[_Laying down his pen._] Strike me dead if I've ever heard——! HOVSTAD. What an insult to an estimable peasantry! DR. STOCKMANN. Wait a moment!—I don’t think any one can reproach me with forgetting my native town up there. I sat brooding like an eider duck, and what I hatched was—the plan of the Baths. [_Applause and expressions of dissent._ DR. STOCKMANN. And when, at last, fate ordered things so happily that I could come home again—then, fellow citizens, it seemed to me that I hadn’t another desire in the world. Yes, one desire I had: an eager, constant, burning desire to be of service to my birthplace, and to its people. BURGOMASTER. [_Gazing into vacancy._] A strange method to select——! DR. STOCKMANN. So I went about revelling in my happy illusions. But yesterday morning—no, it was really two nights ago—my mind’s eyes were opened wide, and the first thing I saw was the colossal stupidity of the authorities—— [_Noise, cries, and laughter._ MRS. STOCKMANN _coughs repeatedly._ BURGOMASTER. Mr. Chairman! ASLAKSEN. [_Ringing his bell._] In virtue of my position——! DR. STOCKMANN. It’s petty to catch me up on a word, Mr. Aslaksen! I only mean that I became alive to the extraordinary muddle our leading men had been guilty of, down at the Baths. I cannot for the life of me abide leading men—I've seen enough of them in my time. They are like goats in a young plantation: they do harm at every point; they block the path of a free man wherever he turns—and I should be glad if we could exterminate them like other noxious animals—— [_Uproar in the room._ BURGOMASTER. Mr. Chairman, are such expressions permissible? ASLAKSEN. [_With his hand on the bell._] Dr. Stockmann—— DR. STOCKMANN. I can’t conceive how it is that I have only now seen through these gentry; for haven’t I had a magnificent example before my eyes here every day—my brother Peter—slow of understanding, tenacious in prejudice—— [_Laughter, noise, and whistling._ MRS. STOCKMANN _coughs._ ASLAKSEN _rings violently._ THE DRUNKEN MAN. [_Who has come in again._] Is it me you’re alluding to? Sure enough, my name’s Petersen; but devil take me if—— ANGRY VOICES. Out with that drunken man! Turn him out! [_The man is again turned out._ BURGOMASTER. Who is that person? A BYSTANDER. I don’t know him, Burgomaster. ANOTHER.