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Title: The Employments of Women
A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work
Author: Virginia Penny
Release Date: September 8, 2015 [EBook #49912]
Language: English
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THE
EMPLOYMENTS OF WOMEN:
A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work.
BY
VIRGINIA PENNY.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY WALKER, WISE, & COMPANY,
245 WASHINGTON STREET.
1863.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by
VIRGINIA PENNY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.
[Pg iii]
TO
WORTHY AND INDUSTRIOUS WOMEN
IN THE UNITED STATES,
STRIVING TO EARN A LIVELIHOOD,
This Book
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
It is very easy to obtain book after book on "The Sphere of
Woman," "The Mission of Woman," and "The Influence of Woman."
But to a practical mind it must be evident that good advice is not
sufficient. That is very well, provided the reader is supplied with
the comforts of life. But plans need to be devised, pursuits require
to be opened, by which women can earn a respectable livelihood. It
is the great want of the day. It is in order to meet that want that this
work has been prepared. The few employments that have been open
to women are more than full. To withdraw a number from the few
markets of female labor already crowded to excess, by directing them
to avenues where they are wanted, would thereby benefit both parties.
At no time in our country's history have so many women been
thrown upon their own exertions. A million of men are on the battle
field, and thousands of women, formerly dependent on them, have
lost or may lose their only support. Some of the mothers, wives,
sisters, and daughters of soldiers, may take the vacancies created in
business by their absence—others must seek new channels of labor.
An exact estimate of woman as she has been, and now is, furnishes
a problem difficult to solve. Biographies and histories merely furnish
a clue to what she has been. Prejudice has exaggerated these portraitures.
Woman as she now is, save in fiction and society, is
scarcely known. The future position of woman is a matter of conjecture
only. No mathematical nicety can be brought to bear upon the
subject, for it is one not capable of data. More particularly is it difficult
to define what her future condition in a business capacity will be.
Man will have much to do with it, but woman more. I know of no
work giving a true history of woman's condition in a business capa[Pg v]city.
Socially, morally, mentally, and religiously, she is written about;
but not as a working, every-day reality, in any other capacity than
that pertaining to home life. It has been to me a matter of surprise
that some one has not presented the subject in a practical way, that
would serve as an index to the opening of new occupations, and present
the feasibility of women engaging in many from which they are
now debarred. It is strange there is no book on the subject, in any
language, for it is a world-wide subject. Its roots are in the very basis
of society—its ramifications as numerous as the nations of the earth—yes,
as the individual members of the human family. The welfare of
every man, woman, and child is involved in the subject. For who is
entirely free from female influence—who is devoid of interest in the
sex—who exists free from relationship, or any connection with
woman? There is no man that is not involved in what affects
woman, and the reverse is also true. It should therefore be a subject
of paramount interest to all. Particularly does the subject appeal to
the heart of woman. If she does not need to make a practical use
of information on the subject, she will find its possession no disadvantage.
It may assist her, from motives of friendship, or benevolent
feelings, to advise and direct others. Is there any woman, not entirely
devoid of all sensibility, but desires an amelioration in the condition
of the working class of her sex—those who earn a mere pittance,
scarce enough to keep body and soul together?
The work of single women has never been very clearly defined.
Those that are without means are often without any to guide them;
and the limited avenues of employment open to women, and the fear
of becoming a burden on others, have poisoned some of their best
hours, and paralyzed some of their strongest powers. There is a
large amount of female talent in the United States lying dormant for
the want of cultivation, and there has been a large amount cultivated
that is not brought into exercise for the want of definite plans and
opportunities of making it available. It exists like an icicle, and requires
the warmth of energy, thought, and independence to render it
useful. It shrinks from forcing itself into notice, like the sensitive
plant, and may live and die unseen and unknown. Widen, then, the
theatre of action and enterprise to woman. Throw open productive
fields of labor, and let her enter.
Of those who speak so bitterly of women engaging in some pursuits
now conducted by men, we would inquire, What would you
have destitute single women and widows do, by which to earn their
bread? You surely would not have women steal, that cannot obtain
employment. What, then, can they do? Why may they not have[Pg vi]
free access to callings that will insure them a support? Those that
oppose them, generally do so from selfish motives. Many men would
banish women from the editor's and author's table, from the store,
the manufactory, the workshop, the telegraph office, the printing
case, and every other place, except the school room, sewing table, and
kitchen. The false opinion that exists in regard to the occupations
suitable for women must be changed ere women have free access to all
those in which they may engage. Yet I would love to see thrown
open to women the door of every trade and profession in which they
are capable of working.
"Women have not devoted their time and talents to mechanical
arts, except to a very limited extent, and only within fifty years. How
then could they be expected to equal men in proficiency, who have
from the creation of the world been so employed, and who have had
the advantage not only of their own exertions, but the experience of
their fathers and forefathers to profit by? The superior mechanical
talent of the United States is becoming known throughout the civilized
world, and some of the work dictated by that talent is executed
by women.
Some persons complain that women would become more material—less
spiritual—if engaged in manual labor. We think not, if it is
of a kind suited to their nature. Contact with the world does not always
wear out the fineness and delicacy that we love in woman. She
does not necessarily lose that softness and gentleness that render her
so lovely.
A few women may by nature have a fondness for masculine pursuits;
but the number of men that have from training and circumstances
a partiality for feminine pursuits, is much greater. It has
been estimated that there are 95,000 females earning a livelihood in
New York city and its vicinity, by their labor, aside from those engaged
in domestic pursuits; and I am confident there are at least
100,000 men in the same city engaged in pursuits well adapted to
women.
As women become more generally educated, their energies will be
increased—their limits of thought expanded. They will seek employments
consistent with honor and delicacy. They will desire the elevation
of their sex, and do what they can to bring it about, regardless
of the shafts of ridicule sent by selfish men and heartless women.
"By elevating the standard and augmenting the compensation of
woman's labor," a complete revolution would be wrought in the social
and political standing of woman. Let woman once surmount the
difficulties that now oppose her, and take her stand with dignified[Pg vii]
reserve, laboring and claiming what is her right as much as men—free
labor and fair wages—and liberal men will applaud and admire
her.
As a friend of my sex, I have made investigations, and obtained
statistics that show the business position of woman at present in the
United States. I present such employments as have been, are, or
may be pursued by them, and give what information I can obtain of
each one. I may have omitted a few, and there may be some that
are not yet recognized as a distinct business. I have made the study
a speciality for three years, and spent an almost incredible amount of
labor and money in doing so. I have visited factories, workshops,
offices, and stores, for the purpose of seeing women at their vocations.
I have gone through wind and snow, cold and rain. If I could have
had the time and opportunity, I would have endeavored to see, also,
something of their home-life.
Much of the verbal information I give is impartial, as it has been
given by those with whom I talked in a casual way, they not knowing
I had any object in view; and frequently it was done in a respectful,
yet off-hand way, when making purchases. I have often bought
articles merely for an excuse to talk with people, and gain information
on their occupations.
I desire to present to those interested a clear and succinct view
of the condition of business in the United States, the openings
for entering into business, the vacancies women may fill and the
crowded marts they may avoid, the qualifications needed for a selected
pursuit, and the pursuits to which they are best adapted; also the
probable result pecuniarily of each calling honorably pursued: in
short, it is intended as a business manual for women. I wish to
make it a practical work—useful, not ornamental. It is more a
bringing together of facts, than a presentation of ideas—more a book
of research than reflection. Yet the statements given are important,
not merely as facts, but as being suggestive of things essential to or
connected with occupations. The limits of each subject must necessarily
be short, as I wish to form a volume to come within the reach
of every one that would desire a copy.
Any female who has in view the learning of any occupation mentioned
in this book, would do well to go and see the process before
making arrangements to that effect. And she should exercise her
own judgment in making a practical use of that information. Many
pursuits are now followed by women for which it was once thought
they were incapable.
My book is not sectional in its feelings. It is intended to benefit[Pg viii]
women of the North, South, East, and West of this vast Republic.
In the large cities of the North, most working women are acquainted
with others engaged in different occupations, and so may learn of
places to be filled in them. In the South, a smaller number of women
have been dependent on their own exertions, owing to the existence
of slave-labor, and the comparative smallness of immigration.
I strongly advocate the plan of every female having a practical
knowledge of some occupation by which to earn a livelihood. How
do men fare that are raised without being fitted for any trade or
profession, particularly those in the humbler walks of life? They
become our most common and ill-paid laborers. So it is with
woman's work. If a female is not taught some regular occupation
by which to earn a living, what can she do, when friends die, and she
is without means? Even the labor that offers to men, situated as she
is, is not at her disposal.
No reproach should be cast upon any honest employment. The
dignity and value of labor in the most menial occupation is superior
to idleness or dependence upon others for the requirements of life.
What destitute but industrious woman would not be glad to earn for
herself a snug little cottage, to which she may resort in her old age,
from the cares and conflicts of life; to enjoy the independence of a
competency, earned by remunerative and well-applied labor?
I will not be responsible for all the opinions advanced by those
who have furnished me with information. The reader will often
have to form her own deductions from the statements made. My
work may not accomplish, by a great deal, the end proposed, but I
hope it may be the means of securing, by honest industry, a livelihood
to many now dependent and desponding. If it does not in
itself accomplish any visible good, it may be the means of bringing
forward some better method by which the desired end may be
effected. It may perhaps impart information by which the philanthropic
may best employ their time and means in advancing the welfare
of others, by pointing out the wants of dependent women, and
how best to meet those wants. It may open the way of usefulness
to women of leisure and talents. If it saves any of my sex from an
aimless and profitless life, I will feel that something has been done.
In that way some may be kept from despair and sin. And it is certainly
better to prevent evil than to cure it. Some have means, and
if a plan were presented to them, they would engage in its execution.
Connected with this subject is a fervent desire on the part of the
writer to see houses of protection and comfort provided in our cities
for respectable and industrious women when out of employment.[Pg ix]
Wealthy, benevolent people might build them, and appropriations be
granted by the cities in which they are planted. Such a structure in
each of our cities and towns would be a refuge to the weary, a home
to the oppressed, a sanctuary to the stranger in a strange land.
When the place of gaining information is not mentioned in this
work, it will be understood that New York city was the place. It
will be remembered that most of the information was obtained from
October, 1859, to February, 1861.
I hope much anxiety of mind, and uncertainty in the selection of
a pursuit, will be prevented by my book, and many precious hours
thereby saved for active, cheerful employment. If there should seem
to be a want of practicability in any of the subjects I have treated
upon, I think, after some reflection, it will disappear. Some of the
employments presented may not find encouragement and proper
compensation until our country becomes older, and calls for more
variety in labor. I hope I may not hold out any unreasonable expectations
of employment, or excite any hope that may not be realized.
My ideas may appear vague and indefinite to some, but even
such may perhaps pick out a few grains from the pile of chaff. But
we must be doing, not saying—moving, not sitting—accomplishing
something, not folding our hands in indolent ease. The active, restless
spirit that pervades our people calls for action. It will not do
to rest passive and let events take their own course. The progress
of the age calls for earnest labor.
[Pg x]
The great, urgent, universal wants of mankind, in all classes of
society, are food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. After these come the
comforts and luxuries pertaining to the condition of those in easy
circumstances. Above and beyond these animal wants, but of nearly
equal importance, are those relating to the mind—written and printed
matter, oral instructions, as lectures and sermons, and the handiwork
of the fine arts. These, in addition to health, freedom, and
friends, comprise the greatest blessings man enjoys. I would add
that the means of transit are necessary to make him entirely independent.
Nearly all honest occupations are founded on these wants;
but they have been divided and subdivided until their name is legion.
The contents of this volume might be arranged in the same way
that the articles exhibited in the Crystal Palace of London were,
under the heads—Producer, Importer, Manufacturer, Designer, Inventor,
and Proprietor. But we think the arrangement pursued,
though rather irregular, may be quite as convenient. So great is the
variety of subjects treated, that it is difficult to condense the contents
in a smaller compass.
The general difference in character and habits of those engaged
in various occupations—their comparative morality and intelligence,
the effects of a decline in wages, the effects of trades-unions, are all,
more or less, involved in this subject of employments; also the opinions
of the working classes on machinery and its results. Employments
that have for their object the health, comfort, and protection of mankind—those
that produce the necessaries and the luxuries of life—those
for amusement and capable of being dispensed with—are all
treated of to some extent.
[Pg xi]
Numbers of women have been lost to society from the want of a
systematic organization for their employment, and by a deficiency in
the number of remunerative pursuits open to them. The destinies of
thousands are daily perilled, mentally, morally, and physically, by the
same cause. The disease has raised a great and turbulent cry; but,
strange to say, few means, and they limited and inefficient, have been
used as a cure. Indeed, a remedy has scarcely been devised. To
open new and suitable occupations to women, and secure for them
fair wages, would, I believe, be an effectual mode of relief. But to
bring about a favorable change, not only must more occupations be
opened to women, but, as Mr. Walker says, "employments of an
equally indispensable character with those of the other sex." Many
persons would be surprised to find the large number of people employed
in such occupations as pertain only to civilized life—such as
could be dispensed with in an emergency; and the small number employed
in such occupations as really furnish us with the necessaries
of life. In the first class, aside from those engaged in domestic duties
and labors, the majority of women are employed.
In the selection of a pursuit, it would be well to take into consideration
what occupations are most likely to increase in this country.
Those absolutely necessary for the preservation of life are permanent.
Those essential to the health and comfort of mankind must be pursued
by some. The steadiness of employment the year round should
also be considered. Another item is the danger attending a trade,
and the effects of the occupation on the health of the individual. A
better compensation should be given to those prosecuting either a
dangerous or unhealthy pursuit. There is at present more danger of
women suffering from either an excess of work, or the entire want
of it, than from any peculiarity pertaining to an occupation. A
matter of some importance is the ability of an individual to furnish
herself with the implements of a trade, goods for merchandizing,
or the appurtenances of a profession, if she intends to conduct business
on her own responsibility and at her own expense. If she has
friends to advance her the money, she might perhaps make an arrangement
to refund as she advances in business.
It is a matter of doubt with us whether the labors of women are
on an average less laborious than those of men. That they are generally
performed indoors, is not saying anything in their favor as
regards health. If we include domestic employments, we cannot say
they are neater on an average. They may be better adapted to the
constitution of the female sex, but the question arises, Are those in
which women now engage, except domestic duties, more congenial[Pg xii]
to their taste, more acceptable to their feelings, more likely to develop
their mental powers, and rightly direct their moral nature, than
many others in which they might engage?
We find that the class of workers, both men and women, having
the most steady employments, are the most steady and reliable
people.
There are some employments in which it is well for a man and
his wife to unite, as bankers, picture restorers, house painters, &c.
There is probably as much diversity in the abilities of individual
men to acquire a trade, as in those of women. We doubt not but
women, generally, are as capable of acquiring a knowledge of any
vocation as men, if they spend as much time and application in doing
so. Could not women learn those occupations quite as thoroughly
that require of men an apprenticeship of three, five, or seven years,
if they could give the same time? We are confident the majority of
women could, particularly those who have had equal advantages in
the way of education and society with men engaged in the same
pursuit.
We think the time spent in acquiring a knowledge of different occupations
is not at all proportioned to the variety of work and the
skill required for proficiency in each. For instance, an occupation
that could be learned in six months, must have three years' labor
given; while an occupation that it requires twenty years to excel in,
has the usual apprenticeship of three years. By the way, could not
the most of those pursuits now requiring three years' time of serving
be mastered in a shorter period?
Supply and demand must ever regulate, to a great extent, the
wages of women as well as men. We think, in the different departments
of woman's labor, both physical and mental, there exists a
want of harmony of labor done and the compensation; also, between
the time given and the occupation. For instance, a gilder in a bookbindery
gets $6 a week, or $1 a day of ten hours, which is equal to
ten cents an hour. A girl, at most mechanical employments, receives,
for her sixty hours' labor, $3 a week, which is equal to five cents an
hour. A cook, who requires as much preparation as either, for ninety
hours' labor will receive her board and washing, say $2, and $2 a
week as wages, $4, equal to four and a half cents an hour. Confectioners'
girls, in some of the best establishments in New York,
spend seventeen, and some even eighteen hours, attending to their duties,
and receive only $2, and board and washing, $4.50, equal to two
and a half cents an hour. Some seamstresses sew fifteen hours a day,
and earn but thirty cents, equal to two cents an hour, without board.
[Pg xiii]
Where there are discrepancies about the seasons for any particular
kind of work, as given by different parties, it will usually be found
to arise from some of the number being engaged in the wholesale
business, selling to people from the South and West; others selling
to city traders, or retail merchants selling to city customers.
When there is a repetition of statements on the same subject, it
will be observed that it arises from the information being given by
different individuals.
I have used the words girl and woman indiscriminately, except
when mention is made of the age of the girls.
I would take this opportunity of returning my thanks to all who
have been so kind as to furnish me with any information, or directed
me how to obtain it.
Some errors will no doubt be observed by persons in their special
branches of labor. By writing to the author, attention will hereafter
be paid to the correction of such errors.
[Pg xiv]
This work contains five hundred and thirty-three articles,
more than five hundred of which are descriptions of the occupations
in which women are, or may be engaged—the effect of
each on the health—the rate of wages paid for those carried on
in the United States—a comparison in the prices of male and
female labor of the same kind—the length of time required to
learn the business fully, and the time required to learn the part
done by women—whether women are paid while learning—the
qualifications needed—the prospect of future employment in each
branch—the seasons best for work, and if in any season the
women are thrown entirely out of work—the usual number of
hours employed, and, if the working time exceeds ten hours,
whether it could be shortened without serious loss of profit—and
the comparative superiority or inferiority of women to men
in each branch. Also, openings in the Southern States for
certain branches of business—the prices of board for workwomen,
and the remarks of employers—with a list of the occupations
suitable for the afflicted. In addition are articles on unusual
employments in the United States, England, France,
and other countries—minor employments in the United States,
England, and France. Also, a notice of the occupations in which
no women are engaged in any country—those in which none are
engaged in this country—those in which very few are engaged.
[Pg xv]
Professional Women. Artists. Those in Mercantile Pursuits.
Employments pertaining to Grain, Birds, Flowers, Fruits,
and Vegetables. Raisers, Makers, Preparers, and Disposers of
Articles of Food. Textile Manufacturers—Cotton, Linen, Woollen,
Silk, Lace. Metal Manufacturers—Iron, Brass, Steel, Copper,
Tin, Britannia, Silver, Silver Plating, Bronze, Gold. Miscellaneous
Workers on Indian Goods, Inkstands, Lithoconia,
Marble, Mineral Door-Knobs, Paper Cutting, Papier Maché,
Pipes, Porcelain, Pottery, Stucco Work, Terra Cotta, and Transferring
on Wood. Glass Manufacturers. China Decorators.
Leather Manufacturers. Whalebone Workers. Brush Manufacturers.
Ivory Cutters. Pearl Workers. Tortoise-Shell
Workers. Gum-Elastic Manufacturers. Gutta-Percha Manufacturers.
Hair Workers. Willow Ware. Wood Work.
Agents. Manufacturers, and Colorers of Ladies' Apparel. Fitters,
Cutters, and Sewers of Ladies' and Children's Wear. Upholsterers.
Manufacturers of Books, Ink, Paper, and Pencils.
Chemicals. Those who serve as a Communicating Medium between
Employers and others. Those that contribute to the
Comfort or Amusement of others. Mistresses and Domestics.
Miscellaneous Occupations. Employments for the Afflicted.
Unusual Employments. Minor Employments. Occupations in
which no Women are engaged, &c. Openings in the South for
certain branches of business. Prices of Board for Workwomen,
and Remarks of Employers. Number of Work Hours. Extracts
from the Census Report of 1860. Industrial Statistics of
Paris.
[Pg xvi]
| PAGE |
| Professional Women. |
| 1. |
Amanuenses, |
1 |
| 2. |
Astronomers, |
1 |
| 3. |
Authors, |
2 |
| 4. |
Bankers and Clerks, |
7 |
| 5. |
Bible Readers, |
5 |
| 6. |
Brokers, |
8 |
| 7. |
Colonizationists, |
9 |
| 8. |
Colportors, |
9 |
| 9. |
Copyists, |
10 |
| 10. |
Deaconesses, |
11 |
| 11. |
Dentists, |
14 |
| 12. |
Editresses, |
14 |
| 13. |
Government Clerks, |
16 |
| 14. |
Lawyers, |
17 |
| 15. |
Lecturers, |
18 |
| 16. |
Librarians, |
19 |
| 17. |
Magazine Contributors, |
21 |
| 18. |
Missionaries, |
22 |
| 19. |
Medical Missionaries, |
23 |
| 20. |
Physicians, |
24 |
| 21. |
Preachers, |
30 |
| 22. |
Proof Readers, |
30 |
| 23. |
Publishers, |
31 |
| 24. |
Readers to the Working Classes, |
32 |
| 25. |
Reporters, |
33 |
| 26. |
Reviewers, |
34 |
| 27. |
Teachers, |
36 |
| 28. |
Bookkeeping, |
39 |
| 29. |
Calisthenics and Dancing, |
41 |
| 30. |
Drawing and Painting, |
41 |
| 31. |
Fancy Work, |
42 |
| 32. |
Horsemanship, |
42 |
| 33. |
Infant Schools, |
43 |
| 34. |
Languages, |
44 |
| 35. |
Music, |
44 |
| 36. |
Navigation, |
45 |
| 37. |
Swimming, |
45 |
| 38. |
Translators, |
45 |
| Artists. |
| 39. |
Actresses, |
47 |
| 40. |
Aquaria Makers, |
50 |
| 41. |
Architects, |
51 |
| 42. |
Cameo Cutters, |
52 |
| 43. |
Copperplate Engravers, |
53 |
| 44. |
Daguerreans, |
53 |
| 45. |
Design, Schools of, |
55 |
| 46. |
Designers (Miscellaneous), |
59 |
| 47. |
Calico Prints, |
60 |
| 48. |
Wall Paper, |
61 |
| 49. |
Draughtswomen, |
61 |
| 50. |
Employés in the United States Mint, |
61 |
| 51. |
Engravers and Chasers of Gold and Silver, |
62 |
| 52. |
Equestrians and Gymnasts, |
64 |
| 53. |
Etchers and Stamp Cutters, |
65 |
| 54. |
Herbarium Makers, |
65 |
| 55. |
Lapidaries, |
66 |
| 56. |
Landscape Gardeners, |
67 |
| 57. |
Lithographers, |
68 |
| 58. |
Map Makers, |
71 |
| 59. |
Medallists, |
73 |
| 60. |
Modellers, |
73 |
| 61. |
Modellers of Wax Figures, |
74 |
| 62. |
Mineral Labellers, |
75 |
| 63. |
Musicians, |
75 |
| 64. |
Music Engravers, |
77 |
| 65. |
Opera Performers, |
77 |
| 66. |
Painters, |
79 |
| 67. |
Animals, |
81 |
| 68. |
Banners, |
81 |
| 69. |
Crayon and Pastel, |
81 |
| 70. |
Flowers and Fruit, |
82 |
| 71. |
Fresco, |
82 |
| 72. |
Historical, |
82 |
| 73. |
Landscape, |
82 |
| 74. |
Marine, |
83 |
| 75. |
Miniature, |
83 |
| 76. |
Panorama, |
84 |
| 77. |
Portrait, |
84 |
| 78. |
Water Colors, |
85 |
| 79. |
Painters of Dial Plates, |
85 |
| 80. |
Picture Restorers, |
85 |
| 81. |
Piano Tuners, |
86 |
| 82. |
Plaster Statuary, |
87 |
| 83. |
Painters of Plates for Books, |
88 |
| 84. |
Photographers, |
90 |
| 85. |
Preparers of Scientific Plates, |
94 |
| 86. |
Seal Engravers, |
94 |
| 87. |
Sculptors, |
94 |
| 88. |
Steel and other Engravers, |
96 |
| 89. |
Bank Note, |
97 |
| 90. |
Card, |
98 |
| 91. |
Door Plate, |
98 |
| 92. |
Map, |
98 |
| 93. |
Pictorial and Heraldry, |
99 |
| 94. |
Telegraph Operators, |
100 |
| 95. |
Vocalists, |
102 |
| 96. |
Wax Work, |
102 |
| 97. |
Wood Engravers, |
103 |
| Mercantile Pursuits. |
| 98. |
Merchants, |
104 |
| 99. |
Bookkeepers, |
106 |
| 100. |
Book Merchants, |
108 |
| 101. |
China Merchants, |
109 |
| 102. |
Clothiers, |
110 |
| 103. |
Curiosity Dealers, |
115 |
| 104. |
Druggists and Clerks, |
115 |
| 105. |
Keepers of Fancy Stores, |
119 |
| 106. |
Gentlemen's Furnishing Stores, |
119 |
| 107. |
Furniture Sellers, |
120 |
| 108. |
Grocers, |
121 |
| 109. |
Junk Dealers, |
122 |
| 110. |
Music Sellers, |
122 |
| 111. |
Sellers of Artists' Materials, |
123 |
| 112. |
Seeds, Roots, and Herbs, |
124 |
| 113. |
Small Wares, |
124 |
| 114. |
Tobacco, Snuff, and Cigars, |
125 |
| 115. |
Saleswomen, |
125 |
| 116. |
Street Sellers, |
131 |
| 117. |
Toy Merchants, |
134 |
| 118. |
Wall Paper, |
134 |
| 119. |
Worn Clothes, |
134 |
| 120. |
Variety Shops, |
136 |
| Employments pertaining to Grain, Birds, Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables. |
| 121. |
Agriculturists, |
136 |
| 122. |
Bee Dealers, |
137 |
| 123. |
Bird Importers and Raisers, |
137 |
| 124. |
Bird and Animal Preservers, |
138 |
| 125. |
Florists, |
140 |
| 126. |
Flower Girls, |
142 |
| 127. |
Fruit Growers, |
142 |
| 128. |
Fruit Venders, |
143 |
| 129. |
Gardeners, |
144 |
| 130. |
Makers of Cordial, &c., |
144 |
| 131. |
Root, Bark, and Seed Sellers, |
145 |
| 132. |
Seed Envelopers and Herb Packers, |
145 |
| 133. |
Sellers of Pets, |
147 |
| 134. |
Wine Manufacturers and Grape Growers, |
147 |
| Raisers, Makers, Preparers, and Disposers of Articles of Food. |
| 135. |
Bakers (Bread), |
148 |
| 136. |
Brewers, |
150 |
| 137. |
Candy Manufacturers, |
150 |
| 138. |
Cheese Makers, |
152 |
| 139. |
Coffee and Chocolate Packers, |
153 |
| 140. |
Cracker Bakers, |
154 |
| 141. |
Fancy Confectionery, |
154 |
| 142. |
Fish women, |
158 |
| 143. |
Macaroni, |
159 |
| 144. |
Maple Sugar, |
159 |
| 145. |
Market Women, |
159 |
| 146. |
Meat Sellers, |
161 |
| 147. |
Milk Sellers and Dairy Women, |
162 |
| 148. |
Mince Meat, Apple Butter, &c., |
163 |
| 149. |
Mustard Packers, |
164 |
| 150. |
Oyster Sellers, |
164 |
| 151. |
Pie Bakers, |
164 |
| 152. |
Picklers of Oysters, |
166 |
| 153. |
Poulterers, |
166 |
| 154. |
Restaurant Keepers, |
167 |
| 155. |
Sealed Provisions, |
168 |
| 156. |
Sugar Boilers, |
170 |
| 157. |
Tea Packers, |
170 |
| 158. |
Vermicelli, |
171 |
| 159. |
Vinegar, |
171 |
| 160. |
Yeast, |
172 |
| Textile Manufactures. |
| 161. |
Cotton Manufacture, |
172 |
| 162. |
Batting and Wadding, |
175 |
| 163. |
Calicoes, |
175 |
| 164. |
Canton Flannel, |
176 |
| 165. |
Carpet Chains, |
176 |
| 166. |
Cord, |
177 |
| 167. |
Dyers, |
177 |
| 168. |
Factory Operatives, |
180 |
| 169. |
Gingham, |
183 |
| 170. |
Hose, |
184 |
| 171. |
Men's Wear, |
186 |
| 172. |
Print Works, |
186 |
| 173. |
Spinners, |
189 |
| 174. |
Spool Cotton, |
189 |
| 175. |
Tape, |
190 |
| 176. |
Weavers, |
190 |
| 177. |
Linen Manufacture, |
191 |
| 178. |
Thread, |
193 |
| 179. |
Woollen Manufacture, |
194 |
| 180. |
Blankets, |
195 |
| 181. |
Carpets, |
195 |
| 182. |
Carpet Bags, |
196 |
| 183. |
Cassimeres, |
197 |
| 184. |
Cloths, |
198 |
| 185. |
Coverlets, |
201 |
| 186. |
Dry-Goods Refinishers, |
201 |
| 187. |
Flannels, |
201 |
| 188. |
Gloves, |
203 |
| |
Woollen, |
205 |
| 189. |
Linseys, |
205 |
| 190. |
Shawls, |
207 |
| 191. |
Shoddy, |
207 |
| 192. |
Yarn, |
207 |
| 193. |
Silk Manufacture, |
208 |
| 194. |
Ribbons, |
209 |
| 195. |
Sewing Silk, |
210 |
| 196. |
Lace Manufacture, |
211 |
| 197. |
" Menders, |
212 |
| 198. |
Hair Cloth Manufacture, |
213 |
| Metal Manufactures. |
| 199. |
Iron Manufacture, |
214 |
| 200. |
Files, |
215 |
| 201. |
Guns, |
215 |
| 202. |
Hinges, |
215 |
| 203. |
Locks, |
216 |
| 204. |
Nails, |
217 |
| 205. |
Rivets, |
217 |
| 206. |
Screws, |
217 |
| 207. |
Skates, |
218 |
| 208. |
Shovels, |
218 |
| 209. |
Wire Workers, |
218 |
| |
Brass Manufacture, |
219 |
| 210. |
Candlesticks, |
219 |
| 211. |
Hooks and Eyes, |
220 |
| 212. |
Lamps, |
221 |
| 213. |
Pins, |
221 |
| 214. |
Rings, |
223 |
| 215. |
Scales, |
223 |
| 216. |
Stair Rods, |
224 |
| 217. |
Steel Manufacture, |
224 |
| 218. |
Buckles, |
224 |
| 219. |
Edge Tools, |
225 |
| 220. |
Electrical Machines, |
226 |
| 221. |
Fire Arms, |
226 |
| 222. |
Knives and Forks, |
226 |
| 223. |
Needles, |
227 |
| 224. |
Pens, |
228 |
| 225. |
Philosophical Apparatus, |
229 |
| 226. |
Saws, |
230 |
| 227. |
Scissors, |
230 |
| 228. |
Spectacles, |
230 |
| 229. |
Surgical Instruments, |
232 |
| 230. |
Telescopes, |
232 |
| 231. |
Thermometers, |
232 |
| 232. |
Copper Manufacture, |
232 |
| 233. |
Tin Manufacture, |
233 |
| 234. |
Lanterns, |
233 |
| 235. |
Britannia Ware, |
234 |
| 236. |
Silver Manufacture, |
234 |
| 237. |
Burnishers, |
234 |
| 238. |
Thimbles, |
236 |
| 239. |
Silver Plating, |
237 |
| 240. |
Bronze Manufacture, |
237 |
| 241. |
Gold Manufacture, |
237 |
| 242. |
Assayers, |
238 |
| 243. |
Enamellers, |
238 |
| 244. |
Gold and Silver Leaf, |
239 |
| 245. |
Jewellers' Findings, |
240 |
| 246. |
Pencils, |
241 |
| 247. |
Pens, |
241 |
| 248. |
Watches, |
242 |
| 249. |
Watch-Case Polishers, |
244 |
| 250. |
Watch Chains, |
246 |
| 251. |
Watch Jewels, |
248 |
| Miscellaneous Works. |
248 |
| 252. |
Indian Goods, |
248 |
| 253. |
Inkstands, |
248 |
| 254. |
Lithoconia, |
249 |
| 255. |
Marble Workers, |
249 |
| 256. |
Mineral Door-Knobs, |
250 |
| 257. |
Paper Cutters, |
250 |
| 258. |
Papier-Maché Finishers, |
250 |
| 259. |
Pipes, |
251 |
| 260. |
Porcelain, |
251 |
| 261. |
Pottery, |
252 |
| 262. |
Stucco Work, |
253 |
| 263. |
Terra Cotta, |
253 |
| 264. |
Transferrers on Wood, |
253 |
| 265. |
Glass Manufacture. |
253 |
| 266. |
Blowers, |
255 |
| 267. |
Beads, |
255 |
| 268. |
Cutters, |
256 |
| 269. |
Embossers, |
256 |
| 270. |
Enamellers, |
256 |
| 271. |
Engravers, |
257 |
| 272. |
Painters, |
257 |
| 273. |
Stainers, |
258 |
| 274. |
Watch Crystals, |
259 |
| 275. |
China Decorators and Burnishers. |
260 |
| 276. |
Leather. |
261 |
| 277. |
Currying, |
262 |
| 278. |
Harnesses, |
262 |
| 279. |
Jewel and Instrument Cases, |
263 |
| 280. |
Morocco Sewers, |
263 |
| 281. |
Pocket Books, |
264 |
| 282. |
Saddle Seats, |
265 |
| 283. |
Tanning, |
265 |
| 284. |
Trunks, |
266 |
| 285. |
Whips, |
266 |
| 286. |
Whalebone Workers. |
267 |
| 287. |
Brush Manufacturers. |
268 |
| 288. |
Ivory Cutters and Workers. |
269 |
| 289. |
Combs, |
271 |
| 290. |
Piano Keys, |
271 |
| 291. |
Rulers (Paper), |
272 |
| 292. |
Pearl Workers. |
273 |
| 293. |
Tortoise-Shell Workers. |
273 |
| 294. |
Gum-Elastic Manufacture. |
274 |
| 295. |
Men's Clothing, |
276 |
| 296. |
Shoes, |
276 |
| 297. |
Toys, |
276 |
| 298. |
Gutta Percha Manufacture. |
277 |
| 299. |
Hair Workers. |
277 |
| 299. |
Artists, |
277 |
| 300. |
Dressers, |
278 |
| 301. |
Dyers, |
280 |
| 302. |
Growers, |
281 |
| 303. |
Manufacturers, |
281 |
| 304. |
Merchants, |
281 |
| 305. |
Willow Ware. |
282 |
| Wood Work. |
| 306. |
Carvers, |
284 |
| 307. |
Kindling Wood, |
285 |
| 308. |
Pattern Makers, |
286 |
| 309. |
Rattan Splitters, |
286 |
| 310. |
Cigar Boxes, |
286 |
| 311. |
Turners, |
287 |
| Agents. |
| 312. |
Express and other Conveyances, |
287 |
| 313. |
General, |
288 |
| 314. |
Literary, Book, and Newspaper, |
289 |
| 315. |
Mercantile, |
291 |
| 316. |
Pens, |
291 |
| 317. |
Sewing Machines, |
291 |
| 318. |
School, |
292 |
| 319. |
Telegraph Instruments, |
292 |
| 320. |
Washing Machines, |
292 |
| Manufacturers and Colorers of Ladies' Apparel. |
| 321. |
Artificial Flowers, |
292 |
| 322. |
Belts, |
295 |
| 323. |
Bonnet Ruches, |
295 |
| 324. |
Dress Trimmings, |
296 |
| 325. |
Embroidery, |
298 |
| 326. |
Feathers, |
300 |
| 327. |
Hoop Skirts, |
301 |
| 328. |
Muslin Sets, |
304 |
| 329. |
Parasols and Umbrellas, |
305 |
| 330. |
Sempstresses, |
308 |
| 331. |
Sewing Machine Operatives, |
310 |
| Fur Workers. |
| 332. |
Dyers, |
312 |
| 333. |
Sewers, |
312 |
| Fitters, Cutters, and Sewers of Ladies' and Children's Wear. |
| 334. |
Bonnets, |
314 |
| 335. |
Bonnet Frames, |
319 |
| 336. |
Bonnet Wire, |
320 |
| 337. |
Children's Clothes, |
321 |
| 338. |
Cloaks and Mantillas, |
321 |
| 339. |
Costumes, |
323 |
| 340. |
Dresses, |
324 |
| 341. |
Dress Caps and Headdresses, |
326 |
| 342. |
Fans, |
328 |
| 343. |
Ladies' Under Wear, |
329 |
| 344. |
Over Gaiters, |
330 |
| 345. |
Patterns of Ladies' and Children's Clothes, |
330 |
| 346. |
Shoes, |
331 |
| 347. |
Stays, |
334 |
| Straw Workers. |
| 348. |
Bleachers and Pressers, |
335 |
| 349. |
Braiders, |
336 |
| 350. |
Sewers, |
337 |
| Renovators. |
| 351. |
Gentlemen's Wear, |
339 |
| 352. |
Ladies' Wear, |
340 |
| Gentlemen's Clothing. |
| 353. |
Army and Navy Uniform, |
340 |
| 354. |
Buttons, |
340 |
| 355. |
Canes, |
342 |
| 356. |
Caps, |
342 |
| 357. |
Coats, |
345 |
| 358. |
Cravats, |
345 |
| 359. |
Hats (Hat Braiders, 349), |
345 |
| 360. |
Oil Clothing, |
350 |
| 361. |
Pantaloons, |
350 |
| 362. |
Regalias, |
350 |
| 363. |
Shirts, |
350 |
| 364. |
Suspenders, |
354 |
| 365. |
Tailoresses, |
355 |
| 366. |
Vests, |
356 |
| 367. |
Upholsterers. |
357 |
| 368. |
Beds, |
358 |
| 369. |
Carpets, |
358 |
| 370. |
Curled Hair Pullers, |
359 |
| 371. |
Curtain Trimmings, |
359 |
| 372. |
Furniture Goods, |
360 |
| 373. |
Mattresses, |
360 |
| 374. |
Venetian Blinds, |
361 |
| 375. |
Window Shades, |
361 |
| Manufacturers of Books, Ink, Paper, and Pencils. |
| 376. |
Book Folders, |
363 |
| 377. |
Book Sewers, |
365 |
| 378. |
Card Makers, |
367 |
| 379. |
Card Stencillers, |
369 |
| 380. |
Cover and Edge Gilders, |
370 |
| 381. |
Electrotypers, |
370 |
| 382. |
Envelope Makers, |
370 |
| 383. |
Folders and Directors of Newspapers, |
372 |
| 384. |
Ink, |
373 |
| 385. |
Label Cutters, |
373 |
| 386. |
Lead Pencils, |
374 |
| 387. |
Operatives in Paper Factories, |
374 |
| 388. |
Paper Bag Makers, |
376 |
| 389. |
Box Makers, |
376 |
| 390. |
Marblers, |
379 |
| 391. |
Rulers, |
379 |
| 392. |
Press Feeders, |
380 |
| 393. |
Printers, |
380 |
| 394. |
Sealing-Wax Makers, |
385 |
| 395. |
Stereotypers, |
385 |
| 396. |
Type Rubbers and Setters, |
386 |
| 397. |
Wall-Paper Gilders, |
387 |
| 398. |
Chemicals. |
389 |
| 399. |
Baking Powder, |
390 |
| 400. |
Bar Soap, |
390 |
| 401. |
Blacking, |
390 |
| 402. |
Candles, |
391 |
| 403. |
Chalk, |
392 |
| 404. |
Emery Paper, |
392 |
| 405. |
Fancy Soap, |
392 |
| 406. |
Fire Works, |
392 |
| 407. |
Flavoring Extracts, |
393 |
| 408. |
Glue, |
394 |
| 409. |
Gunpowder, |
394 |
| 410. |
Oils, |
394 |
| 411. |
Paints, |
394 |
| 412. |
Patent Medicines, |
395 |
| 413. |
Pearlash, |
395 |
| 414. |
Perfumery, |
395 |
| 415. |
Quinine, |
397 |
| 416. |
Salt, |
397 |
| 417. |
Soda, |
399 |
| 418. |
Starch, |
399 |
| 419. |
White Lead, |
400 |
| 420. |
Whiting, |
400 |
| Communicating Mediums between Employers and Others. |
| 421. |
Assistants in Benevolent Institutions, |
400 |
| 422. |
Commissioners of Deeds, |
402 |
| 423. |
Housekeepers, |
402 |
| 424. |
Keepers of Intelligence Offices, |
403 |
| 425. |
Lighthouse Keepers, |
405 |
| 426. |
Pawnbrokers, |
406 |
| 427. |
Postmistresses, |
407 |
| 428. |
Sewing-Machine Instructors, |
408 |
| 429. |
Shepherdesses, |
409 |
| 430. |
Toll Collectors, |
409 |
| Contributors to the Comfort or Amusement of Others. |
| 431. |
Bathhouse Attendants, |
409 |
| 432. |
Brace and Truss Makers, |
410 |
| 433. |
Chiropodists, |
411 |
| 434. |
Cuppers and Leechers, |
413 |
| 435. |
Fishing-Tackle Preparers, |
413 |
| 436. |
Fortune Tellers, |
415 |
| 437. |
Guides and Door Attendants, |
415 |
| 438. |
Lodging and Boarding House Keepers, |
415 |
| 439. |
Makers of Artificial Eyes, |
416 |
| 440. |
Limbs, |
418 |
| 441. |
Teeth, |
418 |
| 442. |
Nurses for the Sick, |
419 |
| 443. |
Steamboat and Railroad Newsvenders, |
421 |
| 444. |
Street Musicians, |
421 |
| 445. |
Tavern Keepers, |
422 |
| 446. |
Travelling Companions, |
423 |
| Mistresses and Domestics. |
| 447. |
Mistresses, |
423 |
| 448. |
Domestics, |
424 |
| 449. |
Chambermaids, |
426 |
| 450. |
Cooks, |
428 |
| 451. |
Dining-Room Waiters, |
429 |
| 452. |
Ladies' Maids, |
430 |
| 453. |
Nurses for Children, |
430 |
| 454. |
Saloon Attendants, |
431 |
| 455. |
Washers, Ironers, and Manglers, |
431 |
| Miscellaneous Occupations, and Workers therein. |
| 456. |
Backgammon-Board Finishers, |
433 |
| 457. |
Balloon Makers, |
433 |
| 458. |
Billiard-Table Finishers, |
434 |
| 459. |
Bill Posters, |
434 |
| 460. |
Block Cutters, |
434 |
| 461. |
Boatwomen, |
435 |
| 462. |
Bone Collectors, |
435 |
| 463. |
Bottlers and Labellers, |
435 |
| 465. |
Broom Makers, |
436 |
| 464. |
Bronzers, |
436 |
| 466. |
Canvas and Cotton Bag Makers, |
437 |
| 467. |
Car and Carriage Painters, |
438 |
| 468. |
Carriage Trimmers, |
489 |
| 469. |
Chair Seaters, |
440 |
| 470. |
China Menders, |
441 |
| 471. |
Cigar Makers, |
442 |
| 472. |
Cigar-End Finders, |
444 |
| 473. |
Cinder Gatherers, |
444 |
| 474. |
Clear Starchers, |
444 |
| 475. |
Clock Makers, |
444 |
| 476. |
Clothes-Pin Makers, |
445 |
| 477. |
Clothes Repairers, |
445 |
| 478. |
Cork Assorters and Sole Stitchers, |
445 |
| 479. |
Daguerreotype Apparatus, |
446 |
| 480. |
Feather Dressers, |
447 |
| 481. |
Flag Makers, |
447 |
| 482. |
Furniture Painters, |
448 |
| 483. |
Gilders of Mirror Frames, |
449 |
| 484. |
Globe Makers, |
450 |
| 485. |
Hobby-Horse Finishers, |
450 |
| 486. |
Horse Coverings, |
451 |
| 487. |
House Painters, |
452 |
| 488. |
Japanners, |
452 |
| 489. |
Knitters, |
454 |
| 490. |
Lace Bleachers, |
457 |
| 491. |
Lacquerers, |
458 |
| 492. |
Life Preservers, |
458 |
| 493. |
Lucifer Matches, |
458 |
| 494. |
Mat Makers, |
460 |
| 495. |
Manufacturers of Musical Instruments, |
460 |
| |
Melodeons and Organs, |
461 |
| |
Pianos, |
462 |
| |
Seraphines, |
463 |
| 496. |
Musical-String Makers, |
463 |
| 497. |
Netters, |
464 |
| 498. |
Oakum Pickers, |
464 |
| 499. |
Paper Hangers, |
465 |
| 500. |
Polishers, |
465 |
| 501. |
Pin Finders, |
465 |
| 502. |
Rag Cutters, |
465 |
| 503. |
Rag Gatherers, |
466 |
| 504. |
Rope and Twine Makers, |
468 |
| 505. |
Sail and Awning Makers, |
470 |
| 506. |
Shoe-Peg Makers, |
470 |
| 507. |
Shroud Makers, |
470 |
| 508. |
Sign Painters, |
471 |
| 509. |
Snuff Packers, |
472 |
| 510. |
Stencil Makers, |
473 |
| 511. |
Street Sweepers, |
473 |
| 512. |
Tip Gilders, |
473 |
| 513. |
Tobacco Strippers, |
474 |
| 514. |
Toy Makers, |
475 |
| 515. |
Varnishers and Varnish Makers, |
476 |
| 516. |
Water Carriers, |
476 |
| Employments for the Afflicted. |
| 517. |
Blind Women, |
477 |
| 518. |
Deaf Mutes, |
477 |
| 519. |
The Lame, |
477 |
| Unusual Employments. |
| 520. |
United States, |
477 |
| 521. |
England, |
478 |
| 522. |
France, |
481 |
| 523. |
Other Countries, |
482 |
| Minor Employments. |
| 524. |
United States, |
484 |
| 525. |
England, |
484 |
| 526. |
France, |
485 |
| 527. |
Occupations in which no Women are Engaged. |
486 |
| 528. |
None in the United States, |
486 |
| 529. |
Very few, |
486 |
| 530. |
Openings in the South for certain branches of business, |
487 |
| 531. |
Price of Board for Workwomen, and Remarks of Employers, |
488 |
| 532. |
Number of Work Hours, |
489 |
| 532. |
Extracts from Census Report of 1860, in advance of publication, |
490 |
| Industrial Statistics of Paris. |
| |
France, in 1848, |
492 |
THE EMPLOYMENTS OF WOMEN.
[Pg 1]
1. Amanuenses.
Amanuenses are employed to write from
dictation, generally by authors. Prescott, who was nearly blind
for several years, employed one or more. Editors whose papers
have an extensive circulation, sometimes require the services of
an amanuensis. Female secretaries, or writers out of books, were
not unusual in Rome. "Origen," says Eusebius, "had not only
young men, but young women to transcribe his works, which they
did with peculiar neatness." Some persons in London (whose
employment, perhaps, scarcely brings them under this title, yet
we know not where else to place them) make it a business to
write letters for beggars, for which they are paid a small sum by
each applicant. Amanuenses are usually employed by the week,
month, or year. Some education is of course necessary, and will
doubtless influence their pay. Experience increases their value
still more; and those who have to exercise their brains, are of
course best paid. I have been told by competent authority, that
amanuenses are usually paid according to agreement; that
authors of distinction can afford to pay a good price, and that
the most common salary is $600.
2. Astronomers.
Maria Cunitz is mentioned as an astronomer
of the seventeenth century in Germany. Miss Caroline
Herschel discovered two moons and several comets. Miss Maria
Mitchell, of Nantucket, Mass., discovered a new planet, and received,
in consequence, a medal from the King of Denmark. She
formerly observed for the Coast Survey, but was not officially
recognized. She computes for the
Nautical Almanac. She
[Pg 2]
writes: "I know of no lady astronomers who are practical observers.
Very good works have been written on the subject by
women. An observing room is never warmed by a fire; and as
a small part, at least, of the roof must be opened to the air, the
exposure is according to the weather, as the observations must be
made in clear evenings. I do not consider the danger to the
health great. I know of no way in which astronomical observations
can be made to pay women. They could, without doubt,
make better observers than men, with the same amount of practice.
The same delicacy of touch and of perception that makes
them good at the needle, would make them efficient in the delicate
manipulations of the micrometer. But I know of no man well
paid as an observer only. There are always volunteer candidates
in this department of an observatory. Women can make as good
computations as men, and do their work more neatly; but here,
also, the field is occupied by men, although, I think, never as
volunteers without pay. I have no doubt many of the computations
professedly made by men, are really the work of women
employed as assistants. This has always been the case in the
long and tedious computations made for astronomical objects in
the early efforts of the science. My own observatory is wholly a
private affair, and supported entirely by my own means, which
are my daily earnings as computer to the
Nautical Almanac.
I employ no assistant." I am happy to say Miss Mitchell receives
the same salary for the observations and reckonings of the
Nautical Almanac that would be given to a man. In 1856, at the
Smithsonian Institute, a paper was read by Professor Foote, on
the heat of the sun's rays; after which a paper by Mrs. Foote
was read by Professor Henry, giving an account of experiments
made by herself on the same subject. Miss Harriet Bouvier
(now Mrs. Peterson) has written a very good work on astronomy
for schools. Mrs. Somerville, a distinguished astronomer of
England, has added much information to the science by her discoveries.
"Miss Anne Sheepshanks, sister to the late astronomer,
has been elected a fellow of the Astronomical Society."
3. Authors.
Many superior works of fiction have been
written by ladies of America, some of which have been translated
into the languages of Europe and introduced into those countries.
Many of our fair countrywomen have distinguished themselves
by their poetical effusions, and quite a number have published
their poems in book form. Mrs. Everett Green, author of the
"Lives of the Princesses of England," is now employed by the
English Government upon state papers. Research into historical
data, and the nice, careful arrangement of details, are well fitted
to the patience of woman. Several years ago, Queen Victoria
[Pg 3]
granted to Mrs. Gore and Mrs. Jamieson each $1,000 a year as
pensions. These are not by any means the only instances of her
liberality to literary women. During the year ending January,
1860, she granted pensions to thirteen ladies, either for literary
merit of their own or that of some relative. The French Academy
awarded to Madame Louisa Collet, in 1851, the prize of
$1,000 for poetry; also one to Mlle. Ernestine Druet, a governess
in a school at Paris. Mlle. Royer received the prize, a short
time ago, from the University of Lausanne, for a philosophical
essay. The labor of authors is not rewarded as well as other
kinds of intellectual labor of the same extent: for instance, a
physician or lawyer, with the same abilities, amount of learning,
and application, would derive a greater reward pecuniarily. In the
United States an author can retain the profits of his work a certain
number of years, being at liberty to make any arrangement with
his publisher he sees proper. In France and Russia he possesses
the profits arising from the sale of his work during his life, and
his heirs receive them during twenty years. The following is an
extract from H. C. Carey's article on the Rewards of Authorship:
"Mr. Irving stands, I imagine, at the head of living
authors for the amount received for his books. The sums paid
to the renowned Peter Parley must have been enormously great;
but what has been their extent, I have no means of ascertaining.
Mr. Mitchell, the geographer, has realized a handsome fortune
from his school books. Professor Davies is understood to have
received more than $50,000 from the series published by him.
The Abbotts, Emerson, and numerous other authors engaged in
the preparation of books for young persons and schools, are
largely paid. Professor Anthon, we are informed, has received
more than $60,000 for his series of classics. The French series
of Mr. Bolmar has yielded him upward of $20,000. The school
geography of Mr. Morse is stated to have yielded more than
$20,000 to its author. A single medical book, of one octavo
volume, is understood to have produced its authors $60,000, and
a series of medical books has given its author probably $30,000.
Mr. Downing's receipts from his books must have been very large.
The two works of Miss Warner must have already yielded her
from $12,000 to $15,000, and perhaps as much more. Mr.
Headley is stated to have received about $40,000; and the few
books of Ik Marvel have yielded him about $20,000. A single
one, 'The Reveries of a Bachelor,' produced $4,000 in the
first six months. Mrs. Stowe has been very largely paid. Miss
Leslie's cookery and recipe books have paid her $12,000.
Dr. Barnes is stated to have received more than $30,000 for
the copyright of his religious works. Fanny Fern has probably
[Pg 4]
received not less than $6,000 for the duodecimo volume published
but six months since. Mr. Prescott was stated, several years
since, to have received $90,000 from his books, and I have never
seen it contradicted. According to the rate of compensation
generally understood to be received by Mr. Bancroft, the present
sale of each volume yields him more than $15,000, and he has
the long period of forty-two years for future sale. Judge Story
died, as has been stated, in the annual receipt of more than
$8,000, and the amount has not, as it is understood, diminished.
Mr. Webster's works in three years can scarcely have paid less
than $25,000. Kent's 'Commentaries' are understood to have
yielded to their author and his heirs more than $120,000; and if
we add to this, for the remainder of the period, only one half of
this sum, we shall obtain $180,000, or $45,000 as the compensation
for a single octavo volume—a reward for literary labor unexampled
in history." It is necessary that the reader, in considering
the figures given, remember that the reputation of an
author has much to do with the price paid by a publisher for manuscripts.
The number of women authors is much greater than one
unacquainted with the statistics in regard to the subject would
suppose. "In 1847 Count Leopold Feni died at Padua, leaving
a library entirely composed of works written by women in various
languages, the number of volumes amounting to nearly thirty-two
thousand. Whether the English and American lady writers
were included in his list we do not know, but we wish some
woman of taste and fortune, in our country, would make a similar
collection." It is said that two thirds of the writers in
Chambers' Edinburgh Journal are women. Some of the writers
of our best periodicals are women. The success of women in
works of fiction is unquestioned. This class of books requires
less time, less study, and less money, and rewards the authors pecuniarily
better than any other kind of work, considering, of
course, the comparatively small amount of application required.
As the females of our land become more generally educated,
and have more leisure for the cultivation of their minds, no
doubt more attention will be devoted to literary effort. The
easy, natural manner of female authors is a marked feature. Different
motives prompt to authorship—love of fame, wealth, influence,
and a desire to do good. Persons are generally prompted
to write by feeling that they know more of some particular subject
than most people, or something entirely unknown or unthought
of by any one save themselves. Some collect and arrange
information obtained from books, observation, or experience,
or all combined. E. Hazen says: "The indispensable qualifications
to make a writer are—a talent for literary composition, an accu
[Pg 5]rate
knowledge of language, and an acquaintance with the subject
to be treated." Good health and freedom from care are necessary
for one who would give him or herself up to the severities
of mental labor. Dr. Wynne says: "With him whose occupation
is either intellectual or sedentary, or both, the nervous energy
necessary to digest food is already abstracted by the operations
of the mind; and the meal taken under the circumstances is but
partially digested and appropriated to the use of the body. The
remainder acts as an irritant, and, if the practice be persevered
in, terminates in dyspepsia, followed by that Protean train of
nervous diseases which destroys the equanimity of mind, and
finally terminates the life of so many of our most efficient and
worthy business men, at the very time when their services are
most valuable to their families and the community. The cares
of business should be dismissed with the termination of the hours
devoted to their pursuits, and their place supplied by those exercises
or amusements which bring with them cheerfulness and exhilaration."
Of all studies, the quiet and contemplative kind are
most favorable to long life. Those of an exciting nature produce
a reaction, sometimes, of the physical as well as intellectual
powers.
5. Bible Readers.
An incalculable amount of good has
been accomplished by this class of persons. The originator is
Mrs. Raynard, the L. N. R. of the "Missing Link," "The Book
and its Story," &c., who lived in London. "One hundred ladies
have joined her as managers and superintendents. The ladies each
select from among the uneducated class the best women they can
find, and send them out to read Bibles and sell them to their own
class. They have now two hundred such Bible women in England,
Ireland, Scotland, and France, and they are meeting with
unheard-of success. Mrs. Raynard told me they made soup for
the poor in winter, and sold it to them very low, and in such a
way that the poorest could have his bowlful for some trifling service;
and while one is serving the soup, others serve them with
portions of God's word. Then the lady superintendents have tea
meetings without number, and sewing meetings, and clothing
meetings. Beside, the ladies must first instruct their readers
every week or day in the Scriptures, in teaching, in meekness, in
manner, in helping the sick, and sympathizing with all suffering,
and, above all, teach them to lean only on God. They must also
pay the Bible women, who give up their time to this work, and
keep an account with each one. These lady readers or superintendents
in England publish a monthly of their own, conducted
by dear Mrs. Raynard, so that they can all communicate with
one another; and God sends them funds to the amount of $35,000
[Pg 6]
the year." A lady of Baltimore writes me: "The Maryland Bible
Society employs three paid Bible readers—all women—at
eight dollars per month each. These are purposely selected from
the poorest class of pious women, because it is thought that persons
of that class have readier access to the homes and hearts of
the poor, beside the aid it affords to honest poverty. Independently
of this Bible effort, another has originated from the London
charity, unfolded in the 'Missing Link.'" The lady of Baltimore
(Miss W.) wrote from the Maryland Bible, &c., through
the
Word Witness: "Just one year ago, I engaged a pious poor
woman, at two dollars per week, to labor among the destitute,
vicious poor—a class that could not be reached by ordinary
methods of voluntary effort, dwelling in localities that ladies
might not safely visit. The work was to humanize these people;
to wash and clothe the children, and put them in Sabbath
and public schools; to read and pray, and teach their mothers;
and to relieve personal suffering. She has done a good work.
Another woman has been employed in South Baltimore, in the
same calling. Recently, the ladies of the First Presbyterian
Church have formed a union, and raised the salary of one of
these female colportors, and thus the experiment promises to expand
itself into a permanent benevolent organization. I may
say that the plan adopted, if vigorously and efficiently carried
out, would rid our crowded alleys of half the suffering and nearly
all the vices and impositions that now render them intolerable
to the refined. On Christmas, I assisted to serve up a supper,
provided by a good lady for the poorest of the poor. It was
given in the district, and at the house of a widow, and under
the care of our colportors. There were forty-eight women and
children present, not ragged and hopeless, as they were one year
ago, but tidy and bright, looking hopefully to the future, as
though they felt there is kindness in the world. It was a
pleasant sight to witness." The New York Female Auxiliary
Bible Society now employs thirteen Bible readers. A brief but
interesting account is given of them in the last report of that
society, from which we copy: "From the reports of the Bible
readers for only a part of the year, we find that they have paid
more than seven thousand visits, gathered more than two hundred
children into the Sunday school, sold and distributed Bibles,
induced many to attend church, ministered to the wants of
the destitute, established sewing schools, and, in more ways than
we can enumerate, have gone about doing good." A Bible
reader is now employed in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Bible
Society.
[Pg 7]
4. Bankers and Bankers' Clerks.
Before the existence
of savings banks, the poor had no safe place of deposit,
where they could receive interest, and whence they could withdraw
their deposits at pleasure. If they loaned their money, there
was no certainty of recovering it. If they tried to accumulate by
saving what they had, it was not always secure from depredation.
Consequently they were tempted to spend any surplus money they
had, and often no forethought of the future could save them from
anxiety and misery. Now, by industry and perseverance, they
are enabled to accumulate something for contingencies—to provide
against want, sickness, old age, and slackness of employment.
The idea of a savings bank was originated by a woman—Mrs.
Priscilla Wakefield. It is a most worthy institution, and deserving
of support and patronage. Holding office in a bank is a very
responsible situation. The numerous men defaulters that have
disgraced themselves in the last few years, are sufficient proof
that the temptation to appropriate unjustly is very great. It requires
men and women of fixed principle, whose honor is dearer
to them than life itself. We think women could very well manage
savings banks. They could at any rate attend in the female
department, and in some parts of Europe do. We find in the
census of Great Britain two female bankers reported. In the
Englishwoman's Journal we read: "At St. Malo, a few years
ago, the wife of a rich banker, during his absence, took her place
at his desk amid the numerous clerks, received checks, and gave
to the writer of this article French money in return. They are
frequently found in offices, and often mainly conduct a husband's
or a father's business." One of the Mrs. Rothschild, I have been
told, even now spends two or three hours every day in her husband's
banking house. Mrs. Mary Somerville says: "Three of
the most beneficial systems of modern times are due to the benevolence
of English ladies—the improvement of prison discipline,
savings banks, and banks for lending small sums to the poor."
Not many years ago a banking house was conducted by a lady in
Nashville, Tenn. She was a widow, but had during her first
husband's life attended to some of the duties of the bank, and
accompanied her husband when he visited New York on business.
She is now the wife of one of the late candidates for the highest
office in this nation—that of chief magistrate. A lady was employed
in a savings bank in Boston a few years back. A gentleman
who has been cashier in a bank for many years writes me:
"I have no doubt that women might be qualified for bank and
brokers' clerks as well as men. In the offices of cashier and teller,
they would have to come in contact with so many rough
characters, I doubt whether it would do. I do not know the sal
[Pg 8]aries
paid in Europe, either in stores, shops, banks, or brokers'
offices, but suppose it varies as it does in this country, according
to the size of the city, the bank or broker's capital, the qualifications
and character, and the situations the persons occupy.
The cashier receives more than the teller; the teller often more
than the clerk, and the clerks are graded. In large banks in the
city of New York, the cashiers get from $4,000 to $6,000 per
annum, while in the country banks they scarcely get half that
amount. In the city their situations are very laborious, and
very responsible, and many of them have been twenty-five or
thirty years in the business before they got to be cashiers. Tellers
receive in large cities from $2,500 to $3,000, and in small
places from $1,200 to $2,000. Clerks get in New York banks
from $600 to $3,000, taking the whole range from boys of seventeen
to men of sixty with families and great experience. In
smaller towns they receive from $300 to $2,500, taking the same
range, many of them getting not more than $1,500 at any time
during their lives. In stores and shops the salaries are much
less, say not much over one half in very many instances; but persons
in stores and shops have this advantage over bank clerks:
when they learn the business, they are often taken into partnership
with the proprietor, or they may set up in a similar business
for themselves. But bank clerks have no such prospects before
them. There may be salaries, in a few instances, over those mentioned,
but very seldom; and on the other hand, some young men
are placed in business sometimes without any remuneration for the
first year. I would also state that the situation of bank clerk, although
very much sought for, is certainly not desirable, as $1,200
or $1,500 will not support a family in any city of the United
States, without the most rigid economy; and then they have little
or nothing to lay up for a rainy day. Many bank clerks in this
city are no better off now than they were twenty years ago, though
they have lived poorly and economized all the time. So, in some
respects, the store clerk or salesman has the advantage. One
reason why young men prefer becoming bank clerks to mercantile
clerks is, that they have more time for themselves. Say,
they commence by seven o'clock in a store, and nine at bank;
they get through by two or three o'clock in bank, and they have
to work until night in a store.'
6. Brokers.
This is a business in which very few, if any,
women engage without the aid of the other sex. We are not
aware that any women are stock brokers, exchange brokers, or
insurance brokers. We suppose women could not very well conduct
the business without having to mix promiscuously with men
on the street, and stop and talk with them in the most public
[Pg 9]
places; and the delicacy of woman would forbid that. But the
wife, the sister, or daughter of a broker might perhaps conduct
the indoor business of the house, or keep the books at least. In
Paris, where women are extensively employed in various departments
of business, it would, perhaps, be more practicable for a
woman to carry on the business than in this country. There
are respects in which women of well-disciplined minds would be
well suited for the vocation: they are their observance of order
and method, and their close attention to details.
7. Colonizationists.
This is a business that would never
have entered our minds for women to engage in, had it not been
for the course pursued by Caroline Chisholm. Says the author
of "Women and Work:" "Ask the emigrants who went out to
Australia year after year, under the careful and wise system of
Caroline Chisholm's colonization, how women can organize, and
what professions they should fill. I think they would answer:
As organizers of colonies, promoters of emigration, secretaries to
colonies, &c." Many a husband and wife may thank her for the
comforts of home life. Some years ago, Mrs. Farnum proposed
taking from New York a shipload of women to California. The
matter was laughed at and passed by; but if we may believe the
reports that came from California of miners wanting wives, perhaps
it would not have been a bad plan to have taken out a supply
(in case they could have been had). In the early history of
Virginia, women were brought over from England as wives for
the men. "A society exists in England for the promotion of
female emigration to Australia. Under the auspices of this society,
about eleven hundred women, mostly distressed needlewomen,
of respectable character, have been sent to Australia,
where they find employment, and, we presume, the most of them,
husbands."
8. Colportors.
"This is an important field of missionary
labor in our own land, where women might be employed to
great advantage—namely, as colportors, or distributors of tracts
and books. The Boards of Publication now employ men only,
whose services must be paid at a much higher rate than women
would require. There are widows who need this employment for
support, and single women who need employment for health, and
many women would like this way of doing good. In every place,
women would be found suitable and willing to undertake this
profession. It is one exactly suited to them. It enters into
their domestic circle of feelings and pursuits; and honorable
women, not a few, would be found ready to engage in the work.
A number of men would be needed to penetrate the wild places
of our land; but throughout all the settled portions, women
[Pg 10]
would be found the most effective agents. By this arrangement,
a double gain would be secured. The talents of pious women,
now allowed to be wasted on trifles, would be employed in the
cause of moral improvement; and those men who now give up
their time, often at a great pecuniary sacrifice, to the colportor's
duty, would be at liberty to enter into other pursuits more beneficial
to themselves and to society." Are there none among the
gentler sex consecrated to the work of promoting the glory of
God and the good of their fellow beings? Are none of those
that owe all their privileges and blessings to the Bible, willing to
make a sacrifice for its extension? Are all so selfish, that the
desire of personal gratification is the ruling, the only object for
which they live? a display in dress and style of living, the acquisition
of property, or notoriety? Are these the only objects
of woman's exertions? No: most women are too conscientious
and unselfish to live for such a purpose. There are many that
would gladly do what they could, but they have no definite plan
in view. They know not exactly how to shape their course. If
they were once started, they would neither lag nor faint in the
race. Let such become colportors, deaconesses, physicians,
painters, engravers, whatever best accords with their inclinations
and abilities. Let them go forward. The mist will gradually
disappear, the way be made clear, and they followed by others.
It is best for one of strength and vigor to engage in the labors
of a colportor. Walking from house to house all day is very
fatiguing to persons not accustomed to being much on their feet.
It requires a person that has at heart the good of her fellow
beings, and is willing to converse with all classes and ages. It
calls for a person of piety, and one of tact and judgment.
9. Copyists.
Law copying is done by young women in
charge of the society in London for promoting the employment of
women. Miss Rye, who is superintendent of the class, says: "Of
course it took the writers some weeks to unlearn the usual feminine
spider-legged fashion of inditing; some weeks more to decipher
the solicitors' signs, contractions, and technical terms. We
dare not pretend, in defending the opening of this trade to women,
that there is here, as in printing, a deficiency of workers, a cry
among the masters for more; or that woman's work here, as in
the telegraph offices, is intrinsically more valuable than that of
the other sex." In France, lawyers often employ women to copy
for them, and a number of women are employed by the French
Government to write. At Washington, ladies have been employed
to copy, not only for congressmen as individuals, but to
copy government documents; and received the same salaries as
men. A friend told me many ladies are thus employed at Wash
[Pg 11]ington.
She knows two who each receive salaries of $1,200 per annum.
Miss N. says some ladies in Washington make from $500 to
$600 a winter, copying speeches and other documents for members
of Congress. She knew a lady who wrote all the year at a
salary of $1,200. "In Cincinnati, some lawyers employ women
as copyists, when the work can be sent from the office." Ladies
employed by lawyers must write a very clear, round, legible
hand; if any mistake is made, the writer must copy the manuscript
anew. A young lady told me she used to write for a lawyer,
and received three cents for every hundred words. One
day she earned two dollars and a half. She wrote in the office
of the lawyer. Many ladies, she says, are so employed in New
York. Mrs. N., copyist, charges twelve and a half cents a page
of foolscap, for copying, estimating her time at nine cents an
hour. She writes mostly letters in English for foreigners, and
receives twenty-five cents a letter, usually of one page and a
half. She is very careful, she says, never to divulge the business
of the individual for whom she writes—a something very essential.
Mrs. Blunt used to earn in Washington $700 or $800 a
year for copying. One copyist charged $5 per week if she wrote
at home, and $6 if away from home. I find that in the Western
cities the prices for copying vary from eight cents to thirty-one
cents a page. Ladies are occasionally employed at the Smithsonian
Institute for copying, and are paid 5 cents per 100 words.
I believe in New York a very common price for copying is 4
cents per 100 words. Miss W., an English lady, copied music
about three years ago, and sent it to London to be sold. She
often earned $12 a week.
10. Deaconesses.
The order of deaconess was instituted
at the same time as that of deacon, and corresponds in duty with
that office. We read of deaconesses in the last chapter of Romans,
Phœbe, Priscilla, Aquila, &c. The establishment of institutions
for deaconesses affords a home to the unmarried women
of our land, and widows without children, and furnishes them
with such work as their health and previous employments fit
them for. It carries out the principle, "Unity is strength." It
is founded on that true spring of success—sympathy arising from
similarity of circumstances and sameness of employment. Ministering
to the sick and poor is so well adapted to women, that
their time might be pleasantly as well as profitably spent. The
desire in women to be employed is thus gratified, and the good
of others as well as themselves thereby promoted. Those received
as members would find it most harmonious to be of the
same religion, and they should be willing to come under the regulations
of the institution. Such an institution would have to be
[Pg 12]
conducted by a person of discretion, piety, and wisdom. The
members usually dress in uniform. Comfortable clothing is always
furnished, boarding of course being provided in the establishment.
The duties of deaconess in Protestant institutions
are the same as those of sisters of charity in nunneries and convents.
The institutions are usually commenced by public or
private contributions, and some by both. When once firmly established,
the members might receive a fair compensation for
their services from the sick that are able and willing to pay. It
might go to the support of the institution, and those who saw
proper to devote themselves to teaching might throw their profits
into the general fund. But such institutions should be secured
on such a firm basis that those women who joined the order
would ever be certain of a home, and of a kind and careful attendance
in sickness and old age. If institutions are established
in various parts of the United States, an inmate of one, if tired
of remaining at that, might, by request, and after consideration
by the principal, or a board of trustees, be permitted to remove
to another. There are a number of institutions in Europe for
preparing women for the duties of deaconess. The first institution
of modern times was established by Pastor Fliedner, at
Kaiserwerth, Germany. "It has for its object the training of
deaconesses—that is, female students to take charge of the sick
and the poor, and superintend hospitals, infant and industrial
schools, and, in short, to be the educators and preservers of
humanity." An association has lately been formed in London
of this order. Its object "is the diffusion of sanitary knowledge
and promotion of physical training." "In Russia, the system for
the practical training of deaconesses has spread in all directions.
In Paris, Strasbourg, Echallens (in Switzerland), Utrecht, and
England, the institution exists." Kings have not thought it beneath
them to assist in the support of such institutions. Miss
Bremer mentions several going to Jerusalem to take charge of a
hospital, which the King of Prussia founded at an expense of
$50,000. We find two or three such institutions exist in the
United States—one in New York, another in Pittsburg, and one
in an incipient state in Baltimore. The one in New York is conducted
by Sisters of the Holy Communion (Episcopalians). Five
of them make their home at St. Luke's Hospital. One or two of
the number are engaged in a parochial school connected with Dr.
Muhlenberg's church. Those of the hospital nurse the sick during
the day. They employ nurses to do the night nursing, except
in very serious cases that require especial attention. Their
dress is simple, black, with white collars and undersleeves, and,
when in full dress, a Swiss muslin cap. They do not take vows
[Pg 13]
like the nuns of the Roman Catholic church, nor do they give up
all their property, but make a quarterly payment, according to
their means. One devotes herself to the measuring out and dispensing
of medicine. There is a hospital in Pittsburg in charge
of some deaconesses from Kaiserwerth. They belong to the
Evangelical Lutheran church. The institution was commenced
by the Rev. W. A. Passavant, but is now incorporated by the
State, and the "members are empowered to engage in all works
of mercy, such as the care of the poor, sick, fatherless, insane,
and the education of the ignorant and the orphan. The sisters
live in community—dress simply, and generally alike, so as to
avoid any unnecessary distinction and useless expenses. Applicants
for admission go first for a month merely as visitors, and
pay their own expenses going and returning. If both parties approve,
they then enter on probation for three months, and afterward
for nine months, or longer, as the institution may deem
best. Then, if their purpose is still the same, they are received
by a vote, according to the charter, as members. It is distinctly
understood, that if a change in their views and purposes, or nearer
or family duties require them to leave after this, they are at perfect
liberty to do so, but always, only, after giving the institution
a due notice of three months, unless such a notification is impossible
from the circumstances of the case. Those who are preparing
for the work among the sick learn the duties of an apothecary.
All the sisters know how to mix medicines." Miss E. Blackwell
says: "In the Catholic church the wants and talents of all classes
are met. Single wealthy women become nuns, and so devote their
riches and talents and time to good works. They associate with
the most refined and best educated of both sexes. Poor single
women find a home and social pleasures. It requires practical
business habits to become even a successful sister of charity.
They should enter with an active interest and zest into the duties
of every-day life. These orders can never succeed well among
Protestants, particularly until female physicians are introduced."
The Minister of the Interior, writing from Italy to Mrs. Jameson,
says: "Not only have we experienced the advantage of employing
the sisters of charity in the prisons, in the supervision of the
details, in distributing food, preparing medicines, and nursing the
sick in the infirmaries; but we find that the influence of these
ladies on the minds of the prisoners, when recovering from sickness,
has been productive of the greatest benefit, as leading to
permanent reform in many cases, and a better frame of mind always:
for this reason, among others, we have given them every
encouragement." Many young ladies of education, wealth, and
influence would, on becoming pious, or when disappointed in their
[Pg 14]
hopes and aspirations, be likely to join such societies. At such
times, many are willing to give themselves up entirely to works
of active benevolence. Such a life, of course, involves some self-denials.
Bishop Potter warmly advocated the introduction of
such orders, and delivered an address in favor of it. The Bishop
of Exeter recommended the establishment of such orders in
England, and an institution for deaconesses has been opened in
London.
11. Dentists.
Some time ago, in New York, a few ladies
prepared themselves for the practice of dentistry. We believe
only one really practised, and she but a short time. We find
her name in a New York directory as a dentist. It would be
more agreeable to most ladies to have their teeth cleaned and
plugged by a lady. They would not feel the same hesitancy in
going alone at any time to a dentist of their own sex. Extracting
teeth would require more nerve and strength than most ladies
possess. Yet, if a woman has nerves sufficiently firm, and ability
to control her sympathies, she may succeed. There are dental
schools in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. A professor
in the dental school at Philadelphia writes: "I would suggest
that if any ladies desire to become efficient practitioners in some
branches of dentistry, it would be better for them to apply to a
reputable practitioner, and with time and attention become thoroughly
familiar with those branches. In doing so they will prove
to the world their capability, and the rest in time will follow.
Dentistry has been humorously called a 'woman's profession.'"
"There is nothing even in the surgical part of dentistry, to which
she is not adapted. In this profession she will have a fair opportunity
to foil her enemies and accusers; and her children's
teeth would not be set on edge without the possibility of instant
relief. There is no mystery in the dental structure, which the
turnkey, in her magic hand, could not unlock; and no terrible
pain in tooth extraction, which her mystic power could not exceedingly
mitigate." Most profit arising to dentists is from
making and inserting artificial teeth. It is a lucrative business,
when properly understood, and one which affords constant employment.
12. Editresses.
The most powerful instrument for disseminating
general knowledge in the United States is the newspaper
press. It does a great deal for promoting a love of letters; and
the cheapness of the papers is such as to render them accessible
to almost every one. The literature of the day penetrates the
most remote corner of our country. Obscure, indeed, is the
place that knows not the printer's power. Even in California,
more than a year ago, there were published 81 newspapers. In
[Pg 15]
New York city alone were published 154 newspapers, and 114
magazines. But this is not strange when we remember that no
less than eighty languages are spoken there. A newspaper states
that there are printed in Austria 10 newspapers, 14 in Africa,
24 in Spain, 20 in Portugal, 30 in Asia, 65 in Belgium, 85 in
Denmark, 90 in Russia and Poland, 320 in other German States,
500 in Great Britain, and 1,800 in the United States. Taking
merely newspaper and magazine literature into consideration,
does not our republic offer inducements to intellectual culture?
Does she not reward talent and encourage industry? Yes. Her
general diffusion of knowledge and the learned men of her press
give a positive reply. The dignity of man should be elevated,
his affections purified, and his pursuits ennobled by the mighty
influence of the press. Editors should live as ministers to the
welfare of humanity. The aspiring character of our people and
their thirst for knowledge will long make a heavy demand on the
talent and taste of those who wield the editor's pen. There are
several publications in the United States conducted exclusively
by ladies; some in which the assistant editors are ladies; and a
small number devoted to the interests of women alone. Several
ladies have entered the editorial corps within the last few years.
The Harpers, in their Magazine, state there are about six hundred
literary and miscellaneous periodicals published in this country. If
all the labor, as type setting, binding, &c., was done by women, what
a fortunate thing it would be for many of the poor! I have
been told that when an article is sent to a newspaper, and is
known to have come from the brain and the pen of a woman,
ten to one, her compensation will be smaller for it, and in many
cases it will be rejected. There are a few exceptions. Fanny
Fern, for instance, receives, we have seen it stated, at the rate
of $100 a column from Mr. Bonner for a contribution to the
Ledger.
The sum total he will pay her for the amount he has engaged will
be $6,000. Mrs. B. receives $600 for editing a monthly paper.
Some time back contributors to the
Independent were paid $3 a
column, and to the New York
Observer at the same rate. Mr.
L. told me that a man is paid $20 a week for making out an
index for the New York
Tribune, which could be done by
any lady with a cultivated and well disciplined mind. The man
that was employed not long since had been a wood engraver, and
had received no special training for his duties in the
Tribune
office. The papers to be sent away are directed by machinery,
which a lady could attend. Some one writes me the qualifications
for his business are strength of mind and body. We think there
is generally a heavy draft on either one or the other in every occupation
successfully pursued, and in some on both. Émile
[Pg 16]
Girardin was a French editress that died recently. Mrs. Johnson,
of Edinburgh, was for years editress of the Inverness
Courier, which was published in her husband's name. Miss
Parkes conducts the
Englishwoman's Journal. Mrs. Swisshelm
edited the Pittsburg
Visitor with much vigor and ability. Mrs.
Virginia L. French has charge of the literary department of a
paper issued in Nashville, Tenn. Miss McDowell might have
succeeded with the
Woman's Advocate, if her noble efforts had
been appreciated as they deserved.
13. Government Officers.
"Many Government offices
could be creditably filled by intelligent and experienced women.
Miss Wallace and Miss Thomas were employed as computers on
the Coast Survey at Washington in 1854, with salaries each of
$480, with perquisites making it $600. A man to do the same
work would probably receive twice as much." "Mrs. Miller, at
one time, was engaged in making observations of the weather—the
thermometer, barometer, direction of winds, quantity of rain,
&c., in which she was assisted by another person appointed by a
society of which both sexes were members." Computations of
this kind could be made at home. Mr. Blodgett, who had charge
of the Smithsonian Institute in 1854, wrote: "The discussion of
observations in physical science, meteorological observations particularly,
has never been undertaken in a general manner until
attempted in this department of the Smithsonian Institute, and I
have found that accuracy and despatch require well-trained
minds of great endurance. Only the best minds can successfully
undertake scientific calculations and computations; and these
must possess a sort of half masculine strength and endurance."
Yet we would not offer this as a discouragement. If it has been
done, it can be done again. "During Mr. Fillmore's administration,
two women wrote for the Treasury Department at Washington,
at salaries of twelve and fifteen hundred a year." Several ladies
are employed in different parts of the United States for copying
by registers of deeds; but the majority are relatives of the registers.
In some towns of the East, however, other ladies than relatives
are employed, who receive $1 per day for their services.
Miss Olive Rose has performed the duties of the register of deeds,
at Thomaston, Maine. She writes: "I was officially notified of
the election, required to give bonds, &c. I am unable to state
the exact amount of salary, as it is regulated by whatever business
is done in the office. Perhaps it may average between $300 and
$400 yearly." The Duchess of Leuchtenberg was elected to
preside over the Imperial Academy of Science, in Russia, a few
years ago. An acquaintance told me that in the warehouses at the
London docks, silks, shawls, and such goods are exposed for sale,
[Pg 17]
and many ladies go down in their carriages and purchase. If any
female is suspected of concealing on her person goods that she
has appropriated in the warehouse, the watchmen who guard the
place remark they would like to detain her for a few minutes, and
convey her to a room, where a woman is in attendance to search
her. The present collector of customs at Philadelphia writes:
"The only instance of employment of women in connection with
the custom house here has been, while Liverpool steamers were coming
to this port, some years ago, when one or two were employed
to search female emigrants, to prevent smuggling on their persons.
The employment was only for a day or two at a time, and is now
discontinued." Some time ago it was feared that large quantities
of precious stones and laces were concealed on the persons of
some women, and so smuggled into New York. Consequently
"two American female searchers were inaugurated in the revenue
service as aids. They each receive $500 per annum, and are paid
by the month. Men receive $1,095 (or $3 per day) for similar
services. The qualifications needed are intelligence, tact, and integrity.
They spend but one or two hours on the arrival of each
steamer or passenger received from abroad." I think, in European
countries, female police, who examine the persons and passports of
women, receive the same salaries as men.
14. Lawyers.
We cannot question the right of woman
to plead at the bar, but we doubt whether it would be for her
good. She might study law, to discipline her mind and to store
it with useful information. She might profitably spend, in that
way, time which would otherwise be devoted to music, painting,
or the languages. But the noisy scenes now witnessed in a court
room are scarcely compatible with the reserve, quietude, and
gentleness that characterize a woman of refinement. Theodore
Parker said: "As yet, I believe, no woman acts as a lawyer; but
I see no reason why the profession of law might not be followed
by women as well as men. He must be rather an uncommon
lawyer who thinks no feminine head could compete with him.
Most lawyers that I have known are rather mechanics at law than
attorneys or scholars at law; and, in the mechanical part, woman
could do as well as man—could be as good a conveyancer, could
follow precedents as carefully, and copy forms as nicely. I think
her presence would mend the manners of the court—of the bench,
not less than of the bar." A lady lawyer would not be without a
precedent, for we read from a note in "Women Artists:" "Christina
Pisani wrote a work which was published in Paris, 1498. It
gives an account of the learned and famous Novella, the daughter of
a professor of the law in the university of Bologna. She devoted
herself to the same studies, and was distinguished for her scholar
[Pg 18]ship.
She conducted her father's cases; and, having as much
beauty as learning, was wont to appear in court veiled." We suppose
this is the same young lady of whom we read elsewhere:
"At twenty-six she took the degree of doctor of laws, and began
publicly to expound the laws of Justinian. At thirty she was
elevated to a professor's chair, and taught the law to a crowd of
scholars from all nations. Others of her sex have since filled
professors' chairs in Bologna." While we would not encourage
women to act publicly as counsellors at law, we would claim for
them the privilege of acting as attorneys. Writing out deeds,
mortgages, wills, and indentures, would be a pleasant occupation
for such women as are qualified and fond of sedentary life. We
know that the hearts of most women would prompt them to relieve
the poor and oppressed: but might they not do it in some
other way as efficiently as by pleading at the bar? If the weak
seek their aid, let them bestow the benefit of their legal lore. If
the helpless seek their protection, let them bring their information
and counsel to bear upon the case, but not by public speaking.
By personal effort, or by applying to the good of the
other sex, they may accomplish much. If a woman involve herself
in the intricacies of law, may she not lose those tender traits
that endear her to the other sex, and in time discard those graces
that render her gentle and lovely at home? The profession of
the law is one suited to the inclinations, nature, and taste of but
very few women. But if a lady will practise law, she will need
great clearness of mind, a good insight into the motives of others,
fearlessness in expressing her convictions of right, and ability in
refraining from saying more than she should.
15. Lecturers.
Lecturing is addressing people through the
sense of hearing; writing is addressing them through the sense of
sight. An individual can address a larger number by the latter
plan than the former. Many people that would not devote the time,
trouble, and expense to investigate books, will give their twenty-five
cents to hear a lecture on a given subject. Rev. Mr. Higginson
says: "We forget that wonderful people, the Spanish Arabs, among
whom women were public lecturers and secretaries of kings, while
Christian Europe was sunk in darkness." "In Italy, from the
fifteenth to the nineteenth century, it was not esteemed unfeminine
for women to give lectures in public to crowded and admiring
audiences. They were freely admitted members of learned societies,
and were consulted by men of preëminent scientific attainments,
as their equals in scholarship." Theodore Parker felt the
importance of public lecturing, and expressed gratification that
women were occupying the field so successfully. In the Female
Medical College of Philadelphia, great attention is given to the
[Pg 19]
study of physiology; and several graduates from that institution
have lectured upon this subject, one or two of them with great
success. It is thought best that a lecturer upon physiology should
be a physician, all the branches of medical science being so intimately
connected, that the separation of one from the whole is
like the dismemberment of the human body, producing almost the
same effect upon the severed member. "The field for competent
female lecturers on physiological subjects is as broad as the nation,
and promises a rich harvest for as many as can possibly be
engaged in it, for the next half century." Dr. Gregory, of the
New England Female Medical College, writes: "Some of the
graduates of this college have lectured to ladies more or less on
physiology, hygiene, &c., and with good success. One in particular
has given courses of lectures, illustrated with the apparatus of the
college, to the young ladies in our four State Normal Schools, with
great satisfaction to the principals and pupils. One of our graduates
is resident physician, and teacher and superintendent of
health in the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, where there are
almost three hundred pupils." Other female seminaries throughout
the country ought to be thus supplied. Among those who lecture
on physiology are Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Jones, and Mrs. Johnson.
In cities, a number of ladies might deliver lectures in private
schools, academies, and colleges, on physiology and hygiene.
Quite a number of ladies have delivered temperance lectures, and
some were employed at one time by the State Temperance Society
of New York. Lecturers of note receive from $50 to $500
for a single lecture, beside having their travelling expenses paid.
When lecturing on their own responsibility, the entire proceeds
are theirs, save expenses for room, gas, and (in winter) fuel.
Lectures are most generally given before societies, that pay the
lecturer a specified sum. Lucy Stone was paid $263 for her lectures
in Bangor, Maine. Miss Dwight lectured on art, a few
years ago, charging at first ten dollars for a series of six lectures,
but afterward she reduced the price to five dollars.
16. Librarians.
There is a Woman's Library in New
York. The object is to furnish women—particularly working
women, who are not able to subscribe to other libraries—with a
quiet and comfortable place to read in, during their leisure moments.
A lady in Darby, Pennsylvania, attends a town library
that was established in 1785. It has always been kept in the
house of her family, and she has had no occasion to employ assistance
outside of her family. In the Mercantile Library of New
York, two ladies have charge of the reading room. One receives
$200, and the other $250 a year. Lady librarians receive
from one third to one half as much as men. The librarian says
[Pg 20]
they are not physically so capable, and otherwise not so well
qualified. They could always do the lighter work of a library.
They are employed all the year, and spend about eight hours in
the reading room. The secretary of the Apprentice's Library in
Philadelphia writes: "Both our principal librarians are ladies,
and we have two assistants of the same sex. The principals receive
$308, and the assistants $90 each, per annum. The girls'
library, in which one of the principals and the two assistants are
employed, is open five afternoons in the week, from three to four
hours each afternoon and evening. It is only lately we have
employed a lady for a librarian for the boys' department, and we
find the change to be a happy one. The boys are more respectful,
more easily managed, and kept in better order than formerly,
and the number of readers has increased." The gentleman who
has charge of the public library in Boston writes: "We employ
eleven American ladies, who do all the work of a library in its
various branches, under the direction of the superintendent, and
subject to revision by him or an able male assistant. Some cover
and collate books, some go from place to place to get books, and
some are occupied entirely with writing and copying catalogues,
shelf lists, records, &c. The ladies are paid $7 per week. Some
spend eight and some ten hours in the library. Much of the
labor performed by males is the same as that performed by
females; but in every instance, save one, paid for at higher rates.
Why, I cannot say. The office of superintendent requires learning
and experience. In Boston, the rate of wages for men is
higher than for females. Ladies are paid pretty well here, in
comparison with what they are paid for work elsewhere. Teachers
are paid higher than in other places. A competent person
soon learns the duties of a library, but experience adds to her
value. Ladies are employed in preference to men because they
are competent, because it is a good field for female labor, because
they have a good influence on those who transact business with
the library, and, I doubt not, because their work can be had at
less rates than men's. Our schools are graded, and in schools of
a given grade there are divisions. Of course a graduate from
the highest division of the highest grade, other things being
equal (that is talent, &c.), is the person for us. A qualified
lady is as good for work as a qualified man. The work of a
librarian cultivates the mind. All advantages, aside from education,
depend upon the taste of the lady employed. If fond of
reading and ambitious to excel, she can, by faithful application
out of library hours, succeed. Three dollars is the lowest price
for which a lady can be comfortably boarded in Boston." "In
the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, a lady is permanently
[Pg 21]
employed as librarian. She receives a salary of $500 per annum,
and is employed six hours a day. The qualifications needed for
the post are reading, writing, some knowledge of French, German,
&c."
17. Magazine Contributors.
Some of our periodical
literature is futile and unsatisfying. It is light and trivial in
its nature. It may delight a few hours, but then follows the
reaction—a dull and heavy sinking of the heart—a sluggish
dreariness—a neglect of duty—a disdain for the actual realities
of life. The prose of most magazines is only love dreams—the
poetry froth. Such light nutriment is unfit for the souls of women—such
ethereal diet can never satisfy the cravings of an immortal
mind. But some improvement has taken place in part
of our magazine literature, and a few of our reviews equal those
of any country. Subjects are as numerous as the objects around
us, and suited to all moods and diversities of mind. To the
contributor, I would say: Your writing will be likely to find
readers—whether it be grave or gay—sad or sprightly—witty or
jovial; whether one making a draught on the imagination or the
judgment; whether one displaying your own attainments, or
calling to aid the opinions and acquirements of others; in short,
one of thought, fancy, or facts. Your friends may like your ideas
draped in poetry, or the more substantial dress of prose. One
is like gold, the other like iron. One serves for ornament, the
other for use. The true poet is a gifted person; a heaven-born
talent does he or she possess. If you have good descriptive talents,
you can write stories, laying the scenes in far-away countries
that are not much known, and yet eliciting some interest. And
as to the subjects of a moral caste, their name is legion. Magazine
writing furnishes a palatable way of drawing attention to
individual foibles, or furnishing a satire on the inconsistencies
and exactions of society in general. If you attempt to write
natural stories, let your scenes and events be such as occur in
every-day life. It has been suggested that a good publication,
like the
Atlantic Monthly, conducted entirely by women, would
do great good, but we fear it would not be supported. I was
told, however, by the gentleman who has charge of
Harper's
Magazine, that two thirds of the articles are contributed by
women, and they receive better prices than men would. The
Saturday Press says that
Harper's Magazine pays its writers
$7.50 to $10 per page; the
Atlantic Monthly, from $6 to 10;
the
Knickerbocker, $3, which is equal to $5 for
Harper and $6
for the
Atlantic; the
North American Review, $1.50 per page.
The prices mentioned are said by one supposed to know, to be
exaggerated, and made the exception, not the rule. Mr. H. C.
[Pg 22]
Carey, in an article styled "Rewards of Authorship," writes:
"I have now before me a statement from a single publisher, in
which he says that to Messrs. Willis, Longfellow, Bryant, and Allston,
his price was uniformly $50 for a poetical article, long or
short—and his readers know that they were generally very short;
in one case only fourteen lines. To numerous others, it was from
$25 to $40. In one case he has paid $25 per page for prose.
To Mr. Cooper he paid $1,800 for a novel, and $1,000 for a
series of naval biographies, the author retaining the copyright
for separate publication; and in such cases, if the work be good,
its appearance in the magazine acts as the best of advertisements.
To Mr. James, he paid $1,200 for a novel, leaving him also the
copyright. For a single number of his journal, he has paid to
authors $1,500."
18. Missionaries.
Miss Rice, a missionary in Constantinople,
has a large school for girls. Some of her scholars live in
Constantinople, but most of them are from abroad—different parts
of Turkey and Western Asia. "In England, Scotland, Ireland,
and Germany, females organize societies of their own, and send
out teachers and readers of their own sex. Ladies in England
have had a society there twenty-five years, expressly for sending
out and sustaining single ladies to work for heathen women, and
they have already themselves sent two hundred into the field, at
a cost of many thousands of pounds. If any of the lady missionaries
sent out by the ladies' society in England desire to leave
the work within five years, they shall be at liberty to do so, but
shall refund to that society the cost of sending them out." Mrs.
Ellen B. Mason, a missionary of Burmah, is now in New York,
endeavoring to obtain female missionaries to return with her. A
lady (Mrs. Bigelow) was employed among the city missionaries
in Boston, at a salary of $350. From the last reports of the
American Board of Foreign Missions, the Old School Presbyterian,
the Protestant Episcopal, the Methodist, and Dutch Reformed,
we find 451 lady missionaries were supported by their
Boards at the time of making out the reports. The American
Board had in charge 185 among foreign nations, and among the
Indians 41 = 226. Of those sent out by this Board, 26 are unmarried.
The Old School Presbyterian has 78 among the Indians
(33 unmarried), and among heathen 53 (3 of the number
single) = 131. The Baptist Foreign Missions number 34 (none
unmarried). The American Baptist Union require every lady and
gentleman that go out as missionaries from their Board to marry
before they go. The Dutch Reformed have 11 among foreign
nations. The Protestant Episcopal have 26 foreign missionaries
(all married). The Methodist 17 (2 unmarried). In a manual
[Pg 23]
for the use of missionaries and missionary candidates in connection
with the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian
Church, we find the laborers needed for the foreign field are: 1st,
ordained ministers of the gospel; 2d, physicians; 3d, school
teachers; 4th, printers; 5th, farmers and mechanics; 6th,
unmarried female teachers. In referring to all the other classes
but the first mentioned, it reads: "Though not called to preach
the gospel, their Christian profession requires from them the
same devotedness to the cause of Christ, according to the circumstances
in which the providence of God has placed them, that is
required from the ministers of the gospel. The application
should be in writing, and the candidate should state briefly his
age, education, employment, the length of time he has been a professor
of religion, his motive and reasons for desiring to be a missionary,
the field he prefers, and the state of his health. For a
female this information may be given through a third person.
No person will be appointed to the service of the Board until
the executive committee have obtained as thorough a knowledge
as possible of his or her character. For this purpose a personal
acquaintance is very desirable. In all cases, written testimonials,
full and explicit, must be forwarded." The treasurer of the Presbyterian
Board said the salary depends on place and qualifications.
The Treasurer of the Dutch Reformed Missions said a
single lady receives from $300 to $400, according to her qualifications.
Piety and a good common education are all that is necessary.
They learn the language after arriving at their place of
destination. None go without a certificate from a physician, saying
they are free from organic disease. If their health fails so
that they cannot recover, their passage home is paid, and they
are supported for one year after. The minister connected with
the Methodist Board said the salary depends on the places, and
no particular preparation is requisite. They have many more
applicants than they have places for.
19. Medical Missionaries.
An association in Philadelphia
educates a limited number of ladies to go out as medical
missionaries. Any information in regard to this association may
be obtained from Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, 1418 Rittenhouse Square,
Philadelphia. The enterprise opens to such missionaries a wide
field of usefulness, that cannot be reached in any other way. A
number are now wanting in foreign countries. Rev. Mr. Dwight,
writing from Constantinople in 1852, very highly commends the
plan of giving to some female missionaries a medical education.
He refers to the secluded lives of the females in oriental nations,
to their ignorance, and the superstitious reverence felt by the
people for those acquainted with diseases and their remedies. He
thinks that in Constantinople, among all ranks of people, and even
[Pg 24]
among the Mohammedans, a female physician would find constant
practice, and gain an access to the female portion of the community
that missionaries cannot. And, if pious, in the capacity of
physician, she could do much to promote their spiritual welfare.
A knowledge of the Turkish language would be indispensable;
and some acquaintance with French and Italian, Dr. Dwight recommends.
And it was thought by some of the missionaries in
India, before the rebellion occurred, that medical missionary ladies
could accomplish much good there, especially at Calcutta. Missionaries
in various other countries have also given it as their
opinion that a great deal of good might be done in heathen countries
by medical ladies.
