“Of any honest sort.”
“But that is hard labor of the roughest and dirtiest—pulling down moldy and pestiferous old houses.”
“No matter; I shall be glad to get it.”
“Well, I am hit hard—hit harder than I ever was in my life!”
“How so?”
“Why, boss—not to be offensive—I—I—I—thought you were a gentleman and a scholar.”
“Need a man be less a gentleman and a scholar because he takes any honest work he can get, rather than live in idleness and go in debt?”
“You have got me there, boss, sure as a gun. But I should think you might do better than that—might get a salesman’s place in an uptown store. You would be sure to be popular among customers, with your figure and address.”
“But why should I seek a salesman’s situation in preference to a laborer’s?”
“Well, it is nicer and cleaner, and you would be in better company.”