He took his seat in a corner beneath the shadow of a large gallery at the back, over the entrance. There were only men admitted. He looked upon the hundreds assembled, and realized for the first time in more than six years that he was again a free man among free men. He drew a long breath of relief, of realization. At a quarter past seven Father Honore made his appearance on the platform. The men settled at once into silence, and the priest began without preface: "My friends, we will take up to-night what we may call the Brotherhood of Stone." The men looked at one another and smiled. Here was something new. "That is the right thought for all of you to take with you into the quarries and the sheds. Don't forget it!" He made certain distinct pauses after a few sentences. This was done with intention; for the men before him were of various nationalities, although he called this his "English night." But many were learning and understood imperfectly; it was for them he paused frequently. He wanted to give them time to take in what he was saying. Sometimes he repeated his words in Italian, in French, that the foreigners might better comprehend his meaning. "Perhaps some of you have worked in the limestone quarries on the Bay? All who have hold up hands." A hundred hands, perhaps more, were raised. "Any worked in the marble quarries of Vermont?" A dozen or more Canucks waved their hands vigorously. "Here are three pieces--limestone, marble, and granite." He held up specimens of the three. "All of them are well known to most of you. Now mark what I say of these three:--first, the limestone gets burned principally; second, the marble gets sculptured principally; third, the granite gets hammered and chiselled principally. Fire, chisel, and hammer at work on these three rocks; but, they are all _quarried_ first. This fact of their being quarried puts them in the Brotherhood--of Labor." The men nudged one another, and nodded emphatically. "They are all three taken from the crust of the earth; this Earth is to them the earth-mother. Now mark again what I say:--this fact of their common earth-mother puts them in the Brotherhood--of Kin." He took up three specimens of quartz crystals. "This quartz crystal"--he turned it in the light, and the hexagonal prisms caught and reflected dazzling rays--"I found in the limestone quarry on the Bay. This," he took up another smaller one, "I found after a long search in the marble quarries of Vermont. This here," he held up a third, a smaller, less brilliant, less perfect one--"I took out of our upper quarry after a three weeks' search for it. "This fact, that these rocks, although of different market value and put to different uses, may yield the same perfect crystal, puts the limestone, the marble, the granite in the Brotherhood--of Equality.