That a man of twenty-six should be looking for his first situation was incomprehensible to him.

He made no effort to conceal his prejudice, because the class to which the young man had belonged enjoyed his hearty contempt.
The truth is, he had taken Thorpe's ignorance a little too much for granted.

Before leaving his home, and while the project of emigration was still in the air, the young fellow had, with the quiet enthusiasm of men of his habit of mind, applied himself to the mastering of whatever the books could teach.

That is not much.

The literature on lumbering seems to be singularly limited.