uninterrupted screaming, softening as it recedes, is audible for several seconds. Last there is heard the opening and resonant slamming of the heavy house door, the tread of the farmer stumbling about in the hall, and his coarse, nasal, thick-tongued drunkard's voice echoes through the room:_ Hay-hee! Ain' I got a couple o' han'some gals? CURTAIN THE WEAVERS _I DEDICATE THIS DRAMA TO MY FATHER ROBERT HAUPTMANN. You, dear father, know what feelings lead me to dedicate this work to you, and I am not called upon to analyse them here. Your stories of my grandfather, who in his young days sat at the loom, a poor weaver like those here depicted, contained the germ of my drama. Whether it possesses the vigour of life or is rotten at the core, it is the best, "so poor a man as Hamlet is" can offer. Your GERHART_ COMPLETE LIST OF CHARACTERS DREISSIGER, _fustian manufacturer._ MRS. DREISSIGER. PFEIFER, _manager in DREISSIGER'S employment._ NEUMANN, _cashier in DREISSIGER'S employment._ AN APPRENTICE _in DREISSIGER'S employment._ JOHN, _coachman in DREISSIGER'S employment._ A MAID _in DREISSIGER'S employment._ WEINHOLD, _tutor to DREISSIGER'S sons._ PASTOR KITTELHAUS. MRS. KITTELHAUS. HEIDE, _Police Superintendent._ KUTSCHE, _policeman._ WELZEL, _publican._ MRS. WELZEL. ANNA WELZEL. WIEGAND, _joiner._ A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. A PEASANT. A FORESTER. SCHMIDT, _surgeon._ HORNIG, _rag dealer._ WITTIG, _smith._ WEAVERS. BECKER. MORITZ JAEGER. OLD BAUMERT. MOTHER BAUMERT. BERTHA BAUMERT EMMA BAUMERT FRITZ, EMMA'S _son (four years old)._ AUGUST BAUMERT. OLD ANSORGE. MRS. HEINRICH. OLD HILSE. MOTHER HILSE. GOTTLIEB HILSE. LUISE, GOTTLIEB'S _wife._ MIELCHEN, _their daughter (six years old)._ REIMANN, _weaver._ HELEN, _weaver._ A WEAVER'S WIFE. _A number of weavers, young and old, of both sexes._ The action passes in the Forties, at Kaschbach, Peterswaldau and Langenbielau, in the Eulengebirge. THE FIRST ACT