20. Physicians.
It is only within the last few years that
women have received any preparation for the practice of medicine
in our country. But it is now advancing in a way that is very
gratifying to the friends of the cause, and is beginning to be appreciated
by the people. Many of the most learned and talented
men in the profession approve of women devoting themselves
to the practice of medicine on their own sex and children.
The mildness and amiability of woman, her modesty, her delicacy
and refinement, all tend to make her acceptable at the bedside.
Her quick insight into the ailments of others and her
promptness in offering a remedy enhance her value. Some think
the modesty and delicacy that should characterize a physician
are lost to a lady in acquiring a knowledge of the profession.
We would think not any more than by a gentleman. Why should
the result be different? And surely a woman wants in her physician,
whether male or female, a person of pure thoughts and
feelings. Some say women have not firmness and nerve enough
to perform surgical operations—that if they have, it is only animal
force. What is it but animal force that gives the superiority
to men (if they are superior)? Some say that such a profession
may call woman among an objectionable class of people. "The
fact that the practice of medicine draws its support from the
miseries and sufferings of the world is no objection to its respectability.
What profession is there that does not draw its support
from some suffering, necessity, or disability?—unless it be that of
the mountebank." Another objection urged is, that women lose
their delicacy by the study and practice of anatomy under a male
physician. This offensive feature is removed in the Female Medical
College of Philadelphia, where that post has been filled by a
woman for six or seven years. It is filled, writes one of the professors,
to the full satisfaction, I believe, alike of the class and
the faculty. In 1758, Anna Manzolini was professor of anatomy
in Bologna. We believe, if a lady acquires a knowledge of
medicine, it should be a thorough one. Undoubtedly too much
[Pg 25]
strong medicine has been used in the United States, and that will
account to some extent for the bad health of American women.
Night practice and the inclemencies of the weather are the greatest
difficulties a woman must contend with in the practice of medicine.
If a lady has means, she can command a conveyance of her
own. As to practising at night, she can have some one to accompany
her, if in the city. If in a town, village, or the country,
she will be likely to know who the people are, and have a conveyance
sent for her. If a woman acquires a thorough knowledge
of medicine, she can better promote the well-being and preserve
the health of herself and children. No lady should undertake
the practice of medicine unless she feels competent in every
way to do so. If she does, let her enter with her soul into it,
and keep constantly in view her object to relieve the suffering
and bring health to the diseased. The practice of medicine is
more renumerative than teaching. Mrs. Hale, who strongly advocates
the practice of medicine by ladies, says: "Teachers grow
out of fashion as they grow old; physicians, on the contrary, gain
credit and reputation from length of practice." There is one department
of medicine that we think belongs to women, and women
alone. It is midwifery. In the feudal times many ladies of rank
and wealth prescribed and measured out medicines for their tenants,
and many women practised midwifery. It is proved by Dr.
Saul Gregory, of Boston, founder of the New England Female
Medical College, that the practice of male physicians in the department
of midwifery is not only injurious, but destructive of human
life. He writes: "I have within the past six months made an
effort to ascertain the number of lady graduates, having written
to the different schools where they have graduated. From the
number certainly ascertained, with the addition of a probable
number of others, I should say that there are at least two hundred
graduated female physicians in the United States. The
number from this (the New England Female Medical College)
is thirty-four. The field is broad enough, of course, for
many thousands; and to women of good natural abilities and
suitable acquirements there is a prospect of success in all of
the cities and large villages of the country. They will more
readily find professional employment now and henceforward than
they have during the past ten years, inasmuch as the idea of
female medical practice has become more familiar to the public
mind, and the custom is becoming gradually established. The
tuition in medical colleges generally is from $60 to $80 a term.
Board is from $2 to $4, according to circumstances. About $30
worth of medical books are needed. This college has a scholarship
fund, affording free tuition to a large number of students
[Pg 26]
from any part of the world." Dr. Gregory expresses our views in
regard to more unoccupied women entering the profession of
medicine, so much better than we could do, that we will transcribe
what he says on the subject: "Man, the lord of creation, has
the world before him, and can choose his profession or pursuit—war,
politics, agriculture, commerce, mechanic arts, mercantile
affairs (not excepting ribbon and tape), and a thousand vocations
and diversions. There are said to be 40,000 physicians in the
United States. 20,000 of these ought to give place to this number
of women, and turn their attention to pursuits better adapted to
their strong muscles and strong minds. In addition to providing
for the self support of 20,000 or more women, this change would
relieve that number of men, and secure to the country the benefit
of their mental and manual industry—quite an item in our political
economy and national wealth. Of course, this very desirable
change cannot be brought about so suddenly as to create any
great disturbance in the established order of things, even if the
enterprise is carried forward with all possible vigor; so that physicians
now in the field need not be greatly alarmed in prospect
of female competition." We think, all diseases peculiar to women,
or surgical operations on women requiring any exposure of
person, should be treated and performed by women alone. Many
a woman suffers for months, or years, and often a lifetime, because
of that instinctive delicacy that makes her rather suffer
than be treated by a male physician. Those that prepare themselves
as physicians should be ladies of honor, education, and refinement.
In most families, after the minister of the gospel, the
physician holds the next highest place in the esteem of the members.
Other subjects than those of medicine are often discussed, and
the advice of a physician sought on matters of vital importance to
those interested. The free, unembarrassed entrance of a physician
into the sanctum of home, gives an opportunity of learning much
that should be sacredly preserved in their own hearts. A lady
physician needs firmness and dignity in the maintenance of her
rights and opinions. When a woman is weak both in body and
mind, timid and fearful, how much better can one of her own sex
soothe her! It may be the nurse has not time, in a charitable, or
even in a pay institution. But if her physician is a woman, well
acquainted with her profession, and possessing discernment, sympathy,
and some knowledge of the human heart, how readily may
she read the inner as well as the outer wants of her patient! She
will treat her gently and tenderly; and if the patient be a mother,
the physician will see her family now and then, to relieve her patient's
anxiety. If she is poor, she will speak to some of her rich
patients, or acquaintances, to see that she is furnished with suita
[Pg 27]ble
employment when she is well. And so she will interest herself
about those matters most male physicians would never think
of, or, if they did, would consider beneath their attention. "In
Paris, for a long period, women have studied medicine with the
best physicians, who used them as supplements, to attend the poor
and do some of the hospital practice." Two lady physicians became
quite distinguished in Paris, and a hospital was in the entire
charge of one. The statistics and professional reports of
these ladies are now accepted by the best physicians in all countries.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell has lately established a hospital
in New York city, where ladies studying medicine can have the
benefits arising from the observation and experience acquired in
a hospital. This has long been considered almost essential in the
education of male students. In the same city is a preparatory
school of medicine conducted by professors connected with the
medical schools of the city. They give separate instruction to a
class of ladies, who are admitted to the clinical teachings of two
of the largest dispensaries in the city. These dispensaries furnish
upwards of 60,000 cases of disease annually. In 1850, a
charter was granted to the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania.
A college was commenced in Boston about the same time.
Both of these schools are for females exclusively, and each has
graduated about fifty pupils. In the Pennsylvania Medical University
both sexes are received. In some branches the presence
of mixed classes is embarrassing to both professors and pupils,
and that free communication desirable for acquiring and imparting
information is partially checked. This difficulty is done
away in some female colleges by employing competent lady professors.
In Europe, women are not permitted to receive instruction
with the male students, but in hospital practice they have
excellent opportunities of gaining information as nurses and physicians.
I know of no pursuit that offers a more inviting field for
educated women than the practice of medicine. The ability of
woman to study and practice medicine has been satisfactorily
demonstrated. Some ladies have graduated at both the allopathic
and homœopathic schools in Cleveland. The allopathic school
in that place was the first to admit ladies. Different motives actuate
ladies in the study of medicine. The wives of some manufacturers,
planters, and others, who reside where medical advice is not
easily obtained, study medicine that they may prescribe for their
husbands' employées. Some study medicine that they may have
something to rely upon in case other resources should fail them.
Some teachers have studied that they may instruct their pupils
in the laws of hygiene and remedies for disease. Quite a number
of lady physicians are employed in female boarding schools. The
[Pg 28]
benefit resulting from having the advice of a physician at any
hour of the day or night is very great, and must relieve the superintendents
of schools and absent parents from much anxiety.
Some ladies prefer giving advice at their residences. A lady
that devotes herself to a speciality should endeavor to keep posted
in all the branches of her profession, so far as she can without
neglecting to acquire all the information possible in her speciality.
"In the United States there are 40,564 physicians, 191 surgeons,
5,132 apothecaries, 456 chemists, 923 dentists, 59 oculists,
59 patent medicine makers. There are 35 medical colleges,
230 professors, and about 5,000 students." Dr. Ann Preston,
of the Pennsylvania Female Medical College, writes me: "Of
those in practice who graduated with us, quite a number have
found it very remunerative, and the prospect for others to secure
practice is most encouraging, if they only possess the requisite
qualifications. The desire to employ ladies as physicians is
constantly extending, and my faith in the triumphant and extensive
vindication of the movement deepens from year to year.
There are openings in perhaps nearly all the cities and villages
of our land—certainly in Eastern Pennsylvania; but in
choosing a physician, people must have confidence in the sound
judgment, good character, and professional ability of those they
employ. A woman settling among strangers is more liable to
suspicion than a man; and in such a case it takes
time, and a
long continuance in well doing, to become established in a lucrative
practice. It also requires
means; and unless these are
abundant, it is much better for the lady physician to settle
where she is already known and respected, and where, among her
friends, she can live at small expense. Still, in one or two cases,
our students have gone
successfully among strangers, earning
enough to bear their expenses during the first two years. The
cost of fitting a lady of moderate abilities for the practice of medicine
varies. The whole cost of two or more courses of lectures
and graduation is $175. Board here is from $3 to $5 a week
for students, everything included. The needful text books
would cost from $20 to $25; then travelling expenses, clothes,
&c. I have known ladies commence with only one or two hundred
dollars in advance, teach school during the summers, and
graduate in three or four years. Sometimes these have come as
beneficiaries. Still it is much more comfortable to have six or
seven hundred to depend upon during the course of study. The
time also varies, but we think no person should graduate who
has not studied two years and upward. A large proportion of
our graduates have studied medicine three years, and several have
spent the next year in the hospital in New York. We are about
[Pg 29]
opening a hospital here, which, in case of some, will obviate this
necessity. I believe ladies in practice here generally make the
charges common among men physicians; and several of them
realize a handsome competence, and are gladdened by seeing,
year by year, that prejudice is passing away, and that medicine
is proving a fitting and glorious sphere for the exercise of woman's
best powers." There are several regularly educated female physicians
engaged in the practice of medicine in Philadelphia, some
in New York, and some in Boston, with a few in other cities of
the North, South, and West, and here and there scattered through
towns, villages, and the country. There is an opening for one or
two well-qualified physicians in New Orleans that can speak the
Italian and Spanish languages. Many physicians find it an advantage
to have a knowledge of the French and German languages,
on account of the large foreign population in our country. Dr.
Elizabeth Blackwell writes: "It is very difficult by letter to
answer your question about medical education. It is almost impossible
for a lady to get a
good medical education without going
to Europe. Philadelphia or Boston would give a woman the
legal right to practise medicine, and that is the chief value of
what is given, for the exclusively theoretical instruction of those
colleges could be as well obtained by reading and private tuition.
New York can furnish much valuable practical instruction, but
not the legal right. Between the two places, a student who will
spend four years may become a respectable young physician,
without going to Europe; but fully that period of time is necessary
to pick up scattered knowledge, &c. A lady should be able
to command $2,000 during the four years. She is otherwise very
much crippled in her studies. There is a real necessity for women
physicians; therefore, in course of time they will be created; but
the imperfect efforts and most inadequate preparation of those
who now study, rather retard the movement, and the creation of
practice is a very slow thing." I called on Mrs. ——, M. D. She
goes out at night when called—sometimes alone, sometimes takes
her female student. She thinks there must be openings South
and West, and that the prospect for lady physicians is very good.
She supposes the cost of a medical education would be about
$1,500. I called on Mrs. ——, M. D., who practises medicine,
and often lectures on diseases and their remedies. She walks to
see her patients, or rides in stages, but the majority come to her
dwelling in office hours. She never goes out at night except where
she is acquainted. She has a small number of students. She has a
speciality, but does not confine herself to it. She attends several
families by the year, charging, I think, $200 a year. She thinks
many intelligent ladies might, if they would qualify themselves
thoroughly, succeed in establishing themselves as physicians.
[Pg 30]
21. Preachers.
A friend once said "the professions of
ministers and lawyers ought to accord. One is the interpreter
of the divine law, the other of human law. A preacher is a
lawyer for heaven." The promptings and workings of the human
heart must be well understood by a minister. One in this holy
office should not connive at the faults of her congregation, or
give herself up to the acquirement of popular applause. We think
one half the good accomplished in a church is done by the
ladies of the church, particularly single women. And we know
well that ministers are aware of this, and readily enlist the ladies
of their congregations in good works. In old times, Angela de
Foligno was celebrated as a teacher of theology. "In Spain,
Isabella of Rosena converted Jews by her eloquent preaching,
and commented upon the learned Scotus before cardinals and
archbishops." In modern times, two or three ladies have studied
theology, and preached with success. Mrs. Blackwell and Mrs.
Jenkins are both said to be ladies of literary merit and genuine
piety. Their mild, amiable, and lady-like deportment make
them beloved by all who are sufficiently acquainted with to appreciate
them. Some one writes: "It seems to me that woman,
by her peculiar constitution, is better qualified to teach religion
than by any merely intellectual discipline." Women are more
susceptible to religious impressions than men. Two thirds of the
communicants of our churches are of that sex. The Quakers,
Shakers, and Methodists, we think, are the only denominations in
which women speak in religious meetings. The founder of the
Shakers was a woman—Ann Lee—who established her faith in
1776.
22. Proof Readers.
The reading of proof has become a
regular branch of business. Many of the large houses in cities
where publishing is done, employ persons expressly for this purpose.
We think proof reading opens a charming prospect to the
employment of cultivated women. Girls could just as well be
trained to read manuscripts aloud, for proof readers to correct
their first sheets by, as boys. A proprietor of one of the largest
publishing houses in this country kindly furnished us a reply to
the question, what are the duties of a proof reader, and are ladies
ever so employed? Hoping it will not be considered a breach of
courtesy to use the reply, we give it in the words of the writer:
"Proof reading consists in the reading of proofs, marking the
errors, and making the work typographically correct. A good
proof reader ought to be a practical printer, as there are a thousand
minute details which one can hardly learn except by daily
experience at the composing case and imposing stone. In addition
to this he should have more or less knowledge of various
[Pg 31]
languages, ancient and modern, and be well informed in history,
art, and science. Proof reading is considered the best situation
in a printing office; and the most intelligent printers usually gain
and hold these situations. We know of no case in which this
duty is performed by a woman; the cases must be rare indeed in
which one has had an opportunity to qualify her for performing
its duties. Moreover, it is a position the duties of which must
be performed in the printing office." It is true that proof reading
must be done in the printing establishment; but separate
rooms, we believe, are always provided for proof readers. So
ladies need not be frightened by supposing they must do their
reading in the composition room. One of the firm of the Boston
Stereotype Foundry writes: "We employ but three young ladies
to read proof, and pay from $3 to $5 per week. They are
Americans, and work nine hours. At one time we employed
women in the type-setting department, who received two thirds
of the price paid to men. Women are paid less than men because
they are
women, and because plenty can be found. Women
possessing a good English education can learn in two months—if
apt, become expert. They commence at $3, and finally get $5.
The prospect of employment is good for a few. Occasionally
there is a dull time, which affords opportunity for a little sewing,
&c. Unless very dull, the occupant retains her position and wages.
Good workmen consider women an innovation. To sum up the
whole matter in a few words, women (barring the heavy work) can
perform the labor appertaining to proof reading and type setting as
well as men." A lady told me that one of her daughters assists
her father with his newspaper. She reads the proof, looks up
articles he wants, helps select matter for the paper, and translates
French stories for his paper. Her services are worth to him
from $500 to $600 a year. On visiting the Bible House, I learned
that a lady is there employed as proof reader. She corrects
both in English and German. Four or five male proof readers are
employed, but she is the only lady. She gets $5 or $6 a week. The
principal proof reader gets $12 a week. "Accuracy, quickness of
eye, thorough knowledge of orthography, grammar, and punctuation,
with a knowledge of languages, and a vast deal of learning and general
intelligence, are necessary for a proof reader. An intuitive perception,
arising from this cultivation, enables one to detect errors
immediately, often without knowing how and why."
23. Publishers.
We find in the census report of Great
Britain, 923 women reported as booksellers and publishers. What
the number of publishers alone is we cannot tell, nor do we know
whether any of them conduct the business on their own responsibility,
or whether they are widows, and have men to conduct the
[Pg 32]
business for them. We know of two large publishing houses in
New York that pay 10 cents on the dollar to an author for the
manuscript of any book they see proper to publish; that is, for a
book they will sell at retail for $1, and at wholesale for 60 cents,
the author receives 10 cents, which gives the publisher 50 cents
for getting up the book and running the risk of selling it. If the
author incurs the expenses of getting the book up, they may allow 15
cents. They will pay no larger a percentage for any subsequent
edition than for the first. But they will not undertake a book
unless they think they can make money out of it. The same
book might be printed and stereotype plates cast at 85 cents a
volume. The author could then sell it for 65 cents a copy to the
book merchants, and they would sell it at 90 cents a volume.
After the first edition of one thousand, the author could probably
get it printed at 40 cents on the volume less. If the book takes,
the merchant may allow the author twelve to fifteen per cent.
Some publishers purchase the copyrights of books they think
may succeed, paying a specified sum, as agreed on with the author.
Publishers calculate to have two out of every three books fail that
are brought into market. Some publishers sell for authors on commission.
The authors get up their own books, and the publisher
sells, receiving forty per cent. from the retail price. He sells to
the trade at a discount of from twenty-five to thirty-three per
cent., according to amount and distance. The average discount
would be thirty per cent. This leaves the publisher ten per cent.
to transact all the business, advertise, &c. From the first edition
the publisher will not be likely to derive any profit; but if the
book takes, the publisher will make a handsome profit from the
subsequent editions.
24. Readers to the Working Classes.
In China,
at almost every store where cups of tea are sold, a number of men
make it a business to read to those that come in to buy or drink
tea. A gratuity is bestowed by such as feel disposed. The working
classes that are not able to read and buy books, are thereby
enabled to have the benefit of those that can. Now we do not
see why the same principle may not be carried out in this country.
Shakspearian readings, it is true, have been popular and
fashionable for a few years. We have seen it stated that "seven
of Fanny Kemble Butler's recent Shakspearian readings in New
York city netted the fine sum of $6,000." Beside, lectures
have been delivered and poems recited, mostly of the readers'
composition. Now might not competent ladies make it useful to
the working classes of their own sex, or even both sexes, to spend
an evening, occasionally, in reading to them? Charging a small
entrance fee, if there is a good attendance, would support the
[Pg 33]
reader, and enlighten the audience. It would be better if the
poor, hard-working classes had more elevating and refining amusements.
We know of none better calculated to improve while it
entertains than reading. Might it not be done in saloons?—properly
qualified men in the gentlemen's department, and properly
qualified women in the ladies' department. In our large cities,
where time is so precious, many a lady, we doubt not, would give
an additional sixpence to have a book she carries with her or the
papers of the day read aloud while she eats her lunch. The
only difficulty is, the prices paid would scarcely justify one sufficiently
qualified for the undertaking.
25. Reporters.
This is rather a new arena for the exercise
of female talent. A reporter must be a close observer of
matters and things in general that pertain to individual or public
affairs. A verbal or written account is furnished to the publication
in which the reporter is interested. A reporter attends public
assemblies of any kind, and writes down or stenographizes the
proceedings of said assembly. In a city, places of amusement,
lectures, political and church meetings, form subjects of interest
to a newspaper reporter. Noting the proceedings of legislative
and other legal assemblies forms the most regular and reliable
employment. In London, there are seven publications that employ
from ten to eighteen reporters each, during the meetings of
Parliament. Two from each paper are always in attendance—one
in the gallery of the House of Lords, and another in the
gallery of the House of Commons. A reporter seldom remains
more than two or three hours. His place is taken by another,
while he writes out his notes and prepares them for the press.
The reporters are well remunerated, and give very faithful reports.
In the United States, the subscription price of even the very best
papers, and their comparatively limited circulation, will not justify
so great an expense for the reporter's department. Yet
most good papers have one or two reporters. Not long since, a
lady stenographer received $1,000 damages from a railroad company,
for an accident that occurred on the car, which unfitted
her for her calling, as it deprived her of the forefinger on her
right hand. A lady reporter, in Boston, writes me: "The art
of reporting needs constant drilling, like music, dancing, &c.
Few women have the education and nerve for professional reporting."
A lady teacher of phonography writes: "A person of
common capacity could learn phonography in from four to six
months, studying three hours per day; but to practise for reporting
is quite another thing: that depends upon the unremitting
industry of a person. I know of but two ladies whose business is
reporting. It is hard work, but pays well." This lady also
[Pg 34]
states that her terms of tuition are seventy-five cents per lesson
of one hour. "Phonographers generally receive from ten to
twenty dollars an hour; and it takes about five or six hours to
write out what may be spoken in an hour, if done by one person.
With an amanuensis, it takes about four hours of writing to one
of speaking." Several ladies are acting in Ohio and Michigan as
phonographic reporters. Mr. James T. Brady, in a public speech
in New York, said: "Without disparagement to his friends who
were here engaged in catching the extemporized words of the
speaker, he really would be happy to see the day when women,
who had the capacity, should be engaged in making reports."
"Among the American Indians, the women, being present at
councils, preserve in their memories the report of what passes,
and repeat it to their children. They have traditions of treaties
a hundred years back, which, when compared with our writings,
are always exact." A telegraphic reporter told me a first-class
reporter can earn from twenty-five to thirty dollars for three or
four hours' labor. It requires a knowledge of stenography, of
which there are several teachers in New York, and which can be
learned in a short time. Some reporters are paid by the week;
and some by the page of foolscap, which is considered, I think,
as counting eighty words. Mr. B., a reporter of New York, had
a sister in Washington with him, ten years ago, who attended the
sittings of Congress, and took notes, and wrote them out fully.
Her brother then revised and sent them to the press. Another
lady attempted it for the
Tribune, but was ridiculed, and very
foolishly gave it up. I was told that Mrs. W., wife of a reporter
for the
Tribune, took notes of Dr. Chapin's sermon on Thanksgiving
day, and made a report for the
Tribune, with which the readers
of the paper were well satisfied. The reply of Mr. Webster
to Mr. Hayne was saved by Mrs. Gales, the wife of one of the
Congressional reporters, by writing out her husband's short-hand
notes, which he for the lack of time found it impossible to do.
Otherwise that remarkable speech of an eminent orator would
have been lost. Mr. L. remarked to me: "A reporter in New
York has to move and write with railroad speed. Everything
needs to be done with a rush; and so dense are crowds, that a
woman would have to lay aside hoops to make her way."
26. Reviewers.
A reviewer of new books should be a rapid
reader and of quick understanding. A reviewer should also be a
person of judgment. The vast number of books now published
might afford employment, and a good compensation, we suppose, to
those so engaged. But too often publishers use a moneyed influence
in giving a false reputation to their publications. Frequently
the editors of magazines and newspapers are their own reviewers.
[Pg 35]
We heartily wish that reviewers would endeavor to check the circulation
of some of the light literature of the day. We refer not
so much to that which is vapid—unsubstantial—wanting stamina—as
that which is impure—immoral. Much is of a kind to
open the floodgates of vice and crime. Stories cast in the
old-fashioned mould of hair-breadth escapes, marvellous incidents,
and impossible events, are less popular than formerly. No doubt
much reading is done as a recreation—to forget one's self—to
banish care—to unbend from severe study: let such reading at
least be pure and chaste. Books undoubtedly exercise a great
influence over the disposition, taste, and character; and reviewers
have it much in their power to direct the general taste for
books. They can do much toward forming a high and correct
literary tone in society. The number of those who devote themselves
to the review of new books in England is small—in the
United States, still smaller. How they are paid I am unable to
learn.
27. Teachers.
Teaching, in its various branches, would
form a large volume; but we will endeavor to take as general,
yet comprehensive, a view of the subject as our limits will permit.
The instruction of youth has ever been an honorable and useful
calling: in an enlightened and refined community an institution
of the first class always stands high. The influence of a teacher
over her pupils is almost unbounded. Pupils watch the looks and
actions of their teachers with a closeness of observation surprising
to those unaccustomed to children. A teacher should strive
to be consistent, for any palpable inconsistency will greatly lessen
the respect of scholars. There are many systems of teaching;
many plans; many theories. Much may be learned from visiting
schools, and selecting, for one's own use, such improvements as
suggest themselves. But the most valuable assistant in teaching
is a thorough and extensive knowledge of mental and moral
philosophy. They bear directly on the subject. They will prove
the best guides, if penetration and judgment, patience and perseverance
are used in the application. There are laws governing
mind just as there are laws governing matter. Learn the opinions
and wishes of parents as far as possible, but always act independently.
Never permit yourself to be trammelled by them.
The European method of giving instruction is by lectures. The
plan is used in the professional schools of our country, and to
some extent in our colleges, but in our seminaries, academies, and
high schools the method is seldom practised. The inability of a
hearer to apply to a lecturer, in case the subject is not understood,
or the meaning of the lecturer not rightly apprehended, renders
the method as a general thing objectionable to the young and in
[Pg 36]experienced.
Where students are instructed by lectures, a
thorough examination on the lectures should be made the day
after, and an explanation given if any parts are not rightly understood.
One difficulty with a lecturer to the young is likely
to be in gaining their entire attention, and presenting ideas to
them in a clear, forcible manner. In the majority of girls' schools
no oral instruction is given. Recitations are heard from text
books, and frequently the pupils are unable to understand what
they, parrot-like, recite in class. We think a combination of the
two plans mentioned is best; that is, for the teacher to deliver lectures
on some subjects, and hear recitations from text books on
others. The more oral instruction given by a competent instructor
the better. A teacher needs ability to command order,
to promote discipline, and work systematically. A teacher should
endeavor to produce harmony and a proper balance among the
mental faculties, while they are being expanded. No unnatural
and undue prominence should be given to any one of the faculties.
Too many exercise the memory only. Those studies that will be
most serviceable to a pupil should be pursued. Religious principles,
common sense, good health, and a uniformly cheerful disposition
are necessary to make a good teacher. A teacher should
well understand the springs of human action. Add to these, ability
to discriminate, perfect command of temper, unwearied perseverance,
patience that never flags, and tact for imparting knowledge,
and you have the desiderata for a most excellent teacher.
If there is any office in life that calls for the exercise of every
virtue, it is that of a teacher. It is the most responsible office in
life except that of parent. Teaching is a vocation peculiarly
fitted to women, and will ever be open to women of superior
talents and extensive attainments. In worth and dignity it is
inferior to none of the professions of men. It is finally taking
its place among the learned professions. Female education has
been too superficial. A more thorough and extensive course is
needed in most of our schools. Woman must be taught to think
for herself, and to act for herself. She needs to depend more on
her own abilities—requires more self-reliance. Miss Beecher
maintains that there is no defect in temper, habits, manners, or in
any intellectual and moral development, which cannot be remedied.
There are said to be more than 2,000,000 of children
in our land out of school, and requiring 100,000 teachers to supply
them. We would not give the impression that if 100,000
ladies were to prepare themselves to teach, they would find
100,000 places awaiting them. No; we believe the supply now
fully meets the demand; and we are sorry to see the impression
being so often given by editors and others, that teachers are needed
[Pg 37]
and in demand; because we think many ladies of limited means
are thereby induced to spend what little they have in preparing
themselves to be teachers; and when they are qualified, ten
chances to one, if they get a school, it is only for three months out
of the twelve, and that not regularly. A precarious subsistence
is obtained, and, to those without homes, certainly a most unreliable
one. We love to see ladies educated, and would gladly see
them all qualified to teach; but we do not like to see inducements
thrown out to qualify themselves, under the impression that there
are hundreds of places vacant only because they cannot obtain
teachers. There is no employment more uncertain than that of a
teacher. Many causes tend to produce this. Among them are
dissatisfaction on the part of teacher or people, low wages, the
fluctuating condition of country schools at different seasons of the
year, a large mass of people not knowing the advantages of an
education, and the want of endowed institutions of learning. If
a lady has sufficient capital to establish herself permanently as a
teacher, she will be far more likely to succeed. As new places
are settled and population advances there will no doubt be openings,
but they will require teachers willing to endure the hardships
and privations incident to a new country. Some lady
teachers might get employment if they would go to the country,
but the variety and excitement of the city they are not willing to
relinquish. An active life is happiest, and none, if well filled,
affords more constant employment than that of a teacher. Evening
schools are established in most of our large cities, for the accommodation
of those that labor through the day. In New York
these schools are in session two hours, and a teacher receives one
dollar an evening. Some lady teachers are employed in schools
for the blind and for the deaf and dumb. In Germany, teachers
are treated with a degree of respect and delicacy that should
serve as a model to other countries. The acquisition of knowledge
has long been too mechanical an operation. Girls are expected
to receive as undoubted truths all they meet with in their
school books. They are not taught to pause and consider if
statements are grounded on certain or uncertain premises. They
are not taught to exercise their own thoughts and judgment.
School agencies in the large cities of the North are establishing
branches in the South and West. Where there is no established
organization of this kind, families and neighborhoods are often
at a loss how to obtain a governess or teacher, while a teacher
is equally at a loss to know of such situations as she desires.
There is considerable difference in the character and qualifications
of the teachers sent out by the different agencies of New York.
Connected with these agencies might be a means of communica
[Pg 38]tion
for obtaining amanuenses, copyists, and translators. Few
parents are willing to intrust their children to those who are not
trained for their business. The establishment of schools for the
preparation of teachers is one of the great inventions of the age.
There is one in almost every State. There was, and probably still
is, an educational association, that centres in New York city,
which has for its object the
free instruction of a limited number
of young ladies desirous of preparing themselves for teachers.
One of the institutions is in Dubuque, Iowa; the other in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The principal of the Normal School,
New York, receives $600 a year, and he does not hear a single
recitation. He spends five hours in the room every Saturday,
which, for all the year of 48 weeks, equals 240 hours—nearly $3
an hour, merely for the light of his countenance. The number
of governesses in England is very large. Their duties are more
severe and their remuneration less than in any other country.
In the United States, governesses receive higher salaries in the
Southern than the Northern States, and are treated more like
members of the family. The salaries of teachers are also higher,
but it costs more to live in the South. One way in which so
many men get situations as teachers to the exclusion of females,
"may be attributed, in a degree, to favoritism of Odd Fellows'
and other social and political bonds." As time advances, more
attention will be given by the ladies to special branches of education.
There will be professors of mathematics, languages, &c.,
just as there are in male institutions. Each one will cultivate
most highly a knowledge of that science to which her talents and
wishes incline. In the public schools of New York, there are
thirty-nine gentlemen conducting the male departments, who
receive a salary of $1,500 per year; while, of the lady principals
of the female departments, there are only ten getting a salary of
$800, the highest salary paid a lady in the public schools of New
York. There are said to be 1,183 female teachers in New York
city. In Louisville, Ky., the gentleman principals of the grammar
schools receive a salary of $1,000 a year, the lady principals
$650. In the male and female high schools, the principals
receive $1,600 a year. The lady preceptress in the female high
school has a salary of $900. The lady who teaches mathematics
in the Female Presbyterian College of Louisville receives a salary
of $900. In Chicago, the maximum salary of female teachers is
$400 a year. In the Cleveland Female Seminary, in 1854, the
lady teacher of rhetoric and English literature received a salary
of $500 and board; of English branches, $500 and board; of
history, $500 and board; of mathematics, $500 and board. We
have seen it stated that female teachers are growing scarce in
[Pg 39]
Maine, because the wages are so low. "At the New York Central
College for students of both sexes, there is one female professor
in the faculty, and she receives the same salary as the
other members, and has the same voice." It is a manual labor
school, where the same justice is not exercised in regard to the
pupils, as the "male students get eight cents per hour for labor,
females but four cents an hour." In the twelfth ward of New
York city, the subject of paying lady teachers the same salaries
as those of the other sex was agitated last winter: the result I
did not hear. Higher prices are paid to lady teachers in Boston
than any other city of the United States, except the cities of
California, where ladies conducting the same branches as gentlemen
receive as good salaries. The majority of teachers in San
Francisco are ladies. In the United States there are 150,000
teachers in the public schools, and 4,000,000 scholars. "There
is one scholar for every five free persons; in Great Britain there
is one scholar to every eight persons; in France, one to every ten
persons." According to an estimate made by Rev. T. W.
Higginson, there are in fourteen of the United States, in all
schools, both public and private, 152,339 male teachers, and
162,687 female teachers. In the New England States, according
to his estimate, there are 45,619 male teachers, and 87,645
female teachers. In the Western States, settled mostly by New
Englanders, we find the proportion of lady teachers greatest.
We hope the number of lady teachers may increase in the different
States in proportion to the increase of the population. In
Brooklyn, L. I., there is a female seminary endowed by Mrs.
Packer, which usually, we believe, has an attendance of between
300 and 400 pupils. "Matthew Vassar, Esq., of Poughkeepsie,
it is said, has devoted a sum which will soon amount to $400,000
to the endowment of a college for girls in that city. He hopes
to make it a rival of Yale, Brown, and Harvard. It is not to be
free, but the tuition rates will be very low. In the plan provision
is made for a library, cabinets, apparatus, galleries of art,
botanical gardens, and the like. If well carried out, this institution
may be a lasting monument to the wisdom and benevolence
of Mr. Vassar."
28. Teachers of Bookkeeping.
In the catalogue of
Comer's Commercial College, Boston, we find the following statement:
"As an inducement to ladies to prepare themselves for
mercantile employments, a discount of twenty per cent. from the
terms for gentlemen is made, although the course of instruction is
precisely the same." Twelve free scholarships have been founded
in the institution for deserving cases of either sex. With all
[Pg 40]
large commercial schools is now connected a separate department
for ladies; and efforts are made by the principals to obtain
situations for their pupils as they leave school. A letter from
Misses McIntire and Kidder, Boston, states: "We have been
engaged in preparing ladies for bookkeepers, saleswomen, &c., for
the past ten years. It was at first difficult for ladies to obtain
such situations; but as those who did succeed gave entire satisfaction,
others were induced to give them a trial; and now they
are very generally employed in our retail stores, at prices varying
from four to eight dollars per week, and a few at a still
higher salary. The time required for a person who has received
a common English education, is from six weeks to three months.
The terms for the complete course in bookkeeping, which embraces
improvement in writing, with rapid methods of calculating
interest and averaging accounts, are $14; and for bookkeeping
only, $12; and three months' time is allowed. The chances
for obtaining employment are very favorable, as more situations
are opened to them every year. Each student is instructed
separately and assistance rendered in obtaining employment.
Bookkeepers are usually employed ten hours a day. The employment
is not so unhealthy as needlework. Women are superior
to men in faithfulness in the performance of duties." The
principal of a mercantile college in Brooklyn says he thinks
"many ladies might obtain employment as bookkeepers, if they
would only properly qualify themselves for the duties. He had
six or seven lady pupils that are now employed as bookkeepers
in New York. Their compensation depends on their abilities and
the amount of labor they have to perform. They are not so
well paid as male bookkeepers. Much depends on the kind of
friends a lady has to secure her a place. It is the same case
with a young man. If he acquires a reputation for integrity and
faithfulness, he may get even as much as $2,500; while one more
obscure and unknown may be as competent, but not able to command
more than one third as much. So, one may have to work
but a few hours; another, from eight in the morning until twelve
at night. Some have a great deal to do in some seasons, and
but little in others; while some are kept nearly equally busy all
the year." This gentleman charges $10 for instruction. Mr.
D., who teaches writing, bookkeeping, and arithmetic, in New
York, gives private instruction to ladies at his rooms. They are
comfortably fitted up. He charges for bookkeeping, practical
course of twenty lessons, $15; unlimited course, $25;—arithmetic,
commercial course of twenty lessons, $10; of sixty lessons,
$20. His charges for all branches required to prepare
pupils practically for business are, for one month, two or three
[Pg 41]
hours per day, $15; three months, $30; for twenty lessons in
writing, public room, $10; private room, $15. Mr. B., of the
firm of B. S. & Co., says a person of good abilities could learn
bookkeeping in one month, by spending most of the day at it.
His price for ladies is $25. It entitles them to an attendance at
one of their branch schools, of which there are eight in the
Northern and Western cities. They endeavor to secure places for
those who learn bookkeeping with them. They also assist their
pupils to open books when they have obtained situations. Millinery
establishments, trimming and fancy stores, &c., are the
kind that mostly employ women as bookkeepers. Many wives of
business men learn bookkeeping, that they may keep their husbands'
books.
29. Teachers of Gymnastics and Dancing.
Dancing,
calisthenics, and gymnastics furnish excellent exercise for
young people, and in many boarding and day schools for young
ladies gymnastics are now taught. A lady teacher of calisthenics
and gymnastics told me that in winter a fire is kept in the dressing
room, and in very cold weather the practising room is
warmed a little. Gymnastics are performed with apparatus.
Calisthenics are arm exercises. The terms of this teacher are $6
for one month, $15 for three months, and $20 for six months'
tuition. In New York and Philadelphia there are schools where
instruction is given to girls as well as boys in gymnastic exercises.
At one gymnasium in New York the terms are $16 a
year for tuition, $10 for six months, and $7 for three months.
At a ladies' gymnasium in Brooklyn, I was told by the instructress
that her prices for tuition are $4 a quarter in summer, giving
three lessons a week. A physician prescribes the kind and
amount of exercise necessary.
30. Teachers of Drawing and Painting.
There
is scarcely any branch of mechanical labor in which a knowledge
of drawing is not an advantage. Correct drawing is essential to
the success of an artist; but coloring is something very difficult
and desirable, particularly the coloring of the flesh. It is indispensable
to the portrait painter. A lady artist of some note
told me that artists do not ground themselves in drawing as they
should; that drawing tells almost the whole story of a picture:
coloring only gives beauty and adds strength. She thinks there
are many openings in the South and West for first-class teachers
of drawing and painting. Miss G. received a salary of $800, as
teacher of painting in the School of Arts in Baltimore. It is
folly for any one to devote herself to art as a career, unless she
has some genius and a fondness for it. Mrs. H., of Boston, the
wife of the sculptor, has supported her family by painting and
[Pg 42]
giving instruction in the art. Teachers in oil painting are well
compensated, if they have pupils enough to occupy all their
time. Prices vary in cities from fifty cents a lesson of one hour
to two dollars. Art classes have been formed, both in New
York and Philadelphia. Some artists receive pupils, but the
time required for instruction renders it objectionable to most.
Miss G. charges $15 a quarter of twenty-four lessons, two hours
each. In ordinary times, she gives but one hour's instruction at
a lesson. Miss J. charges $10 dollars for instruction in oriental
painting. Mrs. C. was profitably engaged, in Providence, in
teaching drawing and taking crayon portraits. One lady, who
taught for several years with success, charged fifty cents a lesson,
the pupils attending at her room. Those working in crayon in
the New York school draw almost entirely from casts; those in
the Philadelphia school, from plates. There is now a life school
in New York, where instruction is given at $20 per quarter of
eleven weeks—two lessons a week. For instruction in drawing
from plates, $12 per quarter of eleven weeks. In some of our
public schools, drawing is taught free of expense to the scholars.
31. Teachers of Fancy Work.
The accomplishments
of women are useful in their times and places. Music and drawing
are elegant accomplishments, the earliest as well as the most
universal pastimes known. Those teachers of accomplishments
that have acquired a reputation can command in a city a high
price. At Madame D.'s, crochet work and embroidery are taught
at 25 cents a lesson of one hour. Misses H., Philadelphia, give
five lessons in leather work for $6, and charge, for giving instruction
in wax fruit and flowers, paper and rice paper flowers, &c.,
$1 a lesson; in embroidery in silk, gold bullion, &c., $15 for
twenty lessons—the same for hair flowers and bead work; for the
arrangement of shells with mosses and grasses, $1 a lesson. Madame
N., who teaches crochet work and fancy knitting, charges
50 cents an hour. One stitch can be learned by a quick person
in an hour. She thinks there is plenty of that kind of work to
supply all and even more hands than are so occupied. She
employs a number, and pays by the piece. They work at home, and
can earn from $3 to $4 a week.
32. Teachers of Horsemanship.
The prices of the
riding school, New York, attended by the most aristocratic classes,
are: 16 lessons, $20; 10 lessons, $15; 5 lessons, $8; single lessons,
$2; road lesson, one pupil, $5; two or more pupils, each
$3. For exercise riding, single ride, one hour, $1.50; single
ride, half hour, $1. After taking 16 or more lessons, the prices are
somewhat reduced. At another riding school in New York, the
terms are: 20 lessons for gentlemen, $25; 20 lessons for ladies,
[Pg 43]
$20; 10 lessons for gentlemen, $15; 10 lessons for ladies, $12;
single lessons, $2. The rules are very good, and laid down in
the circulars. At another riding school in New York the prices
are: $20 for 20 lessons, $12 for 10 lessons, $7 for 5 lessons;
single lessons, $1.50; road lessons, one person, $5; road lessons,
three or more, each $3; 20 exercise rides for $15; evening rides
for $1; road rides, 10 for $8; single, $1; road ride to a lady,
$2.50. The regulations are very good. The expenses for keeping
up a riding school are considerable; so it may not prove as
profitable as the prices would seem to indicate.
33. Teachers of Infant Schools.
Teaching is interesting
to those that love children. But I would say, let not
those without patience and tenderness, or those whose feelings
can in an hour change from the boiling to the freezing point, attempt
to teach young children. In ordinary schools, young children
are liable to be either cramped or stunted. If children
must be placed at school early, let it be where they can exercise
their little bodies frequently, and not be confined in school long
at a time. To accomplish this, we think the infant school the most
efficient. Lord Brougham gives it as his opinion that a child
learns more the first eighteen months of its life than at any other
period; and that it settles, in fact, at this early age, its mental
capacity and future well-being. Mr. Babbington fixes the period
of the first nine years as the seedtime of life. Some object to infant
schools, on the ground that they divert the mind, and unfit it for
continued and concentrated thought in after life. But we cannot
think so, unless the course is pursued an unreasonable length of
time. The first two years of a child's schooling may be passed
profitably in an infant school; at any rate, if the child enters as
early as six years of age. Indeed, we think the variety embodied
in the infant-school system is one of its most pleasing and useful
features. The minds of children cannot rest long on any one
subject, any more than their bodies can retain the same posture
long at a time. It stagnates thought, prevents boldness of spirit,
and stunts the growth of a young child to sit quiet hour after
hour. Some mothers send their children early to school to have
them out of their way. Such children could be more pleasantly
and more efficiently taught in an infant school than in any other.
Yet, we are rather inclined to the opinion that a child should be
taught the alphabet at home. Gentle but firm treatment is necessary
for children, who need much sympathy and affection; and
it therefore requires the greatest patience on the part of a teacher,
in order to conduct an infant school successfully. Infant schools
are scarce in the United States; but still they exist in some
parts of New England. There was an infant school in Troy, some
[Pg 44]
time ago (and perhaps it is still in existence), in connection with
one of the public schools. The infant-school system has been
partially adopted in some of the public schools of our Western
cities; and the same system applied to Sabbath schools has been
extensively and happily carried into effect, both in the South and
West. There are several infant Sabbath schools, of which we
know, numbering considerably over one hundred children. These
schools are usually conducted by ladies. The exercises are varied,
as in day schools, and consist generally of chanting responses,
catechism, memorizing from cards, telling Bible stories, lecturing,
explaining pictures, singing, &c. This order of exercises, sustained
in a lively manner, cannot fail to interest children, and
make the school room for them a happy and longed-for place.
Nature itself points out the course to be pursued in the education
of a child: first, physical training; second, moral training;
and third, mental training. Mind and body are so closely united
that an injury to one is resented by the other. One is placed as
a protector to the other, and will not permit injury to its companion
with impunity.
34. Teachers of Languages.
A knowledge of Latin
is desirable for ladies that expect to devote much time to books.
The study of it is fine discipline for the mind. The German and
French are studied by many ladies: the French more for the
purposes of light literature and conversation; the German by those
that wish to dive into metaphysics. These languages are, both,
useful to ladies engaged in stores: the French mostly in New
York city and in the South; the German more at the North and
West. In Italy, at different times from the fifteenth to the nineteenth
century, learned women occupied chairs in the universities,
as professors of music, drawing, philosophy, mathematics, and the
languages, both ancient and modern. The author of "Women
and Work" says: "Women should teach languages and oratory.
Aspasia taught rhetoric to Socrates. The voice of woman is
more penetrating, distinct, delicate, and correct in delivering
sounds than that of man, fitting her to teach both languages and
oratory better." The prices paid for private instruction in the
languages are higher than when received in a class, and run from
25 cents an hour to $1. A language is best taught by a native
of the country in which said language is spoken.
35. Teachers of Music.
Vocal music is taught in most
of our schools, and is required to be taught in the public schools
of Germany and Prussia. In Germany, instrumental music is
also taught free of charge. It is not uncommon to see a German
mechanic performing on the piano. Instrumental music is probably
the most expensive accomplishment attending the education
[Pg 45]
of a young lady. Music is more generally cultivated in the
United States than any other accomplishment. It is better appreciated
by the mass, and, consequently, becomes more ingrafted
in the national element. In a few years our musicians will probably
equal the most celebrated of Europe. A skilful musician
need never suffer in America. If competent to give instruction
in music, there will be opportunities to do so in our cities. Most
seminaries require one teacher of music, and often two or more.
36. Teachers of Navigation.
"One of the best and
most popular teachers of navigation and nautical mathematics
and astronomy in England is a lady, Mrs. Janet Taylor. Her
classes are celebrated, and numerously attended by men who have
been at sea as well as by youths preparing for the merchant
service." Not long since, she received a gold medal and a premium
of £50 annually from the British Government.
37. Teachers of Swimming.
There is a swimming
school in Paris, containing as pupils ladies of all stations in life.
Swimming schools for both sexes have been established in New
York. In the one for ladies and girls instruction is given by
one of their own sex, and a charge made of 25 cents a lesson.
From the New York Observer we copy an article: "A few
years ago, a gentleman well known in the philanthropic world
established a school in New Jersey, not far from New York, with
the intention of making physical training a prominent part of his
educational system. He began with his own children and a few
others. The school has gradually grown until it numbers eighty
pupils, both boys and girls. Every pupil at this school is a gymnast;
every one can row a boat; and every one, down to the
smallest girl, can swim. The boys and girls are formed into separate
boat clubs, seven to each club, rowing six oars, with the
seventh for coxswain. So they row races whenever the weather
permits, and they do not mind a little rough weather. Every
day, too, during the warm season, they all have a swim. The
boys swim by themselves; and the girls, in suitable bathing dresses,
go elsewhere, with a teacher. One year of such training and
exercises will lay up stamina for a lifetime." A school has been
commenced in New York for teaching swimming out of the water,
by machinery. The prices are 25 cents a lesson in a class, and
$1 a lesson for private instruction.
38. Translators.
Translations published in the United
States are mostly made in England. Some languages are susceptible
of a much more correct and graceful translation than others.
It requires study to get the exact meaning of some authors, and
taste and genius to convey that meaning. A literal interpretation
will not always convey the meaning of an author as well as
[Pg 46]
a looser translation getting more the spirit of the original. A
person should have general information on the subject to be
treated. A translator of history must be a good historian. It
requires time to establish a reputation as a translator, but even a
translator's career must have a beginning. Dr. G., who has
charge of the editorial department of one of the most extensively
circulated magazines in the United States, says translations from
French and German are not so well liked in magazines as
original matter, and anything to be translated for his magazine
he does as a recreation from more serious duties. Owing to the
international copyright law of England and France, a French author
will send his manuscript over to England and have it rendered,
securing the right to the translation. The translation often
makes its appearance very nearly as soon as the original. Most
of the valuable works in French have been translated. Mr. W.
told me, however, that there are some scientific French works that
might be rendered into English, and some on mechanics; but it
would require some one acquainted with the subject, on account of
the technical terms. Dr. G. thinks the chances a thousand against
one that an individual could find constant employment translating.
He has frequent applications from translators for work in that
line. So we have reason to think translating is a very precarious
occupation. The best way is to find some French book that will
be popular in America, and translate it, and offer it to a publisher.
Some translators look over catalogues of foreign books
and examine such as they think will be likely to please. They
take it to the publisher, who, if he thinks it will be available,
gives the individual the task, if they can settle on satisfactory
terms. A lady, who translates considerably, told me that she
receives $5 a page for a finished translation from the French for
magazines. Books are generally done for so much, according to
the contract of the parties. The price charged for verbal translation
would doubtless depend on the amount of time consumed;
but for a written translation, the charge would be made by the
page or volume. In most of the Government departments translators
are employed, and their salaries are no doubt good.
Interpreters are also employed in some of the courts, but they
usually unite their occupation with that of copyist. In some
private establishments interpreters are employed. Where there
is sufficient business to occupy all the time of a lady, she would
doubtless find her services as an interpreter lucrative.
[Pg 47]
39. Actresses.
The circumstances under which a play-actor's
life are seen are calculated to please the young and susceptible.
They put a false estimate on the pleasures it affords.
They are apt to forget that the moments in which performers appear
on the stage all sparkling as the diamond sands and crystal
pebbles of a brook, are the principal, perhaps the only bright
ones of their lives. Many a sad spirit, many a broken heart is
concealed under the glittering tinsel. We are not among those
who denounce the theatre as a school of vice and infamy—nor
could we conscientiously laud it as a school of virtue. We think
the influence and effects depend very greatly upon the character
of the plays; much, too, depends upon the individuals of the
audience. There is no amusement that may not suffer in the
abuse. Late hours, intoxicating drinks, and bad companions, in
many cases form the curse of regular theatre-goers; and for these
the plays (perhaps harmless in themselves) are charged with
being demoralizing. Good plays have an intellectual fascination.
We think the drama might be made more a school of instruction
and innocent pastime—less a school of evil tendencies. In China
and Japan, the female parts in theatrical performances are never
executed by women. No women ever appeared on the stage of
the Greeks or Romans. Even the female characters in Shakspeare
were not represented by women in his time. The first
lady that appeared on the stage took the parts of Juliet and
Ophelia in 1660. The publicity attending the life of an actress
makes it repulsive to many, and the egotism that the profession
engenders is an objectionable feature. That there are good and
virtuous people connected with the theatre we cannot for a moment
question; but some of the men are worthless and dissipated,
and many of the girls and women engage in it because they see
no other way of earning their bread. Many a ballet girl has
danced to support an infirm mother or orphan brothers and sisters.
The roving life of an actress and want of home influences
are not conducive to the growth of domestic virtues. Yet some
actresses have married advantageously in Europe, and been respected
in social life, not less for their virtues than their talents.
The craving of admiration incident to the calling is apt to make
an actress vain. Her fondness for excitement, and her consciousness
of importance in the eyes of those who patronize her, furnish
[Pg 48]
additional fuel to the fire. If she makes a failure, she may die of
chagrin. Mr. B., a dramatic agent, thinks there is always a supply
as soon as there is a demand for dramatic performers. They
cannot enter and leave the profession, like any other. They must
be actively engaged in it all the time, or leave it. Their talents
must be carefully considered, and they placed in the company
that requires them, and in such places as suit their talents. If a
play in which they excel is to be performed in a distant city, they
accompany the troupe to which they belong. A company consists
of a combination of various talents. The number employed
is not fluctuating, but they change their localities often; that is,
go from city to city and town to town, shifting their place as
seems best. They are compensated according to talent and proficiency—from
$3 a week to $150. They are usually paid according
to the contract made with them. I think the voice of actors
when off the stage is peculiar. It is deep and hollow, as if trained
to be thrown to a distance. By the drama two of the senses
which afford most pleasure are entertained—the eye and the ear.
Madame Celeste made $50,000 clear in this country; Essler,
$70,000. The play, "Our American Cousin," is said to have
cleared $40,000 in New York. Mr. P., a dramatic agent, told
me that actresses are paid according to their position and talent.
A ballet girl is paid from $3 to $6 a week, if by the season.
Wallack pays $5 or $6. Utility people are paid from $6 to
$10. Prices depend very much on who and what the people are,
and the class of theatre by which they are employed. Those
of the better class are paid from $25 to $60 a night. When
they are not required they are not paid anything. In Europe,
some of the theatres are open during the summer. In New
York a paper has lately been commenced, devoted almost exclusively
to the drama. "Our great star actors, Mr. Forrest
or Miss Cushman, command their hundreds of dollars a night.
The handsome Brignoli or the ponderous Amodio will not dispense
their silver notes short of fabulous thousands of golden
dollars per month. Those who try the life of an actor speedily
discover that, of all hard-working men, few render more constant,
wearing, unceasing labor for their money, than those who conscientiously
do their duty in a theatre. Multitudinous and constantly
varying requirements are made of an actor who has achieved
a leading position. He
must be a linguist, an elocutionist, a
fencer, a dancer, a boxer, a painter (for the proper coloring or
'making up' of his own face and figure is no small part of his art),
a soldier (so far as a knowledge of military drill and the manual
exercise is concerned); and he should be a singer, and a bit of
an author. In a theatre where a drama unfamiliar to the com
[Pg 49]pany
is produced every night, or in case of a new 'star,' who
plays his own pieces, a day's work of an actor may be set down
as follows: To learn by heart a part not exceeding six 'lengths'
(a length is forty-two lines), attend rehearsal from ten to one or
two, and act at night in one or two pieces. That is, six lengths
new study, rehearsal, and playing at night, is what may be required
of an actor for a day's work, without giving occasion for
grumbling at the managers. There are many actors who, upon
an urgent occasion, will study from ten to fifteen lengths in a
day, besides attending to their other duties. This, however, is
never required except in case of sudden sickness of another performer,
or some similar extraordinary event. In provincial
theatres the actors are worked much harder than in New York,
and paid much less. The starring system universally prevails,
which necessitates a constant succession of new plays, most of
which have to be studied from night to night, as a play is not
often acted two nights in succession in small cities. But when a
piece has a successful 'run,' the actors have no new study for
several weeks. Actors are usually engaged for certain lines of
business; that is, each one engages to perform only such style
of characters as he is best qualified to personate. The remuneration
of actors comes next into consideration, and the scale has a
wide range, from $3 a week up to $200 a night. This last sum
was for years the demand of Mr. Edwin Forrest. Other stars
are generally content with certain 'sharing terms;' that is, the
gross receipts, after a certain specific amount has been deducted
for the expenses of the theatre, are equally divided between the
star and the manager. Thus, for example, if the expenses of the
house are $300 per night, and the receipts $400, the lucky star
and the fortunate manager pocket $50 each per night. This is
the fairest basis on which to conduct the starring system, because,
by this plan, the salaries of all the stock company are assured
first, and the profit of the star depends on his own power of attracting
the public to the theatre. In New York the salaries
paid to stock actors are higher, on the average, than those in any
other city in the United States. The managers ignore, to a great
extent, the technical 'lines of business,' and engage the best artists
that can be had, and then have plays especially written, in
which each of their leading actors shall have a part suited to his
peculiar powers. While this plan secures to the New York public
the finest acting that can be seen in the country, it also entails
upon the managers a salary list of dimensions that would swamp
a provincial theatre in a single week. The leading actors, as
Messrs. Lester, Blake, and Walcot, at Wallack's Theatre;
Messrs. Jefferson, Jordan, and Pearson, at the Winter Garden;
[Pg 50]
Messrs. Mark Smith and Vincent, at Laura Keene's Theatre,
receive from $50 to $100 per week. Salaries for women are
about half, or perhaps two thirds of what are paid to men holding
corresponding positions. General utility men, supernumeraries,
and ballet girls receive from $3 to $10 per week. When an unusual
number of 'ladies of the ballet,' or supernumeraries of the
other sex are required, on some extra occasion, they are specially
engaged, at 50 cents a night, or sometimes for even less money.
The salaries on the east side of the city, at the Bowery Theatre,
are lower than on Broadway, the principal actors seldom receiving
more than $35 or $40 per week, and the others are in proportion.
In smaller cities, as Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, &c., the highest
sum paid to a performer seldom exceeds $25 per week. Actors
who have achieved a position which warrants them in demanding
it, stipulate for a 'benefit' in addition to their salaries. On
these occasions, a third or a half of the gross receipts of the
evening is paid over to the performer, according as his agreement
is for a 'third clear' or a 'half clear' benefit."
40. Aquaria Makers.
One of the most innocent and
pleasing amusements that has attracted attention for some time
is the making of aquaria. The cases are formed of plate glass,
square, oblong, circular, or any shape to please the fancy of the
owner. The glass is tightly sealed when joined. The aquaria
are of two kinds: one is formed of salt water, and contains marine
plants and animals; the other contains fresh water, and
such plants and animals as are found in rivers and smaller
streams. They form a beautiful addition to a garden, conservatory,
or drawing room. Rocks form the foundation, and the soil
on them furnishes subsistence to the plants. Zoophytes, mollusca,
and fish form the inhabitants of the aquarium. Insects also find a
place in this miniature "ocean or river garden." The size for
parlors is from one foot to three in length. The largest aquaria
in this country are now on exhibition at Barnum's Museum, New
York. "They comprise over one thousand specimens of living
animals and vegetation. In these tanks the water is seldom
changed, the natural operations of the plants and animals keeping
it always pure." They are made to order in New York, and
we think might afford a pleasant pastime to some, and pecuniary
profit to others. A work giving directions for making
them has been published in New York. The author is a Mr.
Butler, who has got up the mammoth aquaria in Barnum's
Museum. There are two establishments in New York where
they may be ordered, and specimens seen. "Before we leave
the margin of the sea, we must just glance at the smaller occupations
pursued there by women. The most considerable of these
[Pg 51]
was once the gathering and burning of kelp; but chemical
science has nearly put an end to that. There is still a great
deal of raking and collecting going on. In some countries half
the fields are manured with small fish and the offal of larger,
and sea weeds and sand. Then there is the gathering of jet and
amber, and various pebbles, and the polishing and working of
them. The present rage for studies of marine creatures must
afford employment to many women who have the shrewdness to
avail themselves of it."
41. Architects.
We scarcely know to what extent this
branch of business can come within the province of woman. Yet
it is as practicable, perhaps, as some we mention. Civil architecture
is the only one open to women. In this art we are as a
people little more than novices; yet great improvements are
going on. In a century's time, perhaps, the art in this country
will have obtained the perfection of ancient nations. Properzia
di Rossi, born in Bologna, 1490, is said to have furnished some
admirable plans in architecture. The author of "Women
Artists" mentions as designers in architecture, Madame Steenwyck,
of the Dutch school, and Esther Juvenal, of Nuremberg.
She also gives the name of a lady who was a practical architect
in Rome, in the seventeenth century—Plautilla Brizio—who has
left monuments of her excellence in that species of art. The villa
Giraldi, near Rome, is the joint work of this lady and her brother.
"The wife of Erwin von Steinbach materially assisted her husband
in the erection of the famous Strasbourg cathedral; and
within its walls a sculptured stone represents the husband and
wife as consulting together on the plan." The most varied and
general information is desirable for a first-class architect. A
knowledge of drawing and the first principles of geometry are
the most important requisites. Some architects select the materials
for the building, which of course requires a knowledge of
the different kinds and conditions of wood, their fitness for various
parts of a building; also, the qualities of iron, stone, brick, and
whatever goes toward making up the building. An architect
should also select the most suitable site for the erection of the
intended structure, which would be decided, to some extent, by
the way in which it was to be used. He also should be able to
judge the nature of the soil, and the way in which a want of fitness
may be remedied. Then he must see that the foundation is
securely laid; and, as the building progresses, that the workmen
carry out the details of the plan which he furnishes. Much of
this work seems unsuitable for women; but the making and
executing of plans could be very well done by them. It would
give exercise to their taste and inventive talents. Men employ
[Pg 52]ed
in architectural drawing earn from $1.25 to $3 a day of ten
hours. Miss H. told me of a wealthy lady in New York who is
quite an architect by nature. Mrs. D. told me of a young lady
of her acquaintance who is gifted with talents that would make a
superior architect. She has planned several houses for her father,
who has sold them at an advance of from $3,000 to $4,000, on
account of the convenient arrangement of the rooms and their
tasteful decoration. She displays exquisite taste in the selection
and arrangement of furniture. She is withal economical in her
expenditures. She is a close calculator of the cost of materials,
and a great economist of space.
42. Cameo Cutters.
There are two kinds of cameo cutting—one
with a lapidary's wheel, of hard stones, as the onyx and
the sardonyx. The shell cameos are cut with small steel chisels,
from the white portion of the shell, leaving the chocolate color for
the background. The figures are in relief. The stone is prepared
by the lapidary, and the artist arranges his design according
to the capabilities of the stone. He makes a drawing in paper
on an enlarged scale, and a model in wax of the exact size,
and the latter is carefully compared with the stone, and such alterations
made as the markings on the stone seem to require.
The outline is then sketched on the surface, and cut with tools
prepared for that purpose. After it has been properly cut, it is
smoothed and polished. In Mrs. Lee's "Sculpture and Sculptors"
we find an account of those that have engaged in cameo cutting
in the United States. Mrs. Dubois, of New York, cut several
cameo likenesses of her friends, and so well did she succeed that
she went to Italy to acquire proficiency in the art; but the artist
to whom she applied said he could teach her nothing—she had
only to study the antique. John C. King, a sculptor of Boston,
has also engaged in the art of cutting cameos; and Peter Stephenson,
of Boston, had cut in 1853 between 600 and 700 cameo likenesses.
He writes me: "Cameo cutting might be done by girls,
especially the finishing process—polishing. When in Italy, some
years ago, I employed girls to polish my cameos, and paid from 12
to 50 cents apiece. I think they earned about $1 a day. The
employment is not unhealthy, but confining." Margaret Foley,
formerly a member of the New England school of design, resided
in Lowell, and cut cameos at $35 apiece. She was kept
busy in filling orders. The Misses Withers, of Charleston, S. C.,
are said to cut cameo likenesses with beauty and skill. I saw
Mr. L. a Frenchman, in New York, copying a likeness from a daguerreotype.
He also copies from life. He learned the business
in Paris. He charges $15 for those large enough for a breastpin,
and which it requires him about three days to make; smaller
[Pg 53]
ones are lower in price. He imports the stones, and furnishes
without extra charge to those for whom he works. A good intaglio
worker can make cameos, but a cameo worker cannot make
intaglios. Some men can never learn the business. It would
form a beautiful pastime and a profitable and refined occupation
for a lady, if sufficient work could be obtained.
43. Copperplate Engravers.
In a hasty reading of
"Women Artists," we find mention made of a number of ladies
occupied at various times, in different European countries, as copperplate
engravers: in the sixteenth century, one in Holland, and
one in Italy; in the seventeenth century, Germany produced seven,
France one, Spain one, and Italy three; in the eighteenth century,
Italy two, France one, and Denmark one. It may have been that
some escaped my notice. Mr. S. told me he knew a family of copperplate
engravers; but the daughters are now married. I saw a
lady who engraves on copper; she had an office in New York.
She was willing to instruct a lady on these terms: after the pupil
had acquired about six months' practice, she would allow her half
for all the work she did in six months more; then she could be
at liberty to work for herself. She thinks a year sufficient time
to acquire a good knowledge and practice of card engraving.
She had spent a year at it irregularly, having no instructor, but
asking advice and assistance now and then. In that way she did
not obtain the custom she would have done by being known to
others. The patience and careful attention to details requisite,
and the sedentary nature of engraving, render it a more suitable
occupation for women than men. To make a good card engraver,
an educated eye, a steady hand, and ability to form letters gracefully,
are the principal requisites. A card engraver told me he
knew a lady who assisted her husband in his work, that of copperplate
engraving. As the people of the United States become
wealthy, and cultivate a taste for the fine arts, engravers will be
more patronized. There is a collection of old and choice copperplate
engravings in the possession of Mr. Plassman, who has a
school of art in New York; there is also such a collection at the
Historical rooms in the same city.
44. Daguerreans.
The process consists in concentrating
the light of the sun on a metal plate, so prepared by chemicals
as to retain the impression of an image that falls upon it. The
shadow catcher has become almost interwoven with the every-day
realities of life. Prof. Draper speaks of daguerreotyping as introducing
a beautiful work, in which "the fair sex may engage
without compromising a single delicate quality of woman's nature."
Some artists, not content with moving in the ordinary
way from place to place, have cars built that roll on wheels and
[Pg 54]
are drawn by horses. The daguerrean sleeps in his little home,
and, on the road, far away from a good tavern, can even do his
own cooking, or have it done, in his car. The business has also
been carried on by men in small boats, floating down rivers and
stopping at villages and farm houses. It requires taste and judgment
both to make an operator and to color. Colorers of photographs
could, if skilful and constantly employed, earn $30 a week
in large cities. An operator, if busy, works from 9 to 5 o'clock
in winter. A wonderful improvement has taken place in the daguerrean
art since its discovery. A lady daguerrean and photographer
writes me: "Ladies are employed in the business as operators,
and to superintend; also to repaint and retouch photographs.
With care in the use of chemicals, I do not consider it
particularly unhealthy; less so, I think, than sewing by hand or
machine. No person will do well for himself, herself, or patrons,
who commences business without a good knowledge of it. The
time of learning will depend upon the individual's knowledge of the
sciences bearing on photography, and their talent for the business.
It would vary from two weeks to three months. The labor of
the learner is usually given while learning, and from $25 to $100
besides. Spring and fall are the best seasons, summer the poorest;
but there is no time during the year in which there is not
something to do. I operate and superintend in my own establishment,
and hire a boy only, who does chores. The principal
discomforts of the business are the heat to which we are exposed
in summer (being usually and necessarily near the roof), the
smell of chemicals (which do not unpleasantly affect any one),
and the soiling of clothing, which is more unavoidable with
women. The amount of business, and consequently the location,
decide the profits of the business. As the business is attended
with considerable expense, it is necessary, in order to make it
pay, to seek a good location. It is profitable when a person is
well established in a desirable location. I think ladies and
children usually prefer a lady artist. Upon the whole, I think
the business quite as suitable for women as men. There is
generally more or less spare time, but a woman is most apt to
occupy such time with fancy work or reading." A daguerrean
writes: "Women are sometimes employed in the reception room
to receive ladies—occasionally, in the operating room. They
receive from $3 to $8, according to capacity and address. Men
generally command better prices, because they can sometimes
perform labor out of a woman's sphere, such as unpacking goods,
carrying packages, and other jobs, not suitable for women. I
think the business as healthy as any indoor business. It requires
from six to twelve months to learn the duties of the operating
[Pg 55]
room; for the reception room, from one to three weeks. Industry,
patience, perseverance, shrewdness, and suavity of manners, are
the necessary qualifications. Prospect for employment poor, as
prices are reduced to almost nothing. All seasons are nearly
alike. November and June are dull. Our women work in summer
from seven
A. M. to six
P. M. The work averages about eight
hours per day the year through. Men are superior in patience (?)
and force of character. Women are easily discouraged, and liable
to be petulant. In many instances, there is much running
up and down stairs, which is harder on women than men. And
there is too much standing for a woman's health."
45. Schools of Design.
Schools of design were established
444 B. C., for the purpose of improvement in making statuary.
The arts declined when Europe was overrun by barbarous
tribes, but in the eleventh century began to recover, and in 1350
several painters, sculptors, and architects formed an academy of
design at Florence. In Paris there are seven schools of design for
males, and two for females, supported by the city. There are seventy
schools of design in Great Britain, and there is an annual exhibition
of their work in London, where premiums are awarded. It is about
twenty years since the schools were commenced in England. In
1854 nearly I,500 students had been educated in the School of
Arts in Edinburgh. There are schools of design in New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. The object of these schools
is to give a knowledge of some industrial branches of the fine arts.
"The greater part of the higher order of designs are practically
unavailable, for want of knowledge, on the part of the designer, of
the conditions of the particular manufacture in question. The
economic possibility and aptitude are not studied; and hence, the
manufacturers say, an enormous waste of thought, skill, and industry.
This want supplied, a field of industry practically boundless
would be opened to female artists, as well as artisans; and it
would be an enlightened policy to look to this while the whole
world seems to be opening its ports to our productions." Mrs.
Alice B. Havens writes of the school of design in Philadelphia:
"When novelty and jealousy shall have ceased to excite envy
and suspicion among those who would keep our sex from honest
independence, a wide sphere of employment will be opened by this
and similar institutions to educate intelligent women; for surely,
if English manufacturers are not content to be under the control
of foreign influence, our own countrymen can never be." The
largest class of wood engravers is in the school of New York; the
largest for designing on wall paper, in Philadelphia. More time
has been devoted to instruction in drawing in the New York than
the Philadelphia school. Without some practice in drawing,
[Pg 56]
nothing can be accomplished in either wood engraving or designing.
Designing, in some of its branches, is taught in all of the
schools. Designs for paper hangings, calicoes, and wood engraving
receive most attention. Designs for carpets, silks, ribbons,
furniture, lace, plated ware, silver, jewelry, &c., have received
but little, if any attention—those for casts and moulds, no more.
If women of taste and cultivation attain superiority in designing,
we doubt not they will reap a very fair harvest for their work.
Lithography, wood engraving, drawing and painting, are also
taught in schools of design. There are now in the school of design,
New York, between 200 and 300 pupils: some are wood engravers,
some designers, and some painters. "The earnings of
the pupils in the classes of drawing and engraving are as varied
as their skill and experience, but are about the same as those
of men who have been at those branches of art the same length
of time. Engravers and designers are generally qualified to
work on orders the second year of their practice. With industry
and the use of their
whole time during school hours, pupils may
expect an increase of about a $100 a year for several years.
The income from the branches of art taught in the school must
always be proportioned to the talent, experience, habits of application,
and rapidity of hand shown by the artist. The engravers
in the school who best understand drawing have the best
work, and even the highest wages. The pupils have the entire benefit
of their earnings." "At Lyons, France, the manufacture of
divers stuffs absorbs the hands of thousands of men and women;
but the men, only, enjoy the privilege of inventing combinations
of forms and colors destined to inveigle the eyes of fashionable
caprice." In the school of design, Philadelphia, a charge of $9
per quarter is made to amateur pupils for instruction, and a
charge of $4 per quarter to professional pupils. In the school
of design, New York, a charge of $4 per quarter is made to pupils
who acquire instruction as an accomplishment: to those fitting for
a profession, no charge is made. A lady teacher in the New
England school of design had a salary of $400. We will copy
an article placed at our disposal on the artistic employments
of women in America. It was written by a former principal of
the school of design in Boston: "The artistic employments of
women in this country may be divided into three classes: 1st,
those devoted to the fine arts; 2d, those engaged in designing
and the business departments of the arts; 3d, teachers
of drawing, painting, &c.—1. Under this head comparatively
few will be found; the number, however, is fast increasing, and as
avenues of sale for their works are found, I doubt not that there
will be a marked improvement both in the quality of their work
[Pg 57]
and in the amount paid for their labor. Most who pursue this
department are confined to portrait painting or crayon portraits.
I have seen beautiful portraits in colored crayons executed by
ladies. I regret to say a comparatively small price was given,
varying from $10 to $25, while works executed by men not a
whit superior in any respect would command from $25 to $50,
and even more.—2.
Designing, and the Business Department
of the Art. This admits of several divisions, and first we will
take designing for textile materials. When women are engaged
in the mills, their labor is very poorly paid for, compared with the
payment made to the other sex. I know of about twenty women
who are so engaged. The prices paid for their labor varies from
$1 to $2 per day—men receiving from $800 to $1,200 and even
$1,500 per annum. The difference here, however, is not so great,
when the time given by the two to the necessary study is compared.
Many of the male designers serve an apprenticeship
varying from three to seven years before they are supposed to be
fitted to take the situation of designer in a mill, and even this does
not include the preliminary instruction in the school. Women, on
the contrary, after a year or little more of study, enter the mill on
equal terms with the prepared designer, his pay at the commencement
of his engagement usually being from $1 to $1.50 per day.
The employment of women at all in this department is almost a
new thing, and is not yet countenanced to any great extent.
Time, however, will remove all difficulties in the way, and, by
steady perseverance I think woman will be able to show herself
superior to man in this branch, because it is more in her own domain
than in that of man. When the designs of women are presented
to manufacturers and found acceptable, they will command a
price equal to the designs of men. This I speak from experience,
having disposed of designs for silver ware, printed coach linings,
coach lace, paper for walls, calicoes, delaines, and muslins, and other
articles of like nature. These have commanded the same price
as the designs of men, but it is difficult at times to find a market
for them. I remember presenting some designs to a manufacturer,
about two years since, which were very much praised; but when I
stated they were made by ladies, at first it was said to be impossible,
and then they sunk in value, were wrong in the mechanical
detail, were not adapted to the purpose for which they were
intended; but, unfortunately for the truth of the latter statement,
they were disposed of to another manufacturer in the same street,
who had formed rather a different idea of the powers of women
as compared with men. A second branch of business art is drawing
for mechanical purposes and patent inventions. There are
in this city many ladies who earn quite a handsome income by
[Pg 58]
drawing for the patent office, patent agents, &c., the drawings
chiefly linear mechanical ones, the remuneration varying according
to ability. Some are paid by the piece, and others by the
day. The day laborers earn from $1 to $2, and in two instances
$2.25 and $2.50 per day. The price of work varies according to
size, intricacy, finish, &c., the rate being nearly that which
men receive, in some instances the same. This requires mechanical
knowledge which is not very often possessed by women,
but is a branch of study that would be found both pleasant and
profitable, especially if they were prepared for it by an elementary
course in the public schools. It is not a branch that admits
of much display, and is therefore almost entirely neglected, or
taught in such a way as to be utterly futile for all practical
purposes. A third branch is architectural drawing. I know
of but one instance of a woman pursuing this branch, which is
both delightful, useful, and very profitable. Perhaps there is
not any department of the fine arts to which woman might more
successfully devote herself than to this. Such a devotion of
woman's power would tend to abolish the gross deformities we so
often see paraded before our eyes in the streets, in the form of
buildings presenting every possible incongruity of shape and
every perversion of the beauty of form. This requires much
study, but would eventually repay for all the time and trouble
that would be bestowed upon it. A fourth is wood and other engraving.
This commands as high a price as men's labor, when
brought into the market; but when women are employed in engraving
establishments, the grossest injustice is shown them in
the inequality of the payments made. A woman will receive, in
the same place, for the same amount of labor, a sum not exceeding
half of that paid to the men in the same employment. In England
this department stands on a perfect equality as regards sex. The
quality of the work being the test of price, it is the same to men
as to women, if the quality is the same.—3.
Teachers of Drawing
and Painting. This is always most profitable when pursued
independently of the schools. When it is so pursued, the rate of
payment varies from $5 to $25 per quarter, for each pupil, excepting
in the case of very small children, when the prices may be a
trifle lower, but the same would be the case with men as with
women. In most academies the service of teaching in this department
is given by preference to women, and at the same price.
When they are engaged simply as assistants, then a gross inequality
begins. A man would be paid say $200 or $300 per annum
for one half day a week—a woman $100 or $150 at most.
The reason for this lies deeper than I can divine, but in other instances
when a lower price is paid, it is generally the fault of the
[Pg 59]
individual employed. There should, if possible (and I conceive it
to be so), be a fixed rate for teaching a certain number of pupils,
and so much more additional for every one added: this would
give a general rate for all to make their demands upon. If more
branches, or extended time, or any other demand was made upon
the individual teaching, then they would have some standard
whereby to regulate the extra charges. There is only one feature
which requires to be somewhat changed, and that is a tendency
to superficiality. Women oftentimes commence to teach before
they themselves have taken more than the most elementary steps
for their own improvement. Time will, however, regulate this
deficiency; and as the resources of improvement open to all, those
who devote themselves to the honorable employment of teaching
will take all proper steps to fit themselves for the office.—There
is no department of the fine arts—painting, sculpture, architecture,
or manufacturing design—in which woman may not run
an equal race with man, if she takes the same trouble and care
to fit herself for it, and, when fitted, is faithful to her own interests
and her profession. This will never be accomplished by schools
of design as at present instituted, for they lose their character
and become designing shops. This must be laid aside, and
culture, with a general or specific object, be alone attended to
for the time necessary to learn properly and thoroughly what
they are about to practise. Men and women both, now expect to
learn the art of designing fully in the course of six or twelve months.
This can only be done to a limited extent, depending on the
powers of the pupil, the mode of instruction, and the capacity of
the teacher to win and to guide those committed to his or her
care. If the profession is entered upon with unfitness and want of
knowledge, then the prices of labor will be necessarily reduced
to a low scale; if with fitness, and a certainty of our own capacity,
we can demand 'a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.'
The interests of this nation demand the production of native
designs, and whenever her children are fully fitted to produce
them, are competent to put their designs side by side with those
of other nations and challenge a comparison, every other
obstacle will dwindle into a shadow, and every difficulty that
now stands in the way of woman's
natural place, in art at least,
will be finally removed—to which end 'may God speed the
plough.'"
46. Miscellaneous Designers.
Designing is a peculiar,
and more a natural than a cultivated talent. A few years
ago, Miss M. drew on stone for the New England Glass Company.
She received $10 a page, which she could generally do in four
days, working only four hours per day. Two men had at differ
[Pg 60]ent
times done the work for the company, one receiving less, and
the other more than she. Misses L. and R. drew and designed
in the carpet factory at Lowell. They received $1.25 per day.
A young lady who designed at the Pacific Mills, in Lawrence,
was said to receive $3 per day. Miss S., who had given but
eighteen months' practice to drawing, designed for ground and
painted glass, and received $6 per week. Designs for toys, dissected
pictures, games, puzzles, &c., are an appropriate filling up
of spare moments for a designer. I was told by an English
seller of embroideries, that, in England, designing and making
patterns for embroideries is a distinct business. He has been at
it many years, and does not feel himself perfect yet. It is not
made a distinct branch in this country yet, because there is not
enough of it done. Here a few primary patterns can be arranged
and rearranged so as to answer all the demands of trade. A great
deal of money is expended on monuments, but there is a want of
variety in the designs. A wide field is here opened to operators
in this department. Some designers in Boston write me: "Only
a few ladies are employed in our business, for there are not many
who are willing to devote the time necessary to become proficient.
Some are employed in Europe. The employment is not more
unhealthy than sewing. Women are paid according to their proficiency,
and earn from $3 to $15 per week. Women receive the
same compensation as men, if they do the work as well and as
fast, but they ordinarily cannot do either. They are not paid
until they have spent two or three years learning. A combination
of artistic and mechanical talent is required. The prospect
for employment is good. There is not much variation in the
seasons for work. Ten hours is the average time required.
There are now as many in the business as can find lucrative or
constant employment. It requires not less than five years, generally
more, to be a fair general workman in this business. Boston,
New York, and Philadelphia are about the only places
where there is a demand for designers. A first-class education
and cultivated taste are absolutely necessary to success."
47. Designers for Calico Prints.
This employment
is well adapted to women. It requires taste and ingenuity. Its
labors are light, but rather confining. A person of lively fancy
and nice powers of discrimination succeeds best. The gay, rich,
dark colors of winter clothing are not suitable for summer; nor
are the light, delicate ones of summer suitable for winter clothing.
This inviting field of labor, now that it is unbarred to woman, we
hope will be well improved. Let her enter, and she will find
sufficient to "reward a careful gleaner with a valuable sheaf or
two." We do not speak of inventing and preparing designs for
[Pg 61]
calico prints particularly, but of the general field for designers.
Some proprietors engage a designer (here and there a lady)
to stay at their establishments, and devote all their time to the
preparing of designs—paying a fixed salary for the month, year,
or any time specified. Some adopt the same plan in wall-paper
establishments. The price generally paid for a design pattern
for calicoes is from $1 to $3.
48. Designers for Wall Paper.
One of the most
important branches of designing is that of preparing patterns for
wall paper, fire screens, &c. In the report of the Philadelphia
School of Design it is stated that one of the ladies of that school
received $60 for a design some time ago. They seldom bring
that much, and all designs prepared will not sell. The usual
price for a good hall design is from $12 to $20; and of paper for
a room, from $12 to $16. We fear it will be long before the
beautiful designs of the French are equalled by Americans.
Their taste must be more highly cultivated before such is the
case. Mr. C., of New York, employs a designer (Frenchman),
paying him $1,000 a year, who receives in another manufactory
a salary of $3,000 a year. N. C. & Co. get some of their patterns
from the school of design in Paris, because the French
have more taste in designing, or, rather, that taste has been more
cultivated. Brande gives the merits of designing as follows:
"Every work of design is to be considered either in relation to
the art that produced it, to the nature of its adaptation to the
end sought, or to the nature of the end it is destined to serve;
thus its beauty is dependent on the wisdom or excellence displayed
in the design, in the fitness or propriety of the adaptation,
and upon the utility of the end."
49. Draughtswomen.
There are several kinds of
draughting, or drawing on stone: architectural, mechanical,
letter, figure, and landscape. Very few women have undertaken
draughting in any of its branches. But we do not see why it
should be confined to men. We suppose the minds of some
women are as well adapted to the business as those of some men.
Our ideas of the fitness of women for architectural drawing are
given under the article Architects.
50. Employés in the United States Mint.
A
very interesting description of the employment of ladies in the
United States Mint at Philadelphia will be found in
Godey's
Lady's Book, of August, 1852. Col. Snowden, Director of the
Mint, writes to me as follows: "Women are employed to adjust
the weight of the blanks or planchets, preparatory to the coinage—each
piece for the gold coinage being separately weighed and adjusted.
So also are the larger coins of silver; namely, the dollar
[Pg 62]
and the half dollar. They are also employed in feeding the coining
presses. There are about fifty women at present employed.
This force is amply sufficient for our present operations, and for
any additional amount of work that the mint may be called on
to perform. The employments in which they are engaged are
healthy and pleasant. Some years ago the women received
seventy-five cents a day in the adjusting room, and eighty-five
cents for those employed in the coining room. Since that time
I have increased their per diem compensation to $1.10 in both departments.
They are paid monthly. Men employed in labor of
a similar character secure about $2.20 per day. A day's work
is about ten hours; ordinarily the women do not work more than
seven or eight hours; sometimes more, sometimes less, but never
beyond ten hours. There are no other occupations in the mint,
than where they are now employed, suitable for women. I am
greatly in favor of employing women, and I have extended the
employment of them as far as it is practicable. For adjusting the
weight of coins, and attending or feeding the coining presses, I
consider women as not inferior to men, except that they cannot
endure work for as great a number of hours." The adjusting
room is kept very close, as even the breath of a person may affect
the gold dust. The windows are kept closed on that account all
the year. Visitors are not permitted to enter this room. I have
been told that the adjusters wear chamois dresses, which they
change before leaving the mint. They are required to wash their
hands and clean their nails before leaving the premises, lest gold
dust should be in them. A great many applications are made
for situations in the mint. None but a thoroughly honest person
should occupy so responsible a place."
51. Engravers and Chasers of Gold and Silver.
I was told by a lady in Philadelphia, that had been engaged with
her husband for some years in chasing the backs of gold watches,
and had laid by quite a snug little fortune, that from $5 to $6 is
paid for engraving a watch case. It requires many years to
render one a competent gold or silver chaser—I think about five
years. A general engraver told me he thought women could very
well engrave jewelry, silver, and card plates. The superior taste
of women could be exercised to advantage. He thinks a woman
of good abilities could obtain sufficient practice to earn good
wages at the expiration of six months. It is a very confining
business, but one that pays well. It requires more skill in drawing
than beauty of penmanship, though the last is a desirable
item. A good engraver calculates to earn $1 an hour. The kinds
most suitable for a lady are so clean that she need not have
her clothes soiled by her work. Mr. C. knew a lady once in
[Pg 63]
New York who was a beautiful engraver. She learned the
business with her father. A watchmaker can soon learn to engrave,
because he uses similar tools, and knows how to handle
them. A person that can engrave watches could easily engrave
coarser work. Engravers, when employed by the week, earn from
$12 to $25; and $15 a week is a fair average of an engraver's
wages. An engraver cannot well work more than nine hours a
day. Ornamental engraving is done in some jewelry manufactories
by women. Engraving is done with gravers, but chasing
is executed with punches and a small hammer. Engraving is
more on the surface than chasing. An article chased is indented
on the inner side, one engraved is not. It requires some time to
excel in chasing and engraving. There are two kinds of watch
engraving—that of landscape and that of borders. I was told by an
Englishman that some silver-plate chasing is done in England by
women. A jeweler writes: "We occasionally employ women in
engraving—on brass, and we do not find any difficulty. In this
branch of business, we believe, they are more suitable than men."
Mr. S., who engraves on gold, silver, and other bright metals,
told me that a long time back all the engraving in his branch
was done in England by women. It is light work. The designing
is like a lawyer's work—hard on the brain. Most engravers
in this country do their own designing. His father was the first
engraver in New York. He takes apprentices for five years, not
paying anything the first year, the second, $2 a week and clothing,
and increases according to the attainments of the learner. There
are two kinds of engraving in his branch: the line engraving
can be done with one tool, the other kind requires several. He
can obtain foreigners who can do both kinds (usually called mongrel
engraving), and who would be glad to get work. Chasing
and polishing are about as good mechanical pursuits as a woman
can follow. Some silver chasing is done by filling the article
with sand, and striking with proper tools; some is pressed with
heavy machinery. Soft chasing is done on metals, but the chasing
of plated ware requires some strength in the wrists, and is
done before being plated. The patterns are placed before the
workers. It requires a long time and application to acquire proficiency.
More women could find employment as chasers, if they
would apply themselves long and closely enough. A chaser, who
employs eight girls in Providence in making and chasing jewelry,
writes: "They earn from $4 to $5 per week, but men from $15
to $18. Women cannot do their work as well as men. Men
spend from two to three years learning, women from one to two
months. Spring and fall are the best seasons. The prospect
of employment for women in this branch is good. There are
[Pg 64]
other parts of the jewelry business in which women could be employed,
and I think they will be. I prefer to employ women,
because they are cheaper." A jewelry engraver writes: "In
some branches of our style of engraving, women are employed in
France and Germany. The occupation is sedentary. The
average rate of workmen is $12. I think women could command
the same prices as men. It requires about one year to learn.
There are but few first-class engravers. A bold and steady
hand, a ready and quick ingenuity, which would qualify a person
to be a good draughtsman and designer, are the qualifications
most needed for an engraver. About fifteen years ago there was
no demand for engraving, but it is now on the increase, and considered
a necessary finish to jewelry. About the Christmas
holidays are the best seasons for work. Ten hours a day are
required. In the Western and Southern States are openings—in
large cities a surplus. I think, women are peculiarly adapted
to engraving, but they would be likely to marry, and then we
would have our trouble to repeat in teaching new learners."
52. Equestrians and Gymnasts.
In equestrian entertainments,
much depends on the accessories. Without music, artificial
light, and paintings, they would be rather tame. The
principal requisites for a circus rider I take to be agility, grace,
and fearlessness. Size and form have not so much to do in
making a successful rider and gymnast as one would suppose.
The athletic exercises require vigor and firmness of muscle.
One should be trained from the earliest childhood. Children
usually begin as early as three years old. In former times, these
children were, many of them, picked up in the streets, and there
is no doubt that these human waifs had a hard time of it; but
now many of the professionals bring up their own children to the
business. All the performers, in addition to their several "star"
or "single" acts in the ring, are required to appear in any capacity
assigned them in the scenic pieces and spectacles, and to attend
the rehearsals of the same; also, to appear and remain on the
stage in proper dresses, for the purpose of filling the scene, and
giving a gay and animated appearance to the stage. Mr. Nixon's
establishment, New York, being the most complete in the country,
and being thoroughly systematized in every department, will
serve as the best source from which to derive information concerning
the routine duties required, and the weekly moneys paid
there to circus performers. "The principal performers in Mr.
Nixon's company are paid as follows: Ella Zoyara, equestrian,
in addition to first-class passage from England and back for
self and two servants, medical attendance for self and servants,
carriage and horses whenever required, and a benefit every two
[Pg 65]
weeks, receives per week $500; Mr. William Cooke, equestrian,
manager, passages for self and wife from England and return,
and per week, $500; James Robinson, equestrian, for self and three
horses, $305; the Hanlon brothers, six persons, gymnasts, per week
$300; Mr. Charlton, stilt walker, passage, &c., $125; Mr. Duverey,
contortionist, passage, &c., $125; Mlle. Heloise, equestrienne,
$100; Mlle. Clementine, equestrienne, $100; M. and Mad. Du
Boch, equestrians, $100; Master Barclay, equestrian, ten years
old, $75; Mr. Whitby, ringmaster and equestrian, $100; Mr. S.
Stikney, equestrian and general performer, $100; Mr. J. Pentland,
clown, $100; Mr. Ellingham, ringmaster and general performer,
$40; Mr. Armstrong, equestrian and general performer,
$40; W. Kincaid, do., $40; W. Pastor, do., $30; W. Bertine,
do., $30; Brennan, do., $25; Niel, do., $25; F. Sylvester, do.,
$20; A. Sylvester, do., $20; W. Ward, slack rope and clown,
$30; Prof. Yates, ballet master, $25; Mr. Stark, general performer,
$25; S. Ruggles, $20; Davenport, $20; Foster, $20;
Peterson, $20; four lady equestrians, per week, each $20; and
twenty ballet girls and twenty supernumeraries." We extract
from an English paper the following statement: "In Paris, no
less than 15,000 persons were admitted yesterday, although the
prices were doubled for the occasion, to witness the performance
on the tight rope of a woman—Madame Blanche Saqui—who is
entering her eighty-fifth year."
53. Etchers and Stamp Cutters.
In England, in the
seventeenth century, Anna and Susannah Lister were regarded as
having much skill in the noble art of etching. They illustrated a
work on natural history written by their father. A century later,
the Countess Lavinia Spencer and a Miss Hartley became noted
for their skill in etching. Rosa Elizabeth Schwindel, of Leipsic,
worked at the business of a stamp cutter in the beginning of the
eighteenth century; and two Frenchwomen during the same century—M.
A. de St. Urbin and E. Lesueur.
54. Herbarium Makers.
Herbariums are collections
of dried plants. They are formed by gluing to sheets of paper
the flowers and leaves of plants, after they have been pressed and
dried. To botanists, they are useful; and a choice collection is
a frail, but pretty ornament, for a centre table. The largest
public herbaria are at Berlin, Paris, and London. It is supposed
that some of them may contain as many as 60,000 species. There
is not much of beauty or interest in such a collection, but for
scientific purposes they may be valuable. It is not unusual to see
them made of the plants and weeds of the sea; and a very pretty
collection do they make, if got up with taste. A book has been
lately printed containing plates, with explanations for making
[Pg 66]
them into pictures and other fanciful arrangements. The making
of herbariums of both earth and marine plants, would furnish
a pleasant pastime to ladies of leisure, and a source of revenue,
perhaps, to those who might wish to make it a matter of profit.
55. Lapidaries.
A skilful manipulation is necessary to
the business of a lapidary. If woman has sufficient firmness of
nerve to perform the duties of surgeon, we see not why she would
not have for the cutting of precious stones. It is a business
conducted on a limited scale and by few persons in this country.
Mr. R., of New York, told me that a lady in Birmingham, England,
had a large establishment, and employed women and girls
to work for her. He knew of no lady that worked at the business
in the United States, except one that used to be in an establishment
on Broadway. The employment, he thinks, is not unhealthy.
After a lady has learned, she would probably earn from $4 to $5
a week, working for others. He received $12 a week when working
as a journeyman. He spent seven years as an apprentice in
England, but he learned the manufacture of jewelry in connection.
The prospect of employment depends much on the condition of
the money market, but there is reason to think the business will
increase as the country grows older. All seasons of the year are
alike. Money matters only make a change. He says there are
many books written on the precious stones and the art of cutting
and polishing them. He mentioned a book by a lady of London
on the subject. Mr. H., an importer and manufacturer of cornelian
and other fancy goods, told me that grinding precious stones
is very hard work. Men lie across wooden benches to apply the
agate, cornelian, or whatever it may be, to the grindstone. There
are eight grindstones, weighing twenty tons each, on one axle.
The polishing is done by boys, who sit at small wooden wheels,
some of which are covered with leather. Sometimes women do
this work. As this method of grinding stones is done by water
power, it is done more cheaply than by steam. In Germany, a
man who works at precious stones or makes up jewelry at home,
has his wife and daughters to assist him, and hires a peasant girl
to do his housework. The women and girls make the fastenings
for earrings, and file and polish the rings. He pays seventy cents
a gross in Germany for them. He says, in the country and villages
of northern Germany daughters are considered treasures,
for they remain at home, and by their handiwork maintain themselves;
but in the south of Germany, where there are no manufactures,
girls are a burden on their parents. B., of Philadelphia,
used to employ girls to set up jet, garnet, and turquoise for grinding;
but those stones are now out of fashion, and so girls are not
employed. He says an old lady, whose daughter is connected
[Pg 67]
with the Home Mission, wished them to give instruction to her
daughter in cutting stones, that she might, as a pastime, cut those
brought by members of the family from the seashore and watering
places. He thought it likely she would also teach the art in
the Mission School. Cutting facets he thought pretty work for
women. They can either sit or stand at the tables. There is
nothing unhealthy in the grinding, as the stones are kept wet all
the time. But the dust used in nipping glass and stones is injurious
to the lungs. When a man has been nipping all day, his
nostrils are nearly closed. The amount of work depends on
fashion. There are seven establishments in Providence, and the
work is done by steam. Some stones cannot be cut by steam
machinery, as the wheel must every few seconds be graduated in
motion. In hard times, the jewelry business and employments
connected therewith are dull, as people dispense with superfluities.
Southerners buy most jewelry, but now they do not indulge in
such purchases.
56. Landscape Gardeners.
Mrs. R. often goes and
looks at gardens, directs how to lay them out, and what to buy
for them. She then orders the plants of others, and sells on commission,
having them arranged according to her own taste, influenced
by that of the purchaser. Her purchases are made of a
German, living some distance from town, who can raise them
cheaper than she could in the city. Her compensation, of course,
varies greatly. A landscape gardener writes: "What a lady
could do as landscape gardener at the West, I do not know.
I am rather inclined to doubt her success at the East. It would
require too much time and space to enter here into the details of
what are required to constitute a landscape gardener: First, one
must have a decided love for it, and a willingness to sacrifice
much to the pleasure of the occupation. Nor can I say a great
deal in favor of the profits. I have never been able to make a
living by the profession, although I have often thought if I had
gone to New York, or farther West, the case might have been
different. In pages 381 and 382 of 'Country Life,' and in
many other parts of the book, you will see what I consider essential
to the making up and preparation of a landscape gardener,
and better expressed than I can condense into a letter." Mr.
C., of Massachusetts, writes: "I have never known a lady
to undertake the profession of landscape gardening; and much
of the labor which I find it necessary to perform, would be
impossible for a lady. Still, there is much in which female taste
would find abundant field for exertion, if the labor could be so
divided as to make it profitable. My first work on any estate is
to make an accurate topographical survey of the ground, and
[Pg 68]
draw a plan of it in its natural state, and then proceed to make
my designs for its arrangement; and when that is done, if required,
I undertake the superintendence of the work at the
ground. A lady would have to employ a surveyor, in the first
place, and would labor under many disadvantages in directing
the operations upon grounds; and, to judge from my own experience,
the business could not be made profitable under such circumstances.
Loudon's 'Encyclopædia of Gardening' will give the
best directions I know of for the necessary operations of designing
and executing plans, and Downing's work, with Sargent's
appendix, comprises enough suggestions, on matters of taste, for
the use of any person who is possessed of innate natural taste,
without which I would advise no one to attempt to be a landscape
gardener."
57. Lithographers.
The impression for chalk drawings
is made by delicate manipulations with crayon pencils; for ink
drawings, with steel pens and camel-hair brushes. It requires
one skilled in the use of her pencil, for every stroke of the pencil
or pen on the stone remains, and cannot be erased. Consequently,
any defect on the stone is conveyed to every copy of the
paper. In answer to a letter of inquiry, respecting the time
necessary for preparation, the writer says: "A person who
draws well upon paper would, I should think, with six months'
practice on stone, become proficient. The process differs little
from crayon drawing on paper; and the progress of pupils depends
entirely on their previous attainments in drawing. The
different kinds of lithography are black, chromo, and gold illuminated;
also, lithography combined, or uncombined, with embossing.
