THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
149
and we further know that at the
already noticed, were in force respecting their birtli
"
Master's Meeting,"
of his time the apprentice was presented by his master at a
completion
where it was certified that he had completed the specified term and given satisfaction. He
;
was then declared by the board free of his trade, and became ij)so facto a journeyman. We
find no trace of greeting and grip at this simple ceremony, but we shall at least find the
former of these appearing at another stage. In some trades the apprentice was required to
substantiate his knowledge of the craft, failing which he
was placed under another master,
order to complete his education before being declared free.^
As
regards the
in
mark, although we
custom was a general one, and indeed in many trades its observance
would have been well nigh impossible, yet in a few the members were required to choose a
have no evidence that
this
^
mark, and place it on all their work for instance, the cutlers of Nuremberg and the joiners.^
We thus find the mark appearing in shops where the number of workmen employed was
considerable, and where it might become necessary to distinguish one man's work from
;
understand that with the ordinary tradesman, such as the
The mason's mark
baker, butcher, shoemaker, it was not necessary, and therefore not in use.
much of the recondite symbolism which enthusiastic writers have
thus loses
and we can
another's;
(in
attributed to
it,
Germany)
and becomes reduced
of the handicraft.
not
now be
easily
Whether
discussed, as
it is
Our young journeyman
mere trade regulation arising out of the exigencies
afterwards received any mystic interpretation, need
to a
or not,
it
fully treated of elsewhere.
now ready
is
to
commence
his travels, which, in different trades,
extended over a longer or shorter space, as the case might
pilgrimage
is
The
be.
rationale of this
It kept down the number of masters by prolonging the
the different and independent guilds of a trade into a close
helped to propagate the improvements, which, in any particular
readily explained.
served to bring
novitiate,
it
harmony
of usage,
and
it
all
had been engrafted on the specialities of a handicraft.
locomotion and gradual dispersion of news, was highly beneficial
locality,
;
This in an age of slow
but above all, it served to
widen each craftsman's ideas and judgment, to complete his trade education, and to rub off
But in order that a journeyman* might be able to travel, special
any local prejudices.
In the earliest times, the craftsman on entering a new town,
institutions were necessary.
at the first shop of his trade that he came to, for work for eight or fourteen days, and if
applied
the master was able to employ
him he did
so, if
not he recommended
him
to another master.
a night's lodging, supper, and breakfast,
Failing to find work in any shop, tlie craftsman received
in the house of the master whose turn it was to receive, and at his departure next morning a
small
sum
of
money
sufficient to carry
him
to the
next town.
Later on, the masters arranged
with some tavern keeper to afford the necessary board at their expense. This tavern was then
the house of call for a particular trade, where the journeyman could at once obtain information
work were procurable, and where the masters could leave notice if they required any extra
The landlord and his wife were styled father and mother, their children and
assistance.
Later on still, when the journeymen
domestics, male and female, brothers and sisters.
their own fraternities, these houses became their places of meeting, and some one,
established
if
^
'
Berlepsch, Chronik der Geweibe, vol.
^
*
It is scarcely necessary to explain, that tbe
Ibid., vol. vii., r- 123.
Stock, Grundziige dor Verfassung, p. 28.
the French word journie, a day
;
iv., p. 65.
term "journeyman
because he was paid by the day.
"
is
not derived from the "travelling," but from