The Placard Frank Owen was the son of a journeyman carpenter who had died of consumption when the boy was only five years old.

After that his mother earned a scanty living as a needle-woman.

When Frank was thirteen he went to work for a master decorator who was a man of a type that has now almost disappeared, being not merely an employer but a craftsman of a high order.
He was an old man when Frank Owen went to work for him.

At one time he had had a good business in the town, and used to boast that he had always done good work, had found pleasure in doing it and had been well paid for it.

But of late years the number of his customers had dwindled considerably, for there had arisen a new generation which cared nothing about craftsmanship or art, and everything for cheapness and profit.