of their symbolic objects they wrote, Le temps vient à bout de tout. Another society, of which very little is known, called itself Moins diable que noir; as if to indicate that the blackness of their outside did not prevent goodness of heart. This 372. Customs in various other Trades.-The saddlers and shoemakers had their own initiatory practices. In the room where the initiation took place there arose a rough altar, on which were placed a crucifix, tapers, a missal, and whatever is necessary for the celebration of divine service. was performed, many peculiar phrases being intermingled therewith; after which the neophyte was made acquainted with the rites of the devoir, the signs and passwords, and the symbolic meaning of the forms and jewels. The reception of the hatters in its purifications and funereal myth approached still nearer to the ancient initiations. A stage or daïs was erected in a large hall; on the stage were placed a cross, a crown of thorns, a palm branch, and all the instruments of the Passion of Christ. Close by stood a large basin of water. The aspirant represented Christ, and passed through the various episodes of the Passion of the Redeemer; and finally knelt down before the basin, when the water, the baptism of regeneration, was poured on his head. No doubt the original institutors of this rite had honest and elevated views ; but in course of time the whole degenerated into a farce à la Ran-Tan Club. In the reception of the tailors the candidate was led into a room, in the centre of which stood a table covered with a white cloth, whereon were placed a loaf of bread, a salt-cellar overturned, three sugar loaves, and three needles. He also passed through the various stages of the Passion of Christ. He was then conducted to a second room, where a banquet was prepared, and, as it is asserted, pictures were exhibited of the vie galante of three journeymen tailors, pleasing to the senses; which may remind us of the peculiar worship entering into all the ancient mysteries. These initiations gave a certain importance to the various trade-unions and their members; it was their common patrimony that kept up the esprit de corps, though it was not free from the arrogance and exclusiveness which multiplied rites, intolerance, jealousies, and enmities, that periodically ended in sanguinary struggles-the tragic episodes of a drama, now barbaric, now heroic. Disturbances at Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, disgraced the compagnonnage. In the middle of the last century the rivalry between the two sections of the stonemasons of Lyons ended in the expulsion of one of them from that city, and their attempt to return led to the most terrible scenes of violence and bloodshed. Even at the present day these disputes not only between rival trades, but even between members of the same trade, continue. But a few years ago the carpenters of Paris at last settled their quarrel by arranging that the Fellows of Duty shall work only on the right, and the Fellows of Liberty only on the left bank of the Seine, and no member of one society dares to trespass on the ground of the other. Those also newly received into either are badly treated, and called by opprobrious names; for instance, as among German students, renards, foxes. Once these latter would no longer submit to this injustice; they seceded and formed a society of their own, calling themselves Compagnons Renards de la liberté, though they did not think it wrong to treat their aspirants in the same cruel manner in which they had been treated themselves! How intense was the hatred once between the Duty and the Liberty workmen may be inferred from a stanza of a song once current among the former : "Tous ces Gavots infâmes Iront dans les enfers, IV GERMAN WORKMEN'S UNIONS 373. Huntsman's Phraseology.-In the woods infested by robbers we meet with the first germs of these corporations, with rough but characteristic customs. Charcoal-burners and hunters need means to recognise each other, so as not to shake hands with an enemy. Grimm has collected upwards of two hundred venatic terms and phrases. The questions and answers of the wandering journeymen have a great resemblance to those of hunters; the intonation is the same, and both make great use of the symbolic numbers three and seven. The formulæ necessarily have reference to the various incidents of the hunter's life. "Q. Good huntsman, what have you seen to-day? A. A noble stag and a wild boar; what can one desire better? Q. Why do you call yourself a master huntsman ? A. A brave huntsman obtains from princes and lords the title of master in the seven liberal arts. From these sentiments which ennoble the dignity of an art or trade there arises often that chivalrous love which renders life gentle, and gives it an aim and a reward worthy of it. 2. Tell me, good huntsman, where have you left the fair and gentle damsel? A. I left her under a majestic tree, and am going to rejoin her. Long live the maid dressed in white that every morning brings me a day of good fortune. Every day I see her again at the same place; and when I am wounded she cures me, and says to me: 'I wish the huntsman safety and happiness; may he meet with a fine stag!' 374. Initiation. Artisans, more closely united than hunters, did not admit new members into their sodality except after long and solemn