Stretched on the rack day after day,
Hearts sick and bodies aching,
Our heavy sighs their witness bear
To spirit slowly breaking.
[The words of the song make a strong impression on OLD BAUMERT.
Deeply agitated, he struggles against the temptation to interrupt
JAEGER. At last he can keep quiet no longer.
OLD BAUMERT [To his wife, half laughing, half crying, stammering.] Stretched on the rack day after day. Whoever wrote that, mother, wrote the truth. You can bear witness … eh, how does it go? "Our heavy sighs their witness bear" … What's the rest?
JAEGER
"To spirit slowly breaking."
OLD BAUMERT
You know the way we sigh, mother, day and night, sleepin' and wakin'.
[ANSORGE had stopped working, and cowers on the floor, strongly agitated. MOTHER BAUMERT and BERTHA wipe their eyes frequently during the course of the reading.
JAEGER
[Continues to read.]