The story started by introducing the main characters, the Gessler Brothers and their humble shoe shop. The narrator described the feeling of being amazed at the shoes made by them and kept for display. He went on to talk about the two German brothers who were shoemakers and value the quality of theiRead more
The story started by introducing the main characters, the Gessler Brothers and their humble shoe shop. The narrator described the feeling of being amazed at the shoes made by them and kept for display. He went on to talk about the two German brothers who were shoemakers and value the quality of their work. Mr. Gessler, though old and wrinkled made excellent boots and one did not easily wear them out. The narrator recalled the time he went to their shop to buy shoes and how Mr. Gessler had shown him a pair of Russian leather which would make a fine piece for the shoes. Once the narrator did the mistake of admitting the fact that one of the town boots made by Mr. Gessler had creaked the other day. Mr. Gessler went quiet as he knew it was unlikely of him to make a mistake but at last he said that the narrator could send the boots to him and if he was unable to repair them, he would take them off the bill. Another time, the narrator, in a hurry, went to the shop wearing shoes from another firm. For the first time then, he heard Mr. Gessler bitterly complain against the big firms who take away their honest work by advertising and provide poor quality shoes. The next time when the narrator went to buy shoes, he saw half of the shop sold to another bootmaker, making for the Royal Family. Soon he learned that Mr. Gessler’s elder brother had died as he was unable to recover from the loss of losing the shop. After many years, when he went to the shop, the narrator was surprised to see the name Gessler Brothers removed and some other name put up. When he went inside to make enquiry, a new owner told them that Mr. Gessler had died out of starvation. This was quite a shock to the narrator as the best shoemaker in the town was no more.
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With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, manual workers like the Gessler Brothers suffered a setback. Industrial Revolution made sure work was done in a more fast and efficient method. It introduced machines which replaced human workers. Hundreds of products could be made within an hour. PeopleRead more
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, manual workers like the Gessler Brothers suffered a setback. Industrial Revolution made sure work was done in a more fast and efficient method. It introduced machines which replaced human workers. Hundreds of products could be made within an hour. People do not like to wait and hence, their orders went to the big firms who used to advertise. The Gessler Brothers on the other hand, liked to work carefully and diligently on each and every boot that they make. This used to take a lot of time and very soon, they started losing all their customers. The Gessler Brothers did not even advertise and hence very few people knew about them. For them the quality of work was more important than doing it carelessly but fast.
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