[_Crimson._] For all I care you can ask the Lord hisself! [_All present laugh._ _The machinist STRECKMANN appears. He is dusty and comes straight from the threshing machine. He shows the effects of liquor._ STRECKMANN Who's talkin' about the machinist Streckmann aroun' here? He's right here! He's standin' right here. Anybody wantin' to pick a quarrel with him? Good day to you all! Hope you're havin' a pleasant meal. OLD MRS. GOLISCH Talk of the devil an' he appears. STRECKMANN An' you're the devil's grandmother, I suppose. [_He takes off his cockade and wipes the sweat from his forehead._] I tell you people I can't keep up with this: this kind o' work uses a man up skin and bones!--Hello, August! Good day to you, Rosie! Well, father Bernd--Great God, can't anybody answer? HEINZEL Let him be! Some people's better off than they can stand. STRECKMANN The Lord lets his own people have an easy time. A feller like me works and works and can't get ahead. [_He has assumed a reclining position and squeezed himself between HEINZEL and KLEINERT. He now hands his whisky bottle to HEINZEL._] Let her go aroun'. OLD MRS. GOLISCH You live the best life of us all, Streckmann! What in Heaven's name has you to complain about? You drinks your drinks and makes three times over what we do--all for standin' by the machine a bit. STRECKMANN What I want is work for my brain. I got a head on me. That's what you bran-heads can't understand. Of course! What does an old woman know about that! An', anyhow--the trouble I got.... GOLISCH Lord, Streckmann and trouble-- STRECKMANN More than enough!--there's somethin' that sticks into me, I can tell you--sticks into my belly and into my heart. I feel so rotten bad I'd like to be doin' somethin' real crazy. [_To the ASSISTANT MAID._] Lass, shall I lie down with you? ASSISTANT MAID I'll bang you over the head with a whetstone! GOLISCH That's just what's troublin' him; everythin' gets black before his eyes, he don't see nothin' more, an' sudden like, he's lyin' abed with a lass. [_Loud laughter._ STRECKMANN Yon can laugh, ye ragamuffins, laugh all ye want to! It's no laughin' matter with me, I can tell ye. [_Blustering:_] I'll let the machine squeeze off one of my arms! Or ye can run the piston through me if ye want to! Kill me, for all I care. HAHN Or mebbe you'd like to set a barn afire. STRECKMANN By God! There's fire enough inside of me. August there, he's a happy man ... AUGUST Whether I'm happy or whether I'm unhappy, that don't concern no one in this world. STRECKMANN What am I doin' to you? Can't you be sociable with a feller? AUGUST I'll look for my society elsewhere. STRECKMANN