her?
I don't see how you do it. I could never
Think about nothing all the time, like you.

OLD PLUMBER

Perhaps your mind is not just made for it.
It takes a thinker, that it does. And I
Did not get into it so easy, either.
I read a lot of books before I saw
The greatness of Philosophy. Now I wonder
How I got on without it. Why, to-day
I could not clean a sewer in peace of mind
If I did not know that, when I got home,
I could philosophize on Space and Time.

YOUNG PLUMBER

It must be wonderful to know these things.

[_Brander and Midge enter together. They seem to
find some difficulty in choosing their seats._

MIDGE

Are you quite sure that we can hear him here?

BRANDER

Yes; and besides, I do not wish to sit
Too near the front. I'd rather not have come
At all to-day. But you...

MIDGE

Oh, don't go back
Now on your promise! I must hear him speak.
I must, I must. I cannot tell you why;
I do not know. But I have never seen
A face that seemed to promise me so much--
Things that I cannot utter, cannot think.

BRANDER

I never want to see his face again.
I shall try not to listen.

CHILD

Mother, when
Will the show start?

MERCHANT'S WIFE

Hush, very soon! Yes, see--
There he is coming in.

CHILD

Oh, goody, goody!

[_Faust enters the hall and mounts the platform. He
busies himself for a moment adjusting the reading
desk; then turns toward the audience, gripping the
desk steadily, and waits a moment more for the stir
to subside._

FAUST

I come before you with unwilling lips--
Not led by eagerness, or wont of speech;
Being not of those who easily proclaim
Small miracles to move you. But the force
Of grave necessity has bid me cast
All thought save one aside, and in your midst,
Utter strange words, with lips that must obey
The soul that wills not silence.

For I come
Announcing not the common verities
Of learned books, or laboratory lore,
Or ancient heresies; as speaks the fool,
So speak I--from my heart. What I have seen,
That shall you see, and with grim gladness hold
Close in your hearts. Yes, all the world shall see it--
I am a tower burning to light the world!

(_He pauses a moment, meditatively_)

OLD WOMAN (_whispering_)

He has a good opinion of himself.

FAUST

I have beheld the toil and pain of l