trials; their catechisms breathe throughout a spirit of brotherly affection and attention to moral and civil duties. They were divided into degrees, and it is remarkable that the German workmen have long been accustomed to the word, sign, and grip of the Freemasons. The operative masons were divided into Wort-Maurer (Word Masons) and Schrift-Maurer (Writing or Diploma Masons). The former had no other proof to give of their having been regularly brought up to the trade of builders but the word and signs; the latter had written indentures to show. There were laws enjoining master masons to give employment to journeymen who had the proper word and signs. Some cities in this respect possessed more extensive privileges than others. The word given at Wetzlar entitled the possessor to work over the whole empire. With the German journeyman also the three years' travel in search of improvement is an universal condition, and the usual time for setting out is the spring. The Handwerksbursche is even now a German institution; though he is now not so frequently met with on the high-road, because railways enable him to travel more cheaply than he could on foot. 375. Initiation of a Cooper.-Every trade again has its particular mode of initiation; but as there necessarily is a great similarity of ritual and ceremonies, their details would become a tedious repetition. I therefore confine myself to one craft-that of the cooper. Permission is first asked to introduce to the assembly of companions or fellowcrafts the youth who is to be made one of them, and who is called the "Apron of Goatskin." The companion who introduces him says: "Some one, I know not who, follows me with a goatskin; a murderer of staves, a wood-spoiler, a traitor; he is on the threshold, and says he is not guilty; he enters, and promises, after having been 'rough-hewn' by us, to become a good journeyman." Leave having been given, the apprentice seats himself on a stool placed on a table, and the companions try to upset him; but his guide keeps him up, whereupon he is repeatedly baptized and consecrated with beer. The patron then says: "What do you call yourself now? Choose a name, genteel, short, and that pleases the girls. He that has a short name pleases every one, and every one drinks a cup of wine or beer to his health. And now to pay the expenses of the baptism, give what every one else has given, and the masters and journeymen shall be content with you." The candidate also receives numerous instructions how to conduct himself on his wanderings. He is not to be deterred by the difficulties that encounter him at the outset. After having passed through a forest full of dangers, he is supposed to arrive in a pleasant meadow, and to behold a pear-tree full of tempting fruit. Is he to lie down under it, and wait till the pears fall into his half-open mouth? Is he to mount the tree? No; the farmer or his men would see him, and give him a beating. He is to shake the tree, and some of the fruit will fall down, with which he is to regale himself, leaving some on the ground for some companion who may come after him, and perhaps not be strong enough to shake the tree. Pursuing his way, he comes to a torrent, over which the trunk of a large tree serves for a bridge. Then he encounters a young girl leading a goat. What shall he do? What shall he do? Push the girl and the goat into the water, and pass on? No; let him take the goat on his shoulder, the girl in his arms, and cross the bridge. He He may afterwards marry the girl, because he needs a wife, and kill the goat for the nuptial feast, and the skin will make him a new apron. Arriving in a town, he is to go to the inn kept by a master; if his daughter shows him the way to his bedroom, he is to keep a guard over himself; and on the next day he is to go about looking out for work. Perhaps he will be offered it by three masters—the first is rich in wood and hoops; the second has three handsome daughters, and regales his workmen with plenty of wine and beer; the third is poor: with which one is he to accept work? With the first he would become a first-rate cooper; with the second he would be happy, having drink in plenty, and dancing with the charming girls; but with the third? He is to be as ready to work for the poor as for the rich master. This discourse, of which there is much more, being ended, the novice attempts to run into the street and cry fire! The companions restrain him, and copiously baptize him with cold water; and then, of course, follows a dinner. 376. Curious Works on the Subject. There exist in Germany numerous works on the rites and customs of various traders; the following are some of them-"The Millers' Crown of Honour, or a Complete Description of the True Nature of the Circles of the Company of Millers. By a Miller's Apprentice, George Bohrmann." We here get into masonic symbolism. One woodcut represents a circle with mystic sentences, and the explanation says that everything was created from or by the circle. Then there follows the history of bakers according to the Scriptures; then a poetically described journey, with particulars of the most celebrated mills of Lusatia, Silesia, Moravia, Hungary, Bohemia, &c. The names of the three most famous millers that, according to the author, ever existed, are placed in the form of a triangle; and the book concludes with an invoca |