dy composition.
[_DAVID does not reply, but writes rapidly on._]
Why, he hasn't heard a word!
[_He shouts._]
David!

DAVID [_Writing on_]
I can't, uncle. I _must_ put it down while that glorious impression is
fresh.

MENDEL
What impression? You only went to the People's Alliance.

DAVID
Yes, and there I saw the Jewish children--a thousand of 'em--saluting
the Flag.
[_He writes on._]

MENDEL
Well, what of that?

DAVID
What of that?
[_He throws down his quill and jumps up._]
But just fancy it, uncle. The Stars and Stripes unfurled, and a thousand
childish voices, piping and foreign, fresh from the lands of oppression,
hailing its fluttering folds. I cried like a baby.

MENDEL
I'm afraid you _are_ one.

DAVID
Ah, but if you had heard them--"Flag of our Great Republic"--the words
have gone singing at my heart ever since--
[_He turns to the flag over the door._]
"Flag of our Great Republic, guardian of our homes, whose stars and
stripes stand for Bravery, Purity, Truth, and Union, we salute thee. We,
the natives of distant lands, who find
[_Half-sobbing_]
rest under thy folds, do pledge our hearts, our lives, our sacred honour
to love and protect thee, our Country, and the liberty of the American
people for ever."
[_He ends almost hysterically._]

MENDEL [_Soothingly_]
Quite right. But you needn't get so excited over it.

DAVID
Not when one hears the roaring of the fires of God? Not when one sees
the souls melting in the Crucible? Uncle, all those little Jews will
grow up Americans!

MENDEL [_Putting a pacifying hand on his shoulder and forcing him into a
chair_]
Sit down. I want to talk to you about your affairs.

DAVID [_Sitting_]
_My_ affairs! But I've been talking about them all the time!

MENDEL
Nonsense, David.
[_He sits beside him._]
Don't you think it's time you got into a wider world?

DAVID
Eh? This planet's wide enough for me.

MENDEL
Do be serious. You don't want to live all your life in this room.

DAVID [_Looks round_]
What's the matter with this room? It's princely.

MENDEL [_Raising his hands in horror_]
Princely!

DAVID
Imperial. Remember when I first saw it--after pigging a week in the
rocking steerage, swinging in a berth as wide as my fiddle-case, hung
near the cooking-engines; imagine the hot rancid smell of the food, the
oil of the machinery, the odours of all that close-packed, sea-sick----

MENDEL [_Putting his h