In Which Mr Headstone Looks For A Situation

As he was making his way along one of the great public thoroughfares of London and reflecting on his lot, Mr Headstone chanced to raise his eyes to a blue board, whereon was inscribed in characters of gold, 'General Agency Office; for situations of all kinds inquire within.' The sign was placed above a shop-front, and in the window hung a long array of written placards, announcing vacant places of every grade, from a lord's factotum to a footboy. Running his eyes over the terms displayed, the pedagogue could find no description that answered to his own particular notion of what constituted an acceptable situation, and indeed it would have been a matter of astonishment if he had. Mr Headstone's opinion was that the quantity of remuneration received should always be greater than the quantity of labour provided, but, as this was not a view generally subscribed to by social philosophers, it had not been adopted as common practice.