wages. So much the worse, if you remain but ten
days in the place she has procured for you. That
does not concern her; her account is good, and the
entire commission is exacted. Oh! they know the
trick; they know where they send you, and that
you will come back to them soon. Once, for
instance, I had seven places in four months and a
half. A run on the black; impossible houses,
worse than prisons. Well, I had to pay the
employment-bureau three per cent. of seven years’
wages,—that is, including the ten sous required
for each fresh entrance of my name, more than
ninety francs. And nothing had been accomplished, and all had to be begun over again. Is
that just, I want to know? Is it not abominable
robbery?
Robbery? In whatever direction one turns, one sees nothing but robbery anywhere. Of course it is always those who have nothing who are the most robbed, and robbed by those who have all. But what is one to do? One rages and rebels, and then ends by concluding that it is better to be robbed than to die like a dog in the street. Oh! the world is arranged on a fine plan, that’s sure! What a pity it is that General Boulanger did not succeed! At least he, it seems, loved domestics.
The employment-bureau in which I was stupid
enough to have my name entered is situated in the
