MILITARY WOMAN. You are quite right. Children must be hardened to things. But why do you call this a terrible tragedy? Every roofer, when he falls, falls from a great height. But this here--what is it? A hundred, two hundred feet. I saw a man fall plumb from the sky. TOURIST (overwhelmed). You don't say? ALECK. Children, listen. Plumb from the sky. MILITARY WOMAN. Yes, yes. I saw an aeronaut drop from the clouds and go crash upon an iron roof. TOURIST. How terrible! MILITARY WOMAN. That's what I call a tragedy. It took two hours to bring me back to consciousness, and all that time they pumped water on me, the scoundrels. I was nearly drowned. From that day on I never step out of the door without taking spirits of ammonia with me. (Enter a strolling troop of Italian singers and musicians: a short, fat tenor, with a reddish beard and large, watery, stupidly dreamy eyes, singing with extraordinary sweetness; a skinny humpback with a jockey cap, and a screeching baritone; a bass who is also a mandolinist, looking like a bandit; a girl with a violin, closing her eyes when she plays, so that only the whites are seen. They take their stand and begin to sing: "Sul mare luccica--Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia--") MARY (dismally). Papa, children, look. He is beginning to wave his hands. TOURIST. Is that the effect the music has upon him? MILITARY WOMAN. Quite possible. Music usually goes with such things. But that'll make him fall sooner than he should. Musicians, go away from here! Go! (A tall tourist, with up-curled mustache, violently gesticulating, enters, followed by a small group attracted by curiosity.) TALL TOURIST. It's scandalous. Why don't they save him? Ladies and gentlemen, you all heard him shout: "Save me." Didn't you? THE CURIOUS (in chorus). Yes, yes, we heard him. TALL TOURIST. There you are. I distinctly heard these words: "Save me! Why don't they save me?" It's scandalous. Policemen, policemen! Why don't you save him? What are you doing there? POLICEMEN. We are cleaning up the place for him to fall. TALL TOURIST. That's a sensible thing to do, too. But why don't you save him? You ought to save him. If a man asks you to save him, it is absolutely essential to save him. Isn't it so, ladies and gentlemen? THE CURIOUS (in chorus). True, absolutely true. It is essential to save him. TALL TOURIST (with heat). We are not heathens, we are Christians. We should love our neighbors. When a man asks to be saved every measure which the government has at its command should be taken to save him. Policeman, have you taken every measure? POLICEMAN. Every one! TALL TOURIST. Every one without exception? Gentleman, every measure has been taken. Listen, young man, every measure has been taken to save you. Did you hear? UNKNOWN MAN (in a scarcely audible voice). Save me! TALL TOURIST (excitedly). Gentlemen, did you hear? He again asked to be saved. Policeman, did you hear?