"How is this class of common laborers recruited?" I asked. "Surely nobody voluntarily enters that."
"It is the grade to which all new recruits belong for the first three years of their service. It is not till after this period, during which he is assignable to any work at the discretion of his superiors, that the young man is allowed to elect a special avocation. These three years of stringent discipline none are exempt from, and very glad our young men are to pass from this severe school into the comparative liberty of the trades. If a man were so stupid as to have no choice as to occupation, he would simply remain a common laborer; but such cases, as you may suppose, are not common."
"Having once elected and entered on a trade or occupation," I remarked, "I suppose he has to stick to i
