_The Last Straw_ is reprinted by special permission of Bosworth Crocker. All rights reserved. For permission to perform, address the author, care Society of American Dramatists and Composers, 148 West 45th Street, New York City.
Bosworth Crocker was born March 2, 1882, in Surrey, England. While still a child he was brought to the United States. He lives in New York City and may be reached in care of the Society of American Dramatists and Composers, 148 West 45th Street.
In addition to _Pawns of War_ and _Stone Walls_, he has written a number of one-act plays, _The Dog_, _The First Time_, _The Cost of a Hat_, _The Hour Before_, _The Baby Carriage_, and _The Last Straw_.
_The Last Straw_, produced by the Washington Square Players in New York City, is an excellent one-act tragedy, based upon the psychological law of suggestion.
FRIEDRICH BAUER, _janitor of the Bryn Mawr_ MIENE, _his wife_ KARL, _elder son, aged ten_ FRITZI, _younger son, aged seven_ JIM LANE, _a grocer boy_
SCENE: _The basement of a large apartment-house in New York City._
SCENE: _The kitchen of the Bauer flat in the basement of the Bryn Mawr. A window at the side gives on an area and shows the walk above and the houses across the street. Opposite the windows is a door to an inner room. Through the outer door, in the centre of the back wall, a dumb-waiter and whistles to tenants can be seen. A broken milk-bottle lies in a puddle of milk on the cement floor in front of the dumb-waiter. To the right of the outer door, a telephone; gas-range on which there are flat-irons heating and vegetables cooking. To the left of the outer door is an old sideboard; over it hangs a picture of Schiller. Near the centre of the room, a little to the right, stands a kitchen table with four chairs around it. Ironing-board is placed between the kitchen table and the sink, a basket of dampened clothes under it. A large calendar on the wall. An alarm-clock on the window-sill. Time: a little before noon. The telephone rings_; MRS. BAUER _leaves her ironing and goes to answer it_.
MRS. BAUER. No, Mr. Bauer's out yet. [_She listens through the transmitter._] Thank you, Mrs. Mohler. [_Another pause._] I'll tell him just so soon he comes in--yes, ma'am.
