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._]
The Dreissigers true hangmen are,
Servants no whit behind them;
Masters and men with one accord
Set on the poor to grind them.
You villains all, you brood of hell ...
OLD BAUMERT
[_Trembling with rage, stamping on the floor.
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