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
A large whitewashed room on the ground floor of DREISSIGER'S house at Peterswaldau, where the weavers deliver their finished webs and the fustian is stored. To the left are uncurtained windows, in the back mall there is a glass door, and to the right another glass door, through which weavers, male and female, and children, are passing in and out. All three walls are lined with shelves for the storing of the fustian. Against the right wall stands a long bench, on which a number of weavers have already spread out their cloth. In the order of arrival each presents his piece to be examined by PFEIFER, DREISSIGER'S manager, who stands, with compass and magnifying-glass, behind a large table, on which the web to be inspected is laid. When PFEIFER has satisfied himself, the weaver lays the fustian on the scale, and an office apprentice tests its weight. The same boy stores the accepted pieces on the shelves. PFEIFER calls out the payment due in each case to NEUMANN, the cashier, who is seated at a small table.