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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: acquired by taking a box at the theatre to command a piece which Paris
had already forgotten.
As to the other assistants, the barrier of respect which formerly
divided a master draper from his apprentices was that they would have
been more likely to steal a piece of cloth than to infringe this
time-honored etiquette. Such reserve may now appear ridiculous; but
these old houses were a school of honesty and sound morals. The
masters adopted their apprentices. The young man's linen was cared
for, mended, and often replaced by the mistress of the house. If an
apprentice fell ill, he was the object of truly maternal attention. In
a case of danger the master lavished his money in calling in the most
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