merly placed one's feet,
one must now balance oneself on jagged and rolly stones, which destroy
both feet and shoes--save on the street which leads from your house to
the tavern, where you let lay a footbridge of flat stones.

STATUE. And now this reformer--or charlatan--wants to undo what I did?

PILLORY. He wants to tear up what you laid down and pave all the streets
with "burgomaster" stones, so that all may be equally comfortable.

STATUE. So he's a rabid radical!

PILLORY. Yes, that's it, and he has no party politics back of him. You
had the wagonmaker, the shoemaker, the chiropodist and the burgomaster
with you, therefore you succeeded.

STATUE. He'd better be careful! Every stone which he removes from my
work the people will hurl at him, and woe be unto him if he touches my
memory!

PILLORY. Let us hope that he unmasks you, you old fraud! Do you recall
how you happened to become one of the great ones after your death?
First, at the funeral, the parson embroidered your virtues--for twenty
marks; the contractor, who had grown rich on your streets, delivered a
eulogy; the chiropodist, who acquired practice through your beautiful
street stones, had a medallion struck of you; then the wagonmaker, who
made money patching up wagons, named a vehicle after you; and last, the
shoemaker held a memorial fest in your honor. Then it was done! Your
son-in-law, the burgomaster, sent out a subscription blank for a statue
no one dared refuse, and now you stand there.

STATUE. Yes, I do, and it grieves you. To-day the Schulze Society
will come with wreaths and will sing the memorial song ordered by my
son-in-law. I daresay having to stand and listen to it will make you
writhe.

PILLORY. I can't dispute that, but in the end we shall see if I'm not a
true dreamer!

STATUE. Hold your tongue! for here comes the Society.

PILLORY. I shall have to hold my sides for laughter--three persons
constitute the whole Society! Last year they were six. You're a back
number, Schulze. Soon you'll see that they will move you into the
ox-grove!

STATUE. A people who reverence their great men and cherish past events
can never sink so low as to consign their statues to the ox-grove.

[Shoemaker comes out from his house and opens shop window.]

SHOEMAKER. I believe there has been rain in the night, brother Schulze
looks so shiny. If it will only be fair weather when the singing society
makes its appearance! [Shouts back into the house.] H