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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: calmness of undertakers in presence of afflicted heirs, of old
sergeants of the Guard among heaps of dead. They no more shuddered on
hearing cries of hunger and despair than surgeons shudder at the cries
of their patients in hospital; they said, as the soldiers and the
dressers said, the perfunctory words, "Have patience! a little
courage! What's the good of grieving? Suppose you kill yourself, what
then? One gets accustomed to everything; be reasonable!"
Though Cerizet took the precaution to hide the money necessary for his
morning operations in the hollow seat of the chair in which he sat,
taking out no more than a hundred francs at a time, which he put in
the pockets of his trousers, never dipping into the funds of the chair
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