(By an Affable Philosopher and Courteous Friend.)
How to Enter the Civil Service.
In the good old days of yore there was little trouble in obtaining admission to the Civil Service. All that was necessary was a slight knowledge of a Cabinet Minister, and a smattering of schooling. The latter might be obtained at Eton, Winchester, Rugby, Westminster, or Harrow. The acquaintance of the Minister, of course, had to be made by your father. You were too young to have attracted the attention of so important a personage. Suppose you had reached the mature age of eighteen, and had given up the round jackets and collars of boyhood, and had assumed "stick-ups" and "cutaways," your father would probably ask you "What you intended to do next?"
"No, my dear fellow," would be the paternal reply to a suggestion about Trinity or Christ Church. "I am afraid I can't manage either. You see, your two elder brothers went to the University, but then we could find them family livings. It would be useless to let you read for the Bar, because we haven't any of us married into a single firm of Solicitors; and in these hard times I really can't afford to buy you a commission."
You would notice sotto voce that when ways and means were being discussed, times were always hard.
"I suppose you could be a doctor if you pleased; but walking the hospitals is not a particularly pleasant occupation. Then there is another opening—why not try the Civil Service?"
You would rather freshen up at this. You would have read in a comic paper, that never will be nameless, that Government clerks were like the fountains in Trafalgar Square (old style), "because they played from ten to four."
"Well, yes," you would return. "I don't think I should mind that so much. It would be rather fun to go to Paris as an attaché."
"I'm afraid I couldn't quite manage that, my dear boy," your fond parent would respond. "They don't pay attachés at first, and so you would have to be satisfied with the War Office or the Admiralty instead of the Foreign Office."
"All right, Pater," you would say, and leave the matter in the hands of the elder generation.