What is the plot of "The Verger" by Somerset Maugham?

The plot of "The Verger" is simple, like those of many of
Somerset Maugham's short stories. A man loses his low-paying job as a verger because it
is discovered that he is illiterate, but he adapts to his problem by becoming a
successful shopkeeper. He finds he is better off being illiterate. Maugham likes to
write about the odd diversity of human characters. In fact, he traveled the world in
search of unique characters who would provide inspiration for his stories and novels.
"The Verger" is more of a character study than anything else. What is true for the hero
of "The Verger" is not necessarily true for everyone; however, there are a lot of men
like Maugham's Albert Edward Foreman who have little book-learning but plenty of worldly
wisdom obtained through intelligent observation of the real world. Albert Foreman was
happy because he did not aspire to social success even after he made a lot of money. He
and his wife were both content to lead simple lives, unlike nouveau
riche Jay Gould Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby,
for example.

According to Socrates in a myth he
makes up in Plato's famous dialogue Phaedrus, the father of written
letters was an old Egyptian god named Theuth. He brought his invention to Thamus, the
king of Egypt, and explained how he believed it would benefit mankind. But Thamus, no
doubt speaking Socrates' own opinion, was not impressed, as is shown in the following
quotation from the dialogue:

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And you now, the father of written letters
[Theuth], are led by your affection to ascribe to them [written words] a power exactly
the reverse of what their tendency is. The result of your invention will be this: in the
souls of those who learn it, forgetfulness will have lodging through a want of
cultivation of the memory; they will trust to writing, a thing outside themselves, and
effected by external characters, and hence will not remember of themselves and from
within. The elixir you have found is not an aid to memory, but to reminiscence. You
provide your pupils with the show of wisdom, not true wisdom. Through you they will
learn many things without instruction, and will hence appear to have much knowledge
while for the most part they are ignorant, and hardly to be endured because they are
grown seeming wise instead of
wise.

Words are not things
but reminders of things, or "aids to reminiscence," as Socrates says. We cannot
understand a word unless we already know the thing the word
represents.

Shakespeare's Hamlet is an example of a young
man who has overindulged in reading. He is fluent in at least half a dozen languages,
including Latin and Italian. Shakespeare seems to be implying that Hamlet's addiction to
reading has caused mental confusion which makes it impossible for him to act decisively
in the real world--a world which he discovers is not the same as the world described in
books. When Polonius asks Hamlet what he is reading, the reply is revealing of Hamlet's
changing attitude towards reading. He
says:

Words, words,
words.