THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
158
A
master and warden are each armed with a gavel, as symbols of their authority.
ensues between these two, and the master declares the lodge open, in the
short
name
of
dialogue
He then gives three blows
the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and the four crowned martyrs.
The treasurer then gives an
the warden answers with two.
with his gavel (Art. 28), and
account of his stewardship, and a fresh treasurer is appointed (Art. 23). Subscriptions are
and the warden hands over all fines levied durmg the
next collected
XXXII.),
(Art.
All causes of complaint are judicially settled by the master, with the
preceding week.
The
assistance of the fellows, and cases of a grave nature are reserved for a higher court.
the master, having
He is introduced by a friend, and led before
candidate is then announced.
been beforehand partly denuded as a token of humility, and perhaps deprived of his small
He then listens to a lecture,
store of money, in order to remind him of his poorer brethren.
wliich
recites
He
of labour.
craft
and
and the innate nobility
to the
impressed with the necessity of rendering himself an honour
and is admonished to forswear the errors of his immature youth. He is
the traditionary
is
fraternity,
origin
of the masonic
handicraft,
probably addressed throughout as "rough ashlar;" and now, suddenly seized and manipulated,
one brother figuratively applies the pick, another the gavel and chisel, and a third the rule.
If
he
master;
much
slightly hurt, so
is
the warden
appUes
At
the better.
a
square
to
his
he
last
feet,
once more placed before the
is
to his arms, a
a level
plumb-rule to
The master then continues his
declared a true and perfect ashlar.
discourse, inculcating steady and moral conduct, in much the same strain as the lecture of the
smiths previously quoted, and the ceremony ends by his being formally hailed as a brother.
his body,
and he
is
by which he could
a sign,
prove himself a brother ? In the very nature of things we might expect that he did,
a word, a grip. But not the faintest trace of these exists. The Statutes do not even enjoin
The question naturally
arises,
was
this all
Did he
?
receive no token
merely that "he shall keep every point and article"
means incUned to think that any token of recognition was devised
secrecy, but
—
And
(Art. II.).
;
I
am by
no
the mere greeting, grip, and
fellow craft, although not always, as in certain cases an apprentice
might be in possession of them (Art. 30).^ And his fellows would only be too anxious to
acknowledge him as a brother, if he stated that he was one and kept up his subscriptions.
mark would prove him a
The meeting was then probably once more
called to order, whilst the master or
warden
whether anything remained to be done, and a short
made
The tables were next produced, also the beer,
dialogue, no doubt, closed the proceedings.
The health of the new brother was
bread, and wine, and the fellows spent a jovial evening.
three
several
inquiries as to
means of recognition (if secret
signs there were) consisted in the proper manner of drinking the pledge, as we know that this
was always a peculiar ceremony with all crafts. Winzer, as if determined to cap aU Fallou's
drunk with
and
all formality,
it is
just possible that the secret
wonderful statements, asserts that at this banquet the master addressed a series of questions
to the fellows, which they answered in rotation, thus gradually instructing the new brother
With
in the mysteries.^
1
But he ultimately had
pay
—
for this
unusual privilege.
In Art. 25
it is
enacted,
" that
if
a fellow
come
free of
mark " this can only refer to an apprentice who has completed his term by travelling under
borrowed mark, and now claims oue of his own. He receives it on certain conditions, one of which is, that he treat
the trade and
a
to
equal truth he might at once have stated that they worked the
demand
a
F