Next the first item of the agenda was read:
"The Preparatory Committee would suggest that the working men's union 'Star of the North' should express the dissatisfaction which every right-thinking citizen must feel in regard to the unlawful movements which under the name of strikes are spreading nearly all over Europe."
"Is this the pleasure of the Union?"
"Yes, yes!" shouted the front bench.
"Mr. President!" called out the joiner from the White Mountains.
"Who is making so much noise at the back?" asked the chairman, looking over his spectacles with a face which suggested that he would presently have recourse to the cane.
"Nobody is making any noise; I am asking for permission to speak."
"Who is I?"
"Master-joiner Eriksson."
"Are you a master? Since when?"