358 THE OPERATIVES' PARLIAMENT. 



"President. 

 " ' Most worthy guardian of our sacred laws, 



They are wool-combers, and wishful to protect the united cause.' 

 " Warden < Then all is well.' 



" Vice-President. 



" Strangers, you are welcome, and if you prove sincere, 

 You'll not repent your pains and labour here. 

 We have one common interest, and one common soul, 

 Which should by virtue guide and actuate the whole. 

 Our trade requires protection, by experience sad we know ; 



Our duty is to prevent recurrence of our former woe. 



***** 



Let your tongue be always faithful, your heart conceal its trust, 

 Woe, woe and dishonour attend the faithless and unjust. 

 Guards, give the strangers sight.' 



( The bandages are removed from the eyes of the strangers, and they are placed oppo- 

 site the skeleton.^ 



" President, (pointing to the skeleton.) 

 <( Strangers, mark well this shadow, which you see, 

 It is a faithful emblem of man's destiny.' 



* * * * # 



" Vice- President. 

 " ' Strangers, hear me ; and mark well what I say, 



Be faithful to your trust, or you may rue this day. 



" You are now within our secret walls, and I must know if you can keep 

 a secret.' 



" Strangers ( Yes.' 



" Vice-President' And will you do?' 



" Strangers' Yes.' 



" Vice- President. 

 " ' Then amongst us, you will shortly be entitled to the endearing name 



of brother, 



And what you hear or see here done, you must not disclose to any other ; 

 We are uniting to cultivate friendship, as well as to protect our trade, 

 And due respect must to all our laws be paid. 



Hoping you will prove faithful, and all encroachments on our rights with- 

 stand, 

 As a token of your alliance, give me your hand.' 



"(They then take the following oath:) 



" I, A.B., woolcomber, being in the awful presence of Almighty God, do voluntarily 

 declare that I will persevere in endeavouring to support a brotherhood, known by the 

 name of the Friendly Society of Operative Stuff Manufacturers, and other Industrious 

 Operatives, and I solemnly declare and promise ihat I will never act in opposition to the 

 brotherhood in any of their attempts to support wages, but will, to the utmost of my 

 power, assist them in all lawful and just occasions, to obtain a fair remuneration for our 

 labour. And I call upon God to witness this my most solemn declaration, that neither 

 hopes, fears, rewards, punishments, nor even death itself, shall ever induce me directly or 

 indirectly, to give any information respecting any thing contained in this Lodge, or any 

 similar Lodge connected with the Society ; and I will neither write, nor cause to be written, 

 upon paper, wood, sand, stone, or any thing else, whereby it may be known, unless 

 allowed to do so by the proper authorities of the Society. And I will never give my con- 

 sent to have any money belonging to the Society divided or appropriated to any other 

 purpose than the use of the Society and support of the trade, so help me God, and keep 

 me stedfast in this my most solemn obligation ; and if ever I reveal either part or parts of 

 this my n ost solemn obligation, may all the Society I am about to belong to, and all that 

 is just, disgrace me so long as I live ; and may what is now before me plunge my soul 

 i nto the everlasting pit of misery ! Amen.' " 



