One might think that all the people have died so as not to buy anything. One might think that we remained alone with our stores in the whole world--we alone in the whole world. PURIKES. _Like an echo._ We alone. BEZKRAINY. The sun has burnt all the customers--only the shopkeepers remained. _Silence. The soft sobbing of Sonka is heard._ BEZKRAINY. Sonka, yesterday you bought a chicken. Did you kill or rob anybody that you can afford to buy chickens? And if you are so rich and you hide your money, why do you deal here and hinder us from making a living? PURIKES. _Like an echo._ And hinder us from making a living? BEZKRAINY. Sonka, I am asking you,--is it true that you bought a chicken yesterday? Don't lie, I know it from trustworthy people. _Sonka maintains silence, weeping._ SARAH. When a Jew buys a chicken, it is because either the Jew is sick or the chicken is sick. Sonka Zitron's son is dying; yesterday he commenced to die and to-day he will end it--the boy is tenacious and he is dying slowly. BEZKRAINY. Why did she come here if her son is dying? SARAH. Because it is necessary to trade. PURIKES. It is necessary to trade. _Sonka is weeping._ SARAH. Yesterday we ate nothing, we waited for to-day; and to-day we will eat nothing, waiting that to-morrow will bring us customers and happiness. Happiness! Who knows what is happiness? All people are equal before God, and yet one sells two cents' worth, while another sells thirty cents' worth. And one always two cents' worth, while the other always thirty cents' worth, and no one knows why happiness is given to a person. BEZKRAINY. I used to sell thirty cents' worth, and now I sell only two cents' worth. At that time I had no "noblemen's" cider, and now I have it, and yet I sell only two cents' worth now. Luck is changeable! PURIKES. Luck is changeable. SARAH. Yesterday my son Naum came and asked me: "Mother, where is father?" So I said to him: "What for do you want to know where father is? David Leizer, your father, is a sick, unfortunate man, who is going to die soon; and he goes to the seashore to commune in solitude with God about his fate. Don't disturb your father, he is going to die soon--you had better tell me what you want to say." And Naum answered: "I will tell you, mother,--I am beginning to die!" That is what Naum answered. When David Leizer, my old husband, came home, I said to him: "You are still steadfast in your uprightness! Blaspheme God and die! For your son Naum is already beginning to die." _Sonka is weeping more loudly._ PURIKES. _Suddenly looks around, frightened._ But what--But what if people should stop buying things altogether? SARAH. _Frightened._ What do you mean? PURIKES. _With ever growing fear._ What if people should suddenly stop buying things altogether? What are we to do then? BEZKRAINY. _With alarm._