In a report of a British school of design, it is stated that
the chromo-lithographic class for females "exhibit the commencement
of a series of useful labors." An immense number of cheap
lithographs are colored by women; such as are hung in taverns,
country houses, sailors' homes, servants' rooms, &c. At Mr. C.'s
establishment, I was told that in France the females are quite as
successful as the male artists in lithography. He says lithographs
require to be more highly colored than the colors we see in
nature. Mr. C. thinks of sending to France for lithographers,
as he cannot get enough in New York well qualified. A correct
eye, skilful manipulation, and an appreciation of art are required
to make one skilful in lithography. Germans excel, because
they have so much patience. An American would become nervous
at the slow work that they prosecute with the greatest pleasure.
At Mr. C.'s they have a forewoman, who superintends the
girls, who are paid by the quantity and kind of work they do.
He finds that small girls are usually the best workers. Their
[Pg 69]
fingers are more nimble, and they enter into it with more zeal.
He thinks it best for them to commence at ten or twelve years of
age. Prospect good for employment in that branch. The coloring
of all the finest pictures is done by men. It requires some time to
become sufficiently expert to earn much. Their girls earn from
$3 to $7 a week. The work requires care, and is wearisome,
because of sitting long and steadily. Mrs. P., Brooklyn, an
English lady, learned to draw when eight years old, and studied
lithography with a distinguished artist of London, who executed
entirely with his left hand, having lost three fingers on his right
when he was a child. She has spent twenty-two years in lithographing—seventeen
of them in this country. She is probably the
only lady professionally engaged in this business in the United
States. She has earned almost constantly, I was told, from $12 to
$30 a week. Lithographing is very lucrative to a skilful artist.
The remuneration is better than women often receive for their
handiwork. We believe some women could find employment in
it, if they were prepared. Mrs. P. excels in architectural drawing.
She thinks one must have the talent of an artist, and great
practice with the pencil, to succeed. She has given instruction
to several youths, but never to one of her own sex. One must
be articled, and pass through a regular course of advancement,
to follow it advantageously. To an apprentice, after two or three
years' practice, a small premium is paid. She had one youth to
learn of her, who, after four years' time, received $7 a week from
her for his work. She thinks there will be employment to a few
well qualified. She has always been kept busy. The employment
is not more unhealthy than any other of a sedentary kind.
Mr. M. says they have no difficulty in finding enough of crayon
lithographers, but that there is more lithographic engraving done
than crayon lithographing. It is done on stone with instruments,
very much as engraving is done on copper. We have read "that
an improved method of transferring copies of delicate copper and
steel plate engravings to the surface of lithographic stone has
been invented. One copy taken from the steel or copper plate,
after being transferred to the stone, is capable of producing 3,000
prints." "Lithography, engraving, and especially engraving on
wood, would gain in quality by passing from men's hands to the
hands of women." "Lithographic works are produced which
rival the finest engravings, and even surpass them, in the expression
of certain subjects." The first lithography executed in the
United States was in Boston, 1826. W. & S. used to employ
girls to color lithographs, but found it did not pay. They paid
from $4 to $5 a week to women, who did the common part of the
work. Men did the finer parts, and earned from $12 to $25 a
[Pg 70]
week; but only those who are expert, have artistic taste, and
understand the business, can earn so much. French lithographs
are prepared and the coloring done so much cheaper in Europe,
they have ceased to have it done in New York. B., lithographer,
Philadelphia, employs many ladies—about twenty—in the house.
Some associate in companies, and take their work to the house
of one of their number; but the greater part are educated women,
who do not wish it known that they earn money by their labor:
these carry the plates to their own homes (and even have them
sent to the fashionable places of resort in summer), so that many
a fair damsel trips along Chestnut street with a roll of something,
which seems to be music, but is, in fact, work. The coarse
handed take no part in this employment. Very few have ever
attained the highest degree of proficiency in it. The most delicate
work is done by men. Americans have most aptness for
coloring, although the Germans excel in drawing on stone.
Women seldom attempt the latter art. It requires long practice
for girls to excel in coloring. Many grades of skill are required
to color lithographs, and there is much difficulty in making all
the copies exactly like the first. Some need a treatment so
nearly approaching the artistic, that scarcely any one who has
the skill can be found to give his labor for the price, which is
necessarily limited. We gained no information as to the amount
of wages paid to the colorists, but, judging from the price of a
very beautiful specimen (29 cents), it must be sadly inadequate.
The scientific societies are the main support of this business.
The Government, indeed, gives very extensive orders, but there
is always so much competition to obtain them, that the profit is
small. Audubon was the greatest encourager of this branch of
industry. This employment is very desirable in every respect
for educated women; and although machinery for printing in
colors is fast encroaching on it, yet it will long offer a field for
female enterprise. Our informant employs from 100 to 300
hands, according to the prosperity of the times. A commercial
crisis affects this as well as all other trades. One of the firm
of the best lithographic establishment in New York, told me
they pay their men for drawing on stone from $25 to $30 a week.
The time required to learn lithography, he thought, would depend
much on natural talent. A good knowledge of drawing is necessary.
He thought men would soon get over the opposition of
women entering the business; but they did not like the restraint
of working where women are. They would soon become accustomed
to it; and if they were women of the right kind, it
might be a very beneficial restraint. But, as to that, women
could do the work at home. Many Germans, well acquainted
[Pg 71]
with the art, are engaged in crayoning. When they first come
to this country, they work for lower wages than Americans, but
after a while learn their value, and ask as much as any one else.
On account of the low wages for which foreigners can usually be
had, but few Americans have prepared themselves for this occupation.
But when work is plenty, and the individual industrious
and skilful, he can earn good wages. Seven eighths of the work
done for this country is executed in New York. The agent of a
lithographic company writes: "Drawing on stone could be done
by women as well as men; and would open to them a very genteel
and remunerative branch of business. The drawing is now
done mostly by Germans and Frenchmen; but ladies who have
a taste for drawing could soon learn this art. The usual price
for such artists now is from $12 to $35 per week." Prof. P., of
New York, gives instruction in lithography, charging $12 per
quarter of eleven weeks—two lessons per week. Special arrangements
are made with pupils who intend to devote themselves to the
profession as artists or teachers. A gentleman remarked to me
that Mr. S., a certain distinguished lithographer of this city
(New York), would make an excellent teacher in that art. His
forte is heads. A few strokes from his pencil always give a
beautiful finish to a piece of work.
58. Map Makers.
Women could not well travel about
to obtain information of localities for the making of maps, but
nearly all the manual labor connected with the business would be
very suitable for them. Lithographing maps is said to be a profitable
branch of the art, and opens a field to competent women.
Attending the machines for making impressions from the stones
might very well be performed by women. "In Philadelphia,
map coloring gives employment to about 175 females, some of
whom display exquisite taste in this delicate art." There used
to be 150 girls in New York painting maps, but there are very
few now. Freedley tells of a map-manufacturing establishment
in Philadelphia that "turns out 1,200 maps weekly. Connected
with it are two lithographic printing offices, having twenty presses,
and coloring rooms, in which 35 females are employed." I was
told by a lady who had colored maps, that it is trying on the eyes
and poorly compensated. A map maker said he was always most
busy in the fall, and then employed from 12 to 16 women. In
winter he employed about half that number, and they principally
married women, who have worked for them several years. Mr.
W. pays two of his best and most experienced lady workers a certain
sum by the week, and they hire girls and women to work for
them. The profits of these forewomen, aside from their own
work, amount to $1.50 to $2 a week the year round. Girls receive
[Pg 72]
$1.50 a week while learning. It requires from six months to one
year to become proficient. Neatness, a steady hand, knowledge of
colors, and fineness of touch, are the principal requisites for a
good map colorist. It requires no artistic knowledge. An expeditious
and experienced hand can earn $1 a day. There is
at present a need of hands in New York, and a surplus in Philadelphia.
All seasons are alike in this business, except as monetary
affairs are concerned. All Mr. W.'s hands work in the
house. They work about nine hours a day all the year, and
never take maps home with them, as they are mostly large and
heavy maps. Map making is mostly confined to Philadelphia
and New York. None are made in the South and West. There
is one map publisher reported in Richmond, but he has his
maps made in New York. Mr. C. gives his maps to a map
mounter, who employs a girl to sew the bindings on with a sewing
machine. She is paid at the same rate as any other operator.
The paper bindings are of course pasted on. Mr. C. employs one
girl to paint the outlines, but all the other painting is done by
stencil plates. Map coloring formerly gave employment to many
females, but now it is very rare that a map is colored by hand.
The stencilling process introduced by the Germans has superseded
it, as they are thereby rendered cheaper. Girls used to earn
75 cents to $1 a day for painting maps. If girls would learn
stencilling and work on their own responsibility, they might compete
with the Germans. The process is very simple and soon
learned. At Mr. H.'s, I saw a large room full of Germans stencilling.
Men earn $8 or $9 a week, and do it faster and better
than girls, as they have more strength. I saw one girl shading,
who earned $1 a day. A map manufacturer writes me: "In map
coloring I am compelled to employ men to a large extent. A curious
fact is, that respectable middle-aged women, who have been
coloring for years on piecework, make from $4 to $5 per week; while
young men, comparatively unpractised, earn at the same prices, say
from $9 to $10." A manufacturer who employs about 80 females,
writes: "I employ women in pasting and putting down maps,
who receive from $3 to $4 a week, being paid by the week, and
working ten hours a day. The difference in prices of male and
female labor is about one half. One can learn the business in a few
weeks; the only qualifications requisite are sobriety and strength.
The prospect for work in this branch is good. There is no difference
in the seasons. Some parts of the work can be done more
cheaply by women. A supply of hands can always be had. The
women do their work less carefully than men." A map publisher
in New Hampshire writes: "I employ 28 women and girls in
binding, mounting, stitching, and coloring maps, and pay from
[Pg 73]
$3 to $6 per week, working eight hours a day. The engraving is
done by men, who receive from $6 to $20 per week. Women's
labor can be learned in a few weeks, and is not so hard or difficult
as men's. Engravers spend three years learning. I employ
women to color, because they have better taste than men. Draughting
surveys, engraving, and lithographing have never been attempted
by women. New York is preferable as a locality." A
gentleman in Boston writes: "We employ from four to eight
women in our map-mounting department. They could not be
employed in any other branch, which is varnishing and polishing
all kinds of hard wood. There are a large number employed
in New York, Philadelphia, and Buffalo. Pay varies from $3
to $5 per week—ten hours a day. We employ no men in this
branch. There is something new to learn every day. Business
is the same all the year. We pay our girls nothing while learning."
A lithographer in Boston writes: "I employ women to
color maps and pictures, paying by the piece, the workers earning
from $3 to $6 per week. The employment is not unhealthy."
59. Medallists.
"Beatrice Hamerani worked at medallions,
and in 1700 elaborated a large medallion of Pope Innocent
XII., highly praised by Goethe." "Toward the end of the
seventeenth century we hear of Madame Ravemann, who executed
a beautiful medal, an exquisite specimen of cutting." In the
school of design in New York, we saw two very creditable medallions,
executed by one of the members of the school.
60. Modellers.
An ornamental designer and modeller
writes me: "In England I attended my lady pupils at their own
residences, except one to whom I gave instruction at my residence.
One was the daughter of the Lord Mayor of the city,
another the daughter-in-law of the Earl of H. Very few ladies
learn any of the higher branches of art, except those that do so
for recreation. A person that has some skill in drawing would,
without the slightest doubt, soon acquire a knowledge of this
beautiful art. Some persons have a natural gift for modelling,
while others would not learn it with all the cultivation arising
from education and good society. Probably the best source of
employment in New York would be to design and model for the
silversmiths—such as Ball & Black, Tiffany, &c. One of the
most fertile departments in Europe to lady modellers is not carried
on to any extent in this country—the making of fine pottery.
The fingers, of course, must be soiled in modelling; but such an
inconvenience is trifling compared with the pleasure of forming
fruit, flowers, and foliage, or modelling the medallions of friends."
The modelling of gas fixtures might afford employment to a small
number of qualified women. We know of one establishment in
[Pg 74]
Philadelphia where part of the designing for fixtures, lamps, and
chandeliers, is done by a lady, and all the copying done for illustrated
catalogues of those which are finished. She receives $6 a
week, and goes about 9 o'clock
A. M. and remains until 4
P. M.
Mr P., at his school of art in New York, has a very large collection
of casts. He gives instruction to boys and young men in
modelling and drawing, charging 25 cents a lesson of 3 hours in
the day or 2 in the evening. They are instructed in classes.
Some of his casts are gigantic. In one of his rooms is a beautiful,
but small model, in wax, for $300, representing a hunting
scene. We have been told that some ladies in Germany model
wax patterns for the ornamental work on china. Few tools are
used by a modeller—the only ones are for the sharp and delicate
parts that cannot be formed by the fingers. As clay does not
shrink uniformly in drying it is moulded before drying in plaster
of Paris, and a cast of the same material taken from that, which
serves as a model for the workman. Some artists model in wax.
Women might be employed in modelling ornamental and scroll
work for brass founderies, &c., and get good wages.
61. Modellers of Wax Figures.
Catharine Questier,
who lived in Amsterdam about 200 years ago, besides possessing
many other accomplishments, was a modeller in wax. Joanna
Sabina Preu, who lived in Germany not long after, was noted in
the same way. A daughter of a Danish king also modelled in
wax. "Professor Anna Manzalius, an Italian lady, modelled excellent
portraits in the beginning of the eighteenth century." In
England, in the early part of the eighteenth century, Mrs. Samore
modelled figures and historical groups in wax. Mrs. Patience
Wright, born in Bordentown, New Jersey, 1725, made a
great many likenesses in wax. Some were full length and some
were busts. They were mostly of the statesmen that were conspicuous
in the American colonies at that time—yet some were
of Englishmen, as she resided in London, after she became a
widow, and supported her family by her handiwork. Her daughter,
Mrs. Platt, modelled in wax in New York in 1787. I saw a
maker of wax figures who said he had supported his family by his
work, and thought a few others might make a living at it. One
must be able to draw a model before undertaking wax figures.
It requires good perceptive powers, ability to distinguish colors,
and a peculiar taste. One must be able to work from life, and
it is well to know how to do so from pictures. Mr. G., interested
in Barnum's museum, told me that it was impossible to get
such wax figures made in this country as they want. He spoke of
the miserable imitations that are made, and thought a person well
qualified would be patronized. Most of the groups in Barnum's
[Pg 75]
museum were made by Mrs. Pelby, of Boston. Mr. Barnum
wrote to Mr. Tussaud, whose mother made those so famous in
London (and who is living now), to know if he would instruct
some one to send to America; but he is not willing to give any
one instruction. He employs persons to make the different parts;
one set of workers make the bodies, another the heads, another
the feet, &c. The world-famed group of his mother, Madame
Tussaud, was first opened in Paris about 1770. After being
exhibited in the large towns of Great Britain, it was taken to
London, where it still remains. The figures are so life-like that
now and then one is mistaken for a living person, while a person
is as often mistaken in the group for one of the figures. More
than forty persons are kept in charge of the exhibition.
62. Mineral Labellers and Arrangers.
A lady
could not easily make collections of minerals, but she might find
it an absorbing occupation to arrange and label them. Few ladies
in our country have given any study to mineralogy, and very
few would be competent to form cabinets. Yet, for those that
are, we doubt not employment of that kind could be found. The
individual wealth of our country has not been sufficient to enable
many to make extensive collections. The most that exist are
connected with universities and other institutions of learning.
They have been collected at different times—in fact, mostly formed
by single specimens, added now and then. Individual collections
have been formed in the same way. Individuals add to
the cabinets of their friends, as they have it in their power. The
most extensive collections in the United States are at the Patent
Office, Washington, and in the National Academy of Science,
Philadelphia. Mr. H., a mineralogist from Berlin, says: "In
Berne, Switzerland, a man and his wife are mineralogists. On
the husband's death the wife will continue the business." It must
require many years' study and an extensive knowledge of chemistry
to become a superior mineralogist. I would think considerable
time and capital were requisite for a mineralogist to establish
himself. Mr. H. makes exchanges of minerals for others,
receiving, I suppose, a commission for doing so. A geologist
writes me: "No women are employed in my business. It requires
one half of a lifetime to become fitted for the duties of a
geologist. A knowledge of engineering, and most of the natural
sciences, is needed. Draughting in the office is the only part
suitable for women."
63. Musicians.
Madame Romeau says: "Few women
have been engaged in musical compositions, and they have rarely
undertaken important works. In painting and literature one is
pre-occupied only with the work of the author. In music, it re
[Pg 76]quires
the coöperation of two persons—the composer, and the
performer. Books and paintings act upon us without any intermediate
objects, while the piece of the composer, to be understood,
needs the flow of harmony noted on the paper in hieroglyphic
signs, and must escape under the fingers from the instrument.
It is necessary to animate the inert matter—to make it
yield to the wish of the performer and reproduce the inspirations
of the composer. Few women compose songs. A musician
leads a different life from an artist, who lives in her studio and
has few expenses. A musician must face the crowd, and hear its
dissatisfaction, and smile at its applause. A cantatrice, or songstress,
often travels from town to town like an actress." Some
persons think none of the arts can be purely religious except music.
"Mozart in music, and Raphael in colors, have taught us
the spiritual ministry of the senses." A comparatively small
quantity of music has been composed in the United States. The
study of a lifetime is bestowed by very few on music. Some
American ladies have gone to Europe to perfect their musical
taste, and a few have acquired distinction. With musicians, as
with vocalists—those who, in this country, have reaped the greatest
profits in the shortest time were foreigners. Some were pianists,
some flutists, some violinists—some one thing, and some
another. The composition of music for soirées, fancy balls,
masquerades, tableaux vivants, private theatricals, operas, dramas,
musical farces, ballets, &c., might occupy all the spare time
of musicians capable of composing. There is a circulating library
in London of 42,000 volumes. There is, also, one in New
York and one in Brooklyn. Subscribers to the one in Brooklyn
pay in advance for one year $12, with the privilege of selecting
from the catalogue $6 worth of music at the termination of the
subscription; for six months, $6; for three months, $3; for a
single piece worth less than $1, 6 cents per week; less than $2,
9 cents per week. Mr. G. thinks a lady can never become a
good violinist, because it requires great strength in the right arm.
The muscles of violinists are as rigid as a blacksmith's. I have
heard that occasionally a pianist acquires such strength in his
hands that he could almost prostrate you with one of his fingers.
A gentleman told me, ladies could not become superior organists;
that they cannot have sufficient power developed. It requires
much strength of hands and feet. He remarked, the organist, at
the church he attended, was a lady, but made no comments on
her qualifications. I have known two lady organists, who were
considered superior performers, and received as good salaries as
gentlemen would have done. One received $500 for playing
twice on Sabbath. On week days she gave instruction. I was
[Pg 77]
told that she supported her whole family for years by her musical
talents, and laid by money with which she purchased a comfortable
dwelling in a city in New York State. The salaries of
organists are small considering the amount of talent and practice
required; but most organists teach music, or stand in music stores,
or act as agents for manufacturers of musical instruments. "In
the summer of 1860, among the Marblehead band of female shoe
strikers in the procession at Lynn, Mass., was Miss Margaret
Hammond, fifteen years old, who beat the drum in martial style
the whole line of march." "In Ohio they have a lady drummer,
who has received a diploma for her skill. Her name is Minerva
Patterson, a daughter of Major Elisha Patterson, a wealthy farmer
of Jersey, Licking Co." The French papers have given
some insight to the prices paid great musicians, Malibran received
in London, for every performance at Drury Lane, $750;
Lablache, for singing twice, $750, and for a single lesson to
Queen Victoria, $200. At a soirée in London Grisi received
$1,200. Paganini charged $400 a lesson. "Herz and Thalberg
each made about $60,000 in this country." There is a female
musical society in London which gives concerts for benevolent
objects.
64. Music Engravers and Folders.
Mr. L. engraves
and prints music, and employs two ladies to fold it. There are
but few music engravers. The smaller the number of persons in
any one kind of business the higher the prices they can command.
A lady in New Orleans engraves, whose husband is a music
printer. It would require but two or three years to learn it.
Some ingenuity, a knowledge of the value of notes in music, and
judgment in the arrangement of them are necessary to make an
engraver. In New Orleans, eight months are usually considered
a year, I believe, in business arrangements. At a music engraver's
the young man told me that he never heard of a woman engraving
music in this country, but he knows that some do in
Paris. The work they turn out, he added, is not good; it will
not wear, because women have not sufficient strength in the wrist
to engrave as deeply as a man. A person who engraves plates
for music can earn from $3 to $5 a day. German work is considered
the best, because the quality of the ink used is better.
Music engraving is divided into two distinct branches—one is lettering
and engraving the title page—the other is engraving the
notes. No steam machinery has ever been invented for printing
music, because the ink must all be put on the way the work is
done. Music is one of the first things dispensed with in hard times.
65. Opera Performers.
The first opera of modern
times was performed about the close of the fifteenth century. At
[Pg 78]
the first introduction of the opera into France and England, it was
much ridiculed by wits and critics. Voltaire, however, and
others, came to its rescue, and with what success may be known,
when it is acknowledged to be one of the favorite amusements
of the fashionable world. The want of adaptedness of the opera to
the English language has to a great extent excluded successful
efforts at translation. Yet some operas have of late years been
performed in English. "In Paris, the Italian opera is patronized
by the Government, as a school of vocal music; and the
managers are careful to maintain a complete and skilful company."
In an opera, the music is the most important part, while
at the theatre the music is subordinate to the play. The orchestra
in some parts of the opera accompanies, and, in others, seems
to respond to the sentiments of the piece. The operatic performance
is not so warm, so impassioned, so abandoned, as that of the
theatre. The trilling and sudden starting, so common in operas,
is rather too artificial to please the unsophisticated. A conversational
style is seldom used, but the words are expressed in a
recitative style that is graceful and effective. In Germany, however,
dialogue has been introduced. Good imitative powers are
essential to success. The noble talent of music has been desecrated,
in some operas, by the impure thoughts and language expressed.
In the United States probably not more than thirty, out
of the entire audience of several hundred, sufficiently understand
the Italian, to follow the play without considerable effort; but it
is so much of a pantomimic character that much is gained by the
sense of sight. Much of the zest and interest are lost to those
who are indifferent to the accessories. On this account, we suppose
it can never become a favorite amusement with the generality
of people. The French papers give some curious statements
in regard to the salaries paid to great musical artists. We learn
that Hummel left a fortune of $75,000, and twenty-six diamond
rings, thirty-four snuff boxes, and one hundred and fourteen
watches, which had been presented to him at various times. In
modern days musicians are quite as extravagantly paid. Alboni
and Mario get $400 every night they sing; Tamberlik, every
time he sings a certain high note, demands $500; Madame
Gazzaniga was paid $500 a night recently in Philadelphia;
Lagrange, at Rio Janeiro, is now receiving a princely salary;
and Piccolomini cost her manager over $5,000 a month; and these
prices are said to be moderate, compared with those often paid in
Europe to distinguished musical artists. At the opera house in
Paris, for the present season, Mr. Colzado, the manager, pays as
follows: to Tamberlik, for seventeen representations, $8,000;
Alboni, $2,200 for seven representations; Mario, $15,000 for a
[Pg 79]
season of five months; Grisi, $5,000 for two months; Madame
Perer, $14,000 for the season; the Grazioni brothers, $15,400;
Corsi, a baritone, $4,000; Galvani, $3,600; Nantin Didere,
$4,000; Tecehini, $3,600; Mlle. de Ruda, $3,400. The chorus
and orchestra cost for the season $17,600. "Parodi, the
American prima donna, receives no less than $30,000 per annum,
a larger salary than that paid to the President of the United
States." "Miss Hensler, the American prima donna, has been
engaged by the manager of La Scala for fifteen months, at the
rate of $170 a month." "Sophie Curveth receives $2,500 a
month, for eight representations; for every representation beyond
eight in the month, $300 more."
66. Painters.
"Less prejudice exists against artists than
teachers in France. They have privileges that teachers have
not. Painting is considered the most desirable profession by
parents for their daughters. The girl begins early in life to fit
herself for her profession. The work is less severe than that of
an author. Painting does not require such close application of
mind, nor is it necessary to spend so much time in solitude, nor
are the expense and anxiety so great as that of authorship. Gratuitous
schools of art exist in Paris, where instruction is given
principally in perspective. Most students prosecute the art in
studios, paying from $4 to $6 a month. Most of them spend the
whole day in the studios, from eight in the morning until six in
the evening. The artist that instructs them visits the scholars
only two or three times a week. The studio is a sort of mutual
school, where pupils teach each other; they are of all ages. All
conditions of society are represented. Three kinds of painting are
done by them—face or portrait, landscape, and flowers. Most
of the girls of the higher classes prefer landscape. Female artists
compete with men, and wear their hair short. Few women like
the physical fatigue of a painter's life. There is not the same
play for coquetry in artists, as in singers or actors. It requires
great perseverance for a female artist to acquire firmness of execution;
she does not possess it to the same extent as man. Some
artists are willing merely to copy paintings, paint portraits, and
give lessons. The school of landscape painting is one well fitted
for young and original talent. Women succeed in painting
portraits; also, in painting flowers and fruit; very few have tried
historical paintings." Painting is certainly a profitable employment
for a lady artist of superior ability, if she can have enough
to do. Miss F., New York, established a life school for lady
artists. One subject is used at a time; the classes are limited—two
classes—eight or ten pupils in each. Those that need instruction
will pay $12 for twenty-two lessons; those without in
[Pg 80]struction,
$6. There will be two sittings a week, of from three to
four hours. A person of sensitive, nervous type, susceptible to
every impression of a pleasant kind, is most likely to succeed as
an artist. Mr. R. Peale told me that many ladies in Europe
paint portraits. He considered it a higher style than landscape,
or still life. He thinks painting itself not injurious to the health.
The turpentine used is sanitary, and the white lead is deleterious
only when taken into the lungs. What is inhaled in breathing
can do no harm. Mr. Peale thought that the principal reason
of artists being so poor in health, is because of their long and
close confinement indoors. In painting the first coats are often
applied by an assistant, employed by the artist; and in some
cases, by the students of the artists. Miss Merrifield, of England,
has written a work on the art of painting. A number of ladies in
England, and in the United States, are winning a reputation as
artists. The prospect to lady artists in the United States is
very encouraging. Ladies are allowed the privilege, on proper
application, to copy paintings in the Academy of Fine Arts,
Philadelphia, the Düsseldorf, and the Bryant galleries, New York.
According to the census of 1850, there were 2,093 male artists;
but there are said to be not more than 600 or 700 superior
artists in the United States. The patronage the best receive is
such as to keep them well employed. A meagre support and a
long life of labor are necessary to establish a reputation as an
artist, even to one that has talent. But the way in which most
of our first-class artists live, that are prudent and steady in their
habits, and possess any business qualifications, contradicts the
opinion, quite common, that an artist's life must always be one of
self denial and poverty. We think artists fare as well as most
people, and we do think it a life very inviting to the young
ladies of our country. Those that have the time, the means, and
the talents, will find it an absorbing, a fascinating employment.
Women succeed best in painting pictures of their own sex, and
of children. The more tender and delicate organizations are
best suited to their talents. Most of our artists live in the
metropolis, New York; the Western country is too new and
crude. There are materials enough, but not much appreciation
of talent. Besides there is less wealth, and another thing is, that
artists must keep themselves where mention will now and then be
made of their pictures, to bring them into notice, and where the
most ready sale will be found for them. During the last few
years a taste has been developed in St. Louis, that promises some
golden fruit. A gallery of paintings has lately been opened
there. Why is it that a talent for painting and poetry is
so often combined? Is it that the quiet, contemplative state
[Pg 81]
that produces poetical inspirations also favors the visible expression
of beautiful thoughts? A poet painter is more frequently
to be seen than a poet musician. One, I suppose, of a quick,
lively disposition, and very impressible, might be more likely to
possess musical talent than one of a quiet, thoughtful nature.
But genius is not fettered by temperament. There is a society
of female artists in London; the first public exhibition of their
paintings took place in June, 1857. It is managed by a committee
of eight ladies, and bound by twenty-three articles. A
portrait painter writes: "The artist requires a high, well-developed
anterior brain, a healthy body; and a brain and body
well regulated and balanced; a love of the beautiful that inspires
the character with patience and indomitable perseverance, and a
contempt for applause; for 'art is long,' and, unless one is
willing to 'scorn delights and live laborious days,' he can never
meet with real success. If women can attain to excellence as
artists, they can command the same remuneration as men receive.
Art knows no sex." A professional artist remarked to me:
"Amateur painters never attain excellency, because it requires
not only talent, but constant application." I think if there is
anything that should have its full value, it is a painting, because
of the patience and perseverance necessary for an artist to excel,
and the long and costly preparation requisite. It commands,
too, a certain style of talent that many do not possess. In addition
to this, those who can afford to buy paintings are those who
can afford to pay a good price.
67. Animals.
We know of no artist in this country whose
talents have been devoted to the painting of animals, and of but
one lady, in any country, that has distinguished herself in that
line—the far famed Rosa Bonheur.
68. Banners.
We saw an ornamental sign painter decorating
a large flag. Stars are painted on the silk, and then sized
and gilt. The flag was stretched on a frame like a piece of
tapestry, but upright like an easel. Mr. M. had never known
of any women being employed in the trade. He decorated banners
for processions, political campaigns, &c. This is evidently
a field for female industry.
69. Crayon and Pastel.
Crayon drawing seems to
have been much in vogue in Italy in the seventeenth century; and
we read of an Italian lady, as far back as 1700, devoting her time
to pastel painting. The soft, light, dreamy effect given by the
use of pastels, peculiarly fit the style for the portraits of ladies and
children. Mrs. Dassel, of New York, was noted for her excellency
in the use of pastels. Mrs. Hildreth, of Boston, is very successful
in her crayon portraits. She charges from $30 to $40 a head.
[Pg 82]
Mrs. M. A. Johnson, of Massachusetts, has spent some years
working in crayon. "Her indefatigable patience in the execution
of details, the fidelity of her likenesses, and the delicate perfection
of finish in her pictures, are remarkable." Miss Clark received
$20, and over, for crayon portraits in Boston, a few years
ago. Before Miss Stebbins, of New York, became a sculptor, she
drew crayon portraits, charging $50 per head. Her execution
was said to be clear and forcible.
70. Flowers and Fruit.
During the latter part of the
eighteenth and the first half of the present century, a number of lady
artists have distinguished themselves in flower painting. During
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a few devoted themselves
to it in Holland, Germany, Denmark, and France. For a few years
past some American ladies have turned their attention to flower
painting with marked success. A number in England have
also obtained distinction.
71. Fresco.
The wife of an artist told me her husband
knew of a fresco painter in England, whose daughter would
assist him when he was hurried. But the lady thought working
with men was objectionable. I heard of a young lady in
New York, who assisted her father, by filling up the outlines,
as he drew them on side walls. Mrs. Ellet states that Angelica
Kauffman assisted her father in the interior decoration of a
church, in Schwarzenberg. She painted, in fresco, the figures
of the Twelve Apostles. Her success in an undertaking so
difficult excited considerable attention. Mrs. N., wife of a fresco
painter, thought the work unfit for women, because they would
be compelled to work with men, and stand on platforms to work
on ceilings; consequently are liable to exposure of person. They
might paint the side walls, and let men paint the ceilings.
72. Historical.
But few ladies have devoted themselves
to historical painting. The most lived during the latter part of
the last century, and the commencement of the present. Catarina
Vieira painted several church pictures, after the designs of her
brother.
73. Landscape.
In the past century Holland gave to the
world the largest number of female landscape painters. America
and England bear away the palm for the present century.
American scenery opens as wide a scope for the talent of the
landscape painter as any on the globe. Mrs. ——, one of the
first landscape painters of our country, thinks landscape requires
more care and talent than portrait painting, but the latter pays
best. She says there are some ladies in Boston, who are very
good landscape painters. She thinks it would be very difficult
for a young artist to become established in New York, without
[Pg 83]
influential connections, and the means to keep her until she does
become established; but would be more likely to succeed in
cities in the South and West. She thinks there are good openings
in Baltimore, for artists of every kind. She says art is much
more encouraged in the United States during the last few years,
and a good artist need not fear starving. The artists of New
York have three receptions during the year. The object is to
make known their paintings, with a view to selling. At the
last annual sale of pictures for the New York Artists' Fund,
$2,000 were received. Some artists copy a landscape exactly as
they see it; some select the most beautiful parts of different
landscapes, and combine them; and a few draw entirely from
imagination. Good painters of scenes for theatres, I have been
told, often receive from $25 to $40 per week.
74. Marine.
Some very good marine views have been
executed in this country, but none by ladies.
75. Miniature Painters.
"We may run back as far
as the twelfth century, and find a few miniature painters among the
fair sex. Margaretta von Eyck devoted most of her time to
painting miniatures, in the fifteenth century. In the seventeenth
century, an Italian lady of Palermo distinguished herself as a
painter in oils. Mrs. Wright, an English miniature painter,
died in 1802; and Maria Conway was a noted miniature
painter, living in London, who died in 1821. In the seventeenth
century, Maria Rieger was employed to paint miniatures in the
aristocratic circles of Germany. In the same century, a Swiss
lady, Anna Wossar, began at the early age of thirteen to win
a name in the same branch of painting. In the same century,
almost every country in Europe gave birth to one." Mad. Goldbeck,
of English birth; Mrs. Hill, of Boston; Miss C. Denning,
of Plattsburg; Miss Anne Hall and Miss O'Hara, in New York,
are the principal miniature painters in the United States. It
was reported that Miss H. occasionally received as high as $500
for a miniature. Mrs. Hill received from $75 to $100 for a
miniature. The popularity of photographs has caused many
portrait and miniature painters to devote themselves to that
branch of art. Some artists succeed in giving an ideal,
spirituel
beauty, truly astonishing. I think it is more observable in
miniatures on ivory than any other style. Mr. W. writes: "In
the department of miniature painting women find profitable employment
and are ofttimes very expert at the work. I know a
lady in Washington who paints very beautiful miniatures, for
which she receives from $10 to $15. This is very nearly the
same rate paid to men. Woman's delicate sense of touch and
[Pg 84]
facility of expression make it a branch for which she is especially
fitted."
76. Panoramas
, we suppose, have pretty well paid their
way, particularly the first that were exhibited; but we know
not that any lady has ever engaged in this branch of painting.
Mr. D., a scenic and panoramic artist, says the "decorative workshops"
of Paris are 250 feet long, and 50 feet wide. The cloth
for panoramas is laid on the floor, and the paint then applied,
as it would run if hung up. There are galleries around the
walls, some distance above, from which the artist may judge of
the effect of his painting. Many dioramas are used, and might
be colored by ladies. Panoramas have not been so common
since Banvard painted his. Painting them does not always pay for
the trouble and expense. It requires a certain order of talent
for painting panoramas, and probably as high an order as any
other.
77. Portrait.
"Lala, though not a native of Rome,
exercised her profession in that city during the youth of Marcus
Varo, painting portraits of women. Her pictures were better
paid for than those of any other painter of her time. Portrait
and character drawing have ever exercised the talents of the first-class
artists." Mary Beale was a celebrated portrait painter,
who lived in the reign of Charles II.; and Anna Killigrew
painted the portraits of James II. and his queen. An artist
told me that it requires the most intense mental application to
bring out a variety in the expression of the countenances of some
sitters, and difficult to seize the most happy expression. An
ambrotype copy should be kept for the colorist to look at occasionally,
while progressing with his work. He thinks seven
hours a day enough for an artist, when his mind is exercised with
his work. After so long an application, he might turn his attention
advantageously to some style of painting more mechanical
in its nature, that will be an occupation to his body and a relief
to his mind. A portrait painter writes me in answer to some
questions: "The artist's labor cannot well be intrusted to another.
In France there are female portrait painters, who are
said to execute such works with more delicacy and profit than
men. The employment is not unhealthy, unless the laborer confines
herself too long in a poorly ventilated room. Women are
paid by the piece, when employed by artists. I would say, in
general terms, why women are not better paid is owing, doubtless,
to a very foolish idea that, in all respects, they are not so
reliable. Perhaps a remnant of a more barbarous period has
something to do with it. In inferior conditions of society women
are always looked upon as inferior creatures. Women have done
[Pg 85]
great things in art. See the career of Rosa Bonheur, Angelica
Kauffman, Miss Sharp, of London, and, in our own country, Mrs.
L. M. Spencer and Miss Hosmer." Some people are gifted with
a love for, and success in, one style, and some in another. Our
nation, composed as it is of representatives from all lands, will
give fair play to the best powers of the portrait painter. Miss
G. thinks a lady of talent, by close application, with an extensive
respectable connection, can establish herself in New York as an
artist, and earn a livelihood by the products of her pencil. She
charges as much for a crayon portrait as for one in oil. She succeeds
best in crayons. $60 is her price for a large portrait; $10
or $15 more, with hands. "Mademoiselle Rosée, born in Leyden,
in 1632, deserves a place among eminent artists for the singularity
of her talents. Instead of using colors, with oil or gum, she used
silk for the delicate shading. It can hardly be understood how
she managed to apply the fibres, and to imitate the flesh tints,
blending and mellowing them so admirably. She thus painted
portraits, as well as landscapes and architecture."
78. Water Colors.
Much improvement has taken place
in this style of painting during the last few years. Fanny Corbeaux
is mentioned as a superior English painter in water colors,
of the present century.
79. Painters of Dial Plates.
This is rather an artistic
employment, but poorly paid. All the clock faces used in
the East are said to be painted by women. Men would not do it
for the prices that are paid. In Boston is a large factory where
a number of girls are employed in painting hard dial plates—that
is, enamelled. I saw a Swiss lady in New York who paints
silver-faced dial plates. She and a gentleman in Hoboken (she
told me) are the only persons in this country who paint that
style. The drying of hard dial plates she thought to be bad on
the health, because of the great heat to which a person is exposed
in placing the enamel in the furnace, and attending to it
while there. Mixing the enamel could be done by women. When
learning to paint dial plates in Switzerland, she paid $3 a week
for instruction and board, but for a sleeping room separately.
80. Picture Restorers.
E. says he has been thirty years
engaged in restoring paintings and engravings. He thinks it is
more of a natural gift than anything else. He has made money
by it. His sons, who have been ten years employed as draughtsmen,
cannot succeed, with all the instruction he has given them.
To succeed requires the talents and experience of an artist. He
never adds paint when any is left, but merely restores it. If it
is gone, he supplies it. B. says, restoring paintings is a work of
all time. The prospect of a lady succeeding is poor. She can
[Pg 86]not
use the heavy iron (twenty-five pounds) necessary for ironing
the lining on the picture. (But that part is merely mechanical
work, and can be done by a man.) The greatest aim with
most restorers is to imitate the old masters. Mrs. C., whose
husband is a picture liner, says there is a great wear and tear of
mind in that business. A restorer may injure a picture, and
have it thrown upon his hands, and have to pay ten times its
value. Restoring is the most difficult, lining the most laborious.
She never heard of any one being taught. I should think a
restorer would find it desirable, if not essential, to visit the galleries
of Europe, and study the works of the old masters. The
business requires considerable artistic taste and knowledge, but,
in our large cities, may after a while present a field for qualified
women.
81. Piano Tuners.
I think a piano tuner might form a
class of ladies, and give instruction in the art. $1 is the usual
price for tuning a piano in the city. One should have an acute
sense of hearing, to succeed; and he should commence early to
cultivate that sense. It is very necessary to know how to make
a nice discrimination of sounds. Practice in that is best gained
in a piano factory. Some could learn the principles in half a
day. More depends on practice, and a native talent for it, than
anything else. At Mr. W.'s is a very superior tuner, and he
has been at it but a few months. It requires strength of wrist,
and a rather long arm. The change of posture and strain on the
back is considerable. There is not one good tuner in fifty. Mr.
W. thinks a lady might be a tuner. He says it is not necessary
that a person should know how to play on an instrument, but it
is better. A tuner in his factory receives $3 a day. Regulating
is done by the touch, tuning by the ear. If a lady could obtain
the tuning of the pianos of her friends, they might speak to others,
and in that way she might succeed in obtaining sufficient custom
to make a very comfortable support. It might also bring out
any musical talent the individual possesses. While piano tuners
are learning, if they practise long at a time, they often experience
a confusion of sounds, and are not able to distinguish correctly.
I was told by another manufacturer, it is not at all necessary to
be a player to make a good tuner, as the two are entirely distinct.
There is a great difference in the abilities of tuners. There is
much difference naturally in the sense of hearing in different individuals:
there is much from training, there is much from the
aptness of a pupil, and in the application. When they take a
boy as an apprentice, they keep him at first to sweep the room,
and go errands, and give him instruction, probably an hour at a
time, in tuning. Longer time would confuse a learner. They
[Pg 87]
have had a tuner for three years, that they can now send to tune
pianos for concerts; but, a year ago, they could not. Two piano
tuners (women) are mentioned in the census of Great Britain.
Mr. W. had two or three ladies to learn piano tuning in his
factory. They were music teachers, living in villages and the
country, who could not engage a tuner oftener than once in two
or three months, when the tuner would come around. He thinks
ladies could not make very good tuners, because it requires great
strength in the hand or wrist, and complete control of the key; for
if the key is turned ever so slightly more than it should be, the
wire will break. A manufacturer of musical instruments writes:
"I think women could be placed in a situation profitable to themselves
and the community by learning to tune pianos and melodeons,
which I believe they have the skill and capacity to do.
They would also find it profitable, in some places, to instruct juvenile
classes of both sexes in sacred music."
82. Plaster Statuary.
The few women in this country
who work in plaster of Paris, are, as far as we know, natives of
other countries. There is an old Italian woman in Baltimore
who makes and sells works in plaster. Casts are sometimes
taken by women, but rarely. Casts of living persons are taken
by having the individual breathe through iron tubes placed in
the nostrils. Casts are also taken from reliefs, statues, and
models. They require less care than the first mentioned. Fruit
is imitated in this material, and colored exactly like the original.
I saw a case that had been prepared by a lady for the rooms of
the American Institute, New York. The librarian thought several
collections might be disposed of to agricultural societies and
farmers. It would pay well, and take but little time to learn.
It would require a nice discernment of colors and shades, and
neat, careful workmanship. In Brooklyn, I was told by a boy,
that did not look to be more than 14 or 15 years of age, that he
had been working in plaster of Paris for three years. His was the
architectural branch. The first year he received $1.50 per
week; next year, $2; and the next, $3. He thinks a woman
could do any of the work. The moulds for some parts are made
of wax and rosin; some of sulphur, and some of plaster of Paris.
The moulds are tied together, and the liquid plaster poured in.
It hardens in half an hour. Mr. W., a plaster of Paris worker,
says the whole of the work could be done by women. Modelling
requires practice in drawing, and a knowledge of geometrical
figures. Inventive talent finds a ready field for exercise. A
good moulder is paid $2.50 a day. The study of architectural
ornaments and books much facilitates the advancement of the art.
Modelling and casting are distinct branches. Most employers pay
[Pg 88]
boys thirty-seven cents a day for casting; but to learn modelling,
it is customary for the learner to pay a premium. Another maker
of house ornaments said modelling could be learned in six months,
and when a person has learned, he can earn from $3 to $5 a day
of ten hours. One must know how to draw in order to model.
Another proprietor told me he had thought of employing girls to
break off the edges of architectural ornaments. They now have
boys, and pay from $3 to $9 per week. Modellers can earn $2,
$2.50, and $3 per day. He paid $2.50 a day, for a year, to
one man. At a large store for the sale of plaster of Paris articles
in New York, the proprietor, a gentlemanly Italian, said he
would be willing to give instruction to a class of ladies in modelling,
moulding, casting, and polishing. He would charge $2 for
two hours' instruction, and thinks, after a lesson every day for three
months, and some practice in the intervals, his pupils would have
no difficulty in prosecuting the work alone. It soils the clothes
very much. His daughter learned it, but prefers embroidery.
One of the Pisani brothers told me that in Italy and Paris
women work at the business. Much ornamental work is executed
in alabaster, spar, composition, and plaster of Paris. None of
them are unfit for women. A more desirable occupation, with
the exception of its want of cleanliness, a woman could not engage
in, than plaster of Paris modelling. An Italian plaster
image maker in Boston writes me: "We employ about 60 women.
Women are employed at this business in Florence, Rome, and
Milan. I get about $10 per day, and pay women $3 per day,
working ten hours. I pay both by the piece and by the day.
As a general thing, we pay men better than women. It requires
some genius and a lifetime to learn the business. The prospects
for employment are good in Boston, and there is a pretty lively
demand for hands. All the women I employ are Italians.
Women are decidedly superior workers. The business can be
carried on in any part of the United States. Women might be
employed in taking casts from the dead, if they have sufficient
nerve. I have a peculiar fancy for this branch of the work, and
do not consider it unhealthy."
83. Painters of Plates for Books.
Hundreds of
thousands of plates are annually colored in London, and some in
this country. The neatness and patience of women fit them
admirably for this work. It is an agreeable, but at present not
a very constant or profitable employment. The coloring of lithographs
in printing has done away with much hand coloring. The
painting of stereoscopic plates has given employment to some
ladies, and does not require much skill or taste. The gentleman
who prepared stereoscopic plates for the Messrs. A., employed
[Pg 89]
several ladies, to whom he paid on an average from $9 to $10 a
week, working by the piece. Botanical plates are mostly colored
by hand. The gentleman who prepares the fashion plates of the
Ladies' American Magazine employs women, paying from $4 to
$7 a week, according to application and rapidity of execution.
They work from eight till dark, in winter, and by the week, not
the piece. It requires but a few weeks to learn. He has stereoscopic
views also painted by women. They receive rather better
prices, as it requires some artistic taste and more care. The
universal complaint among employers is, that their best workwomen
will get married and leave them. If women were better
paid, employers would not be so likely to lose them. A few
years ago, we saw a newspaper statement to this effect: When
maps were colored by hand in New York, girls were paid from
three cents to ten cents a sheet, and they earned from $3 to $5 a
week. A few years back, it was estimated that there were two
hundred female paint colorers at the top of the profession, who
made excellent wages by coloring costly engravings. The colorers
of plates in
Leslie's Magazine pay by the hundred or thousand.
The first year, a learner is paid but little. If she succeeds
right well in that time, she is then paid according to the quality
and quantity of her work, earning from $3 to $5 per week. They
must work in the shop, so the superintendent can see if it is
properly done, or reject and have altered such plates as are not.
All seasons are alike. A manufacturer of children's toy books
told me he employed girls for coloring, paying by the piece.
They earned each from $3 to $3.50 a week. They used stencil
plates. He generally kept them employed all the year round,
but the occupation is full. A German print colorer told me he
employed thirty girls till the panic, paying by the piece from $3
to $3.50 a week. Stencil plates of varnished paper were used.
He paid his workers from the first, and they could either sit or
stand while at work. Another paint colorer told me his girls
earned from $4 to $4.50 a week, for coloring the finest prints,
working only in daylight. A manufacturer of valentines and
children's toy books told me his girls painted valentines in winter,
and toy books in summer. He pays two of his girls by the week
$7 each, and none of the rest less than $4 a week. They work
from nine to ten hours a day. The use of stencils by Germans
has reduced the price of such work. He could get girls to do
book coloring for $2 a week, but prefers to retain his old hands
constantly. Most colorers of prints work at home. A getter up
of gentlemen's fashion plates told me he pays ten cents for coloring
a large sheet containing several figures, and the worker finding
her own materials. No one could earn the salt of her bread
[Pg 90]
at such rates. Another print colorer told me it requires from
two to six weeks to learn, according to the ability of the learner.
Sometimes he has Government work that must be done hurriedly.
They have least work from New Year to March. Some print
colorers pay by the week; $5 is a good price. I saw an engraving
on the wall representing an English barnyard, for which the
proprietor was paid $3 for coloring, while he pays the lady who
does it, $2.25. Some ladies, he says, can earn from $10 to $12
a week.
84. Photographists and Colorists.
Mr. F. says they
would employ good lady artists, if they could get them; but
ladies do not succeed so well, because they do not have such an
efficient course of training—do not go through the same gradations
in a preparation for the work. They mostly employ men
that are foreigners to color. A colorist of photographic views
for stereoscopes says he pays a lady to color for him $6 a gross.
English ladies color best. The firm with which he is connected
cannot get their coloring done in New York, so have most of it
done in London; and as work is cheaper, it costs them no more
with the addition of transportation. At one photographic establishment
in Philadelphia, the proprietor told us that several
artists now devote their time to the coloring of photographs.
He pays one lady at the rate of $12 a week. She is employed
on the low-priced pictures, such as are sold for $5, exclusive of
frame. The portraits range from $75 up. The lady painter is
daughter of an English artist. She works all the hours of daylight,
when required—sometimes only six hours. B. has at
different times encouraged and employed female artists; has
never met with any one who excelled, but does not doubt they
might do so if properly trained. He had a lady partner in
daguerreotyping and photographing. She was very poor when
she commenced, but, while engaged in it, supported herself and
children, and educated them, and left $3,000. He told me of two
ladies making a handsome support by coloring photographs. His
best pictures are painted by gentlemen artists. He thinks the
taking of photographs not so suitable for women, because it is
dirty work; that is, the nitrate of silver that gets on the fingers
stains them like indelible ink—a small difficulty, I think, in the
way of a woman that has a living to make. There are several
ladies in Philadelphia who make their living by painting photographs.
Some ladies have quitted the profession of teaching to
become photographers. Ladies are sometimes employed in photographic
galleries, to wait upon company, agree upon prices,
deliver the work, and receive pay. For such services they are
paid from $3 to $5 per week, according to the amount of busi
[Pg 91]ness
done. Photographers work from eight to ten hours. Some
think the business unhealthy, because of the gases that arise
from the combination of chemicals. Women that have had
practice in drawing and painting can give a pretty and delicate
touch in the coloring of photographs. L., photographist, employs
two ladies to color photographs in water colors. He teaches it
for $10. A good colorist, with constant employment, can earn
from $10 to $15 a week. He thinks there are openings in the
South. Some prefer water coloring to oil, because you can see
the pictures in any light. Oils are better for large pictures that
you see at a distance. Painting in water colors does not pay the
artist so well as painting in oils. Misses E., New York, are
busy all the time. They execute different styles of painting,
but have lately found it more profitable to color photographs.
They each earn from $12 to $15 per week coloring photographs,
when busy. Their work is all brought to the house. They have
had several offers to go South, and better prices than they receive
in New York. Miss E., with whom I talked, thought if any
ladies would learn thoroughly, and could not obtain painting to
do, they could easily obtain situations as teachers of painting.
I saw the wife of an artist who gives instruction in drawing and
painting. She told me her husband is very conscientious and
will not recommend any one to spend their time and money
learning to draw and paint, if he finds they have not talent of
that kind. Some people think they possess genius, and can excel
in painting, even if they commence when thirty or more years of
age; but it is best for an artist to commence early in life. The
talent of some is developed in a shorter time than others. One
may learn in three months what another could not in six. Her
husband can advance an American pupil as far in two years as
he did his German pupils in four. He thinks the Americans are
more apt, and acquire more rapidly. She thought a lady would
not find any difficulty in obtaining constant employment as a
painter. Miss J., Philadelphia, has as much to do at coloring
photographs as she wishes. It takes her about a day to color a
small one, for which she receives $1. For those pictures on
which there is more work, the prices are higher. The painting
of ivorytypes is more expensive. An ivorytype the size of a $1
photograph would cost $10. Most photographers send their
coloring out of the establishment to be done, and pay by the piece.
In several States, women have been successfully engaged as daguerreans
and photograph colorers. Some have travelled through
the country, stopping in various towns to carry on their business.
Some knowledge of chemistry is necessary for a photographer.
One photographer writes: "Women are employed in every
[Pg 92]
country where there are first-class galleries. It is unhealthy in
the operating rooms, on account of the acids and poisons. We
pay $4 a week to ladies to attend the show case and wait upon
customers. We pay men $6 and $7, because they can do more
by one third of the same kind of work than a woman. Any part
of the business can be performed by a woman. We pay girls $4
from the commencement. They spend eight or ten hours at the
gallery, but are not employed all the time. They are as comfortable
as in their own parlors receiving visitors. Ladies prefer one
of their own sex in the reception room. There is always demand
for superior work in our line; consequently, a prospect of employment
so long as the world stands. In Syracuse, fall and
winter are the most busy seasons." Mr. A. says the occupation of
portrait and miniature painters is gone since the discovery of the
photographer's art. He thinks ladies are as capable of arriving
at great excellence as men in painting, if they will only apply
themselves as closely. Their knowledge of colors probably makes
them excel in that respect. He teaches photographic coloring,
charging $1 a lesson of one hour. A mechanical execution in
coloring is gained in a short time, but a good photographist
ought to be an experienced artist. Mr. R. told me his girls are
engaged in painting and mounting. He pays one $7 a week, and
the other $5. An individual that is bright, intelligent, and
capable of rapid tuition, could learn in six months. They spend
from eight to six o'clock in the gallery. They have but a few
minutes recess at noon, as that is the most busy time. He prefers
women for some parts of the work. Men are more powerful
artists, give a better expression; women are more careful, and
give a finer finish. I talked with a photographic colorist, who
gives instruction to a few ladies in coloring, and employs four.
He thinks women are generally better judges of colors than men,
but some women never learn the shades. (I think, unless it arises
from some physical defect, it is because they are not taught to
distinguish colors when children. It is difficult to teach a person
the careful use of any of the senses if they are neglected in
childhood.) The work requires some artistic taste. A knowledge
of drawing and colors, and a good education, are essential to
success. A young lady in the business should be social in her
nature, and of pleasing address. I would think an artist of any
kind would need the talent of drawing to the surface the soul of
his or her sitter, for much of the beauty of a picture depends
upon expression. Mr. G. thinks water colors neater for ladies than
oil. The employment is now in its infancy. The taste for photographs
is increasing. There are now one hundred engaged in the
business where fifteen years ago there was but one. Photog
[Pg 93]raphists
are usually employed from nine to six, or from eight to
five. The remuneration is good when constant employment can
be had. The best locality is a growing place. The business
would grow up with the place. The prices paid enable ladies to
obtain boarding in houses that possess the comforts, and even the
luxuries of life. Summer is the dullest season, but much depends
on weather. French women generally succeed well in
coloring. Some English ladies, also, do well. Mr. G. gives a
lady colorer $12 a week. Mr. B., a photographist, writes:
"Women are employed in my branch of art in England. I would
like to find competent assistance, but have been unable to do so.
The work is not unhealthy, but it is very trying to the eyes. I
should think that in many respects the work would be well
adapted to females, but think, from trials that I have made, that
the mathematical precision of the work is a feature unfavorable to
the feminine mind. Were I to find such assistance as I would
be satisfied with, I would pay according to capacity and work.
Thorough artistic education and natural talents are essential. In
point of taste, as regards color and elegance, I think women
might be superior; as regards precision and firmness of minute
work, I am uncertain. It would require considerable time and
patience to learn the art." One of the proprietors of a photographic
establishment in Philadelphia writes: "I employ from
two to four ladies in painting photographic pictures, and pay by
the week from $3 to $6. They work eight hours a day. I pay
men about twice as much, because the men, being longer at the
business, work better and quicker. It requires several years'
practice to gain a moderate acquaintance with this branch. It is
our opinion, that women are well adapted for most branches of
photographing, and for some they would be superior to men, provided
always, that they bring to the work a certain degree of
education, and some natural talent. We suppose the reason they
are not more employed in this and similar pursuits, is, that young
women of a certain degree of education, are seldom eager for any
sort of employment. Besides, in this business, it requires years
of earnest application to master it, and before this is accomplished,
many marry. The employer feels little security in retaining
a woman at the business after going through years of instruction,
because in many, or most cases, they marry, and must attend
to their domestic duties. With a man the reverse takes place.
He becomes a better and more steady worker after marriage."
"We have a great improvement in photography by its combination
with lithography. By the process adopted, the object to be
represented is photographed at once on the stone, and thus the
intermediate operations are avoided." In times of excitement,
[Pg 94]
like the present, when soldiers are going from their homes, there
is much for the artists to do.
85. Preparers of Scientific Plates.
Mrs. B. has
supported herself for some time by making drawings of fossils
for works on geology. She is now doing one for a work on
Niagara. It requires a great deal of care. It is very trying to
the eyes as the engraver imitates every line made by the pencil,
and a magnifying glass is of course much used for presenting enlarged
views of the smallest fossils. I think she is paid by the
piece or set, for the work. Of course this pursuit must be
limited.
86. Seal Engravers.
Seal engraving is cutting in a
precious stone, letters or a device. The cutting is done by means
of a lathe and sharp cutting tools. Diamond dust and oil are
used. The lathe is moved by treadles. The finer the work, the
smaller the tools. Taste, good eyesight, and a knowledge of form
are necessary. No pattern is used. The hand and eye must
serve as guides. It would be a very pretty occupation for women,
but would require time, patience, and practice. Seal engravers
in New York earn from $10 to $12 per week, but the occupation
there is filled. Mrs. Ellet, in her "Women Artists," mentions a
Prussian and a German lady as being noted for their skill in
cutting precious stones. A seal engraver told me he does not
pay apprentices the first year, but the second year $2, and from
that up, according to the abilities of the worker. It requires
from four to seven years to learn all the branches thoroughly.
Another engraver told me the business is not worth learning now
that gum mucilage has done away with sealing wax, and consequently
the use of seals. The designs for seals are usually taken
from a heraldry book; always when for a coat of arms. Such
seals are in greater demand in Europe. Seal engravers in this
country do not have constant employment. They cut fancy seals
when not otherwise occupied. The work can be done at night
by a good light.
87. Sculptors.
Properzia di Rossi, Maria Domenica,
Anna Maria Schurmann, Maria von Steinbach, Anne Seymour
Damer, Falicie de Faveau, and in our own country and time
Miss Lander, Harriet Hosmer, and Miss Stebbins, are among
those who have proved the ability of woman to succeed in sculpture.
Sculptors, it should be understood, seldom, if ever, labor
with the chisel. They prepare models, which are made in a composition
of clay or wax, and then superintend the imitation of
these in marble. Sculpture is the chastest imitation of nature
and the highest expression of the form and spirit of beauty known
to art; and while woman is possessed of the finest sensibility and
[Pg 95]
most exquisite perceptions, there can certainly be no reason why
she should not succeed in it. Mr. Lagrange, in urging the establishment
of Government schools of design in France, says:
"Painting, engraving, and sculpture, encouraged as music and
dancing are, promise equal success; they provide a more assured
support in its being better acquired, and a more substantial renown,
and especially a calmer and chaster existence. Painter,
engraver, or sculptor, it is her
works alone that claim the public
eye. Her person is sacred; no one dares to lift the veil that
conceals her countenance; no one presumes to call upon her to
courtesy to feeble applause. A young girl, chaste and pure, she
may watch by the lonely hearthside; a wife, she may not see her
smiles and caresses in dispute as the seal of a purchased rite; a
mother, she may educate her children under a name they will
never be tempted to despise. Exhibitions, open to everybody,
will afford the public an opportunity to measure her talent or
genius; critics will confine their attacks to her works; and praise,
if she deserves it, will reach her eyes and ears in terms that she
will be able to listen to or peruse without the accompaniment of
a blush." Mrs. Wilson, wife of a physician living in Cincinnati,
has executed busts of her husband and children that are said to
be excellent likenesses. Mrs. Dubois, of New York, has sculptured
in marble several specimens. Misses Lander and Stebbins,
and Miss Hosmer, we believe, find their art lucrative. Sculptors
should attend anatomical dissections; should learn the structure
of the human frame, and the appearance of the muscles under the
various conditions to which circumstances may subject them. Indeed
the study of anatomy is essential to success. In sculpture,
we closely imitate the parent, nature. The most superior specimens
of statuary are said to be modelled after nature, as seen in
the unlaced, unpinched, unaltered original—just as nature's own
hand has chiselled. In sculpture, modelling is the inventive part
of the work, and requires taste and genius; copying is a merely
mechanical operation. A pursuit of this kind, if followed from
the love of it, becomes a soul-engrossing study. Means or friends
to rely upon, for at least two years, during the time of study,
will be necessary in most cases; for if the artist is to support herself
while she studies, only the highest earnestness can sustain
her; but then those that are not in earnest should not undertake
this art—for "it is better to pursue a frivolous trade in a serious
manner, than a sublime art frivolously." Without very decided
talent it will be some time before a sculptor comes sufficiently into
notice to sustain herself entirely by the filling of orders. "Sculpture
has become almost a fashion in Paris; but a woman finds it
difficult to devote herself to studies pertaining to the art. Though
[Pg 96]
greater in number than painters, they have accomplished scarcely
any remarkable works." Many women who might not undertake
sculpture, might learn to work in marble for sculptors. A marble
worker in its various branches, writes me: "I think women
might be very well employed in the lighter parts of finishing. I
suppose they are not so employed, because there has not yet been
any organized and extended effort made to introduce them into
this line of business. I am not sure, but think it likely, women
are employed to a limited extent in
chiselling marble in Italy
and France. Miss Hosmer has done more than mould for others
to copy. She has herself handled the mallet and chisel. The
employment in general is healthy; but lettering, and indeed fine
chiselling of any sort, requiring the eye to be brought near to the
work, raises a dust, which is breathed into the lungs—though the
injury is not very apparent till the lapse of years reveals it. The
qualifications desirable are a good judgment, and eye for form,
and a certain slight of hand. The prospect for marble workers
is good in all departments." On the other hand, another writes:
"Sculpture is too laborious for women, and if women practise
the art, they hire all the work done." In Rome, two thousand
women serve as models to painters and sculptors.
88. Steel and other Engravers.
Steel and copper
engraving require a very good knowledge of drawing, and careful
manipulation. A great advantage has been gained by substituting
steel for copper plates. One beauty of steel engraving is
that it can be done at home. Men like easy employments, and so
have appropriated this one. An engraver must learn to convey
the feelings of an artist. Lithography has seriously interfered
with steel engraving, and photography has to some extent. There
are very few journeymen engravers. Most go into business for
themselves. Some women are employed in engraving copper cylinders
for calico prints. Line and stipple are the most expensive
engraving. Mezzotint is cheaper. Boys practise on copper, and
do not work on anything valuable until they are able to engrave
well. One reason that engravers do not like to take apprentices
is, that they cannot do any thing under two or three years, of
any value to their employer, but expect to be paid from the first.
Besides, an engraver seldom has enough of such engraving as a
learner can do to keep him constantly employed. Those who receive
apprentices in New York take them for five years, and pay
something from the first; but very few men in New York, in any
branch of work, are willing to take apprentices. Much of the
success of a learner depends on his inclination, taste, and individual
exertion; and when he possesses these, they render him valuable
to his master—so it proves a matter of mutual interest. All
[Pg 97]
engraving is mechanical to a certain extent, but requires some
artistic taste. In "Women Artists" we find the names of some
ladies distinguished as engravers in Italy, France, Germany, and
England, in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries. Jane Taylor and her sisters paid their share of the
family expenses by engraving. Miss Caroline Watson was an
engraver of portraits to the queen in the reign of George III.
Angelica Kauffman and Elizabeth Blackwell both engraved on
steel. We read: "In London, recently, one accomplished female
engraver has turned her steel plates into a pleasant country house,
which she means to furnish with the proceeds of her delicate
painting on glass." In Paris, during the last thirty years, quite
a number of ladies have earned a livelihood by steel engraving,
and several are now employed there in card engraving, and engraving
fashion plates. There are some engravers in the South
and West, but there are openings for more. A card, seal, medal,
and door-plate engraver writes: "The usual number of hours for
engravers are from eight to ten. The business may be learned
in from one to two years, to be of use; but to learn thoroughly
requires three or four years. The business generally pays well
by jobs, and I see no reason why females may not engrave as
successfully as males with the same application."
89. Bank Note Engravers.
"Steel engraving was
first practised in England by the calico printers; but it was first
employed for bank notes and for common designs by Jacob Perkins,
of Newburyport, Mass." The American Bank Note Company,
New York, employ about sixty girls, forty-seven of whom
are engaged in printing or making impressions; the others in drying,
assorting, and laying together the sheets to be placed under a
hydraulic press. It requires but a few weeks to learn the part
done by girls. Some are paid $3 and some $3.50 per week.
They are mostly American girls. A lady told me that she heard
a girl, who had been employed to cut up bank notes (done with
scissors), say she often earned $9 a week. The company pay a
boy $3 a week from commencement until through his apprenticeship,
which is usually four or five years. Here a man can
earn $100 a week, if a first-class bank note engraver; but in England
not more than $10 or $12. There, however, paper money
is but little used; a £5 note being the smallest in value. Bank
note engraving is both mechanical and artistic. At the office of
the National Bank Note Company, a gentleman showed me the
various processes. He had often thought ladies would do well to
learn bank note engraving. I saw two or three gentlemen engraving.
The process is simple, but requires a good deal of patience
and practice. Their girls are employed to place the sheet for an
[Pg 98]
impression under a roller, and, after the impression is made, remove
it. Some receive $3, and some $3.50 a week. It is dirty work,
on account of the oil and ink used. Their girls wash every evening
the blankets used on the cylinders. Bank-note engravers of
the first order receive a salary of $4,000. Some receive from
$2,000 to $3,000 per annum. Bank note engravers work but
eight hours a day. Mr. M. thinks there would not be much difficulty,
if a lady wanted to learn bank note engraving, from the
prejudices of men, for some of them are not only just but generous.
One of the gentlemen engraving knew several ladies in
England that were bank note engravers.
90. Card Engravers.
I was told by a card engraver
that it was not usual to pay a learner anything. He gives his
apprentice only his board the first year. A card engraver may
draw letters well, and not be able to write well, and vice versa.
One should be steady and patient to draw and form letters, and
possess some natural taste, to succeed. It requires also much
practice. A card engraver can earn $5 a day, if he is industrious,
and has sufficient work. A journeyman is paid in proportion
to his abilities, from $5 to $25 per week. Some card engravers
earn $2,000 a year, clear of all expenses. The older a city, the
more engraving is done. In Europe, first-class merchants never
use type cards, but engraved ones.
91. Door Plate Engravers.
I was told by a door plate
engraver that a skilful person, who would apply himself closely,
could learn the business, so that, at the end of one year, he could
make a living. For door plate engraving, it is necessary to form
letters well. The size of the letters for a given space must be
divided by the eye. It requires great care, as one badly formed
letter would spoil the whole plate. Engraving of any kind
fatigues the back from stooping, and the eyes from straining. In
door plate engraving the eyes suffer least fatigue. Of course less
strength is necessary for plate engraving if the tools are of a
good quality and in proper order.
92. Map Engravers.
Map engraving is divided into
two kinds: the lettering and plain work. The last can be
learned in six months by a person of taste and talent. The
most that is needed is practice. A knowledge of drawing is not
necessary for this branch. There is not much map engraving
done in this country, because of the expense. Most is done in
New York and Philadelphia. The best map engraving done in
Paris is executed by ladies. There are also some ladies employed
in map engraving in London, and card engraving is there quite
common for ladies.
[Pg 99]
93. Picture and Heraldry Engravers.
Engraving
pictures pays well—a man often earning $10 a day. A superior
landscape engraver calculates to earn $2,500 a year. Mr. R.
historical engraver, does the engraving for the
Cosmopolitan
Art Journal. He says: "In England, better prices are paid for
historical engraving than here. Those who do the work receive
less, but the employer has a greater profit than in the United
States. More time is allowed the engraver in England to execute
a piece of work." Mr. R. pays his hands from $7 to $10 a
week, and the best historical engraver never gets in this country
over $30 a week. In England the work hours of an engraver are
nine; here seven. He says the art is dying out both here and in
England. It is a something in which we can always be improving.
Seven years was formerly the length of apprenticeship in
England, and there an apprentice was paid nothing while learning;
on the contrary, the parent usually pays a premium of £100.
When an apprentice has finished, he will earn £1 a week, and
continue to receive more according to his skill and ability. Some
people send pictures from the United States to England to be
engraved, saying they cannot do such work in this country as in
England; while, if they would pay the same price, and allow the
engravers as much time, it could be done just as well. Such an
engraving as you would pay $150 for here, in England you would
pay $200 for. In England it is customary for an engraver to
confine himself to one style; for instance, in "Falstaff Mustering
his Recruits," one engraver would do the wall, another the
figures, and another the drapery. Mr. R. was paid only $2,000 for
engraving "Falstaff Mustering his Recruits," and it took three
men two years. The business is not unhealthy, and not injurious
to the eyesight, although a glass must be used constantly. Mr. J.,
historical engraver, used to have persons employed that did the
different parts of a picture, and he paid them each from $15 to
$25 a week. He thinks, of those who learn metal engraving in
Europe, not more than fifty per cent. pursue it as a vocation, and
not above four per cent. attain perfection. Some engraving, both
picture and letter, is done by etching, but the best and most expensive
with a graver. Mr. J. M. Sartain writes in answer to a
circular: "I have no females in my employment, because I work
alone. To direct others or alter what they do wrong, takes
longer than doing the whole work myself. Neither do I know
of females being employed by others in my branch of business.
But if I were willing to be troubled with the teaching of any one
at all, I should choose a female. This is from my experience of
the males I taught in times past. Women have the requisites
more than men—patience, neatness, delicacy; and the occupation
[Pg 100]
is as suitable for them as any other they are accustomed to
adopt. An unmarried daughter of mine is about to learn from
me, with a view to follow it as a profession. The chance of employment
is however very limited, for the reason that the cost of
printing plates separately necessitates, in an extensive class of
pictorial embellishments, the use of woodcuts. This wood engraving
is equally suited for females, and to a limited extent they
are thus employed. The field in that branch is a wide one already,
with a constantly increasing demand. In my own branch
of engraving, the kind of skill required is that of
drawing. The
mere mechanical skill required in
any kind of engraving is easily
attained; but the art of
drawing is the great thing, and positively
demands aptitude and taste—at all events, quite close application
and earnestness.
Skill in drawing is a key that admits to a
wider range of arts than I can readily enumerate, and successful
and profitable employment in any engraving depends on
that. I
am chairman of the committee on instruction of the Board of
Directors of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and in
that capacity do all I can (as do also the other directors) to encourage
female talent. We have seven or eight ladies among
our students, and they
certainly are fully equal to the males in
capacity for acquiring art. Some model, others only draw. The
whole of our academy studies are gratuitous. For whatever
branch of the fine arts is to be followed, the first requisite is
drawing, and the next is
drawing, and the third and last is
drawing." Mr. B., heraldic chaser, says there are several processes
in making heraldry plates, sketching, engraving, embossing,
chasing, and burnishing. He used to employ girls to burnish.
The making of patterns for heraldry is never taught in this country
to women, as it would cause the labor of men so employed to
depreciate. He pays a man from $15 to $20 a week for chasing.
He charges $1 for finding the coat of arms of an individual or
family.
94. Telegraph Operators.
A new source of employment
has been opened by the invention of the electric telegraph.
Most of the telegraphing in England is done by women, and in
the United States a number of ladies are employed as operators.
To a quick and intelligent mind it requires but a short time to
learn. An English paper says: "Here women do the business
better than men, because of the more undivided attention they
pay to their duties; but considerable inconvenience is found to
result from their ignorance of business terms, which causes them
to make mistakes in the messages sent. However, a short course
of previous instruction easily overcomes this impediment." We
have been told that, in one telegraph office in London, several
[Pg 101]
hundred women are employed. I hope the application of steam
to the operations of the electric telegraph may not interfere with
the entrance of women into the occupation. In New Lisbon,
Ohio, a young woman was employed, a few years ago, as principal
operator in a telegraph office, with the same salary received
by the man who preceded her in that office. "I was told by
her," writes my informant, "that several women were qualifying
themselves, in Cleveland, for the same occupation." The ex-superintendent
of a line writes: "I have long been persuaded that ultimately
a large proportion of the telegraphists, employed exclusively
for writing, would be females, both because of their usually
reliable habits, their ability to abstract and concentrate thought
upon their engagements, their greater patience and industry, and
the economy of their wages. In offices where there is a large
amount of business, and, consequently, much intercommunication
with customers, I have supposed the arrangement would be to
have a clerk to receive and deliver communications, and the corps
of operators and writers, composed exclusively of females, in an
adjoining or upper room, apart from public inspection. And to this
arrangement, I think, there is at this time very little to oppose,
except the antagonism naturally felt by male operators, who see
in it a loss of employment to themselves, and a want of proper
facilities for teaching and obtaining a complement, in number, of
female telegraphists. Any female proficient in orthography, with
an inclination to useful employment, would make a good telegraphist,
and might readily command, under a system above indicated,
a salary of from $300 to $500, and be profitable to her
employers beyond the ordinary male telegraphists employed under
the present arrangement of office. It is in operating by the
Morse system that ladies are mostly or entirely employed. The
Morse is the easiest. They telegraph in small towns, where there
is not much to do, and the compensation is small." The Electric
Telegraph Company in London suggests that women should be employed
in preference to men, as working more rapidly. All the
lady telegraphists we have heard of gave satisfaction to all parties
concerned. To Mr. A., connected with the New York and Boston
telegraph line, I am indebted for the following information:
"Women are employed in operating the Morse instrument. They
are paid from $6 to $25 per month, and are paid by the month.
For the class of offices in which females are employed, about the
same wages are paid both sexes. It requires from three to six
weeks to learn, and nothing is paid while learning. The qualifications
needed are a fair knowledge of orthography, arithmetic,
geography, and ordinary mechanical ability. We may want a
few operatives, say six annually. The employment is constant,
[Pg 102]
and about ten hours a day are devoted to work. We employ
about fifty women, and they only at small offices. Nearly all are
American. The employment is comfortable. There are no parts
of our occupation suitable for women in which they are not engaged.
They are generally more attentive and trustworthy than
men. The price they pay for board depends on the locality, say
from $1.50 to $2 per week."
95. Vocalists.
This is an important and profitable employment—one
that has secured to many a poor foreigner visiting
this country a snug little fortune. We have only to cite the
cases of Jenny Lind, Garcia, Sontag, Parodi, and Catherine
Hays. It was stated in the New York Tribune of December,
1853, that Catherine Hays had sent $50,000 to purchase an
estate in Ireland. American talent is in some cases very highly
cultivated; but we fear the Scripture verse applies to the substantial
encouragement of native vocalists amongst us: "A prophet
is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own
house." Too much money and attention, we think, are lavished
upon foreign vocalists, while home talent is depreciated. An
American singer must often go to other countries and acquire a
name, before she is received with eclat in her own. It may be
that other countries have the same failing, but, we think, not to
the same extent. Let us love American talent, and encourage it
before every other. Adelaide Patti, Miss Hinckley, and Miss
Kellogg are at present the most noted singers of American birth.
Mr. C. told me, that in New York, lady singers receive from $100
to $400 per annum for singing in churches. One lady choir-singer
of whom we knew, received $500 a year, singing twice on
Sabbath. Not more than from twelve to fifteen lady singers in
New York receive over $350. One lady in a fashionable church
receives $1,000; but she is a widow, and somewhat favored. Another
lady, leading the choir in a Broadway church, receives a
salary of $1,000, I have been told.
96. Wax Work.
I called on two Italians that make wax
fruit; their baskets vary in price from twenty-five cents to $2.
It would take a day and a half to make a $2 basket. The Italian
that could speak some English told me that when he goes
out to work, he charges $2.50 a day; but to give lessons, he
would charge $2 a day. He thought an individual might learn in
eight, ten, twelve, or fifteen lessons, according to abilities and
taste. Miss W., teacher of wax flowers, charges $1 a lesson, and
thinks eight or ten lessons sufficient. She thinks in country
places there would be openings for teachers. I think, where
there are large seminaries, a teacher would do better. She says
there is an opening in Troy. If a person has enough to do, it
[Pg 103]
pays well. She makes by hand; they are more natural than
those made by moulds.
97. Wood Engravers.
Much and long-continued toil
is requisite for success in wood engraving. A great deal depends,
also, on the talent of the individual. Wood engraving
is a business adapted to women, as it requires mostly patience
and application, and but little physical strength. Mechanical
skill is the most that is requisite, yet, as in everything else, it
bespeaks the soul and taste of the originator. "Women's nimble
fingers, accustomed to wield the needle, lend themselves quite
easily to minute operations in the use of small instruments and
the almost imperceptible shades of manipulation that wood engraving
exacts." As more publishing is done in our country, of
course there will be a greater demand for wood engravers. A
great many newspapers now contain a large number of woodcuts,
as
Harper's Weekly,
Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, &c.
Wood engraving has been called into use for Government reports
and scientific works, aside from its extensive demands for periodical
literature. A lady engaged in the business writes of a class
in wood engraving: "The pupils vary so much in ability, application,
perseverance, and in the number of hours devoted to it,
that it is impossible to judge what any one may do who has not
made a trial. My own experience is that the practice of wood
engraving brings a sure return for all the outlay of time and
trouble spent in acquiring the art. It would hardly be safe to
rely entirely upon the proceeds of the second year; the third
may make up for it. The best wood engraving is done in England
and the United States. In classes of wood engraving in the
schools of design in England, the students are required to produce
the drawing as well as to engrave it." "For a quarter of a
century past, many hundreds of young women, we are assured,
have supported themselves by wood engraving, for which there is
now a demand which no jealousy in the stronger sex can intercept.
The effort to exclude women was made in this, as in other
branches of art; but the interests of publishers and the public
were more than a match for it." "In 1839, Charlotte Nesbit,
Marianne Williams, Mary Byfield, Mary and Elizabeth Clint,
held honorable positions among English wood engravers." Miss
F., at Elmira, New York, carries on business for herself in wood
engraving. She learned it at the Cooper Institute, four years ago.
The pupils of that institute canvassed for work, some two and
two, but she went alone, and principally in the lower part of the
city. They visited publishers mostly—she went to manufacturers.
She got an order for $500 worth of engraving at a gas-fixture
manufactory. I have heard that ladies in the school of
[Pg 104]
design, New York, receive the same price for wood engraving
that men would receive. N. Orr, the wood engraver, thinks the
prospect very good for a woman to earn a livelihood at it. He
knows a lady who has not only supported herself but partially
supported her parents by her work. For wood engraving, women
usually receive as good prices as men. The business is increasing.
There are none West, except a few in Cincinnati, and I
believe a still smaller number in St. Louis and Chicago. A
person that has any talent for it can earn a living at it in less
than two years' practice. A knowledge of drawing is not essential,
as the drawing is usually put on the wood by the designer.
Mr. Orr takes apprentices, but pays nothing the first year. They
are bound to him for five or six years. Some engravers require
a premium. I have been told that designing requires a very
different and much higher order of talent than wood engraving.
One designer can do enough in a day to keep a man busy a week.
New York is the principal city for wood engraving. I think
most men, while engraving, stand; but all the ladies that I have
seen at work sat. "A wood-engraving office in Cleveland employed
three girls in 1845, at wages varying from $3 to $7 per
week, according to the experience of each in the business, being
the same that men receive in the same office."
98. Merchants.
Occasionally we hear such complaints
as these: "Women who keep stores of their own ask higher for
their goods than men, and saleswomen are less obliging than
male clerks." Women, as a general thing, do not understand
their business as well as men, and that is the reason they are not
so well liked. Those inclined to be bold, may become pert; and
those in poor health, peevish. "If women were more employed
in stores," said Mr. P., "there would probably be less shopping,
but as many goods sold. Young girls that go shopping to whisper
in the ears of clerks, would then find something else to do."
Woman has a power of adaptedness that fits her admirably for
the vocation of a merchant. A friend remarked to me that Mr.
Stewart, of New York, she thought, would employ women in his
store, if a large number of fashionable and influential ladies
would petition him to do so. If the retail merchants of our
[Pg 105]
large cities and towns would combine and employ only saleswomen,
how greatly would they promote the welfare of the nation!
Young men would no longer waste their health, strength, and
talents selling gloves, tape, and dress goods, but would cultivate
the soil, or find openings as traders, speculators, mechanics, and
manufacturers, in cities, towns, and villages of our Western country.
They might do something more creditable to their physical
powers, while they gave their half-starved sisters a chance to earn
an honest livelihood. If ladies would patronize those stores only
in which there were saleswomen, and influence their friends to do
so, employers who now engage the service of salesmen would
soon learn what was to their interest, and make a change.
Promptness and regularity are desirable qualifications in a shopkeeper.
The business brings those engaged into intercourse with
all classes of people. Mrs. Dall makes this statement: "It is
a singular fact that there are a great many more women in England
in business for themselves than employed as tenders or
clerks; while in America, the fact, at the present day, is directly
the reverse." A lady who has lived in New York all her life
said, if the merchants of the city would employ women, they
could find twenty thousand to-morrow, ready and willing to enter
their stores. In Paris large stores are owned and conducted by
women, and even the importing and exporting of goods is in the
hands of some. The tact and address of French women admirably
fit them for shopkeepers. Many of the smaller fancy and
variety stores in our cities are owned by women, that have by
long-continued industry earned a competency. Lady merchants
can to some extent control the taste of the community where
they are; for such articles as they purchase and keep on hand
will be likely to find sale. The taste of the best keepers of dry-goods
and fancy stores, millinery establishments, and embroidery
shops will be displayed in the dress of their patrons. To merchandize
extensively, requires much experience and knowledge of
business; but to those that are qualified it presents an extensive
opening for enterprise. Barter, or the exchange of one kind of
goods for another, is very common in the villages and towns of
our country. The Gothscheer (Austrian) women often follow
the trade of peddlers, and are absent from their homes many
months, travelling about the country with staff in hand and a
pack at their back. "Advertising and politeness are the main
levers to get customers. Advertising will draw them; ability to
fill their orders will satisfy them; and politeness will induce
them to buy." Quick perceptive powers and judgment are also
essential to the success of merchants. It is very desirable to
have a good location for a store. A lady keeping a small dry-goods store told me she sells $100 worth of goods a week on an
average. She has been nine years in the business, and constantly
gaining trade. She likes rainy Saturday evenings, as she then
sells most. She said one must use judgment in the amount of
profit to be made on various articles. A person must regulate
her prices by others. On some goods she can make but five per
cent., and on some others fifty. Many of the fortunes in Boston
are said to have been founded by women engaged in trade. And
the ladies on Nantucket Island during the Revolutionary war
conducted the business of their husbands, fathers, and brothers.
A lady wrote, some years back, of some stores in one of our large
cities: "The proprietors say they give from twenty-five to fifty
per cent. more to the males than to the females of equal talent
and capacity, but can give no reason why they should do it,
except that it is the custom, and some parts of the business require
more physical strength, as some articles are too heavy to
be handled by women." Yet why not, we would ask, place
women in the lighter departments, and pay them exactly what
would be paid a man for the same work? The average wages of
females in Philadelphia are $4.50 per week, though some get as
high as $7 or $8, but very few above $6. In a few of the stores
of New York and Philadelphia the business is conducted entirely
by ladies. There is a school of commerce for women at Perth,
France. We read an account some time ago of a colored woman
on the Island of Hayti, who is a wholesale dealer in provisions,
and worth from $15,000 to $20,000, that she has made by her
own industry and business tact. She can neither read nor write,
but trusts entirely to her memory. She sells on credit to retail
dealers, and to girls whom she has trained. The merchants have
such unlimited confidence in her, that they will trust her to any
amount. Nearly all the commercial business of Hayti is done
by women.
99. Bookkeepers.
The employment of female accountants
is gradually extending in our cities. In female institutions
of learning, and in benevolent institutions, lady bookkeepers
might be very well employed. Indeed, we think, they would
find no difficulty in obtaining situations. We know that many
merchants would employ them, if they were properly qualified.
We know of some that now occupy lucrative situations in fancy
dry goods and millinery stores. We have no doubt but the
books of most mercantile men would be more accurately kept, if
their wives and daughters had charge of them. In all European
countries women keep the books of the majority of retail stores.
The books of nine tenths of the retail stores in Paris are kept
by women. They are fenced in, and separated from the sales
[Pg 106]women
by a framework of glass. A number of women are employed
as accountants at hotels in Europe. There is a large school
for instruction in bookkeeping in Paris, where the pupils are
practically trained. An exchange of articles of a trivial nature,
and a cheap coin of some kind, are used as a medium of circulation.
At one of the largest wholesale warehouses in Boston, the head
corresponding clerk is a young woman, who writes a beautiful,
rapid hand, and fulfils the duties of the situation to the complete
satisfaction of her liberal employer. A practical knowledge of
arithmetic is necessary for bookkeeping and selling goods—two of
the most inviting openings now presented to women of ordinary
intelligence. The lady who keeps the books of T——'s skirt factory,
New York, receives a salary of $400. Mr. M. prefers lady
bookkeepers, because they are more particular in keeping accounts,
and they are more patient in their calculations. They are,
as a general thing, more honest and conscientious. Women are
just as capable of becoming good financiers as men. Industry,
honesty, and promptness, with the ability to write a plain, correct
business letter, ability to calculate rapidly and correctly, with a
knowledge of bookkeeping, certainly should insure a situation to
a lady, where there is a vacancy. It is well, however, for those
who have qualified themselves for bookkeeping, to obtain a certificate:
it is a passport that will aid them in securing a place.
The salaries of bookkeepers in New York run from $250 to
$2,500. At a large store, where saleswomen were employed,
I was told they find lady bookkeepers more accurate in their accounts,
and not so likely to appropriate money that don't belong
to them. Where a gentleman bookkeeper receives $15, a lady
usually receives but $8. I know of one lady in Cleveland, assistant
cashier, who received a salary of $300. An accountant
in Boston replies to a circular sent him: "I think the employment
as favorable to bodily health as any sedentary occupation;
but in my particular line of business it is rather trying to the
head, as it often requires close application and intense thought.
Those who employ women here as clerks, undoubtedly pay them
by the day, week, month, or year, where they have permanent
situations; but for transient work, by the piece. Women can always
be hired cheaper than men, as it costs them less to live. I
am fifty years old, and have been figuring ever since I was sixteen;
still, I learn something new about accounts every day. A
woman would have to serve a long apprenticeship in accounts
and on books, before she could do much in adjusting accounts.
For a first-class bookkeeper, practical experience in accounts and
bookkeeping of business of all kinds are necessary qualifications.
I always prefer the early part of the day for work. My business
[Pg 107]
is as good at one season of the year as another. I attend to
business as it suits my pleasure—sometimes four or five hours,
and sometimes twelve or fifteen, according to the nature and importance
of the task, and depending oftentimes upon the length
of it, and the time when it is wanted. As a general thing, men
and women everywhere in the United States keep as far apart in
business affairs as possible—it is the custom. The counting house,
office, and place of business are not suitable for a female. I
would state that I charge for making out accounts and adjusting
books, as a general rule here in Boston, $10 per day, and sometimes
more—never less. I have had all prices, from $10 to $50
per day, for one, two, and three months in succession. Sometimes
I take a job by contract, say for $500, or some other specific
sum, as may be agreed upon, according to the nature and value
of the service rendered."
100. Book Merchants.
In many of the new towns
springing up in the West, there are openings for booksellers.
Many colleges and seminaries are being built up, thereby offering
a still better market for the sale of school books. It would be
well for those going into the business to ascertain, before doing so,
what books are used in the literary institutions of the place.
Some booksellers are so mean as to sell old-fashioned, out-of-date
school books to country merchants, thereby clearing their
own stock, and imposing their unsalable goods on others. No
doubt, many established book merchants would be willing to
trust, to such as they have confidence in, a stock of books to be
sold on commission. When a sufficient sum is acquired, the individual
can purchase a stock of her own. Many dry-goods merchants
keep a few books, but when there is a sufficient sale of
books, a store, if expenses are only cleared for a while, may
gradually become a revenue of profit, and is likely to prove a permanent
business, where discretion and industry are used. In
London and Paris, women sell stationery, almanacs, memorandum
books, diaries, and pocket books, on the streets. Public auctions
of books are held frequently in cities and towns. Agents
do much to extend a circulation of books. In large cities, merchants
confine their stock of books to two or three kinds—as
those of medicine, law, theology, or school books; but, as a general
thing, miscellaneous books are kept. The trade sales which
occur in Boston once, and in Philadelphia and New York twice
a year, are only attended by booksellers. These sales last but a
few days. The prices at which books sell at these auctions are
considered a pretty fair criterion of their future worth. Miss
H. told me of a Miss P., niece of Horace Mann, now living in
Concord, N. H., who kept a bookstore in Boston, and imported
[Pg 108]
books to fill orders, but was crushed by other book importers,
because she was a woman. In many towns and cities, women
keep small stores for the sale of stationery, magazines, newspapers,
&c. "In large stationery stores, women might be employed
to stamp initials on paper," with small hand presses made
for the purpose.
101. China Merchants.
This business is peculiarly appropriate
to women. Who so well able to handle china as careful
women? Who so well able to judge what will look well on
a table? It comes so entirely within their province, that the
mind readily suggests the appropriateness. In Paris, most, if
not all the china stores are kept by women. A lady china-dealer,
on one of the avenues, told me that she sells considerable at night
to working women, who cannot spare the time to go shopping in
the day; also, to ladies living in cross streets near, who go out
walking in the evenings with their husbands, and call to buy articles
in her line. It does not require as many attendants in a
china as in any other kind of store. A girl is more careful and
steady, and can dust china better than a boy; but a boy answers
best to take china home. She sells most about the holidays. It
takes time to learn the business well. In an Eastern city, two
ladies stood in their father's store, and so learned the business.
They married brothers, and each opened china stores, which they
attended, while their husbands engaged in other business. They
are both widows now, but have raised and educated their children.
A son and son-in-law of one conduct the business. They
employ saleswomen, paying from $5 to $8 a week. They are
now in search of two intelligent young women, from fifteen to
eighteen years of age, to grow up to the business. They require
a little more readiness in arithmetic, tact, and general business
qualifications than they can easily meet with. From their experience
they judge the employment to be healthy. A lady in
a large china store on Broadway, New York, receives $5 a week.
A lady in another store told me that lifting crockery causes quite
a strain on the back, and should be done by men. A person gets
very dusty who attends china. It requires lifting and dusting,
and now and then must be washed—always when first taken out
of the crate. Mrs. L. and her husband are English, and have
been brought up to the business. She sells most about Christmas.
She is on her feet all the time. To learn the names of all
the articles sold in a large store, and their prices, and to exercise
care in handling, requires patience. A china merchant writes:
"Women are generally paid less than men. There is a difference
of from $10 to $40 per month in favor of men, because
(with few exceptions) women are not so well qualified to do busi
[Pg 109]ness
as men. It would take from six to eight months to learn to
sell china. A clear head, common sense, and activity are the
qualifications needed. Women are not more likely to be thrown
out of employment than men, if as well qualified." A lady told
me, the china is a slow business and seldom pays more than twenty-five
per cent., but is a sure business for the cheaper kind of
goods. The profit is not so much as for fancy articles of ladies'
wear; but less is lost from the change of style. China merchants,
she thought, seldom employ women; why, she could not tell.
Mr. H., who employs a girl, paid her $1.50 a week and board the
first year, then raised her wages to $7 a month. He thinks
if more girls would qualify themselves for china stores they
would be likely to find employment. A girl should commence
young, but should know how to read and write, on account
of taking orders. He thinks it best to get homely girls, rather
advanced in age, to attend store, because the young and handsome
ones will get married. He prefers girls, because they are
more quiet and steady. Small articles of china he sends the girl
home with; heavy articles he takes himself. A lady, whose
ware was partly out of doors and partly in the house, said she
had dusted it at least a dozen times through the day, and then it
was covered with dust. Her breakage is considerable. She sells
most about Christmas. Another china dealer told me, she sells
most in spring, when people go to housekeeping. E. L., in the
Five Points, sells most in summer, because her patrons are poor
people, and in summer the men have most work, and their expenses
are lighter—consequently the women have more money.
Her stand is a good one, but she does not much more than make
a living. The business requires some experience in buying and
selling. Ladies sometimes come into the store to purchase articles
they would not like to ask a man for. A girl keeping a china
stand told me she sells most in spring and fall. She pays $3 a
month for ground rent, but owns the shelter. She locks it at
night, and it is perfectly secure, for her lock is different from all
others. It does not take long to learn to sell common ware.
She expects to sell all winter at her stand, and has to be on her
feet all the time. She sells on an average from $2 to $3 worth
a day.
102. Clothiers.
In London there are shops confined to the
sale of nautical clothes, and some to the sale of theatrical attire.
B.'s sewers (New York) earn from $2 to $10 per week—piece
work, of course. Most of it is done by machine. Meritorious
girls need never be out of work, said Mr. B.; yet he can always
get plenty of hands. He has much of his work done in New
Jersey. Some men make a business of taking it from establish
[Pg 110]ments,
and hire women all through the country to do it. There
are two kinds of tailoring—custom and slop work. The last is
subdivided into the cheap slop work and that of the best quality,
and there are two kinds of establishments for this common
work—that which is not better done perhaps than the other, but
for which a better price is paid and received, and done by houses
of standing and reputation. The other is done by extortionists,
Jews and Germans, and patronized by their own class. As tailoring
is done now, it does not require a regular apprenticeship
as in bygone years, particularly for those who work by machine.
I met a girl on the steps, seeking for work, who told me she
makes $4 a week as operator, when she can get steady work.
One of the proprietors of L. & B.'s clothing establishment told
me some of their workmen earn from $8 to $10 a week, working
by the piece. Much of their work is for California. They employ
hands most of the year, as they work both for the home and
foreign market. The great trouble is that the majority of tailoresses
are inefficient. Some are widows, striving to support
their children. Some have dissipated husbands, and are subject
to constant interruption. Some have not the time to properly
learn the trade, and, consequently, such workers cannot have that
labor which pays best, however much they need it. The character
of work done by applicants is judged of by turning to the
book of their former employer, and seeing what prices were paid.
In hard times, like these, employers try to retain those that are
dependent on their labor for their bread. The foreman said, in
good times, there is work enough for all the tailoresses in New
York. They pay good operators $5 a week—a day of ten hours.
All the summer work is done by machines. The pressing and
basting is done by men. The foreman of the S. Brothers' establishment
says the best place for tailoresses is in the West, where
there are openings, and they can make money. The only trouble
is, the poor have not money to go West. All their work is done
by machines, and all given out. They do not give work more
than six months in the year, and that barely keeps the girls while
they are at work. P. & C. have their machines worked by hot
condensed air. The operators receive from $4.50 to $6. Basters
are only small girls, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. B. &
Co., clothiers, give work out, and, of course, pay by the piece.
Their most busy times are from October to March, and from
April to September. They do Southern work. Some of the
workers only earn $2.50 if they are slow, even if they are industrious
and constantly at work. Some of their best hands can earn
$6 a week, but are likely to be at least two months out of employment.
The prospect for tailoresses is poor. I have heard that
[Pg 111]
some good hands are wanted in Chicago. A great deal of clothing
is sold there to people from the surrounding country and towns.
B. does not require any deposit, but a girl must show her book
from her other employers. They have thousands of applications
for work. The reason more clothing is not made up out of the
city is the difficulty in procuring such tailors' trimmings as they
need just at the time they are wanted. Most clothing establishments
keep a list of those that do not return work taken out, and
send them to each other. On persons applying to the foremen,
he turns to his book to see if the names are among the delinquents.
He thinks girls in service are more certain of making a living, for
they are paid from $1 to $2 a week for their work, and have their
board, which would be from $1 to $3 a week, and a competent
servant need not be out of employment; while slop work is very
uncertain, and everything that is made goes for board and clothes.
Many of these shop girls sleep half a dozen in a garret, on straw
beds, without sufficient covering. Many might go to the country
and the West and get employment, but they have not the means;
and, if they had the means to go, might not have enough to come
back, if they found it necessary. F. D. & Co., clothiers. Their
girls earn from $3 to $6 per week, paid by the piece, and done
at home. They give most of their work to men who have machines
and employ operatives. The prospect for this kind of
work is poor. Not more than two thirds of the hands in the
city, in this department of labor, will be retained. When business
is good they are able to keep their hands employed all
the year, except for a few weeks when changing from thin to
thick work, and
vice versa. They sometimes give a girl work
to do as a sample. A woman told me of three girls occupying
the room above her, that have a sewing machine. Two
baste and finish off, and one operates. They work day and
night, and one she knows is even now earning $8 a week. They
make flannel shirts, receiving 75 cents a dozen, without putting
in the sleeves, working the button holes, or putting on the buttons.
