QUIXANOS in the Richmond or non-Jewish borough of New York, about
five o'clock of a February afternoon. At centre back is a double
street-door giving on a columned veranda in the Colonial style.
Nailed on the right-hand door-post gleams a_ Mezuzah, _a tiny
metal case, containing a Biblical passage. On the right of the
door is a small hat-stand holding MENDEL'S overcoat, umbrella,
etc. There are two windows, one on either side of the door, and
three exits, one down-stage on the left leading to the stairs and
family bedrooms, and two on the right, the upper leading to
KATHLEEN'S bedroom and the lower to the kitchen. Over the street
door is pinned the Stars-and-Stripes. On the left wall, in the
upper corner of which is a music-stand, are bookshelves of large
mouldering Hebrew books, and over them is hung a_ Mizrach, _or
Hebrew picture, to show it is the East Wall. Other pictures round
the room include Wagner, Columbus, Lincoln, and "Jews at the
Wailing place." Down-stage, about a yard from the left wall,
stands DAVID'S roll-desk, open and displaying a medley of music,
a quill pen, etc. On the wall behind the desk hangs a book-rack
with brightly bound English books. A grand piano stands at left
centre back, holding a pile of music and one huge Hebrew tome.
There is a table in the middle of the room covered with a red
cloth and a litter of objects, music, and newspapers. The
fireplace, in which a fire is burning, occupies the centre of the
right wall, and by it stands an armchair on which lies another
heavy mouldy Hebrew tome. The mantel holds a clock, two silver
candlesticks, etc. A chiffonier stands against the back wall on
the right. There are a few cheap chairs. The whole effect is a
curious blend of shabbiness, Americanism, Jewishness, and music,
all four being combined in the figure of MENDEL QUIXANO, who, in
a black skull-cap, a seedy velvet jacket, and red
carpet-slippers, is discovered standing at the open street-door.
He is an elderly music master with a fine Jewish face,
pathetically furrowed by misfortunes, and a short grizzled
beard._

MENDEL
Good-bye, Johnny!... And don't forget to practise your scales.
[_Shutting door, shivers._]
Ugh! It'll snow again, I guess.
[_He yawns, heaves a great sigh of relief, walks toward the
table,