SCHULZE, Constable.

MRS. SCHULZE, his aunt.

TSCHACHE, Constable.

A FIREMAN.
A BOY.
JANITOR OF THE COURT.
VILLAGE PEOPLE.
Scene: Anywhere in the neighbourhood of Berlin.

THE FIRST ACT

The work shop of the shoemaker FIELITZ. A low room with blue tinted walls. A window to the right. In each of the other walls a door. Under the window at the right a small platform. Upon it a cobbler's bench and a small table. On the latter a stand upholding three spheres of glass filled with water. Near them stands an unlit coal-oil lamp. In the corner, left, a brown tile oven surrounded by a bench and kitchen utensils of various kinds.