(Masticating their gum vigorously.)
It is! It is! Hail, loud and long!
Our works, they sing the same sweet song!
(Loud and prolonged cheering by the audience. Wirelesses are sent to the waiting world. The Dizzards gnaw excitedly at their feather-clubs, then do a double-quick clog. The two thousand Loobies and Gaberlunzies read many, many soothing passages. The Nizys dole out souffle.)
NOXUS PODUNKUS
(Biting his nails and crossing his legs.) So! Quite so! The stars tell us! It couldn’t be different! And now, my dears (sighs from weariness), for the Tenth Great Question—one of those beautiful things that I always love to read and re-read. The most important one, I always think, in so far as astronomy is concerned, that has ever been devised. A Question so perfect that, when we pause to consider its absolute truthfulness and perfection, answers fully—oh, so fully!—all our astronomical needs. (Reads.) “Are not the stars maintained in their courses in order that man may progress and be moral?” (He contemplates a fly which has lit on the end of his nose.)
THE UNION ASTRONOMERS
(Juggling their telescopes after the manner of a shillalah and doing a come-all-ye.)
They are! They are! The stars, they say
That man to truth is on his way!
THE COLLEGE PHILOSOPHERS
(Catching hands and dancing around in a circle.)