[_Stamps and accents each syllable._]
Anneya krasnaya vsekh seelnaye.

TIPPY. Jesus, Martin, why don't you get Billy Rose to write a new
song for the Red Army?

MARTIN. As soon as Ken learns Krasnaya Armeya I'll teach him the
International.

TIPPY. I can bellyache the Armeya better now than he can.

MARTIN. Damned pity you won't study Russian with us. You have a
natural gift for languages.

TIPPY. The reason Russian is easy for me is because I never learned
the alphabet.

KEN. Boy, what an alphabet!

MARTIN. [_Snapping his fingers._] Da, da, da--ah, be, ve, ge.

TIPPY. [_Picking up book._] Ya, ya, ya,--vas ist das? Das ist ein
buch.

KEN. Da, da, da,--chto etto takoye? Etto kneega.

MARTIN. Fine. Let's go. [_Holds up pencil._] Chto etto takoe?

KEN. Etta karandash.

MARTIN. [_Stands book on table._] Chto?

KEN. Kneega stoeet na stolom.

MARTIN. [_Throws book under table._] Gdye kneega?

KEN. Kneega pod stalom.

MARTIN. Great! Now make a sentence of your own.

KEN. [_Lamely._] Tovarisch Stalin ... [_Stalls._]

TIPPY. [_Cutting in smartly._] Krasnaya armeya pod stalom. [TIPPY
_hangs pants on chair back, and puts away ironing paraphernalia._]

[MARTIN _goes to book shelf and gets Russian reader and
dictionary._]

MARTIN. I've only a few minutes. But we can do half a page. We'll
never get it unless we keep at it eternally.

KEN. For eternity you mean.

MARTIN. You're doing fine with the reading. It'll help you no end
when you get to Russia.

KEN. God, what faith you have!

MARTIN. Sure you're going to Russia. They have millions of
buildings to build, and they can't train architects fast enough.
[_Finds place in book._]

[KEN _hesitates._]

KEN. I'm not kidding myself.--I've been doing this more to help
you.

MARTIN. Listen, Ken. Even if you don't go, you should know Russian
so you can read Soviet architectural journals. The years we wasted
on dead languages!--Russia's alive. They're doing things, new
things, big things! Russian is the language of the next great sweep
in world progress.

TIPPY. Sez you.

MARTIN. You read the New York Times. Where does the real news come
from?

TIPPY. That depends on who is shooting which.

MARTIN. Shooting isn't news. War isn't news. War is old--atavistic,
a confession of failure, evidence of retrogression. News deals with
new things: progress, science, art, invention, the conquest of
nature. That's real news. And where is it coming