I saw a girl that receives 87 cents a dozen for making
flannel shirts. We have seen it stated that a persons possessed of
machines, who make up large quantities of clothing at very low
prices, are enabled, by the speed at which they can work the
machines, to produce sufficient to remunerate all the parties employed,
at an average of $4 a week." One clothier in Albany,
New York, pays $3 a week to his hands working eleven hours a
a day. He furnishes work steadily through the fall, and pays
men better wages, because they can do more work. The proprietor
of a mammoth establishment in New York, D., writes:
"We employ women in making pants, vests, shirts, and summer
[Pg 112]
coats, both by the week and by the piece. When the sewers
take work out, it is by the piece; but when the work is done in
the shop, it is paid for by the week. The wages by the week
range from $3 to $7. Women thoroughly educated in the trade
can make about $6 per week, men about $9—their work is
heavier. The number of branches in this trade, and the time of
preparation for each, varies. We never receive learners. As
the articles are of general use, good hands usually find employment.
The work is brisk from November till March 1st, and
from May till September 1st. The time of work could be shortened,
but at the expense of the laborers' wages. In a city like
ours, there is always a full supply of hands. About two thirds
of our women are American. Women could not be employed to
sell clothing to men." This firm employed, in February, 1860,
five hundred hands in the shop, and eight hundred outside. In
B. Brothers' establishment, "indoor work is paid by the week.
An agent pays for the outdoor work by the piece. Those in the
house average $5 per week. Men do heavier work and receive
$7. Women make vests and pantaloons; men, coats. They
work in the same room. The men do the pressing." (I expect
it is a rule that they shall not speak to each other, for not one
word did I hear any of them speak in the half hour I spent in
the room.) "It requires about six months to learn the business.
They do not take learners. An ability to sew well, and neatness
with the work, are necessary. They sell most when the country
is in a peaceful and prosperous condition. They sell most clothing
to Western customers about the 1st of January, and to city
retail stores about the 1st of February. They work ten hours a
day. There is a surplus of hands in New York. They employ
seventy in the house, and between 2,000 and 3,000 outside.
The number of Americans is about 20 per cent." Great injustice
is done by women in the country, in comfortable circumstances,
who do the work at a very low price, merely to obtain
pocket money. An English tailor in New York hires girls for
making pants and coats. He pays one $4, one $3.50, and
another $3, and they work from 7
A. M. to 7
P. M. There is
no difference in the prices paid, except when the man's work is
heavier. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Men
can press better, because they have more strength; but women
can stitch as well, if they have the experience. He kept one
operator at $6 a week in busy times, and $3 in slack times, and
another at $5 the year round. Some of the poor tailors in New
York rent a room, occupy a spot themselves, and rent out the
rest of the room to others at the same kind of work, charging
fifty cents for seat room for a man and a girl to assist him; thir
[Pg 113]ty-seven
cents for a man alone. It is not easy to get good hand
tailoresses, for most are employed on machines. One firm, that
employ about five hundred hands, write they pay from $3 to $5
per week of ten hours a day, and that it requires two years to
learn the trade. S. & D., manufacturers and venders of boys'
clothing, write: "Their work is done by the piece, so much a
garment, and wages run from $2 to $6 a week, of ten hours a
day—of course, depending on the skill and hours of the worker.
The relative wages between men and women are, as sewers, say
for men, one third more; that is, as four for the women and six
for the men. The business of a tailoress is numbered among the
regular trades for women, and requires somewhat more than the
average trade time, say one year. They excel as vest makers—a
branch almost exclusively confined to them. There is no uniform
usage in regard to pay. The requisites are good eyesight,
average strength, and if taste be superadded, the better. Winter
is the best season for those who work for wholesale venders.
Women are most apt to be out of employment in summer. The
demand is, at present, less than the supply. There is a surplus
of vest makers, and a deficiency, if anywhere, in children's suit
making. It is an occupation less suited to women than trades
that require more nicety of touch and eye, such as designing or
wood engraving. The majority of tailoresses in New York city
are German and Irish." A firm engaged in the merchant tailoring
and ready-made clothing business write: "The occupation
is unhealthy, because the workers are constantly sitting. They
earn from $2 to $4.50 per week, ten hours a day. We pay men
better, because they are stronger and more capable, and have
more experience. Men receive from $9 to $12. It requires four
years for men to learn the business, and two years for women to
learn it so as to earn $4 per week. The qualifications needed
are common sense, good taste, and strong eyes. From March to
January is the busy season; but good hands have work all the
year." B. O. & S. "give their work out. Their trade is
Southern. Their spring work begins 1st October, and continues
until the last of March; and fall work begins in May, and
lasts until September. They do not require a deposit, but a
recommendation from the last employer, and give some work to
applicants to do as a sample. Some is done by hand, some by
machinery, Wages run from $3 up. Much of their work is
done by Germans, whose wives assist them. It is sometimes
difficult for them to get good hands. The foreman dismissed the
Jews he found at work when he went there, for he thinks they
are not reliable. Some get work out, but intrust it to others to
do, and so it is poorly done. The foreman said many women
[Pg 114]
spend a day or two out of every week running from shop to shop
to get work. He has never lost anything by girls not returning
goods. If they should keep them, they would soon be known at
the different establishments, and have no place to go for work."
In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, District of Columbia, and Ohio, during the year
ending June 1st, 1860, 36,155 males and 52,515 females were
employed in making clothing.
103. Curiosity Dealers.
In large cities, a few persons
may find employment in this way. To the business of selling
coins, medals, buckles, old-time jewelry, &c., is usually added the
sale of shells and foreign birds. The same persons might engage
in the sale of stuffed birds and animals, marine plants, minerals,
and other such articles as are suitable for placing in a museum.
Many women on the streets of London sell coins, medals, &c.
104. Druggists and Druggists' Clerks.
Some knowledge
of medicines and their nature is requisite to an attendant
in a drug store. The business is light, and, to some, a pleasant one.
In a large drug store, one of the clerks might be a young man,
to attend to night prescriptions. The day business could easily
be carried on by ladies, if they were qualified. Many articles
sold by druggists require a chemical or mechanical combination.
Schools for giving instruction in the art of preparing medicines
are established in New York and Philadelphia. If enough ladies
would unite to form a class, we have no doubt that separate instruction
would be given them by the professors of pharmacy.
We hope these schools will tend to prevent abuses in the prosecution
of the drug business, as those persons will be most patronized
who are known as graduates of these schools. Dyestuffs, paint,
hair oils, &c., are sold by most druggists, besides the materials
directly used in their business. The apothecary's business is
more confined to the mixing and putting up of medicines, as prescribed
by physicians. Girls that put up drugs are paid by the
package, and earn from $2 to $5 per week. Most country physicians
prepare and sell their own medicines. Censors in Great
Britain visit the stores of druggists, and are required by law to
destroy any medicines they consider not fit for use. In France
the regulations are equally strict. In some parts of France and
Germany, sisters of charity are employed to compound medicines,
and some to administer them. Mrs. Jameson, in her
"Communion of Labor," describes her visits to several hospitals
in Europe, in charge of sisters of charity, where some of their
number were employed to fill prescriptions, both homœopathic
and allopathic. I find that in most Roman Catholic institutions
[Pg 115]
in this country, some sisters are set apart to perform the duties of
druggists. In 1776, when Howard visited Lyons, he found
"there were sisters who made up, as well as administered, all
the medicines prescribed, for which purpose there were a laboratory
and apothecary's shop, the neatest and most elegantly fitted
up that can be conceived." Lord Brougham, in a speech at
York, about two years ago, after eulogizing the Protestant sisters
of charity as nurses, said: "They are the persons who make up,
who distribute, who administer all the medicines; they are, as I
can answer from my own knowledge practically in the matter,
as well acquainted with the chemical preparations as the professional
men themselves." In the preparation of fine chemicals in
laboratories, women are sometimes employed. A druggist told
me that a person in his business need never be idle. When not
otherwise employed, he can be making tinctures, compounds, &c.
It requires four or five years to become a competent druggist.
The business is one on which hang the lives of its patrons.
Some druggists put up their goods very neatly, and make them
look beautiful; but often sacrifice, to do so, their medicinal properties.
The standard of druggists is higher in Philadelphia than
New York. In Philadelphia, many young men receive nothing
for their services, while learning; but in New York, boys over
fifteen are generally paid $100 the first year, and more afterward.
Many of the best druggists will not make or sell patent
medicines. In some new parts of the Western country, druggists
unite their calling with something else; and are often but a poor
excuse for druggists, deriving their profits mostly from nostrums.
One in the business needs a retentive memory. In the census of
Great Britain, three hundred and ten females are returned as druggists.
Dr. Brandreth has his pills made at Sing Sing. He employs
twelve females, and pays an average of $5 per week to each one.
The widow of a deceased druggist and chemist told me that the
receipts left by her husband she could easily dispose of for a thousand
dollars. We have seen it stated that the average hours per
day of a drug clerk are thirteen, and his wages $9. The neatness
of women, their delicacy and attention to details, qualify them
admirably for the drug business. At the Woman's Infirmary,
New York, the apothecary's department is entirely in the hands
of ladies. At St. Luke's, a lady of education and refinement (a
sister of the Order of the Holy Communion) gives her services
to the measuring out and dispensing of medicines. At Smith's
homœopathic pharmacy, the lady in attendance told me nearly
the whole in their department of business is in the hands of
females. They employ men, to press the plants and make tinctures;
but the distilling of water and alcohol, the pulverizing,
[Pg 116]
triturating and diluting, cleaning vials, corking, labelling, and
stamping, are done by women. It requires neatness, exactness,
and quickness, to succeed in putting up medicines. The girls,
while at work, wear clothes that will not suffer from their labor,
which is not the cleanest in the world. The proprietor of the
establishment wrote me: "We employ six ladies, and prefer them
to men, as their work is neater. We pay them from $3 to $6
per week, and they work from nine to ten hours. There is no
difference in the seasons, as regards our employment. We pay
women from the first; and they may learn the part done by them
in from three to six months. As their work is essentially different
from men's, we cannot make a comparison in the prices paid."
At another homœopathic pharmacy, I was told they employ a
few girls to wash bottles, to put on labels, and place them in the
boxes. They are paid from $3 to $3.50 a week. At a wholesale
drug store, one of the proprietors told me they "employ a
number of women, and pay by the piece, the workers earning
from $3.50 to $6 per week. Different kinds of work have different
prices. They pay from the first. Those who put up perfumery
earn most. The greater part of the duties in a drug store can be
performed by well qualified ladies as efficiently as by men."
So few ladies are employed in that way, that they might feel
timid about assuming the responsibilities of a drug store in a city.
Yet, after they had spent two or three years in a store of others,
where they were properly instructed, why need they feel any more
responsibility in a drug store of their own? I was told that no
drug broker and no retail druggist employs women. When employed,
it is by those in the wholesale business. I called on a
German widow keeping a retail drug store, but who employed a
young man to attend the store. She regrets that she did not learn
to compound of her husband. She can sell simple medicines, and
buys all her own medicines. She had heard of one lady druggist, in
Switzerland, that performed all the duties of a druggist, and one in
Germany; but it is not common to see women in the business there.
H. & R., druggists, employ women to put up patent medicines, and
pay $4 or $5 per week. Mr. M., maker of patent medicines, employs
some girls all the time. When busy, they pay from $6 to $8 a week,
but at other times $3. It requires some experience to put up pills.
The pills are mixed, rolled, and cut by men, as it is heavy work
when done extensively. Their girls get $2.50 the first week of
their work, and their wages are increased in proportion to their
skill and abilities. Messrs. K. & K., wholesale druggists, employ
a woman to put up Seidlitz powders, furnishing all the materials,
and paying by the quantity. They pay her about $250 a
year, but suppose she is assisted by some of her sisters at home.
[Pg 117]
Mr. H. employs a woman to put up Seidlitz powders, paid for by the
gross. A smart woman can earn from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. A
measure is used, containing the right quantity for filling the papers.
A house that makes extract of ginger, in Philadelphia, formerly
employed women to put it up; but they now employ men and boys
in preference, because of the work they can do at intervals, that
women cannot do. I called at Mrs. S.'s drug store. The youth
that stood behind the counter said drug stores kept by ladies, or
where they are employed to dispense, would not be patronized by
physicians. He said, if any trouble should occur, from want of
knowledge or skill in putting up medicines, and the case was
brought into court, the man that employed female dispensers
would be punished. Many persons, he says, come to druggists
for medical and surgical advice, that could not, and would not
think of consulting a lady, even if she were competent to give advice.
It would be as unsuitable as for women to shave men, as
they do in Germany. I sent for the lady, though the clerk urged
that she had a sick child, and could not leave it. I told her the object
of my call. She very kindly talked with me, and gave me
information, of which I will give a synopsis. She boarded for
several years after she was married, and as she had nothing to
occupy her time, she spent much of it in the drug store with her
husband. Seven years ago he died, and she, by the advice of
friends, continued the store. She has employed a young man only
part of the time. She says it involves great responsibility, but
she is, and feels just as responsible as a man, and would be held
so in court; but is not any more liable to indictment, or prosecution,
than a man. It is something that requires exactness. It
will not do to trust entirely to the memory. She generally refers
to the book for directions. A youth of good abilities
can, in from six months to one year, put up prescriptions, and a
boy, when taken into a drug store, is paid from $1.50 to $2 a
week for six months. A druggist of New York writes: "There
is but one college of pharmacy in the city of New York, where
instruction would be given equally to ladies, if they desired it;
although, as yet, none have ever presented themselves. Ladies
have never been employed, to my knowledge, as druggists' clerks
in this city, or elsewhere in the United States, nor, as I am of
opinion, in Europe. In one instance, it was attempted in Philadelphia
a few years since, by a leading druggist, with a view of
economy, I believe; and although he professed to have engaged
the ladies merely as saleswomen in the fancy goods department,
they nevertheless were allowed to dispense medicines. It so happened
that one of these made a mistake, in giving the wrong medicine,
which resulted in the death of the patient, a lady of wealth
[Pg 118]
and wide acquaintance, and the consequence was the ruin and destruction
of the whole business of the druggist. This put an end
to the experiment in Philadelphia." (This we extremely regret,
but know that such accidents have occurred from the incompetency
and carelessness of some young men and boys, with less
disastrous results to the proprietor.) "The business," the writer
adds, "is, in some respects, quite unsuited to females. It requires
much real manual labor, its hours are long, and its constant,
close confinement wears upon the strongest constitutions. I
have myself lost my health at it, and I know of numerous others
who have done the same." A lady physician writes: "I do not
know whether women are anywhere employed as druggists' clerks.
They are not either in France or England, where special education
and license are required. I am not aware of any druggist
here who would take a pupil, but I have no doubt one could be
found."
105. Keepers of Fancy Stores.
A fancy store
pays well when a good connection is established, but it takes
time for that. Business is moving up street in New York, and
of course fancy stores with it. Some unite millinery with the
sale of fancy goods. The prices paid to those who stand in such
stores, vary greatly. They are given under the head of Saleswomen.
106. Gentlemen's Furnishing Stores.
A great
many women are employed in this business, and many more might
be. The making of gentlemen's robes furnishes in itself quite a
business in cities; also the making of cravats, collars, hemming
handkerchiefs, and odd work to be done. Mrs. M. told me she
has a girl that assists in the house, and stays in the store when
not so occupied, and receives for her services $6 a month and her
board. Madame P. pays $3 to each of her operators (ten hours
a day), and to one superior operator $4. She pays $3.50 a week
to a button-hole maker. That is made a separate branch of sewing.
Fourteen is the usual number of button holes in a shirt,
and some employers pay one cent apiece; some, one and a half;
and for large ones, in which studs or sleeve buttons are worn, two
cents apiece. Some men are very particular about the make and
fit of their shirts. Madame P. gets $2.50 a dozen for shirts
from a store down street, and $4.50 for shirts from a store up
street. Ordered work pays best. Her great trouble is that she
does not get constant employment. For awhile she sunk in her
business from $4 to $5 a week. Mr. P. says, whenever business
is dull in New York city, it is, of course, wherever work is done
to supply the city. He takes learners in busy times. Mr. D.,
who employs 2,000 hands in his factory at New Haven, has dis
[Pg 119]charged
them all; also Mr. H., who employs 1,000; and Messrs.
M. & H., who employ as many. He thinks, when business revives,
there will be work enough for all in this line, and even
more. Shirts are such an essential part of a man's wardrobe,
that as long as men exist, shirts must be made. With the many
improvements in sewing machines, Mr. P. has shirts, when cut
out, given to the operator, and turned from the machine complete,
with the exception of buttons and button holes. No basters
are employed. All the felling is done by a feller, and all the
hemming by a hemmer. He furnishes his operators with machines.
He employs men to cut, because they do it faster than
women. They cut with a knife twenty-four thicknesses of cloth.
All factories furnish machines and needles. Troy is the great
place for making shirt collars. The girls are paid by the piece
in these factories, and the employers will not permit them to
work more than eight hours a day, as they do not wish them to
lose their health. A girl is not retained in these collar factories
that cannot earn $7 a week—eight hours a day. The machines
are moved by steam.
107. Furniture Sellers.
A French woman that keeps
a new furniture store told me that her husband does most of the
work, employing some men to help him. She only attends store in
his absence. The lifting, repairing, and varnishing, she thought
could not be done by women. Called in the store of a woman—a
German Jew. Her husband is away most of the time. She has
furniture made to fill orders, and, of course, employs several men
to make the furniture. I think she sells on credit. I think
women are better adapted to the keeping of house-furnishing than
of house-furniture stores. I was told in a furniture store by a
saleswoman, that she takes entire charge of the store, cuts and
gives out damask for making furniture, orders the men, and keeps
the books; for which she has a comfortable home with her employer,
a widow lady, and $5 a week. She says it requires one to
be amiable and obliging, to possess health and energy, and to be
a good judge of human nature, to succeed in business; but thinks
good conduct and sobriety will insure success in almost anything.
The spring she finds best for selling furniture. Small profits and
quick sales is her motto. She never credits. She regulates her
prices according to circumstances, allowing herself what she considers
a fair profit, and yet doing justice to the buyer. She goes
into the store at seven in the morning, and remains until ten at
night. Only a strong, well-built woman, can move furniture. A
lady that keeps a furniture store told me she sold a great deal
before the holidays, but will not sell much again until spring. On
making inquiry of a lady that keeps a furniture store, about the
[Pg 120]
business, she uttered these practical remarks: "Never credit in
the furniture business, or your money and furniture are both
gone. You may succeed, if you have an honest, reliable man to
attend to the business for you. It is a money-paying business.
You should have a man that can attend auction, and buy furniture,
and repair and varnish it. Besides, you need a carman, to
lift and move furniture in the store, and carry it home." We
would state that a woman can just as well attend the sales of
house furniture in New York, at residences, as men, and a carman
can at any time be hired to move furniture.
108. Grocers.
The retail grocery business is one that many
women can and do carry on. It is very common to see the wives
of grocers in their stores. The store is generally connected with
or beneath their dwelling—so that it is very convenient for the
man, and the woman is saved from exposure to the weather, passing
back and forth from the dwelling to the store. The business
is light and generally profitable. Much depends upon selecting a
stand. A good stand is not likely to be idle long. The fall, I
was told, was a bad season for a retail grocery in New York.
Many small groceries in New York are owned by men, whose
wives attend the stores while they are at work. I saw a nice
little grocer, whose husband is a tailor, and who works at his trade
in a room back of the grocery. This seemed to be reversing the
general order of things. The husbands of some grocer women
keep stalls in the markets, and furnish the groceries of their wives
with vegetables. I called in a neat grocery store and bought
some apples. The lady in attendance says she never sells
liquor, but all the groceries around there do. She goes to market
at four in the morning to buy potatoes and apples for her grocery.
The baker leaves her bread, and she goes every evening to
a baker's and buys cakes. Bundles of kindling wood are sent her
from the wood yard, and the milkman leaves her milk. She goes
to Washington market for her meat, and to Vesey street for her tea.
So she manages. She said, not a cent in the store had been gained
dishonestly. A grocer woman told me that peddlers interfere
seriously with her business. Besides, the baker next door had
gone to selling milk and butter, from which she has always derived
most profit. She has least sale after families have laid in
their groceries in the fall. Rich people and those in moderate
circumstances generally purchase their groceries in large quantities,
it being more convenient and economical to do so; hence we
find but few groceries in the best portions of a city. Of course
a grocer woman must be much on her feet. Most groceries are
open until ten o'clock at night. Mrs. A. says it is impossible for
grocer women to make more than a living now, paying $6 and $7
[Pg 121]
a week for rent, and sometimes not clearing more than $3 a week.
She opens at five in the morning, and closes at nine at night. She
makes most in summer, because then she does not have to burn
fuel, and can do with less candle light. What lifting is necessary,
her son does when he comes to see her. There are too many
small groceries in New York for any to thrive. I have been told
that in the majority (even when attended by women) liquor is
sold. What a crime, to make ferocious beasts of those who are
stupid enough to buy ardent spirits!
109. Junk Dealers.
Junkmen go about New York with
small wagons, across which is a rod. Over the rod are strung several
cowbells of different sizes, and from it fly a number of various-colored
strips. Junkmen are not the same as the rag gatherers,
or dealers, but a blending of the two, as they buy on a very
small scale, and sell again. Part of their rags they sell to shoddy
manufacturers. A. B., a female junk-dealer, keeps a shop, where
she buys and sells old metals and rags. The first she sells to a
man who comes to the door and buys them; the others she sells
at a store where rags are bought for making paper. She has no
system in buying and selling—buying at the lowest prices she
can, and selling at the highest. Another woman told me she
buys white rags at three and a half cents per pound, and sells at
four. She pays so much a pound for old metals, and sells at an
advance. Other articles, as bottles, glass, bones, cold victuals,
and grease, are disposed of by junkwomen. The damaged cotton
picked up by old women is sold to junk dealers.
110. Music Sellers.
Mr. W. does not know of any ladies
engaged in selling sheet music, but thinks there may be some
in small towns. He thinks it would be a very suitable employment
for them. I called in a music store, B—, where a lady was
in attendance, and, in the course of conversation, learned she was
the wife of the proprietor. According to her report, "it is an
arduous business, and one that requires brains and musical talent.
People will seldom purchase a piece of music until they hear it,
and she must try the pianos before a person will purchase or hire.
The business requires great patience. She and her husband keep
their store open until ten o'clock at night. They do not sell so
much when the weather is bad, nor in summer, when the people
are out of the city. A lady so employed must be able to keep
accounts, and, when she sells, must require good security, if she
does not sell for cash. She must also be able to distinguish bad
from good money." She says, "keepers of music stores will not
employ women, however great their capabilities," but no reason
could I obtain for it. I think it is something, where an opening
offers, that would pay a woman well. I called at another music
[Pg 122]
store in the same city, kept by a lady. She said: "She and her
sister would not keep a music store, if they had not brothers in
the business, for she did not consider it any more appropriate for
a lady to keep pianos to sell than to keep a cabinet wareroom.
The pianos sometimes need to be repaired and tuned, and no one
can attend to that without knowing how a piano is constructed. (?)
The mere selling of sheet music, she thought, might do well
enough, but selling books would be better. She says it would
not do well for a woman to tune pianos, as it requires considerable
practice to make one competent." Why might not women
acquire that practice? Her selfishness and fear of competition
were very evident. It is desirable for a music seller to understand
Italian, French, and German, as many of the songs used
in our country are in those languages. Many pieces of music
have two or three titles. It requires some time to learn to rightly
perform the duties of a music seller. The selling of sheet music
and the selling of pianos are separate branches, and a person in
one may be totally ignorant of the other. The wholesale and
retail departments are entirely distinct in large establishments.
Clerks that attend in the piano department are expected to be
able to play. A lady is now employed in a large piano store in
New York to try the instruments for purchasers. A lady in New
York stays in the store when her brother, Mr. D., is absent. He
paid a boy $1.50 a week for some months while learning, then
more. A person of ability could learn the business in six
months' time, or less. Music is always arranged alphabetically
on the shelves. A boy should be kept to climb the ladder. An
extensive music seller in Boston writes: "In our direct employ
is only one female—a cashier. Repeated losses of money, and
cash continually over or above, induced us four years ago to
adopt the plan of employing a female to receive the proceeds of
sales. It has saved us a great deal of money, and lessened the
temptation to the young men in the store. We would gladly
employ more women, but the height of our shelves, and the unsuitableness
of female apparel, prevent." Another music seller
writes me: "Women are employed in our business, in Germany
and France, and are there paid at the same rate as men. We do
not employ ladies in our store, because those of their own sex
will not buy from them."
111. Sellers of Artists' Materials.
The sale of paintings,
engravings, and artists' materials, form of themselves a
branch of business in large cities. I know of such a store in
Philadelphia, kept by a lady. It must be a light and pleasant
employment. In London there are seventy-nine print sellers.
[Pg 123]
112. Sellers of Seeds, Roots, and Herbs.
In agricultural
and horticultural communities, there is always a demand
for roots and seeds. A large number of seeds are raised and put
in papers for sale by the Shakers. In stores for the sale of roots
and seeds, growing plants in jars might be offered for sale, and
evergreens, with their roots in dirt, enveloped by linen or sacking.
Orders might be given, and filled, for forest and fruit trees.
Bouquets, also, might be kept for sale. A man in New York hires
a room about Christmas, and devotes himself exclusively to the
sale of evergreens for Christmas trees. As field seeds are usually
sold by the measure, and not put up in papers, women have no
employment in that line. The proprietor of an agricultural warehouse
and seed store writes: "Our seed and grain are put up by
men and boys in the winter months. It is work that might be
done by women." A lady botanic druggist told me, "there are
families in the West that make a comfortable support by gathering
herbs; but even the smallest children assist." Those plants
that bear flowers she has gathered when they begin to bloom.
Those engaged in gathering commence early in life, and gather
those growing in their yards and the fields of the neighborhood.
Another seller of botanic medicine says there are spring and
fall herbs, and, of course, they must be gathered in their seasons.
She has a man and his wife gathering herbs, who support their
family of five children by it, and two girls of another family, who
earn a livelihood by it. Ladies in the occupation of root, seed,
and flower selling, would do well to keep garden tools for sale.
113. Sellers of Small Wares.
In England, the word
"haberdasher" is applied to those who engage in the sale of cord,
tape, pins, and such articles. In America there is no synonymous
word—so we use the expression heading this article, which
we have seen occasionally employed in the same way. The number
of women in this business is legion. With many it is a suitable
and successful employment. Those whose means will not
permit them to engage in any more extensive business—who have
a room well located in town, and not too much competition—can,
with a small capital, commence a safe and light business. It requires
but little effort, and, with enough customers, will well repay
time and capital. Many a poor woman, unable to purchase
the articles required, has obtained them to sell on commission,
and, by industry and economy, earned sufficient, in the course of
time, to purchase a stock of her own. I called on a lady that
keeps a variety store. She sells gloves, handkerchiefs, suspenders,
and such articles to gentlemen, and tape, buttons, &c., to ladies.
She would rather sell to gentlemen. She has been keeping store
thirty-five years. Her store is near the river, and she sells much
[Pg 124]
to people coming from the ferry and off the boats. She thinks
in the South and West there would be many good openings for
such stores. Spring and fall, and during the holidays, are her
best times for selling. I called in a small store: I was told by
the lady that she did not much more than make a living. She
depends much on her friends and acquaintances for custom. As
they increase in number, which they do from year to year, her
custom increases. She finds herself very closely confined at home
by the business. She does not regulate her profits entirely by
the value of the articles, for cheap goods sell best where she is,
and she puts on a large profit.
114. Sellers of Snuff, Tobacco, and Cigars.
A
lady, keeping a cigar store, said she makes only one third profit
on her sales. Most people make one half, which, she says, is the
usual profit on all goods. Snuff gives her the headache, when
dealing it out, but she thinks she may get accustomed to it.
She sells most from six o'clock in the morning until nine or ten;
and then again in the evening. To know what manufactures of
tobacco, snuff, and cigars are most popular, is important.
Having acquaintances assists much, and they are the first patrons
to one commencing business. A cigar store generally pays well
in large cities, and, if well located, is sure to succeed. Fall and
winter are the best seasons for selling cigars; in very warm
weather no one cares to smoke.
115. Saleswomen.
Women are quite as capable by nature
to sell dry goods as men, but are not trained so thoroughly,
nor from so early an age. Suavity of manner and perfect control
of temper are very desirable qualifications for a clerk. Care,
judgment, and taste are requisite for success. A flow of speech
and ability to show goods to advantage are also desirable. Some
people urge that if females are employed as attendants in stores,
they will be exposed to dangerous and demoralizing influences,
and something is said about the corruption of female shopkeepers
in Paris, by way of warning. Now, it so happens that the corruption
spoken of does not exist among the store attendants in
Paris, but among sempstresses. Saleswomen and bookkeepers
there enjoy as a class a good reputation, but the same cannot be
said of sempstresses. Sempstresses, we know from the rates paid
them, and the accounts of travellers, cannot make enough to support
themselves; but shopkeepers can. "One fifth of all the
female criminals in Paris are sempstresses," says Madame Mallet.
Some employers complain that women are too sociably inclined,
too much disposed to chat, where several are employed in the same
establishment. It may be true; but are they more so than men
of the same age? The languid appearance of saleswomen, we
[Pg 125]
think, arises from their being on their feet so constantly. It is
injurious to a woman; and employers should allow them to be
seated, when not waiting on customers. The number of skirts
they must wear, and the weight of hoop skirts, does much to bring
this about. The kind of ladies that saleswomen mostly see in
first-class stores is calculated to improve and refine their manners,
and give them a command of language. Besides, it renders them
more particular in their attire. They want to dress and look
well. Those acquainted with the art, say there are at least a
hundred ways of putting up new goods. Some Jews hire a girl
to stay in their store, and require her to sew, make hoop skirts,
&c., when not waiting on customers. In the United States,
women are employed in a variety of stores: dry goods, lace, and
fancy stores are the most common. In Philadelphia they attend
in nearly all the largest stores—Levy's, Sharpless's, and Evans's;
besides, several hundred earn a subsistence as saleswomen in
smaller stores. Close observation and much experience are needed
to fulfil the duties, but the natural quickness of most women
gives them a tact seldom equalled by men. The variety afforded
by the occupation is pleasing, and the labors are light. The
handling of gloves, tape, ribbon, &c., is undoubtedly best suited
to the finer and smaller hands of women. The reason there are
so many young men performing the duties of clerks and salesmen,
is, that they are lazy, and do not want to perform hard work.
Another reason is that the majority want to dress well and make
a good appearance, but have no capital. The price paid for a girl to
attend store would depend on the size, location, and kind of store,
how much they sell, and the abilities of the girl. Lady clerks usually
receive from $3 to $8 per week. The best seldom receive more
than $6; while men receive from $6 to $12. The ladies are obliged
to dress well, and to do so must retrench in other expenses, living
in crowded attics or damp cellars, or on unwholesome food. Mr.
M., Philadelphia, pays his girls from $3 to $6 per week, it depending
altogether on their qualifications. In Bangor and Belfast,
Maine, most of those who attend stores are women. They have
also been much employed in Buffalo, New York, during the last
few years. It is a regulation of some of the stores in New York
and Philadelphia, that a salesman or woman shall not sit down
to rest; and in some, if they do, they are fined. If there is
nothing to do, they must take down the boxes and pull out the
articles, then arrange them carefully in the boxes, as if they were
closely occupied, to give the impression that much business is
transacted in the establishment. In fancy stores on the avenues,
New York, girls get from $2.50 to $4 a week. The stores are
mostly open from 7
A. M. to 10
P. M. In some localities, most
[Pg 126]
goods are sold in the evening. At a small dry-goods store, where
I called to make a purchase, the lady told me she used to employ
a girl, paying her $3 a week, without board. She was in
the store from 7
A. M. till 9.30
P. M. A girl in a store on Sixth
avenue told me, she and her companions get from $2 to $5 a
week. They are there at eight in the morning, and remain until
ten at night, and on Saturday until eleven or twelve. They are
not allowed to sit down. A girl in a lace and embroidery
store on Sixth avenue, New York, told me that girls get
in such stores from $3.50 to $10, but they must make up
laces when not waiting on customers. Some receive a percentage.
Women are not paid as well as men, even in such stores.
Time of learning depends on the individual. They are seldom
paid anything for a few weeks. They have most to do in spring
and fall; are in the store from
8 A. M. to 9 or 10
P. M. A
lady told me she used to get $7 a week in a fancy store. At
M.'s dry-goods store, New York, the superintendent told me they
do not pay learners for one month. They have girls who have
been in the store but a few weeks, that can do as well as those
who have been in it for years. Some again are stupid, and they
will not retain such. When girls are qualified, they pay from
$1 to $10 a week. They prefer having ladies in the store, thinking
they know best a lady's wants. They often have occasion to
change—some get broken down and go away, some get tired,
some get discouraged, some cannot be on their feet so long, some
cannot please customers, some are not satisfactory to employers,
&c.; so, many changes take place. The ladies all looked to be
Americans. They are allowed to sit when there is nothing to do,
and no customers in; which, I suspect, is rarely, if ever the case.
I have been told the openings for saleswomen are better farther
East than in New York. A lady told me she used to get $1 a
day in R.'s store on Broadway, and the other saleswomen got the
same price. Then she was on her feet nearly all the time. She
was there at eight and staid till seven: all were expected to take
their dinner and eat in the store. Mrs. H. told me she knew
a lady that stood in a store on Chestnut street, Philadelphia, who
received a salary of $800 a year. When girls first go into a
store, they usually get $1 a week during the season (three
months), then $1.50, and so increase. A pretty good knowledge
of store keeping is acquired by a smart person in six months,
and now ladies are relieved in large stores from the responsibility
of making change. Many of the ladies in New York stores are
Irish. American ladies are more engaged in making artificial
flowers, bookfolding, &c. I was told rather a novel feature in
the life of shop girls, viz.: that many board from home, for the
[Pg 127]
sake of having company; and in addition to this, men, earning
good wages, but of disreputable character, will often board in
low houses, and ingratiate themselves into the favor of the girls,
until they work the ruin of one or more. Mr. D. employs five
ladies, and pays them from $3 to $5. He prefers ladies. When
he takes beginners, he pays $1.50 a week, and better wages as
they become more capable. He has paid $8, and even $9 a week.
The ladies are in the store from eight to half past eight. He
allows them to sit when no customers are in and there is nothing
doing. A lady with whom I talked, and who had stood in a
store on Catherine street, New York, finds the occupation very
injurious, because of having to be on her feet so constantly, and
its lasting from 7
A. M. until 9
P. M. In some stores they
are obliged to remain until eleven, and even twelve, in busy seasons.
On Grand and Catherine streets, New York, they keep
open very late. She says, when the weather is dull, and there
are but few customers, employers are apt to be cross and vent
their bad feelings on the girls. And in those stores the girls
cannot sit down to take a stitch for themselves; but, when there
are no customers to wait on, they must make up undersleeves,
capes, and caps for the store. She now keeps a millinery and
fancy store, and pays her girls $5 a week, and the girls are in
the store from seven to nine. They make up bonnets, when not
waiting on customers, and so have a change of posture without a
loss of time. She has a friend in a Broadway store, that receives
$1 a day. A saleswoman should know how to make out accounts.
Ability to speak the French and German languages is a most
valuable acquisition to a saleswoman in our cities. One discouraging
feature in the history of saleswomen is, that their wages
are not advanced like those of men. In Detroit, Michigan, girls
receive from $3 to $5 for standing in a store. "In Cleveland, in
1854, there was one dry-goods store where four lady clerks were
employed at salaries from $200 to $350 per annum. In one shoe
store a lady received a salary of $250; and one, in another shoe,
store, $200. In a millinery and fancy dry-goods store, kept by
ladies, fifteen girls were employed at from $4 to $6 per week. In
another, kept by a gentleman, ten girls were employed at from $4
to $6 per week." In the same city, gentlemen clerks usually
receive from $250 to $600 per annum. At a store on Grand
street, New York, where a number of saleswomen are employed,
the owner told me he takes girls in the spring and fall. He tries
them for one month, and such as he finds he can make anything
of he retains. He then pays them something, and increases their
wages in proportion to their advancement. Some never rise
above $3; but those who are ambitious and desirous to excel and
[Pg 128]
make proportionate effort, he will pay higher. He has paid as
high as $12 a week. A merchant keeping a large trimming store
on Canal street, pays his women from $1.50 to $8 per week, and
they are in the store from seven in the morning till dark. To
wait in a store requires experience; and a lady, in getting a situation,
should endeavor to do so through the influence of a merchant.
It is very desirable to have a good location for a store.
Mr. M. pays his saleswomen from $2 to $6, according to their
qualifications. At a confectionery the woman told me she gives
$6 a month and board and washing; but as she does not keep
open on Sunday, the girl would have to go home Saturday night
and stay till Monday. She would be kept busy all the time, from
seven in the morning till eleven at night, waiting on customers,
cleaning tables, washing plates, sweeping floors, &c. On most
of the avenues in New York, merchants do not sell as much, nor
receive such a profit, as on Broadway, and employ women because
they can get them cheaper. In a small variety store, a
lady told me she had paid $4 a week and board to one who had
never stood in a store; but the lady was a friend. She remarked:
"If a person has the inclination, a memory, and common
sense, she can soon learn. Few are willing to take learners.
American ladies are not ambitious enough to keep store. For
one month in summer and one in winter there is little doing." A
lady confectioner says: "It requires a very honest person to be
in a confectionery, because small sums are being constantly received
and no note taken of them. Girls are paid according
to their capabilities from $2 to $5, and are in the store from 7
A. M. to 9, 10, 11, and even 12
P. M., in busy seasons, which
are about the holidays. It requires some weeks to know
the prices, where to place the articles, and how to make them
appear to advantage." A merchant, who employs saleswomen,
told me he thought women have a better sense of propriety and
are more particular than men, but they lack judgment and
promptness. He thinks women do very well as far as they go,
but there is a boundary line in ability, beyond which women cannot
pass. The gentleman referred to was indebted to his mother,
who had kept the store he then owned, for his education and
position in business. Mr. P., seller of ladies' trimmings, employs
from twenty to twenty-five saleswomen, who knit and embroider
for the store when not waiting on customers. A lady
who waited in the store told me they change their position frequently,
seldom sitting more than ten minutes at a time. Women
are paid from $4 to $10 per week, and are in the store from
half past 8
A. M. to half past 6
P. M. They pay from $2.50
to $3.50 for board. The business can be learned in from three
[Pg 129]
to six months. While learning, they receive enough to pay their
board. Industry and ambition are necessary for success. The
prosperity of the business in the future depends on the fashion
and the amount of money in circulation. Winter is the best
season for the sale of goods. The women are mostly German;
they succeed best in knitting, because they are brought up to it.
There are openings in the business, West and South. A saleswoman
told me her business is hard on the back, because of the
standing, reaching up, and bending. She is paid $6 per week,
her store companions $3, spending eleven hours in the store.
A person of business qualifications requires only practice to make
a saleswoman. She has often heard ladies complain of having to
purchase small or fancy articles of men. She thought heavy dress
goods could be better handled by men. She says dissatisfaction
is likely to arise when an employer boards his work hands.
Mrs. D., who keeps a fancy store, told me that fifteen or twenty
years ago, it was a rare thing to see a saleswoman in a store in
New York. She says nearly all of her saleswomen have relations
dependent on them for support, and if they are thrown out of
employment for a week it is a serious matter. She pays $5 a
week to experienced saleswomen, and gives something to learners;
all stay in the store ten hours. She thinks honesty, truthfulness,
intelligence, good address, and a knowledge of human nature are
the best qualifications. Spring and fall she finds the best seasons
for selling goods, and thinks the occupation for a lady next best
to teaching. A merchant in New Haven writes: "We employ
from two to five women (all American) as clerks, paying from $3
to $6 per week. To learners we pay $2 per week. The employment
of women is on the increase. My clerks are employed
through the year, and work from ten to eleven hours per day.
We employ women to save expense, and because we believe them
most honest." A firm in Providence, who sell gloves, hosiery, &c.,
write: "We employ ten saleswomen on an average, and pay from
$2 to $7 per week, ten hours a day. We pay $2 per week to
learners. To learn thoroughly requires about six months' practice.
We consider the prospect good of the occupation being
opened to more women. One third of our hands we send off in
summer and winter. We find women neater and more steady
than men, but not so energetic." The proprietor of a large establishment
in Philadelphia writes: "About thirty women are
employed by us in selling dry goods. Their health generally
improves by their active occupation, the proper ventilation of
our warehouse, and the regular habits to which they become
accustomed. Wages are from $1 to $10 per week; they are
paid less than men because their time of work is shorter, their
[Pg 130]
expenses are less, and their channels of usefulness more circumscribed.
A lifetime is needed to learn the business thoroughly,
although in five years much may be learned. Women are paid
while learning. Quickness of intellect and of body, good temper,
and pleasant manners are very essential. Women well instructed
are generally permanent in an establishment. Our most busy
seasons are from February to June, and September to December.
In no season are saleswomen thrown out of employment. In
winter they spend eight and a half hours in the store; in summer,
nine hours. Seventy-five per cent. are of American parents.
The work is fatiguing at times, but not wearing on the system.
Another part of our occupation, in which women might be employed,
if properly instructed, is bookkeeping. Women are
deficient in generalizing, excellent in concentrativeness. Many of
our saleswomen have been teachers, and some return to it. They
have their evenings as their own from 6
P. M.; they have good
moral boarding places, and a public library open gratuitously.
About one half live with parents; the remainder board at from
$2 to $2.50 per week, perhaps two persons occupying the same
room." In Paris, France, young women in stores receive for
their services their lodging, washing, and board, with from $40 to
$80 per annum.
116. Street Sellers.
The number of women alone, in
London, according to Mr. Mayhew's estimate, engaged in street
sales, wives, widows, and single persons, is from 25,000 to
30,000. Girls and women form a large proportion of the street
sellers, and earn from sixty-two cents to $1 a week. The comparative
newness of our country, the smaller size of the cities,
and the greater demand for manual labor have presented fewer
calls for street sellers. We hope the time may never come when
our streets will be thronged, as those of London are, with street
venders, for we consider it not by any means an index of general
prosperity. More especially do we hope the scanty pittance obtained
by their labor, and the consequent privation and suffering,
may never be the portion of any of our population willing to
work for a support. All the wants of a great city can be supplied
by the London street sellers. They are patronized mostly
by those in the middle and lower walks of life. All the varieties
imaginable are represented in their sale of articles. Both dressed
and undressed food can be obtained of them. Home and foreign
fruits and vegetables of all kinds have each their separate sales.
Of the eatables and drinkables offered by them for sale, the solids
consist of hot eels, pickled whelks, oysters, sheep's trotters, pea
soup, fried fish, ham sandwiches, hot green peas, kidney puddings,
boiled meat puddings, beef, mutton, kidney and eel pies, and baked
[Pg 131]
potatoes. In each of these provisions the street poor find a
midday or midnight meal. The pastry and confectionery which
tempt the street eaters are tarts of rhubarb, currant, gooseberry,
cherry, apple, damson, cranberry, and (so called) mince pies;
plum dough and plum cake; lard, currant, almond, and many
other kinds of cakes, as well as of tarts; gingerbread nuts and
heart cakes; Chelsea buns, muffins, and crumpets; sweet stuff
includes the second kind, of rocks, sticks, lozenges, candies, and
hard cakes; the medicinal confectionery, of cough drops and
horehound; and, lastly, the more novel and aristocratic luxury
of street ices and strawberry cream, at two cents a glass (in Greenwich
Park). The drinkables are tea, coffee, and cocoa; ginger
beer, lemonade, Persian sherbet, and some highly colored beverages
which have no specific name, but are introduced to the public
as cooling drinks; hot elder cordial or wine; peppermint
water; curds and whey; water; ice milk, and milk (just from
the cow), in the parks. In addition to this information, most of
which is derived from Mr. Mayhew's "London Labor and London
Poor," we will devote the remainder of the article to information
from the same author; and would do so in his words,
were it not that we would like to condense as much as possible.
For the substance, we acknowledge, therefore, our indebtedness
to Mr. Mayhew. In the suburbs of London, some people spend
their time collecting snails, worms, grasshoppers, caterpillars,
toads, snakes, and lizards, which they sell in the city as food for
birds. Some, in collecting frogs, which they sell to French families,
at hotels and at hospitals. Some devote their time to the sale of
coffee, beer, and baked potatoes. Some engage in the sale of coke,
some of salt, and some of sand. Nor is literature forgotten by
the street sellers. "There are," says Mr. M., "five houses in
London that publish street literature, and six authors and
poets that prepare such literature in prose or rhyme." Some
streetsellers devote themselves to the hawking of dog collars, and
some to the sale of rat poisons. Some collect the nests of wild
birds and the eggs, and sell them. Some sell whips; and some,
walking sticks; but these last articles, we believe, are sold only
by men. In London, some women sell refuse fruits; some, water-colored
pictures and cheap engravings; some, coins commemorating
public events. Some engage in the sale of children's
watches. Some sell implements belonging to a trade; for instance,
tailors' implements. Some sell washerwomen's clothes
lines, pegs, and props; or kitchen utensils, as tin ware, vegetable
nets, kettle holders, &c. Some of the street sellers are blind,
with having taxed their eyes too greatly in sewing for slop shops.
Some women are co-workers with the men in the sale of crockery
[Pg 132]
and glass ware. They go in pairs (generally husband and wife);
some with a large basket between them, others with separate baskets.
Some sell spar ornaments, and some, china ornaments;
some, lace, and some, millinery; some, thread, tape, needles, &c.
Quite a number sell women's second-hand apparel. Some sell
umbrellas; some, men's suspenders, belts, and trouser straps.
Others again will sell embroidery, stockings, gaiters, shoe laces,
blacking, pipes, quack medicines, snuff, tobacco boxes, and cigar
cases; and in winter some are seen carrying even kindling wood
to sell. Some women sell dolls, spectacles, wash leather, china
cement, razor paste, matches, or japanned ware. Some women
carry sponge in baskets; they either sell it for money or exchange
it for old clothes. A few sell musical instruments. Some offer
guide books, play bills, newspapers, stationery, and jewelry.
Rabbits, squirrels, parrots, and other kinds of birds are sold by
them; and some dispose of dead game. Seeds, flowers, roots,
and, about Christmas, evergreens, are sold in large numbers. In
shops, some try to resell slops from kitchens, old glass, metal, or
worn clothes, &c.; some, exhausted tea leaves, which they dispose
of to those that dye and redye them to sell again.—We
give this chapter, because it comprises all and many more than
the sellers on our streets. The few engaged in street sales
in our cities are mostly confined to old women, who sit at
the corners, with stands on which rest store articles, tin ware,
sweetmeats, and fruits, or a small lot of fancy articles. There
are several stands of second-hand books and newspapers, or
shelves of candy, kept by men, but the variety in the business is
quite limited, compared with the cities of Europe. Mr. Mayhew
thinks the majority of street sellers in London have been servants
and mechanics that could not get employment. Some street
sellers go on foot through the country during the summer, to sell
at fairs and races. Many others get employment from the farmers
in gathering vegetables and fruits for market, weeding gardens,
picking hops, and assisting in haymaking and harvesting.
In Paris, some women carry bread to sell, in baskets strapped to
their backs. In New York, I saw two women with baskets of
vegetables and fruit to sell. I spoke to one, who told me she
earns sometimes as much as $1 a day, and sometimes but a few
cents. In winter, it is not unusual to see girls with baskets of
dried thyme, parsley, and sage, who sell it for culinary purposes.
I talked with a woman who carried tin ware in a basket. She
often does not earn fifty cents a day, and will be walking all day,
not even going home at noon. She buys by the dozen, and so
gets the articles a little cheaper. I inquired of a girl selling
radishes how many she usually disposed of in a day. She takes
[Pg 133]
them around only in the afternoon, and sometimes sells to the
amount of $1.25.
117. Toy Merchants.
This is a business better suited
to the natural nurses of children than to men. A handsome profit
is derived from the sale of toys. The busy seasons with toy merchants
and confectioners are about Christmas and New Year.
Toys might be more extensively made in our country, thereby
giving employment to many now without it. Women mostly
stand in toy shops in New York. Even so small an item as the
eyes of children's dolls produces a circulation of several thousand
pounds in England. Several establishments in London are devoted
exclusively to the manufacture of dolls.
118. Wall Paper Dealers.
Selling wall paper is a
light, pretty business. In cities it affords a remunerative return;
in towns and villages it is sold mostly by dry-goods merchants
and druggists. The only objection I see to it is, that a step
ladder must be used to get the paper down from the higher
shelves; but a small boy might be used for that, and also for carrying
paper home to purchasers.
119. Worn Clothes and Second-hand Furniture.
Mr. Mayhew tells us that in London thirty persons are engaged
in the exclusive sale of second-hand boots and shoes. He mentions
one man that, in 1855, was thought to take over £100
($500) a day. Boots and shoes, too far gone to be repaired, are
sold to Prussian-blue manufacturers—so nothing is lost. In
Philadelphia, near Penn Square, may be seen ranged, on an open
space, a large quantity of second-hand clothes, shoes, dresses, &c.,
for sale. The business, in this country, of buying and selling
again worn clothes is mostly in the hands of the Jews—perhaps
altogether. In all countries it is more or less a favorite business
with them. The time is past when the Jew was prohibited in other
countries from holding real estate; yet the Jews in all countries,
so far as I know, generally retain their property in money, or invest
it in something movable. Old clothes in our country are
generally given in exchange for new china, glass ware, &c.; yet a
number in the large cities pay money. In London all kinds of
articles are given for them, and then they are taken to the old-clothes
exchanges, where they are disposed of for money, principally
to shopkeepers who deal in the sale of worn clothes.
Some of these articles are made over, some made smaller, some
turned, some changed in form; in fact, the greatest ingenuity is
exercised to employ to advantage the articles used. Second-hand
articles are not so much sold in this country as in older countries,
where money is more difficult to get, and poverty greater. Boys'
cloth caps and roundabouts, and women's shoes, are made of old
[Pg 134]
coats and pants, so worn in parts as to be unsalable. Coats are
also made of cloaks, bonnets of aprons, &c. Men's and women's
apparel of all sorts is bought and sold by them. Old umbrellas
and parasols are bought, repaired, and sold. Silk dresses, if unfit
to be sold, are used for making children's hoods, facing coats, &c.
The scraps are used for making quilts. Old woollen dresses,
whose waists are much worn, are used for making wadded skirts.
Tailors' and dress-makers' trimmings are sometimes purchased for
a small sum, and used in making up girls' hoods, boys' caps, &c.
In London, most of women's second-hand apparel is (as it should
be) sold by women. It is customary for buyers to cry down
every article offered them for sale or barter, but those they offer
for sale are magnified into ten times their value. Many of the
men who go through the streets of our cities buying old clothes or
giving china ware in exchange for them, take them home and
their wives repair them. I called at a second-hand variety store in
Brooklyn. The woman says most people engaged in the business
are foreigners. The business is not unhealthy. Clothes brought
in are washed and done over, and their domestics are always
healthy. Their business is very dull. Ten years ago it was quite
brisk, but many stores of the kind have been opened in Brooklyn
lately. She and her daughter go and look at any articles for sale;
and if they think the person honest and the price suits, they will
buy; so that, if any one should come and claim the clothes as
being stolen, they could immediately take a policeman to the
place where they got them. If articles are bought, they examine
and put a price on them, and get the address of the individual.
If they find they are not stolen, they then purchase. The poorest
season for the business is midwinter. They keep their store
open till ten o'clock at night. I was told at another store they
sell most clothes in the evening to laborers' wives. In a store in
New York, the lady says she buys her clothes of Jews that go
about exchanging china for old clothes. It is very necessary that
a good locality be fixed on, near a river or bay, on a thoroughfare,
or in a neighborhood where many poor people live. One
woman told me she employs two girls and three men to make over
and do up worn clothes for her store. She pays her girls, each,
thirty-one cents a day, and they work twelve hours. She sells
most in the evening. At one place I was told that Mondays and
Saturdays are their busiest days for selling. They sell most to
the French, Irish, and negroes. Germans do not like to buy
second-hand clothes. She regretted that in her present store she
had not glass cases to keep the dust off her clothes. Her purchasing
is mostly done among the rich, she says, and so it brings
her a good class of customers. The keeper of a second-hand
[Pg 135]
furniture store told me that she goes to auction herself and purchases.
It is two or three years before the business pays. She
will go to a dwelling and look at furniture before purchasing. It
requires a man to do the lifting. She has old furniture repaired,
chairs reseated, &c., before she attempts to sell them.
120. Variety Shops.
Variety shops, for the sale of coal,
wood, kindling, candles, matches, and water, are frequently seen
in the poor districts of cities. They are a great convenience to
those whose means will not admit of their buying in large quantities.
It costs them more to buy it in that way, yet the keeping
of shops affords a subsistence to those who do.
121. Agriculturists.
With industry and enterprise,
what may not woman accomplish! We have heard of women in
Western New York, Ohio, and Michigan, that not only carry on
farms, but do the outdoor work, as tilling, reaping, &c. It is
said that in countries where the physical labor of women in the
open air is as great as that of men, their constitutions become as
stout and capable of endurance. Agriculture is an employment
safe and profitable, and capable of almost any extension in this
country. There is a great difference usually between the theory
and practice of farming. Many agricultural works and periodicals
are published that abound in practical instruction. In grazing
countries stock is raised, and the labor of the people is given
to making butter and cheese. A variety of soil and difference of
altitude produce different crops in the same latitude. In the
United States the raising of hops is becoming a branch of national
industry, and some women are employed to pick them. In
England and France large numbers of women are employed to
pick hops. In England, 52,000 acres of land are devoted to their
cultivation. There is danger, in picking hops, of getting wet and
taking cold, which acts upon the system very much the same as
the ill effects of calomel. But if proper care is used, the work
is not unhealthy. There is a people's college in New York State,
where females are received as pupils as well as males. No doubt
a horticultural department will be formed. We think it would
be well if more women would devote themselves to agricultural
[Pg 136]
and horticultural employments. Weeding gardens and attending
dairies or poultry yards would each furnish work for more
women than are now employed, and save women from running to
the cities, which are already crowded to excess with applicants for
work. Headley, in his "Adirondack Mountains," says: "Twenty
miles from any settlement on Brown's Tract in Adirondack,
Arnold and his family of thirteen children—twelve girls and a
boy—live by their trafficking, by sporting, and cultivating the
field. The agricultural part, however, is performed chiefly by
females, who plough, sow, and rake equal to any farmer. Two of
the girls threshed alone, with common flails, five hundred bushels
of oats in one winter, while their father and mother were away
trapping for marten. They frequently ride without bridle or
even halter, guiding the horse by a motion or stroke of the hand.
They are modest and retiring in their manners, and wild and
timid as fawns among strangers." "On the west side of the
Scioto, just below Columbus, there is planted a field of six hundred
acres of bottom land. Twenty-five German girls follow the
ploughs, and do the hoeing, for which they receive 62½ cents
per day." There are two sisters in Ohio who manage a farm of
three hundred acres; and two other sisters, near Media, Pennsylvania,
that conduct as large a farm.
122. Bee Dealers.
A new species of bee, that builds in
trees instead of hives, is about to be introduced by Government
from Paraguay. In keeping bees there is no expense. The hives
can easily be made at home, or purchased for a comparative trifle.
Their food they seek themselves. "The bee mistresses gain a
living by selling honey in many rural districts of England."
Most of the honey used in the United States is collected in the
South. That to be carried to the North is put in hogsheads.
Merchants who buy it have small glass jars filled, which are sold
in markets and groceries.
123. Bird Importers and Raisers.
There are establishments
in most of the large cities of the United States for the
sale of birds. The proprietors import and raise them. Most
imported birds are from Germany. They are caught by the
peasants living among the mountains, and sold for a trivial sum
in small wooden cages. The favorite pet bird has long been the
canary. In the South the mocking bird is common, and often
seen caged. But few of our most beautiful birds bear domestication.
Their wild, free nature unfits them for it. In Germany
there is a class of men who make it a separate business to train
birds to sing. The bullfinch is the kind most commonly taught—perhaps
the only kind. They teach in bird classes of from
four to seven members each. It is done by withholding food
[Pg 137]
from them in the dark and playing on a bird organ or a flute.
A gentleman told me, he thought few, if any, ladies could be repaid
in making a business of bird raising; indeed, he had known
several undertake it, but fail. He says, people like German
birds best, because they learn earlier to sing; and, you know, a
purchaser always wants to hear a bird sing before he buys it.
At a bird importer's I priced birds. He asked for a male canary,
$3; for a female, $1; an African parrot, $8; green parrot, $5;
goldfinch, $3; and thrush, $2. Mrs. L., a German, who raises
canaries, told me she could not support herself by raising birds,
but she knows several men that do. She says the American
birds are the longest lived—the imported die in about two years
after reaching this country. Foreign birds are generally devoid
of strength, and their limbs are apt to turn backward as they rest
on the roosts. I suppose that arises from their being shut up in
small cages during the long journey across the ocean, and many
of them, being caught birds, cannot bear the confinement and
cramped position. Another bird dealer attributed the fact of imported
being less healthy than American birds, to their taking
cold in crossing the ocean. American birds that are not mated
may live fifteen or sixteen years. The breed, form, color, sex,
and ability to sing determine their price. It is difficult to tell
the age of canaries from their appearance. So one is liable to be
imposed upon by unprincipled dealers, who prefer to sell old
birds, particularly of the feminine gender. Birds are subject to
a variety of diseases. Birds are cheapest in the fall, as it requires
more to keep them in winter than summer, and many do
not wish to be at that expense. Mrs. L. sells most in February,
March, and April, the breeding season. Prices vary from $2 to
$7. It does not take long to learn to raise birds, another bird
raiser told me, when you know just how to feed them, and the
proper temperature for them. She sells most in winter.
124. Bird and Animal Preservers.
I notice in the
census of Great Britain three women returned as animal preservers;
and I know there are some in Germany, three of whom are
in Strasbourg. Bird stuffing is a trade in which but few can find
employment. It would therefore be necessary to have something
else to rely on in case that should fail. It is thought by some
to be unhealthy, on account of the arsenic used—particularly to
young people. The senior of a firm I called on had been engaged
in it fifteen years without detriment to his health. Females
mostly prepare the branches of trees, or other fanciful stands, on
which the birds are placed. The frames are usually of wood or
pasteboard, covered with moss. I called at Mr. B.'s, and saw a
young man who works with him. He thinks the work is not un
[Pg 138]healthy.
It is an art in which there is always room for improvement.
Mr. B., who has been at it thirty years, says he is always
learning something new in regard to it, or making some discovery
in the art. The eyes are manufactured in New York. To
one practising the art a good eye for form is necessary, and an
ability to imitate nature closely. The spring of the year is the
best season; but all seasons answer. The only danger in summer
is from insects. A bird stuffer told me he would teach the art
to one or two persons for $50; but he thinks the prospect for
employment poor. It is difficult to get birds to learn on in winter;
but in summer plenty can be had. He has had acquaintances
commence in New Orleans, St. Louis, and Chicago. The
first two could not make a living. He knows of two young ladies
that have learned it merely as a pastime. I called on a
French lady, Mrs. L., who stuffs birds and animals. She taught
the art to a barber, who made a great deal of money by it. He
paid $150 for his instruction, spending every other day at it for
two months. A Cuban, who owns seven hundred slaves, paid
her the same amount. He wished to learn, that he might preserve
birds he could obtain while travelling in various countries.
She has received several letters from Boston requesting her to
come there and stuff birds for a museum that is being commenced.
She was the personation of health, but she complained that she
suffered with rheumatism. She trembled much—she thought
from rheumatism. May it not be that it is the result of arsenic
that she has got into a pimple, or where the skin was broken?
The work, of course, requires a firm hand. She showed me a parrot,
done, she said, in one hour, for which she was to receive $3.
A German book is written on the subject that contains directions.
The information can be obtained in English from a little work
called "Art Recreations." The ingredients are often sold in
drug stores already mixed. It can be done at all seasons. Mrs.
L. thinks one could become proficient in two months' constant
practice. A gentleman went to California, and made a large collection
of birds; stuffed them, and sent them to various European
countries. In the four years he was at it he made $60,000. She
sent six hundred to a museum in Paris a short time ago. She
thinks St. Louis may present an opening. Mrs. L. knows a man
who has been employed in stuffing birds and animals in the museum
of Strasbourg from the age of fifteen to seventy-seven, and
is a very corpulent man, being nearly as broad as he is long.
That she gave as an indication of its healthfulness; but it may be
that he is bloated from the arsenic, as it has that effect. She
says even poor people will pay to have a pet bird stuffed, when
they have not a dime to buy bread.
[Pg 139]
125. Florists.
The rearing of flowers has ever been a
charming pastime to many of our sex. When the pleasure can
be combined with profit, it is well. The cultivation of flowers is
a taste whose beneficial results are not sufficiently appreciated.
When the cares and troubles of life begin to press upon men and
women, they are apt to neglect the cultivation of flowers, when it
might absorb some of the cares that burden their hearts. Vines,
roses, and ornamental fruit trees cost but a small sum, and yet
how much they add to the beauty and comfort of a place! Most
of the choice roses of our country are from cuttings imported from
France. They are brought over in jars. Many, of course, die on
the voyage. The variety is very great. The selling of roots,
plants, and bouquets is quite remunerative in some places. Much
depends on the knowledge and skill of the florist, the location of
his gardens, and the fondness of the people in the community for
flowers. It is a delightful business for a lady, if she has men to
do the planting, digging, and other hard work. In Paris, there
is a market devoted to the sale of flowers. In most of the markets
of our large cities, are exposed for sale pot plants and bouquets,
also shrubs and evergreens. A florist told me that he employs
two women in winter to make up bouquets and wreaths for ladies
going to evening and dinner parties, concerts, and other places of
amusement. It requires taste and ingenuity. He pays each $5
per week. They can make up wreaths to look like artificial flowers.
A woman on Long Island makes a living by raising flowers
that are sold in New York. I was told that some lady has established
a horticultural school on Long Island. Florists in and
near cemeteries are apt to find sale for flowers and plants. Hence
it is common to observe gardens and hot houses so located. I
rode out to a florist's near Brooklyn. He says the business is not
so good as it was, because the Germans in Hoboken raise flowers
and sell bouquets for sixpence that he could not sell for twenty-five
cents. The man does not send bouquets to the city, as it does
not pay. Their profits are mostly derived from the sale of choice
fruit trees raised at Flushing. They sell bouquets at their hot
houses from a shilling up to $5. They derive most profit from
flowers in winter. A florist's occupation is healthy, and affords
much pleasure to one fond of flowers. Yet it requires close attention
to business. In England it was formerly customary to
serve a seven-years' apprenticeship at the business, but three or
four years will answer very well, if an individual gives undivided
attention to his business, and is with a superior florist. A knowledge
of botany is necessary to a florist. It requires considerable
taste to make up a bouquet, and therefore is very appropriate to
women. A knowledge of colors and their artistic arrangement is
[Pg 140]
essential; also a natural taste for flowers, and some patience.
Making bouquets, wreaths, &c., is slow work. The stems of flowers
for bouquets are cut very short, as most of the nutriment of
the stem is lost to the succeeding ones by cutting long ones.
Artificial stems are added to the natural ones, and are usually
made of broom straw or ravelled matting. Mrs. F., the wife
of a florist, says the wives of most florists assist their husbands
in making up bouquets, wreaths, and baskets. She thinks, if a
florist had enough to do to employ a lady, he would pay her $3 or
$4 a week. She has often thought a small volume might be
written on the flower business in New York. She says no one
has an idea of the amount of money expended for flowers. Mr. D.
used to send out $1,000 worth of flowers on New Year's morning.
It is a very irregular employment. Some days she sells a great
many for balls, parties, and funerals. One might learn to make
bouquets, if they have taste and judgment, by a few months' practice.
The flowers that are sold at different seasons vary greatly,
and the value of them depends much on their age. Mrs. F. has
sold a few baskets of flowers at $50 apiece. She sells many flowers
for Roman Catholic churches about Easter. Mrs. R. says
florists prefer to have men, because they can work in the garden
or green house when not cutting or putting up flowers. The Germans
have run the business down in New York. A florist named
Flower writes: "We employ from two to four women tying buds,
hoeing, weeding, &c.; in winter they help about grafting. They
are paid fifty cents a day, of ten hours. Women so employed are
German born. The employment is healthy. Men get seventy-five
cents a day, as they can do more work; but the principal
reason for employing women is, that we can hire them cheaper
and like them better for light work. Women could do all parts
of our business, if they had a fair chance with men, and would
improve the chance. One year would give a general knowledge,
but five would be better. A good, sound constitution, and industrious
habits, are the best qualifications. Women that want such
work can find plenty of it; but outdoor work is too hard for
American women." Another florist writes: "In Europe, where
women are sometimes employed in fruit or vegetable gardens,
their wages are usually about half a man's. Women (chiefly
Germans) are employed in this country by farmers to pick fruit,
vegetables, &c., by the quantity. At light work, done by contract,
women, I believe, can make as much as men. Several
years would be necessary to learn the business; some branches
of it might be learned in a few weeks. The requisite most needed
for women to work in green houses, is a change of fashion. Their
dress unfits them altogether for moving about in crowded plant
[Pg 141]
houses. Were their dress similar to the men's, I see no reason
why they would not be equally useful in other departments as well
as this. If that should ever happen, they would, in my opinion,
be worth as much as men; for the work is mostly light, and ladies,
having a natural taste for flowers, would soon learn it. If you
have gone through green houses, you cannot but know the difficulty
of doing so without breaking everything. Men, at this kind
of work, are not fully employed in winter." A lady florist
writes: "I sometimes think my nervous excitability is to some
extent caused by an excess of electricity, derived from the earth
or flowers with which I work."
126. Flower Girls.
Flowers are the mementoes of an
earthly paradise. They are said to be "the alphabet of angels,
whereby they write mysterious things"—the mysteries of God's
love and goodness. Earth would be a wilderness without them.
Girls sell flowers most profitably at opera houses, theatres, and
other places of amusement. They buy of those who devote themselves
to the raising of flowers, and arrange them into bouquets.
A number dispose of flowers on Broadway; and, summer before
last, I observed a French woman at the Atlantic ferry selling bouquets
to people waiting for the boat. A florist told me he disposes
of flowers to girls who make up bouquets and sell them. One
of them pays $500 rent for her room. It yields a handsome profit
when a person has a good stand. He would like a stand at the
opera house, but a great many others are looking forward to it.
Some pay for the privilege, others obtain it by being known to the
managers. I was told by a man who supplies bouquets that he pays
to florists from $8 to $10 a day for flowers, and then makes up his
own bouquets. I have been told that at some hotels in Germany,
girls pass around the table at dinner, and give bouquets. Such
recipients as feel disposed, pay a small sum.
127. Fruit Growers.
If American women would only
turn their attention to the cultivation of fruits and flowers for
market, instead of giving it up to ignorant foreigners, how much
better it would be! A few hundred dollars would make a very
handsome beginning; and those who do not have so much at their
disposal, could get their friends to advance it. At Shrewsbury
and Lebanon, much fruit is put up by the Shakers, and sent to
New York for sale. Women might have orchards, raise fruit,
and send it to market. Mrs. D. owns a farm, and does not disdain
to graft fruit trees, superintend their planting, gather fruit,
send it to market, &c.; and she realizes a handsome profit. The
grafting and budding of fruit trees might be done very well by
women, and also the budding of ornamental shrubs. "Miss S. B.
Anthony," says the Binghampton
Republican, "resides at Roches
[Pg 142]ter,
and supports herself by raising raspberries from land given
to her by her father." I have been told that on one acre of land
near New York city a thousand dollars' worth of strawberries can
be grown. In New Jersey and Delaware, women are employed
to gather berries for market. If a lady is within a few miles of
town, and has facilities for raising and sending fruit to market,
she will not be likely to fail in meeting with ready sale. Berries
bring a good price in the markets of a city. In Cincinnati, from
May 21st to June 1st, 1847, 5,463 bushels of strawberries were
sold, and near St. Louis is a gentleman that has some hundreds
of acres of strawberries in cultivation to assist in supplying the
St. Louis market. The drying of fruit affords employment, and
generally well remunerates time so given, if carried on extensively.
128. Fruit Venders.
Flowers are formed to please the
eye and indulge the fancy; but fruits are a healthy and important
article of food. Some women sell fruit in market; some, at
stalls in the street; some, in fruit shops or groceries; and some,
from baskets, going from house to house. Most dispose of small
fruit, such as berries—some wild and some cultivated. The
ferries in large cities are very good stands for sellers of fruits
and sweetmeats. Places of amusement and the entrance to
cemeteries, are also. I talked to one apple woman, who says
her business is a slavish one. Her stand was at the Atlantic
ferry, New York. When she goes to her dinner, she gets the gate
keeper to mind her stand. She earns, on an average, $1 a day.
She rises, gets her breakfast, and starts to market by five o'clock.
She remains at her stand until nine o'clock at night. She sells
the greatest quantity of fruit in the spring and fall, when people
are most apt to be making money, and so permit a little self-indulgence.
She sells least in winter. I saw a woman on the
street selling fruit and flowers. When she is out all day, she can
generally earn from fifty cents to $1. Another fruit seller told
me that she makes a good living. She has been at her stand
eight years. She sells most fresh fruit in summer; and in winter,
about the holidays, most dry fruit and nuts. In the coldest
weather she remains in her basement, heated by a stove, where
she stores her fruit at night. Her grapes are brought in on the
cars, put up in pasteboard boxes. Her location is excellent,
for the working class of people pass in the evening, returning
from work, or in their promenades. I talked with an old woman
at an apple stand, who told me she often sells $1 worth of articles
in a day, but seldom makes a profit of more than half. She sells
most fruit in summer, but most cigars, candy, and nuts in winter.
She says there is a stand on every block, in that part of New
[Pg 143]
York. Hers is a good location, because so many men pass. In
wet weather, she does not sell much. She is shielded in winter,
by sitting in a hall near, where she can keep an eye on her stand.
She lives near, and while she goes home to dinner, her husband
sells for her. An apple woman, in New York, told us, she has
kept her stand in Washington park for seven years. She remains
at it all the year. If any other fruit vender should trespass on
her bounds, a policeman would soon send him or her off. Another
old woman, keeping a fruit stand, told me she makes a comfortable
living at it in summer; but in winter she stays in a confectionery
store, and gets $10 a month and her board. At another fruit stand,
on asking the old lady how she got on, she burst into tears, and
replied, very poorly, scarcely made enough to keep her alive. A
professional honor exists among fruit women, and a desire to sustain
each other in their rights. A wholesale fruit dealer writes
me that it takes from two to four years to learn the business, when
carried on extensively.
129. Gardeners.
The strength and energy of people, in
northern climates, have led them to excel in the rearing of fruit—not
in imparting a more delicious flavor, but in the quantity,
the fulness, and the size of the fruit. In the balmy air and under
the sunny sky of the South, vegetation develops more rapidly and
more luxuriantly. He who adds to the list of beautiful and fragrant
flowers, or improves some variety of fruit, enlarging, or rendering
it more luscious, will be remembered as a benefactor.
Gardening is a pleasant and healthy occupation to those that love
outdoor life. A woman can no more be healthful and beautiful
without exercise in the open air, than a plant can when deprived
of air and light. We learn, from Mr. Howitt's "Rural Life in
England," that "there are on the outskirts of Nottingham, upward
of five thousand gardens, each less than the tenth of an acre. The
bulk of these are occupied by the working classes. These gardens
are let at from half a penny to three halfpence per yard."
German women are often employed, near cities, to weed gardens,
gather vegetables, and other such work. "In Hereford, England,
there are no fewer than six annual harvests, in each of which
children are largely employed: 1, bark peeling; 2, hay; 3, corn,
4, hops; 5, potatoes; 6, apples; 7, acorns. Add to these, bird
keeping in autumn and spring, potato setting and hop tying, and
the incidental duties of baby nursing and errand going."
130. Makers of Cordial and Syrups.
Women who
live in the country, and have small fruit, would find it pay well
to make cordials, berry vinegars, &c. There are some establishments
where it is made, and women are employed to gather the
fruit. The people of the Southern States have depended on the
[Pg 144]
North for these articles, but we presume a change will be wrought.
The abundant growth of small fruit in the South will enable the
South before long to meet the demand. We think there will be
many openings of this kind, in the South and West, for many
years to come. Some manufacturers of ginger wine, bitters, syrups,
cordials, and grape wines, write: "In reply to your circular
we say—We do not employ any women in our business, although
we indirectly furnish employment for several hundred, during the
various fruit seasons, in gathering most kinds of fruit, which we
use in our business. Many of these fruits are wild, which we
buy at a specified price. The gatherers control their own time,
and their earnings will vary from fifty cents to $1 each, per day.
It would probably require the labor of about six hundred for six
months of each year, in gathering the amount of fruit which we
use. But as we do not directly employ them, or know anything
about the general business of those thus employed, we are unable
to give further particulars."
131. Root, Bark, and Seed Gatherers.
When the
grass is bowed by the sparkling dew, and the hills shrouded in
mist, plants exhale most freely their sweet odors. They are then
gathered and sold to manufacturers, who prepare from them oils,
essences, and perfumeries. An old Quaker lady on Tenth street,
Philadelphia, keeping an herb store, told me that she purchases
her herbs mostly of men, but some women do bring them to sell.
It requires a knowledge of botany to gather them, and the stage
of the moon must be observed. Digging roots, and gathering
plants, at all seasons, is a hard business. At another herb store,
I learned that the prices paid gatherers depend much on the kind
of herb, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the season when it is
gathered. A woman may earn $1 a week, or she may earn as
much as $10. The roots and herbs are bought by weight.
Many are purchased fresh in market, but some of the gatherers
dry them. They are sent from different parts of the Union to
the cities and towns. One told me that she would rather purchase
herbs and seed put up by women, for they are neater and
more careful with their work. She sells most in spring and fall.
An Indian doctress told me barks must be gathered in the spring
and fall, when they are full of sap; and roots, when the leaves
are faded or dead. She sometimes makes $20 worth of syrup
in a day. She says the business requires some knowledge of
plants, experience in the times of gathering, amount of drying, &c.
132. Seed Envelopers and Herb Packers.
In a
seed store in Philadelphia, we found, they employ women in
January and February, at $2.50 a week, to put seeds up in paper
bags, seal them, and paste labels on. They go at eight in the
[Pg 145]
morning, and remain until dark. At a large drug store in Philadelphia,
we were told they employ nine women. They have
seven distinct branches for the women, and separate apartments
for each branch, consisting of weighing and putting up powders,
sorting herbs and roots, putting up liquids, &c., &c. The
women earn from $3 to $5 a week, and spend nine hours, from
eight to six, having an hour at noon. In busy seasons they remain
till eight or nine, and receive additional wages. There is nothing
unhealthy in the business. They are paid $3 a week from
the time they are taken to learn, and deduction made for
absence. A seller of botanic medicines in Boston writes me: "He
employs women in putting medicines in small packages for the
retail trade, bottling the same, and labelling. He pays $5 a
week to his women, and $3 a week while learning, the time for
which is six months. Common sense, neatness, and integrity are
the qualifications needed. The girls work from nine to ten
hours. He will not employ any but American women. He
pays men $8 or $9, because they can take them off, and put them
upon work that girls cannot do. Women would be paid better
if they were stronger, and did not need so much waiting upon
in the way of lifting and arranging their work. Rainy days
they want to stay at home, or, if they come, it takes half a day
for them to dry their clothes. Men they can depend on in all
weather. Women might keep their books, if their crinoline was
not too extensive: that alone would bar them from the counting
room. Women are inferior only in physical disabilities. Girls
are good for nothing until after sixteen years of age; and nine in ten
will get married as soon as they are fairly initiated in work—hence
the time spent by women in acquiring a business education
is to a certain extent lost—lost to their employers, but of assistance
to them in the education of their children." Mr. P.,
botanic druggist says: "There are but three establishments in
New York, for this business, and twelve women would be quite
enough for them. They put up herbs in packages. One day's
practice is enough for a smart person. The women are paid
from $3 to $5 a week." At the United States Botanic Depot
they employ one girl, and pay her $4 a week. She only works
in daylight. Mr. J. L. employs two girls to put up botanic
medicines. He has men to cork the bottles. They work ten
months in the year. Nothing is done in December and January.
They pay $4 a week, of ten hours a day. In Louisville, St.
Louis, and Cincinnati, few women are employed in this way.
Some seedsmen and florists near Boston employ four ladies in
enveloping seed. One of the ladies writes: "We presume more
ladies are employed in Europe to put up seed than in this
[Pg 146]
country. The employment is not unhealthy. We are paid 6
cents an hour, and work by the hour. To learn the part the
women do, requires about two hours. Judgment is most needed.
Employment of this kind is increasing, there is a demand for
female labor in the seed department." A seedsman, in Rochester,
writes: "We employ six women in making paper bags,
paying 25 cents per hundred. Boys are employed at about the
same wages. We have work from July to January. The girls
take their work home. We use some boys, because their work
benefits their families equally as much."
133. Sellers of Pets.
In Paris there are stores for the
sale of dogs and cats. In London, the sale of dogs is mostly on
the streets, or at the residence of the raiser. The aristocracy of
England maintain 500,000 dogs and a large number of cats;
consequently food must be provided for them. The sale of birds
is common. Gold and silver fish, white rabbits, Guinea pigs,
squirrels, tortoises, fawns, lambs, and goats, are sometimes sold
in seed and flower stores. Flowers and birds are the favorite
pets of ladies in the United States. Everything of this nature
is sold to some extent in the markets and on the streets of our
cities, but generally at the houses of those who devote themselves
to the business.
134. Wine Manufacturers and Grape Growers.
Many persons are becoming interested in the culture of the grape;
and some are spending time and money in experimenting. Longworth
of Cincinnati has realized a fortune from his operations.
Belle Britain says: "In Longworth's cellars are 700,000 bottles
of wine. Mr. L. informed her (?) that we have in this country
at least 5,000 varieties of the grape, and his vineyards yield from
600 to 700 gallons to the acre." The color of wine depends on
the color of the grapes from which it is made. In several of
the States, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Alabama, vineyards
are flourishing, and many new ones are being planted out.
The variety of soil and surface in our country is such that there
is every probability of success. As yet, only two kinds have
been much grown. No doubt a large number of women will,
in the course of a few years, be employed in the cultivation of
the vine and the manufacture of wine. One can soon learn,
with a few instructions in each season, the proper culture of the
vine. A great deal of the work in the vineyards of France and
Switzerland is done by women. Women do better that men,
because their fingers are smaller and more nimble. The want of
intelligent culture has been the greatest barrier in the introduction
of graperies into our country; but such is the number of
foreigners now among us that have a practical knowledge of the
[Pg 147]
business, we need fear no want of workmen. Many, too, have
not been willing to invest capital in an uncertain enterprise.
Wine manufacturers in Orange county, N. Y., write: "We have
not employed women to any great extent in our business. There
are some branches of the business in which women might be
suitably and profitably employed, where those branches are extensively
carried on. The bottling process, including cleaning
of bottles, filling, putting on foil, labels, &c., could be done by
women as well as men. Women could pick the grapes, and cull
out the green and poor berries, and prepare them for the press.
They are employed for this purpose in Europe. The reasons
why we have not employed women in these branches are, we
bottle not more than one sixth of our wine; we manufacture
principally for church communion and medicinal purposes, and
the principal demand for those purposes is by the gallon—consequently
we send it out mostly in casks. (Some wine growers
bottle all.) The men, whom we necessarily employ by the
year or month in the cultivation of the ground, vines, &c., are
of course employed in the season of the vintage, bottling, &c.; and
in hurried times, such as the time of picking the grapes, we get
such additional help as is easiest obtained, generally boys and
girls, with sometimes women. Women are in such demand here
for household labor, that, unless sought for at the proper time,
March and the 1st of April, and hired for the year, it would be
almost impossible to obtain them. The wages generally paid
are from $5 to $7 per month, mostly $5 and $6." Another
grape grower writes, in answer to a circular: "I do not employ
female help in my business, except for a few weeks during the
time of tying up the vines and in gathering the fruit, for which
I pay 50 cents per day, without board. Women might be
employed to quite an extent in this business, which is increasing
in the country to a wonderful degree."
135. Bread Bakers.
Nearly all the bakeries in New
York are attended by women. I could not learn of any women
being employed in bread bakeries to mix or bake, but they are
in Germany and France. In France the bakehouse girls enter
ovens heated often to 300°, and, it is stated, sometimes to even
[Pg 148]
400°. Bakerooms are usually of such great heat as to be injurious
to the health of any but the strongest and stoutest. Some
establishments have day and night bakers. The night bakers are
up all night, and must have their bread ready by 5.30
A. M.
The day bakers go in at 7, and turn out a batch of bread at
11
A. M. Bakers spend on an average seventeen hours at
their work, and this no doubt accounts partly for the absence of
women from the occupation in this country: seventeen hours out
of the twenty-four are too many for any woman to be on her feet.
In this country the bakers are robust, hearty-looking men, and
mostly Germans. Their average wages are $6 a week. Some
bakers have a scaly eruption produced by frequent contact of the
skin with flour. Inhaling the flour in mixing bread I have heard
is unhealthy. Some women might object to working in the same
room with men, and baking is certainly very warm work in summer.
In most European cities the price of bread is regulated by
the Government. The cost of materials and the state of the
market regulate the price. A fine is the penalty for a violation
of the law. In this country, bakers regulate the price of bread
by the kind and quality. No law is enforced specifying prices.
Some years ago an attempt was made in New York to have bread
sold by the weight, but the bakers all opposed it. They might
have been tempted to put something heavy in the flour. In large
cities some establishments are devoted to one branch only of the
business. Baker's bread is more used in free than in slave States.
In Northern cities some families prepare their bread, cakes, pies,
and meats, and send them to bakeries, where for a small sum they
are cooked. It saves a vast amount of labor. Some bakers use
potatoes in making up wheat bread. I never knew of rice being
used by bakers in this country, but know it is by some bakers in
Paris. The modes of baking bread, and the kinds of bread used,
vary not only in different, but in the same countries. "Some
bakers give the impression their bread is made by women," said
a lady in a bakery, to us, "but it is not. A woman could not
make up two or three barrels of flour in a day. Men are just as
neat bakers as women could be." At three bakeries I was told
by the employers that they pay their girls who attend the shop
$7 a month, and board them, but do not have their washing done.
From several girls that stood in bakeries I learned that they received
from $6 to $10 a month, and their board. Only one of
the number got her washing done without extra expense. The
girls were expected to keep the counters, waiters, jars, and floors
clean. They must be in the bakery by 5 o'clock
A. M., and stay
until 10
P. M. Some women require the girls to sew when not
waiting on customers, and some require them to sweep and keep
[Pg 149]
the room clean, and some even to wash the shop windows. Girls
that stand in bakeries receive no better compensation than house
girls. A foreman of the baking department, generally receives
$8 a week, and his boarding. Girls are usually paid from the
time they enter. A knowledge of reading, writing, and figures is
considered sufficient. I was told by one lady in a shop that girls
attending bakeries usually receive from $8 to $10 a month, with
board, and some, also, get their washing done. They are not required
to keep the books for those terms, and the bakeries are few
in number where female employees keep the books. I was told by
an Irish woman that in Ireland there are few or no women attending
bakeries and groceries. At one bakery a girl told me she
finds it very bad to be on her feet all the time. She could not
stay constantly in a bakery for one year at a time, she gets so
weak from excitement and fatigue. She says most Germans keep
their bakeries open on the Sabbath; but the Americans have too
much respect for the day to do so. On Saturday night, bakeries
are often open until 12 o'clock, and sometimes later.
136. Brewers.
I wrote to a lady, whose name I saw in
a directory as a brewer. She replies: "You wish to know if I
work at brewing, personally. I do not at present, but have done
so, and worked hard the man's part; but my means are such now
that I can do without. I have men employed, and a clerk, &c.,
&c. I am a widow, and superintend my business, and understand
all that is connected with it. I suppose it is not necessary to
dwell longer on the subject, as I am out of the working part now.
I am sixty-two years of age."
137. Candy Manufacturers.
"There are three hundred
confectionery manufacturers and retail dealers in New York
city. Twelve establishments are devoted exclusively to the manufacture
of candies. In some, as many as a hundred hands are
employed in busy times. During the busy season, there are engaged
in the manufacturing houses about five thousand persons
of both sexes, though a very much larger number, probably some
thousands, are indirectly supported by it, the paper-box makers
being generally busily employed, and many children gaining a
livelihood by hawking candies through the streets. The city of
New York is the headquarters of the confectionery trade, supplying
as much as all the rest of the Union together, and distributing
the results of its industry to all parts of the United States, as
well as to Canada, most of the West India Islands, Mexico, Chili,
and many other places. It is estimated that fully $1,000,000
worth of confectionery is made annually in this city; and by that
term we mean preparations of sugar, chocolate, jujube paste, &c.,
but exclude many articles such as ice creams, jellies, blancmanges,
[Pg 150]
pastry, and other delicacies, which would sum up this amount to
perhaps double. Two of the principal houses manufacture daily
between them four thousand pounds of candies, at prices varying
from 14 cents to 50 cents per pound, the average being about 20
cents." The coloring matter of foreign candies is generally showy,
and of a poisonous nature. That of American manufacture is not
of such brilliant and permanent colors, but more regard is paid to
health in the selection of coloring matter. At confectioners' in
London, classes of young ladies are taken and taught the art of
making confectionery. Some candies are made by stretching
over a hook, some must be shaken in a pan over a charcoal fire,
and rolled on tables with marble tops. I was told at S. & P.'s
(a wholesale house) that they are most busy from August 1st to
20th of December, and from March to June. They take learners
for a week, to see if they are fit for the business, and if they are,
reward them for their time. It takes but a short time to learn
the part done by girls. They pay experienced girls from $3 to
$6 a week. The girls work ten hours a day, and if longer, they
are paid extra. Lately they have kept their girls until ten
o'clock at night. It requires taste and invention to envelop
fancy confectionery, but is not very reliable for constant employment.
S. & P. employ ninety girls in busy times. At another
place I was told they will not take Southern orders, for the
Southerners will not buy, and have not the money to pay, if they
would. The fancy candies go through three or four processes,
and so the girls must work in the same room as the men who
paint them. The girls sit while at work. R. pays by the
month, and keeps his girls all the year. He says labor is more
poorly compensated in New York, in proportion to the rates of
living, than in any city in the Union. He thinks some girls
should go from the cities into country places, and enter into service.
H. says a person of any intelligence can learn in two or
three months to paint candies. He used to employ girls to put
gilding on, paying $2 a week—ten hours a day; but if a girl can
paint well, she can earn $4 or $5 a week. He knows several German
girls in the city that do. The candy flowers, he says, are made
by hand, the fruit moulded. A lady confectioner told me that a
woman who ornaments fancy candies is poorly paid, and it is dirty,
sugary kind of work. Yet she acknowledged that candies must
be kept on a clean table and handled by clean hands—otherwise
they would not look well, and consequently not sell readily.
The wives of German manufacturers do most of that kind of work.
A confectioner told me, candy is never made in this country by
women, but it is in England. He said the dust of the powdered
sugar and the gases of the coal render it unhealthy. In large
[Pg 151]
establishments most candy is made by steam. The making of
candy he thought even too laborious for men. The teeth of candy
manufacturers are often decayed from the frequent tasting of
heated sugar. One candy manufacturer writes me: "We employ
six girls in making candy, and do not think the business
unhealthy. Wages range from $1.25 to $4.50 per week—ten
hours a day. Men's wages are from $4.50 to $9. It requires
from three to five years for men to learn. Women's part is
learned in one year. The prospect of employment is good for
a limited number. Fall is the best season, but they are always
employed except during part of the winter. In some branches
of the work women excel." At a manufactory of gum drops and
candy rings, I saw a boy who receives $3 a week for making the
rings, and a girl who receives $2.75 for picking gum drops,
i. e.,
loosening the sugar in which they are incrusted while being made.
They work from 7
A. M. to 6
P. M.
138. Cheesemakers.
A great deal of cheese is made in
Central and Northern New York, and some in Ohio, Vermont,
and West Massachusetts. Making cheese is a chemical operation,
and requires experience. It is made in all civilized countries.
I talked with an old gentleman who had been in the cheese
business nearly all his life. He said a farmer's wife is the best
help in cheese making. In making cheese, seven eighths of the
work is done by women. A man usually places the cheese in the
press, and removes it when it is dried sufficiently. The occupation
is healthy. Women are paid from $1.75 to $2 a week and
their board. Some people employ men, because they can go to
work on the farm when not making cheese. The business can be
learned in from six weeks to two months. When learning, girls
give their work for instruction, but have their board. Neatness,
good health, judgment, and common education, are desirable for
a cheese maker. An individual must be able to reckon the
pounds, weigh the salt, and regulate the temperature of the milk
and curd by the thermometer. The first advice given by a lady
who taught to make cheese was, "Keep your vessels clean." The
prospect of employment in this branch of work is good, for it
is difficult to obtain good cheesemakers. The best seasons are
from the 1st of March to the last of November. The number of
hours given by a girl to her work depends on the contract made—generally
eight hours—sometimes ten. In most places cheesemakers
have more leisure than house girls, but some employers
expect them to do housework when not employed about the
cheese. Some farmers hire girls who devote themselves exclusively
to cheese making during the season for it. Some have
the afternoon after the cheese is put in the press, and the jars,
&c., are cleaned, until time to milk in the evening. The morn
[Pg 152]ing
milking is usually done before breakfast, and the cheese made
after breakfast. It requires until about two o'clock to get through.
When cheese is put in a press, nothing further is necessary until
it is ready to be removed. It remains in the press twenty-four
hours. Most farmers have their cheese made on Sunday morning
as on other days. The girls have Sunday afternoon or evening,
according to contract. Some farmers do not make their cheese
on Sunday, but retain the milk until Monday morning, and make
it into butter. Women are best adapted to the work, and employed
mostly because they can be got cheaper. The majority
are Irish women. They are usually put on a footing by their
employers, and eat at the same table. So little spinning and weaving
are done now in the country, that the female members of
farmers' families generally do the milking, unless the farmers
have grown too wealthy and proud to have their wives and
daughters so employed. Some dairymen make, with the aid of
their families, all the cheese they use and sell. Milk should be
drawn from a cow as rapidly as possible and while the cow is eating.
One milker should be employed for every ten cows. Milk
is very sensitive. Dairymen will make more by having the
cream remain on the milk than by taking the cream off for churning,
at the rate butter sells this winter (1861). Where the
cream is used, an inexperienced hand would find it more troublesome
to make cheese. Twenty-three million pounds of cheese were
exported last year from the United States. American cheese is,
in England, taking the place of English cheese. A German
cheesemonger told me he makes the Limburg cheese—a preparation
which has been known about eight years in this country.
He was putting up some to send to New Orleans. It
was very soft, and I thought the smell very offensive. He gets
American cheese of a Yankee girl, to whom he pays $80 a year.
She uses the milk of sixty cows. She works at it but eight
months. During four months of the year but very little cheese
is ever made. The arrangements of some cheesemakers for preparing
the article are very complete.
139. Coffee and Chocolate Packers.
B. S. & W.,
Philadelphia, employ women in packing parcels of essence of
coffee, spices, vermicelli, &c. They make paper cases, pour the
article in through a funnel and ram it down, then label and pack
the cases in boxes, which are nailed up ready for delivery. One
or two persons obtain a livelihood by cutting the labels to paste
on the boxes. They are paid fifteen cents a thousand for this
work, and are able to support themselves by it. The women are
paid by the piece, and earn from $2 to $6 per week. The work
rooms are airy and comfortable. Females were formerly more
[Pg 153]
employed than at present to put up coffee; but as coffee is now
ground every day at most factories, and as it is considered best
when just ground, less is put up than formerly. Messrs. L. & B.,
New York, employ girls to put the articles in papers, pasting labels
on and sealing them. They work by the piece, and earn from
$3 to $7 a week. The odor might be disagreeable to some, but
persons get accustomed to it, and it is quite as healthy as most
work. There are not over one hundred and fifty women so employed
in the State of New York, yet such packing is generally
done by women. It is customary to pay by the package. The
girls change their dresses on coming to the workroom of L. & B.
They do not work with the men, but with some boys who fill
boxes with the same articles. L. & B.'s girls have employment
all the year. They never have any difficulty in getting hands.
I saw a man who makes up essence of coffee. A lady was assisting
him to put it in papers. At another factory I was told they
pay by the week, from $1.50 to $4, according to the industry,
quickness, and practice of the worker. It is not unhealthy work.
They give employment ten months of the year, but at present
have little to do. It requires but a few weeks to become expert.
In some establishments girls stand or sit, as they please, while
at work; in others they are all required to assume constantly
whichever posture the foreman directs. At W. & Son's two
small girls are employed, who each receive $2.50 a week.
There is one factory in Cincinnati, one in St. Louis, and one in
Chicago.
140. Cracker Bakers.
At M.'s the young man said
fancy crackers could be made by women. In making soda,
oyster, and some other crackers, the dough is kneaded by machinery.
In some establishments the dough is rolled out and conveyed
to the oven by machinery. In a cracker bakery I was
told the women might be employed in packing and selling
crackers. It would not require all the time of one woman to
pack for a large bakery. A cracker baker writes us: "We employ
no women, and do not see that they could work to advantage
in our business." Women could do all the work now done by
men in this line, but I suppose considerable opposition would be
experienced, except by ladies who have sufficient capital to carry
on business for themselves.
141. Fancy Confectionery.
Most confectioners sell,
in addition to their fancy candies, imported fruits; and a few keep
cakes. Some also keep fruits preserved in brandy or their own
juice; and some keep in addition pickles, oysters, sardines, &c.
Some confectioners merely make sweetmeats—some sell them,
and some both make and sell. In cities, confectioners usually
[Pg 154]
furnish the refreshments for both public and private entertainments.
A manufacturer of confectioneries in New York told me
that in busy times he employs fifteen girls; but at that time
(January, 1861) only half as many, for they have no Southern
orders—the people in the South are doing without candies. The
part done by girls requires no special training. He pays girls
for their labor from the first. They pack, pick gums, envelop
in fancy papers, fill boxes, &c. He pays $3 a week for those
that have some experience, and keeps them ten hours a day. He
gives the making and painting of fancy candies out to those that
have families, and who do it at home. W., of Philadelphia, pays his
girls, eight in number, $1.50 a week for the first two or three weeks,
then from $3 to $4. Making common candy is said to be too hard
for women. They assist in the finishing of fine candies, as rolling
and covering chocolate nuts. They put the fancy candies in
French envelopes, and cut the silvered or gilt paper that gives
the finish. They can sit or stand as they please while at work,
but while enveloping mostly sit. They work ten hours. It is
rather a light business. M. employs fifty women in putting up
and packing candies. He pays them, from the time they begin,
$2 a week. They learn in two or three months. He pays then
from $4 to $5 a week. A lady told me she was paid in one establishment
$6 a month and board. A girl in a confectionery told
me the prices usually paid girls are $7 or $8 a month, with board
and washing, and the girl is expected to keep the accounts. A
lady in another store said summer is the poorest season for confectioneries,
as people do not like to eat candies, because it makes
them thirsty; but in those confectioneries where soda water and
lager beer are kept, there is more or less custom during the summer.
They keep open till ten o'clock at night, and all day Sunday. Sunday
is their most profitable day. She knows a girl that is paid
$5 a month in the Bowery, with her board, or $7 without. To
be kind and obliging, and have the faculty of pleasing the little
folks, are the best qualifications for the business. Prices paid depend
on the responsibility of the employed. Some that keep the
books receive $5 a week without board, most others receive
$1.50 or $1.75 per week and board. Judgment must be used
in the selection of a stand. A lady who keeps a small confectionery
and fruit store in Williamsburg, says she does not make
much on cakes and bread, only half a cent on a loaf of bread.
