told me? I saw him one day when he
was full; they was just raisin' that church. He says: Schmarowski, says
he, that's a sly dog. An' he knew why he was sayin' that. Them plans o'
his takes 'em all in.
FIELITZ
I ain't got no objection to his takin' 'em in.
MRS. FIELITZ
He ain't the kind o' man to sit an' draw till he's blind an' let the
bricklayers get all the profit.
FIELITZ
Well, I ain't made the world.
MRS. FIELITZ
No, nor you ain't goin' to stop it neither.
FIELITZ
An' I don't want to.
MRS. FIELITZ
You ain't goin' to stop it, Fielitz--not the world an' not me. That's
settled.--
[_She has said this in a slightly ironical way, yet with a half
embarrassed laugh. She now puts away her little book excitedly._
FIELITZ
I can't get to understand reel straight. I'm always thinkin' there's
somethin' wrong with you.
MRS. FIELITZ
Maybe there was somethin' wrong with Grabow too, eh? I s'ppose that's the
reason he's livin' in his new house this day.--I wish there'd be
somethin' like that wrong with you onct in a while. But if somebody don't
pull an' poke at you, you'd grow fast to the stool you're sittin' on.
FIELITZ