[Goes out.
WITTIG
[Roars after him.] He's no right to forbid, it—not if we was to roar till the windows shook an' they could hear us at Reichenbach—not if we sang till the manufacturers' houses tumbled about their ears an' all the superintendents' helmets danced on the top of their heads. It's nobody's business but our own.
[BECKER has in the meantime got up, made a signal for singing, and now leads off, the others joining in.
The justice to us weavers dealt
Is bloody, cruel, and hateful;
Our life's one torture, long drawn out;
For Lynch law we'd be grateful.
[WELZEL attempts to quiet them, but they pay no attention to him.
WIEGAND puts his hands to his ears and rushes off. During the singing
of the next stanza the weavers rise and form, into procession behind
BECKER and WITTIG, who have given pantomimic signs for a general
break-up.
Stretched on the rack, day after day,
Hearts sick and bodies aching,
Our heavy sighs their witness bear
To spirit slowly breaking.
[Most of the weavers sing the following stanza, out on the street,
only a few young fellows, who are paying, being still in the bar. At
the conclusion of the stanza no one is left in the room except WELZEL
and his wife and daughter, HORNIG, and OLD BAUMERT.
You villains all, you brood of hell,
You fiends in fashion human,
A curse will fall on all like you
Who prey on man and woman.