She says it is best not to trust any one for pay—that children often
come and say they want so and so, their mother says she will pay
on Saturday; but Saturday comes, and no pay; and if they go for
the money, the parents will say, "Come again," and put it off from
time to time, until they become discouraged, and give it up alto
[Pg 155]gether.
M—s, French confectionery and chocolate cream manufacturers,
take learners at the proper season, which commences in
August. They employ some girls to paint fancy candies. H.
says one must commence at the very first step, and gradually advance—that
to learn the business requires a long time. He pays
four girls $5 or $6 a month each, and gives them their board,
for selling confectioneries and waiting in his saloon. At S——'s
confectionery I was told that the small fine candies are made by
steam. They are made in pans, which are shaken back and forth
over fires, the gas of which is very injurious, and cannot be carried
off by flues. Their girls make so much noise, laughing and
talking with the men, and waste so much time, that they are required
to work on the first floor, the same as the store. They
are paid from $1.50 to $2 a week. They are paid by the week,
because they do their work better than if paid by the quantity;
besides, it is less troublesome. They are paid for overwork (regular
hours being ten), and some earn as much in that way as
by regular wages. The girls pick gums, separate gum drops,
put candy in boxes, &c. C. employs girls to paint, put up candies,
and attend store, and pays $1.50 and $2 a week. Most of
the painting is done by French and German men, who are paid
from $10 to $12 a week. It requires a long time to acquire
taste and experience; one, in fact, can be always improving. C.
thinks girls are not likely to find constant employment in the
kind of work he gives to females. A French confectioner told
me he had employed a woman to make chocolate cream, paying
$3 a week for ten hours a day, and could employ her all the
year, as the demand for chocolate cream is very great. S. employed
one girl to sell candy, paying $5 a week. She was at the
store at 7.30
A. M., and remained till 6
P. M. in winter and 8
P. M.
in summer. She did not keep the books, but washed the jars
and case, and swept back of the counter, and dusted several
times a day. Talked with a girl who stood in a confectionery
store on Broadway. She knew a girl on Chatham street who
received $12 a month and her board. She herself received $9
a month and her board, but not her washing. The proprietor
told her she must sew for his family, when not waiting on
customers. It seems that it is not an uncommon requisition.
They have but few customers until about 11 o'clock, and he expected
her to accomplish more sewing than a sempstress who
gives all her time to it. The young lady is in the store by
7 o'clock in the morning, and remains until 11 o'clock at night.
Any one wishing to commence a confectionery can learn from
the wholesale dealer of whom she purchases how to regulate the
prices of sweetmeats. Mrs. W. wants a girl to wait in her saloon,
[Pg 156]
will give $8 a month, with her board and washing. She would
be required to sew, when not waiting on customers, and would
have to wash the jars and cases, keep the counter clean, and dust
and arrange the articles in the window every morning. She
would have to be in the store at seven, and remain until twelve
(seventeen hours). In large confectioneries girls stand while
picking gums used in making gum drops. They are mostly made
in summer. There is now (December) a great demand for girls,
as there always is about the holidays. Those now at work are
kept three hours over time—from seven to ten—and paid extra.
The chemicals used in making some confectioneries are unhealthy,
but women have nothing to do with that, except in
painting candy toys. A confectioner in Boston, who employs
four American girls in attending store and making goods, writes:
"We consider the occupation very healthy, never having had a
case of sickness with girls while working at this business. Some
are paid $3 and $4 per week, working ten hours a day; others by
the quantity, averaging $1 per day. Male labor is paid for, according
to the knowledge of the business, from $6 to $15. Girls
could not do the work, and the work that women do it would not
pay to have done by male labor. It requires a long time and a
great deal of practice to learn the whole business, but that part
done by women is learned in a few weeks. They are paid something
while learning. Honesty, industry, and a good education
are the most desirable qualifications. Spring and fall are our
most busy seasons. In midwinter we do not have many at work.
Retail stores require most help in summer. New York requires
most hands, especially women; but the demands are now very
small, the trouble at the South being the main cause. They are
not strong enough to do some parts of the work. The large
towns are best for our business." A lady in a fancy confectionery
on Broadway told me she receives $8 a month and her board,
and is paid by the month. She thinks many diseases are brought
on women by having to stand so much, as they do in confectioneries,
bakeries, and dry-good stores. Women that have stood in any kind
of a store before, and have business qualifications, are paid while
learning. There is never any difficulty about obtaining qualified
hands. She finds the work very laborious, and complained of
having to be in the confectionery and saloon from seven in the
morning until twelve at night. In some saloons the attendants
are up until 1 o'clock (eighteen hours!), and are on their feet most
of the time. A confectioner in Concord, N. H., writes: "We
employ from five to ten girls (because we find it most profitable)
for helping make, rolling up, and packing lozenges and pipe
candy. Also for standing in the confectionery. The work is
[Pg 157]
very healthy. We pay about sixty-seven cents per day, and they
work from six to ten hours. No man employed, except one who
takes charge. There is a prospect for employment so long as
children cry for lozenges. The girls are American, and work at
all seasons. They are as well paid, according to the cost of living,
as mechanics in this place. Women are superior to men in
rolling up and packing lozenges. They pay for board $1.75 per
week."
142. Fish Women.
In the United States, where every
one has a right to fish in the rivers and lakes, there is a fair opening
for those in this line of business. But it is only in the spring
and fall that fish are much eaten. They are not considered
healthy in the warm weather of summer. A pound of fish is said
to be in nutritive power equal to eight pounds of potatoes. In
the United States, according to the census report of 1850, there
were engaged in fisheries 20,704 males and 429 females. The
fishwomen of Philadelphia have long engaged in the selling of
shad, and are to be seen in great numbers on the streets of the
city, and even when not seen are likely to be heard crying fish.
At one time they had a large market devoted exclusively to the
sale of fish, but it became a nuisance, and the city authorities had
it torn down; yet the women, possessed of strong local association,
were not to be so routed. They are still seen sitting before
their tables of fish in the neighborhood of where the market stood.
Much money has been realized by the fishwomen, some of whom
are said to own property of considerable value. What a lesson
to patient industry! "From the time of Louis XIV. to the
present, fish have been sold in Paris exclusively by women. They
are now remarkable for the urbanity of their language and propriety
of their conduct, having risen high in the scale of respectability
during the last half century." "On the coasts of the department
of Somme there are certain fish, the shrimps and 'vers
marius,' which are exclusively reserved to the young girls and widows."
On the coast of Great Britain thousands of women are employed
in the herring, cod, mackerel, lobster, turbot, and pilchard
fisheries. Women and children rub salt on the fish to be cured, with
the hand. When cured, women pile them in stacks from four to
five feet high, and as wide. Women are paid, at Newlyn, for this
labor, 3d. an hour, and every sixth hour receive a glass of brandy
and a piece of bread. Many are also employed in obtaining oysters
and canning them; and on the return of whaling vessels,
numbers of women assist in preparing the cargoes for market.
In New York, fish are mostly sold by men, who drive about in a
little wagon containing fish, and blow a horn, crying out now and
then the kind of fish they have for sale.
[Pg 158]
143. Macaroni.
Macaroni is moulded and dried. Girls
then pick out the whole sticks, and put them in boxes. The
broken pieces are all thrown together in a barrel, then ground
and moulded over. It is very easy work, and requires no learning.
They are paid from $2 to $3.50 a week, working ten hours
a day. The girls I saw, stood while at work.
144. Maple Sugar.
The cheapness of sugar made from
sugar cane has almost annihilated the existence of maple sugar,
except as a sweetmeat. The peculiar flavor of maple molasses
and sugar makes them much loved by some people. The trees are
tapped early in the spring, when the sap first rises. After sufficient
water is collected, it is put on and boiled until of the consistence
required. It is slow work and pays poorly, but can be
performed by women capable of the heavy labor involved in carrying,
lifting kettles, and stirring.
145. Market Women.
Mrs. Childs says, in her "History
of Women," "On the seacoast of Borneo fleets of boats may
be seen laden with provisions brought to market by women, who
are screened from the sun by huge bamboo hats. In Egyptian
cities, the country girls, closely veiled, are frequently employed in
selling melons, pomegranates, eggs, poultry, &c." In the southern
countries of Europe it is common to see women riding to market
on donkeys, laden with marketing. We learn from "London
Labor and London Poor," that there are 2,000 persons employed
in the sale of greenstuff in the streets of London, as water-cresses,
chickweed, groundsel, turf, and plantain. The cresses
are eaten by people; the other articles are sold for birds. We
may divide market women into two classes—those that raise or
have raised the products they sell, and those that buy to sell again.
The articles of the first are generally genuine and of fair price.
Vegetables, poultry, eggs, and butter, with fruit, both green and
dried, are carried to market, and there the market women, placing
them on stalls or retaining them in their wagons, wait for purchasers.
This class mostly supply the markets of towns and villages.
Their articles are usually fresh and wholesome. There
are thirteen markets in New York city where everything is obtained
at the second or third remove from the producer. It is
estimated that there are 1,300 huckster women attending the
New York markets. The members of some families are engaged
in the sale of different articles: one will sell eggs; another, vegetables;
another, poultry, &c. It is said that better meat and
vegetables are brought to Philadelphia than to New York markets.
In New York there is a larger population requiring articles
of a cheap kind. We think market women, considering their
habits and modes of living, probably do as well in a pecuniary
[Pg 159]
way as any other class of women. Their wants are few, their
habits simple, and their occupation—though an exposed one—healthy.
The variety of seeing new faces, and chatting with those
similarly employed, yield more comfort and content than most
women's work. They take in but a few pennies at a time, yet
have their regular customers, and, in prosperous seasons, many
besides. I will give an extract from my diary of a visit made to
several of the New York markets: "I saw some women selling
fruit; some, vegetables; and some, tripe and sausage. I judge,
from the appearance of most dealers, it is not unhealthy. Most
of the women were far advanced in life, particularly those who
sold vegetables. They all complain that they do not sell so
much since the commencement of the hard times. How is it?
Do people buy less, and so eat less? or is less wasted in their
kitchens? or are some unable to buy meat and vegetables at all?
Here I would state the remark of a druggist: that, as times are
hard, people do not indulge in so much rich food, nor in a surplus
of it; consequently there is less sickness, and so little medicine
sold that the druggists are discouraged. This druggist has since
sold out, and moved to the country. Most of the market women
looked to be Irish. One strong Irish woman told me that American
women cannot bear the exposure in cold weather, and rent
their stalls through the winter to men. They make their appearance
in March with the flowers and early fruit. Butter is sold
exclusively by men in Washington market, New York, and is
more profitable than anything else. There is considerable difference
in the class of custom in the different markets in New York;
but the poor are usually more in number than the rich—so the
markets frequented by them may receive as great a profit as
where a smaller number of better customers attend. Some women
regulate their sales to have a percentage, but many sell for what
they can get, without regard to the amount of profit. I find those
selling vegetables, buy of farmers who come early, and leave a
supply for each seller in case she is not there. Any vegetables
they may have left are locked up in boxes, or barrels, or covered
over and left on the bench. The gates of the market house are
closed and locked up at one o'clock every day except Saturday,
with the exception of Washington and Fulton markets, which are
open all day, and the first mentioned all night. Watchmen are
about the markets at all hours of the day and night, and in some
markets an extra fee is paid by the sellers to secure attention to
their stalls. At two o'clock in the morning, Washington market
is fully lighted, and the farmers begin to arrive to sell to grocers.
The grocers usually buy from four to five in summer, and from
four to six in winter. Boarding-house keepers mostly buy from
[Pg 160]
seven to nine o'clock. Families buy during any of these hours,
or later. All the markets are open by half past three. Fulton
market is rather warmer than the others because of the stoves and
ranges used for making coffee, cooking oysters, &c. Ladies do
not come to market so much in winter as in spring and summer.
I think the vocation of market selling must be very healthy, when
the venders are comfortably clad, and have stoves, as many of
them do. Market women live to a great age. Vegetables injured
by frost or long keeping are sold at a lower price. As a general
thing, less is sold in market during January and February, than
any other months. In spring time the market presents the most
inviting appearance, for the stalls are then freshly painted, and
flowers and fruit exhibited to advantage on them. Mrs. B. told
me that a woman who sold flowers in Fulton market had made a
fortune at it. Some of these sellers let other women have flowers
and fruit to take over the city to sell, and reap a profit in that
way. One old lady told me she always made 12½ cents profit on
her goods, they being pocket-knives, combs, &c. The stalls are
sold or rented. One woman told me she paid 12½ cents a day for
her stall; another, 9 cents; and this must be paid for even on days
when they are absent from market. Another woman told me
that she got a permit for the use of a stall in Washington market
when it was first built, and not long since she sold it for $1,500,
and the owner pays a tax of $2 a week besides. She paid $200
for the stall at which she stood in Fulton market, and pays a rent
of 75 cents a week. She makes a living by selling smoked salt
fish. The processes through which produce must pass from the
producer to reach the consumer, might be avoided by permitting
farmers to remain longer in the city, and furnishing them with a
place for their teams and produce; but now they must all leave
by ten o'clock, and can scarcely feel that they have a place to put
anything down while they are in the city. In England are women
who shell peas and beans at so much a quart. I have seen books,
spectacles, canes, pocket-books, caps, shoes, hose, china, and even
old clothes for sale on the streets, and around or in the market-houses
of Philadelphia and New York.
146. Meat Sellers.
In markets and in meat shops of
the United States, women may occasionally be seen selling meat.
They are generally the wives or the daughters of butchers. They
no doubt assist in cleaning tripe, and making sausage and souse.
On the streets of London are nearly one thousand sellers of dogs'
and cats' meat. Most of them are men. This meat is the flesh
of old worn out horses, which are bought, killed, cut up, boiled,
and sold by those who make it a business. Mrs. M. told me of a
woman that sells meat in the New York market. She has made
[Pg 161]
a fortune by it. She stands in market, and sells, and orders her
hired men to cut it up as desired. Mr. W. told me that women
are employed at the pork houses in Louisville, in putting up hogs'
feet, to send to New Orleans. Less meat is sold in summer than
winter. I have been told that curing meat is too heavy work for
women, on account of the lifting. Besides, they would get wet
from the brine used; but some German and English women do
pickle meat, and some even buy and sell stock. The late census
of Great Britain reports twenty-six thousand butcheresses.
147. Milk Dealers.
Kindness to animals always indicates
something good in the heart. Life, in its every form,
should be precious to us. Cows yield much less milk, and of an
inferior quality, on the eastern than western continent. In
Canada and some countries of Europe, the milk of goats is sold,
and considerably used. In some parts of Rome it is customary
for dairymen to drive their cows in every morning, and around to
the houses of their customers, when the milkman draws from the
cow into the vessel the desired quantity. In Belgium it is not
uncommon to see milkmaids following their little wagons, containing
vessels of milk, and drawn by dogs. Mayhew stated, in
1852, that in St. James's Park, London, eight cows were kept in
summer to supply warm milk to purchasers; four in winter, and
the number of street women engaged in the sale of curds, was
one hundred. A lady called with me in a milk depot. The man
has his milk brought in on the cars. Milkmen pay their women
from $6 to $7 a month. They begin to milk about five in the
morning, and the same hour in the afternoon, so that it may cool
before being placed in the cans. Those hired to milk do house
work or kitchen work in the intervals. When milking is done in
the afternoon, the men that work on the farm, and the proprietor
himself, assist. In some places where butter is made for market,
the churning is done by horses and dogs. A milk dealer told me
he sold to those who wished to sell again at cost price, four cents
a quart; to other customers his price is six cents. At one depot,
Williamsburg, the dealer was counting over an immense pile of
pennies. His milk comes from New Jersey, seventy miles from
New York. He crosses two rivers every night at twelve o'clock,
to receive his milk at the Jersey depot. He sells at six cents a
quart. To those who buy to sell again, his price is five cents a
quart. He told me a separate freight agent is employed on some
trains to take charge of the milk sent on the cars. Milk does
not often sour while being brought in. Cream is brought in cans
placed in large tubs of ice. He pays for freight, forty cents a
can. Cream usually sells at twenty-five cents per quart. He
sells twice as much milk in summer as in winter—he supposes,
[Pg 162]
because it sours so easily. At shops, milk is usually sold at five
cents; when delivered, at six cents. Milk is less rich in winter
than summer. A milkman told me that in dairies in and near
the city, men mostly milk. He mentioned one quite near a distillery.
Women that take milk about in buckets to sell, have a
cow of their own, and feed her on swill from the distillery, and
slops from kitchens. The milk they sell is not healthy. Some
of them buy a little good milk and mix with theirs. If a dairy
woman's time is not entirely occupied with her business, she
might in some places find it profitable to have an ice house, and
send ice around with the same horse, wagon, and driver used for
the sale of milk. Borden's condensed milk is boiled at a temperature
of 112°, I think, and prepared in Connecticut. The
American Solidified Milk Company, in New York, employ some
girls in rolling, packing, and labelling. The superintendent
writes: "The employment is healthy. Women receive from $7 to
$8 per month, and their board. They spend twelve hours per
day, including meal times, in the establishment. An intelligent
person may learn in a week. There is a prospect of more being
employed. All the girls we employ are Americans, except one.
It is a very comfortable occupation. I find little difference between
male and female labor. When I have hired men or youths,
I have found them to be more habitually attentive, and less
irritable; but women are usually neater. The women all board
at a house, subject to the control of the Company. The price is
$2.25 per week, washing included, and is paid for by the Company.
The character of the house is unexceptionable, and the
table is much better provided than that of most farmers living
here."
148. Mince Meat and Apple Butter.
The preparation
of mince meat might be performed by women. And it might
be sold by them in stores where poultry, eggs, and butter are disposed
of, or in clean, well-kept groceries. With a machine for
cutting the meat, and another for paring the apples, it could be
easily accomplished. Apple butter is an article that meets with
ready sale in market. People that are very particular about
their food only buy of those they know to be cleanly in their
cooking. Stewing apple butter is laborious work. If a farmer
has a cider press and an apple parer, much labor is saved in preparing
the materials. In some places, apple butter is kept for
sale in groceries, and in establishments for the sale of the products
of the dairy. The apples that are partly decayed, and
those picked off the ground, furnish an abundance from large orchards.
And from orchards not accessible to market where de
[Pg 163]fective
fruit can be sold, there will be no want of a supply. It
is sold by the pint or quart, or put up in jars holding more.
149. Mustard Packers.
Most of the mustard in this
country has been imported, but some planters are now turning
their time and attention to it. Mustard is cultivated to some
extent for the oil pressed from its seed. Some factories exist in
the United States. I have heard of a man in New York that
used to be engaged extensively in grinding mustard with vinegar,
and employed women to put it in jars, paying $3 a week. In
some dry mustard factories women are employed to put the
mustard in papers. A manufacturer of mustard writes: "Women
are employed at some large establishments. The business is
severe on persons with weak lungs, as a large quantity of steam
or dust arises from packing. The work is paid for by the quantity,
not the day. Women of good judgment would soon become
mistresses of their work—in six months they would become good
workwomen. They would probably spoil as much as their wages
were worth for the first few days. When cholera and yellow
fever are about, is the best time for the sale of mustard. Ten
hours is the usual time for work, but in busy seasons the hands
work longer."
150. Oyster Sellers.
I called on a woman who makes
a living for herself and five little children by selling oysters.
She sells most about tea time, and on until twelve o'clock. She
thinks oysters are wholesome all the year. Physicians recommend
them for their patients, and many can eat them when they
cannot eat anything else. Of course a real oyster saloon can
only be kept in places where fresh oysters can be had. Oysters
are rather hard for a woman to open. In summer nothing is
done. The room, vender, and oysters should be clean, to draw
decent customers. It pays well; but too often, in small concerns,
the profits are derived from the sale of liquor. At a little
oyster shop the woman told me she barely made a living. She
keeps boys to open the oysters. She supplies families with fresh
oysters, and when she receives an order, prepares them for families
and sends them to the house.
151. Pie Bakers.
"Many of the young Swabian girls
of thirteen or fourteen years old are sent to Stuttgart to acquire
music, or other branches of education, among which, household
duties are generally included. A matron, who keeps a large
establishment there, gives the instruction, which they voluntarily
seek. They may often be seen returning from the bakeries, with
a tray full of cakes and pies of their own making; and sometimes
young gentlemen, for the sake of fun, stop them to buy
[Pg 164]
samples of their cookery." The foundation of Miss Leslie's
culinary knowledge was laid at a school of cookery in Philadelphia.
In England, women make pastry for confectioneries. At the
W. pie bakery I was told they employ women to prepare the fruit.
They used to employ them to roll the dough; but they are not
such fast workers as men. One man remarked, the shoulders
ache from rolling by the time evening comes. The women are
paid fifty cents a day, and board themselves. One woman boards
with them, and receives $1.50 a week, with her board. M. &
Co. pay their women five cents an hour, for preparing the fruit
and making pies. They sell most to retail stores and hotels—consequently
sell most in the spring and fall, when the largest
number of strangers are in the city. They keep three wagons
running part of the time, which start at six in summer, and, in
busy seasons, sometimes do not get in to remain till twelve at
night. When it rains or snows they do not sell so much, as
those who sell at stands on the street are not out. The drivers
come back several times during the day for pies, when very busy,
and they mention how many are ordered. So the manager knows
how many to have baked. They always sell most on Saturday,
and I think sell least on Wednesdays and Thursdays. When the
women work over ten hours, they are paid extra at the same rate,
five cents an hour. C. and wife pay their best woman $9 a month
with board and washing. It is her duty to roll out pastry, put
the fruit in, and put the covers on. They employ some girls for
$6 a month, to wash dishes, cook fruit, chop apples, pick dried
fruit, &c. The work requires more strength than skill. There
are only four large pie bakeries in New York. Madame L., who
sells French pastry and confectionery, says very few women are
employed in Paris, in making pastry, except for families. It
requires too much strength and too long labor, to do so for a
saloon. The saloons are usually open until twelve o'clock at
night. At a bread bakery an attendant told me she prepares the
fruit for pies, but the bakers prepare the crust, make and bake
them. She says their men do that in the morning, when not
otherwise employed, and it would not pay to have a woman
for that purpose alone. Mrs. H. employs fifteen women. She
pays $3.50 a month, with board and lodging, to those that slice
apples and carry pies to and from the oven. Men place them in
the oven and take them out. She pays $6.50 to those that roll
out pastry and wash dishes, &c. She has three thousand pies made
sometimes in one day. It requires more care to bake pies than
bread. At another pie bakery, the lady told me she has the
fruit prepared for pies in her kitchen and taken to the bakehouse,
[Pg 165]
where they are made up by men, to save the women from working
where the men are. She pays a woman for preparing fruit
$5 a month and her board. In a pie bakery in New York, one
of the attendants said in the old country women learn to bake
pies and cakes for confectioners. They pay £30 for instruction,
and spend two years' apprenticeship. They learn the whole process,
including the stewing of fruit and preparing mince meat.
In this country that is followed as a separate branch, and mostly
done by women for bakers. She said in the bakery where she
stood, girls were required, not only to wait on customers, but
wash the counters, shelves, and windows of the store. The other
attendant told me she found the smell of the pastry, and being so
constantly on her feet, very injurious. They each receive $8 a
month, and their board and washing. To succeed, a person
should be quick in her motions and calculations, and a good
judge of money. They are in the shop fifteen hours. In some
bakeries the girls spend eighteen hours in the shop. The time
could be shortened, if all the establishments of the kind would
unite and make regulations to that effect; but it could not be
done by one or two stores on account of the competition in the
business. Such a store would lose its patronage. The majority
of girls board with the bakers' families, on account of rising
early to be in store. Summer is the poorest season on Broadway,
as most of their customers are out of the city at that season;
but in localities where the working classes are supplied, the
summer is the best season, as most of them do not go to the expense
of making up a fire to bake their bread and pastry.
152. Picklers of Oysters.
An oysterwoman told me
that girls and women are employed at most places where oysters
are put in cans to send away. They are paid by the gallon for
opening the shells; and near New Haven, some girls make $4 a
day. On the Great South Bay, they do not earn so much, as
the oysters are smaller and rougher. It requires considerable
practice to become expert, but not much physical strength. The
business is considered healthy, and women are paid at the
same rate as men. Miss B. told me that at Fair Haven some
women are paid for opening oysters two and a half cents a
quart.
153. Poulterers.
Much attention has been paid in this
country, during the last ten years, to the breeding and feeding
of poultry. All that read this will remember the hen fever that
spread through our country a few years ago. Chinese chickens
sold at from $40 to $100 a pair; and the usual price of one
egg for a time was $5. The saving of feathers off poultry will
be found profitable, for they bring a high price and ready sale.
[Pg 166]
Poultry are best disposed of in large quantities at hotels, steamboats,
and restaurants. Houses for poultry should be warm and
tightly made. When there is a variety of poultry, each kind
should be separately lodged. Plenty of space, water accessible,
gravel, living plants and loose soil are the principal things to
render poultry comfortable. The worms and insects obtained
from the loose soil furnish them animal food, and sand or gravel
is necessary to promote digestion. It is best not to draw poultry
when preparing it for market, as it keeps longer when the air is
excluded. In winter some farmers let their poultry freeze, and
pack them in boxes of dry straw, and send them to market.
They will keep so for two or three months. I was told of an
old lady, back of New Albany, Ia., that has made several thousand
dollars by the sale of poultry. The egg trade is a very extensive
one. It requires a knowledge of the state of the market,
and promptness in supplying its demand at the right time.
Several establishments in Cincinnati entered largely into the
business some years ago, and, we suppose, still continue it. Eggs
are often shipped from Cincinnati to New Orleans and New
York. "In France and England 6,000,000 eggs are used annually
in preparing leather for gloves." In New York the poultry sold
in market is mostly purchased from the wholesale commission
merchants, who have stands in some parts of the market, or stores
near the market. Poultry is there sold by the pound: chickens,
9 and 10 cents, and turkeys from 10 to 12 cents. It requires
experience to learn the quality of poultry, but those in the
business can judge of it by seeing the poultry when alive.
The best time for selling is through the fall up to February.
Some market women sell poultry in winter, and flowers in summer.
Those who engage in raising poultry, could unite with
it the raising of rabbits, pigeons, &c. About a hundred persons
(mostly women) are employed in a henery near Paris, where
thousands of chickens are annually hatched out by keeping eggs
in rooms, heated by steam to a uniform temperature.
154. Restaurant Keepers.
In London and Paris,
young and pretty women are employed in the best class of
tobacco stores and in restaurants. This should not be so on
account of the number, and often the character, of the men that
resort to these shops. Indeed, we think it best not to employ
them in any stores that men only frequent. Besides, the unseasonable
hours that restaurants are kept open, make it objectionable
for women. They are often not closed until midnight
or after. In Great Britain girls and women are frequently
employed as bar maids at inns.
[Pg 167]
155. Sealed Provisions, Pickles, and Sauces.
The
plan is now almost universally adopted in the United States, of
putting up fruit and vegetables in cans from which the air is excluded.
It is one of the greatest inventions of the age for housekeepers.
It saves labor and expense; and if well put up, the
fruit and vegetables are as fresh and taste as natural as we have
them in the growing season. Quite a number of large houses
are engaged in the business in New York, and a few in Philadelphia.
E. Philadelphia employs women to put pickles and preserved
fruit in jars, sealing and labelling them. They can earn
from $2.50 to $3 a week. They sit while at work. The season
begins in July, and is over in October. K. & Co., New York,
employ about a hundred females during the fruit season. The
occupation consists in preparing the articles to be preserved;
that is, peeling, seeding, washing, &c., labelling bottles, and
painting cans. Those they employ are mostly Irish, and not
capable of any very elevated position of labor. The fruit season
lasts six months, after which only about thirty remain the rest
of the year. The hours of labor are ten, and the compensation
from $2.50 to $3 per week. In another establishment they employ
only small girls, to whom they pay $2 per week, and occasionally
$2.50. Mrs. Dall suggests that farmers' daughters put
up candied fruits like those imported from France, which bear
a good price and yield a handsome profit. Some women engage
in making pickles on their own responsibility. Owners of gardens
not convenient to market would find it profitable to put up
fruits and vegetables, and to make pickles and sauces. The
spices they would have to purchase; but if they had an orchard,
they could make good vinegar. They could either sell the articles
in the nearest large city, or pay a commission for the sale
of them. Mr. D., in one of the New York markets, employs
women for putting pickles in jars—gives $8 a month and board.
The number of hours they are employed depends on the quantity
of work they have on hand. B., New York, employs for
six months from six to eight women; for four months, some
twenty-five; and the remaining two months, from ninety to one
hundred and twenty-five. B. has always had his work done in
the city, but contemplates having it done hereafter in the country,
as the articles will then be on the ground, and save the
trouble of transportation. They send South. He thinks the
South must for a long time be dependent on the North for pickles.
They even furnish some of the pickle houses in Baltimore. They
fear they will lose much because they have now no demand for
pickles from the South, and they are likely to spoil by keeping.
They are most busy in summer and fall. They keep some steady
[Pg 168]
hands all the year. They find it difficult to get good hands, and
pay learners from the first. Many girls go from New York in
the summer, to the country, to put up pickles, gather berries, and
weed gardens; and it pays them pretty well. B. pays his women
fifty cents a day of ten hours. It is not unhealthy, and requires
but a little time to learn. In this, as in most other mechanical
work, practice makes perfect; consequently, experienced hands
receive the preference. At most places men attend to fruit
while it is being cooked. The preserving is mostly done in large
kettles, around which pass pipes containing steam, encased by
larger vessels. Lifting the kettles would be too heavy for women,
when they contain, as in some cases, thirty-five gallons of fruit.
And the steam used would require some one that knew a little
of such matters, yet a smart woman could soon learn. M. & M.
have their work done in the house, paying from $2.25 to $4.
They can always get hands. W. & P. have their pickles, preserves,
and sauces put up in the country. Their girls get from
$3 to $6 a week. They employ two hundred girls, and take
most of them from the city in the busy season from June to October.
G. pays $3 a week. Any one that can use their hands
can do it, and become expert in two or three months. Another
pickler pays $2 per week. His wife does most of the work.
Mrs. M. lives near Washington market. She employs some
women to preserve, and some to put up pickles. Most of her
preserves are put up by an old lady who does it at her own
home. She pays her women from $2.50 to $4 a week. It requires
long experience to become proficient. Nearly all the
work is done in her house, and of course is done only in the
summer. Her custom is mostly confined to the city. If she is
preserving a very large quantity of fruit, she has a man to stir
it. He spends most of his time taking purchased articles home.
She uses only the best articles. She can always get enough
hands. An extensive pickle manufacturer writes: "I employ
women in packing pickles and all goods of the kind into
glass—labelling, corking, making jellies, jams, &c., packing, labelling
catsups, bottling syrups, &c. Women are so employed wherever
these goods are manufactured. The employment is
healthy—so
much so that I have known invalids gain their health. I pay
$3 per week—men $6 to $10; all work ten hours a day. Women
can learn in from three to twelve months. Some learners receive
$2, and some $2.50 per week. Quickness, neatness, and skill are
required. Summer and fall are the busy seasons. The females
are mostly young Irish, born in the United States. Women are
superior in handiness, inferior in strength." A gentleman in the
business writes from Newburyport: "I employ usually from eight
[Pg 169]
to ten women. I pay eight cents per hour, and they work from
four to seven hours. The men's work is worth more than women's,
and entirely different from it. The prospect for this kind of work
is good. There is no work in winter or early spring. Seaports
are the best localities for the business. My women pay from
$1.50 to $1.75 for respectable board."
156. Sugar Makers.
When the part of the sugar cane
to be pressed, is cut, it is tied in bundles and drawn to the mill
in wagons. It is deposited in heaps outside, and negro girls
carry the bundles on their heads to the mill door. After the
cane has been subjected to pressure by cylinders, to obtain the
juice, it falls through an opening in the mill walls, and is carried
off by negro women and spread in the sun, to dry for fuel. The
work in sugar mills is very warm and heavy. The work in
sugar refineries is very laborious, and requires the workers to be
subjected to great heat. Several refiners have informed me
that the business does not admit of the employment of women in
any department. The business is said to be very trying on the
constitution, and produces an unhealthy increase of flesh. It is
said to be good for consumptives on account of the great nutriment
in sugar. A sugar refiner died not long ago, whose salary
received from the company amounted, I was told, to $25,000
per annum. I have thought there is one part of the work a
woman might do—it is enveloping the sugar in paper cases. At
a sugar refinery a man told us, some women are employed to
make bags for containing char, i. e., burnt bones, and earn several
dollars a week. The sewing is done by hand; making the bags
requires but a short time, though it is heavy work. Most
refiners buy theirs at bag factories, or have their men to make
them.
157. Tea Packers.
A boy fitting himself to be a tea
broker told me, the business is best in the spring, fall, and winter.
The quality of tea is principally decided by smelling—which is
done before it is moistened, by blowing on it with the breath and
then putting it to the nostrils. Boiling water is then poured
on it, and tasted. The boy said, it is a paying business. It is
not healthy on account of the dust inhaled. It does not take
more than a year to learn to judge of the quality of kinds of tea.
Boys learning the business do not live long. They are paid $2,
and $2.50 a week. In busy seasons, they sometimes work as late
as nine o'clock. There are not many tea packers in the city,
and one told me, most of them cannot make a living. We called
on Mr. N., a teapacker, who charges for putting tea out of the
large boxes, in which it is imported, into canisters and packages,
according to the way in which it is put up; whether in paper
[Pg 170]
covers, or canisters of lead or tin. The facing or labelling varies
some. He says, packing could be done by girls. He employs
men and boys, paying the boys from $2 to $4 a week. There are
only two tea packing establishments in New York, and not more
than one in any other large city. It is not at all unhealthy. Packing
is done most in spring and fall. Mr. N. thinks it would be
best to have the girls work in separate apartments from the men.
He complains of the want of promptness in girls. A tea packer
of Boston writes: "I employ from six to ten girls to cover and
line boxes, &c. They are American, of Irish descent. There is
nothing in the business, that the girls do, that can be considered
unhealthy. Wages run from $2.50 to $3 per week. It does
not take a long time to learn, and full wages are paid while
learning. I employ my help the year round, though less hours
are used for a day's work during the winter. Ten is the number
of working hours during the summer, spring, and autumn; and
eight, during the winter months." In London, a number of men
and women, principally women, buy exhausted tea leaves of the
female servants and sell them at establishments, where they are
dried, and a fresh green color given them by a copper preparation.
They are sold for new tea. The quantity so renewed is thought
to amount to 78,000 lbs. annually. The Chinese women assist in
gathering tea leaves and drying them, but men do the packing.
158. Vermicelli.
Vermicelli is moulded by passing through
a machine and being laid on frames until the next day to partially
dry. Then girls cut it in short pieces, and twist it. The twisting
requires a little art acquired by practice. They receive from
$2 to $3.50 a week. It is cruel for females to be kept on their
feet all day while at work, when they might sit. At a factory
I saw a French lady, the wife of the proprietor, cutting and
twisting vermicelli. A young Frenchman was at work, who told
us he was paid 75 cents a day; but women, he said, would not be
paid as much, because he had to attend to the machinery. The
lady sat, as girls in factories should do if they wish.
159. Vinegar.
A plant is now grown from which vinegar
is made. "In addition to the consumption of vinegar in culinary
uses and the preparation of preserved food, it is indispensable in
several branches of manufacture, as in the dressing of morocco
leather, and in dye and print works." The labor of making vinegar
is too hard and heavy for women. The handling of barrels,
changing of liquids, and constant exposure to heat and cold,
without cessation of labor, are too great for the female frame to
sustain. The workers often pass from a temperature varying
from 92° to 105°, to one of extreme coldness." A Boston vinegar
manufacturer, writes: "Women are never employed in making
[Pg 171]
vinegar in large quantities. They are not adapted to the occupation.
It does not agree with some constitutions. It requires
but a short time to learn the business. The prospect for future
employment is poor." Some women make vinegar from parings
of fruit, tea leaves, &c., for family use.
160. Yeast.
A manufacturer of yeast powders writes:
"There is but a small part of the work that women can do. It
requires the strong, muscular arm of a man to do most of it."
We know women are sometimes employed for putting up the
powders, and are paid by the number of packages.
161. Cotton Manufacturers.
Only so far back as
1789, doubts were entertained whether cotton could be cultivated
in the United States, while now the amount of calicoes annually
produced in the United States is supposed to equal twenty
millions of yards. "The number of females employed in the
various factories of Lowell, in which textile fabrics are produced,
will exceed 12,000. Those engaged in weaving can earn,
upon an average, from $2.50 to $4 per week. Those who labor
as spinners and spoolers make only from seventy-five cents to
$2, but they are generally very young." In the cotton mill at
Cannelton, Ind., there were "in 1854, about 200 females. They
worked by the job, and their pay was the same as would be given
to men for the same work. They earned from $1 to $5.50 per
week." We believe, in the majority of factories, the plan of
paying some hands by the piece, and some by the week, is adopted.
B., manufacturer, told me quite a number of his weavers earn
from $5 to $6 a week, being paid by the piece. It requires two
or three months to get in the way of weaving well. His hands
are busy all the year. His factory is in New Jersey, twenty-five
miles from New York. The laws of New Jersey prohibit the employment
of operatives more than twelve hours out of the twenty-four,
but some evade it. The law, also, forbids the employment
of children under ten years of age. The smaller children are
engaged in spinning, and not so well paid. It requires but a
short time to learn to attend the spinning machinery. There is
generally a full supply of weavers to be had, because it pays
well. Manufacturers usually have their work done in the country,
because living, and consequently labor, are cheaper there. A
[Pg 172]
cotton manufacturer in Rhode Island, who employs about 100
operatives, writes: "I pay both by the piece and the week.
When by the week, from $4 to $5. When by the piece, the
women are paid at the same rate as the men, but the men are able
to make from fifty cents to $1 per week more. It requires from
three to six months, to learn. Girls are paid while learning, if
they grow up with us. They are employed through the year,
and work sixty-nine hours per week, twelve hours per day for five
days, nine hours on Saturday. All classes of laborers must work
during mill hours. Women keep the rooms and machinery
neater than men. About seven eighths of the women employed
in our mill are Americans; one half would be the nearer proportion
in mills generally in this section, three fourths in some instances.
There are other parts that women might be employed
in, but the custom has not been introduced in our section, on
account of their dress. They pay from $1.50 to $1.75 for board,
and are all in private families." The Lawrence Manufacturing
Company, at Lowell, write: "Women are employed in carding,
spinning, dressing, and weaving. The employment is not unhealthy,
and they earn from $1 to $4 a week, clear of board,
according to capability and skill—average, say, $2 per week.
They work eleven hours a day; men average about eighty cents
a day clear of board; their work is altogether too hard for women.
The women learn in from one to three months. They are paid,
usually, $1 a week, besides their board, while learning. The
qualifications needed are respectable character and ordinary
capacity. They are employed all the year round. The scarcity
of hands is greater in the departments requiring most skill; there
is an abundance of inferior sort. We employ 1,300 women;
perhaps one third are Americans. They are employed in all
branches where it is expedient. The Americans are well informed;
the Irish, improving, though low in the scale of intelligence.
They have churches, evening schools, and lectures.
Work stops at 6.30 and 7 o'clock. They live in boarding houses
under our care, well regulated, respectable and comfortable, and
pay $1.25 per week." At the New York mills, "361 adult and
99 minor females are employed in the manufacture of fine shirtings
and cottonades. Wages of adults are $3.99, and minors,
$2.12½ per week. Price of board, $1.50. They work 12 hours
per day." The Naunkeag Steam Cotton Company, Mass., "employ
400, and pay by the week, from $2.50 to $3. Those that do
piecework, earn on an average, $3.50 per week; six months will
enable intelligent hands to earn three fourths pay. Their board
is paid for two weeks, while learning, then they receive what
they earn. Desirable hands find steady work; they are employed
[Pg 173]
all the year; they work eleven hours a day. We prefer women,
because neater and more reliable. They have more time for improvement
than is made available. Board, $1.50 to $1.75.
Good boarding houses are provided." At Kingston, Rhode
Island, a man employing nine girls, pays by the yard, and the
girls earn from $4 to $6 per week. Men receive the same wages
as women. They work from sun up to sun down, except at meal
times. If other mills ran but ten hours, they would. They
have work all the year. Hands are rather scarce in that State.
All are American. They prefer it to general housework. Women
are the best in mills for light work. Female operatives pay
$1.50 for board, lodging, and washing. The Jackson Manufacturing
Company of New Haven writes: "Women are employed
in the various branches belonging to a cotton mill. Average
wages of our females are $2.30, and board money $1.25, making
$3.55 per week received by them. Some females in our employ
earn eighty cents per day; average price of male labor, about
eighty-four cents per day. Women are paid less, because they
cannot do such work as is done by men. In regard to the time
required to learn to do the work in the different departments,
much depends upon the dispositions of the learners. Six months
would ordinarily be sufficient time to render one competent.
Women are usually allowed their board while learning. A good
character and good health are needed. There is much changing
among help during the spring and summer months, say for four
months in the year; but we almost invariably keep our supply
good. Our working hours are eleven and a quarter per day.
With the exception of our weaving department, but little work is
done on Saturday afternoons aside from cleaning, so that our
working hours will not average over ten and a half per day. By
giving a suitable notice to the overseer, it is so arranged that the
help can be absent from their work one day of a month. The
largest proportion of American help is found in the weaving and
dressing departments. We have in our employ 140 men, 310
females, about one half American. We have good boarding
houses, carefully watched, and kept clean in all respects. Our
American help are quite intelligent, also some of the foreign.
Some of our help attend school during the winter months.
Board $1.25 per week—the keeper of the house not paying rent.
The houses will each accommodate about twenty persons comfortably."
Another manufacturing company pay from $2 to $4
per week, mostly by the piece. The work can be learned in
three or four months. Their hands are paid small wages while
learning. They have constant employment. They usually work
twelve hours per day; three fourths American. From a manu
[Pg 174]facturer
in Gilford, New Hampshire, we learn he employs forty
women, who work by the piece, and whose average pay is $3 per
week. They work eleven hours. Females are paid the same as
men for the same kind of work. Some parts of the business can
be learned in one day, others ten, and some hands will learn in
one day what others would not in ten. Work at all seasons;
spring and fall most busy. It pays better than housework.
Board of males, $2.50; females, $1.25 to $1.50. A manufacturer
in New York writes: "I employ about twenty women in
weaving, twenty-five in spinning, spooling and other branches;
boys and girls from fifteen to twenty each, and ten men. Women
average about $2.50 per week. Women are paid the same price
as men. Weavers earn about $3.50 per week. My mill runs
twelve hours per day, the year round. Women are mostly American.
The girls have an hour for each meal." A medical man
has stated, that the health of operatives is promoted by occupying
rooms with large windows on each side of the room, so that
the sunlight will penetrate the apartments during the entire day.
And those rooms with white walls are more healthy and better
for the eyes than those with colored walls.
162. Batting.
A manufacturer of cotton batting writes:
"Women are employed in our factory to tend machinery. They
are employed in Europe. It is only unhealthy from being indoor
work. We pay, per week, for best hands, $2 and board. They
work twelve hours. I think there is a surplus of hands at this
time. The work is light and does not require an expenditure of
strength. The work is as comfortable as any can be. All parts
will not answer for women. Board $1.42. Men are paid $1
more than women, but perform a different part of the work.
Learners usually command wages after two weeks. The summer
is the most profitable time to manufacture."
163. Calicoes.
Calico takes its name from Calicot, a town
in Malabar, where the art has been practised with great success
from time immemorial. Calico printing is the art of producing
figured patterns upon cotton. They are transferred to its surface
by blocks, or engraved by copper cylinders, by which the colors
are directly printed, or by which a substance having an affinity
for both the stuff and coloring matter is employed, which is called
a mordant. "In England, calico printing employs a vast number
of children of both sexes, who have to mix and grind the colors
for the adult workpeople, and are commonly called turners. The
usual hours of labor are twelve, including meal time; but as the
children generally work the same time as the adults, it is by no
means uncommon in all districts for children of five and six years
old to be kept at work fourteen and even sixteen hours consecu
[Pg 175]tively.
They begin to work generally about their eighth year, as
in Birmingham and Sheffield, but often earlier." Calico is printed
mostly in Lowell, Philadelphia, Saco, Dover, and some other towns.
A manufacturing company of lawns and calicoes in Providence, R.
I., write: "We employ fifty women in stitching, folding, and
tracing pantograph designs. The employment is healthy. We
pay from fifty cents to sixty-seven cents per day of ten hours.
We have one woman who does a man's work at folding, and is
paid a man's wages—$1 per day. The time to learn the business
is according to natural ability; very soon with ordinary capacity,
say, two weeks. Cool weather is the best for work, but the women
are not thrown out of employment at any season. We have more
applicants than we can accommodate. The light, clean work, is
best for women; the rough and heavy for men. We adopt female
labor as far as practicable. Ordinary board is from $2 to $2.50
per week."
164. Canton Flannels.
A manufacturer of Canton flannels
in Holden, Mass., writes: "We employ from twenty to twenty-five
women in spinning, spooling, drawing, and speeder tending,
warping and weaving. We like them because they are neater,
and more reliable, and the work is better adapted to females.
They earn from fifty cents to $1 per day of twelve hours. Women
are paid the same as men, except the overseers, who get from
$1.25 to $1.67 per day. It requires from one week to four to learn
the business. We sometimes pay their board while learning, if
they are attentive to work. It is as reliable as any business.
There is no difference in seasons; we work the year round. The
time could not be shortened. In weaving there is no surplus of
hands. I would say, that with the present prospects for business,
it would be well for many of the females in want of employment
to learn to weave. They can make from $4 to $6 a week, but
mostly average $4.75. It is healthy work. The labor is not
hard, but confining; and the girls are generally happy and contented.
Three fourths of ours are Americans."
165. Carpet Chains.
We were told that in the manufacture
of carpet chain, "women are employed in spooling. We
saw women employed in weaving various kinds of binding for
carpets, webbing for girths, reins, and harness. The hours of
labor are nominally ten, which, indeed, seems reasonable, in Philadelphia;
but in the suburbs, and some parts of New England,
both men and women work fifteen hours. Our informant uses no
artificial light on the premises, and when the daylight fails, his
workpeople leave off labor. The wages are the usual fifty cents
a day. Steady hands are kept in work the year round; but unskilful
workwomen are dismissed after fair trial. Men earn double
[Pg 176]
what women earn, though they do not produce double the work,
nor do it any better. When machinery is used, women frequently
require assistance from a workman."
166. Cord.
C., of Philadelphia, manufacturer of black
and white cord, employs about thirty women in spooling, twisting,
balling, and making into skeins. He keeps his hands all the
year. He did not permit us to see them, saying they object to
being seen by strangers, on the ground that they are "en deshabille."
We can bear witness to the probability of this statement,
for almost all the women we have seen at work are very untidily
clad, and dirty; indeed, in the present total disregard of cleanliness
in the workrooms, if they wore better clothes, they would
spoil more than they can afford. Ought not employers and workwomen
to consider this subject, since it undoubtedly degrades a
female, even in her own estimation, as in that of others, to be
habitually in what is mildly qualified "deshabille?" The spoolers
receive the highest wages, viz., $5 per week; the other hands
from $2 to $5. The fine cord is made farther East, as it can there
be produced cheaper; the coarser can be made in Philadelphia,
at a lower rate. Mr. J., of New York, employs six women, two
of them earn $7 each—the others less. It is paid for by the
quantity. Prospect for work, good. There are but five factories
in New York city, but they do seven eighths of the city business.
In Philadelphia most is made. It takes but two or three months
to learn. They give employment all the year, and learners receive
something from the first.
167. Dyers and Bleachers.
Dyeing may be divided
into seven branches: 1, calico and cotton; 2, fur; 3, fustian; 4,
leather; 5, linen; 6, silk; 7, wool and woollen. Silk and wool
are of animal origin, and require different treatment in dyeing
from substances of a vegetable nature, such as cotton and flax.
All the various colors and shades of dyed goods were originally
derived from the combination of the four simple colors—blue, red,
yellow, and black. Cotton is more easily dyed than linen, and
the colors are brighter. Much of what is said under "Print
Works" will apply to this subject. They are so similar, a distinction
is scarcely necessary. In large manufacturing cities, dyers
usually confine themselves to one kind of goods, as wool or silk,
and some to certain colors. Dye houses, in other than manufacturing
cities and towns, are mostly for the coloring of goods that
are worn, or new goods that have been damaged. A great deal
of dyeing is done in our large cities. Frequently, persons going
into mourning have articles of dress dyed. Steam has taken the
place mostly of hard labor. When goods have been well dyed, a
casual observer could not detect it. Permanency of color is a
[Pg 177]
desirable item in dyeing. Some women make a living by keeping
a little shop, where they receive goods to be colored, and have
the work done at dye houses, making, of course, a profit. There
is generally a dye house connected with every large factory of
woollen goods. A girl who was employed in a dye house says
the work is far from being neat. The work of most of the girls
is light. It is to put letters or figures on the articles sent, and
when dyed, fold and tie them up, and place the numbers on. In
the dye house where she was, one girl received $3.50—the others,
each, $3 per week. They worked ten hours a day. One girl was
employed in finishing the goods—that is, running them over a
heated cylinder to smooth and dry them. She says the floors of
dye houses are so wet that women would find it not only filthy,
but injurious. Mr. Y. says women are not employed in the
mechanical department of his dye and print establishment—that
the business requires the workers to stand in liquids, and the atmosphere
is very damp. A woman would be liable to suffer from
exposure of that kind. A girl employed at another place to mark
goods, told me she received $3 per week. Was told at C.'s dye
house that he employs four girls, paying $3, and $3.50 a week.
They put numbers on goods, and do other work of that kind.
They work ten hours. A cotton goods bleacher and dyer told
me the work was too wet and dirty for women. Most of the winding
of cotton for dyeing is done by machinery. By steam power
one person could do ten times as much as by a wheel. At one
place they paid thirty-five cents for basting together two pieces
of cloth eight yards long to be bleached; and a woman could earn
from seventy-five cents to $3 per day; but the work could not
last long. We called at a dyer and bleacher's. He said: "Very
few women are employed in dyeing in this country, but in the
old country they are. He has seen them at it in Scotland, and
there it is rather better paid than most women's work. They are
also employed in bleaching, both by chemicals and exposure to
the sun. It is not unhealthy, although in a dye house a person
must be wet from the knees down. By wearing thick boots, and
leggings of India rubber, they would not be likely to suffer.
Occasionally, dyers get some of the chemicals they use into sores
on their hands and feet, which may injure them some, but not
seriously. He says the work must be done in a certain time, and
so they cannot be particular about keeping their feet dry. He
pays old women for hanking cotton 37½ cents a score, and so they
may earn $2.25 a week." There are mechanical modes of printing
textile fabrics. In the Staten Island Dye and Print Works,
"there are a good many women and children employed. The
latter are principally confined to the printing department, each
[Pg 178]
of the sixty printers engaged there being allowed a child for the
purpose of adjusting or distributing the color evenly, previous to
the application of the block. The rate of wages paid in this
establishment is, we understand, as follows: the printers and
block makers are paid by the piece, and when in full work can
earn from $60 to $70 a month; the dyers and other workmen
receive from 37½ cents to $1.25 a day; the women $6 to $12 a
month, and the children from $6 to $8." A dyer writes:
"Women are sometimes employed in the finishing department,
and are mostly paid by the day. Spring and fall are the busy
seasons." One in Walpole, Mass., writes: "I think more than
an ordinary degree of intelligence is required for the business,
because of the thought and observation necessary." A dyer in
Buffalo, N. Y., writes: "I employ two, and sometimes three
women. Women are employed in basting work together, and in
finishing it after it is dyed. In some places they have charge of
the office, and receive and deliver goods. For a healthy person
it is not injurious. In finishing, the individual is on his or her
feet all the time. I pay from $1.75 to $5 per week, and hands
work from ten to sixteen hours. The time could not be shortened,
owing to the nature of the business, and the loss during the winter.
The comfort and remuneration of the part done by women is very
good. Women of equal intelligence with men do better, as it is
of female apparel the business mostly consists. In winter they
have considerable unoccupied time they could devote to mental
improvement." The proprietor of the Chelsea Dye House writes:
"We employ about seventy-five women to wash, iron, and finish
dyed goods. About one eighth are Americans. It is not unhealthy,
to my knowledge, or in my experience. Average pay is
$3.50 per week. Those that work by the piece can earn from
$3.50 to $6 per week of eleven hours per day. Women are paid
all which the business they do will afford. It requires a woman
of fair capacity a few weeks to learn. Work is constant for good
hands. Work is nearly uniform through the seasons. Large
cities are the best localities for business. They pay about $1.75
per week for board in private families of their own standing." A
member of a firm at Astoria, L. I., writes: "We employ from
seventy-five to one hundred women in washing and dyeing yarns
and cloth. We know them to be so employed in Berlin, Prussia.
The employment is not unhealthy. We pay by the week from
$4 to $5. They work ten hours. We pay men $7 per week for
the same work that the females are employed at, because they do
more. It requires about four years to learn fully that portion of
work done by females. They are paid $2 per week while learning.
A good public school education is needed, and temperate,
[Pg 179]
steady habits. The prospects for females are good—eventually
they will supersede the men in one branch of the business. The
spring and fall seasons are the best. The winter is not so good.
About two months in the summer our works are partially stopped.
There is a surplus of dyers in Lowell, Mass. We employ women
in preference to men, because we believe them to be more intelligent
than men—especially emigrants. About two thirds are
Americans. They have evening schools, lectures, and church
services. Those that board pay about $1.50 per week."
168. Factory Operatives.
The larger number of
operatives in our manufactures are females. They are of all ages.
They do not remain so permanently in our factories as in those
of older countries. They make skilful and active workers. The
factory operatives of this country are more favorably situated
than those of most countries. Most of them have wholesome food
and comfortable homes, or boarding houses. They are not confined
in factories from early childhood until they lie down to take
their last, long sleep; consequently, they are not stunted and deformed,
and prematurely old. The activity and variety attending
life in the city are likely to produce great restlessness, and
insatiable thirst for excitement. This must be checked, or its
results may be ruinous. Vent of the feelings is harmless; wholesome
amusements, recreation so far as is possible in the quiet of
the country, reading good books, and social intercourse with the
virtuous and worthy, will form a good substitute for this artificial
excitement. So greatly is the manufacture of materials into
cloth, and cloth into goods, facilitated by machinery, that wool
taken from the sheep's back to-day, can be worn as clothing to-morrow.
The number of factories has greatly increased since the
introduction of machinery; nor is it strange, for goods have become
cheaper and the demand is greater. The materials for
manufacturing are abundant in this country; but the want of
workmen acquainted with this business, and the want of capital,
have prevented some branches of American manufacture from
equalling those of older countries. The improvements in machinery
for removing dust and floating cotton in the work rooms,
no doubt renders it more healthy than it was. "In proof of his
assertion that factory labor shortens life, Dr. Jarrold deposed,
that having examined, in the schools, all the children whose
fathers had ever worked, or were still working in factories, he
found that from one third to one fourth were fatherless." "Out
of about two thousand children and young persons taken promiscuously,
who were carefully examined in 1832, two hundred were
deformed. These were factory operatives." These statements
refer to operatives in England. Some women are employed in
[Pg 180]
the manufactories of Birmingham, England, as overseers in the
departments where women work, but the number is small, and in
our country it is still more uncommon. Cotton and woollen
goods are extensively manufactured in the New England States,
New York, and Pennsylvania. A gentleman told me that a little
more than a year ago, as he came from Vermont, he saw a young
man in the cars with about twenty girls, that he was bringing
down from Canada to a cotton factory in Massachusetts. The
manufacturers had offered a bonus of $5 apiece for girls, and to
pay their travelling expenses, and this young man was making a
business of it. He says, in busy seasons there is a scarcity of
hands in the New England factories. We believe that when men
and women do the same kind of work, such as weaving, and are
paid by the quantity, no difference is made in their wages. In
comparing returns from several factories in Massachusetts, I find
weavers earn in them from $4 to $5.50 per week; warpers, $3 to
$5; dotters, $3 to $4. Irish women, by working for less wages,
have pushed American women out of factories. In Lowell, a few
years back, nearly all the operatives were young American girls
from the country. Many worked from the most honorable, self-denying
motives; some to educate younger members of the family,
some to assist widowed mothers or hard-working fathers,
some to lay by a sum to support themselves in old age, and some
to acquire the means for obtaining a more extensive school education.
A manufacturer of printing cloths, Reading, Pennsylvania,
writes: "In all countries where there are cotton mills,
women are employed as weavers, fly and drawing tenders, spoolers,
warpers, dressers, and cloth pickers. The work is not more
unhealthy than any indoor employment. Workers earn from
$2.25 to $6. Men and women are paid the same for the same
kind of work. Our kind of work may be destroyed a year or so
by the unsettled state of the country—otherwise it is good. The
hands work about eleven hours at present prices, one hour less
would reduce wages about 10 per cent. There are openings in
cotton mills along the Hudson River, and farther East, and a
surplus of hands in mechanical towns inland. The work is lighter
than most of womanly employments. Women are superior in attending
faithfully to their work, and are more easily managed
than men. Board is from $1.50 to $1.75 per week, and is much
better than their homes would be, if they were the daughters of
day laborers, as many of them are. I would say further, in our
branch of business women are treated in all respects as regards
their work the same as men, paid the same, and under the same
rules and restraint. In our dressing department the women
make from $6 to $8, while the men make from $8 to $10, with
[Pg 181]
the same machine at the same price. There are but few mills
that employ women dressers, except in Pennsylvania. They are
not strong enough; but here the descendants of the old Dutch
stock are more masculinely developed, and are taking the place of
the men in this branch." A gentleman who has been manufacturing
cotton cloth in North Adams, Massachusetts, between twenty
and thirty years, writes: "We employ women and girls in our
mill. Some of the work requires constant stepping and walking.
Wages for spinning girls, $2.50 to $3 per week; for boys the
same, for spooling; from $2.75 to $3 for speeder and drawer
tenders; $3 for warpers, or $4; all the rates of labor include the
board. Farther East, women are employed as dressers, earning
from $4 to $6 per week. Weaving is paid for by the piece—most
other work by the week, as it cannot so well be let by the
piece. To learn to spin on the throstle frames requires from six
to eight weeks. The qualifications desired in an applicant are
expertness, good behavior, ability to read and write, industry,
and a desire to be useful to the employer. In midsummer, hands
are most scarce. Good workers are never thrown out of employment
except during panics. In this place (North Adams), hands
usually work from twelve to twelve and a half hours; Saturdays
we close at four o'clock in summer. Farther East, a number of
operators work eleven hours; some, twelve; and some, even
twelve and a half. The legislature of the General Government is,
and has been for many years, against encouraging the industry of
the country. Whatever revenue laws would promote the making
of iron, wool, cotton, or cutlery, would assist and support agriculture,
the making of shoes, and all other branches of labor. The
cotton mills can merely subsist. The hours could not be shortened.
Those employed in watching, warming, oiling up, superintending,
repairing, &c., have the same hours. There has been
a demand for hands everywhere in Massachusetts, Connecticut,
and adjoining States. Women are more orderly, more easily
governed, and more cleanly than men. Their slim fingers enable
them to be more expert. They are more attentive, as a general
thing, where the labor requires only looking after, creating no
fatigue, except that which arises from close attention. For
these reasons women are preferable. Their labor is somewhat
cheaper than men's of the same age. In Western Massachusetts,
about three fourths are American women; in Eastern Massachusetts
about one half are, and the other half foreigners. The
women have good boarding houses, and live and dress well. Here,
a hand can leave his employer by giving two weeks' notice; farther
East, four weeks' notice is required. In both places, effort
is made to spare them at once, if they desire it. My American
[Pg 182]
work people are above mediocrity; the others, rather below.
Children under fifteen years of age are required by law to be kept
out of the mills for at least three months in the year, to attend
school; more if the parents choose, as the schools are free. Employers,
as a general thing, press and urge the children to school,
as intelligent hands are worth more than ignorant ones. For
good board, women pay $1.50 per week; with lodging and washing,
$2. Many hands lay up sums in the savings banks; very
many more might do so, if they chose. Good female spinners,
speeder tenders, spoolers, warpers, twisters-in, and weavers are
always rather scarce. They command from $3 to $6 per week.
Widow women, with families of girls to support, can get a good
living by such work, and lay up some money if they try."
Hitherto few manufactories have been established in the Southern
United States: but now that the South will depend more on its
own resources, no doubt manufactories of cotton goods will be
built up very rapidly. From "Northern Profits and Southern
Wealth," we make an extract: "One third of the hands employed
in factories at the East are females. At the South,
female labor is taking the same direction. At the North, this
element of labor is supplied by immigration in nearly its whole
extent—a very large proportion of the females employed in the
factories being Irish. The Eagle mills in Georgia have one hundred
and thirty-six looms, and employ seventy girls, who earn
50 cents to $1 per day. The operatives in all these factories are
white people, chiefly girls and boys, from twelve to twenty years
of age. On an average they are better paid and worked easier
than is usually the case in the North. Country girls from the
pine forests, as green and awkward as it is possible to find them,
soon become skilful operatives; and ere they have been in the
mills a year, they are able to earn from $4 to $6 a week. They
are only required to work ten hours a day. Particular attention
is paid to the character of the operatives, and in some mills none
are received but those having testimonials of good moral character
and industrious habits. Churches and Sabbath schools are
also attached to several of the manufactories, so that the religious
training of the operatives may be properly attended to. In 1860,
45,315 males and 73,605 females were employed in cotton factories.
The woollen manufacturers employed as operatives in
1860, 28,780 males and 20,120 females.
169. Gingham.
From the Manchester Gingham Manufactory,
we learn 149 American women are there employed in
weaving, winding, spooling, piecing, drawing, reeling, and spinning.
"Spinners' maximum is sixty cents per day. Weavers receive
twenty-six and eighteen cents per cut. Women receive for
[Pg 183]
winding ten cents per cut, nine cents for spooling, forty cents per
day for piecing, for drawing $2.50 per week, and for reeling 1¼
and 1½ cents per doff. We pay the same to men and women for
the same kind of work. They are usually about two months
learning. Prospect for work is very good. We make a staple
article. Summer is the best season; we have steady work the
year round. Hands work sixty-nine hours during six days—twelve
hours, five days; and nine on Saturday. There is some demand
for them; we prefer women for weaving. They pay for board
$1.40 per week." The agent of the Gingham Mills, in Clinton,
Mass., in reply to a letter seeking information, says: "We
employ four hundred females, young and old, in the various
branches of cotton manufacture. They are paid from forty
cents to $1.25, according to skill and ability; they work 11½
hours. They are paid partly by the piece, and partly by the day.
By the piece, and for the same kind of work, women receive
as much as men. Some branches are learned very quickly,
and some slowly, according to capacity. Women are paid while
learning, much to our loss. Ordinary intelligence and complete
use of the physical faculties are necessary qualifications. We
work at all seasons. The women are very careful to select their
times for absence, visiting, &c., when we are preparing the winter
style of goods, which are of darker colors, and possibly less profitable
to them. They are sure to come back during the manufacture
of lighter styles. It is clearly a womanly way of doing
business, but
the men do the same. The kinds of work women
do in mills do not require the strength of men, and so women
are employed. It is cheapest to employ women; because, if we
employed only men, half the village would be idle. Boys can do
all the work that the females do. We have four hundred males
also. One third are American. In weaving, where men's and
women's work is most justly and fully compared, men do the most
and the best in quality. In other branches there is no decided
difference. Board $1.50 per week; the houses are of good moral
character, and very comfortable."
170. Hosiers.
The invention of machinery for making
hose is ascribed to William Lee, of England, 1589. Some trace
the invention of knit stockings to Spain. The number of hands
employed in the manufacture of hose in Saxony amounts to
45,000. Cotton, woollen, linen, and silk are the kinds of hose
common to us. The manufacture of hose worn by Americans is
mostly English. The amount of capital required, and the small
number of good operatives in our country, cause the products of
some of our manufactures to be of an inferior quality. Years
back knitting was much done, particularly in the country, but
[Pg 184]
the general use of machinery has superseded the knitting needle.
In our large cities, the great amount of hosiery worn might make
the sale of hose and half hose a payable business. In making
cotton and woollen hose, some children wind the cotton, some
join the seams, and others sew them on the boards, to put them
in shape. We called to see Aiken's knitting machine. It is
quite an ingenious affair; price, $65. I think if any two women
would buy one, and one should knit, while the other formed the
feet and finished them off, it would pay better than sewing. Large
quantities of hosiery are made in Germantown, Pa. It gives
employment to many women, who, at their houses, finish them
off. The United States Government have usually obtained their
clothing, shoes, hats, and socks for the army and navy at Philadelphia,
but since the war commenced, most of the clothing has
been made up in New York. The manufacture of hosiery is very
limited in New York. At the principal hosiery establishment
we were told they only employ women to seam that are the wives
of the weavers, and they do the work at home. It is very poor
pay, and is done almost altogether by English women who have
been brought up to the business. It would not pay a person to
learn it. An English stocking weaver told me that he does
theatrical work, as it pays best. He has known two women from
his own country that wove hosiery in the United States. One
did journey work with her husband in New York. She earned
from $4 to $5 per week. Such work is paid for by the piece or
dozen. The work pays poorly. A woman cannot earn at it
more than thirty-seven or fifty cents a day, being paid eighteen
cents a dozen for seaming socks. To seam shirts and drawers
pays better, six cents being paid for each article. Weaving
stockings by hand looms will not pay in this country—they can
be imported so cheaply. It is rather light work. Work done
by steam power is not so neat; the selvages are not well made,
and the goods must be cut and sewed in seams. Many women
are employed in hosiery manufactures where steam is used. A
stocking manufacturer in Lake Village, N. H., writes: "Seven
hundred girls and married women are employed in this village to
make stockings. Wages run from 50 cents to $1 per day of ten
hours; some are paid by the day, others by the piece. Men's
work, being harder, is better paid. It requires from three to five
weeks to learn. Women have their board paid while learning.
Spring, summer, and autumn are the best seasons for work. Some
work at the business to maintain their families; others, because they
have nothing to do. All are Americans. They pay for board
from $1.25 to $1.50 per week." A manufacturer writes: "We
employ twenty-five females in the mill, and from one hundred to
[Pg 185]
one hundred and twenty-five who take work to their homes.
Nine tenths are Americans. We pay from $3.50 to $6 per
week. It requires but a short time to learn in some departments.
They are paid from the time of entering the factory
as a learner. It is considered a permanent business. Men and
women do not work on the same branches." At the Troy
hosiery manufactory, "sixty women are employed in tending
knitting machines, winding yarn, and sewing by hand and by
machines. The employment is healthy. Their wages run from
$3 to $6 per week, average $4.50. They work mostly by the
piece, a few by the week. Males and females usually work
side by side, and the wages are alike. They are continually
learning, from 18 years old to 40. The prospect is good for
future employment, and the employment in factories is generally
constant. They work twelve hours per day. If shorter
time was universal, it would not affect the profits. About one
half are Americans. The rooms are well ventilated, and the temperature
from sixty to seventy degrees summer and winter."
171. Men's Wear.
A gentleman in Darby, Penn., writes:
"Women are employed in factories equally with men, throughout
this section of country, as weavers. They are paid just as well,
for the same kind of labor. The employment, for aught I can
see, is entirely healthy. They receive from $18 to $25 per month
of four weeks. They are paid by the piece. It requires about
three months to learn weaving, dependent upon the facility with
which the learners acquire knowledge. Learners are never paid
while receiving instruction; but on the other hand, they more
often pay their companions for the privilege of being taught. Industrious
habits and quickness of perception are essential to complete
success. By a law of Pennsylvania, sixty hours constitute
a week's labor in factories. There is neither a demand nor surplus
of hands at present, though a number of factories are in course of
erection in this section of country; but they will doubtless be filled
as soon as ready, for American women especially prefer factory
to household labor. About one half our hands are American.
Women have more stability of character than men, and are generally
superior to them in the neatness with which they bring
the cloth from the looms. Board for operatives is from $8 to $9
per month."
172. Print Works.
The Calico Print Works, New
Hampshire, report: "We employ about 24 girls. The employment
is healthy. We pay girls about fourteen years old, thirty-three
cents a day for 10½ hours in summer; in winter they work
till dark, averaging ten hours. To girls about twenty years old,
we pay fifty cents per day. The men and women do different
[Pg 186]
work. The prospect of future employment is good. Hands
work all the year the same. The price of good board is from
$1.25 to $1.50 per week." The agent of the Pacific Print Works,
Lawrence, Mass., gives the following reply to inquiries: "We
employ one thousand women in carding, spinning, spooling, warping,
and weaving, on sewing machines, sewing by hand, measuring,
knotting, ticketing, &c. The employment is generally healthy,
but the workers are more or less exposed to bad air and to dust.
They are paid from twenty-five cents to $1 per day, according to
age or skill. They work from ten to eleven hours per day. Some
work but 5½ days, from choice. It would doubtless be a pecuniary
loss to shorten the hours. Women are as well paid
here, generally, as men, when comparative strength and power
of endurance are considered. It requires from three to twelve
months to learn. While learning, they usually receive enough
to pay their board. The more strength and intelligence they have,
the better. The prospect for this employment is good. They
work during all seasons. Women are not usually as well fitted
as men to attend large machines, but are better for smaller ones.
From three hundred to four hundred of our women are continual
readers of our library. They pay $1.50 per week for board. It
is as good, for the class of people to be accommodated, as any I ever
saw." The agent of the print works, Manchester, N. H., writes:
"Women are employed in all departments. They average sixty-five
cents a day, and work eleven hours. They are paid by the
piece, and at the same rate as the men. It requires from one to
four weeks to learn. This kind of business is increasing. There
is a demand all through New England for female labor in our
branch of business. We employ 1,200, and three fourths are American.
They are more steady than men. Some of our girls go West
to teach, and some teach here. They have separate boarding houses,
and pay $1.37 per week, including washing and lights. The
houses are kept with as much order as any female school. No
operative is received until they certify that they will comply
with the regulations," a copy of which we examined, and found
to be very good. From the print works at Haverstraw, N. Y.,
we receive the following information: "Women are employed
in sewing, measuring calico, and in the engraving department, in
running the pantograph machines, which dispense entirely with
hand engraving, die making, and machine engraving. Women
are employed in England, but only partially in other European
countries. The women earn from $2 to $4 per week. Men receive
double the pay of women: I know of no reason but usage.
Only a few weeks are necessary to become proficient in our work,
except in the engraving department. Men serve seven years to
[Pg 187]
learn the art of engraving and printing. Women learn to trace
by the pantograph in three months; become proficient in one year.
Ability and good judgment are necessary. The prospect for the
employment of females is good in many other departments, particularly
designing. We are decided that females could successfully
acquire the art and trade of designing and drawing patterns
for calico. Wages of males for this work are from $10 to $40
per week—few at the former, more at $20. Ten hours constitute
a day. The time could be shortened an hour or two without loss.
We employ about forty females, because their labor is cheaper,
and they are more reliable. We find women superior in all
branches in which they are employed. The trade society forbids
their employment in other parts of the work. Ability to read
and write are indispensable in some departments. Men pay for
board, $3; women, $1.50." The Suffolk print works pay by the
piece, and average eighty cents per day. One of the proprietors
at the print works in Pawtucket, Mass., writes: "Women are
employed in tracing pantograph designs, and receive from fifty to
sixty-seven cents per day. We have one woman who does a man's
work at folding, and is paid a man's wages. The work is soon
learned, with ordinary capacity. A good physical condition is
needed. There is prospect for employment as long as calicoes
are used. Cool seasons are the best for work—in very warm
weather, work is suspended a short time. We employ fifty. The
work is light and clean. The number of American women is very
small. We adopt female labor as soon as the aid of machinery
renders it practicable. Men are superior in strength and endurance.
A locality is desirable where a free circulation of air is
furnished on all sides. For ordinary board, women pay $2.50."
The agent of the Fall River print works writes: "We pay women
by the piece. They earn from $18 to $20 a month; have work
the year round. For five days in the week they work 10½ hours;
on Saturday, 8½. We employ women because they can do more
and cost less than men. Localities are sought where there is a
good supply of soft water. Board from $2 to $2.50." A lawn
manufacturer in Lodi, N. J., writes: "We employ women in engraving,
in stitching, and in finishing goods. The work is very
healthy. We pay women $5 per week for engraving; from $2.50
to $5 for other branches. The work can be learned in from four
to five weeks. The business is increasing. The women are
never out of work. One half are Americans. Women are employed
ten hours a day; on Saturday, eight. Women are employed,
to help the village along. Very comfortable board, $5
per month." The proprietor of some works in Rhode Island
writes me: "We employ about twenty women and girls in meas
[Pg 188]uring
cloth, sewing the ends together for bleaching and fulling,
knotting the ends of the pieces of cloth when folded; also in engraving
copper rolls for printing calicoes, with a pantograph engraving
machine. The prices vary from $1 per week to $3 and
over, working ten hours a day. For the same work, females are
paid the same as males. The work is easily learned. Women
are paid while learning. Women will be more employed in
future. Work is constant, so far as seasons go. There is probably
no other branch of this work, in which women may be employed,
than those in which they are. Where women are employed
they are as valuable as males. Board of women, $1.50 per week."
"In the calico mills of Great Britain, girls grind and mix the colors.
They are called teerers. They begin at five years of age, and
labor twelve hours a day, sometimes sixteen; and are kept late
into the night to prepare for the following day."
173. Spinners.
"Each of the workmen at present employed
in a cotton mill superintends as much work as could
have been executed by two hundred or three hundred workmen
sixty or seventy years ago; and yet, instead of being diminished,
the numbers have increased even in a still greater proportion."
Again, we read that "a single person can spin as much cotton in
Lowell in an hour, as could three thousand Hindoos, by whom
at one time cotton cloth was principally manufactured." The
wages of cotton spinners in Paris are only from twenty to forty
cents per day of twelve hours. We read in the Monthly Review,
that "the masters of mills are unanimous in asserting that girls,
and they alone are trained to flax spinning, never become expert
artists, if they begin to learn after eleven." The small particles
set loose in spinning affect respiration, and in the course of time
do so very seriously. In many parts of Europe women carry
portable distaffs, and spin as they walk. Two kinds of wheels
are used for spinning—one for spinning cotton, tow, and wool—the
other is used for flax. Steam machinery is mostly used for
spinning cotton. The prices usually paid spinners will be found
under factory operatives. I inquired of a girl spooling cotton
for a weaver of coverlets, what wages she received. She replied:
"$1.50 a week, working five hours a day."
174. Spool Cotton.
A manufacturer at Fall River,
Mass., writes: "We employ twenty women in spooling thread,
and preparing it for market. The average pay is $3 per week,
and they work eleven hours per day. It requires from one to two
months to become expert. When learning, they are paid for what
they do carefully. The qualifications needed are neatness, and
dexterity in their manipulations. They are employed at all
seasons. The demand and supply of work people are about
[Pg 189]
equal. We employ twenty females, because the work is adapted
to them, and they are quicker in motion than men. They pay
$1.75 per week for board."
175. Tape.
At W.'s, New York, I saw several women
weaving tape for hoop skirts. They looked dirty and sad
enough. They earn from $2 to $3.50 a week. It does not require
long to learn, but they must stand all the time. W. finds
it difficult to get good workers. The incessant hum of the machinery
in such a low-roofed room would deafen me. I think it
must affect the nerves of females. He pays a learner the first
month $1.50 a week. After that, if she is competent, she will
receive full wages. At the Graham Buildings, I saw the girls
putting up tape for skirts. They earn from $3 to $4. The
weavers earn from $4 to $6. It requires but a few days to learn
to weave, and but a few hours to learn to measure and tie up
tape. Most of the girls were Irish. Sixty were employed, and
received work all the year.
176. Weavers.
Weaving is an occupation that was followed
by all classes of women in primitive ages. The story of
Penelope's shroud has been read as far as Homer is known. In
Africa spinning is mostly done by women, and the weaving by
men. The invention of machinery has very much done away
with manual weaving. Fifty years back all woollen and most of
cotton goods were made in that way. Some jeans, coarse flannel,
rag carpets, coverlets, and other similar articles are still woven
by hand. Now, shawls, dress goods, gloves, hosiery, fine
carpets, cassimere, and cloth in all its varieties, are woven
by machinery. The uniting of threads, and a constant attention
to the machinery, are all that is necessary. The wages vary according
to the places, the capabilities of the operatives, the goods
woven, and the price of living. "A practical working machine
is now in activity, weaving silk by the motive power of electricity.
It is applied at Lyons and St. Etienne to the Jacquard loom."
Children are extensively employed in Great Britain as drawers
to weavers. "The great majority of hand-loom cotton weavers
work in cellars, sufficiently lighted to enable them to throw the
shuttle, but cheerless, because seldom visited by the sun. The
reason cellars are chosen is that cotton, unlike silk, requires to
be woven damp. The air, therefore, must be cool and moist, instead
of warm and dry." In Philadelphia, the average payment
of female weavers is from $2.50 to $4 per week. Spinners and
spoolers make but from 75 cents to $2. They are generally unskilful
adults or very young girls. The number of female operatives
engaged in the manufacture of textile fabrics in Philadelphia
exceeds twelve thousand. A manufacturer in Providence writes
[Pg 190]
me: "We do not consider weaving particularly unhealthy. We
pay on an average $1 per day, by the piece. They work eleven
hours a day; the time could not be shortened. Men spend from
three to twelve months learning; women, from three to six weeks.
Women are not paid while learning; men are. All seasons are
alike. There is always a demand for weavers. We employ
twenty-two women, one fourth are American; they are not inferior
to men as weavers. Men pay $2 for good board; women, $1.75."
A manufacturer of negro cloth in Connecticut writes: "The
employment is very healthy. We pay weavers from $3.75 to $5
per week, and some make more by the piece. We pay men and
women the same for their labor. Some parts are learned by
women in two or three weeks. We generally pay women while
learning. We sometimes stop a few days, in July and August, for
water. They work eleven hours and a half, except Saturday;
then from eight to ten hours. The time could be shortened by
adding extra help and looms, equal to difference of time. We
prefer women, because they weave more than men. All Americans.
They are superior to men in tying knots. Good board, $1.25."
A manufacturer of cotton cloths for calicoes writes: "Women
and girls are employed in power-loom weaving. Weaving requires
a little more labor and skill than the other departments.
None under sixteen years are allowed to weave. Women are so
employed over New England, much of New York, and Pennsylvania,
but mostly in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
There is always a demand for girl weavers. It requires from
one to three months to learn to weave. They will continue to
grow more expert for three years. They weave by the cut from
thirty to forty pounds. The wages of an expert weaver are from
$4 to $6 per week; board, $1.50 per week. Men weavers are
paid per cut the same. An expert weaver attends four looms,
weaving from 150 to 160 yards per day. Seamers generally pay
their way at the end of four weeks. The employment is not
thought unhealthy.
177. Linen Manufacture.
Very little flax has been
raised in this country. The quantity grown was mostly for the
seed and the fibre. Ireland grows and exports large quantities.
The soil is not adapted to its growth. It is the result of the
most severe labor and high culture. In France, almost every
peasant woman has a flax plot. She tends its growth, reaps,
dresses, spins, bleaches, and weaves it herself. Some women are
there employed in rotting flax and hemp. Generally, the manu
[Pg 191]facturers
of flax goods confine themselves to special departments.
Some take the raw flax, and convert it into yarn, and then stop.
Some take the yarn and weave it, and when woven, bleach it;
and some only take the unbleached woven cloth, and bleach it.
In D. & Co.'s establishment in Ireland, all the departments are
combined. Eight thousand people are dependent on this firm
for support. Of these, four hundred females are employed in
spinning and weaving flax. Hand-loom linen weaving is carried
on chiefly in the north of Ireland, and, for the most part, made
subsidiary to other employments—therefore, not the sole dependence
of families. Women are employed in flax mills, in this
country, England, and Canada West. A manufacturer writes
from a village in New York: "The business is healthy, and
women can do any part of the work, as well as men. Here, men
receive from $9 to $14 per month. While learning, I pay my
men $11 per month, and board them. The work is done in cold
weather, away from the fire, and requires strong, healthy persons,
warmly clad. The business is increasing in this country. The
best season for work is from October till May, and sometimes
later. It is not heavy work. I would pay women $5 a month
and board, while learning; but to men would pay $11 a month
and board." (Justice!) The treasurer of the Boston flax mills
writes: "Dear Madam, women are employed on the different
machines in preparing the stock, and in spinning and weaving.
They are employed largely in England, Scotland, and Ireland,
but not much in the United States. They are paid from fifty to
seventy-five cents a day, and from fifty cents to $1 for piecework.
Ordinary female hands are paid about one half as much as men
of the same stamp; best workwomen about two thirds of same
grade of men. Men are employed where it would be too difficult
and laborious for women. For most work, a very short time is
needed to learn; for the higher grades, often many months or
years, according to capacity of worker. Common hands can earn
fifty cents at once, and we would pay about that, or more, while
learning the better description of work; but should not continue
it, if they did not improve. A quick eye and hand, and a desire
to give satisfaction, are the best qualifications. The prospect for
employment in this branch is good. All the year work is furnished.
Average time through the year for work is ten hours
forty minutes. It is probable that a mill, where all hands were
interested to do their best, would turn off as much work in ten
hours as a similar mill would in eleven or twelve hours, where the
hands were indifferent or careless. There are but few linen mills
in this country, and probably in none of them is there a superfluity
of good hands. We employ one hundred and twenty
[Pg 192]
women and children. The work is different from that of the
men. Our workwomen are mostly foreigners—Scotch, English,
and some Irish. There is as much comfort in this occupation as
laboring people would expect. The women pursue different
branches. We find a great difference in the capacity of different
women, but cannot suggest any superiority or inferiority as regards
sexes. The general intellect among our women is very
fair for foreigners, but would not be considered remarkable for
Americans. Their evenings are their own, although there have
been times, occasionally, when we have worked till nine o'clock,
paying, of course, for extra work. The mill has a good library,
and there is usually evening school in winter for those who wish
to attend."
178. Sewing Thread.
A manufacturer in Andover,
Massachusetts, writes: "We employ about one hundred women,
who receive about $3 per week, working eleven hours per day.
Women are sometimes paid while learning. Morality, industry,
and intelligence best fit them for their work. They work at all
seasons. Very few are Americans. Women are inferior only in
strength to men pursuing the same branch." The secretary of
the American Linen Thread Company writes: "We employ
about sixty women in spinning, twisting, reeling, rolling, skeining,
&c. Those that work by the week receive $3; those by the
piece, more or less. Women do the lightest work, and are paid
about half as much as men. There is a prospect of this branch
of labor increasing. They have work all the year. Those that
are paid by the day work twelve hours. The time could not be
shortened without serious loss. Most are foreigners. Board,
$1.50 to $2." A member of a firm in Schenectady writes: "We
have thirty women in our flax and tow factory, because they are
best adapted to the work. The work is healthy. We pay from
$3 to $4.50 per week, working twelve hours per day. The
working time could not be shortened. A superintendent would
require from two to three years to learn. A girl, say sixteen
years old, would require about a year. Learners receive half
wages. Summer is the best season, but they have work all the
year. There is no surplus of female workers in the business.
Two thirds of our women are American, one third English.
Women could not perform that part of the work done by men,
and
vice versa. One third board, and pay $1.50 per week. The
Americans have a common school education, and are intelligent.
The larger ones are teachers in Sabbath schools; the smaller ones
scholars. The best localities are in the Northern and Western
States."—
Shoe Thread. A manufacturer told me, most or all
the flax used for shoe thread in this country is imported. "The
[Pg 193]
greater part of the shoe thread used in the United States is spun
by machinery, at Leeds, in England, from Russian flax." The flax
of this country is not fine enough; and, for bleaching, the climate
of this country and Scotland is too changeable. If the bleachers
succeed in getting it of a pure white, they extract the substance—the
life of the plant—so that it will not retain its strength.
Flax is not much attended to in this country, but it is because
the tariff is so low that no encouragement is given to manufacturers.
Pennsylvania makes more woven goods of coarse linen
than any other State, and Philadelphia more than any other
city. Labor is so cheap in Europe, that linen can be made there
more cheaply than here. Mr. A. employs a number of small
girls in his mills for winding the thread into balls, as it is imported
in skeins, and pays them from $1.50 to $2 a week. They
work only in daylight. He thinks the occupation is well filled.
Most factories of the kind are in small towns where living is cheap.
179. Woollen Manufacture.
Women and children are
not so much employed in the woollen as in other manufactures,
owing to the severe labor required in some of the processes. Wool
growing is increasing in the United States, particularly in Texas.
We doubt not but many woollen manufactures will spring up
when business revives. We called on the widow of a wool puller,
to ascertain what the business is, and learned that it consists in
steeping sheep skins in lime water, then rinsing them in clean
water, then removing the wool from the skin, and packing it in
bales to send away. The daughter of a wool puller in Utica
writes: "Part of the work of a wool puller could be performed
by women—that of removing the wool from the skin, and sorting
it according to the quality. In Gloucester, England, women were
at one time employed as wool pullers. The business is healthy,
owing to the presence of disinfectants employed in manufacturing.
It could be made respectable and remunerative." A wool puller
in Buffalo writes: "I employ some girls in sewing sheep skins.
They are paid by the piece, and earn $4.50 a week. Board, $2. It
requires a week for a woman to learn her part—a lifetime for a
man to learn his. A steady hand and good eyesight are essential.
There must be work of this kind as long as boots and shoes are
fashionable. The most busy seasons are fall, winter, and spring.
The best location is where sheep are raised and bark to be had."
People employed in the making of cloth are wool sorters and pickers,
scourers, carders, slubbers, spinners, warpers, sizers, weavers,
burlers, boilers, millers, giggers or dressers, croppers, singers,
[Pg 194]
fuzers, glossers, drawers, and packers. Some of these are women.
I am sorry to say that carding—the most unhealthy process of
all—is performed almost exclusively by women, and at low prices.
180. Blankets.
"Blankets were first made at Bristol,
England, by a poor weaver named Thomas Blanket, who gave his
name to this peculiar manufacture of woollen cloths." One
hundred and twenty-two women are reported in the census of
Great Britain for 1850, as blanket manufacturers. A blanket
manufacturer in New Hampshire writes: "Women are employed
in carding, weaving, and binding. The work is not unhealthy.
Average wages are seventy cents per day of eleven hours, and
they are paid by the piece. Women receive about two thirds of
the wages of men, because they do less laborious work. It requires
from one week to three months to learn. They are paid small
wages while learning. The manufacture of blankets will increase.
Business is the same at all seasons. There is a demand
for hands in many of the manufacturing villages, and a surplus
in country towns. We have twenty women, all American. They
do light work faster than men. They pay for board twenty-one
cents per day, in private families."
181. Carpets.
Mr. Lagrange writes: "The carpets of
Smyrna and Caramania, so widely esteemed, are evidence of
what woman's genius can produce. They are all woven by feminine
hands." In 1858 there were 2,500 persons employed in the
manufacture of carpets in and near Philadelphia. Ingrain and
Venetian are the kinds mostly made there, but some of a very
cheap quality are also manufactured. Those made at Hartford
and Lowell are all worsted goods. The business, we believe, has
been a successful and lucrative one. It is said that much carpeting
is sold in this country, as English, that is in reality American.
Our finest carpets are imported. I visited Mr. H.'s carpet
factory, New York city, and saw the entire process, from putting
the wool in to its coming out in various kinds of carpeting, ingrain,
velvet, Brussels, tapestry, &c. From that manufactory
we have the following report: "Females tend carding, spinning,
spooling, weaving, and other machines, in the manufacture of carpeting.
The employment is not unhealthy. The branch of manufacture
and the capacities of females vary the wages from 50
cents to $1 per day of eleven hours. Three fourths work by the
piece. Males and females are not employed at the same kind of
work. The time required to learn any branch of the carpet
trade depends on the natural talent and application of the
learner. Many never become proficient enough to pursue the
business profitably. The prices paid to learners depend on their
success. Health, natural talent, and application are essential.
[Pg 195]
The prospect of employment in the business is good. They have
work the whole year, except during unusual depressions of the
trade. Whether the work time of eleven hours could be shortened
would depend on the profit on the quantity produced in
ten hours, compared with that produced in eleven hours. There
is no demand for female labor at the present time. We employ
from 500 to 600 females, because their labor is cheaper. About
one third are Americans. The comfort and remuneration is
better than the average of other employments in this city. They
are employed by us in all branches they can be. Females perform
some branches better than men. They have free evening
schools, libraries, lectures, and churches in abundance. About
one half board. The majority board in private families, the
comfort depending generally on the price paid." Carpet manufacturers
in Wrentham, Massachusetts, write: "We employ women
in winding yarn. It is unhealthy only because of sitting so
steadily. Women average $14 per month, and are paid by the
piece. They work ten hours a day. It requires but a few
weeks to learn the business. Women are paid something while
learning. They are employed all the year. We employ eight,
because the work is better adapted to them. All the workwomen
are foreigners. Men, as a general thing, do not want to
be confined to indoor work, unless the wages are high. Good
board can be had at $1.50 per week." A gentleman, who was
once superintendent of the carpet factory at Lowell, informed me
all the weavers were females, when he was there, and earned from
$3.50 to $4.00 on an average. They had about thirty pickers
(females), whose business it was to pick the knots and loose wool
off the carpets.
182. Carpet Bags.
K. & M., carpet-bag makers, have
a factory in Newark. The carpet bags are sewed up and the
buttons put in by machines. The lining is put in by hand. It
is piecework, and the girls earn from $3 to $6 a week. It requires
but a short time to become sufficiently expert to make it
pay. The busiest times are from February 1st to June, and
from the middle of July to the 1st of November. One of the proprietors
thinks the prospect to learners is good, for the business
will extend. It has increased five hundredfold in the last five
years. Their girls are mostly Americans. Making trunk covers is
piecework. The linings could be put in trunks and valises
and the varnish put on by girls. The linings could be better put
in valises than trunks by women, as they are lighter and less
difficult to handle. At H.'s carpet-bag factory, I was told
they employ seventy girls, and make from ninety to one hundred
dozen bags a day. They keep their hands all the year, with
[Pg 196]
the exception of three weeks. Some work by machine and some
by hand. They take learners when busy. A smart girl can
learn in making two or three dozen bags—of course, is not paid
while learning. They used to allow a few hands, accustomed to
the work, to give instruction to learners, having the profits of
their work for their time. Those that work by machine can
earn from $3 to $4.50; hand sewers from $3 to $6. These
work by the piece. Those paid by the week work ten hours, and
earn from $2.50 to $5. The gentleman thinks the prospect for
learners to enter the business is poor. I think differently, if
the statement that he made is true, that there are no manufacturers
West or South. A regulation that struck me as being very
unjust was, that if a girl learns in their factory and goes
elsewhere to seek work, she cannot be taken into their factory
again, unless she makes eight or ten dozen bags for them without
pay. A manufacturer of carpet and oil-cloth bags writes: "We
pay by the piece, and women earn from $4 to $6 per week, working
ten hours a day. Women can learn in one month, if skilful
with the needle. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but we
find work for our hands through the winter. They work at
home."
183. Cassimere.
A manufacturer of cassimere in New
Hampshire writes: "We pay mostly by the week, $3.50, working
eleven hours a day. We pay the same to women as men. It
requires from two to twelve weeks to learn. They are paid what
they can earn while learning. There is no surplus of workwomen
in this branch of labor. Our girls board in families, and pay
$1.34 per week." A manufacturer in Vermont says: "Twenty
women are employed by me. They are all American or English.
They are paid according to the amount of work they do. Girls
that weave make $3, besides board. Some are paid by the yard,
and some by the week. They are paid as much as men for the
same kind of work. It usually takes four weeks to learn to
weave. Learners give their time. Work is performed ten hours
a day all the year. Women prefer factory to housework. They
pay $1.50 per week for board." A manufacturer in New
Hampshire writes: "We pay from $2.50 to $4.50 per week.
For the work that women can do in our establishment, they are
worth more than men, as they can work quicker. Women soon
learn to weave, but for the first six months they are not worth
more than half pay. The prospect for future employment is
good. The best seasons for work are spring, summer, and fall.
They are usually employed ten hours a day. We employ none
but American women. Some parts of our business are suitable
for women, but we can get boys cheaper. Board $1.25 per
[Pg 197]
week." B. Brothers, of Proctorsville, Vermont, write: "We
employ from thirty to forty American women in preference to
men, because the work is more suitable for them. Prospects
for increase of employment in this line are very flattering. The
women average $2.50 per week with board. They work twelve
hours a day, and can be employed all the year. They are superior
in all respects to men. If they were not, we should employ
men. Their facilities for mental and moral culture are
good. Women are paid less than men, on account of the work
being light. Board $1.50 per week." The Globe Woollen
Company (Utica, New York) write: "Our women, seventy-five
in number, earn from $3 to $6 a week, and are paid both by the
piece and week. Men and women work together in the weaving
room. It requires but a few days to learn to weave, although
experience is valuable, both on account of wages and excellence
of production. Mental and physical ability ought to be combined
to insure success. The prospect for future employment is
good. Continual employment is given. Our hands work 12
hours each day, Saturdays 10½. One fourth are Americans, and
they live and dress well. The demand for labor is good all
through the country. There is no part of our business where
women could be advantageously introduced, where not now employed.
The women have all the facilities a city affords for
mental and aesthetic culture."
184. Cloths.
A manufacturer of gray cloth in Vermont
writes: "Women are employed at spinning, carding, burling,
and weaving. We have ten, because they are more easily obtained
than men. We pay women from $2 to $3.50 per week,
and board them. They work twelve hours per day. The work
done by men requires more than double the experience of that
performed by women. Women can learn in four weeks, men
in sixteen. Women are paid half wages while learning. They
are busy except in the winter. All board with me." C. &
Sons, of T., N. Y., write: "Experienced hands receive $3.75 per
week—inexperienced $3—board included. Women are not employed
at the same work as men. It requires two years to learn
our business—six months for women. We adopt the ten-hour
system. There is no difference in seasons as to work, except in
case of low water. Our labor yields sufficient to keep them until
they find an opportunity to marry. They have a good library—ten
periodicals every week. They pay for board from $1.50 to
$1.75 per week." A manufacturer in Derby, Conn., writes:
"We employ about fifteen women, because they are cheaper and
more easily obtained; but many are now using male weavers.
They earn from $3 to $6 per week, and are paid both ways.
[Pg 198]
They work eleven hours. To work ten instead of eleven hours,
we would lose that amount of the product of those who work by
the day. I think there is a demand for such labor all through
New England, and I do not know where there is a surplus of
such help. We have had but few whose parents were born in
America. Women might be employed on shearing machines.
They are not, because it is as easy getting boys. Women have
less strength and endurance, and are less constant at work, but
quicker in motion and less liable to bad habits. Board for
females from $2.25 to $2.50 per week." A manufacturing company
of satinets and printing cloths, Troy, N. Y., give the following
information: "We pay from $2.50 to $6 per week, average
$4.50. Men and women get the same wages for the same work.
Women learn in from two to four weeks. At best it is but partially
learned. Some are paid while learning, and some are not.
There is now, and always will be full employment. We furnish
steady work all the year. The hands work twelve hours per day.
The time could be shortened, but the workers would lose by it.
There is a demand for female labor of this kind in Cohoes, N. Y.
We have sixty-nine women, and one half are Americans. They
are well fed and dress better than any other class of working
people. Women are more steady and neater than men. They
are all Protestant, and their intelligence is about the average.
They pay $1.50 per week for good board." The Monsoon
Woollen Co., Mass., say: "We pay fourteen mills per yard for
weaving. The women make just the same as the men, and perform
the same kind of work. They earn on an average eighty-three
cents per day of twelve hours. The work can be done
without apprenticeship. The prospect is that our business will
be on the increase for years. Our help are employed the year
round: three quarters are Americans. They have their evenings
after seven o'clock. They pay $2 per week for board." The
agent of Shady Lee Mills, R. I., writes: "Women are employed
in woollen mills in England, Germany, France, and this country.
They are paid in our mill by the piece, and earn $5 per week on
an average. Women weavers earn as much as men. It takes a
lifetime to learn; some learn better than others. Learners are
paid. The business is improving daily. Women work all the
year round, unless broken down. They work twelve hours a day.
