y passport
into a book, put it aside, and gave me a ticket of permission to remain
one night in Ludwigslust. I was desired to call for my passport before
leaving in the morning.

At seven o'clock there was no sign of supper. At eight o'clock the cloth
was spread in a long, low lumber-room at the back of the inn, and the
assembled carpenters took their seats before the board, or rather boards
supported upon tressels. I took my place and waited hungrily. Very soon
there was a great steam over the whole table sent up from huge tureens of
boiled potatoes; smaller dishes of preserved prunes, boiled also,
occupied the intervals. A bottle of red wine was placed for every two
men. We then began our meal with soup; thin, sorry stuff. Then came the
chief dishes, baked veal and baked pig's head. The prunes were to be
eaten with the veal, which meat, having been first boiled to make the
soup, and then baked in a deep dish in a close oven to bring out some of
the faded flavour, was a sodden mass, and the whole meal was removed a
very long way from the roast fillet of veal and pickled pork known to an
Englishman. Our pig's head was, however, capital,--no soup had been made
out of that. The carpenters, with assiduous kindness, heaped choice bits
upon my plate, and as I had not dined, I supped with energy. The drunken
man who had fallen asleep by the stove sat by my side with greedy looks,
eating nothing, for he had not paid his share; he was a man who drank
away his gains, and he received no pity.

Then after supper there came toasts. The president was on his legs, all
glasses were filled; men ready. "Long live the Guild of carpenters!
Vivat h--o!" The ho! was a howl; the glasses clashed. "Long live all
carpenters! Vivat ho--o!" At ten o'clock there was a bustle and
confusion at the door, and a long string of lads marched, two and two,
cap in hand, into the room. These were all the carpenters' apprentices
in Ludwigslust. Every quarterly night the hospitable carpenters have
them in after supper to be regaled with beer and cordials, and initiated
into the mysteries of jollity that are connected with the existence of a
master carpenter. "Long live all carpenters' apprentices! Vivat
ho--o--o!" The apprentices having revelled in as much beer and spirits
as could be got through, shouting included, in a quarter of an hour,
formed double line again, and marched out under a fire of lusty cheers
into the street. Some joll