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The Complete Works of Guy de Maupassant (v. 15)
The Complete Works of Guy de Maupassant - v. 15 Author:Guy de Maupassant Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE SUNDAYS OF A PARISIAN CHAPTER I PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXCURSION PATISSOT, born in Paris, after having failed in his examinations at the College ... more »Henri IV, like many others, had entered the government service through the influence of one of his aunts, who kept a tobacco store where the head of one of the departments bought his provisions. He advanced very slowly, and would, perhaps, have died a four-class clerk without the aid of a kindly Providence, which sometimes watches over our destiny. He is to-day fifty-two years old, and it is only at this age that he is beginning to explore, as a tourist, all that part of France which lies between the fortifications and the Province. The story of his advance might be useful to many employees, just as the tale of his excursions may beof value to many Parisians who will take them as a model for their own outings, and will thus, through his example, avoid certain mishaps which occurred to him. In 1854 he enjoyed a salary of only 1800 francs. Through a peculiar trait of his character he was unpopular with all his superiors, who let him languish in the eternal and hopeless expectations of the clerk's ideal, an increase of salary. Nevertheless, he worked; but he did not know how to make himself appreciated: he had too much self-respect, he claimed. His self-respect consisted in never bowing to his superiors in a low and servile manner, as did, according to him, certain of his colleagues, whom he would not mention. He added that his frankness embarrassed many people, for, like all the rest, he protested against injustice and the favoritism shown to persons entirely foreign to the bureaucracy. But his indignant voice never passed beyond the little cage where he worked. First as a government clerk, then as Frenchman, and...« less