The time could not be shortened. The supply of hands about
equals the demand in this manufacture. We employ seventy-five
women, because they are better for weavers. Nearly all our
work people can read and write. Board $1.75." Mr. H., a manufacturer
in Massachusetts, writes: He "pays from $14 to $18 a
month, working by the piece. While learning they are paid for
[Pg 199]
what they do. They can earn fair wages after two weeks' experience.
They work thirteen hours a day, and are employed through
the year. There is no surplus of weavers. He employs twenty-five,
because they are better adapted to the work. Women are
superior in hand work. Board $6 a month." A satinet manufacturer
in Maine, writes: "Our women weave by the cut and
earn about $6 per week. A person can get an insight of the
business in a few years; but to get a thorough knowledge requires
at least the English term of apprenticeship—seven years. Women
are paid half price while learning. Summer is the best season,
but our women are employed the year round. They work twelve
hours—which is the usual time here, and less would be a loss.
Women are handier than men, and can be boarded for less. We
have churches in the village and a good moral influence. Board
$1.50 per week; comforts quite equal to those of their homes."
Manufacturers in Pittsfield, Mass., inform us "they have a number
of women employed in weaving and sewing, mostly weaving.
The employment is considered healthy, and the condition of
weavers is entirely comfortable, as this is, of course, for the interest
of the employers as well as the employées. The average
time of work is thirteen hours. The wages paid them is from $4
per week to $6. They are paid by the yard, and their earnings
depend upon their attention, activity, and capability. They are
paid $3 a week while learning. Women weavers earn quite as
much as men, and can stand the confinement as well, if not better.
We have no difficulty in keeping our looms supplied, and frequently
have applications which we are obliged to reject. We
employ sixty women, nearly one half Americans. In this place
they have every advantage for moral and mental culture. Those
who have parents or friends working in the establishment usually
live with them; and those who have not, live at our boarding
house, which is as comfortable and well regulated as any house
in the country. The price charged for board is from $1.25 to
$1.50 per week." A company in North Berwick, Me., writes:
"We pay both ways; when by the week, from $2.50 to $4.
Males and females do not perform the same kind of work with
us. The time of learning varies with the capacities of the women.
Some of our hands have been with us more than ten years.
Seasons alike. They work eleven hours. We employ twenty-five
women, because it is more economical. Not one of our women
will do housework. Our employées are Yankee girls—can all
read and write; and, so far as we know, converse intelligently on
general subjects. They have their evenings and a portion of each
Saturday. Board $1.33 ¹/3 per week." We would add that every
cotton and woollen manufacturer from whom we have heard, ex
[Pg 200]presses
the opinion that their occupation is healthy. All, we believe,
pay some hands by the week and some by the piece, and
most pay men and women at the same rate for the same kind of
work. It will be observed that the rates paid for labor decrease
the farther you go North, but that board is also something less.
185. Coverlets.
A manufacturer of woollen coverlets in
Allentown, Penn., answers inquiries in regard to prices paid, &c.,
as follows: "I employ eight American girls for spooling wool
and cotton yarn in my coverlet manufactory, and pay two cents
per pound. They earn from $2 to $2.50 per week. I pay girls
the same as boys. The prospect for increase of work is good.
There is a surplus of hands here. I prefer girls, as they have
more patience than boys."
186. Dry Goods Refinishers.
A. & Co. employ
women when busy to put up dress goods, cravats, ribbons, &c.
They pay $3 a week. I was told by a satinet printer and refinisher,
that he employs one woman to sew the ends of the cloth
together. She does it with a machine, and earns $5 a week,
working ten hours a day. The coloring matter rubs off on the
hands. S. employs some women, and pays $3 a week. He gives
them about eight months' employment. During two months in
summer and two in winter, there is not enough doing to employ
them. He says some women, like some men, know nothing but
how to eat. He finds it difficult to get women of intelligence
and judgment to do his work. (I should think he would, for such
wages.) The girls fold, label, and pack. There are but three
large houses of the kind in New York. At another place we saw
a girl who gets $3 a week for such work—ten hours a day.
187. Flannels.
Flannels differ much in color and quality.
Employers are unanimous in pronouncing the work healthy.
If the sum paid foreign countries for flannels and blankets were
invested in manufactories in our country, it would give employment
to many, and tend to encourage home industry. A flannel
manufacturer in Stockport, New York, writes: "We employ
women at weaving and spooling. Women and girls are paid
mostly by the piece, and earn from $3 to $5 per week. No males
are employed at the same work as females. It usually takes
about a week to learn to weave. We do not pay learners. We
will increase the number of women as we increase our product.
All seasons are alike as respects employment. Our hands work
twelve hours per day. The time could not be shortened without
loss to both employer and employed. We have about forty
females, and prefer them, as it gives the whole family work. Eight
tenths are American. The work is as light and comfortable as
any in the mill. There is no other work suitable than that in
[Pg 201]
which they are now engaged. All our women can read and
write, and are already quite intelligent, particularly the Americans.
We do not employ many under sixteen years of age, and
those younger are usually sent to school a part of the year.
Board is $6 per month in good, respectable families." A manufacturer
in Dover, Maine, replies to a circular asking information:
"I employ women as weavers, carders, spoolers, and one
as a warper-on to draw the web. Women earn from $2.75 to $5
per week, eleven hours per day. Weavers are paid by the piece.
I pay men from 83 cents to $1.50 per day. Women do the
lighter and easier work. Some parts are not adapted to women,
that is one reason why we pay less, and perhaps custom has something
to do with the prices of labor. Women learn their part in
from one to six weeks, but it requires some years of experience
to be a manufacturer. For some kinds of work we pay from the
beginning; for others, after one or two weeks. The prospect is
fair; work, constant. In large manufacturing places, there is a
demand for labor of this kind. Women are employed because
they work cheaper. Women do their kind of work better than men.
Our women are Americans, and appear to enjoy life well. They
have the early morning and evening, and the Sabbath for themselves.
More than one half are church members. Those that have
relations living near the factory, board with them, and pay $1.50
per week." A manufacturer in Conway, Massachusetts, writes:
"We employ women in weaving, burling, sewing, and numbering
flannels. They receive from 50 cents to $1 per day of twelve hours.
Women doing the same kind of labor as men receive the same
price. It requires from one to four weeks to learn. If our
business does not pay better in future than the past, we had
better stop. In the more difficult part of our work there is a
demand for hands. Men make better work than women. One
fourth are American. Board, $1.50, to $1.75." A manufacturer
in Morgantown, New York, writes: "The employment is as
healthy as any indoor work. The wages average about $5 per
week, they being paid by the piece. It takes about four years to
learn the business, so as to conduct it in its several branches. I
pay their expenses while learning. The best season is the fall.
Work lasts ten hours—if obliged to run longer, we pay extra.
We think women more to be depended on than men. We have
no department suitable for women but what is filled by them.
Board, $2 a week—quite good. In the cities board is seldom
over $2 per week for workwomen. The rent and price of provisions
are too high to keep a boarding house as it should be on such
terms. Our wages may be lower in the country, but expenses
are much lower also, and consequently the laborer is able to save
[Pg 202]
more money." Manufacturers in Keene, N. H., write: "We
pay one half $3, the other, $3.80 per week, twelve hours a day.
We pay the same to both sexes when the quantity and quality
are the same. A carder will learn in one month, a weaver in
three months. The qualities wanted are industry, sobriety, perseverance,
constructiveness, and amiability. All seasons alike
good. To shorten the time of thirteen hours would be a loss to
both parties. All branches are well supplied with workers.
Women have more patience, tact, neatness, and are more reliable
than men. All our women are well fed, well clothed, well
housed, and some possess the luxuries, and even elegancies of life.
We have six places of worship, a public library, book stores, and
newspapers in abundance. Board, $1.50."
188. Gloves.
Kid, silk, cotton, and woollen are the kinds
of gloves most used. They differ much in quality. Kid and
leather are most numerous. The price of labor, the difficulty in
obtaining the best kid, and the want of experienced workmen, are
such that the finest kid gloves have not been made in the United
States. An immense number of kid gloves are annually imported.
In Paris, women are paid from sixty cents to $1 a dozen
for sewing gloves. The French excel in the manufacture of kid
gloves. French workmen are very economical in cutting out the
kid. In France 375,000 dozens of skins are cut into gloves
every year. Nearly 3,500 female glove sewers are employed in
Vienna. Immense quantities of buckskin gloves and mittens are
made in Johnstown and Gloversville, New York. "Most American
manufactures have been introduced by sending the goods
into the country by peddlers, or the manufacturers themselves
selling them in that way. This trade was commenced so." The
manufacture of buckskin gloves and mittens is mostly confined
to small towns and the country. The cutting is done by men.
The sewing is given out to those who do the work at home, and
receive for their labor from $1 to $6 per week. It requires but
a few weeks to learn. A manufacturer of kid and buckskin
gloves, in Philadelphia, has all his sewing done by hand. He will
not use machines for cutting out and sewing, as it would throw
many of his workwomen out of employment. Those who are neat
and intelligent obtain a very good livelihood by it. They take
the work home, and earn $6 a week or more; beginners only
$1.50 or $2. The kid is imported from South America, and not
so fine as French kid. A glove manufacturer, New York, who
lived in Johnstown eighteen years, told me that "girls can earn
at glove sewing from $3 to $6 a week. Those who board in the
families of their employers receive less, because of their board.
Many gloves are made up by farmers' daughters at home, both
[Pg 203]
by hand and machine. A good sewer would not find it difficult
to make gloves. Most of the gloves made in factories are
stitched by machines. Singer's and Grover & Baker's are preferred.
Handworkers do not receive quite so good wages.
Women used to cut out gloves with scissors, but now men cut
them by striking with a hammer a tool the shape of a glove.
The plan is preferred, because of being cheaper. The knowledge
of dressing kid seems to be lost to foreigners in coming over the
ocean." A manufacturer in Springfield, Mass., writes: "We
employ some women in making buckskin gloves and mittens. Some
work by the piece, and some by the week, and earn from $3 to
$5. Those who work by the week spend ten hours, sewing. It
takes females from two hours to four weeks to learn. Patience,
perseverance, and taste are needed by learners. The best season
for work is from February to November. They are out of work
about two months at times. Most are Americans. They can
use a needle better than a man." A glover in Salem writes:
"Our women sew by hand, and earn $3 per week. Men spend
three years in learning—women six months. The prospect for
work is poor, as importation is destroying the business." A
manufacturer at Gloversville writes: "Women earn from $3 to
$5 a week, ten hours a day. Males get as much again as women.
A smart woman will learn in eight months. Prospect of work
in the future is good." Manufacturers in Broadalbin, N. Y.,
write me they employ twelve American women at the shop, and
about one hundred out of the shop, finishing up. When paid by
the week, they receive from $2 to $4.50, and work ten hours a day.
The comparison in prices in male and female labor is about $2
to $1, for the reason that it requires more strength, labor, and
skill to perform the man's part. Men spend two or three years
in learning—women, six months. Punctuality, sobriety, and a
liberal education, together with a steady nerve, will insure success
in our business. (Some one else suggests, mechanical talent.)
As long as there are feet to wear moccasins, and hands to wear
gloves, our kind of business must thrive. Board in neat and
commodious houses, $2 for women." A glover in New Hampshire
writes: "Women sew by the piece for me; most have families,
do their own work, and sew when they can—so I cannot
say how much they would earn, if they sewed constantly. A man
would have to spend from two to four years qualifying himself
to superintend; the part done by women can be learned in from
two to six weeks. Summer is the best season, but good workers
have constant employment. All are Americans. Any locality
is good where water power may be had. Ladies pay for board
from $1.50 to $1.70 per week." Another in Perth, N. Y., says:
[Pg 204]
"Some of our workers use sewing machines; others fit and prepare
the goods for them. They earn from $3 to $4.75. The
male and female labor is different in our establishment. I think
the business permanent. Best time for work is from 1st of
March to 1st of November. They work all daylight, except at
meal times. When a certain amount of work is required in a
given time, the women are apt to overwork themselves and slight
the work. The wives and daughters of mechanics and farmers
do the piecework at their homes. All Americans. Board, from
$1.75 to $2." "At Gloversville the men cut, and machines do
the sewing. Five pair of mits and two pair of gloves are a heavy
days work. Gloves are worth 75 cents per day to cut; and to
make from 12½ cents for a light article, to 18 cents for heavy
ones."—
Woollen Gloves.
I was told by a man who employed
eight girls to crochet woollen gloves for him, that he pays fifty
cents a dozen pairs. He makes over five cents profit on a pair
when selling to the wholesale stores; and in retailing, nine cents
a pair. He says a right expeditious girl can make one dozen
pairs a day. He employs his girls all the year. Most that attempt
to learn find their progress so slow that they get discouraged,
and give it up. It is best to learn early in life. The
Germans excel.
189. Linseys.
An agent for a manufacturing company of
linseys and flannels in Rhode Island, writes: "I employ fifty-eight
women in spooling yarn and weaving, and pay from $3 to $5 a
week. Our men are paid $1 per day, because they are able to
do more. Men run three looms; girls, two. The organs that
manufacture vitality in women are not allowed, by lacing strings,
to attain more than two thirds their natural size. If nature could
have her way with them, especially when young, they would earn
more in the weaving shop than men, because they are naturally
quicker and smarter. They are paid something while learning,
which requires three months. Good female workers have always
been scarce since I have been in the business—twenty years.
We might employ more, if we could get them. April, May, and
June are the most busy seasons. They work twelve hours. To
shorten the time two hours would make one sixth difference,
which the work people would not be willing to lose. We have
more families than single help. Those who board pay from
$1.75 to $2.25 per week. The boarding houses have to be helped
by us, to enable them to take boarders at these prices." Mr. T.,
writing from Rhode Island, mentions, in addition to the branches
stated above as performed by women, that of warping. He informs
us, the work is not more unhealthy than housework, but
complains that his women are careless, in bad weather, going to
[Pg 205]
and from the mill. "Wages, when running full time, average
from $3.75 to $6 per week. Weavers are paid by the yard,
spoolers by the bunch, warpers by the web, and extra hands by
the week. Men's wages are from 75 cents to $1.25 per day, but
men's board is from 50 to 75 cents per week more. The prospect
for work in the future depends upon the state of the country.
Spring and summer are the best seasons for work. From March
20th to October 20th, the hands work from seven to seven;
from October to March, until 8
P. M. Their wages are according
to the number of yards woven; so of course it is to their interest,
as well as our own, to run full time. We find male labor scarcer
than female. Most of our hands are Americans. Our mills are
well ventilated and well warmed. The company have a boarding
house under their own supervision, but the women are at
liberty to board in private families, and some do. The majority
of young ladies in our employ are farmers' daughters, not really
compelled to work, but prefer to do it, and in most instances use
the means for obtaining an education. Instrumental music is
taught in a seminary near the mill, by a young lady, who obtained
her education with the means gained by working in this mill.
We have from one to three nights every week devoted to literary
societies, reading circles, &c., in all of which, the ladies from this
and neighboring mills take an active part. Some eight or ten
who worked at the mill during the summer are now attending
school. Board $2.25 for men; $1.75 for women." The proprietor
of the Kenyon mills, R. I., writes: "Probably one half the
operatives in mills, in this part of the world, are women. Weavers
are paid by the yard, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Men
are generally hired by the day. An intelligent woman will be
able to run her loom after two or three weeks' practice. It is
common to put learners on looms with experienced weavers for
two or three weeks. From 20th March to 20th September, my
working time is from sunrise to sunset, the remainder of the year,
until eight o'clock in the evening. My weavers prefer to work
full time as they are paid by the yard. There is generally a demand
for good weavers in this part of the country all the year.
Weavers make most money in summer. Large mills are being
supplied with foreign help. Very few Americans are willing to
work with them. Women are employed in mills on all kinds of
work which they can do, and are preferred because they are more
steady. Nearly all my mill girls are daughters of farmers in
the neighborhood, and have had a fair common school education.
Several of my weavers take newspapers or other periodicals, and
carry them into the mill to read, when they can do so without
interfering with their work. Some take sewing or knitting.
[Pg 206]
Board $1.75 for women; $2.25 for men. If we did not keep
comfortable boarding houses, our help would find employment in
other places. Any smart, good girls, who want work, need have
no hesitation in coming to Rhode Island to look for work in
mills."
190. Woollen Shawls.
The secretary of the Waterloo
Woollen Shawl Company writes: "Women are employed by us
in weaving, carding, &c. The work is not unhealthy. It is paid
for mostly by the piece, and hands earn from $2.50 to $3 per
week. Most of them earn as much as males; and some, more.
They are employed twelve hours. Skill, industry, and good
character are necessary. The prospect of future employment is
good. There is no difference in the seasons for work. In weaving
there is no surplus. We employ two hundred and fifty women,
because they do better work than men. We employ but very
few young girls, and they generally work at home under the eyes
of parents, and attend school at least four months in the year."
191. Shoddy.
At flock or shoddy manufactories, girls
are employed to separate rags of different qualities and colors,
and to cut the seams and buttons off. The rags are placed in
machines and cut to pieces, then put in other machines that grind
them to flocks. From them satinet is made. Women are paid
so much one hundred pounds, and earn from $1.50 to $3 per week.
They are busy all the year. It is dirty work, and, I think, unwholesome
on account of the dust. Boys attend the machinery
for cutting and grinding, and are paid about the same wages as
the girls, and probably a little more. Girls could just as well
attend the machines. Modern improvements have made wool
shoddy susceptible of receiving a fine dye, and it is made into
cloth for soldiers' and sailors' uniforms, and for pilot coats; into
blanketing, drugget, stair and other carpeting, and into very
beautiful table covers. A manufacturer of wool shoddy in
Massachusetts writes: "I employ Irish women at $3 per week,
of eleven hours a day in winter and twelve in summer. Men
receive $6 per week. Women cannot perform their labor. It
requires two weeks to learn. They receive small wages the first
two or three weeks. The business is probably permanent. The
work is hard. Women do best for picking and sorting stock and
tending cards. They pay $1.50 a week for Irish fare."
192. Yarn.
A manufacturer of stocking yarn, in Spring
Valley, New York, writes: "Girls are employed in twisting and
reeling yarn. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay some
by the piece, and some by the week; those by the week receive
$2.50. The wages are the same for men and women. To learn
the whole business requires from three to five years; that part
[Pg 207]
done by girls, from one to two months. They are paid while
learning. The prospect of employment is as good as that of business
generally. Our girls work the year round; they work
eleven hours. To shorten the time would be a disadvantage to
us, and a loss in wages to the hands. Boys would do for us, but
are not so easily governed. The work is easy and comfortable."
A yarn manufacturer in Stoughton, Mass., writes me: "I pay
$2 per week, and furnish board to those that twist and card. The
labor of the women is much cleaner and easier than that of the
men. Men receive from $1 to $1.75 per day, board included. I
charge them $2.50 per week—women $1.75. Much of the men's
labor requires strength, knowledge, and skill. It requires two
or three months to learn it well. Women work, on an average,
eleven hours and a half. I should like the ten-hour system, but
cannot adopt it, unless others do the same. The supply of hands
is adequate to the demand. Ladies have done some parts of our
work, now performed by men, and have received equal wages;
but the labor being hard, and women's dress being inconvenient,
we have abandoned the plan."
193. Silk Manufacture.
The duty on raw silk is so
very great that it will not do to import it into the United States
for manufacture. We suppose, if a duty in proportion to their
value were levied on silk and linen goods, we would no longer be
so dependent on other nations for these articles. Or if a reduction
were made on the duty of the raw material, capitalists would
establish silk manufactures in the United States. Individual
failures here are attributed by some to ignorance and want of
experience; by others, to the nature of the climate. The support
afforded by our Government to the culture of silk has been very
fickle—to-day encouraged, to-morrow neglected. The experiments
that have been made prove the feasibility of growing the mulberry,
and raising the silkworm in this climate. The silk produced
was of good quality, and, but for imperfect implements and
want of experience, might have done well. The cheapness of
labor in older countries affords an advantage that we have not.
Most of the raw silk manufactured in the United States comes
from China. The women there rear silkworms; they also reel
and weave the silk. Not many years back silk winding was
done by men in England. "In the silk factories in France,
there are two unwholesome processes entirely carried on by
women: the first is the drawing of the cocoons, when the hands
must be kept constantly in boiling water, and the odor of the
[Pg 208]
putrefying insects constantly fills the lungs; the second is carding
the floss, the fine lint of which affects the bronchial tubes. Six
out of every eight women employed, die in a few months.
Healthy young girls from the mountains soon develop tubercular
consumption; and, to complete the dreadful tale, they are kept
upon the lowest wages, being paid only twenty cents, where a
man would earn sixty." "One silk manufacturer in Valencia,
Spain, gives employment to 170 women and young girls." In
Lyons, France, many women are employed in the silk manufacture,
for particulars of which see
Revue des Deux Mondes, Feb.
15th, 1860. Silk weavers mostly work in attics, where they
can have the best light to distinguish shades of colors, and where
the silk, which moisture would damage, can be kept perfectly
dry. In Spitalfields, the silk manufacture is mostly carried on
by the workmen at their homes, their families assisting. Each
child has his own branch, and the wife hers. It is the same case
in the making of lace, artificial flowers, embroidery, straw braiding,
&c. The strength of silk is greater than that of cotton, flax,
or wool. Machinery is now employed for winding the silk off of
cocoons, but formerly it was done by hand. Mrs. O. told us her
husband employs a few girls to spool silk, which he dyes for a
large dress trimming manufactory next door. The girls earn
from $2 to $3 a week. The pasting of patterns of floss silk upon
cards was done by men a few years ago in England, but women,
after great effort, have succeeded in gaining the work, so much
more suitable for them. "A lady in Jefferson county, Ia., has
made herself a handsome silk dress from cocoons of her own
raising." A manufacturer of silk goods in Paterson, N. J.,
writes: "We mostly employ girls from twelve to eighteen. The
work is not unhealthy. Average pay is $3 per week. To learn,
a girl must be about twelve years of age; it takes about two
months. Pay begins after two weeks. To learn, one should be
smart with her hands, and careful with the material. There is a
good prospect ahead for weavers. All seasons are good, except
during a panic. They work twelve hours. The time could not
be shortened conveniently. If other States worked less time, we
could too. We employ a hundred girls and twenty-five boys.
Seventy-five per cent. are American. Board, $1.75. Women
could be employed more extensively in weaving. Men are employed
upon the spinners, women in winding, &c."
194. Ribbons.
In England, formerly, a woman was not
at all engaged in ribbon weaving, as the men thought it an encroachment
on their sphere of labor; nor were they even allowed
to wind silk preparatory to its use in weaving. Manufacturers
of ribbon in West Newton, Massachusetts, write: "We employ
[Pg 209]
from forty to eighty women, and prefer them to men in all departments
they are fitted for. They are paid by the week, and
earn from $2 to $6, according to the value of their work. It
requires from six months to a year to learn the business. Women
are paid something while learning. Good character and fair capacity
are needed. Our women work eleven hours. If the time
was reduced to ten, the loss would be the use of machinery.
There is a surplus of hands in New York, by reason of immigration.
Women are inferior in mechanical skill, superior in
steadiness."
195. Sewing Silk.
The first factory for spinning silk in
this country was established in Northampton, Massachusetts.
There are 156 hands in Massachusetts, engaged in the manufacture
of sewing silk. Two other factories have been established
since then in Paterson, New Jersey; one for the manufacture of
the raw silk, and the other the manufacture of sewing silks,
fringes, gimps, and tassels. There is a manufactory in Mansfield,
Connecticut, and one in Newport, Kentucky. Most of the sewing
silk used in this country under the name of Italian silk is made
by American manufacturers. An agent for the manufacture of
twist in Paterson, New Jersey, told me their best hands do not
earn over $3.50 a week and work eleven hours. They try girls,
that wish to learn, two weeks, and if they find them fitted for
the work, pay $1 a week. There is no danger from the machinery
as in cotton factories, nor has it the unhealthy tendency of cotton,
as there are no particles flying from the material like the lint that
flies from cotton. It does not require an apt person long to learn.
The girls stand all the time. They have to watch the machinery,
and tie the threads that break. The agent said, in the Eastern
States girls are paid better in silk factories, but they are more
competent workers. There some earn from sixty to eighty cents
per day. The work is neat and clean. Some manufacturers of
sewing machine silk and twist write me from Boston: "We employ
fifty women winding and twisting silk. They work eleven hours
in winter and twelve in summer, and earn from $3 to $6 per week.
Some are paid by the piece and some by the week. Men are paid
from $1 to $2.50 a day. Integrity and activity are wanted. The
prospect for future employment is good. They work at all seasons.
One fourth are Americans. No parts of our occupation are
suitable for women but those in which they are engaged." A
sewing silk manufacturer in Paterson, N. J., writes: "Our women
are engaged in winding and doubling the raw silk and finishing,
in skeins and on spools, the dyed material. The work is
generally considered healthy. Many children, boys and girls,
from ten years and upward, are employed—say forty per cent. of
[Pg 210]
the whole force of help; children at $1 per week—women at $3
and $4. They work sixty-nine hours to the week. State rights
prevent the shortening of the time. Each State makes its own
laws on the subject, and no unanimity exists. Males and females
are employed up to a certain age, say fifteen years, indiscriminately;
girls always preferred. The time of learning depends
upon the quickness of the hand; some learn in two or three days,
some again can scarcely learn at all. The rule of the trade is
not to pay learners. It depends on circumstances whether we
pay. In brisk times we have about sixty (including children)—women
about forty—perhaps less. About half are Americans.
Crinoline is in the way to prevent women from performing other
parts of the labor. Women are cheaper. Men could not be got,
and could scarcely do the work, if they could. Yet no particular
qualifications are required. The prospect for an increase of this
manufacture depends upon congressmen and the tariff. The best
seasons are immediately after the New Year's and Fourth of July
holidays." In France, some girls are employed to wind the raw
silk from cocoons, and some spin it into skeins of silk. In Dublin,
many women are employed in the winding and picking of silk
used in making poplin. Near Algiers is an orphan asylum, from
which a large number of girls have been apprenticed to a gentleman
who owns a silk winding mill in the vicinity. The girls
work twelve hours a day.
196. Lace Makers.
Large numbers of women are
employed in lace making in Belgium, France, Ireland, and England.
A normal lace school was established in Dublin in 1847.
Lace makers are very closely confined, and in busy times many
spend from twelve to twenty hours at their work. Lace making
requires care, quickness, and dexterity. Rev. Mr. Hanson
mentions the fact that, in Liverpool, there are three Roman
Catholic institutions aided by the Privy Council for the industrial
training of girls: one, attended by forty pupils, is a laundry;
another is a lace school, attended by one hundred and sixty-six;
the third, attended by twenty-six, trains domestic servants.
Lace making is so injurious to the eyes that, at forty, very few
can carry it on without spectacles. In England the process of
winding is conducted by young women, while boys are mostly
employed as lace threaders. Their condition is a wretched one.
Women are mostly employed as lace runners or embroiderers.
Mending, drawing, pearling, and joining are mostly done by young
children. An interesting account of the business is given in
[Pg 211]
Charlotte Elizabeth's story of the "Lace Runners": "It is proved
by unquestionable evidence, that in lace making it is customary
for children to work at the age of four or five and six years; and
instances are found in which a child, only
two years old, was set to
work by the side of its mother." The present condition of most of
the laboring classes in England is far more depressing and exhausting
than the slavery that exists among the colored population of
the United States. "The powers of production of a machine for
making laces are to hand labor nearly as 30,000 to 5." C.
says he and his wife are the only makers of hand lace in the
United States, and he has been nine years in the business here.
He says, making the figures is most difficult; and he showed me
one figure he asked but twenty-eight cents for, that he stated it
would require a day and a half to make. I wish I had offered to
buy it. He employs a number of girls to put the figures on
some kind of a foundation for collars, sleeves, and capes. They
also transfer, mend lace, and do other such work. He says,
making figures does not pay as well as the other parts, and it
would not pay for the salt you use on your potatoes. He does
not have lace made, except now and then a figure that cannot be
obtained, to fill out a piece that is being transferred or altered,
and for which the lady is willing to pay a good price. He says
laces are made so much cheaper in the old country, that when
imported, paying even a duty of twenty or twenty-five per cent.,
they are sold as cheap as those he makes. He says he pays his
girls nearly twice as much as they are paid in Europe. His
report I thought contradictory, and supposed he feared competition.
I was told by an English woman, who had been accustomed
to making lace from six years of age until the last
ten, that it takes seven or eight years to learn lace making in
all its parts. She says there are twenty-one processes gone
through with in making every kind but pillow lace, in which
there are but five processes. When she was a child, none but
common laces were made in France, and the making of their finest
laces they learned from the English, who went over to France.
197. Lace Menders.
I called on M. W., a lace mender.
"In New York, she has received from one store, Mme. G.'s, from
$20 to $25 a week for work. She thinks in a few years very
little work will be ordered from the stores; it will be done by
those who make a business of it. The stores derive a handsome
profit. She did a piece for one store for $3, that she knows the
lady paid $5 for having done; and another piece at $3, that the
lady paid $10 for—the storekeeper having such profits for nothing
but merely sending it to the lace transferrer. She makes a
comfortable living, but works at night as well as through the
[Pg 212]
day. It has injured her eyes and made her nervous. She has
had two little girls learning to mend, alter, and transfer lace;
one received her board and clothing for her work for three years.
One girl, that spent two years with her, is now obtaining a livelihood
by her work. She thinks if a bright, steady girl of thirteen
should spend two years at it, and then have friends to start
her in business, she would be well able to support herself. Lace
mending is a separate branch from lace making. In England, if
a person can obtain the names of one or two wealthy families, it
will at once establish them in business. In doing up lace, little
girls can put the pins in the edges to keep it in place until dried.
C. and Mme. G., she says, pay her as her customers would, but
she prefers establishing herself, and does not so well like store
work. Her customers recommend her to their friends, and so
she will gradually become known. Lace mending is a nice, clean,
respectable business, and can be done at home."
198. Hair Cloth Manufacture.
"There is some competition
in the sale of foreign and domestic hair cloth. The
American is of a better quality, and on that ground only are
manufacturers able to compete with foreigners, the duty on hair
cloth being low. When the hair has been separated from the
short hair used for curling, it goes into the more delicate fingers
of the hair drawers, who sort it into lengths, each length corresponding
to the width of the cloth to be woven. We have seldom
seen any mechanical operation requiring more dexterity or constant
attention than this. The girls engaged in this work make
from $3 to $3.50, and sometimes $4 a week. The weaving is done
by hand looms, each worked by two girls—one to handle the hook
(answering the purpose of a shuttle), and the other to serve the
hair. The prices paid for weaving vary from twenty to thirty-two
cents per yard. The average, including plain and figured
cloth, is twenty-four cents. A fair average day's work is four or
five yards. But this requires two hands, you must remember; so
that perhaps a fair estimate of the wages of hair cloth weavers
would be from fifty to sixty-two and a half cents per day. The
labor is severe, and we should think it impossible, without injury
to the health, for young women to work at it more than two thirds
of the time." At a hair-cloth manufactory in New York, I was
told they employ one hundred girls. The proprietor says they
have work all the year. He never knew a woman at the business
that could not find employment. The first month they do
not receive anything for their work, but after that can earn from
$3 to $5 per week. It is paid for by the yard. The more practice
a worker has, the better she succeeds. I think it must be
[Pg 213]
dirty work. Another manufacturer told me it does not require
long to learn to weave hair cloth, but some time to do it well.
He pays $5 per week, but their time is not limited to ten hours.
The girls, I saw, were pale and filthy. He thinks the business
is likely to extend, and, consequently, the prospect of employment
to women in that field of labor is good. He keeps his girls all
the year. The Providence Hair Cloth Co. write: "Women are
employed in weaving our hair cloth. Every hair has to be put
in separately by the fingers of the girl. The only disadvantage
to the health of the girl is the close application in sitting so long.
We pay our girls thirteen cents per yard for weaving. It requires
about two weeks or one month before a girl becomes sufficiently
accustomed to the work to weave on full speed. We pay them
while learning. No qualifications needed, only general neatness
and upright moral character. All seasons are alike. We work
only ten hours. Thirty girls have each one loom with which to
work; one girl mends the cloth, and three shave and trim the
same—making thirty-four in all. One half are American.
Women are in all respects superior to men in weaving—same as in
cotton looms."
199. Iron.
"The great heat to be endured and the severe
muscular power required, preclude women from the manufacture
of iron goods. They are not directly employed, and to a small
extent indirectly. We think when women have to perform what
is unquestionably man's work, it lowers the standard of female
character instead of elevating, and nothing is more disagreeable
than to be constantly employed at labor uncongenial to one's
nature." From the United States census we learn that in 1850
there were engaged in the manufacture of pig iron 20,298 males,
150 females; in the manufacture of casting iron, 23,541 males,
48 females; in the manufacture of wrought iron, 16,110 males,
138 females. We do not know exactly how these women were
employed. The work in rolling mills is very severe and the
heat intense. The men have their limbs cased in tin sheaths
above their knees. The vast capital required to develop the
mineral resources of a country, and the comparative newness of
our country, have hitherto prevented more than a partial devel
[Pg 214]opment
of its resources. Many women are employed in dressing
and sorting ore in Great Britain.
200. Files.
The notches in files are made by a chisel acted
on by a hammer held in the hand. The edge thrown up in making
the notch assists the workman in putting the chisel in the right
place, and keeping it there while he cuts the next notch. "It is
peculiar that hitherto no machine has been constituted, capable
of producing files which rival those cut by the human hand."
From a manufacturer in Massachusetts, we learn that "he employs
from four to six girls in cutting fine work files, cleaning, and
wrapping up, &c. They are largely employed in England. The
work is considered healthy. They receive from $3 to $4.50 per
week of ten hours a day. Men and women are paid equal wages for
the same kind of work. It requires from six months to two years to
learn. The prospect for a small number in each factory is good.
There is work every day in the year. It is quite a new business
in this country. Women are neater and more particular with
their work than men. They could do some other parts that are
suitable for them, but they would soil their hands too much."
A file manufacturer writes me: "Women are paid by the piece
in cutlery—in other departments by the day; when by the piece,
they receive as much as men; when by the day, one half. It
would require three or four years to learn. Most women cannot
cut any but small files as well as men, as they have not sufficient
muscular power in the hands and fingers. Women are taught in
Sheffield, England, by their fathers and brothers, and have what
they earn. Good eyesight and stout nerves are the requisites
for a learner. No prospect of employment in our business at
present. The best localities for manufactures are where files
are wanted, in New England and the middle States."
201. Guns.
One manufacturer writes: "I hardly know
whether the work could be done by women. It is difficult
to learn and hard to practise." A gunsmith told me, guns
could be polished by women. They are polished by hand. A
manufacturer of guns writes: "I have no women employed in
my factory. It is not common for them to work at this business
in America, although many of them are employed by gun makers
in foreign countries."
202. Hinges.
A manufacturer of hinges writes: "We
employ no women in our manufactory. There are portions of the
work that might be done by females as well as male labor. Still
we have not adopted the plan." A manufacturer writes from
New Britain, Connecticut: "We employ women in packing
goods, and making brass hinges, and pay from thirty-eight to
sixty-five cents per day of ten hours. We formerly paid women
[Pg 215]
$1.50 per day. We now get the same amount done by girls
for sixty-five cents. We employ them because the work is light,
and we can get it done at that price. The part done by women
requires one month to learn. The prospect for this work in
future is good. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but our
hands are employed the year round. Other parts of the work
could be done by women if they were willing, but the work is
dirty. They are superior to men in the same branch, as they
handle the work quicker, and are, as a general thing, more steady
and reliable. The housework here is mostly done by Irish girls,
while American girls prefer working in shops, even at less wages.
There are many other branches of our work that might be done
by females, for which we pay men $1 and $1.25 per day; but
the work is rather dirty, and few here would do it, as they can
have cleaner work, and we have never sought that kind of help
on that account."
203. Locks.
"The Newark Lock Company" employ eight
American girls in packing hardware. They are paid by the
week, from $3 to $5, and average half the pay of men, who do
more laborious work. Women spend six or eight months learning.
Activity and neatness are desirable qualities. Women excel
in both qualities. We expect to double our business in a
year or two. The women work ten hours per day, and have
steady employment. Two thirds of all the locks used in the
United States are made in the five large lock manufactories of
Connecticut. The best locality is near the great emporium, and
on tide water, to save freight. Board $2.50." The secretary of
the Eagle Lock Company writes: "We employ from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred men, and only twenty girls. Our work
is not suitable for females, except to pack our locks in paper ready
for market. They work by the piece, and can earn from $10 to
$25 per month, according to how they employ themselves. They
are mostly daughters of men employed by us, and board at home.
They are all Yankee girls. We only work ten hours, unless
business is driving." "Hardware manufacturers in Cromwell,
Connecticut, pay eight women from 50 to 62½ cents per day for
packing. They work ten hours a day. The work can be learned
in one month. The prospect of work in future is good. Board
$1.62 per week." Manufacturers in N. Britain write: "We pay
by the day from 50 to 60 cents, ten hours' work. Women are
not generally better paid than they now are, because they compete
with each other so much in the light, easy, and clean
branches of labor, and meet competition in light work from boys.
Their time of learning is from six months to a year, and half
never learn. They are paid while learning. An eye for putting
[Pg 216]
up work true to the square, and quick fingers, are the most essential
qualifications. The business is constantly increasing. Work
is the same, or nearly so, at all seasons. Girls employed by us
have every personal comfort and convenience that is possible, and
are paid as much as men for the same labor. Most of our work
is more or less greasy and dirty from iron and brass filings.
Girls usually have less natural
mechanical intelligence, we think.
It may be, however, that the want is from their inexperience in
mechanical branches. Our impressions are that New England
is the place for manufacturing small wares, requiring great activity
and industry. Our workers have the use of a public library
and lectures free. Board, $7 to $8 per month—thirty to thirty-one
days." A manufacturer of trunk castors, in Massachusetts, writes
me that he once employed girls to paint castors, and put them in
packages for the dealers.
204. Nails.
Making wrought nails is too hard work for
women. A manufacturing company of nails, in Boston, write me
there are no women employed in the nail factories of New England.
The work is exceedingly heavy. Another manufacturing
company write, they have never known of women being employed
in making nails in any country. But we know that in France,
women are employed in turning the wheel in making nails, and
at Sedgley, E., and the neighboring villages, the number of girls
employed in nail making considerably exceeds that of the boys.
In England, the part done by girls is attending machinery that
splits iron into the proper widths for nails.
205. Rivets.
A manufacturer writes: "We believe no
manufacturer employs women in our particular branch of industry.
The business requires great strength and exposure to furnaces."
The writer suggests that in iron moulding, perhaps a
new career might be opened for women. "Innumerable small
castings are now being made, such as buckles, eyes, rings, &c.,
for harness making. As this work is exceedingly light, requiring
skilful manipulation, it might be within the scope of women to
undertake this branch of industry." The casting is dangerous.
The mixture of gases in the hot metal sometimes produces a blowing—that
is, the metal is thrown into the air, falling oftentimes
on the workers, penetrating their clothes and burning them. A
woman's clothes would be unsuitable for this work. The moulding
is very light, easy work, and we think as suitable for women
as most mechanical labor.
206. Screws.
The processes in making screws are forging,
turning up, nicking, worming, and tipping. The cutting and
polishing of screws, in Birmingham, are chiefly done by women.
The machinery used requires care and delicacy.
[Pg 217]
207. Skates.
Skate manufacturers in Maine write: "We
employ from ten to twelve ladies to stitch skate leathers, for about
two months in the year, November and December. They are
paid by the piece, and average 50 cents a day. All are Americans.
Board, $1.50 per week. In the New England States, more
American women are employed than foreigners, particularly in
country towns."
208. Shovels.
A shovel manufacturer says he employs
boys to clean the handles, by holding them as they run over
emery belts. He pays the boys $3 a week. For varnishing the
iron part of the shovel he pays 10 cents a dozen, and "yesterday a
youth was able to do twenty-one dozen." This branch of work,
we think, might be done by strong women.
209. Wire Workers.
I was told at a wire manufactory,
New York, that women are never employed to draw wire. If it
be true that wire drawers are a very rough, coarse set of men, it
is well girls do not work in the establishments; as the work is such,
we presume, that all must be employed in the same apartments.
The labor of drawing is such that the hands of the men become
almost like iron. Mr. S., Philadelphia, employs a woman to
weave fine wire. She learned it in her native country, Scotland.
She also sews pieces of fine wire cloth together. She receives
$5 a week, and seldom works ten hours a day. Most men and
women engaged in wire work are English or Irish, who learned
the trade in their own country. I was told it requires some years
to attain excellence. Weaving requires considerable strength in
both upper and lower limbs. Men wire workers are paid from
$1.50 to $2.50 a day. Mr. C., New York, employs a number of
women weavers and seamers. They are paid $4 a week. Formerly
their girls would want a day to go to a picnic, to get
ready for a party, or help their mothers at home. The steam
would have to be stopped unless they could get hands to fill their
places during the time, which was very difficult and often could
not be done. For a while their women gave them so much trouble,
they had to stop the machinery altogether. It caused him such
annoyance that some of the female members of his family learned,
and are now employed. He employs women to cover steel for
hoop skirts, and pays $3 a week. A few women are employed
at wire weaving in Cincinnati. The wiring and making of bird
cages seems to me a field of industry open to female hands.
They can be made in any place, and the work is light. Wire
could be woven in fenders by women, I think. Mr. C., maker of
patent rat traps, employed a number of girls to lace the wires.
Some he paid by the week, some by the piece. They mostly
earned $3 a week. A small girl could learn it in two weeks. I
[Pg 218]
saw a manufacturer of wire stands for cloaks, mantillas, &c. He
employs a few ladies to dress them, paying 25 cents apiece.
One of his hands is very expeditious and can cover six in a day.
Those that know nothing of the work, he employs in making
skirts only, and of course make less. February, March, August,
September, and October are the busy months. There are only
three places in New York where the work is done. A wire
maker, in Lowell, writes: "I employed a girl four years ago in
wire weaving, that gave unqualified satisfaction. She left, to obtain
a college education. I paid by the piece when I employed
her, and at the same rates as I paid men. She used to earn $1
a day, and even did so while attending school; but of course
worked before and after school—probably seven or eight hours a
day. Most of my work is too laborious for women; but some
wire workers that make meal sieves, corn parchers, &c., can, and
I believe do, employ them to advantage, by reason of the price
of labor being much less for women than men. This kind of
business is limited. There are not more than one hundred and
fifty men and women, probably, working at the business in New
England. A maker of sieves, and wire goods in general, writes
from Worcester, Massachusetts: "The business is quite healthy
compared with needle work. I employ six women, who earn
from $4 to $5 per week of ten hours a day. Men earn from
$7.50 to $12. Some goods we manufacture will not justify us in
paying women higher prices. (The women should not do it.
They would then have to employ men and pay better prices,
when women could come in and claim equal wages.) Our kind
of work they learn in a few weeks. There will be no falling off,
in future, of this work. Most girls like the work. Board, $2
per week in families." A wire manufacturer in Belleville, New
Jersey, writes: "We employ females in sewing and winding
wire. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay from $2.50
to $4.50 per week. Learners receive $2.50 per week. Board,
$2 to $2.50. Men in our establishment average $2 per day. I
would say that in some branches of our business, women might
take the place of men."
Brass Manufacture.
In some branches of the brass
manufacture women are not at all employed—in a few others,
they are. At a brass bell foundery, we were told the work is
not healthy, and is too heavy for women.
210. Candlesticks.
A manufacturer of candlesticks in
Vermont "employs from three to four women, because they are
better adapted to the work than men. He pays by the piece, from
[Pg 219]
$13 to $15 per month, and employs them the year round. Women
are paid as well as men or boys at the same kind of work. It
requires from three to five years to learn the business—from one to
two years, that part done by women. Women are paid small
wages while learning. It is a clean, comfortable business.
There are no parts of our work suitable for women in which they
are not employed."
211. Hooks and Eyes.
The agent of the Waterbury
Hook and Eye Company says: "The hooks and eyes are given out
to families to put on cards, for which they are paid by the gross.
It pays poorly—probably not more for a child than 50 cents a
week. The country and villages around supply plenty of girls
for the factories. In good times the hands in the factories are
kept employed all the year. We employ three females to pack
our finished light work, which is as neat and healthy work as can
be in any pleasant factory—pay is $3.50 to $4.50 per week of
sixty hours. No males are employed on similar work. Supply
and demand regulate prices. Only a short time is required by
a competent girl to learn to do our work properly; and pay commences
when they commence. Every good qualification which
'flesh is heir to' is needed to make the right sort of help.
Prospect for employing more females than heretofore is not
flattering. Girls are preferable for any light, neat, tasty
work. Ours are Americans, and I believe as comfortable and
happy as people are likely to be on this sinful globe. I doubt
if much of our other work can be done by females. A place
nearest to a large market, where good air and water prevail and
means of living are reasonable, is the most desirable place to
locate a factory, ordinarily. Churches, schools, libraries, lectures,
&c., afford ample means and opportunity for mental and moral
culture, for those who work ten hours a day, and can board for
$2 a week, and are free from any special cares or anxieties."
N. S. & Co., North Britain, write: "We employ nine women
to make paper boxes, and pack hooks and eyes. They earn from
60 cents to $1 per day of ten hours, but are paid by the piece.
The men earn from $1.15 to $3 per day; but their work is different
from the women's. The women learn their part in two or
three weeks. Industry and self-respect are the most desirable
qualities. The prospect for future employment is good. They
work all the year. Board, $2 per week."
212. Lamps.
Mr. J. "used to employ girls to cement the
glass body on the marble stand, and the top of the body on the
metal through which the wick passes. He also employed them
in papering to send away. The prospect for workers is poor,
because the business is limited. He paid his girls $3.50 a week.
[Pg 220]
No manufactories in the West or South." In 1860 the manufacture
of coal-oil lamps formed the principal business of sixteen
companies, who employed 2,150 men and 400 women and boys."
213. Pins.
The pins made in the United States are not
so high priced as English pins. They have not until lately
been so well finished. In pin making in England, the drawing
and cutting of the wire, the cutting of the heads from the coils,
and the trimming are mostly performed by men; the other operations,
by women and children. Sometimes, in trimming the pins,
a man, his wife, and child work together. For pickling and
trimming the pins the price usually paid is two cents a pound. A
skilful and industrious worker can head 20,000 pins per day, for
which in England they are paid about 30 cents of our money.
Pin heading is very sedentary work, and children seven or eight
years of age are often kept at it for twelve or thirteen hours, with
merely time for hasty meals. Girls at Sedgley and Warrington
begin as early as five years of age to work in the pin factories.
It is said that at Wiltenhall they are treated with much cruelty,
if at all refractory. In Sedgley more women are employed than
men, and receive the same treatment. The secretary of the
American Pin Company at Waterbury, Connecticut, writes:
"Women are employed in tending machines, and in sticking
and packing pins, and packing hooks and eyes, and making paper
boxes. The work is not unhealthy. The lowest wages by the
week is $3.25 while they are learning; afterward $3.50 and
$3.75 per week, ten hours a day. Some work by the piece, and
earn from $14 to $21 per month. The supply of woman's labor
is equal to the demand, at the prices we pay. We work through
the year, generally without stopping, except for the holidays.
Our average number is fifty. Girls can do the work as well or
better than boys, that could be hired at the same price. Most
are Americans. They have their Sundays, holidays, and evenings—also
a public library and institute lectures at a very small
cost—besides religious privileges afforded by six churches.
Board, $1.50 to $2 per week." The Albany Company, at
Cohoes, sends the following information: "Women, and girls
not younger than twelve years of age, are employed in sticking,
folding, wrapping, &c. The same work is done in England and
Germany. Wages from $6 to $20 per month, working twelve
hours a day. Those having had the most practice can usually
do the work faster and better, consequently obtain higher wages.
They receive pay while learning. The qualifications most desirable
are care, attention, and activity. The business is not likely
to increase greatly, as the work is mostly done by machinery and
the demand for the article is limited. We are busy at all seasons
[Pg 221]
except in extremely hot or cold weather. The hands work
twelve hours—by so doing they obtain higher wages. We have
more applicants than we wish. We employ from twelve to
fifteen, because they can do the work more readily than men.
The work is light, and the condition of the women quite equal to
that of women otherwise employed to obtain the necessities of
life." The agent of the Howe Manufacturing Company, in Connecticut,
reports: "Our work is all done by the piece. The
earnings of the workwomen vary according to their skill, diligence,
and the number of hours spent at work. Average in April
last, $11.09—in four weeks. Highest earnings of one individual
$22.09 (equal to $5.54 per week). Small girls earn from $1 to
$1.50 per week, and work six or eight hours. Men and women
do not perform the same kind of labor in our establishment.
Why all persons are not paid equally for equal labor, I do not
feel competent to explain. A knowledge of our work is soon
acquired. Learners are paid for what they do. A good character
and reputation, honesty, fidelity, common mechanical
ability, and diligence are desirable qualifications. We generally
find the hands we want in our own immediate neighborhood.
Our work is considered desirable, and much sought for. In all
seasons the hands are equally employed, except dry seasons, when
we are short of water to drive our machinery. Our
stock hands
generally stay with us till they get married or lay up so much
money that they are able to get along with less labor, or become
too old or infirm to work to advantage. Some have stayed with
us over twenty years, many over ten years. The number of
hours for work is discretionary. We seldom request industrious
hands to work more hours than they choose. Our hands sometimes
work twelve or fourteen hours, at their pleasure. Small
girls, of whom we employ but five or six, seldom work ten hours.
The number of women and girls employed in our establishment
heretofore has been variable, averaging perhaps thirty. We are
using improved machinery, which has already reduced the number,
and will reduce it still more. Our work is peculiarly adapted
to female labor. Nearly all our hands are American born.
In twenty-two years' business, we have seldom, if ever, had an
adult woman employed who was unable to sign her name to the
pay roll. Our adult women have the churches and lyceum lectures,
which I believe they generally attend. Their time for
reading, for the most part, will be evenings and Sundays. Small
girls can attend our district school free of cost." A manufacturer,
in Seymour, Connecticut, writes: "We pay from $3 to $4
per week. We employ no men in sticking and packing, and, if
we were not particular as to whom we employ, we could reduce
[Pg 222]
the amount of our monthly pay roll a large per cent. It requires
very little practice to learn the part of our business done by
women, and in most cases we pay them full wages upon entering
the mill. No special qualifications are needed. The kind of
business we pursue will always be carried on, but of course can
never become very common. No difference in the seasons, and
the girls are never thrown out of employment. Under the
present regulations they work eleven hours, and the time could
not well be shortened, as that would tend to derange the other departments
of our business. We have but ten employed at
present, but in the course of a few days expect to have about
twenty. They are employed because they are peculiarly qualified
for the business, and on account of the lower rate of wages
as compared with the labor of men. We employ women in all
cases when the work is suitable for them. Women as employed
by us are superior to men, being more expert and active. The
New England States are doubtless the best locality for our
business. The females employed by us are all intelligent and
of good mental ability."
214. Rings.
The American Brass Ring Co. "employ
twenty women at presses, in packing, &c. They are all foreigners.
Board, $1.50 per week. The work is not unhealthy. Women
are paid fifty cents a day of ten hours. Women are paid $2 a
week for four weeks while learning. The prospect of future
employment is no better than the business now offers."
215. Scales.
H. T., manufacturer of scales and weights,
Philadelphia, Penn., writes: "We employ women in making
metallic weights. The work is not unhealthy. They earn from
$4 to $6 per week. No comparison in the price of labor. Women
can make as much as men, if they are willing. It requires almost
a lifetime to learn the business; but the part the women work at
requires but a day or two. We pay learners. No extraordinary
qualifications are needed. A good prospect for increase of employment.
No difference in seasons. They work from four to
ten hours. Women cannot be employed at our heaviest work, on
account of the great physical strength required." I was told at
F. & M.'s, New York, that the beams of the scales could be burnished
by women. It is done with steel instruments. I suppose
the pans could also be burnished by them. Burnishing the back
of the plates could be done by women also, but it is somewhat
dirty work. Women would have to work in the room with the
men, for while the foreman was employed, he would like to keep
an eye on the employees. The work is rather heavy for women,
but not more so than some in which they are engaged.
[Pg 223]
216. Stair Rods.
A manufacturer of plated stair rods
told me "he employs a woman to burnish the rods. She can
make from $4 to $7 a week, not working more than ten hours a
day, being paid from fifty cents to $1 a hundred. It is work
hard on the chest, but he thinks not hard on the eyes. He had
one lady who did it at home. In large establishments, rods are
now burnished by machinery. The polishing of stair rods is very
hard work, and requires strong, stout lads." Another stair-rod
manufacturer told me "he has employed a boy to tie up stair
rods, but would employ a girl and pay the same price, $1 per
day."
217. Steel Manufacture.
No women are employed in
the conversion of iron into steel in this or any other country. It
is rough, heavy work. It requires great physical strength, and
is unsuitable for a woman. No women are employed in the
manufacture of axes in this country. It is rough, coarse work,
and done by stout, strong men. In one of the largest cutlery establishments
in the United States they employ six hundred men,
but no females; except six, for wrapping up goods. In the finishing
of metals there are three branches: turning, filing, and setting
up. In turning, jagged particles of metal fly off, and often
enter the eyes of the workers, doing them great injury. Goggles
of magnetized iron might be used to prevent this. The magnetized
wash is used to prevent the filings from getting down the
throats of grinders and polishers. For learning the two parts,
turning and filing, four years of apprenticeship are served. The
turning requires more skill than physical strength. It might be
done by women that were willing to serve so long an apprenticeship.
218. Buckles.
G. Brothers, of Waterbury, employ six
women in riveting and other light work on bell clasps. They
write: "The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day.
The labor of women is paid twenty-five per cent. less than that
of males, because they are not able to do as heavy work. It requires
about three months to learn the part of males or females.
Our branch of trade is not increasing. Spring and fall are the
most busy seasons, but the women are not thrown out of employment
during the year. They are superior in light work. Board,
$2 per week." A manufacturer in Attleboro' writes: "I employ
from twelve to fifteen at packing, at light press work, &c. They
are paid from four to six cents per hour. Women are not paid
higher, because they are not worth more. I pay men from seven
to twenty-five cents per hour. The time of learning depends on
[Pg 224]
the ingenuity of the employed. They have steady work most of
the time. They are full-blooded Yankees—have a good deal of
fun when the boss is out, and work in a pleasant room. The labor
is easy, and they are satisfied with the remuneration. (Perhaps
because they can do no better!) A healthy climate, convenience
to market and to places where the raw material is made, are advantages.
All New-England girls have the advantages of a good
education in the common branches." A manufacturer in Middletown,
Conn., replies: "Girls are employed by me, springing
in the tongues of buckles and packing them—also making paper
boxes. They earn from forty cents to $1 per day, being paid by
the piece. Their employment is not so heavy or laborious as
that of males. It takes from six months to one year to earn full
wages. Women will probably always be employed in these
branches. Good box makers are always in demand. We employ
thirty—all Americans. The balance of my work is rather
objectionable for women, unless it be foreign or second-class girls.
Women are usually more neat than men. Either water or railroad
communication is desirable in seeking a locality. Board,
about $2 per week. There was never so great a demand for
female help in this part of the country as at the present time.
They have started a shirt manufactory about nine miles from
here, and are in want of girls; but the greatest trouble there is to
find boarding places at reasonable rates." The West Haven Co.
report "the employment to be very healthy by giving exercise
to the limbs. The pay is from seventy-five cents to $1.50 per
day—average $1. Some learn the business in two days, some in
two weeks. The hands are paid from the first, and are seventeen
in number, all Americans. Women are superior in this branch,
because they are quicker with their fingers."
219. Edge Tools.
The Humphreysville Edge Tool Manufacturing
Co. inform me they do not employ females. For
polishing they hire strong, rough boys, that they can get cheap,
who stand while at work, and stoop over the articles, which produces
a strain on the back and compression of the chest. Many
find it so injurious they have to give it up, and the majority of
those who do keep at it do not last long. The majority of the
metal workers in Birmingham do their work at home. Each
member of the family has his particular part to perform. An
English writer says: "In various branches of the hardware manufacture,
both in Birmingham and Sheffield, women may be seen
by hundreds in some places, comfortably secluded from the male
workers; in others, working side by side with them at the same
mechanical process. They are never given to intoxication, and
rarely, if ever, to strikes; and it may be very much the absence
[Pg 225]
of these propensities that has recommended them so largely to
the notice of the employer. In London the practice is gaining
ground."
220. Electrical Machines.
From the office of Davis
& Kidder's magneto-electric machines we receive the following
intelligence: "We employ women in covering wire, spools, sewing
velvet, papering boxes, &c., &c. They earn from $12 to $24
per month, and are paid by the month. Women are paid nearly
one half as much as men—can form no reason why women are
not as well paid. It requires about three months for females to
learn; they are paid while learning. All it requires is energy.
There is no prospect at all for future employment in this branch.
We employ our hands through the year; do not deduct from
their wages when absent for a week. They work ten hours a
day. We employ four, because the work is light and better suited
for them than males. All Americans. Those in my employ are
well educated. Board in respectable families, $2.50." C.
Brothers, of New York, employ two girls for the same kind of
work. They pay one $5 a week, ten hours a day—the small
girl $3. They have had them but six months, but expect to
keep them all the year. Mr. C. thinks the business is so limited
that the prospect is poor for learners.
221. Fire Arms.
From the Arms Manufacturing Co.,
Chicopee, Mass., we receive the following information: "We
employ women in burnishing plated ware. The employment is
not unhealthy. We pay generally by the piece. Some are paid
about eighty cents per day. There is a prospect for steady employment
for the few we have, and for no more. They are in no
season entirely out of work. Ten hours a day are devoted to
work when paid for by the week. All Americans. Easy work
and much sought after. Women are inferior in point of strength,
superior in cheapness." Sharp's Rifle Co. write: "We employ
from ten to thirty women in making cartridges and inspecting
primers. We pay about $1 each day, as the business requires
good skill and care, and is hazardous. It is generally piece work.
Males do the heaviest part of the work, and are paid $1.25 to $1.50
per day. If an individual is skilful, it requires but a short time
to learn. Hands are paid while learning. Prospect good of
future employment. We have constant work for ten. They are
usually employed nine hours. All Americans. They appear
very comfortable, and are quite tidy. No other parts of our
occupation are suitable for women. Women are superior in
forming and folding. $2.50 per week is the price of board."
222. Knives and Forks.
The metals used for knives
and forks are iron, steel, and silver, according to use or expense.
[Pg 226]
The dust that arises from the grinding of steel knives, coats the
lungs with stone. A German manufacturer of small cutlery told
me that in large establishments in some European countries,
women put the rivets in the handles of knives, and polish the
handles of ivory and pearl. In the grinding of penknives and
razors the inclination of the body forward is greater than in any
other branch; hence, while less injurious in regard to the amount
of dust than the fork and needle branches, they are fraught with
greater evil from the position of the body alone. Articles of
cutlery are glossed by holding them to a wooden wheel, on which
is emery powder. They are polished by holding them to a wheel
covered with leather, charged with crocus. Both of these processes
are within the range of woman's toil. In a cutlery establishment,
I was told the work was too hard for women. The
polishing of their cutlery is done by machinery. The Hardware
Manufacturing Company, Berlin, Conn., write: "We employ
one hundred and forty men, making shelf hardware, and five or
six girls to pack it up. They get from fifty to seventy-five cents
a day, work ten hours, and all live at home. The work of papering
up the goods is light, and requires little skill. The other part
of the work about our factory is too severe for women." The Empire
Knife Company, Conn., "employ four girls in packing and
sharpening. They are paid by the day (ten hours), and earn from
$3 to $4 per week. Women receive about the wages of men. It
requires from six months to one year to learn. Women are paid
while learning. The prospect of future employment is fair. The
comparative comfort and remuneration of the work are good.
Comfortable board, $3 a week." A company in Northfield, Conn.,
inform us: "It requires from three to five years to learn the
men's part of the work. Some of the women work by the piece,
and some by the day, receiving from $3 to $5 per week. The
same price would be paid to men. The prospect of future employment
is good. They work throughout the year. Women
are superior in quickness. A locality should be fixed on where
good water power may be had."
223. Needles.
Most of the needles used in Europe and
America are manufactured at Redditch, fourteen miles from
Birmingham, where there are about a dozen very large factories.
The number manufactured in Redditch amounts to about seventy
million per week. The process is a very long and painful one.
The drilling is done by young women. The constrained posture
and rigid gaze of the women on the eyes of the needles as they
drill, is distressing. It requires a perfect steadiness of hand.
In addition to this, the small channel observed on each side of
[Pg 227]
the eye is made by women with a suitable file. The picking out
of defective needles, and laying perfect ones with the heads one
way and the points another, is performed by children. Dr. G.
C. Holland writes: "We candidly admit that the physical evils
produced by needle grinding exceed all that imagination has
pictured." The needle grinders in England are said to be ignorant
and dissipated. One half can neither read nor write. The
dust which is evolved in the process of needle grinding, contains
a much larger amount of steel than is produced by any other
grinding. Mr. Aiken, inventor of the knitting machine, has the
machines and needles both manufactured. He says "he supposes
he could teach women to do most of the work on needles,
if he would give the time and trouble. He pays $1 per day to
hands in the needle room." In the manufacture of Bartlett's
sewing-machine needles, but a few small girls are employed, at
from $1 to $1.50 per week, for smoothing the eye by running an
oiled thread through it. Formerly they employed girls to perforate
the eye, but it is now done by machinery. A manufacturer
of knitting needles writes us: "The winter season is the best for
work, and the Eastern States furnish the best localities for
manufactories." A maker of sewing-machine needles told me
the tools are rather heavy, files and a lathe being used. They
pay a boy of fourteen years $3 a week, and one of eighteen, $5.50.
C. employs girls to envelop and label needles. They earn from
$3 to $4 a week, and do it at home. It takes a long time to become
expert. They are paid from the first, but not much. The
business is limited. They could have it done for less in England,
but prefer to put labels on for parties in this country, who want
to be considered manufacturers. G. & B. employ some girls to
label and paper needles they import. They pay two cents and a
half for putting the labels on forty papers. The labelling is done
in the latter part of winter and early spring.
224. Pens
(
Steel and Quill). A thousand million steel
pens are said to be produced annually at Birmingham, England.
We are indebted to some writer in an English paper for a description
of the part taken by women in the manufacture of
Gillott's pen in Birmingham. The number of women employed
in his factory is four hundred. "If not altogether manufactured
by woman, she has had, by far, more to do in its manufacture
than men. He may have forged and rolled the metal, but she
cut it from the sheet, gave it its semi-cylindrical form, stamped
it, ground it on a wheel to make it flexible, split it, helped to
polish it, and finally packed it in a box, or sewed it upon a card
in readiness for the market. And whoever wishes to see her
[Pg 228]
thus employed, may find her seated in an airy and comfortable
chamber, with two hundred or three hundred companions similarly
engaged—all healthy and merry, and singing at their work, while
pens in all stages are clicking and glittering through their fingers
at the rate of something like one hundred gross a day, each." An
attempt has been made to manufacture steel pens in this country,
but, I think, as yet without success. The makers of the Washington
medallion pen had some girls to come from England to
work for them, but found they could not keep up the factory, because
of the prices they had to pay for labor. The duty on steel
pens is thirty per cent., yet they can be imported for less than it
would cost to make them here. Some one writes to the editor
of the
Englishwoman's Journal as follows: "Madam, I have
been told that quill pens made by hand are far superior to those
made by machinery, and are therefore used in some of the principal
offices of London. Besides which, very many persons are
unable to write except with quill pens; rejecting the best and
most expensive ones made of any kind of metal. Might not the
making of them be a suitable occupation for some young women,
who, from lameness or other infirmities, might be unable to follow
a more active life?" In New York, some quills are made
into pens by machinery, but women, we believe, are not employed.
225. Philosophical Apparatus.
K., in Brooklyn, told
me that in the old country it is customary to spend seven years
learning to make philosophical apparatus, but in this country
boys do not like to be apprenticed so long. The business is not
fast enough for Americans. It requires close and constant application.
The burnishing is quite hard work. The occupation
has a tendency to render one intellectual and scientific. Most
young men leave it to become physicians and preachers. Dr.
McG., of China, is one of the number. The work is mostly done
by lathe, but the polishing by hand. I think women could do
it, if they were brought up to it. Instruments are made in
Europe, and imported for less than they could be made in the
United States. Business is now very slack. K. used to have
several apprentices, that he boarded and paid $1 a week during
the first year. The next year he increased their wages to $1 a
week more, the next year another $1, &c. In small establishments
an instrument is carried through all its processes by the
same workman. The business is done in the United States on so
small a scale as not to afford a sufficient subdivision to furnish
any part suitable for women. P. does not know of any women
being employed in this country in this trade. He thinks there
[Pg 229]
is much of it they could do, and in process of time it will be done
in the United States. In France and England, there are many
women who learn with their fathers and husbands, and work with
them. Many women are employed in making small compasses,
that require a nice adjustment and care in pasting, but a separate
room would be necessary, and that he has not. A manufacturer
of nautical instruments writes me, he does not know of women
being employed in any part of his business in any portion of the
world. The brass on philosophical instruments is polished by
hand, but a manufacturer told me he would not have even the
polishing done by inexperienced hands, as they are very particular
with the finishing off of their work.
226. Saws.
A saw maker says, in England women are
employed in lacquering the handles and polishing the blades of
saws. An Englishman, who did a very extensive business in New
York, employed girls in the same way, but he failed in business,
and none have been employed since. W. pays boys for such
work $2.50 a week. Another informant writes me that in England
women are employed in the saw manufactories.
227. Scissors.
In France, women are employed in the
manufacture of cutlery. The blades of scissors are polished by
women on lathes supplied with emery powder and oil, and subsequently
on lathes supplied with crocus.
228. Spectacles.
S. says there are women in England
and France who make spectacle frames for them. He employs
a woman to grind the glasses of spectacles. She can earn $15 a
week, and has earned $23 a week by taking work home with her
to do at night. On Nassau street, I saw a French lady who grinds
glasses for spectacles on a lathe. She works from nine to five
o'clock, and earns about $9 a week. There is not the danger
some might apprehend of glass flying into the eyes while at work.
Yet it requires great care and skill. I called at a manufactory
of silver-plated spectacles and saw the whole process. Several
parts are done by women. One was shaping the frames for the
eyes, another setting them up, another preparing them to solder,
another soldering, and three others were scouring. The soldering
must be uncomfortable in warm weather. The employment, I
suppose, is not more unhealthy than any other of a mechanical
nature. One girl told me she earned seventy-five cents per day.
They are paid by the quantity. She said the rest could earn as
much, if they were industrious. One considerably older, at another
branch, said she could earn $4 a week. It would not require
more than a few weeks, I think, to learn any branch pursued
by women—to learn all the parts performed by women, would
[Pg 230]
require six months or more, even for an apt and skilful pupil. A
spectacle maker, J., said a smart person could learn to make silver
spectacles in a year, but it would require something longer to
learn to make gold ones, as gold is a more difficult metal to melt
and work than silver. An apprentice is not paid the first year,
because of the metal he wastes. To learn it, one should at first
look on and see how the work is done. A manufacturer of spectacles
writes: "Women might make and repair spectacles. The
heavier parts of the business require foot lathes to be worked,
where skirts would be out of place, but the most could be done by
hand in making spectacles." (We have seen several women at
foot lathes, polishing watch cases—so the use of foot lathes need
not be an objection with women.) A spectacle importer writes:
"We use a great many spectacle glasses, and in their manufacture
in England females are generally employed. In France and Germany
the women do the same kind of work." P., in Meriden,
Conn., writes: "We employ women in making spectacles. The
work is not more unhealthy than any other labor in shops. Most
are paid by the piece—those who work by the week usually receive
$4, and work ten hours a day. They receive about three
fourths the price of male labor, because they perform the lighter
work. They earn their board in one week—get good wages in
eight. They usually do about the same amount of work through
the year. We employ about fifty, because they are more active
on light work, and can be had for less wages. Most are Americans.
Girls prefer this to housework, and make better wages.
The nearer New York, the lower are freights; the farther from
New York, the more permanent our help. Good sense and religious
principle prevail among them. Those who board pay $2.25
per week." A manufacturer in Brooklyn, of fine gilt, silver,
plated, and German silver spectacles, writes: "The employment
is healthy. Young girls earn $2 per week, older ones from $3 to
$6. They are generally paid by the piece. Girls and boys earn
about the same wages, but those who have spent years to acquire
the trade are entitled to better prices. A smart girl or boy will
learn in the course of six months to do a specific part. Wages
are usually paid from the time they commence. A fair share of
common sense and willingness to labor are the principal requisites.
As long as people grow old, and need spectacles, they will be
manufactured. Our work continues about the same through the
season. They work ten hours a day. In burnishing, the demand
is pretty good. We employ ten women, because they can do the
parts of work required better than boys or men. Half are American.
We find women rather more ready and apt than men. It
is advantageous to be in or near the great markets. Board, $2."
[Pg 231]
I was told by an English maker of spectacle frames, that most
spectacles are made in France and Germany. Men and women
are paid in England 37½ cents a dozen for grinding the best
quality of glasses. The makers of frames should know how to
make figures, to put them on the frames. Women would be most
likely to find employment as grinders of glasses in New York, and
no doubt a small number could get work of that kind. Gold and
silver frames are polished on a lathe with leather and rouge. Common
frames are burnished with agate and steel. It is done more
quickly, and is cheaper than polishing. Most spectacle frames of
a common quality are made in the country, because it can be done
by water power, and more cheaply.
229. Surgical Instruments.
T., manufacturer, told me
that some steel surgical instruments are burnished by hand. He
thinks there is not enough in that line of business to do, to justify
women in learning. He said the polishing of surgical instruments
could be done by women. It requires judgment and experience,
but is simple, requiring the worker merely to hold the
instrument on lathes and turn every few seconds; but burnishing
requires more strength. I was told that perhaps women are employed
in polishing silver surgical instruments.
230. Telescopes.
G., an optician, says much of the light
work in making telescopes might be done by women. They could
French-polish the wooden frames, lacquer the brass work, and
grind the glasses, if properly instructed. He thinks making
microscopes is more suitable for them.
231. Thermometers.
The construction of the thermometer
is quite simple. Women, if taught, could put the parts
together, and mark the scales. I have been told that some girls
are employed in Rochester, New York, in marking the scales.
The same remarks will apply to the barometer.
232. Copper and Zinc Manufacture.
So far as we
can learn, no women are employed in copper and zinc mines, or
in the making of copperas. Twenty-five women are employed in
packing copper powder flasks, by the Waterbury Manufacturing
Company, and making percussion caps. One fourth of them are
American. They earn from $3 to $4 per week, and the work is
reported not unhealthy. The women are paid about one half as
much as men. It does not require long to learn, and learners
are paid something during their apprenticeship. Ten hours are
devoted to work. All seasons are alike. The agent says the
[Pg 232]
women do better for light work than men, but require more
watching.
233. Tin Manufacture.
A youth, that was working in
a tin shop for a widow, whose husband had been a tinner, told me
that a female relative of his, who lived about one hundred years
ago in Ireland, could do all the various parts of work as well as
a man. She learned the trade regularly. Women are paid
nearly as well as men for such labor in the old countries, but
cannot work so fast. He says, even now in Europe a few women
learn the trade of a tinner. It requires four years to learn it
thoroughly in all its branches, because there is such a variety.
One or two branches may be learned perfectly in a short time;
so may several be learned indifferently in the same period; just
as a violinist may know how to play a few tunes very well, but
cannot play any others; or may know how to play a great many
indifferently, but none perfectly. In England, where women are
employed in tin shops to solder, they receive for this work their
board and thirty-seven cents a day.
234. Lanterns.
I visited a large tin establishment in
Brooklyn, and saw the girls at work; some soldering the corners
of the lanterns, some assorting the pieces, some putting glass in
the sides, some fastening conductors' lamps in the framework,
with plaster of Paris, and some enveloping them to send away.
There is nothing unhealthy in the work. The smoke of the
charcoal stoves used in soldering is carried off by pipes. Girls
putting glass in the tin frames, sometimes get their fingers cut.
The girls all wear aprons. The plaster of Paris part of the work
is very dirty. The girls earn from $2.50 to $4.50. They are
all employed at first in papering, as it is termed—that is, putting
the articles in papers ready to be packed; and receive, for a few
weeks, $2.50 a week, then more, according to ability and industry.
Some are paid by the week and some by the piece; they work ten
hours. Girls prefer mechanical labor to domestic service, because
they have the evenings to themselves. It requires but a few
weeks for a girl of ordinary abilities to learn the part she is to
perform. The proprietor said he could have a hundred times as
many girls as he has, if he had employment for them. But few
American women will work in factories with men. Most women
are neater with their work than men. At a lantern manufactory
in New York, I was told they employ eight or ten girls to cement
the metal parts on the glass, to varnish, to wash and wipe and
paper them. They are paid $3.50 a week.
[Pg 233]
235. Britannia Ware.
Some Britannia is burnished by
hand, and some by lathe. Women occasionally do the first
kind.
236. Silver.
"The artisan who forms certain articles of
gold and silver is called, indifferently, a goldsmith or silversmith.
The former denomination is most commonly employed in England,
and the latter in the United States." A manufacturer of
silver ware in Providence, Rhode Island, writes: "We do not
employ women, and for the same reason that females are not employed
in machine shops." Chinese women do filagree work. A
lady told me she had seen it done in a factory near Paris, by
women.
237. Burnishers.
At M.'s, Philadelphia, they employ
from thirty to fifty women on plated ware; would employ more
if they had room for them to work. They spend three months
learning, and receive no wages during that time. They then
earn from $3 to $6 per week, according to skill and industry.
They work by the piece. Another set of women are employed
in scouring the ware. It is wet, dirty work, and the women
receive somewhat higher wages. The burnishers work in a light,
comfortable room. The scourers work in a cellar. The business
of burnishing is not hard on the eyes; nor would it be on the
chest, M. thinks, if the burnishers sat upright, which they could
do if they chose. We were told by some one else, that the demand
for laborers in that field is very limited in Philadelphia.
I was told by a silversmith in New York, that a good burnisher
can earn from $5 to $7 a week, and he thought it took about a
year to learn to become a good worker. Burnishing is a laborious
and perfectly mechanical process. With some, the stooping posture
is found trying to the breast, and constantly poring over
the bright surface is injurious to the eyes. The business is poorly
paid, and a silversmith can employ but a very small number of
burnishers, but manufacturers of plated ware employ more. F.
employs two girls for burnishing silver ware, who can earn from
$5 to $9 per week. It is piece work, and does not require long
to learn. C. L. pays burnishers from $3 to $6 a week. At a
manufactory of silver service for Roman Catholic churches, I was
told they are most busy just before Christmas and Easter. They
pay by the week, because it is less trouble, and to them cheapest,
as many of the articles they make are small. They pay from
$2 to $5 a week. Y., in New York, who employs a number in
burnishing silver ware, told me he pays learners nothing for a
month, then by the piece. A good burnisher could earn from $5
[Pg 234]
to $7 a week. The prices are better than are generally paid to
women for mechanical work. A lady burnisher told me she likes
the work because it can be done at home. She thinks the work
not injurious to the eyes. To learners she pays nothing for two
months, then $1 a week, and so increases as the learner advances.
At the end of a year, the learner is considered proficient. Silver
platers mostly employ their operatives in factories. Silver ware
requires more taste and neatness than plated ware, and pays better.
It is like vest making. One that can make good ones, gets
a good compensation; but those who slight their work are paid
proportionately. A good burnisher can earn $6 and upward.
Mrs. —— thinks after a while there will be manufactories of
plated ware in the South and West. I saw a man making silver
and brass faucets. The burnishing is first done with steel, then
with agate. It requires some strength, but a woman of muscular
force could do it. The majority of burnishers work upon plated
ware, as less silver is used since plated ware has been brought to
its present state of perfection. M. pays by the piece. A woman
receives from $4 to $7 per week, according to competency and
industry. It requires from two to four months to learn. The
large cities, or places where the goods are manufactured, are the
best for burnishers. The work soils clothes, so girls generally
change their dresses or wear large aprons. Spring and fall are
busy seasons. Hollow ware is generally burnished by men, as it
requires more strength. At H.'s, I saw a few women scouring
the ware with sand, and nineteen burnishing. They earn from
$3 to $6 a week. A man in B., that does hand plating, employs
girls to burnish, and pays them by the piece. They can earn
from 75 cents to $1.50 per day; they work at home. In New
York there are some ladies who teach burnishing, and at some
establishments a premium is paid for learning. In some large
factories, girls are paid by the week from $3 to $5. C. pays by
the piece, and from the first, but a girl cannot earn more than $1
a week for two or three months. It requires from four to six
months to become a burnisher. The prospect for learners is
good, because girls will get married, and so leave vacancies. The
business is increasing. Good burnishers earn from $4 to $12 a
week. He employed a girl to stay in his office and burnish, paying
her according to what she did, from $1 to $1.25 a day.
Women, he remarked, receive the same price for burnishing that
men do. (He may pay them so, but I know all do not.) About
the holidays are the most busy times. There are not two months
in the year a good burnisher cannot get employment. Merchants
are slack longer than manufacturers. C. is a practical plater,
and not so much at the mercy of his employés as those that are
[Pg 235]
not. His burnishers begin on knives and forks, as they are most
simple. A burnisher told me it is not customary to pay a learner
during the first two months. Most burnishers wear a shield.
He thinks it is not bad on the eyes unless done at night. A
northern light is best for judging of the work, just as a northern
light is best for seeing the imperfections of a painting. About
four months of the year, January, February, July, and August,
burnishers find it difficult to get work, except in very large establishments,
where they are kept busy all the time. A man working
at coach lamps told me girls used to be employed in the factory
to burnish plates, and received $3 per week. The Porter
Britannia and Plate Co., Conn., "employ women in burnishing,
washing and packing. They earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men
and women have the same price for their work, but men earn
from 50 to 75 per cent. more, because they accomplish more.
Men and women spend three months learning. Women could
not endure more than ten hours such work. The supply rather
exceeds the demand generally. On many accounts, women are
preferable. They are superior in care and nicety of execution.
The labor is too exhausting for tropical climates. There are
some parts of the occupation suitable for women in which they
are not now employed." Information from three other establishments
corresponds with that given. Silversmiths in New Orleans
write me, February, 1861: "Women are much employed in
Europe as well as in this country, burnishing silver ware. It is
not in the least unhealthy. Most are paid by the piece, and here
some receive as high as $50 a month. For silver burnishing,
women are paid the same as men. The time of learning depends
greatly upon capacity—usually about six months. There is a
very slight prospect, at present, of employment. The best season
for work is winter; there is none in the summer. In the higher
branches of such work, women acquire superior skill."
238. Thimbles.
P. was kind enough to make an entire
silver thimble, that I might see the process. The whole of the
work could be done by women, but no women in any country are
employed at it, so far as he knows. I was told by one or two
other thimble makers, that no women are ever employed in that
branch of business. It is usual for a boy to serve an apprenticeship
of four years. While doing some parts of the labor the
workers sit, and while doing other parts they stand. The polishing
is done on a lathe, and there is not enough of it to furnish
work for a separate person, except in very large establishments,
and even then it is so connected with the other processes that it
could not be well divided. There are not so many thimbles sold
now as formerly, because of the sewing machines that are used.
[Pg 236]
There are not more than from eight to twelve thimble makers in
the United States. There are none South or West of Philadelphia.
239. Silver Plating.
Women cannot well do the close
or hand plating. It is done by soldering and ironing. Door
plates are made in this way. Electro-plating is done with a battery.
The business includes a variety of work, and requires
some knowledge of chemicals, but could be learned by an intelligent
person in a short time. The Americans are noted for excellence
in this department. H. knew a lady plater in Connecticut,
and a very good one she was. I have been told women are
employed in silvering metals in France.
240. Bronze.
Some statuettes are made of the finer metals,
gold and silver, while busts are made of other simple metals,
as copper, iron, zinc, lead, &c. They are generally made, however,
of the mixed metals. It requires some years' experience to
make bronze statuettes. Women are employed in France, in
ornamental bronze work. Mlle. de Faveau has succeeded in
having a bronze statue of St. Michael cast entirely whole, instead
of in portions. It is the resuscitation of a lost art.
241. Gold and Jewelry Manufactures.
Those
that manufacture jewelry in the United States form a small body.
The articles sold by different houses vary as much in price and
quality as any other kind of goods. Jewellers often have connected
with their business persons who work in ivory, jet, hair,
and such materials. "Felicie de Faveau, as a worker in jewels,
bronze, gold, and silver, as a designer of monuments and mediæval
furniture, stands without approach." Much common jewelry is
made in Rhode Island, and women are employed to some extent
in its manufacture. The New England Jewelry Company in
Providence employ women to solder, and pay $4 a week, ten
hours a day. It does not take long to learn. They have work
usually all the year. In the Eastern manufactories, women suffer
some from dust, on account of their working in the same rooms
where the men are employed at the machinery. In the manufacture
of jewelry, the fumes of charcoal are usually permitted to
fill the workshop; and the fusion of saltpetre, alum, and salt, used
in dry coloring, induces general nervousness and pain in the head
and chest. This has been to some extent remedied, by having
[Pg 237]
pipes that carry off the fumes partially, or it may be, in whole.
There are many departments in the jewelry line that might be successfully
filled by women: the sale of jewelry is one. It requires
several years for one to become well acquainted with the jewelry
business, and that is longer than many women are willing to
spend in fitting themselves for business. Mr. B. said: "One to
set jewels should be able to mount them. But few people make
setting a separate business. When he learned, a woman was not
at all employed by jewellers in this country. He pays some of
his workers $10 a week, ten hours a day." A jewelry manufacturer
in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, writes: "Women are employed
in the manufacture of jewelry—also in casing and packing
the same for market. The work is not more injurious than
weaving or sewing. They are paid about the same as men.
Some pay by the piece, some by the hour. Women are not paid
as well as men, because they cannot do all parts. The time of
learning depends upon their ingenuity. Some may learn in one
week, others in four. They are paid while learning. Women
are employed in the lighter branches because they are quicker.
The advantage of a locality is in having natural water power, in
a community where there is plenty of capital, and the capitalists
are willing to invest in the business." Some manufacturing
jewellers told me "they pay from $3 to $8 per week to their
women. They work ten hours a day. The time of learning is
six months, but, as in every thing else, much depends on the
capacity, aptitude, and particular genius of the learner. More
women could be employed in this business, if properly qualified.
All their women are Germans. New York is the best place for
selling jewelry, but other places are as good for manufacturing."
242. Gold Assayers.
Assaying by acids and other reagents
could be done by women. Tests are now imported, but
most assayers prefer to make their own tests. Assaying requires
patience, a knowledge of metals, and endurance of heat. It also
requires instruction and considerable experience. Some assayers
move from place to place wherever new mines are discovered,
and reap the benefit of their skill and knowledge. A gold refiner
informs me "that his business is mostly heavy fire work,
requiring the most able men. None of it is sufficiently light for
females." I find, however, that women are reported in the census
of Great Britain as gold and silver refiners, cutters, and
workers.
243. Enamellers.
The experience, taste, delicacy of
touch, and fineness of finish required, make the art of enamelling
one very suitable for women. The richness of coloring and exquisite
workmanship render some specimens very beautiful.
[Pg 238]
Simple metals are mostly used as a base. I saw a man enamelling
jewelry, who told me he employs small girls to enamel, paying
from $2 to $3 a week. It requires but two weeks to learn.
I saw some jewelry that had been enamelled in Germany by women.
In France, women are employed as enamellers, at from 8 to 16
cents a day. "Gold of the standard quality is the best metal to
enamel on, as it imparts something of its own glow to the ground,
and assists materially the richness and delicacy of the coloring,
particularly in the flesh tints. Copper gives a cold greenish hue
to the enamel ground, but it is more commonly used than gold
on account of its cheapness. For large enamels it is necessary to
use copper, as they require a heat which would melt plates of
gold." A highly polished enamel is passed through the fire a
number of times in the process of painting; otherwise it would be
impossible to imitate any great delicacy of tint—as the colors
are considerably changed by burning. "As the plates are every
time subjected to a high red heat, it is obvious that enamels must
be the most durable of all kinds of paintings." At an enamel
factory for lining metal vessels with a porcelain coating, I saw a
woman who has been employed for four years to mix enamel in
the consistency of buckwheat dough, and pour it into vessels to
form an enamel lining. The articles are then baked in a furnace
that the enamel may harden. She stands while employed. She
goes at half past seven in the morning, has half an hour at noon,
and returns and works until four, for which she is paid $4 a week.
She has a sister-in-law in Williamsburg that does the same kind
of work. It is not at all unhealthy.
244. Gold and Silver Leaf.
The iron hammers used
for beating gold leaf are very heavy. For the first beating, hammers
weighing twelve pounds are used; for the second beating,
hammers weighing six or eight pounds. Strong women could
perform the second beating of gold leaf, but I do not know that
they ever do—I think never in the United States. Lads serving
as apprentices receive $1.50 a week for six weeks, then $2 a week
for a time, and then more, according to ability and industry. A
goldbeater told me a youth could get a pretty good insight into
the business in a year or two, but the usual time of apprenticeship
is either three or four years. Goldbeaters earn from $1.50
to $2 a day. We visited several gold-leaf manufactories, and found
more uniformity in the time of learning and the prices paid than
in any other branch of business. It requires from two to twelve
weeks to learn to book gold leaf, depending on the abilities of
the learner and the requirements of the establishment. Six weeks
is the length of time usually given. It can be learned in two
days, but requires practice to become expert. The girls are not
[Pg 239]
paid while learning, as the materials are costly, and the quantity
wasted comes to as much or more than the learner's services are
worth. The standard price for laying gold leaf is one cent and a
half a book. Bookers can earn from $2.50 to $5 a week, according
to skill and expedition. The tools of a worker are very simple.
I think, most of the women employed in the gold leaf factories
of New York are Americans. Gold leaf is so light that
even a breath of air will move it. In some factories, the booking
is done in a room with the doors and windows closed—consequently
the room is very warm in summer. The seasons of the year do
not affect this business like most others. The demand for gold
leaf regulates the supply. Where business is not systematically
conducted, the beaters will sometimes not have the leaf ready to
book, and so the girls must lose their time waiting; and in some
cases the men's work is retarded by the absence of the bookers.
All the manufacturers I talked with thought the prospect good
of employment to learners. K. & Co. take learners in the spring,
but will not take them unless they can insure them work when
the six weeks of learning have expired. Neatness is required.
No talking is allowed in the work room, as merely a drop of water
falling from the lips might spoil from $3 to $4 worth of leaf.
The leaf is weighed when given to the booker and when returned,
so there is no opening for dishonesty. W. employs his hands all
the year. The girls always sit while at work. Lightness and
delicacy of hand are required. The prospect of employment is
tolerable, but most prefer to retain those they teach, as there is
much difference in the style and expedition. In some shops
great care is taken with learners, and they acquire proportionate
proficiency. We think this a very neat and genteel employment.
It requires honest workers with nimble fingers. There are but
very few manufactories South and West.
245. Jewellers' Findings.
D. & Co. manufacture tags
for all kinds of goods. They employ girls and women in the
country to string their tags, because they can do it in their spare
moments, and consequently work cheaply. It pretty much takes
the place of knitting, and a person could not earn more than
twenty-five cents a day at it. They so employ thirty or forty
persons. They also engage a number in box making. It requires
care and neatness to make small boxes for jewelry. Workers are
paid by the piece, and can earn from twenty-five cents to $1.25 a
day, but those who earn the latter amount work from five in the
morning until ten at night. This work is mostly done in families.
D. & Co. are very strict in their regulations, and particular
in the kind of work people they employ.
[Pg 240]
246. Pencils.
In Williamsburg, Mass., two women are
employed in making gold and silver pencil cases. H., of New
York, employs one girl for engine turning—an ornamental dotted
work common on pencil and watch cases. He employs her by
the week, and pays $3. She works ten hours a day. It requires
but a few days for one of ordinary intelligence to learn. It is
sedentary, but not unhealthy. He has employed nine women:
they cannot do the work as well as men, but cheaper. He would
employ boys, but they are so fond of changing their employment,
and so anxious to engage in one that will advance them, that it is
difficult to keep them at that work. It is very clean work. There
is no prospect of future employment, as one woman can keep up
with twelve other workers, and so very few are needed. Women
have to work in the same room with the men, on account of the
foreman having to regulate the machinery if it gets out of order.
247. Pens.
I saw a gold-pen manufacturer in Brooklyn.
He will take ten or twelve learners shortly, and pay them from
the commencement. He must have honest girls, for a dishonest
girl will take $5 or $10 worth of gold at a time, frequently without
its being missed. He will have a separate apartment for his
girls. The best hands can earn from $5 to $6 a week, working
ten hours a day. It requires only about a month to learn, but
practice greatly improves and expedites work. He thought the
prospect rather poor for learners. The part done by men could
be done by women, but it is dirty work. That done by women
is rather neat work. W., of Brooklyn, employs a number of girls
in watch-case polishing and in finishing off pens. The majority
are Americans. Some are paid by the piece, and some by the
week. They work ten hours a day, and have employment all the
year. Some girls learn the art in a short time, and some never.
Some girls are paid while learning as much as $2.50 a week.
W. thinks the prospect good of employment in that branch. He
wanted several girls more. From the nimbleness of their fingers
they can do their work better than men. More gold pens are
made in this country than steel ones. A jeweller said learners
should be paid from the first, and you may know he is not much
of a man who would be willing to receive a woman's work for
nothing. On Nassau street, N. Y., I saw a manufacturer who
employs girls for stoning, frosting, and polishing pens. They are
paid by the quantity, and can earn from $3 to $5 a week. They
stand at a lathe while polishing. The only trouble is that their
dress is likely to catch on the wheel. That might be remedied
by wearing Turkish costume without hoops. It requires care and
some judgment to do the frosting. They are paid something
while learning, and in two or three months receive full wages.
[Pg 241]
When business is good, the factory is going all the year. To
make a good finisher requires that the individual have some mechanical
talent and be a good penman. Some never succeed. In
stoning and frosting, girls sit. The finishers are men, and the
stooping required sometimes produces consumption. So many
gold pen cases are not used now as formerly—probably not more
than one tenth as many. Gutta percha has become a substitute.
N. employed women seven or eight years ago in polishing, stoning,
and pointing pens, and paid $5 a week of ten hours a day. Manufacturers
in Williamsburg, Mass., write: "We employ women
to make gold pens, pen holders, and jewelry, and pay from $3 to
$4 per week—some by the piece and some by the week. It requires
from one to three years to learn, according to the part
they do. They are paid small wages while learning. We wish
honesty and ingenuity in our workers. The business is permanent.
Work is given at all seasons of the year. The hands
work eleven and a quarter hours per day. We employ from ten
to twelve women, because they can do the work equally as well
as men, at about one third the price. Half are Americans. No
other parts of the occupation are suitable for women than those
in which we employ them. Help once settled in the country, if
married, are likely to be permanent—in cities,
vice versa, changing
about. Our workmen have a fine reading room. Board, $1.50
for women, $2.50 for men."
248. Watches.
A watch is said to consist of 992 pieces.
We have seen it stated that two hundred persons are employed
in the entire process of making a watch, and that, with the exception
of the watch finishers (who put the parts together), not
one of the workmen could perform any but his own specific part.
In Switzerland, families, for generation after generation, devote
themselves to making particular parts of watches. Women have
proved their ability to execute the most delicate parts. Twenty
thousand Swiss women earn a comfortable livelihood by watch
making. They make the movements, but men mostly put them
together. I think a few women work as finishers. We quote
from the
Englishwoman's Review: "Geneva has always refused
to employ women, and has now totally lost the watch trade.
None of the Geneva watches, so called, come from that part of
Switzerland, but are manufactured elsewhere, and principally in
the canton of Neufchatel, where women have been employed from
the first." Mr. Bennett, of London, "states facts relative to the
mental culture of both sexes, which is deemed requisite in Switzerland
to prepare the intellect, the eye, and the hand for watch
manufacture, and he refers to the salubrious dwellings of the
operatives." A traveller states: "We see women at the head
[Pg 242]
of some of the heaviest manufactories of Switzerland and France,
particularly in the watch and jewelry line." In England, women
have been until lately excluded from watch making by men, but
some are now employed in one establishment in London and in
several of the provincial towns. "There is a manufactory at
Christchurch, England, where five hundred women are employed
in making the interior chains for chronometers. They are preferred
to men, on account of their being naturally more dexterous
with their fingers, and therefore being found to require less training."
From the November number of the
Knickerbocker we
quote: "All imported watches are made by hand, the American
watches being the only ones made by machinery in a single establishment
by connected and uniform processes. The Waltham
watches have fewer parts and are more easily kept in order than any
others; and are warranted for ten years by the manufacturers.
They have over one hundred artisans employed, more than half of
whom are women." The manufactory occupies a space more
than half an acre in extent. Hand labor is cheaper in Europe
than this country, but American watches are cheaper, because
made by machinery. Making the cases is a distinct branch
from the interior work, and furnishes employment to some
women. Cleaning watches would form a pretty and suitable
employment for women. I was told of some Swiss women living
in Camden, New Jersey, that make the inside work of watches
very prettily and very accurately. A manufacturer of chronometers
in Boston writes: "We employ women in cutting the
teeth of watch and chronometer wheels, polishing, &c. They are
generally employed by the week or year, and work nine or ten
hours a day. Women might be employed in large establishments
in merely cleaning or polishing the parts of watches repaired,
without putting them together; and they might learn to do it in
a short time, a few months perhaps. We pay our women for
such work from $4 to $6 a week, according to their capacity.
The qualifications needed are delicacy of touch, patience, and
great carefulness. The employment will be very limited.
Work is steady the year round. The principal objection to
employing women is that they are very apt to marry just as they
become skilful enough to be reliable; therefore, what does not require
long apprenticeship or a great expense to learn, is most
desirable for them. A good degree of intelligence is indispensable.
The more, of course, the better." We would add to the
requisites for a watchmaker, patience and ingenuity. The secretary
of the American Watch Company at Waltham writes:
"Women are employed at our factory. The employment is entirely
healthy. We pay from $4 to $7 per week for intelligent girls,
[Pg 243]
and women's average pay is $5. About half are paid by the
piece. Men earn about double the wages of women, because, first,
they do more difficult work, are more ingenious, more thoughtful
and contriving, more reliant on themselves in matters of
mechanics, are stronger, and therefore worth more, though not
perhaps double, as an average; second, because it is the custom to
pay women less than men for the same labor. Women and girls
are paid from $2.50 to $4 per week during the first four months,
while they are learning the particular part of our business we
set them at. The requisites are a good common-school education,
general intelligence, and quickness; light, small hands are best.
The business is new to the country. We work every working
day in the year, without detriment to the health of women, who
seem to endure their labor as well as men. We work ten hours
a day. There is little demand for labor in the watch-making
business generally in this country, but we think women could be
taught successfully the art of watch making, so as to be able at
least to earn a living as watch repairers. We employ seventy-five
women out of two hundred hands, and because there are
many parts of our work they can do
equally well with men; but
it is generally light and simple work, for which no high degree of
mechanical skill is requisite. Nine tenths are American born.
Our hands are all made perfectly comfortable in their labor.
We employ female labor, where we can, as being cheaper; but we
find women do not reach the posts where a high degree of skill is
needed, as of course they do not those for which their strength is
insufficient. They have abundant facilities for mental culture in
the evenings. About half live with parents or relatives; the rest
board, and pay from $2 to $3 a week, according to quality."
249. Watch Case and Jewelry Polishers.
Quite
a number of women are employed in polishing watch cases, and a
few in polishing jewelry. It requires some time to learn to do
the finest work, and some can never learn. The polishing of good
gold is done by hand and the lathe—common jewelry, by the
lathe alone. A good polisher can earn $1 a day of ten hours'
work. C. & Co. employ girls, because they do not have to pay
them so high, and they do it as well. B. & H., who have a factory
in Jersey City, employ a number of lady polishers. The
rouge renders it dirty work, but not unhealthy. Very good
hands can earn $7 or $8 a week. They employ four sisters,
French girls, who have bought a farm for their parents. They
have generally paid $23 a week to the four sisters. The prospect
for learners is good. They generally pay by the week, and have
their hands work ten hours a day. They take learners, and pay
something from the first. It requires two years' practice to be
[Pg 244]come
very good polishers. They prefer to make an agreement
with the learner to retain her some time, as the material is costly,
and considerable is wasted by a learner. In good times they
have work steadily all the year. Polishers can either sit or stand
while at work. Burnishing and polishing are different. Burnishing
is done with steel, polishing with buffs. Plated ware is burnished,
silver and gold are polished. S. thinks several girls might,
in busy times, find employment in polishing jewelry. He often
advertises for workers, but receives few answers. It requires two
or three years to learn, and four or five to become perfect workers.
In Germany and France, girls have polished jewelry for
many years. In the Southern and Western U. States, there are
no manufactories of any extent. They have not the machinery
for such work. What little is made and repaired is done in the
jeweller's shop, or above his store. F. & P. employ small girls
about thirteen years old to polish, paying $1.50 per week, while
learning. It requires about a year for young girls to become expert.
We were told women are the best polishers of jewelry.
A maker of gold buttons, who has employed girls to polish, paid
$2 a week to small girls, and $3 to older and more experienced
hands. The girls are also employed in putting them up. Care
is needed in polishing, that the work be evenly done. A watch-case
polisher told me a woman cannot earn more than $2 or $3
a week at polishing. (It may be all he pays.) Mrs. C. is teaching
a girl to polish watch cases. She boards her, and pays her
$30 the first year, and furnishes her with a certain number of
dresses. A good polisher may earn from $6 to $8 a week. She
told me a lady in Philadelphia, that she taught, is making
$27 a week. C. has most of his polishing done by a lady.
He pays boys he takes as apprentices, $2.25 a week, from the
first. He says a good lady polisher can earn $1 a day. He pays
his men from $10 to $15 a week, because they do more, and do
it better than women. In good seasons there is so much polishing
to do that experienced hands are very much hurried. The
work is not confined to seasons. It does not require long to learn
to polish. Such work is mostly done in New York, but considerable
is done in the small towns around. At S.'s we saw a girl polishing,
who told us she received $1 a day. She says there a girl spends
six months learning. For three months she receives nothing,
after that $3 a week. At B.'s, the lathes are moved by steam,
but have treadles also, that the work may not cease when the engine
or machinery is out of order. Less and less watch work is
done by hand in the United States every year, owing no doubt
to the large number imported and the increased use of machinery.
The work in the business has fallen to European rates. A good
[Pg 245]
polisher has been earning $6 or $7 a week, but very few can do
so now, and the prospect of employment is poor for a learner.
Some years ago he employed a lady at $15 a week, for fitting
movements to the case. The sister of a watch-case maker and
importer, in Brooklyn, told me that she worked at the business
some years ago, and received seventy-five cents apiece for polishing
watch cases—now but fifty cents is paid. The lady often
polished four cases in a day of ten hours, and so earned $3. In
the European countries, some years back, a man was paid $1 for
making a watch case; in the United States, $5. Prices have
fallen greatly in the United States for this kind of work, because
the duty on imported goods is so low. She says the work is not
very clean, because the oil and rouge get on your clothes and person.
Everybody should wear working clothes, if their labor is
such as to soil them. The motion of the foot in moving the lathe
tries the back greatly. When the polishing is done by steam, it
is not so. As men and women are paid by the piece, women receive
as good wages. A smart person can learn to polish in a
few days, but to learn it thoroughly would require three months.
Women are paid in this country while learning, but in Europe
they are not. In prosperous times, work is good all the year.
In summer, work is done for the North; in winter, for the South.
A locality in or near a large city is preferable. Prices vary in
different establishments. Usually, where the best quality of work
is done, the best prices are paid the work people—where cheaper
work is done, lower wages are paid. The usual price paid to
girls as polishers, when they are employed by the week, is $6—a
better remuneration for mechanical labor than most women
receive.
250. Watch Chains.
In Birmingham, several hundred
women are employed in making chains, and we suppose fifty or
more in this country. The gold wire is prepared and drawn out
by men, as it requires too much strength for women. All the
work after that is performed by women. The wire is cut into
pieces of the right length, then bent into the proper form by
means of a die worked by a hand press; each link is then soldered
together by means of a jet of gas, a blowpipe, and a tiny piece
of solder, when it is finished by polishing. D. & S., Philadelphia,
employ three girls in soldering. The wages of the girls vary from
$3.50 to $8 a week. They work ten hours a day. It is not an
unhealthy business, D. and S. think, and can be learned in two
months. M. F. & Co., New York, employ girls in soldering
and polishing chains. Those that solder earn from $3 to $8 a
week. Some of the girls are paid by the week, and some by the
inch. It can be pretty well learned in three months. After two
[Pg 246]
or three weeks they are able to earn about $2 a week. To those
girls who instruct learners they give the profits of the learners.
Polishing is not clean work, but the women can generally earn
more at it. They earn from $3 to $9 a week. They work ten
hours a day, when paid by the week, in summer; but in winter, not
so long. The building is never lighted. The women have a
separate apartment to work in, and change their clothes on entering
and leaving the work room; and the polishers tie up their heads,
to prevent their hair being covered with rouge. The girls wear
the same clothes every day while at work, that they may not carry
away any gold. The proprietors sell their waste scraps for $8,000
a year. They require boys to spend five years learning the business,
taking them at the age of 16, and retaining them until 21.
Men that learn a trade expect to follow it until death. M.
thinks women will not spend long learning a trade, for nearly all
women look forward to something else than working all their lives
at a trade. The heat and fumes of gas used in chain making are
said to render the occupation unhealthy, but an extensive manufacturer
assured me that the fumes are not inhaled, as the flame
is blown from the worker, and that it is not more unhealthy than
any other sedentary occupation. I would have thought the minuteness
of the particles composing some chains would be trying
on the eyes, but the girls said not. The chain makers sit while
at work. In summer they cannot sit near an open window, lest
any of the gold be blown away. Chain making looked to be very
nice, delicate work, requiring care, judgment, and some skill. The
Europeans have not got to using steam in any part of the process,
and are astonished at the superiority of the American chains.
There are no manufactories West or South. I was told at Tiffany's,
the making of some kinds of chains can be learned in two or three
years, while other kinds require five years. S., at Tiffany's, told
me he was the first person that introduced women into the manufacture
of jewelry in New York. The hands at chain making receive
$1.50 a week at first—as they become more skilful, they receive
more. The average payment is $5 a week. They have one
woman who has been at the business six years, and earns $8 a
week. Another manufacturer told me chain making is not unhealthy.
It requires a year to learn to do polishing well, and
during that time a learner can earn only from $1.75 to $2 a week.
While polishing at a lathe, workers stand. Men do most polishing
now. They do it by machinery propelled by steam, and one
man can accomplish as much in a day as a woman by a treadle
lathe can do in two weeks. Manufacturers in Providence write
me, "their girls, from six to fifteen in number, work at home, and
are paid by the piece. They earn $1 a day of ten hours on an
[Pg 247]
average. They do not employ men in that department of the
business. It requires men five years to learn the business—females
to solder, thirty days. Good eyesight is necessary. The
business will probably increase with growth of country and increase
of wealth. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons.
They are all American." Some manufacturer in New York
writes: "The work is not more unhealthy than any other so sedentary.
It is generally paid for by the piece, the workers earning
from $2 to $8 per week. The men average from $10 to $12.
Men spend seven years learning—girls, one. Quickness of motion,
perseverance, and attention are desirable qualities. The
prospect for work in future is moderate. The busy seasons are
spring and fall. In July, August, January, and February, the
women are employed. We have from thirty to forty females, because
the work is light."
251. Watch Jewels.
I called on a Swiss lady who sets
jewels in watches. She supports her family by it, but complains
of a scarcity of work, because watchmakers can import their
jewels at four shillings a dozen from Switzerland, and set them
themselves.
252. Indian Goods.
Any one that has ever visited Niagara,
knows something of the immense quantity of Indian goods
offered for sale. Moccasins and reticules (made of buckskin, and
ornamented with beads), pincushions, baskets, &c. (made of birch-wood,
and ornamented with figures and flowers of party-colored
porcupine quills), can be had. Fans of feathers and a thousand
little fancy articles may be bought in a dozen different shapes at
Niagara. The Indians make most of them, but quite a number
are made by fairer hands. The duty on goods purchased in Her
Majesty's realm, and brought into the States, is ten per cent.
So, if a person is careful of his purse, or disposed to encourage
home manufactures, he had as well purchase on the American
side. On most of the steamboats and cars of the Western waters,
while in port or at the depot, genuine Indian women may be seen,
with (we suppose) genuine Indian articles for sale.
253. Inkstands.
Manufacturers of inkstands in Connecticut
write: "We employ from twelve to fifteen American women
in painting, varnishing, and bronzing inkstands, and pay from
fifty to sixty cents per day of ten hours. Females do not per
[Pg 248]form
the same kind of labor that the males do. The wages of
women are less, because there is a surplus in consequence of there
being so little diversity in female employment. The occupation
is learned in from one to two years. That part done by females
may be learned in one month. They are paid while learning.
Some mechanical ingenuity is required. The business will depend
on general commercial prosperity. Summer and fall are
the most busy seasons. No cessation of employment during the
year. The other parts of the work are too laborious for women.
Our location is preferable, as we have water power and are convenient
to market. Board, $1.75 per week."
254. Lithoconia
, or artificial stone, is being used as a
substitute for terra cotta, papier-maché, &c. It is composed of
mineral substances, and is insoluble in water. It is used for making
photograph frames, busts, and statuary, and for architectural
purposes. It is made in Roxbury, Mass. The proprietor and
inventor writes: "I employ fourteen women in manufacturing
and finishing lithoconia photograph frames. Their wages average
$5 a week, ten hours a day. Some are paid by the piece,
and some by the day. Men earn from $1 to $2 per day. Women
learn in from one to four weeks. Cultivation of the eye and finger,
and great neatness are desirable in a learner. Girls accustomed
to drawing or fine needle work answer well. The prospect
of more work is good. My women work the year round.
Women, I think, are more reliable than men; that is, if told to
do a work in a certain way, they will do it. Men are more apt
to experiment in a new business. Women might be employed in
gilding the frames. We have twelve men in New York doing
that for us now. My girls pay from $1.75 to $2 per week for
board. I hear no complaint of their houses; but, judging from
my Scotch experience, the accommodations in Scotland are far superior
in an intellectual point of view; but so far as pies
and doughnuts go, American boarding houses have the advantage."
255. Marble Workers.
The rough parts of marble
working are wet, dirty, and laborious, but not the finishing.
Constant standing on the feet, and having the hands wet much
of the time, would not do for very delicate females. A marble
worker writes: "Sawing marble is heavy and wet work, and performed
in the night as well as the day. I do not see that women
could be employed at it to any advantage." Theodore Parker
mentioned seeing a woman, in a marble yard in Paris, sawing
marble. I have been told that in Italy whole families engage in
chiselling the beautiful marble ornaments brought to this country.
As a stone cutter, Charlotte Rebecca Schild, of Hanau, worked
[Pg 249]
in Paris. Miss McD. told me that she got situations for two
girls with a marble cutter in Hollidaysburg to do the fine part of
marble chiselling.
256. Mineral Door Knobs.
Manufacturers of mineral
door knobs write: "We have women to make mineral door
knobs, and to pack locks. They are paid by the piece, and
average $5 per week. They work from nine to ten hours a day.
It requires six months to learn. The prospect for further employment
is small. Seasons make no difference in the work. We
find men better adapted to the work. Our business affords little
or no opportunity for the employment of women to advantage.
We have about two hundred women in busy seasons. When
men and women are employed in the same department, they talk
too much."
257. Paper Cutters.
We read in "Women Artists"
of a Dutch lady, "Joanna Koertin Block, who produced from
paper very beautiful cuttings. All that the engraver accomplishes
with the burin, she was able to do with the scissors. Country
scenes, marine views, animals, flowers, with portraits of perfect
resemblance, she executed in a marvellous manner." "Mrs. Dards
opened a new exhibition with flower paintings in the richest
colors. They were exact imitations of nature, done with fish
bones."
258. Papier-Maché Finishers.
Papier-maché is made of
paper ground into a pulp, and bleached if necessary. It is moulded
into various forms. It has been cast into figures of life size. It is
made into mouldings for the ornamental parts of bronzes. It is
lighter, more lasting, and less brittle than plaster. It can be
colored or gilt. Another article of the same name is made by
gluing and pressing together, very powerfully, sheets of prepared
paper until they acquire the thickness of pasteboard. They
must be shaped while moist into the articles desired. When dry,
they will be very hard and firm. They must be covered with
japan, or other varnish, and may be beautifully painted with
flowers, birds, landscapes, &c. Workboxes, portfolios, waiters,
miniature cases, clock faces, and many other beautiful articles
may be made of it. The varnishing, painting, and inlaying is
done by women in the factories of England. Papier-maché
manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ women in pressing
and painting. The work is healthy. We pay $4 per week of
ten hours a day. Men and women do not perform the same kind
of work. We pay learners $2.50 the first month, $3 the second,
$3.50 the third, and $4 afterward. The prospect of future employment
is good. We find women have not a mechanical eye.
Board, $2 per week."
[Pg 250]
259. Pipes.
Meerschaum means "foam of the sea." The
pipes are made from earth found in the island of Samos. They
are light, porous, and not easily broken. Some pipes are sold as
genuine that are made from the clay left after forming and cutting
the real pipes, but are of an inferior quality. A manufacturer
of meerschaum pipes told me he employs a woman to polish the
pipes. It is done by hand. She is paid $1.25 a dozen, and can
do two or three dozen a day, but they have not enough of work
to give her more than a dozen a week. A maker of white clay
pipes told me: "The clay is brought from England. Nimbleness
of fingers is most that is required for success. There is not much
of that kind of work done now in our country, because pipes are
imported from Germany for what the labor costs here. They
are retailed at one penny apiece. Women used to make them
here, and do now in European countries. They can do all parts
of the work. Putting them in the furnace and baking them is
warm work, but not more so than any other baking. The work
is paid for according to the number of pipes made. A woman
can earn about fifty cents a day for moulding, yet a man can earn
$5 a day, because he can mould faster, and also attend the furnace."
Besides, the man owns the tools and furnace, which do
not cost a great deal, and I suppose would last a lifetime. We
have seen it stated that white clay smoking pipes are made in
Philadelphia by one person, who recently sent to England to
procure additional assistance.
260. Porcelain.
Porcelain partakes of the nature of both
earthenware and glass. It is a connecting link between the two.
Few men are willing to run the risk of establishing porcelain and
china-ware manufactories in this country, for they have nearly
all proved failures. The porcelain of China and Japan is harder
and more durable than that manufactured in Europe, but in
beauty of form and elegance of design the European excels. Our
best articles of household ware are mostly from England, those
of an ornamental kind from France. Much of the work in a
porcelain factory could be done by women, such as cutting the
porcelain with wires, moulding the articles with a press, and washing
them over with dissolved porcelain to produce a gloss. They
could also bake them. Some do decorate and burnish them. (See
China Decorators.) Women and children are employed in Cornwall,
England, in preparing clay from china stone to be used by
porcelain manufacturers, paper makers, and calico dressers. Miss
B. told me that, much of the fine lacework seen on Dresden china
is executed by women. It is very beautiful and delicate. At
Greenpoint, L. I., the proprietor once employed girls, but now
employs boys in preference. The men earn about $10 a week on
[Pg 251]
an average for their work, being paid by the piece. The best of
materials for making porcelain are found in this country, particularly
in New Hampshire, where porcelain, parian, and enamel flint
are manufactured. Porcelain earths are also found at Wilmington,
Del., near Philadelphia, and in Alabama and Texas.
261. Pottery and Earthenware.
"In Africa, in
the manufacture of common earthen vessels for domestic use, the
women are as skilful as the men." In the making of stone and
earthenware, women could, if properly instructed, perform most
of the processes: those of throwing, turning, attaching handles,
&c. Pressing might perhaps tax their strength, and burning
prove rather warm work. In Germany, where the finer clay is
used, women tramp the clay with their feet, and cut it with wires
to remove any small stones it may contain. One of the disagreeable
parts that fall to women in the potteries of Great Britain is
that of washing and straining the clay. For turning large articles
it requires men of a peculiar make. They must be tall and have
long arms, to enable them to reach to the bottom of the vessels as
they are being turned. Small articles made by the hand are
stronger than those formed by pressing. The construction and
management of wheels differ in Germany, England, and the United
States. The materials for making earthenware are obtained in
almost every part of the globe. At an earthenware factory I was
told they pay $2.50 a week to a boy the first year he is learning,
and increase that according to ability and industry. Flower pots
are paid for by the piece, and a man can earn from $1.50 to $5 a
day. At C. & M.'s factory I saw girls and women at work. Some
were treading the lathe. It was done with the right foot only,
and must be very fatiguing. I noticed the hoops of the girls
were very much in the way. The girls receive one third as much
as the men working at the wheels, which is generally $3 a week
for the girls. A woman cutting claws of the clay with a hand
press, told me she is paid by the piece, and can earn about $4 a
week. She can sit while at work. It requires strength of hand.
In another room girls were cutting clay with a wire, kneading with
the hand, and giving it to the potter, and, when the vessel is
turned, taking it off the wheel and placing it on a board to be
baked. They are paid fifty cents a day. In another room a
woman was employed dressing the ware, that is, selecting any
that is imperfect and removing any surplus clay that may have
been accidentally left on, and setting aside any too defective for
sale. She receives about $3 a week. The proprietors have been
thinking of getting girls in place of some of the boys who are wild
and difficult to manage. A firm in East Boston write: "We
employ four girls, paying $3.50 a week. Girls are more generally
[Pg 252]
employed in the old countries at potteries than in this, but women
will eventually be more employed here in that way. Pottery is
now in its infancy in this country. My girls work ten hours.
The employment is not unhealthy. My girls are all English.
We employ them to do light work only, that boys would do, if we
had no women. Board, $2.50. We employ them all the year.
Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. We hope to live
to see the time when we shall have twenty women and four men,
instead of
vice versa, as they are more steady and less expensive."
262. Stucco Work.
"Women are not employed at this
trade in this country; in England there are some instances, but
rarely. It is not unhealthy. The time spent in learning depends
altogether on the taste and natural talent of the learner. Boys
generally serve from three to five years. For ordinary work the
qualifications need not be of a very high order; but for moulding,
&c., a knowledge of drawing is essentially necessary. Summer
and fall are the best seasons for this work. Ten hours a day
are the usual number. Women may be employed at trimming
and cleaning ornaments—also at making moulds for casting the
same." Rosina Pflauder, in Salzburg, assisted her husband in
stucco work.
263. Terra Cotta.
The list of articles made of this
substance is comprised under two heads, vases and garden pots,
and ornaments for architecture. A Gothic church was built of
it in 1842 at Lever Bridge, England. The pulpit, reading desk,
benches, organ screen, and the whole of the decorations were made
of terra cotta. In the making of figures, women could do all except
moulding. The finishing up would be suitable and pretty
work for them. "Mlle. de Faveau has been peculiarly successful
in her adaptation of terra cotta to artistic purposes."
264. Transferrers on Wood.
We do not know whether
a distinct class of people engage in this business, or whether it is
considered a branch of cabinet work. It is a light, pleasant business,
and if there is sufficient demand for it, women would do well
to engage in it.
265. Glass Manufacture.
All the materials for making
good glass exist in the United States, and a great deal of
glassware is made from them. The largest manufactures are in
different parts of Massachusetts and in Pittsburg. The best glass
[Pg 253]
for windows and mirrors is imported. I think glass making is
not altogether suitable for women on account of the great heat,
and necessity there would be for mixing with men, and men there
must be. Yet it need not be so in all departments. Of the different
kinds of ornamental window glass are enamelled, embossed,
etched, painted, white, and colored. At a glass factory in Greenpoint,
I saw some girls employed in breaking off the rough edges
of mustard cruets, cementing the metal tops on, wiping them
clean, and wrapping them up. They also cemented the tops on
glass lamps. Occasionally they are employed to tramp with
their feet and knead with their hands the English clay of which
the vessels are made for holding the materials that are fused to
form glass. In a factory I saw a girl washing glass, for which
she is paid $3 a week—a day of ten hours. Two others were
tying up glass, and were paid $4 a week of ten hours a day. At
one factory in the East, they employ some girls to do the rough
grinding, making stoppers for bottles, &c. People who silver
mirrors are very seriously affected by the fumes of mercury, and
more by the touch of the substance. A trembling disease is produced,
which carries off its victims early in life. In France, some
women are employed in this work. In blowing, moulding, and
pressing glass, women of strong lungs and ability to sustain great
heat could be employed. Casting glass requires greater physical
strength than generally falls to the lot of women. A glass-bottle
manufacturer in Stoddard, N. H., writes: "I employ twelve
women willowing demijohns. They are paid by the piece, and can
make about $3 per week, and board themselves. Men and women
are paid the same. The work can be learned in from four to five
weeks. They are paid at the same rate while learning. Half are
Americans. Price of board here, $1.25." The Bay State Glass
Co. "employ seventeen women for selecting and papering ware.
They are paid by the week, from $3 to $5. It requires from one
week to one month to learn. The prospect for employment depends
somewhat upon the secession movement. The women are
employed the year round, and work ten hours a day. Board,
$1.50 to $2 a week." The Suffolk Glass Co. inform us they "employ
one girl in capping lamps, &c. The work affords plenty
of air and exercise. Their girl is paid by the day, and earns $4
a week, working ten hours a day. The work done by women
could not be given to men. The reason they employ a woman is
that women are employed by others for the same work. Men
could accomplish much more in their work, but not enough to
pay the difference in their wages. Boys are sometimes employed
for such work. Women receive $2 while learning. Spring and
fall are the busy seasons, but work is furnished all the year.
[Pg 254]
Board, $2 to $2.50." The Union Glass Co., Boston, write: "We
employ women in assorting the different qualities of ware, in
cementing glass and brass parts together, and in cleaning glass.
Their average pay is $3.50 per week, ten hours a day. There
is no comparison in the prices of male and female labor, as they
do not perform the same kind. The laws of supply and demand
regulate pay, excepting that very valuable women get twenty-five
to fifty per cent. extra pay. Men spend from seven years to
a lifetime learning the business—women a year or so to learn the
best paid kind of labor. There is little chance of women rising
above $5 per week, as they perform only a certain department of
labor. There is generally constant employment to good hands
all the year. We employ fifteen, because it is customary and
found expedient. Men can be employed at a better profit in
other departments. Remuneration twenty-five to fifty per cent.
less than men would require. The glass manufacture is carried
on chiefly in the New England and Middle States."
[Pg 255]
266. Blowers.
I called in a factory where men were
blowing glass bells to color and gild for Christmas trees. The
man, a German, said in Germany women make them. The women
there earn fifty cents a week at it, while men earn $2, though
they do the work no better, and no more of it. There a person
can live as well on $3 a week as on $10 here.
267. Beads.
Beads are made to a limited extent in this
country, but nearly all are of French or German manufacture.
Some cheap beads are made of potato and colored, and some made
in imitation of coral. E. employs girls to make baskets, headdresses,
&c., of beads. They cannot earn more than $2.50 a week
of ten hours a day. He has most of it done in winter. Another
gentleman, who has beads made into bracelets, necklaces, &c.,
gives the work mostly to married ladies, who do it in their leisure
hours, and to school girls. They do so, because they can get it
done more cheaply than if they employed those who do it to earn
a living. They pay for such work by the gross, and a person
could not earn over $3 a week at it. Putting the necklaces on
cards is done by some ladies they employ by the week. Spring
and winter are the busy seasons. The importation and selling of
beads have formed quite a business in New York for some years.
G. judges from the appearance of the applicants whether they are
to be trusted with materials, takes an account of the kind and quantity
given, and the address of the applicant, requiring them to be
returned in a week's time. B. has children's coral bracelets and
armlets made up, for which he employs two English girls, who each
earn $1 a day at their work.
[Pg 256]
268. Cutters or Grinders.
It requires strength, firmness
of nerve, and cultivation of eye to grind glass. One man
told me he spent seven years learning the business in England.
In this country, apprentices seldom spend more than three or four
years at it, but do not of course learn it so thoroughly. A glass
cutter told me that two girls, daughters of his boss in Jersey City,
made drops for chandeliers. They were ground on a lapidary's
wheel. As drops are no longer fashionable, they are not made.
They also cut stones for breastpins. Glass cutters in New York
earn from $9 to $10 per week. Glass cutting could be done by
women. No women in this country have yet engaged in it. It
is not very neat work, as the wet sand will of course get over the
clothes. The number of straps and wheels is very numerous, and
if any women desire to engage in it, we would advise them to lay
aside hoops and don the Bloomer costume. Grinding is tiresome
to the lower limbs, which are kept in motion, like a person operating
on a sewing machine. It requires taste and ingenuity, as the
figures of an experienced workman must be made by the eye, no
pattern being used. Apprentices usually receive $2 a week the
first year, $3 the next, $4 the next, and so on.
269. Embossers.
In preparing gas and lamp globes to
emboss, they are first covered with a dark-colored substance.
Girls then trace figures on them with a chemical which corrodes
the glass. The tracing is learned in a few hours, and could be
done without much practice. At a glass factory, I saw a girl who
received $2 a week for tracing. Those who have worked at it
for some time become very expeditious, and do piece work. They
receive fifty cents a dozen, and a fast hand can do two dozen a
day. The operatives work nine hours.
270. Enamellers.
A glass stainer and enameller in Utica
writes: "In reply to your circular, I give what information I can.
My daughters assist me in staining and enamelling glass. Their
wages are worth from $5 to $8 each. Learners are paid from
$2 to $4. To learn the work requires from three to five years.
Spring and fall are the most busy times. The business will increase.
I consider eight hours a day long enough for women to
spend at this kind of work, as they have to be on their feet most
of the time, but men can work ten hours. All parts are suitable
for women except drawing (?) and the heavy parts of the work."
A large manufacturer of enamelled glass told me that in England
hundreds of women are employed in enamelling glass. He employs
a number in Newark, N. J., paying by the week from $4 to
$5. He thinks it not more unhealthy than working in any other
paint. He thinks the opinion existing that the business is prejudicial
to health, arises mostly from the girls being so very careless
of themselves. One should be as careful in that work as in any
other. He said he knew girls working at it in England for
eighteen years, who never suffered any bad effects from it. It requires
but a short time to learn to put the enamel on, but some
time to acquire proficiency. He and his partner expect to increase
the manufacture of it, but think of using a machine that
will do away with women's work in applying the enamel. He
complained that their girls lacked promptness. They keep them
employed all the year. They work nine hours in summer, and
eight in winter. He thinks a few women with artistic taste might
learn etching, and execute their own designs. He would be willing
to pay a good lady designer $8 or $10 a week—yet he pays
his men for that work from $12 to $15. (!!!) He thinks, in a
factory, a lady so employed would find it most pleasant to have a
separate apartment. My opinion is that one or two lady designers
and a few enamellers might find employment in this line. M. says
enamelling is very deleterious. The enamel is made of three
fourths lead and a fine sand, with a small quantity of tin. It is
of a softer nature than glass, and is applied with stencil plates
and brushes. As the enamel dries a dust arises, which is inhaled,
and is more or less injurious to the lungs, producing something
like the painter's colic. It also affects the eyes some. A glass
stainer in Boston, who employs some women to enamel, writes
"he pays them by the day, and they earn from $4 to $6 per
week. They receive as much as men would for the same class
of work. It requires but a few days to learn enamelling; eight
or nine years for glass staining. He sometimes pays part or two
thirds wages to learners. The prospect for future employment is
uncertain, as little of the above work is done in this country. To
get near the materials is an item in selecting a location."
271. Engravers.
An engraver on glass told me there
are only from ten to thirteen glass engravers in New York. In
Bohemia, whole families engrave glass; and women do so in other
parts of Europe also. A good glass engraver is paid $3 a day.
272. Painters.
Painting on glass was practised by nuns
and monks some ages back. H. said he used to employ ladies
to paint on glass. His wife would give instruction in painting
and transferring on glass, for $20—$10 to be paid on entering,
the other $10 when the learner feels that she is thorough. To
paint on glass, one must understand colors, as opaque paints
would not answer. One must have some knowledge of shades to
attain excellency in decorative painting. Embellished glass is
cheaper than stained glass, and does not require a furnace; yet
if burned, has the pigment rendered more durable. In England,
many wealthy ladies buy traced glass and paints, and color and
[Pg 257]
shade it. Pictures transferred on glass can be finely finished up
and burnt. Painted glass is more brilliant than stained. H.
thinks to learn the art is a safe investment. He thought a few
ladies might learn painting and transferring on glass, Grecian
painting, and wax flowers, and turn it to account by travelling
through the country, stopping in small towns, exhibiting and selling
specimens and giving instruction. Painting glass need not
be merely a source of amusement, but prove an art of utility.
H. spoke of some people as speculators—not practitioners in the
art (such I would say he would make of ladies). He thinks,
among connections and at fairs a lady might meet with ready
sale for painted glass. The pieces could be framed to hang at a
window or place on a table. Painted glass is less costly than
stained glass. A glass gilder can easily earn $2 a day. Women
can do the filling in with very little instruction. It would
probably take several months' practice to learn to form the letters
perfectly.
273. Stainers.
Stained glass is now generally used for
churches, and to some extent for dwellings. The Germans are
the most successful in staining glass. There are two kinds of
stained glass—the pot metal, the coloring substances of which
are fused in the glass and then burnt. The pictures of the other
kind are formed of small pieces, each one painted separately,
burnt, and united with blacklead. Frequently a window is
formed of hundreds of these pieces. A picture of stained glass
looks on the right side like a rich oil painting on canvas. I
have been told there are 18,000 shades of stained glass. G.
charges $6 a square foot for stained glass of a fine kind. There
is a lady in England, that fills large orders for the stained glass
windows of churches and cathedrals. Madame Bodichon writes
as follows of a convent of Carmelite nuns she visited at Mans,
France: "By the direction of the sisters, glass windows of all
sorts, and in every stage of progress, were shown to us by an
intelligent young man—one of the artists in the employ of the
convent. He told us there were twenty-seven employés, two of
them German artists; but the sisters arrange everything, carry
on all the immense correspondence, and execute orders not only for
France, but for America, Rome, and England, and other countries.
Three of the nuns are occupied in painting upon glass themselves,
but the principal part of the work is done by the artists,
under the direction of the ladies." It requires a person of
artistic skill and taste to excel in staining glass, and the work is
best appreciated by people acquainted with art. It would require
at least three or four years to learn the art well. A
knowledge of other styles of painting is not of much assistance.
[Pg 258]
The paint must be put on very thickly, but very evenly. There
seems to be a combination of arts in the business to one who performs
all the parts. A man must be enough of a glazier to cut
glass, enough of a chemist to understand the colors to be used
and the length of time the glass should be exposed to heat, enough
of a designer to prepare his own patterns, and enough of an
artist to color with taste. A man can earn at least $18 or $20 a
week, who is proficient in the art. The business has increased
greatly during the last few years in the United States, and is
continuing to increase. Much of the stained glass used in the
United States is of home manufacture. The designs for stained
glass are usually made by the proprietor of an establishment.
Skill in drawing is very desirable for any one working at the
business. The art is one that affords exercise for inventive
talent, artistic skill, and good taste. In a few glass-staining
establishments, girls do the tracing. It requires an apprenticeship
of four years to learn the grinding, enamelling, and staining
of glass. A boy is usually paid $1.50 a week the first year, but
he is expected to grind colors, clean brushes, go errands, &c.
An employer informed me he pays from $1 to $3 a day to men
for staining glass. S. spent about seven years in England learning
the business. He painted a window not long ago for $5,000.
He does his own designing. He says it would not pay to have
separate designers. He is acquainted with some secret in coloring,
that he would not impart for a great deal. Great progress
has been made in the art in this country during the last few
years. It requires more skill than painting on canvas.
274. Watch Crystals.
M. told us there are two kinds
of watch crystals made in this country: the English and Dutch.
The English are the best. The Dutch make them in a cheaper way.
Men bend, cut out, and clip them. Females grind the edges.
The Dutch can be known from the English by a more sudden
rounding near the edges, while the English round from the centre
equally. In Williamsburg, German women can be seen
at work in watch crystal factories. B. told me he used to
"employ girls to grind and polish glasses. They were paid $3 a
week—ten hours a day. It requires but two or three weeks to
learn, and during that time they are not paid, because of the time
lost in giving instruction and the material wasted. Now it is all
done by Germans, and Americans need not expect to get in." V.
confirmed the statement. He says it is mostly done by German
families, and the women that are hired are never paid over $3 a
week. It is light and steady work, and they are employed all
the year, and do not work in the same apartment as men. In
some of the factories of Europe, from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty women are employed.
[Pg 259]
275. China Decorators.
We find that in France, some
years back, many females earned a livelihood by painting on
porcelain. During the last century, a Madame Gerard, "who
possessed a large fortune, had a hotel furnished with facilities for
painting Sevres. Her splendid cupboards of polished mahogany
were gilded and bronzed, and their contents looked like a rich
collection for the gratification of taste rather than for sale. She
purchased some pieces for sixty and eighty louis d'ors. A pair
of vases, not very large, painted with sacred subjects, sold for
26,000 livres." "There are two distinct methods of painting in
use for china and earthenware: one is transferred to the bisque,
and is the method by which the ordinary painted ware is produced;
and the other transferred on the glaze." In the former
process, women called transferrers and cutters are employed.
The cutter trims away the superfluous paper around the pattern,
which the transferrer applies to the ware, and rubs with flannel to
produce an impression. She then washes the paper off, and the
ware is ready for the hardening kiln. Women are excluded from
that department termed ground laying, though, from the care
and lightness of touch required, it is very suitable. In Staffordshire,
E., great opposition was made some years back to women
becoming decorators, and even now they are not permitted to use
a hand rest. In France, and to a limited extent in England,
decorating, gilding, and burnishing are done by women. This
is probably one reason that imported China is cheaper. Most
of those in France and England who attain respectable skill in decorating,
are the wives or daughters of working manufacturers.
Besides the mechanical skill, it requires a very exact knowledge
of the effects of the coloring matters employed, as they are much
changed by being burnt. Decorating is certainly a beautiful
employment for women, but few in this country have the opportunity
and are willing to apply themselves long enough to
learn the art. At K.'s china warerooms, Philadelphia, I was
told, no establishments of any size in the United States are engaged
in the decoration of china, because they can get it done
more cheaply in England and France. K. employs Englishmen
to do what decorating he wishes to have done. He employs
women to burnish. The following contradictory statement I
found in the "Manufactures of Philadelphia:" "Decorating porcelain
and china ware, which had been imported plain, is done in
one establishment in Philadelphia to an amount exceeding
[Pg 260]
$75,000 per annum." At H.'s, New York, I saw women burnishing
china. It is merely a mechanical operation, consisting in
rubbing the gilding with agate, after being burnt. The girls
earn from $3.50 to $4.00 a week. It requires care and physical
strength. One girl was cleaning superfluous paint off the china.
Women might learn to make impressions for letters, flowers, and
other patterns. I saw an English lady in New York decorating
china. A lady took lessons of either her or her husband, to teach
in the school of design. S. employs one woman for painting, and
fifteen for burnishing china. China decorating is usually paid
for by the piece. Mixing the colors for china painting is not
more unhealthy than mixing them for canvas, and putting them
on not more so than any other sedentary occupation. A French
decorator told me that in Paris he gave private instruction to
some ladies who learned it for a pastime, and a few who made a
business of it. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans
are the only places where china is painted in the United
States. L. thinks a person of taste and abilities could learn in
one year, earning nothing during the time, and after that earn
from $5 to $10 a week. He pays his burnishers $3 a week.
Another decorator told me he pays his burnishers (girls) from $2
to $2.50 a week. The foreman of a large establishment in New
York told me that it requires several years to learn to decorate
perfectly. Most decorators design their own patterns, and usually
earn $12 a week. He says, in busy seasons it is difficult to get
enough of good burnishers. His girls work only in daylight, and
earn from $3 to $5 a week. They are busy all the year—most
so three months before New Year. It requires three months'
practice to become a good burnisher. A learner receives $1 a
week from the time she commences to learn burnishing: he
thinks it is not hard on the eyes. The work is paid for by the
piece. If there was a higher protective duty, more decorating
would be done in the United States.
276. Leather.
A leather dresser, somewhere in New York
State, writes: "Leather dressing is a disagreeable, wet business,
fit only for men. After leather is dressed, all the other work
can be done by women. We cut by measure and by pattern.
[Pg 261]
A person cutting and making should earn one hundred per cent.
Women can cut, make, and sell as well as men, I suppose even
better."
277. Currying.
The currying of skins might be done by
women. Cutting it of the desired thickness, soaking it in water,
and working it with a small stone, cleaning it with a brush, and,
in the drying shed, applying oil and tallow, would not require
very long practice for one of any mechanical talent. The skin is
softened by being doubled and washed with a grooved board. It
is then carefully shaved, and worked again, after which it is
blackened and grained. The work would require some strength,
but not more than the ordinary process of washing clothes. All
the work must be performed standing. The process of converting
the skins of sheep, lambs, and kids into soft leather, is called tawing,
and is somewhat lighter work than currying; yet the leather
requires much stretching and rubbing. I am sure the work would
not be more, if so offensive, as morocco sewing.
278. Harness.
A harness maker told me that a lady
who stitches harness of the best quality, can earn from $1.25 to
$1.50 a day. He pays $1 a set for stitching the blinds. The
perforations are made by a man, and they are stitched by hand.
Not a great many are engaged in it, and he thinks the prospect
good of learners obtaining employment. Many earn $6 or $7 a
week. He employs two women all the year. A person that can
sew well, can learn in two or three weeks. It requires some instruction.
A maker of horse collars told me his women stitch
collars by machine; formerly by hand. He pays six cents a pair.
The wife of one of his workmen stitches twelve an hour, with one
of Howe's machines. B. employs from fifty to seventy-five girls
to make fancy harness, horse blankets, and coach tassels. Fancy
bridles he has stitched by Singer's machine. Good operators
can earn from $5 to $7 a week, and for leather work are paid by
the week. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. The
fashions of fancy leather work change. One gentleman, who employs
many girls in making harness trimmings, says the cloth
pieces are made by hand, the leather by machinery. In Newark,
Bridgeport, and New Haven, much of the stitching for the South
is done by machines, and women are employed. The English
harness is considered the best, and is done by hand. In England,
men called "bridle cutters" get large quantities of bridles to
make up, and employ from one hundred to two hundred girls to
do the stitching. A lady who has quite an establishment in New
York, and employs a number of work people, told me that she
pays them each from $2 to $6 a week. She thinks machine
operating is trying on the health, but not so bad as sewing with a
[Pg 262]
needle. She pays by the week. Women do as well as men, except
for heavy work. The trade can be learned in a few weeks.
She pays learners something. Her hands have work all the year,
but are most busy from October till the end of December. They
work ten hours. She prefers men for most of the work. She
would like American women, but cannot get them. She says
girls think more of having a beau than laying up a few dollars
in a bank, and consequently spend all they make on dress. A
manufacturer writes: "Working on leather is considered very
healthy. I employ thirteen women in the manufacture of fancy
bridles, riding and driving reins, riding martingales, &c. They
average $1 per day. Three of them run stitching machines. All
are paid by the piece, except one, who does the overseeing and
writing. We think the girls receive as good pay as the men.
Considerable practice is necessary to do the work well. Learners
are paid for all work that is sufficiently well done to be salable.
Good judgment, accurate eye, and nimble fingers, best fit one for
the occupation. As our business is wholesale, it depends upon
orders. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Sometimes
the women are entirely out of work for a short time in winter.
They never work over ten hours. We will not employ foreigners."
279. Jewel and Instrument Cases.
At a manufactory,
I was told they employ some girls, paying by the piece.
The girls can earn $4.50 to $5 a week, of ten hours a day. It
does not require long to learn. In busy seasons it is difficult to
get good hands, and they have to advertise frequently. At
another place, the proprietor told me he used to employ girls who
earned $4 or $5 a week, but he prefers boys, because they can do
all parts of the work. At a manufactory of morocco and velvet
jewel cases, the man told me he pays girls $4.50 and $5 a week,
of ten hours a day. In busy seasons it is difficult to get good
hands.
280. Morocco Sewers.
At a morocco manufactory, I
was told by the proprietor, a German, that he employs girls, paying
twelve cents a dozen, and they can sew from five to twelve
dozen a day. He wants hands, and of course would speak favorably
of the occupation. He says they can have work all the
year except one or two weeks. At an American manufacturer's,
I was told it is wet, dirty work, and requires considerable time
and practice to learn to do it quickly. After working at it constantly
four or five years, a good hand may be able to earn from
$5 to $7 a week. Most of it is done in the families of tanners.
Some women undertake it, but give it up because they do it so
slowly it will not pay. The man said nearly or quite all who
work at it are Germans, and the wives and daughters of those in
[Pg 263]
the business. They are paid twelve cents a dozen. The occupation
he thinks is full in New York, for women. Beginners are
apt to hurt their fingers, as needles are used, the sides of which
are triangular. Sewing five skins a day is considered very good
work. Dr. Wynne says: "Exhalations from animal substances,
which are very offensive to the senses, more especially to that of
smell, not only appear to be in most instances innoxious, but often
of absolute advantage in affording a protection from disease."
Most morocco is made in Philadelphia, none South or West. S.
employs sixteen women, and pays good hands from $4 to $5 per
week. He thinks there are at least two hundred morocco sewers
in Philadelphia. It does not take long to learn. He pays from
the first. They have work all the year, but the prospect for
learners is poor. At A.'s, Philadelphia, I saw some women sewing
up goat skins, which were to be tanned. It is extremely disagreeable
work, as the skins are wet and smell offensively. The
women are paid twelve cents a dozen, and find their own thread.
A steady hand can earn from $3.50 to $6 a week, and can always
find work. They are most busy in spring and fall. A morocco
dresser writes: "He pays by the piece, and his women each earn
about seventy-five cents a day. A woman can learn in two or
three weeks. The prospect for future employment is very poor,
as skins are mostly tanned now without sewing. A location
must always be had where pure water is abundant."
281. Pocket Books.
One man told me he employs a
woman to make portemonaies, paying $5 a week. On Broadway
a firm employs four or five women, paying from $3 to $6 a week.
It requires but two or three months to learn the business. The
women sew with a machine, paste morocco on, and varnish some
parts. C. pays his girls from $3.50 to $4 a week. At another
place one of the firm told me their girls earn $3, $4, and $5 a
week. It is piece work, and requires but three or four weeks to
learn. A smart girl can earn $2 the first week. The busy
seasons are spring and fall. They find it difficult to get enough
good hands in those seasons. The business is mostly confined to
New York and Philadelphia. A manufacturer in New York
told me, about two hundred women are employed in making
pocket books, &c., in that city. He pays $4.50 a week, but they
have a certain quantity to do in that time. It requires but a
short time to learn to do the stitching only (which he has done
by hand), but about a year to learn to do all parts. He pays $2
a week while they are learning, and then he increases at the rate
of twenty-five cents a week after a few months, and at the end of
the year some are earning $3; some $3.25. Neatness in cutting
and fitting the parts together is desirable. He keeps his hands
[Pg 264]
employed all the year. There is a scarcity of good hands, but
an abundance of indifferent ones. A manufacturer in Maine
writes: "We employ from eight to twelve American girls. They
are paid by the piece, and earn from $12 to $16 per month.
Boys earn about the same as girls. They are paid while learning,
if the work is well done. It requires about a year to become
proficient."
282. Saddle Seats.
In Philadelphia, I was told at a
large saddle store that they employ women to stitch saddles,
paying from fifty cents apiece for common ones to $1.25 for
those of a better quality. At a large saddle and harness manufactory
in New York, I was told they employ women to stitch
by the machine and by hand. They are paid by the day, as there
is a variety of work, and their girls are not confined to exclusive
branches. In prosperous times their hands are employed most
of the year. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work.
There are small factories in most of the Southern and Western
cities. The hand sewers earn but $3 and $5 a week; a few operators
can make $6. At S. & M.'s they employ about twenty
women in the different branches, and, when business is good, have
work all the year. It does not require long to learn. They are
paid by the week, from $3 to $4. Prospect dull. This kind of
work is mostly done in Newark.
283. Tanning.
Leather can now be tanned by a chemical
process in a few days. Leather has been made so thin, and received
so high a polish, that it has been used for making bonnets
in Paris. Buckskin is used for making many articles in this
country. Shoulder braces, drawers, shirts and gloves, are made
of it. A tanner writes: "I know of no country where this business
exists in which females are employed, unless perhaps in some
of the smaller German States, where female service is not deemed
incompatible with the services of the ox and the horse. The
tanning business in all its departments is laborious and offensive,
and although not unhealthy, is dirty and disagreeable, requiring
a great amount of muscular power. I know of no employment
less congenial to the taste of women, or less suited to their elevation.
Morocco is polished by hand, and in some places is done
by women. A tanner writes: "It requires strong and healthy
men to perform any part of a tanner's trade, and they do not
get very highly paid at that. The business is decidedly dirty,
and oftentimes very disagreeable, not fit for women in any particular.
In order to conduct the business successfully, one needs
to be located by a good stream of water, or where it can be easily
obtained, plenty of bark, and not far from market." Among the
Cossacks, some women are employed in tanning.
[Pg 265]
284. Trunks.
A trunk maker said he thought women could
not well put the tacks in trunks, because the trunks are first put
together, and are heavy lifting; but I think it could be done by
them. Putting the linings in trunks could certainly be done by
women. The man referred to said he thought some women are
employed in a large trunk factory in Newark, because the proprietors
thought they could get their work done cheaper, and he
hoped they failed, because of their motive. The employment of
women, he urged, cuts down men's labor, and so all labor is reduced
below its worth, just as it is now in England. There a
woman must neglect her home duties, to help make a living. If
women, he added, were paid at the same rate as men, and so
there was a fair competition, he would not object to women being
employed.
285. Whips.
V., of New York, says he and his partner
have whips manufactured in Westfield, Mass., and some in the
House of Refuge, Charlestown. Westfield is the principal manufacturing
place for whips in the United States. The daughters
of farmers for miles around the town braid lashes. The covers
are put on the handles by machines attended by girls. That part
is usually done in factories. The part called buttons is also made
by girls, and done by hand. Girls can earn from $3 to $5 a
week. They receive about three fourths the price paid men, because
the work is not so laborious. It requires from three to
nine months to learn, according to the skill of the person. They
are paid what they can earn while learning. They have been
able to keep their hands employed all the year, but fear they
cannot this winter (1860). In 1857, there were probably but
one half the working class able to obtain employment. The
prospect for work in this line is better than in most others, for
the whip market has increased twofold in the last ten years, and
is likely to extend. The work done at home is piece work, and
that done in shops is usually so. The business suffers in hard
times, for people then think they can dispense with whips. V.
said the Philadelphians and Yankees have different views in regard
to woman's labor. The Yankees know they can get it
done cheaper by women, and the Philadelphians think they cannot
get it so well done by women. The American Whip Company
write "they employ eighty females; about one half are
American, and one half Irish. Women are employed in any department
where they can labor with propriety and advantage.
The prospect is that the business will always continue as good as
now. All seasons answer equally well for the work. During
working hours, one of the women often reads aloud for the benefit
of the others in the room. Board, $2 per week." "The reason
[Pg 266]
why women are employed at making whips is, the work being
light, they can do as much as a man, and competition compels
the employer to get his work done for the lowest wages." P. &
S., in Philadelphia, employ some girls to braid lashes. It requires
about six weeks to learn. Some earn $3, and some $4 a
week, working from nine to ten hours, but are paid by the dozen.
All their girls are Americans, as are the generality of females in
this business. "In London," says Mayhew, "the cane sellers are
sometimes about two hundred in number, on a fine Sunday, in
the summer, and on no day are there fewer than thirty sellers of
whips in the streets, and sometimes—not often—one hundred."
The branch of finishing in whip making has been entered by
women in Birmingham, England, and created some opposition.
Sellers of large, coarse whips usually frequent market houses—those
with fancy whips stand on the sidewalks.
286. Whalebone Workers.
The natural color of whalebone
is nearly the same as gray limestone rock. The black
ones we buy are colored. Whalebone is exported from New
York. About four hundred American vessels are employed in
whaling, and about ten thousand men. Enough whalebone can
be prepared in one factory to supply the whole United States,
I was told by one of the proprietors of a whalebone factory. He
paid a boy $2 a week for tying up whalebone for parasols and
umbrellas (which work could be done by a girl). Small holes
are punched by machinery in the ends of bones to be used for
stays. A woman runs a thread through, and ties them in bunches.
She is paid one cent a bunch, and, as she ties up five hundred or
six hundred a week, earns $5 or $6. At another factory, I was
told they employ girls and women in tying up some whalebones
and stringing others. They sit while at work, and are paid by
the week, working ten hours a day. They keep their hands all
the year, but are most busy in the fall. Tying up whalebones
looks simple, but it requires practice to become expert, and requires
discrimination to select the indifferent from the salable.
The woman we saw earns $4.50, but she has been at it several
years, and is very expert. Women seldom earn more than $3.
Girls might polish the bones—a something I saw a boy doing.
[Pg 267]
287. Brush Manufacturers.
Women have from the
earliest period been employed in making brushes. In France,
women are employed in preparing bristles for brushes, bleaching,
washing, straightening, and assorting them. If they are so employed
in this country it is at Lansingburg, N. Y. Indeed the
finer bristles are all imported. The process of preparing bristles
is simple, merely washing them and placing them in a preparation
of sulphur to bleach them. "The great art in making brushes
for artists is so to arrange the hairs that their ends may be made
to converge to a fine point when moistened and drawn between
the lips; and it is said that females are more successful than men
in preparing the small and delicate pencils." In shaving brushes
the bristles must be so arranged as to form a cone. This requires
skill, and commands handsome wages. A large number of bristles
are imported from Germany, Russia, and a considerable quantity
from France; yet the United States furnish some. We think
the owners of pork houses, and farmers in the Southern and
Western States, would find the saving of bristles to justify the
trouble of doing so, as they bring a good price. In this country,
the process in making finer brushes, called drawing, is mostly
done by women. The heavier kind of brushes is seldom made by
women. Persons working in horn, wood, whalebone, ivory, gutta
percha, pearl, &c., prepare the handles. Few if any brush makers
have them prepared in their own establishments. I called on a
brush maker whose manufactory is in Boston. The clerk says
they never have any difficulty in getting plenty of good hands.
They work by the piece. He says, if you advertise there, you are
sure to have hundreds of applicants, many of whom are already
in business, but hope to get better wages for the same amount of
work, or less work for the same wages. A manufacturer told me
that he employs boys, who do piecework and earn from $5 to $10
a week, but thinks he will employ girls, as he could get drawers
for from $3 to $4 per week. The girls sit while at this work.
H., a maker of tooth, nail, and hair brushes, told me his is the
only tooth brush manufactory in the United States. His girls
looked clean and orderly, and had intelligent faces. Those working
in the house were of Irish extraction—those who worked at
home, Americans. Most of them attend night school. H. finds
his girls more careless about their work Monday morning than at
any other time. He attributes it to their talking and thinking
of what they saw and heard the day before. Those that sew well
[Pg 268]
he finds work best for him. (I expect that principle generally
holds good—those that work well in one business are likely to in
another, because they are industrious and give their attention to
it.) If the work is not well done, he takes it out and makes them
do it over. As it is done by the piece, it of course is their own
loss. They engage in trepanning, wiring, and trimming brushes.
The trepanning and wiring are done altogether by women in England.
They are paid by the piece, those wiring and trepanning
earn from $3 to $4. The lady that trims earns $6 a week. The
work is very neat and well adapted to women. It requires about
three months to learn. Women are paid something while learning.
Care and nicety must be used to fill the little cavities in
the brush with bristles closely and firmly. The business is not
good, on account of competition in the manufacture with European
countries, where labor is cheaper. Women cannot polish the
ivory well, as it is done by hand and is very hard work. Women
are superior in the branches pursued by them. $2.50 is the
usually price paid by workwomen for board in New York. A
brush maker in Philadelphia writes: "I pay from eighteen to
twenty cents per thousand holes. No men employed by us in this
branch. Boys spend four or five years at this trade. Girls spend
six months learning one branch. The prospect for more work of
this kind is poor. Our women are all Americans, and work the
year round. Women are superior in their branch." P. & M.
employ girls to make ostrich feather dusters, and they earn from
$4 to $6 per week. They have had employment all the year.
While at work the girls can sit or stand, as they please. Their
girls also paint the handles. A manufacturer of ostrich feather
dusters told me, he pays girls from $2 to $3 a week for coloring
and putting the feathers in handles. They can always get enough
of hands. The girls work in daylight only.
288. Ivory Workers.
Ivory is generally turned in a
lathe—a machine that differs some in size and shape, according to
the material worked. Ivory, wood, and metal can be cut by it
into almost any shape. The ivory nut is now much used as a
substitute for animal ivory. In a store for the sale of ivory
goods, the lady in attendance told me some of their articles are
imported from Germany, and some they have made. In Germany,
[Pg 269]
some women are employed in ivory carving. The lady thought
it could not be done to any extent in this country, because labor
is so high. (But if men can afford to do it, pray, why cannot
women?) The carving is done with steel instruments, and requires
considerable strength. "Barbara Helena Lange, of Germany,
earned celebrity in the seventeenth century, by engraving
on copper, and carving figures in ivory and alabaster." "Barbara
Julia Preisler was skilled in various branches of art; could
model in wax, and work in ivory and alabaster, and added painting
and copper engraving to the list of her accomplishments."
H. & F. have four or five girls to count and pack their ivory
goods, but none to polish. An ivory worker in Providence
writes: "Women are employed in carving and turning in Russia,
and carving in England. I can say for myself, that I have known
many women to transact the business equal to the smartest in the
trade in England, when the husband is deceased, and the widow
has been left to support a large family, and they have never failed
to do so creditably. I know of but two in this country, one in
Providence, R. I.; the other in Westfield, Mass. They earn
from $4 to $6 a week. The labor is light for women, and they
could earn the same as men. Carving could be learned in six
months, turning in one year. To be able to superintend, two
years' practice is required. The prospect for employment is not
flattering. In this country, women work eight hours; men, ten.
In England, France, and Scotland, they work eleven hours. In
New York, principals could employ twenty-five carvers and one
hundred turners, and I can see no objection to employing women.
Women excel in the business, if to their taste. Large cities or
manufacturing districts are the best localities. They must have
cultivated minds, or they are not suitable for the business, as it is
necessary to invent and execute new styles and patterns." In
Connecticut, some hundreds of families labor in the ivory comb
manufactories, and are paid per week $4.50, and by the piece
earn from $5 to $6 a week. An ivory turner in Essex, Conn.,
writes: "I usually employ two girls; one packing goods, the
other on fancy turning. They earn from $10 to $20 per month.
My help consists mostly of men. The work is very healthy. It
is piece work. The girls earn $1 per day of ten hours. They
are paid by the piece, the same price as men, and earn as much.
A learner receives $1 per week and board. A woman can do
nearly as much as a man after working one year or more. The
work is very clean and easy. A girl to succeed should be active,
intelligent, and ingenious." A gentleman who has ornaments
made of vegetable ivory, told me he could hire Germans to turn
them for him at from seventy-five cents to $1 a day.
[Pg 270]
289. Combs.
The comb is an article of primitive date,
and has been frequently found in use among nations when first
visited by civilized men. Madame de B. told me she had frequently
seen women in Europe, making, mending, and polishing
combs of tortoise shell, bone, and ivory. In Leominster, in
1853, 264 men were employed in the comb factory, at an average
of $7 per week, board $2.50—women at an average of $3 a week,
board $1.50. A firm in Lancaster, Penn., write: "We employ
seven women, because they are better adapted to the work. They
are paid by the week, from $2 to $3.50, and work ten hours a
day. They do not perform the same kind of work as men. Boys
are apprentices until twenty-one years of age—females spend but
a few weeks learning. All seasons are alike. Women do the
light work best. Board, $1.25." Some manufacturers of ivory
combs write: "Our establishment, which has been in operation
over thirty years, formerly gave employment to a large number
of female operatives; but of late years, so many labor-saving
machines have been introduced, that the number employed is
very small. At present, less than a dozen women are engaged in
our factory, while we employ some forty men. We expect all who
are employed by us to work eleven hours each day, except Saturdays
during the winter, when we close before sundown. Most
of our girls work by the piece, and earn from 70 cents to $1 per
day. To the others we pay $4 per week. The time required to
learn the business varies with the character of the work—in some
cases two months, in others not more than one week. The only
qualifications needed are carefulness, activity, and common sense.
The work is light, and not particularly unhealthy. The only
reason why it should be unhealthy at all, is its sedentary nature.
Board, from $1.75 to $2 per week. We have uniformly, since
the commencement of our business, refused to employ any but
American girls of known good moral character. There have
been few or none of them that have not possessed a good common-school
education, and some of them have enjoyed and well
improved the advantages of such schools as those at South Hadley,
Pittsfield, and New Haven. It is a source of gratification
and pride to us, that we are able at present to call to mind no
less than seven of our operatives who have married clergymen;
one is now a missionary at the Sandwich Islands, and numbers
of them are respected and useful members of society." A manufacturer
of horn or bone combs writes: "The part assigned to
women is the staining and the bending or shaping of the comb.
The business is healthy."
290. Piano Keys.
I cannot learn of any women being
employed in sawing piano keys, but I think they could do it, if
[Pg 271]
they were properly instructed, and they certainly could polish
them. The turning of the ivory in the sun to bleach is usually
performed by a boy, and occupies several hours a day. The
assorting of piano keys and putting them in small paper boxes
could certainly be performed by women, but I was told it requires
considerable experience and judgment. The sharps are made of
ebony, sawed by circular wheels moved by steam. When large
blocks have been sawed into smaller pieces, women could then
saw them into keys. It would only require care. The noise of the
machinery and the black dust flying might be disagreeable at
first. A manufacturer of piano keys writes: "No women are
employed in the piano key department of our business, and none
are employed by other manufacturers, to our knowledge. We
suppose the reason is, that most of the labor in this department
is either quite severe or dirty, wet, and unpleasant. Assorting
and matching the ivory requires so long a time to learn, that we
cannot afford to hire any person for less than two years. Girls
are generally unwilling to engage to remain so long, especially
if they are at an age when their judgment and discretion make
their services really valuable." A Massachusetts manufacturer
of piano forte, melodeon, and organ keys writes: "I employ a
lady bookkeeper, but my business in the manufacture of keys for
musical instruments is such that it requires men alone, although
the work is very light and clean."
291. Rules.
The materials for rules are ivory and wood.
The prices of rules have fallen during the last few years—so
the profits are less. A rule manufacturer in Vermont writes:
"We employ women graduating rules by machinery and stamping
on the figures. We pay 7 cents per hour. Women are
paid proportionately while learning. Common sense and a
slight knowledge of arithmetic are the only qualifications needed.
They work all the year, ten hours a day. All are American.
Women are quite as rapid as men, and, in application, better."
A manufacturer in Connecticut writes: "I employ but one
woman, and she takes the work home. It is paid for by the
piece. There are many parts suitable for women, but it is more
profitable to employ men. The great demand for female labor in
the domestic employments in this section of the country is becoming
intolerable, on account of the general desire to obtain employment
in the factories." The machines are small and easily worked,
for making lines and figures on rules. The rivets of rules might,
I think, be inserted by women. I was told, men employed in
working at rule manufacture are paid $8, and some $9 a week.
The ruler stands while at work.
[Pg 272]
292. Pearl Workers.
At S.'s, we saw a man grinding
the outer and rougher coat off of pearl shells. It requires
some strength, as it is done on a stone wheel moved by steam,
the shell being kept in its place by a wooden rod held on it. It
is wet and dirty work. The water is cold, too, even in winter,
for warm water would soon become cold on account of the rapid
motion of the wheel; and it would not do to heat the pearl, as it
would cause it to split. The polishing was done on a wheel covered
with leather, and could as well be done by a girl as a boy.
S. had never known women to work in pearl, except to make
paper cutters, and then only in Germany. The inlaying of pearl
is in some places done by women. A worker in pearl writes me:
"The pearl button branch is separate from the pearl shell work.
In the first, females are employed; in the latter, they are not, as
it is unhealthy and laborious. In Birmingham, England, where
pearl buttons are almost exclusively manufactured, upward of
two thousand hands are employed. Pearl buttons are made in
Newark and Philadelphia." A manufacturer of pearl buttons in
Philadelphia writes: "I employ women in finishing, and pay
from $2 to $3 a week. It requires from one to three weeks to
learn. The prospect of the business increasing is good. The
work is regular, and the hours ten a day. I employ women because
they are cheaper." To polish pearl buttons is very simple—merely
placing the button in a pair of tongs, and holding it against
three revolving wheels successively. The carving of pearl is wrist
work, and S. thought women have not sufficient strength in their
wrists to do it; but I think many have.
293. Tortoise-Shell Workers.
Shell is made into
clock cases, cigar cases, card cases, writing desks, and other such
articles, but is most used for combs. In Brooklyn, a manufacturer
of shell combs told me they had several times thought of
employing women, Gutta percha and vulcanized india rubber
have become, to some extent, a substitute for tortoise shell. On
tortoise-shell combs the light carving might be done by women;
[Pg 273]
the heavy cutting requires more strength. The sawing out of the
figures is suitable for women. The finishing could also be done
by them. To learn the finishing would not require a person of
ordinary talent more than a week, and either of the other processes
probably not more than six or eight weeks. Workers
could earn from $6 to $7 a week, if they could have constant
employment. The business is very dependent on fashion. P. &
B. used to employ girls in rounding the teeth of shell side-combs,
and paid each $4; but gutta-percha combs have done away with
shell ones. A worker of shell combs told me he had employed
girls, paying some by the piece and some by the week. They
earned from $3 to $6 per week. It requires about six months to
learn carving and sawing—polishing, not so long. Care, judgment,
and a good idea of form and proportion, are necessary.
The business is now very dull. The style of carving on combs is
very different from that worn a few years back. It is now of a
heavier kind, and the work not so suitable for women.
294. Gum Elastic Manufacture.
"In nearly
all the manufacturing branches of this business, females are
employed. After the articles are moulded, females join them;
also paint the toys, pack the combs in boxes, &c. In
most establishments they are employed the whole year, while
some only retain a small proportion during the dull season, which
is in the winter. All are paid by the piece, varying from $4 to
$7 per week. They learn very quickly, and are paid for what
they do as soon as they commence, although it takes six months
or one year's practice to equal the best workers. The manufacturing
is almost exclusively confined to the country, and, as a
class, the women are in no way exceptionable, many of them being
considerably cultivated. There are plenty found to learn the business,
and it gives employment to several thousand." In Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and
New Jersey, 1,825 males and 1,058 females were employed, in the
year ending June 1st, 1860, in making india rubber goods. I
talked with one of the most extensive gum elastic manufacturers in
the United States, for the purpose of gaining some idea of the number
of female operatives in that department, their wages, if the
occupation is unhealthy, &c. This manufacturer has realized
millions from his business; and, after repeated efforts to learn
[Pg 274]
how his women were paid, I succeeded in learning that those who
work out of the house are paid by the piece, and earn only from
$2 to $3 a week, working from dawn until midnight. Some
worked in the establishment, going at 7.30
A. M., and working
until 6
P. M., receiving about the same wages. They were employed
in making suspenders. More women are employed in
the shoe department than any other. The hard india rubber
goods are labelled and packed by women in some manufactories;
but most of the making is done by men. At a city in Western
Massachusetts, ten girls were employed by one man, at an average
of $2.50 each per week, to mend imperfections in india rubber
goods. I went to Harlem, and was permitted with my attendant
to go through the manufactory and see the process of making up
a variety of india rubber goods. Some of the girls are paid by
the piece, and some by the week. They earn from $4 to $6 a
week. It does not require a girl of good sense more than from
one to four weeks to learn. I inquired of one of the proprietors
and three of the foremen, if they thought it unhealthy. The
proprietor said, not; but the foremen were not very positive
in their assertions. I inquired of a girl in the sewing room.
She said she found it so in the cementing room, and had secured
work in the sewing room on that account. She attributed it to
the evaporation of the camphene, and the flying of the powder,
made of pulverized soapstone and flour. The odor, no doubt, is
very disagreeable at first to most workers. One foreman said he
thought it would not be well for a consumptive person to confine
him or herself to that kind of work. One of the proprietors
said, if a nice, genteel-looking girl comes along, they will take
her as a learner, even if they do not wish a learner, that they
may have good hands when they need them. They have a great
many applications. They used to take learners, and permit old
hands to instruct them, paying them for the time spent in doing
so. They are most busy in the spring and fall, but have something
to do all the year. Those in the first cementing room
were working at large tables, and stood. They were paid fifteen
cents for cementing the seams of a gentleman's coat, and some at
that work make $1 a day of ten hours' labor. Most of the girls
prefer to stand while at work. They were very neat, quiet, and
good looking. In the second room we saw women making rubber
cushions, small tubes, &c. One of the girls making tubes said she
was paid by the hundred, and could not earn $1 a day. All in
the second and third room sat. In the third room the ladies were
finishing off coats, sewing in the sleeves, binding, and putting on
buttons. Most india rubber factories are in New Jersey. There
are none in the West or South.
[Pg 275]
295. Men's Clothing.
The Rubber Clothing Company at
Beverly, Mass., "employ from seventy-five to one hundred women.
They report the work as being light, and therefore requiring
nimble fingers. Their girls are paid both by the piece and week,
and earn from $3 to $6 per week, usually working ten hours a
day. One half are American. Women are paid as well as men
in this branch. It requires four weeks to learn. Prospect of
future work is good. Activity and intelligence are needed. The
work is very easy, and is given at all seasons. Girls are usually
not so steady at work as men. Board, $2 per week." The
superintendent of the American Hard Rubber Company writes:
"We employ ten women in making hard india rubber goods.
We prefer them on account of their small fingers. It is piece
work, and women are paid from $4 to $6 per week, ten hours a
day. Our women could not do the work of men, who have to be
mechanics, having learned a trade. Men receive about thirty-three
cents more per day than women. The time required for
men to learn our business it is impossible to answer. Women
can learn sufficient in four weeks to earn seventy-five cents per
day. Carefulness and nimble fingers are necessary. The business
is new, but the prospects for the future good as could be
counted upon in any ordinary business. The business is not
sufficiently extended to furnish a particular set of people depending
upon it with labor. Some of our women are quite intelligent
and refined. There is a good library connected with the factory,
and on Sunday they have ready access to church."
296. Shoes.
The application of india rubber to the making
of boots and shoes originated in the United States. B. & S.
"employ seventy-five girls, who earn from $3 to $6 a week. They
are employed all the year, and it is not unhealthy." The business
has been on the decrease for two years. The treasurer of
the Boston Shoe Co. informs me: "The company employ about
seventy-five women, who work by the piece. The employment is
not unhealthy. Average wages from seventy five cents to $1.25
per day, of eight or ten hours. Our women earn full as much as
men, in comparison with the work done. Three fourths are
American. A smart girl will learn in a couple of weeks to make
from fifty to seventy-five cents per day; in two or three months,
she can earn full wages. The prospect of future employment is
fair. The fall of the year is the most busy season. Good board,
$2 per week."
297. Toys.
The New York Rubber Co. write: "We employ
women in making and ornamenting toys. Little of the
work is done in other countries. The girls earn from $3 to $8
per week, but are paid by the piece. Men and women do not
[Pg 276]
perform the same kind of work. In a few weeks learners earn
$3; in a few months, $5 or $6. They have work at all seasons.
The work is pleasant. Board, $2."
298. Gutta Percha Manufacture.
A manufacturer
of gutta-percha goods told me that the firm to which he belongs
employ twenty-five girls. One of their girls earns $1 a day,
making handles. The others close the seams of coats, and other
articles of dress, with cement. Some work by the piece, and some
by the week. When by the week, they are paid $3.50 and $4;
and those by the piece earn about the same. He thinks, if it is
unhealthy, it is because the sulphur used opens the pores and renders
the person liable to take cold. I visited a gutta-percha
comb manufactory. The girls receive $2 a week, while learning.
They can learn in a few days. They polish and pack the combs.
They work ten hours a day, and receive $4. Few of them get
$4.50. The employer thinks there may be more work in that
line hereafter. A woman acquainted with machinery could superintend
the machine that cuts the teeth of the comb. Rounding
the teeth is done by men, but could be performed by women. I
was told there is a manufactory at Stratton, L. I., where seventy
women are employed.
299. Artists.
The making of hair ornaments is a distinct
branch of labor. Some very beautiful and ingenious
pieces of workmanship have been executed. Bracelets, earrings,
breastpins, and guards are the most common articles. The work
is nicely adapted to the nimble fingers of women, whether engaged
in it for pastime or profit. A foreign lady, that does ornamental
hair work, told me that it is a right profitable business to
one that can do it well, but American women have not patience
to learn to do it in a superior manner. A hair jeweller in Philadelphia
told me he employs six girls—all Americans, and he
thinks they do better than foreigners. He pays a girl seventy-five
cents a week, for three or four weeks. By that time she has
[Pg 277]
learned enough to earn $3 or $4 a week. Formerly he required
a girl to spend two years learning, and paid her nothing during
the time. He mentioned one firm that required three years' apprenticeship.
But the girls often became discouraged, and went
at something else. Now the business is not so much of a secret.
He has now and then paid as high as $12 a week, for a hand that
was very ingenious and successful. They pay high for their designs.
The gentleman had paid $50, the week previous, for a design.
His girls all work in the establishment, and spend about
nine hours at their work. It is done altogether by hand. The
only disadvantage attending it is the confinement that pertains
to it, or any other employment of that kind. An artist on Fifth
street gives work out of the house. The average rate of wages
he pays is $4 a week. Hair artists, when employed by the week,
receive from $4 to $5. At S.'s, New York, they pay a good hand
from $4 to $5 a week, ten hours a day. A person of good abilities
can learn most of the patterns in three weeks. An ornamental
hair worker told me she charges fifty cents a lesson of an
hour. A lady was taking lessons who had recently married a
jeweller, and was going to Louisiana to live. A good price can
be got for such work in the South, for Southerners have had all
such work done in the North. A German, who made very pretty
ornamental hair work in New York, told me he charges from $25
to $50 for teaching the art—those that wish to learn in a short
time, and so require much of his attention, pay $100. It can be
very well learned in six months. He pays $10 a week to good
hands. The work is the same at all seasons. Strong eyes, nimble
fingers, and a clear head are the essentials for a learner.
300. Dressers.
The business of a barber was performed
by females among the Romans, about the time of the Christian
era. I have read that there are now women barbers in Paris,
Normandy, England, and Western Africa. In the reign of Louis
XIV. it was not unusual for ladies of rank and wealth to dress
the whiskers of their favorite friends. Both men and women are
engaged in the United States in the business of dressing ladies'
hair. We think women most suitable for it, and should be patronized
to the exclusion of men. The business requires practice
and taste. Some ladies of wealth have their dressing maids to
learn the art and perform that office of the toilet. Most hair
dressers charge 50 cents to $1.50 for dressing the hair. The
price is regulated by the style in which it is done and the reputation
of the dresser. The demands for a hair dresser are sometimes
such, in a fashionable season, that a lady must have her
hair dressed as early as noon, to wear to the opera at 8, or to a
party at 10
P. M. Mrs. W., New York, charges 50 cents for
[Pg 278]
dressing hair, 75 for shampooing and dressing, and $1 if she
sends out. She never sends any one out to dress hair where she
is not acquainted. She thinks there are about 200 hair dressers
in New York. At an establishment in Broadway they give instruction
in hair dressing—price, $1 a lesson. A person of ordinary
abilities can learn to dress hair plainly in three or four
lessons. C. says he thinks more women could find employment
as hair dressers in New York; but I think, from the number of
signs I saw, no demand can exist. He thinks it strange that they
do not make engagements by the week, as they do in the cities of
the old countries, where there are 200 or 300 in every large city
that go out daily to the houses of their customers. I have since
learned that there are some in New York that do. Mrs. G. goes
out by the week, and receives $3 per week. She makes such engagements
for the morning only, as she is likely to be called in
the afternoon to prepare ladies for parties. From the middle of
June until September she is at Saratoga. C. had a woman four
years learning the styles of dressing and making up hair. The
third year he paid her $4 a week, and the fourth year $5 a week.
He says it requires so long to learn it that women generally get
discouraged and go at something else. Women employed by the
week to dress hair receive from $4 to $5. A lady told me she
charges 50 cents a lesson, and a person can learn in from fourteen
to twenty lessons. Two years' time is generally given to learn
hair work in all its branches, weaving, mounting, &c. It takes
time and capital to establish a business for one's self, as hair is a
costly article. I saw one lady who teaches hair dressing for $10.
A young woman told me it requires two weeks of constant practice
to become a hair dresser. Nearly everything at it is done in
winter. Practice makes perfect. The best plan is to get regular
customers, and go to their houses every day, including Sunday,
for which it is usual to charge from $1.50 a week up, for
one head. She charges 50 cents a lesson. Some chambermaids
at hotels take a few lessons, to enable them to dress hair plainly.
For shampooing, most of which is done in summer, she charges
50 cents; for braiding front hair, 50 cents; and with the back
hair, 75 cents. Miss S. told me many female hair dressers board
with the family of the employer, because of being up late at night,
and receive their board and $10 a month and up. For weaving
hair her mother pays 6 cents per yard; for the finer kind, 12
cents per yard. Her mother earns from $1.75 to $2 per day.
A person that can weave and make front pieces can get work at
any time. There are only three months dull time in a city—June,
July, and August. Some ladies pay a hair dresser $10 a month
for dressing the hair every day but Sunday, when a separate and
[Pg 279]
higher charge is made. For dressing a bride entirely, $5 is
charged. One needs taste and ability to please; at any rate, one
must be civil and obliging. Fashionable watering places present
the best openings. Saratoga and Newport present favorable ones,
at the first of which there is but one permanent hair dresser. D.,
hair dresser and wig maker, requires learners to be bound for four
years. The first year he gives a girl her board, lodging, washing,
and $4 a month. The next year he gives the same, with an
increase of $1 a month; and so continues that increase each succeeding
year until the apprenticeship expires. He gives to
journeywomen their dinner, supper, and $4 a week. The business
is not confined to regular hours, on account of hair dressing,
which is done mostly in the evening. He charges 50 cents for
dressing a lady's hair at his rooms, and $1 at her house. A
Frenchman, under Fifth Avenue Hotel, pays $5 a week to a girl
who receives the pay of his customers. She is there at 8, and
can leave at dark. He charges 75 cents a head at the saloon,
and at the ladies' residences the same. He has rooms fitted up,
and has many customers from the hotel. He employs three girls,
paying them one half of what they earn. He keeps but one
there constantly. The other two live near, and when he needs
their services he sends for them. He is going to teach hair
dressing, and charge $1 a lesson; forty or fifty (?) lessons are
usually taken, according to the extent it is learned. Mrs. B. told
me men teach ladies wig making, but ladies give instruction mostly
in hair dressing to those of their own sex. It is usual to pay
learners something after a few months' or a year's practice. Those
that work for others get most to do in winter. Those that have
establishments of their own can of course work all the time.
Most employers pay by the week. Mrs. Dall has the following
sentence in her "Woman's Right to Labor:" "I think there is
room in Boston for an establishment from which a woman could
come to a sickroom, to shave the heated head or cut the beard
of the dying; a place where women's and children's wants could
be attended to, without necessary contact with men."
301. Dyers.
B. will want some nice women to dye ladies'
hair. Now he has it done by men. He wants but one at first—one
who has worked with hair—for instance, a lady's maid
would be most suitable. She must not be afraid to color her
hands, or to work. When not working at that, she will spend
her time making wigs. He will teach her how to do both, and,
if she proves herself competent, he will give her fair wages.
For two or three weeks he will board her and pay all her expenses.
Then he will pay her $5 a week. He will take another
when needed, and so increase the number as he has occasion.
[Pg 280]
He employs some women to put up hair dye and perfumery, and
pays $3 a week.
302. Growers.
Dr. Gardner says: "At Caen, in France,
there is a market, whither young girls resort, and stand hour
after hour, with their flowing hair, rich and glossy, deriving
additional lustre from the contrast with their naked shoulders.
This is the resort of the merchant barbers, some of whom come
even from England. The merchants pass along among them, examine
the color, texture, evenness, and other qualities of the
beautiful fleece, haggle for a sou, and finally buy. The hair
then, after being cut as closely as possible to the head, is weighed
and paid for, and the girl goes home to let another suit grow out
for shearing time."
303. Manufacturers.
The woman at S.'s says they have
constant application to receive hands, and have to turn a great
many away. They have trouble to get good workers. The
girls will not take time to learn to do their work perfectly.
They ought to spend some years learning. At C.'s, they employ
a number of women in making wigs, scalps, and toupees, who can
earn from $4 to $5 a week. It requires six months to learn that
branch. At another place I was told it requires but a few weeks
to learn to make wigs only. Workers at it earn from $3 to $5.
This branch of work is profitable. Mrs. R. told me that those
who make wigs can be at work all the year, but hair dressing is
mostly confined to seasons. In different stores, the wages of employées
vary. It is well for a person to learn all the branches,
if she has time, so that if one fails her, she can take up another.
Her work is mostly done in the country—no doubt because she
can get it done more cheaply. Weaving hair pays best. It is
paid for by the yard, and generally done at the home of the
worker. If done in the house, it is most likely to be paid for by
the week, and ten—the usual number of working hours—spent at
it. American women form a majority in the business. It is a
good business, for a small capital, when living near the importers.
It is extending West and South. A hair manufacturer in
Rochester writes: "The occupation is permanent, and my employées
have work at all seasons. There is a demand in many
places for workers in this line." A hair manufacturer in Newburyport,
Massachusetts, who has three women braiding hair for
jewelry, and making wigs, pays by the day, of ten hours. They
receive from $3 to $8 per week, and work the same at all seasons.
304. Merchants.
Most of the hair made up in this
country is bought in France and Italy. The price paid for each
head of hair ranges from one to five francs, according to its weight
and beauty. From one of the cyclopædias we learn, that 200,000
[Pg 281]
pounds of women's hair is annually sold in France; that the price
paid for it is usually six cents an ounce." "Whether dark or
light, the hair purchased by the dealer is so closely scrutinized,
that he can discriminate between the German and French article
by the smell alone; nay, he even claims the power, 'when his
nose is in,' of distinguishing accurately between the English,
the Welsh, the Irish, and the Scotch commodities."
305. Willow Ware.
Great quantities of willow ware
have been imported from France, but of late years some attention
has been paid to the growing of it near Philadelphia. Our
climate is said to be well adapted to its growth, and the willow
raised to be of a superior quality. Willow grows in damp
places. Most basket makers buy the willow, and split it themselves.
All the most tasteful and elegant baskets used in this
country are imported from France. Basket making is one of the
principal employments engaged in by the blind. It requires
some strength, but more skill and practice. A basket maker's
tools can be bought for $5, and last a lifetime. On looking for
women basket makers in Philadelphia, we found a German widow,
who could not make herself understood in English, but my companion
conversed with her in German, and learned that she had
supported herself and son for six years, by making baskets for
the trade. She buys the willow ready for use at seven cents a
pound. She sells small round baskets, with covers and handles,
at $2.25 a dozen. She looked very poor, but clean, and had
evidently a room to sleep in besides the one we saw, where she
works and cooks. A German woman, in New York, making
small fancy baskets on blocks, told me she could earn from fifty
cents to $1 per day. Her husband dyes the willow. A German
woman asked me $1.50 for a basket she had paid fifty cents for
making—at that rate her profits were considerable. I met a
German boy with baskets, who said he could make from seventy-five
cents to $1 a day by his work. His father, mother, and
sisters also work at the trade. I saw a woman who merely colors
willow. She could make a comfortable living at it, if she could
give all her time to it; but she cannot, as she has two small children,
and must give part of her time to them. In Williamsburg, I
had a long talk with a basket maker. He says it is best for an
[Pg 282]
apprentice to learn basket making of a practical worker who has
not many hands, and who will give instruction himself. He can
give the more time to his learners. He spent seven years learning
the trade in England. It requires knowledge of form to
make the baskets of a handsome shape. He showed me a book
giving directions how to proportion baskets. He thinks a right
smart person might learn the business in two years, when they
could earn from $10 to $15 a week. The basket makers have a
society in New York that discourages the work of women in that
line, by not allowing its members to sell to any store for which a
woman works. The excuse is, it throws men out of work. Yet
the man told me that there are probably not more than two
hundred basket makers in the United States, and that it is a
good business. He has more work than he can do. (Oh, what
injustice to woman!) The Dutch, he says, make baskets at a
lower price than the members of the society, and consequently
they are discountenanced by the members. Inexperienced or
careless workers are apt to cut their hands with the willow while
at work. A woman who sells baskets told me that basket making
is a poor business now. A man that worked for her during the
summer said that, working from early in the morning till late at
night, he could not make more than $4.50 a week, and if his wife
had not worked out, they could not have made a living. She
says the duty on willow is high, and transporters ask any price
they please, as it occupies considerable room, and does not pay
very well as freight. When American supplies are brought in, it is
cheaper. The women that supply her do the lighter parts of the
work; and their husbands, the heavier. A willow ware manufacturer
in Waterbury, Vermont, writes: "The work is light and
healthy. It is paid for by the piece. Women are paid less, because
they are not so strong, and can live cheaper. It requires
about one year to learn the business. Learners are paid by the
week, about $2. Ingenuity and some taste are needed for a basket
maker. A great many women might advantageously learn
the trade, if they would. They can work at it all the year. We
should like to employ a few girls to learn the trade and make
baskets, but have been unable to do so yet, as it is very difficult
finding help enough to do housework in this vicinity." A German,
who learned his trade with the basket maker of his Majesty,
in Dresden, replies to a circular asking information on willow
work: "Women are employed at this trade at several places in
Germany. They are paid by the piece. In this country, if they
are able to finish the work as well as men, they are usually paid
the same wages. Coarse work can be learned in much less time
than fine. It is in some places the custom to have five persons
[Pg 283]
to make a basket, each doing a separate part. I think the prospects
for work good. Women can make the finer work quicker
than men, but men succeed best in making coarse work."
306. Carvers.
The word "carver" is rather extensive in
its application, being applied alike to one who cuts stone, wood, or
metal. Carvers of stone and metal we treat of elsewhere. The
art of carving is quite ancient. There are five kinds of wood
carving: house, ship, toy, furniture, and pattern making; to
these we may add the cutting of wooden letters for ornamental
signs. Pattern making is the reverse of architectural carving:
the first being in bas relief; the other, alto. Architectural
carving is mostly done in pine, occasionally in oak. Ship carvers
cut figure heads for vessels; some of this carving is done in
oak, some in pine. For some kinds of carving the design is
drawn on paper and cut out; then it is placed on the block,
which is prepared of a proper thickness, and the outline drawn
with a pencil. The portions of wood outside the design are then
cut off with carving implements. The plan of marking the wood
is not practised by all carvers. It may be that it is used for
beginners only. Ingenuity in planning and skilful drawing are
desirable qualifications for a carver. The tools used by carvers
are very simple, being merely a hammer, and gouges of different
sizes. When the wood is carved, it is smoothed with sand paper,
then gilded or painted and varnished. During an apprenticeship,
the usual sum paid a boy is $2.50 a week the first year, and more
afterward. A journeyman can usually earn $1.50 or $1.75 a
day of ten hours. It requires three years to learn the trade. "In
wood sculpture, all that belongs to its simple ornament might receive
a special grace from the inspiration of women." We have
seen architectural and ship carving done by women; and it is
our belief that almost any and every kind of carving could be
done by them, if the wood were properly prepared, and they were
carefully instructed. Some kinds of carving require considerable
muscular strength. An architectural carver writes: "Our employment
is healthy. Part of our business is suitable for women,
but there is not enough in our establishment to keep one constantly
employed." A carver told me that furniture carving is
sometimes done by women. Though it is done in harder wood
[Pg 284]
than most other kinds, it does not involve the lifting of heavy
blocks, like architectural carving. The widow of a ship carver
carries on the business in New York. Her son told me that
eight persons could do all the work necessary for that city. There
are a few ship carvers in Boston and Philadelphia, but none in
the South or West. (Would not New Orleans present a good
opening?) A. told me, a boy in learning ship carving is apprenticed
for five or six years. He receives $1.50 a week for the first
year, then $2, and after that $2.50, but no more. A carver told
me that he had an Englishman working for him, that showed him
some work done by his daughter, which was superior. He knows
the wives of some carvers who finish the work of their husbands
by rubbing it with sand paper. "Louisa Raldan, of Seville, was
known as an excellent sculptor in wood." "Anna Maria Schurmann,
of Sweden, carved busts in wood." "Anna Tessala, an
artist of the Dutch school, was eminent as a skilful carver in
wood." "Properzia di Rossi, an Italian sculptress, carved on a
peachstone the crucifixion of our Saviour." Many toys are
made in Germany by women and children. They are purchased
very cheaply, we know, from their low prices in this country.
Mrs. Dall says: "I would direct the attention of young women
to the Swiss carving of paper knives, bread plates, salad spoons,
ornamental figures, jewel boxes, and so on. On account of the
care required in the transportation, these articles bring large
prices; and I feel quite sure that many an idle girl might win a
pleasant fame through such trifles." Articles might be cut of
wood, as mementos of some great event or pleasant association.
The small wooden cages, in which we see canaries for sale, were
made by women in Germany. There labor is cheaper, and they
probably receive only two or three cents for a cage, while in this
country they could not be made for less than a shilling. I saw
some pretty wooden toys, made in Switzerland by the shepherds
while watching their flocks, and some which were made by
women. It is a favorite pastime with them in the evening, when
the family is gathered around the hearthstone. The small
carved boards, used for the support of music in pianos, are carved
by a delicate saw, moving perpendicularly and driven by steam.
The carver has the pattern marked on the board, and moves it
under the saw, as the workman does the back of shell combs.
One species of carving common in Europe is that of saints and
virgins for small churches.
307. Kindling Wood.
Some little boys putting kindling
wood into bundles told me they are paid fifteen cents a
hundred bundles, and can do from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred in a day of ten hours. Most of them take the strings
[Pg 285]
home at night and tie them, to save time in the day. Girls could
do it, but they would be liable to accident from the carelessness
of those at work.
308. Pattern Makers.
The wife of a pattern maker
told me it requires ingenuity, patience, and a knowledge of drawing
to become a pattern maker. C. thought general pattern making
would not do for a woman, as it would require planing, cutting,
and turning wood. He said some of the finer parts of pattern
making, as forming models on a small scale for the patent
office, could be done by a woman who is qualified. It would require
a knowledge of arithmetical proportions, ability to turn a
lathe properly, and aptness at catching the ideas of others. A
gentleman who makes models for the patent office, patterns for
machinery, steam and gas fittings, &c., writes: "The varnishing
might be done by women, but in most shops there would not be
enough to keep one at work all the time." S. told me that a part
of the work of pattern making could be done by women, but it
would be advisable they should have a separate apartment in
founderies. The variety of ornamental iron work is so great that
it affords scope for inventive talent. We suppose the business of
pattern making is not more laborious and is very similar to block
cutting. If women were prepared for some branches of this business,
we doubt not it would prove remunerative and furnish
steady employment. A pattern maker writes from Hartford:
"We do our own draughting, but there is considerable done independent
of a shop. For such work we pay $2 a day. A knowledge
of geometry and mathematics is a prerequisite."
309. Rattan Splitters.
Formerly, rattan was thrown
from the ships that landed in New York, as something useless;
now it sells at from four to nine cents a pound. The centre of
the rattan is used for hoop skirts. The outside is split off by a
strange-looking machine. The strips are then shaved thin by
another machine, for making chair seats and ornamenting buggies.
They are bleached in a close room with ignited sulphur. The
refuse is used in some way in the manufacture of gas—also for
making coarse mats and filling beds. At N.'s factory, I saw girls
shaving rattan. The work was dusty—one sat, but the others
stood. The girls had merely to attend to the strips as they ran
through small machines moved by steam. Each girl received
fifty cents a day of ten hours, for her services. In Fitchburg,
Mass., fifty girls are so employed.
310. Segar Boxes.
I called in a segar-box factory where
the man had four boys at work. The trade requires care, and some
ability to calculate proportions. The work consists in driving
small nails, gluing on tape, planing the edges, and similar labor.
[Pg 286]
Women could do it, and I expect do in Germany. If boys from
ten to fifteen years of age can, why cannot girls? After two
months, a boy earns something. Two of the boys had been working
at the trade two years, and were earning each $3 a week.
The wood is cedar, and so easily managed.
311. Turners.
I saw the process of wood turning. The
flying of the chips I thought disagreeable. The trade can be
learned in three years very well. A boy learning is paid $2.50
a week, the first year; the next year, $3; the next, increased fifty
cents more, and so on. A good hand can earn from $1.75 to $2
a day. Some women do the turning of small wooden articles in
France, and quite a number are employed in bone and horn turning
in the old country, which is not so hard. Turning is more
nearly perfect than most mechanical operations, and consequently
is employed in all those branches susceptible of its use. In most
work of this nature the article operated on is stationary, and the
machinery in motion; but in turning, the article is kept in motion,
the tool merely pressed upon it by the hand. "There is said to
be but little difference in the management of turning different
substances. The principal thing to be attended to is to adapt
the velocity of the motion to the nature of the material." Rosa
Bonheur, when a girl, was apprenticed to a dress maker, whose
husband was a turner. His lathe stood in an adjoining room.
Rosa delighted to slip away from her work and employ herself at
the turner's lathe. The making of bone and wooden handles for
canes and umbrellas could be done by women. Removing the
surface of the bone is dirty work, and requires some strength.
The polishing could be done by a girl. The bones are bought at
glue factories, slaughter houses, &c. In New York, for a small
new bone, two and a half cents is paid; for a large one, five cents.
312. Express and other Conveyances.
We saw a
description, a short time ago, by some traveller in Scotland, of ladies
acting in the capacity of railroad officials; that is, one sold tickets,
another collected them, and a third was telegraphing at a station.
I have been told that some of the ticket agents in Boston are
women. Women are also employed at some of the railway stations
in France and Germany, not only to sell tickets, but to
guard the stations and crossings. I have heard that on those
[Pg 287]
roads where women are switch tenders no accident has ever occurred.
"In Paris, omnibus conductors submit their way bills
at the transfer offices to women for inspection and ratification.
Women book you for a seat in the diligence. Women let donkeys
for rides at Montmorency, and saddle them too." The St.
Louis
Republican mentions that there is one feature about the
steamer
Illinois Belle, of peculiar attractiveness—a lady clerk.
"Look at her bills of lading, and 'Mary J. Patterson, Clerk,' will
be seen traced in a delicate and very neat style of chirography.
A lady clerk on a Western steamer! It speaks strongly of our
moral progress."
313. General Agents.
"The walks of business become
more manifold and extended as the luxuries of civilization and
the skill of human inventions become more multiplied and more
widely displayed. Every description of commercial, mechanical,
and executive business excited and created by the new wants and
new imaginations of advancing society, will call for the creation
and extension of new agencies to accomplish the labor which
they must demand. Thus the variety and number of business
agencies of every kind must spread out in a constant increase."
We think there is great imposition practised by some people who
secure lady agents, and we would advise ladies who can undertake
an agency to learn something of the parties who would employ,
and the character of the article, before they engage in any
undertaking of the kind. A conscientious agent is likely to have
her interests suffer by a want of honor in those whom she represents.
With a liberal discount on the retail price of most goods,
agents might be enabled to make a handsome return for their
services. I saw a man that manufactures indelible ink, and
employs agents to sell it and stencil plates. He allows them
half they receive. One lady in Boston, he said, made $20 one
day. I think it probable it was in a large school. Ladies, he
says, will not stay long at it, because it tires them very much to
go up stairs a great deal. An agent should be one that can talk
well and has tact and judgment. She should select those parts
of a city where she will be most likely to meet with success. If
her article is something for ladies' use, let her go where the best
dwellings are. If it is something for universal use, if she selects
but part of a city, the largest quantity will probably be sold in
those parts most densely populated. A manufacturer of fancy
soaps and perfumery told me he has employed ladies as agents to
go around selling those articles. Some have cleared $2 a day.
He allows one hundred percentage. C., of Boston, manufacturer
of needle threaders, wick pullers, and pencil sharpeners,
offers a liberal discount to agents; but we presume it would re
[Pg 288]quire
some Yankee tact to make the sales amount to much. He
states that some of their agents make from $200 to $300 a month.
A stencil cutter in New Haven writes: "I have made tools for
ladies to do the work of making embroidery stencils. It is necessary
to travel to sell them. One lady may make the work at
home, and another sell it. One young man, whom I furnished
with tools, told me that he sold $14 worth of plates in five hours."
Dr. B. employs twenty ladies making shoulder braces, and pays
them from $3 to $4 a week. The sewing is done by hand. He
allows lady agents to have the braces at $1 a pair, which can be
retailed at $2 a pair. Boarding agencies have become common
in some of the large cities. Some agents charge the keepers of
boarding houses a percentage for every boarder sent them, but
do not charge the applicant. In some offices a person records his
name and pays $2, for which he has the privileges of the office
one year. The boarding-house keeper pays a percentage to the
agent in proportion to the rate of board, without regard to the
length of time the boarders remain. One agency charges $2 for
registering a name, and fifty cents for each boarder it secures.
Some agents in New York have purchased articles of every kind
on commission for Southerners, receiving a commission from both
parties. Southern ladies have always preferred New York goods,
but we suppose they will now wish to patronize their own people.
314. Literary, Book, and Newspaper Agents.
By literary agents we mean those that are willing to take the compositions
of others, review, correct, prune, polish, mend, and present
them for publication. We suppose there are not a great many
ladies, in our country, of sufficient experience in this way to be
prepared for the business, and probably a smaller number that
would wish to undertake it. Yet, we think, to a competent and
reliable lady, it might yield a handsome profit. We know there
are a few gentlemen so engaged. Proof readers are sometimes
employed by authors for this purpose, or some literary friend of
ability does it as an accommodation. Ladies have been agents
more for magazines than standard works. Indeed, only new
books claim the privilege of having their merits set forth by
agents. In towns and cities, ladies could act as agents without
any difficulty. The business, of course, requires one to be on
her feet a great deal. In sparsely settled portions of the country,
it could not be so easily done. Yet we were told in New
York of an educated lady that wished to earn a livelihood, and,
not seeing any other way open, she became a book agent. She
got a horse and buggy, and rode through the country, and was
very successful. She met with a young lady who was very
anxious to join her. They made a great deal of money, and
[Pg 289]
wrote a book of their travels. There are said to be many book
and paper agents in New York city—both men and women—and
they are paid the same percentage. The time of work is confined
to daylight. If newspaper advertisements for book agents
can be relied on, we suppose the business would pay well. We
can scarcely glance over the columns of a newspaper without finding
a call for agents to present the merits of some new work, with
the promise that, if active and diligent, the individual will clear
from $30 to $100 per month. It requires judgment, taste, and
a knowledge of what is popular in the book market. I was told
by the editor of a ladies' magazine, that he pays his agents fifty
cents on the dollar, and would be glad to secure the services of
more lady agents. He stated that one of his lady agents in
Brooklyn obtained in two weeks twenty subscribers, so making
$12.50. Some sell books on subscription, but if the books are
printed, the surest and most speedy way is to deliver the book
and receive the money, when the individual decides to buy. A
lady who earns her living as a book and newspaper agent, told
me that she gets a percentage for the agency of books and
papers. She has been an agent eight years in New York. Her
health is poor, and she thinks it is from being out in all kinds of
weather. She does not go to every house, but calls on one friend,
who recommends her to another—so that she has as many to
visit as she can. She says the qualifications needed are health,
tact, judgment, courage, pleasing address, perseverance, with
faith in the work, and in God. Ladies are more likely to be well
received than men, but cannot walk as much. She prefers the
agency of books, because she then gets the money, gives the
book, and that is the last of it. But there is a responsibility
attending the agency of papers. The editor may require pre-payment
for his magazine. If he is not an honorable man, he
may discontinue his magazine during the year, and not refund
what is due to his subscribers. The agent is then blamed, as
well as the editor, when it may be totally out of her power to
remedy the matter, or to have prevented it. A lady news agent,
that has a good location and a small circulating library, told me
she has occupied the place for several years, and so has regular
customers. She does it to aid her husband in supporting and
educating their children, but thinks an individual could earn for
self alone a comfortable living by keeping a news depot. In the
large cities of the North are newspaper agents (men) who solicit
advertisements, for which they receive a commission from editors.
There is a Miss S. in New York, who makes a very good living
by obtaining advertisements for the principal city papers. She
goes to stores and offices, and solicits advertisements of business
[Pg 290]
men, for which she receives a percentage from the conductors of
the papers.
315. Mercantile Agents.
At the office of a mercantile
agency on Broadway, New York, one hundred young men
are employed in writing. Why could not women do it? An
agent who travels for C.'s paper-hanging manufactory, exhibiting
specimens and getting orders, and has a commission also from
another house for another kind of business, makes $4,000 a year.
Ladies were employed writing for one mercantile agency in Boston
one winter.
316. Pens.
The inventor of Prince's Protean pen thinks
a lady would do well to act as agent for the sale of his pens. A
man who was agent made $3,000 a year, but he could not stand
such exertion over a year. His pen is so constructed as to furnish
a flow of ink for ten consecutive hours. It is very convenient in
travelling, on account of the ink being in the case. Physicians
would find it very convenient. An agent would receive a very
good allowance; for instance, a $5 pen she would receive for $3;
one style of $4 pen for $2.50, and another style for $2.25. Mr.
Snow, of Hartford, an importer of steel pens, offers to pay $2 a
day to all agents who sell five gross of pens per day, at the list
of prices furnished, and at the same rate for any larger quantity.
317. Sewing Machines.
H., manufacturer of low-priced
sewing machines in Newburyport, Massachusetts, desires
to secure some local and travelling agents. In his circular he
says: "In order to ascertain who would prove an efficient and
reliable agent, we have concluded that each applicant shall sell
thirty days on commission; and after that time, if he proves as
before stated, and prefers it to a commission, we will pay him a
salary of from $30 to $80 a month, according to capabilities, and
travelling expenses. The commission allowed will be thirty-three
and one third per cent, on the machines sold." We know nothing
of the merits or demerits of the machine, but give it as a
criterion by which to judge what sewing-machine agents may expect
in the way of remuneration. The manufacturer of the
universal hemmer, which can be attached to any sewing machine,
retails them at $2.50, but to agents a deduction is made of
seventy-five cents. (It probably costs ten cents apiece to make
them.) They require agents to buy what they wish to sell. It
being a cash business, they have few lady agents. Their agents
confine themselves to towns, on account of the time that would
be consumed in travelling through the country. At a manufactory
of children's spring horses, I saw a lady employed to sell
the horses and make saddles for them. Some she stitched by
hand, and some quilted and stitched by machine. She got $6 a
week.
[Pg 291]
318. School Agents.
A lady properly qualified might,
we think, conduct a school agency. As there are few school agencies
in New York, we suppose it must be a business that pays.
The prejudice that will probably be created by the difficulties in
our country, will no doubt open the way for the preparation and
employment of slave State ladies as teachers in their own States,
and consequently one or more agencies in the South will be
needed. The terms of one of the best agencies we know of, are
as follows: "To principals who have their schools registered for
the purpose of obtaining scholars by making known the terms,
locality, and advantages of their schools, a fee of $5 is charged;
and for each yearly renewal, $2; and for the introduction of
each pupil into a registered school, where the board and tuition
does not amount to $120 per annum, the fee is $5. When over
that amount and under $160, $7, &c. For the registration of a
teacher, in advance, $2. When the situation is obtained, and the
remuneration is under $1,000, three per cent. If $1,000 and
over, five per cent. When desired to examine and personally
assume the responsibility of selecting teachers for important positions,
an additional fee of from $3 to $5 will be charged."
319. Telegraph Instruments.
A manufacturer of telegraphic
instruments in Boston writes: "We do not employ women
in the mechanical part of our business, but we employ them
as agents to sell our instruments for medical use. They fit themselves
as lecturers by studying the science, and travel about lecturing,
giving instruction, selling machines, &c. A very handsome
income is derived therefrom."
320. Washing Machines.
At a washing machine
establishment, I was told they make a deduction of twenty per
cent. to agents who sell for them; but to agents who sell for
themselves and buy six or more, they make a deduction of thirty
per cent.
321. Artificial Flowers.
As in everything else, the
price for making artificial flowers is very much regulated by the
quality and taste displayed. Many flowers made in the United
States are equal in beauty and delicacy of finish to genuine Paris
flowers, but they are mostly made by French women, and so are
in reality French flowers. In France, the preparation of the
[Pg 292]
materials used in the manufacture, forms several distinct branches
of trade, and the quality of the flowers depends in a great measure
upon the care used in the getting up of these materials. The
modes of coloring flowers are exceedingly various. The materials
used in the United States are mostly imported from Paris. Some
stores in New York are confined to the sale of materials for artificial
florists. There are said to be between sixty and seventy
flower manufacturers in New York, and about a dozen in Philadelphia.
I have been told there are probably 10,000 women and
children employed in making flowers in New York: I know there
is great competition in the business. The work is mostly done
by women and children, who receive as wages from $1 to $6 per
week. It requires care and patience, united with good taste and
much experience, to succeed in this pretty art. There are said to
be about twenty processes in the making of artificial flowers. The
employment is one easily affected, consequently fluctuating. The
New York manufacturers have sold large quantities of American
flowers to Southern merchants, but have had no orders lately.
In New York, flower peps are made by men and boys. A man
at the work said it requires some time to learn to do all the parts.
Boys, he said, do some parts that girls cannot well do; but from
my observation, girls and women could as well do it all as workers
of the other sex. One maker of flower peps told me that at
one time he employed girls, but found they had not strength
enough to cut the wires. To cut the wires might be hard, but
they could get accustomed to it; at any rate, they could dip the
pistils and stamens into the coloring matter and place them in
the frames to dry. H. told me he employs about 600 women
and 400 men in his business, that of making flowers and dressing
ornamental feathers. The women earn from $4 to $12 a week;
the average is from $6 to $7. They only work eight hours in
winter. There are several distinct branches, and it requires
longer to learn some than others. The washing and dyeing of
feathers is done by men, the curling and dressing by women. A
few of his women are French. He thinks it a business that must
increase as the country grows older. T. imports all his flowers,
but employs one girl to mount them, that is, make them into
clusters, wreaths, &c. Not more than one in eight or ten of
those employed in the city in making artificial flowers devotes
herself to mounting them. It requires excellent taste and some
ingenuity. He pays by the week, from $8 to $10. I called on a
German lady who makes artificial flowers of paper and coarse
muslin. She arranges them in wreaths, and sells them to decorate
small stores, particularly German book stores. She and her
daughter make a comfortable living at it. It requires long prac
[Pg 293]tice
in the artificial flower business to earn good wages, and very
good wages are earned at only a small number of establishments.
The trickery of mean people in every occupation, it is desirable
to avoid. In this business much is said to be practised. One of
the unprincipled acts referred to is this: Learners are told they
must spend six months acquiring the trade, and during that time
will receive nothing, but after that get fair wages. One branch
is learned in a week or ten days, but the apprentices remain, according
to agreement, six months doing the same kind of work,
when they are dismissed on the plea there is no work to give
them, and new apprentices are taken. Some will keep their apprentices
at but one branch of work for a year or two, so reaping
the benefit of their work, without giving the instruction they
promise. Girls who have served several years at artificial flower
making can seldom earn over $3.50 or $4 a week. G. & K.,
one of the oldest and most extensive firms in New York, prefer
to take girls from thirteen to fifteen years of age. Older girls
are not satisfied with such wages as learners receive. While
learning, for the first month, they are paid $2; after that, by the
week, according to what they can do. They teach their girls all
the different parts, and they make the finest French flowers.
They give their girls work all the year, and they earn from $1 to
$6 a week. In summer, they work ten hours; in winter, nine and
a half. In this, as in every business, the best hands are most
sure to obtain employment. Mrs. P. thinks only little girls
should learn it, as it takes a great while to acquire proficiency.
She and her partner pay fifty cents a week for two months to a
learner, then $1 a week for a time, and then increase according
to what is done. They usually give employment all the year.
They pay altogether by the week, wages running from $2 to $5.
At another manufactory, I found the arrangements the same, the
girls working nine and a half hours in winter, and ten hours in
summer. At another place I was told that it was best for a
learner to begin at ten years of age. By the time she is eighteen,
she will be able to make $4 or $5 a week. In some of the first-class
houses for the sale of fine French flowers, a few superior
hands may earn $6 and $7 per week; but for common flowers,
particularly in the cheap establishments, the prices paid are very
low. It is said to be common among some manufacturers of
flowers to mix in a few imported ones with their own, and sell
them all as foreign flowers. At another place, I found the same
arrangement, fifty cents a week for a learner; $4 a week is the
price paid for a very good hand. At an importer and manufacturer
of flower materials, I was told their season commences about
the first of February. It requires but two or three weeks' prac
[Pg 294]tice
to earn something—then learners are paid by the piece.
Their girls make centres. They manufacture stamps and veins.
At a clean-looking place, where the flowers were of a superior
quality, I was told their girls earn from $2 to $7. At a Frenchman's,
I was told, in two months a smart girl could begin to make
fine French flowers. He pays nothing for two months; after that,
seventy-five cents a week, and increases that as the worker
acquires speed and proficiency. A good worker, he said, can earn
$9 (?) a week. His girls work nine hours a day. They make all
parts and different kinds of flowers. Some girls never learn to
make flowers. At another place, the girls, I was told, are paid
nothing for three months, but at the end of that time are paid $5.
They learn all the branches. Workers are paid by the piece,
earning from seventy-five cents to $6 a week. It requires taste
and a peculiar aptitude.
322. Belts.
B. & H. have ladies' and children's belts
made, dolls dressed, fans trimmed, &c. Their business is wholesale.
They manufacture for houses here that sell to the Southern
trade. They have employed at some seasons from twenty-five to
fifty girls. The belt trade is merely making the goods into
belts. A person that can sew neatly can learn belt making in a
day. The girls earn from $3 to $4 per week, and are paid by
the piece. The belt room is superintended by a man. The
busiest time for belt making and for trimming in the wholesale
business, is in July and August, January, February and March.
Spring work begins in January and ends the first of June, and
fall work the first of August and ends the first of December.
Their hands have work most of the year. They have a variety
of work done; so if there is not enough of one kind for their
hands, they put them to doing something else. They pay by the
gross. The sewing must be done by hand. The business is confined
mostly to New York. When business is good, the foreman
will allow those he knows to take work home, and get their
mothers and sisters to help them. The factory is in Newark.
It is difficult to get girls to go there from New York.
323. Bonnet Ruches.
At some factories, ruches are
made entirely by machinery. They are not as well nor as neatly
put together, and do not sell as high as those made by hand. It
does not require long for a girl with any brains to learn, but she
should commence when young, and gradually rise to the more
difficult processes. A manufacturer told me girls must be at it a
year before they are good pressers. For making ruches he pays
by the week, from $1 to $4.50. Ruche makers are not apt to be
out of employment more than from two to four weeks. P., New
York, told us his workers are of all nations. Some work by the
[Pg 295]
week, sewing ten hours a day. Girls sit in his factory while at
work, but stand in most places. Standing is thought to be the
easiest position, as it allows of change. He told us that some
girls earn as high as $6 a week. It is piece work. Joining, sewing,
and pressing are done by females, fluting by men and boys.
It is best for females that wish to learn the business to commence
quite early, say when twelve or fourteen years of age. P. thinks
it would not be advisable to introduce more workers into the
occupation but I would advise any one desiring to learn the trade
to make further inquiries into the condition of the business. T.,
of Philadelphia, who has been in the business a great many years,
employs over one hundred females.
324. Dress Trimmings.
In London, many women and
children are employed in making dress trimmings. The children
wind the quills, and the women wind the silk on reels, and weave
it, knit covers for fancy buttons, make fringes, tassels, buttons, and
other trimmings. In this country most of such work is done by
women and girls, the majority of whom are Germans, as are also
the proprietors. They are the best for hand work, but English
trimming makers are best for power looms. All large cities contain
more or less manufacturers of dress trimmings, but the business
is mostly confined to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
Many who manufacture, also keep for sale the different varieties
of sewing and embroidery silk, zephyr wool, patterns, and canvas,
braid, and such articles. It is only within the last twenty-five
years that fringes and tassels have been manufactured in this
country, but quite a number of houses are now engaged in it. The
goods are said to equal those of Europe. "There are over 1,000
hands employed in this branch in New York, at least three fourths
of whom are females. Girls at reeling earn $2.50; at braiding,
$3.30; and at weaving, from $4 to $6." I called at a factory
where eighty girls are employed. They earn from $1 to $6 per
week, doing both day and night work. No girl, the foreman said,
can earn $1 a day of ten hours at that work. When the snow is
on the ground, the girls can take work home with them to do at
night, instead of remaining at the factory. He says there are
different seasons for different kinds of trimmings, as buttons,
fringes, gimps, &c., and the styles of these trimmings change.
Work is slack in the early part of the winter for a few weeks. It
would take three or four years to learn all the branches perfectly.
Some sit and some stand while at work. At a manufactory in
New York, I was told the season begins in September and lasts
through the winter. Their hands earn from $3 to $5 per week.
There is an over supply of hands in New York. At another place
I was told the work is nearly always paid for by the piece. Their
[Pg 296]
hands earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men receive from $7 to $10.
Women's part can be learned in from four to six weeks, and learners
are paid if they do not spoil too much material. June, July,
December, and January are dull months. In busy seasons good
hands are very scarce. The clerk of Messrs. B.'s factory told us
the wages vary greatly. We glanced over the account book, with
his permission, and observed that the lowest wages were about $1
a week, and the highest $4. It is piece work, and they will not
promise employment all the year. He says, if a girl that learns
cannot earn something in a year, she is not worth having. Their
work is for wholesale houses. At one place I was told the girls
work nine hours a day, and receive $4 a week—six months learning.
After the first week they were paid $1.50 a week for six
months. They make up a stock when not doing ordered work.
N. employs from fifty to one hundred women, and sometimes more.
They can learn in fourteen days. He pays from the first, and
pays by the week, they working from six to six, having an hour
at noon. It requires but a few weeks to learn one branch. One
girl told me she works by the piece, and sometimes earns from $3
to $6 a week. She works from seven in the morning till gaslight.
Girls, when reeling and braiding, stand. To those engaged in
this kind of work, there is employment all the year to twenty-five
out of every hundred; the rest are occupied from July to January.
When paid by the week they seldom receive more than $4, though
by taking it home and working more hours they sometimes make
$5. Prices in this kind of work have fallen considerably in the
last few years. I have been told by a manufacturer that the class
so employed is usually of not so elevated a character as some
others. The prices paid and work given for so short a time, prevent
the best class of workers from entering the business. M—s,
Philadelphia, employ about seventy females, including bookkeepers,
saleswomen, and trimming makers. In the dull seasons
their operatives are not likely to be thrown out of work, as the
wholesale dealers will always require them. The workers are
paid by the piece, according to the degree of perfection they have
attained. When a girl presents herself for employment, the foreman
immediately sets her to work on some easy kind of trimming,
but she receives no wages until her work is fit for sale. The loss
of time on her part and the risk of materials on the part of the
employer constitute the apprenticeship. A smart girl will of
course soon be able to earn something, and has always the stimulus
of increasing her gains. The class of girls in the store seemed
to be superior to those in the workroom, more intelligent and refined.
The workrooms were large and airy. The weavers, button
makers, &c., work from eight to ten hours a day. Another
[Pg 297]
proprietor said a person to learn the business should go to a small
place, where only a few are employed—not to a factory, as they
will not be troubled with learners in a factory. Some of his hands
work slowly, but execute in a superior manner; others work rapidly,
but make the article in an inferior manner. At another manufacturer's,
one of the firm told me a good hand can earn from $5
to $6 a week, ten hours a day, when times are good. They pay,
after a learner has spent a week at it, according to what she can
accomplish. The prospect for work is good, but he would not
advise a lady to learn it; he thinks millinery better. In a town
not far from New York, where he lived, a milliner could earn $20
a month and her board. Crocheting pays better. For crocheting
the heads of silk fringes, a girl may earn $5 a week. I saw
the agent of a lady who has trimmings manufactured. He says
girls spend about two weeks learning, and are then paid by the
week, from $1 to $4. He thinks the prospect for work very poor
at present, for their work has been for the South almost exclusively,
and now the Southerners will not purchase, particularly as
such articles can be dispensed with. They have employed hands
all the year, but are most busy spring and fall. The busy season
commences in February. A manufacturer told me he pays his
learners $2 a week for a time. His girls have work most of the
year. Good hands can earn $5 a week. Some of his hands take
work home with them to do in the evening. From the arrangement
of the conveniences in the room, I think the air must be
not only offensive but unwholesome. I observed this in two or
three other workrooms. At another factory, I was told it takes
but four weeks to learn, and girls during that time are paid fifty
cents a week. Girls earn from $3 to $5. One man told me he
pays as soon as the work is done well enough to sell. The largest
manufactory in the world of dress trimmings, curtain trimmings,
carriage laces, and military goods, is that of W. H. Horstman &
Sons, Philadelphia. They employ four hundred hands, the majority
of whom are females. In R.'s dress-trimming manufactory,
Philadelphia, seventy females are employed, at an average of
$2.75 a week.
325. Embroideries.
Embroidery was a favorite employment
of the ladies of ancient times. In the days of Grecian
prosperity it was a pastime among all ranks of ladies, and in the
middle ages it was no less popular. The French excel in embroidery.
Much of the embroidery sold in New York is done in
Ireland. "A French manufacturer has invented a process of
applying the electric spark to piercing designs on paper for embroidery."
There now exists a machine by which one lady can
accomplish as much as fifteen hand embroiderers. There are one
[Pg 298]
hundred and fifty needles attached, all of which can be in use at
the same time. By it the most difficult patterns can be executed.
Many of the machines are now in operation in Germany, France,
Switzerland, and England. "The canton of Neufchatel employs
more than 3,500 females in hand embroidery, but this branch of
the trade is principally carried on in the eastern parts of Switzerland,
where manual labor is extremely cheap." In 1851, 250,000
females were employed in Great Britain in muslin embroidery,
and the larger number of the women did the work at their
own homes. About a million and a half of dollars then passed
out of the United States in payment for a portion of this embroidery.
We would be pleased to see a greater demand for
these articles from a home, and less from a foreign market. The
increased facilities for stamping impressions on the muslin, and
the consequent cheapness of doing so, tends to render the business
more lucrative to those employed. The prices earned depend on
the skill and experience of the worker. Embroidery may be divided
into two kinds, cloth and muslin. The first is used for
thick goods, furniture covers, ottomans, chair seats, tapestry, &c.
The other kind consists in the embroidery of ladies' caps, collars,
handkerchiefs, and other light articles of apparel. The materials
used are cotton, linen, silk, and silver and gold thread. Embroidery
is paid for by the piece, according to the quality of the material
and the amount of work. For stamping muslin to embroider,
four, six, and eight cents a yard are paid, according to the width
and style of pattern. Some stamping is done with wooden plates,
some with copper plates, and some by a paper impression. The
wooden plates cost from fifty cents to $2.50. Metal tools for
stamping cost more. It would be well, in establishments where
embroidery is kept for sale, to keep patterns on hand for braiding,
needlework, and embroidery. Such patterns have met with a ready
sale, and always will, when such a pastime is fashionable. I find
fifty cents a lesson is the usual price paid for instruction in embroidery,
and a person accustomed to using the needle can learn
in a few lessons. One lady told me she charged twenty-five cents
a lesson. An embroiderer told us but little of such work is done
now. A good deal of money was made at it, when fashionable
for outer garments and for children's flannel skirts. A gentleman
that has such work done told me that good medallion
workers would find employment. B., who employs some embroiderers,
thinks there is not a surplus of such labor. He could
employ more hands. He pays by the piece, from $3 to $7 a
week. Taste and skill with the needle are required. Embroidery
pays poorly—one could not make a living at it now, unless
they had constant work, and were rapid with the needle: very
[Pg 299]
few in New York depend on it for a livelihood. D., a gold and
silver embroiderer, thinks a person of ordinary abilities could
not get to embroidering well in less than one year's practice. He
pays something after a few weeks—as soon as the work is done
well enough to sell. Many Germans and French have taken the
custom. The Germans do it for less, and consequently root out
other embroiderers. So there is not much prospect for work in
New York. He has considerable done for cap makers and flag
makers, who send South and West. He pays his girls from $4
to $5 a week, and they work from eight to six o'clock. I was
told at another place that gold and silver embroidery pays well.
The lady that works for W. earns $25 a week. A man writes:
"You are aware that women are unable to make the very finest
kind of needle embroidery, and that wherever the highest skill is
required, men are needed?" We are aware there are some
womanish men in France that embroider, but we must have facts
before we are convinced that women cannot equal men in embroidering.
A young lady, keeping an embroidery store in New
York, told me her father cuts stencil plates with chemicals for
embroiderers. In some establishments they are cut by steam
power. Her father made wooden plates, but it would not pay. It
takes but a short time to learn stamping, which pays better than
embroidering. Those that do embroidery cheapest, get most to do.
The greater part of it is done in winter evenings, as a pastime by
ladies. Many ladies have stamping done before they go to the
country in the summer, and embroider while they are in the country,
putting out their plain sewing. Ladies that embroider, generally
do their own stamping. M. knows one lady that embroiders
for two or three stores, and makes a very good living. But she
thinks very few have enough embroidering to do to occupy all
their time. The Broadway stores have considerable embroidery
ordered, and get very good prices; but their embroiderers, I have
been told, are not better paid than those of other people. Some
stores give it to ladies who do it for pocket money. Some of
these ladies talk about embroidering for their friends, but, lo and
behold! they expect their friends to pay them. It requires considerable
practice in embroidery to keep the stitches even, and
properly shape the leaves and flowers. A French woman told me
she used to get $1.20 a day for embroidering fine collars in Paris.
326. Feathers.
Mrs. M., Philadelphia, has served an
apprenticeship of five years at dressing and dyeing feathers, and
is now (and has been for fifty years) able to perform every part
of it herself, including the preparation of the dyes. She employs
women, but they do not give themselves the time or trouble to
learn enough of it to carry it on on their own account, but are
[Pg 300]
satisfied to acquire enough of it to enable them to earn a day's
wages. From the information obtained from this veteran, we
concluded that this trade can be very well carried on by women
alone; and farther, that there will always be considerable demand
for feathers and plumes, at least in large cities. Ladies' plumes
pay best. She prepares plumes for the military. At a feather
store in New York, the lady said the season commences in May.
Learners are paid $1.50 the first week, and, if they become good
workers, may in a few months earn as much as $6 a week. Mrs.
D. says she would like to teach some one the business, and
establish them where she is. She would turn over her custom to
them. She would do so for $200. Her location is a good one.
She would instruct how to curl, mend, sew, and color the lighter
shades, for $5. She says it is not unhealthy, but requires one
to be much on her feet. Taste, both native and cultivated, are
required for success. I saw turkey feathers made into a light,
delicate plume, and those of geese into flowers. Some feathers
from the tails of roosters formed large, dark, rich-looking plumes
for children's hats. This I mention to show what the poultry of
our own barnyards can produce. Mrs. D.'s work was not confined
to the feathers of domestic poultry. In dull seasons she prepares
feathers for busy seasons. Connected with her business might
be the making and selling of artificial flowers and head dresses.
She says a superior feather worker can earn $6 a week, and a
few even $8. Mrs. N. told me she takes learners, paying $1 a
week for one month, then more if the worker is worth it, and so
on. She will not teach to dye. All the American feathers used
in the United States are sent from New York. A colorer and
curler of fancy feathers told me it does not require more than a
few weeks to learn, if you can see the process constantly during
that time. It is easier to learn to curl than dye. To dye feathers
on a small scale is troublesome, for if you have a feather to be
dyed one color, another of a different shade, &c., you must mix
up just enough coloring matter for each one. A lady, that would
learn the business well, might make a living at it in the South or
West.
327. Hoop Skirts.
There are now hundreds of women
employed in the manufacture of hoop skirts, that will, when the
fashion ceases, be thrown out of employment. What resource
will they have? It may be that some other fashion will spring
up requiring their services, but we doubt it. D. & S., New York,
employ from 600 to 1,000, and once had 1,500 girls working for
them. They have large well-aired rooms. We passed through
and saw their girls at work. They were neat, well dressed, and
cheerful looking. Nine tenths are Americans. Most of the girls
[Pg 301]
[Pg 302]
have homes. D. & S. have established a free library of two thousand
volumes for the girls, but owing to the negligence in not returning
books taken out, they lost so many that the library is no
longer accessible to them. The trade of D. & S. is Southern.
Their girls earn from $4 to $8 per week, and work 9½ hours a
day in winter. The girls can change their position frequently.
Women are superior to men for this kind of work. While learning,
girls receive enough to pay their board. The continuance of
this occupation depends entirely on fashion. S. thinks the fashion
as likely to last as the wearing of bonnets. Most of the small
establishments in this business have been absorbed by the large
ones. From December to April are the best seasons for work;
from June to September the most slack. T., a large manufacturer,
says the average pay is from $4 to $4.50. His forewoman
earns $400 a year. Some girls are dull, and some are smart—so
the time of learning depends much on that. They pay the girls
something from the time they begin to learn. They work ten
hours a day. As a general thing the girls and women spend all
the money they can spare for dress. The firm have thought of
establishing a savings bank in connection with their manufactory,
for the benefit of their workwomen, but have never yet found time.
Some they pay by the piece; some, by the day; and others, by
the week, or year. Some seasons they employ about one thousand
work people, of whom nine hundred and fifty are women and girls.
I saw, at a factory, some girls covering wire for hoops. The machinery
was very ingenious. They are paid $3, and a few $3.50.
They have to stand all the time, and watch their work constantly.
They work ten hours. The man can always get enough of hands.
It requires but a short time to learn. They have work all the
year. The spooling, respooling, and covering, are all done by
women. Girls can earn from $2 to $6 a week, working ten hours.
I saw an old woman who spools cotton for covering hoop skirts.
She receives five cents a score, and cords six scores a day, earning
thirty cents. At a factory I was told the girls work by the
piece, and get from $4 to $5 per week. Owing to the want of
proper management on the part of the proprietor, I found the
girls do not have work steadily. Sometimes they get out of clasps,
or tape, or hoops, and cannot get them immediately, because of
their distance from the stores. At B.'s hoop-skirt factory, he
told me he pays from $2 to $7 a week to his girls, and he employs
between two hundred and three hundred. It takes but a few
days to learn. The season commences about the middle of November.
The twelve o'clock bell rang, and I heard one girl say:
"Let's swallow our dinner, and, when we have time, chew it." I
called at A.'s factory. He has about two hundred girls, and they
[Pg 303]
receive from $2 to $5 a week—working ten hours a day. They
were nice, bright-looking girls. More hoop skirts are manufactured
in New York than in any other city. I was in a factory
where hoop skirts were woven by hand. The weaver girl we
spoke to, said she did not get tired now, but did when she commenced.
The girls are paid by the piece, and a good weaver,
when industrious, can earn $1 a day. They do not sell so many
as formerly. At O.'s, they have employed two hundred girls, but
discharged one hundred the day before, and the girls earn from
$3 to $4. Last year they sold more than ever before. They
pay from the time a learner enters, but of course the pay is
small for a time. They begin at the lowest branches and gradually
rise. Those at machines sit, and those at frames stand.
Some skirts excel in elegance of shape, some in durability, and
some in elasticity. Many improvements have been made since
their introduction into this country. The prices paid were better
at first than since there has been so much competition. At
S.'s factory, I was told the girls are paid every Saturday night.
They are not paid while learning, but, when they have learned,
can earn from $3 to $5 per week. Some of their girls take their
work home. The amount of work depends on the market. So
they cannot tell what amount will be done next spring. They
are making up to send to New Orleans. Prices have fallen for
this work, and so a smaller number are employed than formerly.
Spring and fall are, of course, the best seasons for work. The
bindings are sewed on by machines, and operatives get about $5
per week. A. writes from Massachusetts: "Women are employed
in Europe in making hoop skirts, principally in London and
Paris. In our country they earn from $4 to $6 a week. I
pay my men higher wages, on account of the labor they perform,
requiring more exercise both of body and mind. The work of
a woman can be learned in a week or ten days, but constant practice
for months gives greater skill and success. The employment
is very neat and clean, and gives exercise to the whole system.
Women are quicker in motion than men, and their powers of endurance
greater. A sound mind in a sound body, and ambition
to excel, together with a tolerable love of money, are qualifications
necessary to render a girl desirable in this business." This
branch of business has given employment to upward of twenty
thousand women in the city of New York, and States of Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The business is usually
suspended for the winter months. In New York city there
is always a surplus of girls seeking labor; they are daughters of
the poorer classes, and live in tenement houses, in close quarters—are
shabbily clad, and their wages go to support perhaps a
[Pg 304]
drunken father, or a widowed mother and fatherless children.
This class of girls contrast sadly in looks and health with country
girls, accustomed to breathe the free air of heaven. Their flattened
chests, pale faces, and scanty wardrobe tell too plainly of
the competition of labor among girls in that great city. I am
told by manufacturers, in New York, that the daily applications
of girls for employment, at their counting houses, is a source of
annoyance, and that they are obliged to paste placards on their
doors to avoid them. This business can be best prosecuted in localities
where the materials can be purchased, and near markets
where they are sold. The fact that workwomen are not paid as
well as men, is owing to competition. In New England, men laborers
are scarce, but women compete with each other. "Board,
$2 for ladies, $3 for men." A manufacturer in Connecticut, employing
from fifty to one hundred, writes he "pays from $3 to
$4 per week. The best seasons for work are from Jan. 1st to
April 1st, and from June 1st to Nov. 1st. They work eleven hours
per day. Women are superior to men, in the more ready use of their
fingers. Board, $1.50 to $2. Quickness and dexterity are qualities
most needed." O. & C., Connecticut, write, their girls,
"above one hundred and twenty, work by the piece, and earn
from fifty cents to $1.12 per day, in proportion to their skill and
industry. A very few in one branch earn more. Living on fashion,
is of course uncertain. Business months, May, June, October,
November, and December. Women are generally inferior
in construction and skill. Board, $1.75 to $2.50." Manufacturers
in Ashfield, Mass., write: "We employ about one hundred and
twenty women. The greater part of them do the work at their
own homes. Some baste the work together, some work the sewing
machines, some draw the bastings, and others sew on the buttons
and finish the work. Our work is all done by the piece.
Those who work the machines can easily earn eighty-three cents
a day of ten hours—the others earn from thirty-three to fifty cents,
according to age, activity, and capacity. We pay men $1 a day
for cutting the work and packing the goods. Neatness and despatch
are desirable for workers; and for operatives, sufficient ingenuity
to keep the machines in good order and condition. The
work is as comfortable and pleasant, perhaps, as any employment
whatever. Board, $1.50." I find some firms work ten hours,
some eleven.
328. Muslin Sets.
Many girls are employed in large
cities in making up lace goods, as collars, undersleeves, &c. S.
employs two women to make up undersleeves, caps, &c., and
pays from $3 to $5 per week to each. They stay from 8 to 6
o'clock. There are too many in that business who are not well
[Pg 305]
qualified. Very few are Americans. Miss A. used to make up
sets, and earned $10 a week often (piecework), before the Southern
trade became so poor. Girls earn from $3 to $5 a week for
this kind of work. It is cut and prepared by a forewoman.
Some women sell lace goods on the streets of London. I called
on a man who employs a number of girls to make crape collars.
He says experienced hands can earn from $20 to $26 a month.
They work by the piece. It does not require long to learn. Mrs.
H. called on a Frenchman who advertised for hands for that purpose.
He offered her $1.50 a dozen for making ornamented
ones.
329. Parasols and Umbrellas.
The parasol was used
by the ancients more in religious ceremonies than as a protection
from the sun. In some of the warmest countries, they are
as much used by men as women. The manufacture of parasols
and umbrellas is quite extensively carried on in this country,
and is one that pays pretty well. At S.'s umbrella manufactory,
Philadelphia, great numbers of women are employed—one hundred
and seventy-five in his principal establishment, and nearly
as many in its branches, and some at their homes. They make
and sew on the covers, and are paid by the piece, according to the
material and workmanship. It requires about six weeks to learn
umbrella making. The girls we saw leaving the premises looked
tidy and cheerful. S. remarked that those who live at a distance
from the workshop, generally arrive earlier than those who
live near. He thinks, if they would abstain from excessive use
of tea and coffee, they would enjoy better health. They used to
employ Americans principally, but now have foreigners, mostly
Irish. They can come and go during work hours as they please.
Last summer there were twelve hundred females, in Philadelphia,
engaged in making umbrellas and parasols. In most umbrella
factories in New York, girls are paid eight, nine, and ten cents
an umbrella. For silk umbrellas, they receive only two cents
more than for cotton ones. Parasols range in price from four to
twenty-four cents, according to size, style, and quality of material.
Old hands, in some houses, take apprentices for two or
three weeks, and receive the proceeds of their work for the time
given in instructing them. March, April, and May are the
busiest months for making city parasols; and August, September,
and October for umbrellas. Where I purchased an umbrella in
New York, the man said he employed two women in spring and
one in winter to work. The parasol work pays best. His girls
earn, when making parasols, from $5 to $6 per week; but umbrellas
seldom pay more than half that. The wholesale parasol
work commences about the middle of December, but his, being
[Pg 306]
retail for the city, does not begin until May. A girl in the
trade told me that umbrella sewers can earn from $2 to $6 per
week. Of course they have not work all the year steadily. She
is paid to stay in the store, and is expected to spend any unoccupied
moments in sewing for the shop. An umbrella maker told me
his girls earn from $2 to $6, according to the kind and quantity
of work they do. He thinks the occupation well filled. In
New York city, in 1853, there was one parasol and umbrella firm
that employed two hundred and fifty girls, and their average
wages were $4 a week. In the umbrella business the work is
invariably paid for by the piece. A gentleman told me that
girls in that branch of work become very immoral from association
with men while at work; but in large establishments the
females have a separate workroom, and there is no need of their
ever seeing any man while at work, except the foreman. (Why
might they not have a forewoman?) S. Brothers say their girls
earn from $2 to $8 a week. They keep them employed most of
the year—their best hands all the year. Most of the work is
done at the factories, but some girls run up the covers at home,
and come to the factory to put them on the frames. I was told
that in Philadelphia, work can be done as well for lower prices,
because living is cheaper. My experience as to the price of living
was to the contrary. I talked with one girl who had been
making umbrellas seven years, but thinks she will die of consumption
in less than two years, from the long and close confinement;
but I think the detriment to health arises more from the dust
and coloring matter that rubs off the umbrella muslin, particularly
in summer, when the coloring matter is absorbed freely by the
openness of the pores. A manufacturer told me his hands could
earn from $4 to $6 a week. A learner must spend three weeks
without remuneration; then she is paid according to the quality
and amount of work done. About one fourth of his girls are
Americans, that have worked out, but desire to do something
they think more respectable. His hands have work all the year,
with the exception of six weeks. The busy time commences in
January. Most of his girls run them up at home, but put them
on the frames at the factory. S., New York, says the business is
bad in July, and part of August—also in February. In his
factory, some tailoresses, and girls that sew for milliners and
dress makers, get employment until the busy seasons of their
trades come round. His women get for sewing from $2 to $3 a
week; those that cut get from $5 to $8. It requires about two
weeks to learn the business. A good use of the needle is necessary
in a sewer, and economy in the use of the cloth for a cutter.
The business is likely to increase. In busy seasons there is
[Pg 307]
often a demand for good hands. In Paterson, Newark, and
other towns where the Irish prevail, they usurp the labor even
in umbrella making. In New York city a foreign influence
predominates, and many Irish have come into the business there
within the last year. The importation from England of umbrellas
(like almost everything else) is less and less every year.
Some manufacturers have the hemming done by machines. S.
will not, because it throws many women out of employment. A
Broadway manufacturer informs me he pays the ladies who
attend his store, each $5 per week—those who sew are paid by
the piece, and average $4.50 per week. He pays while learning,
the time of which is one month. A good maker will always find
employment. The best season is from January to June. Those
who attend store are there from 8½ until 7
P. M. A manufacturer
in New York, who employs eighty girls, informs me "he
pays by the piece, and each earns about $4 per week. Spring
is the most busy season. Men and women pursue different
branches. Board, $1.50 to $2." An extensive manufacturer, a
Jew, in New York, complained to me that women do not stick
to one trade. He has often had women who have been sempstresses,
cap makers, &c. Some, too, will not remain long at this
work—they want to go at something else. Now, I would ask
what a woman is to do, when her trade gives her work but part
of the year, and her wages for that are merely enough to keep her
alive during that time? Is she to be blamed for going to another
trade in the interval? No—she is to be commended for her prudence
and good sense. Do men confine themselves to one trade,
if they find they can do better in another? The proprietor said
he would not receive any applicants but those that are of good
families and bring certificates of character. He pays by the
dozen, and his women earn from $3 to $4 per week. Some parts
of the work, he says, is done by machinery that women cannot
manage. They receive enough to pay their board while learning.
A woman that has been a milliner has acquired a skill with her
needle, a smoothness and softness of touch, that enables her to
become a very good umbrella maker. Such a one is best fitted
for sewing on silk umbrellas. One that has been a tailoress and
accustomed to sewing on heavy cloths is deficient in fineness of
touch, and cannot succeed so well. The secretary of the Waterloo
Company writes: "The girls of the factory are all paid by
the piece, and earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men receive $1.25
per day, and are practical mechanics. The work of the females
is easy, and requires little or no experience. Work hours
average ten, the year through. The women are all American.
Men's board, $3; girls', $2.50." A manufacturer in Concord, New
[Pg 308]
Hampshire, "pays his girls from $10 to $12 a month. Women
can learn their part in from one to three months. The best
seasons for work are spring and summer—the poorest, winter.
Board, $6 a month." Manufacturers in Boston write: "We
employ one woman the whole year in cutting out covers of umbrellas
and parasols, and pay her $6.50 a week the year round—to
another, who performs the same kind of work, in busy times,
say from November 1st to July 1st, we pay $5.50. A superintendent,
who gives out and receives back the work and keeps the
pay roll, receives $5.50 part of the year, and $4.50 the other part.
From March 1st to July 1st we employ thirty girls to sew up
covers and put on frames, and pay by the piece. They average
$4 per week. We keep ten girls, for this kind of work, through the
winter. It takes four or five years for men to learn the business;
women well versed in the use of the needle, two or three years.
From December 1st to March 1st, some of our women work on
furs, or upholstery, and some are unable to obtain any kind of
work. The supply is more than the demand, particularly this
year. As a location for this business, the advantages are in
favor of New York, because of the large market, and on account
of the principal part of the material being made there. Most
of our hands board with relations or friends, because they find it
difficult to get boarding places at such prices as they are able to
pay. Board, from $1.75 to $3.00." Umbrella stitchers in New
Britain, Connecticut, "have some girls tending machines, to
whom they pay from 50 to 75 cents per day of ten hours. They
have some to sort and pack goods. Women can do the light
work somewhat cheaper than men, and are somewhat quicker.
No other parts of the work are suited to their strength and dress."
330. Sempstresses.
In 1845, there were in New York
ten thousand sempstresses, and now there are probably many
more. "The following are the prices for which a majority of
these females are compelled to work—they being such as are paid
by the large depots for shirts and clothing, on Chatham street
and elsewhere:—For making common white and checked shirts,
six cents each; common flannel undershirts the same. These
are cut in such a manner as to make ten seams in two pairs of
sleeves. A common fast sempstress can make two of these shirts
per day. Sometimes, very swift hands, working from sunrise till
midnight, can make three. This is equal to seventy-five cents a
week (allowing nothing for holidays, sickness, accidents, being
out of work, &c.) for the first class, and $1.12½ for the others.
Good cotton shirts, with linen bosoms, neatly stitched, are made
for twenty-five cents. A good sempstress will thus earn $1.50 a
week by constant labor. Fine linen shirts, with plaited bosoms,
[Pg 309]
which cannot be made by the very best hand in less than fifteen
or eighteen hours' steady work, are paid fifty cents each. Ordinary
hands can make one shirt of this kind in two days. Duck
trousers, overalls, &c., eight or ten cents each; drawers and
undershirts, both flannel and cotton, from six to eight cents at
the ordinary shops, and 12½ cents at the best. One garment is
a day's work for some, others can make two. Satinet, cassimere,
and broadcloth, sometimes with gaiter bottoms and lined, from
eighteen to thirty cents—the latter price paid only for work of
the very best quality. Good hands make one a day. Their coats
are made for from 25 to 37½ cents apiece. Heavy pilot-cloth
coats, with three pockets, $1 each. A coat of this kind cannot be
made under three days. Cloth roundabouts and pea jackets,
twenty-five to fifty cents. These can be made in two days." In
a large town, in Massachusetts, we read, not many months past,
of overalls being made at thirty-seven cents per dozen, or three
cents a pair, and shirts at forty-eight cents per dozen, or four cents
apiece. When the times are hard, prices fall from their usually
low standard. Our hearts sicken within us as we read the prices
paid needlewomen. The trifling remuneration and wasted health
of most needlewomen is a bitter reflection on those who employ
them. Some clothing merchants and cap and shirt makers pay
their women such prices as enable them to live—better than those
mentioned above. They are houses of a more respectable class,
that have a position, and deal with a more liberal class of people.
The occupation of sempstress is crowded to overflowing in New
York. In business times it is impossible to get a working person
to leave New York, but in hard times they are very willing to
go. One firm told me that they often have applications for
operators and sempstresses in busy seasons, but then they will
not leave; and when the times are dull there is no demand, and
they cannot. The supply of labor has been greater than the demand,
and hence the competition that has arisen among clothing
merchants, and the low price of made clothing as sold in slop
shops. The use of sewing machines has to some extent done
away with sewing by hand. Many a woman has been thrown out
of employment by it, to which many of our newspapers can
testify, and have borne witness during the past two years. We
have heard of some slop shops in large cities offering to pay the
highest wages to good shirt makers, each applicant to take a shirt
and make it for nothing, as a sample of her sewing. From one
hundred to two hundred, perhaps, apply, and, of course, that many
shirts are made. It meets the demand of the unprincipled shopkeeper,
and he has, perhaps, employment for a dozen or more. A
man that has a ladies' furnishing store, told me he pays girls that
[Pg 310]
sew neatly by hand 37½ cents a day. Many clothing merchants
have their work done in the country, because they can have it
done more cheaply. The sewing done by French linen makers is
very beautiful. The majority of sempstresses have no time they
can call their own. Those that sew twelve or fourteen out of the
twenty-four hours, without any relatives or friends even to be
protectors for them, and often in bad health, have no time for
mental improvement or social intercourse. "The habits of the
sempstress are indicated by the neck suddenly bending forward,
and the arms being, even in walking, considerably bent forward,
or folded more or less upward from the elbows."
331. Sewing Machine Operatives.
There has probably
been no invention in which so large a number of persons have
realized fortunes as the sewing machine. All the first manufacturers
of them have amassed money. In the United States 150,000
sewing machines are in use. Miss P. says, a sewing machine
and baster do the work of ten hand sewers and five basters. We
hear of some sewing machines in London, each of which can accomplish
as much as fifteen pairs of human hands. At several
highly respectable establishments we were told their operatives
earn from $4 to $7 a week, according to the abilities of the
operative, the kind of machine, and the style of work. In houses
of lower standing, operatives earn from $3 to $5. I was told of
one man who hires a number of girls to work on machines at
$2.20 a week. At Y. & Co.'s, operatives earn from $2.50 to $4.
Machine stitchers of leather generally get $6 a week. The usual
number of hours for operatives is ten. I have been told that the
secret of its being so difficult to get basters is, they are paid poor
wages. A clothing merchant in the Bowery says he has a family
working for him that earn $28, and sometimes $30 per week.
They use two machines. The machine-made clothing for men
sells at about the same price as hand-made, and is generally liked
as well by purchasers. We think, the sewing of ladies done by
machine does not pay quite so well as hand sewing; but if we
sewed for a living, we would give the machine the preference, because
of its rapid execution. C., who employs about four hundred
hands, says their dull season begins the 4th of July. L., who
sells sewing machines, told me he frequently has applications for
operatives to go into clothing manufactories. G. & B. occasionally
have applications from other places, but always give the choice
to those who have learned with them. L. thinks the employment
of operatives will not amount to anything as a permanent reliance
out of cities. He thinks in one or two years the sewing machine
will be used in almost every family—as much domesticated as
the wash tub. In cities where clothing, bagging, &c., are made
[Pg 311]
in large quantities, of course, there will be a demand for some.
L., superintendent of E. S.'s machines, employs from three to
twelve ladies, and pays from $5 to $10 a week. They stay from
eight to ten hours. A lady, who hires sewing machines, and
sends out operatives, told me she charges $2 a day for a machine
and operative, sending both, and giving twelve hours' time, or
from $1.25 to $1.50 for an operator only, according to the number
of hours given. If they are hired for a week or more, the
prices are still lower. I think the usual hire of a machine only
is $2 a day. A man that hires machines told me that he rents
for from $3 to $5 per month, keeping the machine in repair
during the time, if it is not badly used. Singer's principal machine
is a strong, heavy one, most suitable for cloth, and requires
much strength to work long at a time. According to D., a
clothing merchant, a woman with one of Singer's machines can
do all the stitching of twelve pairs of cloth pantaloons in a day;
and a coat that formerly required two days to make by hand, can
now be made in one sixth of a day. W., agent of W. & W.'s
machine, says the lady that has charge of L. & S.'s sewing department,
told him ladies prefer to have their sewing done by
machines, and that B. will not have his mantillas made by hand.
He told me of a woman that takes in $30 a week with the aid of
two girls, to whom she pays $6 a week each, leaving the profit of
$18 a week; and of another who makes $8 a week with her machine.
Now that machines are more plentiful, work done by them is not
so well paid. The sellers of machines say it is not unhealthy. Some
people suppose the machine to be much more injurious than the
needle, if worked as long and constantly. The tax on the muscles
of the lower limbs and the weaker parts of the system is certainly
very great; yet those with treadles are thought by some to be
less injurious than those moved by steam. I talked with a lady
keeping a depository connected with an influential church for the
supplying of poor women with work. She thinks sewing machines
are very injurious—says a girl of seventeen will give out in three
or five years at most. It produces a pain first in the hips, and
the jar affects the nerves; and the sameness of the stitch on white
or black goods produces a constant strain of the eye. She mentioned
a young woman who came a few days before to get sewing,
who had worked at B.'s five years on a machine, and her sight
had so failed her that she cannot see to work now by gaslight.
She was but twenty-three, but looked to be thirty years of age.
Sewing by machine, I have been told, injures some kinds of goods.
The needle being large, threads of the cloth are liable to be
broken. Changing the kind and quality of goods in operating
injures a machine. The utility and profit of sewing machines
[Pg 312]
have to a great extent been usurped by Jew men, that are tailors
and cap makers. I have heard that many respectable men in New
York, after coming home from business, spend nearly or quite all
the evening in operating on machines, doing the family sewing
that has been cut and basted ready to stitch. What can we say
of such effeminacy and meanness, when done by those that are
able to give such work to poor women? A lady remarked to
me: "When sewing machines were invented, it was said new occupations
would be opened to women as the machine came in use, and
deprived some of a livelihood; but it is eight years since, and I
have not heard of one." The sewing machine has certainly thrown
many women out of employment. Those who are able to purchase
one may get along. It is in this as in every other branch of
labor—a capital, however small, is an assistance in business. One
advantage always gained by machinery is that it enables the poor
to purchase more cheaply the materials used by them. Freemasons
often buy machines for the widows they help to support.
In some of the large manufactories of Dublin, where sewing machines
are used, from fifty to two hundred women are employed.
332. Dyers.
Dyeing furs is wet and dirty work, and the
odor is very disagreeable. I was told by a lady that girls at
such work can earn $4 a week, or if by the piece, from $5 to $6.
There are very few indeed at it. She thinks it not unhealthy.
She sometimes cleans furs, mostly ermine, with a powder of some
kind. In the fur business, people must sell enough in three
months to keep them the other nine months of the year. In the
summer they take time to examine, purchase, and make up furs.
C., a fur dyer and dresser, told me he once employed an Englishwoman
to flesh fine skins—i. e., take off the flesh that adheres to
a skin when removed from an animal. It is done with a sharp
knife. She earned as much as a man, $1.50 a day. But men
object to working with women in that business; and no American
women, to his knowledge, know how to do it.
333. Sewers.
From conversations with a number of fur
dealers in Philadelphia and New York, I find the rate of wages
for sewers runs from $2.25 a week to $8. Forewomen get good
wages. Some sewers and liners are paid by the piece, and some
by the week. Those who work by the week are paid for extra
[Pg 313]
hours. A small number of the women employed in New York
are English, but the majority are Germans, who have learned
the business in their own country. In Germany most of the men
learn to sew, and most of the men engaged in the fur business
know how. Quite a number in New York are married women,
whose husbands are connected with the business. Furs are sold
only in the fall and winter, but made up in the summer. In a
few places they give work all the year to a small number of workers,
but the majority do not give work more than six months, from
May to December. Some fur sewers have another trade for the
other six months, as hat binding, &c. It does not require long
for a good sewer to learn—from one week to six. There are
some kinds of fancy fur sewing that require rather longer. No
women are employed in preparing the skins: that is done at different
establishments, generally in the suburbs, and exclusively
by male hands. The usual number of hours of sewers employed
by the day is ten; but many of those who sew by the piece
take work home with them to do at night, and so are enabled to
earn considerably more. Men working in the fur business in
New York earn from $8 to $12 per week. The quilting for linings
is done by machines, but the linings are sewed in by hand.
Liners are generally better paid than sewers, and earn from $6
to $10. In extensive establishments, a cutter and a certain number
of sewers and liners confine themselves to one kind of fur.
Some furriers pay their learners enough to board them; some do
not pay anything. I think the supply of hands in New York is
equal to the demand. The best workers, of course, are most sure
of employment. New York is the great fur depot of the United
States, but some business is also done in Boston, Philadelphia,
and Baltimore. Furs are sent from St. Louis and Chicago to be
made up in New York, and part of them returned to be sold in
those cities. Those that sew furs at home can most conveniently
take learners. There are a number of middlemen in the fur business,
who get work from the stores and make a profit by employing
women to do it at lower wages. Mrs. G., an importer and
manufacturer, cuts her own furs, particularly ermine and sable.
She says furs are sometimes cut in Germany by women, but people
in this country think a woman cannot properly cut them.
Work at the fur business in England is said to pay better than
any other. G—s, the largest firm in New York, write: "We
pay women from $2.50 to $6 per week. Some work by the
week, some by the piece. Men get about double wages, but their
work requires more physical strength. Men do the cutting and
matching, and it requires several years to be a good workman.
Sewers receive about half price while learning. Some women
[Pg 314]
can learn all that is necessary in a few months. The prospect
of employment is not so good as heretofore. The women work
the year around. Work hours are 9½. Board, $2 to $2.50 per
week." Most furriers report the employment healthy, but it is
not, on account of the dust and loose hairs flying, for persons predisposed
to consumption. A furrier in New York writes: "I
pay mostly by the piece. It takes about one year and a half for
women to learn the parts they do. The amount of work hereafter
depends some upon fashion and the weather. The best seasons for
work are from May until February. We could not shorten the
hours of work unless the business had a longer season. Board, from
$1.50 to $2." A furrier in Boston writes: "Women are employed
for sewing and lining furs here, in England and France,
and partially in Germany, Russia, &c. Week hands get from $4
to $4.50, ten hours a day; others, from $2 to $6. Business in
future is uncertain. I am busy from July to Christmas. The
best location for the business is where furs are fashionable." A
fur dealer in New York, who employs from 10 to 15 women,
gives the following answers to questions concerning the fur business:
"The work is very easy, and not unhealthy. I pay women
from $3 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. They are as well paid
as males, in proportion to the amount of work done. Any apt
female can learn in three months, and is always paid by me $2.50
per week while learning. The business is better and there is
more of it every year. Work is steady from May to December;
very little at other times. The comfort and remuneration of the
employment is satisfactory among working classes. Women are
more capable of handling a needle for light, fine work than men.
The colder the climate, the better the location for business, provided
people have money to buy furs." In some establishments
where men and women work in the same departments, they are
allowed to talk while at work; but the practice, some complain, is
not conducive to good morals. The character of the people and
conversation, however, would decide that.
334. Bonnets.
The making of silk, crape, velvet, and
other fancy bonnets gives employment to many females. Connected
with this is the bleaching of straw, Leghorn, and hair
[Pg 315]
bonnets. In large cities this is a separate branch of business.
The making and selling of bonnets has long been one of the few
employments open to women in the United States. If a milliner
gets a good run of fashionable custom, she can do well. Most
proprietors of millinery establishments make a handsome profit
on their goods, but some of the girls employed receive but a
scanty pittance. I have been told that in Holland men milliners
are common. From a newspaper we take this pithy article: "A
stranger in Mexico is struck with the appearance of the milliners'
shops, where twenty or thirty stout men with mustaches are employed
in making muslin gowns, caps, and artificial flowers." The
cruelty exercised by some milliners and dress makers toward
those in their employ, by requiring of them too long and severe
application, is very great. Many girls suffer, as the effects,
diseases of the spine and the eyes. "In the case of the milliners
and dress makers in the London Metropolitan Unions, during the
year 1839, as shown by the mortuary register, out of fifty-two
deceased, forty-two only had attained the age of twenty-five; and
the average of thirty-three, who had died of disease of the lungs,
was twenty-eight." But the length of time required of their
employés by milliners and dress makers in London is longer than
in the United States. A number of women are engaged in the
sale of millinery on the streets of London. Girls usually spend
from six months to a year learning the millinery business. Unless
a girl has taste and talent, she is not likely to be benefited
even by a year's apprenticeship, for it is rarely the case that they
are instructed in any but the mechanical work. No pains are
taken to instruct them in what is becoming or stylish, what
shades are most harmonious, how to make a graceful bow, and
turn a well-trimmed end, to arrange a face trimming, and render
attractive the
tout-ensemble. A hundred small minutiæ are
essential to a first-class trimmer, among which is a nice discrimination
of colors and shades. A knowledge of the languages is,
in cities, desirable for milliners' saleswomen. A love of dress is
said to be created by working at such articles. Many bad effects
must result from the indulgence of such a taste by those who receive
the small wages of most girls working at the millinery and
dress-making business. Over four hundred women are employed
in the large straw-goods and millinery establishments in Philadelphia.
W. had, in 1854, three hundred girls making and
trimming bonnets, and twenty-six in the store as saleswomen.
They were paid from $2.50 to $6 per week. W. & L., his successors,
employ about twenty-five women constantly all the year,
and about one hundred and twenty-five on an average of six
months in the year. Their best workers and saleswomen receive
[Pg 316]
about $1 a day; some get a little more, and some rather less.
The business has increased greatly during the last few years.
The only kind made by that firm are silk and fancy bonnets.
One of the firm told me that the largest establishments of fancy
bonnets in Paris employ only about fifty women. They have
girls spend three months learning, and pay nothing during the
time. A girl does well to earn seventy-five cents a day. Six
years ago a good worker could earn $8 or $9 a week. C., Philadelphia,
employs twenty-six girls in the store and millinery department,
and pays about $4 a week, according to their capacity
and diligence. Learners spend six months with him. Some
time ago I saw it stated that there are "450 millinery establishments
in New York city, and 1,800 milliners working in shops,
and 900 at home;—35,000 silk and velvet bonnets are turned out
of the workshops of New York city, in the three months of the
fall, and the five months of what is known as the spring trade."
"Of straw bonnets, one million two hundred thousand are sold
annually to the milliners of New York for their trade alone." A
tasteful and dexterous trimmer can generally secure a good place
and fair wages, but the majority of milliner girls are apt to be
out of employment, except in the spring and fall. Most in the
millinery business are Americans; yet French, German, and English
are well represented. The prices paid for bonnets vary
greatly in New York, according to the locality and establishment
from which they are obtained. No one who has not priced them
could believe the difference would be so great for bonnets of the
same material and make, merely because purchased on such a
street or at such a store. The milliner girls of New York are
said to be good looking. The time milliners and dress makers
spend at their work is such as to preclude (except in a few first-class
establishments) any time for exercise and mental culture.
Their wages are so low that they could not indulge in any recreation
if they had the time. Those girls that live at home can
afford to do work cheaper generally than others. Such girls are
drawbacks to those who pay their board. Western merchants do
not purchase as much as formerly in New York, because milliners
have gone West. Southerners have purchased, until lately,
nearly all their bonnets at the North. There are, or will be
openings in the South for milliners. In 1845, "apprentices at
the millinery business in New York gave one year to learn,
boarded themselves, and, in some of the most aristocratic establishments,
had to pay a bonus." Now it is different. The time
given is usually six months, and an apprentice receives her board
for her work. Mrs. S., Broadway, employs about fifty hands in
the busy season—all American girls, very genteel looking. It
[Pg 317]
requires six months to learn. They are not paid during the
time; and, after that, are paid according to abilities. I called in
one establishment where there were two girls employed, American.
They received each $6 a week. A milliner told me she wanted
a first-class workwoman, and would pay from $6 to $7 a week,
according to her swiftness and taste. I called in a small store
of dry and fancy goods, with which was connected a millinery.
The young lady waited on customers, and, in the intervals,
trimmed bonnets for the store. She received $1 a day, and is at
the store by half past seven, and leaves at nine at night. She
lives near, so she goes home to her dinner and supper. A lady
told me of a Miss M., on Canal street, who commenced the millinery
business five years ago with twenty dollars, and is now
worth $3,000. A milliner in New York told me she could, by
piecework, sewing early and late, make $7 per week. Mrs. T.
has learners spend six months, during which time they are not
paid. After that she gives them from $3 to $7, according to
competency. The number of hours spent in the store depends on
the agreement of the parties. One can best learn where there
are vacancies by inquiring at the millinery shops and of girls
working at the business. At a fashionable millinery, on Broadway,
the lady in the showroom told me the girls receive from $3
to $12, working ten hours a day. There is one that selects, arranges,
and invents, who receives $12 per week. A surplus of
indifferent hands can always be obtained. Sometimes good hands
fail to get employment, because in busy times some indifferent
hands are engaged, and it is difficult to get rid of them. She has
had to turn away many nice-looking girls seeking for work. On
back streets and avenues in New York, women work longer, and
the stores are kept open later than on Broadway. On Division
street, large cases of bonnets are exposed for sale in summer on
the sidewalks. In the poorer portions of a city, people live much
and sell mostly out of doors. Their crowded apartments and the
high price of rent account for it. D., on Broadway, informs me
that he knows of an invention connected with his business—the
sale of straw goods—that will throw ten thousand people, mostly
men, out of employment. He says his girls spend all they make
on dress. He has two forewomen, to each of whom he pays $500 a
year. They never save a cent. He had one to whom he paid
$1,000, but she never laid by a dollar. Women, he thinks, have
not as much originality of thought as men. They seldom invent.
He would give $1,000 a year to a woman that would think for
him, and originate styles, and combine and arrange the trimmings
of his bonnets with taste. He walks on Broadway, and studies
the fashion of bonnets; but none of his women ever do. (Perhaps
[Pg 318]
they have no time.) Women, he thinks, never acquire such proficiency
as men. They advance to a certain degree in the art,
and ever after are stationary. He thinks it is partly because the
majority look forward to marrying, and partly because they are
so constituted that they are not susceptible of acquiring the
highest degree of excellence. (I fear that D. does not consider
that women have not had as much time nor so many opportunities
for improving themselves as men, nor have they as much to
stimulate them.) He pays women from $3 to $8 per week. His
girls spend four months learning. B., another Broadway bonnet-dealer,
told me "good workwomen could at any time find employment
by going to the country towns around, but they do not
like to go from the city. Milliners often come to the city, and
spend two weeks trying to get hands, and then pay them more
than they are worth to go. His forewoman directs some of the
trimmings, but part are left to the taste of the girls. His is a
wholesale business, and he trims many bonnets before sending
them away. Some of his girls earn on an average $7—a forewoman
more. The occupation is not entirely filled by good
hands, and pays well. He employs his hands about eight months."
One of the proprietors of a straw-goods warehouse told me "his
women earn from $6 to $10 (average $7 a week), ten hours a
day. The season commences December 1st, and runs to March
15th, and again from July 1st to September 1st. Taste, industry,
and imitative powers are the qualities most needed. He employs
about sixty in the busy season. When that is over, some go to
millinery shops and work, some to the country, and some to towns
in the surrounding States. The girls that work in cheap shops
are mostly Germans, and earn from $2 to $4. Some women,
while learning, receive their board for their work. By quilling
ruches and such work, if not by their bonnet work, they can earn
their board. He does not pay learners, because the waste of
materials amounts to the worth of their work. Girls of Irish
parentage often make good milliners, and display very good taste
in trimming." A Boston milliner writes: "The wages of the
women I employ vary from $3 to $15 per week, of ten hours a
day, according to the amount of custom they can bring, and their
aptness for the business. There are comparatively few persons
that make good milliners. As a milliner, one must have good
taste and nimble fingers; as a saleswoman, she needs to understand
human nature, have activity, an honest heart, and good disposition.
The best seasons are from March to July, and from September
to January." A lady in Reading, Pa., who employs
girls, informs me "she pays $3 a week, ten hours a day, to
some; to others, $1.50, but the latter she boards. A knowledge
[Pg 319]
of reading, writing, and arithmetic is desirable." A milliner in
Auburn, N. Y., pays from $2.50 to $5 per week, of ten hours a
day. A girl spends six months learning, if she boards herself;
one year, if boarded by her employer. The dull months are July,
August, January, and February. A lady in Poughkeepsie
writes "she gives from $2.50 to $3.50 and board to some, and
from $4 to $4.50 and dinner to those who lodge and otherwise
board themselves. It requires one year and a half to learn the
business thoroughly, and during the time they receive only board.
None should learn millinery except those who have homes, or
design to carry on the business. Her girls work from 7
A. M. to
7
P. M. The business is easy and pleasant to the industrious and
to those who can sit much. Out of work hours, they have time
for study, attendance on lectures, meetings, &c. Board, $2."
Millinery is often carried on in connection with some other business,
in small towns. A lady who combines millinery and book
selling, in Easton, Pa., furnishes board and pays from $1.50 to
$2 per week, of twelve hours per day, to her girls. She pays
about one half the price of male wages. If they spend six
months learning, she pays their board. Two or three first-class
milliners could find employment in Sacramento, California.
335. Bonnet Frames.
Bonnets, of course, are worn in
all civilized countries, and as long as bonnets are worn there must
be bonnet frames. Several hundred women are employed in bonnet-frame
making in New York. K. employs two hundred girls,
and H. one hundred and fifty. The time of learning is from two
weeks to two months, but some never learn. The more practice a
worker has, the better she succeeds. Learners are paid nothing.
Some women working at the trade, take learners for their labor.
Workers earn from $2 to $12 a week, but it is a rare thing any
earn the last-mentioned sum. Fast hands, to work constantly
from 6
A. M. till 10
P. M., sometimes can. The usual price, in all
respectable establishments, is fifty cents a dozen. In busy seasons
there is sometimes a scarcity of hands. There are no factories
South and West, consequently they present openings for the
business. Apprentices generally commence in March. The
busy seasons are from January to June, and from August to December.
Some houses are not busy until in February, and their
fall business lasts till January. The art of making the wire part
of the frames is learned in six weeks. The crowns are made by
machinery attended by women. Some manufacturers have all
their women to work in the establishments, but the majority have
the work taken home. H. says "the business is the same, so far
as confinement is involved, as making up clothes at home. The
girls come two or three times a week for their work; so they
[Pg 320]
have that much walking. The prospect of work to competent
hands is good. He has a great many to reply to his advertisements
for learners, but for hands he has lately advertised seven
times and got but five. Some leave the business for places as
saleswomen in millinery establishments; but that is more uncertain,
for it is more difficult to retain the same place long. It requires
a year to learn thoroughly. It is necessary that the work be
uniformly done; for instance, one hundred and twenty bonnet
frames should be so uniform that one would not differ from another.
Buckram frames are used to shape them on. The wages
paid, he said, vary as much as the rainbow. They range from
$2.50 to $8. He knows one woman that earns $10 a week now
and then. He sends goods away to California, and other parts
of the Union. He also manufactures for the city trade. The
season for work to send away commences about the 20th of
January, and ends about the middle of May; the fall season
begins 20th July, and ends 15th December. The city trade gives
work in the intervals. A girl of intelligence and ability can make
enough to keep her when out of work. Some employers keep
their hands all the time, for the sake of having them the next
season. The girls employed in the business are mostly Irish and
Americans. He boarded some of his girls, but they would associate
with the servants. What was said before them was repeated
to the servants, and
vice versa. They got the impression that
he was making money off their board, though he charged but $2
a week. He thinks the result of large numbers of girls congregating
in the same house is bad. The influence of one depraved
one may be exerted over every fourteen good ones, and discontent
and rebellion be the consequence. Few persons are willing
to board working girls, because the remuneration is small, and
the girls are expected to be furnished with nearly the same advantages
as higher-priced boarders. Those that work in their
rooms are about the house nearly all the time, and all expect the
privilege of using the laundry for doing their washing."
336. Bonnet Wire.
At a bonnet-wire factory, I was
told but little of the work could be done by women; but, if my
eyesight did not deceive me, it could all be done by women.
Covering the wire was done on a steam-power machine, which
only required attention. The spooling is done by females, and
also tying it up, when covered, into bunches of twenty yards each.
A manufacturer of bonnet wire writes: "We employ some girls,
and pay from $3 to $3.50 per week, of twelve hours a day. Females
cannot do all parts of the work. It requires from one to
four weeks to learn, and they receive while learning enough to
pay their board. The business is best nine months of the year,
[Pg 321]
during fall, winter, and spring. We prefer girls to boys, for such
work as they can do. Board, from $1.50 to $2."
337. Children's Clothes.
Quite a number of stores are
devoted to the sale of children's clothes in large cities. A handsome
profit is generally made by the merchant. At Mrs. C.'s, between
three hundred and four hundred females find employment in
making up children's clothing of all kinds (mostly infants'); also
under-garments for ladies. A large assortment is constantly kept
on hand, and they are ever busy filling orders; giving employment
about nine months in the year to all, and to some the year round.
The work is mostly done by hand, and to sew neatly is the only
requirement. The work is all cut in the establishment and given
out, being piecework. The sewers earn from $3 to $6 per
week; cutters, the last-mentioned sum. Aside from these, a few
girls are employed in the establishment, who wait upon customers,
and sew when they have leisure.
338. Cloaks and Mantillas.
Mayhew says: "In
London, the workwomen for good shops, that get fair or tolerably
fair wages, and execute good work, can make
six average-sized
mantles in a week,
working from ten to twelve hours a
day; but the slop workers, by toiling from thirteen to sixteen
hours, will make
nine such mantles in a week." At a wholesale
store, Philadelphia, where sixty women are employed, I was told
they earn from $3 to $6 per week. The head cutter has $6, the
assistant, $5. When the work is finished at the wholesale houses,
the good hands can find work at the retail houses. The best and
most steady hands are kept in work all the year. Miss S., New
York, has her stitching and seaming done by machines. She
pays $5 a week to a good operator. She does her own cutting.
The prospect of employment to learners is good, even in the city,
in prosperous times. She has sold a great deal to Southern ladies
stopping at the hotels. She estimates one machine to do as much
as seven sewers. M. pays his girls $5 a week, and they work in
daylight only. A cutter designs, and consequently should have
taste, judgment, and experience. A good cutter can earn from
$7 to $10 a week, and usually has one assistant, who superintends
the girls while at work. Several mantilla manufacturers have
failed, and he could get fifty thousand mantilla makers to-day.
G. & Co. make for wholesale houses. They pay by the piece,
and a girl can earn $4 a week, taking work home with her
at night. It requires from six weeks to three months to learn.
Nothing is paid during that time. Mrs. M., who makes mantillas
for S., Broadway, says she takes learners, but they do not learn
anything, for most they do is to pick out basting threads, run
errands, &c. Good sewers can make from $3 to $5 per week,
[Pg 322]
ten hours a day. Cutters can earn from $6 to $7. She thinks
the prospect for a few, that would properly qualify themselves,
would be good in the South or West, provided they find openings,
take hands from New York, and be willing to incur some expense
for a short time. In Richmond, Savannah, and Charleston, it has
been almost impossible to get good hands. S. wanted a woman
cutter, and would pay from $8 to $10 for a competent one. His
work is done mostly in the house, and continues all the year. It
is almost entirely done by machine. B—s (German Jews) employ
German girls mostly. They prefer to keep old hands that have
been with them several years. They think German girls most
industrious, and love best to make money. American girls, B.
charged (I think unjustly) with working just enough to get along,
and spending all their spare time promenading. According to his
account, cutters earn from $15 to $20 a week. He employs his
girls most of the year. The occupation of mantilla making, he
says, is more than filled in New York. Board, $2.50 to $3. At
H.'s wholesale mantilla depot, I was told it is best to learn to
make mantillas with those who sew for the mantilla merchants.
Some of their girls sew in the building, some take their work
home. If they do not know applicants for work, they require
some one as security, who has property or is in business for himself.
A gentleman told me that, not long since, he saw an advertisement
by a mantilla manufacturer for men to make mantillas
and cloaks. A manufacturer in Boston writes me he "employs
seventy-five women, and pays them mostly by the piece; some
receive as high as $12 per week, average $6. They are paid by
the piece from the first; but until they acquire dexterity, they
can earn but $3 or less per week. Cloak and mantilla making
is constantly increasing, like the ready-made clothing business.
The busy seasons are from February to July, and from September
to December. Many are out of employment about three months
in the year. As sellers of goods, he finds men better qualified,
because of having been educated from children with views to
business. The New England States are the best for manufacturing,
as in other localities it is more difficult to obtain female help.
Board, from $2 to $3." Another cloak maker in Boston writes:
"I employ from twenty to thirty women (mostly American), and
pay by the day. They work nine hours a day, and receive from
$4 to $10 a week. A good sewer, with taste, will learn in six
months. Some learners I pay, some I do not. Spring and
autumn are the most busy seasons. The girls are not out of employment
two months. I employ three ladies as saleswomen.
Board, from $2 to $5 a week." A cloak and mantilla maker in
New Haven writes me "he employs twenty-five American girls,
[Pg 323]
and pays by the week, from $4 to $8. He pays learners when
they have spent six months at the trade. His girls are principally
farmers' daughters, who are rapidly taking the place of men
in stores. Board, $2.25 to $3.50." A manufacturer in Providence
writes: "I employ women in making and trimming bonnets,
making cloaks and mantillas, and as saleswomen in my store.
I pay by the week, from $3 to $8—average, $4.75—ten hours a
day. Six months is the time usually spent in learning either
trade. In January, February, July, and August, some of my
workers are out of employment. All are Americans, and pay
for board from $2 to $2.50." P., of Providence, "employs
about twenty girls making dresses and cloaks, whose wages depend
upon their ability as sewers; average price per week, about $4."
339. Costumes.
P. pays his girls (five in number), each,
$3 a week. They work from eight to five o'clock. He has no
difficulty in getting hands. Anybody that can sew can make
costumes, but it requires taste for the design and arrangement
of such as his—theatrical. B.'s girls sew at the house, 9½ hours
in winter, and the best earn from $3 to $4 a week. Their costumes
are theatrical, and are very slightly put together. A slow,
careful sewer would not answer for them. They want their work
done so that it will rip up easily. They have many costumes on
hand for sale. They have a lady cutter. They give employment
but four months, and they are in winter. W., employed in
both flag and costume making, has been in the business since
1822, and employs six girls all the year. Flags, costumes, &c.,
used in the South, have always been ordered in New York, so
there will be some openings in the South for such work. W.
pays $3 and $4 a week to his best hands, and has his sewing
done in the house. His work is of a superior quality, and, consequently,
commands a good price. He employs only correct
and fast sewers. He thinks there are openings for girls of good
moral character, properly qualified. A lady cutting out costumes
told me that it requires judgment to make the two halves
alike—sleeves, for instance; also to know in how short a time an
article can be made up, where and how to get workers, &c. It
is difficult to get good hands, and some of the materials are
costly—so they do not like to give work to any one they do not
know. A spangler receives from them 62½ cents a day. Mrs.
T. employs a number of hands, paying $3 a week to those that
work in the house—ten hours a day. Those that take their work
home are, of course, paid by the piece. She does all her own
cutting out. It requires ability to fit, ingenuity to design, and
taste to execute. Spangling pays best. She had a lady tinselling
and spangling for her, that made a good living at it. She
[Pg 324]
does opera and theatrical work, mostly. She makes some ball
costumes also. Equestrian work she does not like, as it is pretty
much made up of horse trappings. The prospect for those who
would learn it well, she thinks very good. She finds it difficult
to get superior workers. The girls that sew for costumers are
mostly those who prefer that to going out to do housework, because
they can have their evenings as their own. It is usual to
have a costumer travel with an opera troupe, who directs and
superintends the making up of costumes, and dresses the prima
donna before she makes her appearance on the stage. Mrs. S.
takes learners, paying them half price for two or three months,
while learning. She makes up most after Thanksgiving, for the
Christmas festivities; but in summer she makes up some ball costumes,
and apparel and drapery for tableaux, and operas at watering
places. She has from one to two hundred women and girls
sewing for her at different times. Frequently she is very much
hurried, and must employ a great many to assist, for bills announcing
operas are often out before the costume is brought to her.
At W.'s, they pay $3 a week—ten hours a day—and are most
busy about Christmas.
340. Dresses.
In Germany, many dress makers are men,
and there is one on Broadway, New York. France is the fountain
head of fashion for ladies' dress. Most of the fashions,
however, are Americanized when introduced into this country.
Dress is, to some extent, an index to the mind of the wearer.
Judgment and good taste are the best guides. Several things
are to be taken into consideration—age, complexion, proportion,
means, station, comfort, and decorum. A lady, with command
of a full purse, can dress as she pleases. Rich and elegant clothing,
appropriately made, is an ornament, and well becomes those
that can afford it. With a scant purse, a lady cannot dress very
handsomely, yet she may always observe neatness and propriety
of costume. A passion for dress is apt to betray an empty mind
or great vanity. Much of the beauty of a dress depends on its
tasteful make. If the figure is bad, it improves it. If good, it
adds to the beauty of the figure, which is one of the most impressive
modifications of beauty. In dress making, a lady has
only to establish a reputation as a successful fitter and fashionable
trimmer, and she will be sure of a run of custom and handsome
profits. I am sorry to say, in the majority of dress-making
establishments, no reliance can be placed on the word of the
principals, in regard to the time work will be finished. While
many of those at the head of dress-making establishments are
realizing dazzling profits, the poor sempstress, working in busy
times from twelve to sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, re
[Pg 325]ceives
the generous allowance of from $1.50 to $4.50 a week.
But few, and those only of much skill, taste, and dexterity, ever
gain better prices. Fitters and forewomen, in some places, gain
from $4 to $7 per week. I believe it is generally thought men
fit better than women, so many ladies have their basques and
riding habits made at tailors' establishments. We do not see
why the plan used by tailors, of fitting by measure, is not more
generally applied to dress fitting. Dress making is more fatiguing
than millinery work, because you have to sit at it more steadily
and there is more sameness in it. Spring and fall are the most
busy seasons. Those who can secure sewing in good families,
and have some decent place to go in the intervals, are better off
than most others. They receive from 50 cents to $1.25 per day
and their dinner. It would probably require a little time to become
known; and one, to succeed, must know how to do all parts,
from the fitting to the finishing off; so it requires skill and a
thorough knowledge of the business. A lady who sews by the
day told me she often gets her system out of order by the different
food of the several families she is in, and the different times
of taking it. We think there are no regular hours for those who
work by the day in New York. The length of the day depends
on the mercy of the employer. "Dress makers in Boston, some
years ago, adopted the ten-hour system, and now average $1.25
per day. Previously they received but 75 cents or $1." The
demand for dress makers in the Northern and Eastern States is
fully met, but throughout the South and West there are openings,
here and there, for good dress makers. There is probably no occupation
in which there are so many incompetent persons as that
of dress making. Many persons take it up without having learned
the trade at all, and many who become reduced in circumstances
immediately resort to it without any preparation, and are destitute,
not only of experience, but of skill, ingenuity, and taste.
In New York, the conditions on which apprentices are taken vary
greatly. Some pay nothing for six months, and even receive $10
or $15 for instruction. The girls are kept at making up skirts,
sewing up sleeves, and such plain work, and so learn nothing
during the time. Some are taken for a year, and boarded during
that time for their work. Some live at home, and are paid from
$1.50 to $2.50 for their work. Some are taken for two years,
to learn the trade thoroughly, and work from eight to twelve
hours a day. Some apprentices have not the ability to become
good fitters and sewers, and are destitute of artistic taste; but
women seldom change from one employment to another on discovering
their incompetency. The majority, probably, have not
the time or means of doing so. Miss B. says those who sew for
[Pg 326]
dress makers receive from $2.50 to $4 a week, working ten hours
a day. Apprentices that can sew right well when they commence,
receive at some houses $2 a week for six months, but they
are not taught to fit unless the employer is a conscientious
woman and there is a special contract. When the busy season
is over, the inferior hands are turned off without an hour's warning.
It is desirable to get a good class of customers, that the
pay will be sure, and that the dress maker may know what to rely
on. Some dress makers in New York have kept the patterns of
ladies in the South, and made their dresses for years. If a
slight change was needed, for instance, the length increased, or
the waist made smaller, or
vice versa, the lady wrote accordingly.
Miss B. never works for servants. They do not pay as
well, and are just as particular as their mistresses. She never
works for a stranger, unless recommended by one of her customers.
Mrs. C. told me that a girl of fair abilities can learn dress
making in six months. The first three months she does not pay
anything, but the last three $1 a week. After they have learned
she pays according to their taste, skill, and industry. One girl,
that has good taste in trimming and finishing off, she pays $4 a
week; another, that sews well and is industrious, but deficient in
taste, she pays $2. They all live at home. Those girls that
live at home are often willing to work for less than the ordinary
wages, as they are not at the greatest of all expenses—boarding.
They work from seven in the morning until six, having an hour
at noon. They prefer it to the hours of some of the Broadway
shops, which are usually from eight to seven. By the first arrangement
they are enabled to get home early and go to any
place of amusement. Miss H. told me that three years ago she
earned $7 per week, ten hours a day, sewing for a French lady
on Broadway, who had a great run of Southern custom. There
were many strangers in the city at the time. "Servant girls
seldom pay over $1 for making a dress; yet 10,000 servant girls
in New York city, will have from three to six and eight new
dresses a year." At Wilson's Industrial School, New York,
some of the older girls are taught dress making.
341. Dress Caps and Head Dresses.
The making of
ladies' dress caps is an extensive and important branch of business.
The rates at which they are now put together, enable
most ladies to buy them already made. In large cities there are
separate establishments for the sale of them, but in smaller towns
they are sold at milliner shops. Much taste should be, and generally
is, exercised in this department of business. In London,
on the streets, the caps and bonnets exposed for sale are placed
in inverted umbrellas. On summing up what was told me by
[Pg 327]
eight manufacturers of dress caps and head dresses, I find the
prices they pay the women who sew for them, run from $2 a
week to $10—the average $4. Some pay by the week, but most
by the piece, which is usually most profitable to the worker, and
most satisfactory to both parties. Superior hands prefer to
work by the piece, and, when working for first-class stores, earn
from $6 to $8 per week. There is a scarcity of good hands in New
York, and I would advise some ladies to learn. Taste, and swiftness
of fingers are required. The finer and more delicate the
hands of a worker the better. Some are employed all the year,
but the majority are not. The busy season begins in January
and lasts till the middle of May, and begins in September and
lasts till the middle of October, when city work usually commences.
Some houses, in the intervals, make up for the city trade.
The South has depended almost entirely on the North for the
supply of these articles. There will be openings in the South for
establishments of the kind. One keeper of a large fancy store
said to me, there are not more than ten first-class makers of dress
caps in New York. He thought the Irish succeed, many of whom
learn in the convents of their own country to use the needle well.
Hands employed by the week usually work ten hours a day.
Most people prefer to employ the hands they have had. The
best place for learning is in a shop confined to the city trade.
Mrs. D. devotes herself to making up caps for the dead, but employs
sewers to make ladies' dress caps. It requires time to get
to making them tastefully and rapidly. An experienced hand
can earn from $4 to $6 a week, piecework. It is thought three
months' time is necessary for learning, and during that time a girl
cannot earn over $1 a week. Mrs. D. says some can earn but
eight or nine cents a day while learning, and become discouraged
and give it up. She will not trust any but experienced hands, on
account of the loss of materials, for when badly cut, they cannot
be altered into anything else, and, when they have to be ripped,
lose their stiffening, and are only fit for the scrap bag. They can
soon judge of hands by their appearance, the way they sew, and
knowing for whom they have worked, and the kind of work that
house turns out. They always require reference or deposit.
They keep their hands all the year, making caps part of the year
to send away, and the remainder of the year for city trade.
Ladies' dress caps have been superseded to a great extent by fancy
head dresses and flowers. Miss C., Broadway, told me her best
hands earn, by the piece, from $6 to $7 per week. It requires
three months to learn the business. Learners, that have some
knowledge of sewing, receive from her $1 a week. Judgment, in
size, form, and manner of putting together, is desirable. The
[Pg 328]
busy seasons are spring and fall. There is rather a deficiency
of good hands in New York, and in busy seasons it is sometimes
difficult to get enough of indifferent hands. The French are very
successful, on account of their cultivated taste. I was told that
Mme. D. employs two Austrian girls that invent beautiful styles of
head dresses. Mr. D. says the person that has the taste and ingenuity
to invent pleasing styles will receive a good price. He
had to pay $4 a dozen more for a new style of head dresses imported
not long ago from Paris, merely because it was of a new
design. He playfully remarked: "Fancy goods must bring fancy
prices." A woman that has lived in Paris, and been engaged in
the business there, and accustomed to observing the fashions and
inventing them, would receive a high salary. He pays from $6
to $9 a week, according to qualifications. The abilities and taste
of a person have much to do with the time of learning—six
months are usually given. He pays $3 a week to smart learners.
He sells rather more goods in fall, as ladies are then preparing
for balls and parties. He prefers to have foreigners to work for
him, as he is himself a foreigner. His store girls leave at 6
P. M.
Those that board pay $3 a week. In most stores for the sale of
ladies' fancy articles, the ladies in attendance make up such articles,
when not waiting on customers. From a larger establishment,
the superintendent sent me the following report: "Women
earn from $4 to $10 per week, being paid by the piece. It requires
from three months to one year to learn the business.
After six weeks, the hands are paid a small trifle. Women are
employed about eight months in the year, but first-class hands
find employment always. In busy seasons the work must be done—so
hands cannot limit themselves to time, but must be employed
late and early. The demand for first-class hands is great, and
enough cannot be found. I employ from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred on an average. Most of my hands are foreigners,
and married women that live at home."
342. Fans.
In most ages, and in most countries, the fan
has been used as much by gentlemen as ladies. In Japan, everybody carries a fan. "In M. Duveleroy's fan establishment—the
largest in Paris—each fan, from the commonest to the most costly,
passes through fifteen hands before it is ready for use and the retailer."
The palm-leaf fans, which have been so much in vogue
for years past, are made to some extent in the Eastern States.
Fans are sometimes made of feathers. Peacock, duck, turkey,
and those of small birds are employed. As in other manufactures,
the capital required, the risk run, the want of operatives
acquainted with the business, and the comparative highness of
wages have hitherto debarred any one from undertaking the man
[Pg 329]ufacture
of fans extensively in the United States. Taste is necessary
for a fan maker. A man that has been making fans for two
years in New York, told me he took it up from repairing fans.
He cannot keep materials enough on hand, because suitable feathers
are high and difficult to get. He is raising some peacocks
and white turkeys, that he may have the feathers for making
fans. The women he employed last year he paid by the piece,
and they earned from $5 to $6 per week. He will employ more
women in the course of a year or two.
343. Ladies' Under-Wear.
A sempstress in New York
can seldom earn more than seventy-five cents a day—fifty is the
more usual sum. At Mrs. C. & Co.'s, all the work is done by
hand. They employ by the week and by the piece. They will
not allow goods to be taken out unless they know the person to
be reliable, because they find it difficult to get work back at the
time promised. They sell most articles made up, about Christmas,
and in the spring. People do not have half so much sewing
done out as they used to, because so many own sewing machines,
and they are not willing to pay the same prices that they formerly
did. Some women that live and dress well in New York, take in
sewing to obtain pinmoney. She mentioned one lady that came
dressed in her elegant furs and point lace, and got sewing, she
said, for a sick young friend; but when she came back, she said
the friend was not able to do it, and so she did it herself, and
would like to have more. She lived in style on —— street.
The cutters of under-wear, who are competent and responsible, can
earn $6 per week, and even more, but it requires considerable experience.
A lady that has sewing done told me that nothing pays
so poorly as white work. She requires a sample of work and
a deposit from any one that takes sewing out, to the amount
of the value of the article. A lady that has most beautiful under-wear
made up for ladies in New York and in the South,
told me her Southern orders have all ceased. Her work is mostly
done by hand. She has a forewoman that bastes and cuts. She
has not less than ten or twelve applicants every day for work.
Some of her hands earn $5 or $6 a week, and others work just as
long and do not earn $3. Some of her workers can earn $4 by
embroidering, but sewing generally pays best. She pays her operator
by the piece—so much a yard. When she had Southern
orders, she sent goods by express, and the express collected the
money on the goods. If the money was not paid by those who
had ordered the goods, the express would not deliver them, but
returned them. They were responsible for their return, in case
they were not paid for. In the first place, something was paid
for transmitting and collecting; in the latter, for transmitting both
[Pg 330]
ways. Many ladies used to send their measures and directions,
and she would make up accordingly. She finds bridal apparel
most profitable. In large cities there is a small demand for the
costume of artists, sea bathers, and practisers of gymnastics. At
the Employment House, B., I was told they have more applications
than they can attend to, for plain sewing; but fine sewing it is
more difficult to get done. Fine sewing pays for itself very well,
but coarse does not. At L. & T.'s, New York, they have every
branch done, and pay sewers by hand as good prices as operators.
A right neat and fast sempstress can earn $6 a week: it is piecework.
Operators can earn $5 or $6. Part of the work is done
in the building, and part is given out. At first they found it difficult
to get superior sewers, but they have plenty now. They
have sometimes employed 375 hands. About half their women
are Americans. It is usual for the forewoman to do the cutting,
and she can earn from $6 to $12. When they pay by the week, the
girls work from 8
A. M. to 6
P. M., and have three fourths of an
hour at noon. They pay by the week for making mantillas and
cloaks. It is most profitable to the employées to pay by the
piece. Their customers can rely on their work, and are willing
to pay a good price for hand sewing. A lady that supplies under-wear
told me that she finds it difficult to obtain any one that is
reliable to give her work to—one that she can be sure will do
her work well at the proper time. She pays those that work in
the house $3 a week, of ten hours a day. Neatness, care, and expedition,
she requires of her hands. There is an abundance of
indifferent hands, but a scarcity of superior ones.
344. Over Gaiters.
R., Philadelphia, employs fifty girls.
Some of the gaiters are made by sewing machines, and some are
stitched by hand. Makers earn from $3 to $5 a week. Most of
the work is done in the establishment—some is taken out.
345. Patterns.
In large cities there is a constant call for
a supply of new patterns; consequently stores are kept for the purpose
of cutting and selling them. A dress and cloak making establishment
is frequently connected with them. The sale of patterns
to dress and cloak makers in the South and West is considerable—greater,
perhaps, than that in the city. T., and Mme. D., are the
leaders of this branch in New York. Mme. D. has in pattern
making mostly young girls. A large room of young girls requires
but two or three ladies to assist and direct. It takes but little
time to learn. She does not pay until they have learned, and
then pays young girls $1 a week and upward. T., son of the editor
of the
Bon Ton, told me their fashion magazines have a circulation
of three thousand, mostly among milliners and dress
makers. The plates are colored in Paris. Leslie's and Godey's
[Pg 331]
plates are colored in this country. T.'s takes six French publications
devoted to the fashions. They look over plates and select
such styles as they think will be popular. They have a lady in
Paris who writes to them from there, describing the fashions.
They employ a lady in connection with their pattern making who,
by looking at the plates, is able to cut out a mantle, sleeve, &c.,
exactly like the plates. Some ladies could never learn to do so.
They employ ladies, both in pattern cutting and dress making,
and pay from $3 to $5 per week—to a competent forewoman, $10
and $15. Women are paid small wages while learning. Their
business is advancing—has advanced most during the last few
years. Their trade is Eastern, Western, and Southern—mostly
Southern. Their girls are employed from 8
A. M. to 6
P. M.;
having an hour at noon. In the pattern business, there are just
about enough of hands in New York. Spring and fall are the
busy seasons. E. G. says the busy season commences the middle
of January, when she is willing to receive learners. She gives
instruction for nothing for one month; after that, she pays $2.50
a week, if successful, and continues to increase salary according
to the abilities of the individual. A good hand can earn $5 per
week, working ten hours a day. Another lady told me that in
pattern making she gives instruction two months, paying nothing,
but then they can earn $2.50, and, as they become more expert,
can earn $3, $3.50, and $4. They are paid by the week, and
it would be impossible to pay by the piece. It requires practice
to become an expert cutter. She prefers, for pattern cutting,
young girls from twelve to fifteen years old. In large cities, some
women go around to cut patterns, sell stays, embroidery, &c.
346. Shoes.
The business of making and selling shoes
opens a wide field of employment to women. The fashion, a few
years back, of ladies making their own shoes, raged like a fever.
Those that had leisure did so with economy, as the lasts and implements
for working cost only $3, and the materials for a pair of
shoes from sixty cents to $1. Afterward no further expense was
needed but the materials. The fitting of shoes is basting, stitching,
and putting them together. Fitting is generally done by
females, and is so simple that children can work at it. A good
deal of this work is done in families at the East. Crimping
and bottoming are done altogether by men. Some firms in cities
confine themselves to importing and dealing in shoe-manufacturers'
tools, materials, &c. In Massachusetts, most of the shoes are
made in country towns, where living is much cheaper than in the
cities; and the business in cities is very much absorbed by foreigners,
that can live much cheaper than Americans. The principal
defect in ready-made shoes is their imperfect shape. It
[Pg 332]
would be well for every adult to have a last made the exact shape
of his or her foot, and keep it at the shoemaker's. "The application
of machinery to the manufacture of shoes has made so
vast a difference in the ease and rapidity of their production that
those engaged in the business can scarcely realize the advantage
they possess, and before they are aware of it they are in the way
of creating a surplus. The effect of this change in their production
will be to lessen the number of manufacturers and operatives."
Says a writer in the
Pennsylvania Inquirer: "Individuals
that are prominent in the shoe business assert that about
2,000 females are employed in Philadelphia in binding shoes or
sewing uppers; but they do not obtain steady work, and the
average of their wages is only $75 to $100 per annum." Four
thousand two hundred men are employed in Philadelphia in making
women's shoes. Might not a large part of that work be done
by women? Yes; the cutting, binding, stitching—indeed, the
entire making of ladies' shoes might be done by women. Most
of the stitching is now done by machines. The most depressed
trades in New York, in 1845, were those of shoe and shirt making.
From the New York
Tribune of May, 1853, we take the
subjoined extract: "The binding of children's shoes is paid for
at the rate of two pairs for three cents, or eighteen cents a dozen
pair; while for the full size, five cents a pair. Now a first-rate
hand may succeed, by the closest application—say from fourteen
to seventeen hours a day, if uninterrupted by domestic cares—in
making, during the week, four dozen pairs, for which, after delivery
and approval, she will be paid $2.40, that being the maximum
paid, and representing the value of not less than eighty hours'
labor; and from this miserable dole the cost of light and fire is to be
deducted. We are not prepared to say this sum is never exceeded,
as some houses may pay a slight advance on these prices; but it
is more than sufficient for us to know that this is
above the average
that hundreds of women and girls in this city (New York)
are earning from that source." We have seen it stated, elsewhere,
that good shoebinders, in New York, usually earn from
$4 to $7 a week. I talked with a shoe fitter in New York, who
works for a large and fashionable store and employs a number of
hands. Some of her operators have $6 a week, and have better
wages than hand workers, because they can do more work in the
same time. As sewing machines become cheaper, wages for work
done by them will fall. Shoemakers made more money before
ladies wore heels on their shoes, as they wore out more. Mrs. I.,
a shoe fitter, told me that she pays one of her hands $7, another
$6, and none less than $4. It requires about six months for most
women to learn the trade. The business is one that will extend.
[Pg 333]
Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Her hands usually
spend but nine hours a day at labor, as stitching shoes is heavy
work. Men usually do the cutting in the back of the store, and
receive better wages than the women. The cutting is done by
hand. Her workers pay $2.50 for board. There is a scarcity
of good operators on uppers. Plenty of indifferent hands can be
had at any time. She says American women are too fond of
pleasure and dress. They make money, and then must have a day
or two to rest. She was an Irish woman. The journeymen
shoemakers of New York have an association for regulating
prices and hours of work, and a lady branch was started, but has
become extinct. A shoebinder in Brooklyn told me that he employs
a number of girls, paying his operatives $3, $4, $5, and
some even $6 per week. The machines have taken work from
many, and lowered the prices of those that do it by hand. To
make fancy shoes requires taste and judgment. The late strikes
have given us, through the newspapers, some reliable information
in regard to the starving rates paid for work, and wages have been
somewhat increased by it. I heard a shoemaker say he knew one
sewer that received forty cents for a week's work, stitching sixty
pairs of gaiters. Two cents is what some of the Massachusetts
women received for binding a pair of boots. Yet the consumer
must pay as high for boots and shoes as ever. The reason given
is, that leather costs more than formerly—a statement we are led
to doubt when considering the increased facilities for tanning.
An intelligent shoe fitter told me the prices of work were formerly
much higher than now. The work that would formerly have
brought fifty cents is now not paid more than twenty-five cents.
Mrs. B. says well-dressed women sometimes come and bring
what they say is a sample of their work. A few pairs will be
given them to make, which they will bring in poorly stitched.
She thinks any one in the shoe-making business that does her
work well can always find employment. "In Ohio, several
women are employed as shoemakers, and others are working independently
and successfully, evincing both taste and ability in
their elegant and substantial work." A manufacturer in Albany,
N. Y., writes: "I employ ten women running sewing machines,
binding by hand, and stitching with wax-thread and awl. I pay
mostly by the piece, and my hands earn from $2 to $5 per week.
Women cannot do men's labor in our branch. Learners are paid
what they earn. Mechanical talent is a desirable qualification.
The prospect for extension of the business is necessarily poor.
Prison work is interfering much with our craft. Women can
have steady work, if employers manage prudently. Women that
work with awl and wax thread are mostly foreign." The returns
[Pg 334]
of 1860 give 56,039 males and 24,978 females employed in making
boots and shoes in New England; and in all the States,
96,287 males and 31,140 females. In Dublin, about five hundred
women are employed in eight of the large establishments of that
city in boot closing, and earn on an average eight shillings per
week, of nine hours a day.
347. Stays and Corsets.
At Mrs. B.'s, Philadelphia,
I was told women are paid by the dozen for making corsets, and
earn from $2 to $3 a week. They mostly take their work home.
At a place in New York, I was told they have sewing machines,
and they pay operators $4 a week, working from 7½
A. M. to 7½
P. M. Those that sew for them by hand do not earn so much. It
is difficult to get enough of good hands; so the lady thought
there must be openings for competent workers. Girls get $4 a
week for basting. Their girls are of all nations. Every store,
she remarked, has its own way of doing business. It takes some
time to learn to do all parts, as a girl usually works at some
special part. A man does the cutting. One corset maker thinks
it a valuable gift to be able to fit well. She considers corsets
necessary to the preservation of health. American children, by
their restlessness, counteract the effects of their rapid growth.
Miss C. told me those that work for wholesale houses can, if good
hands, find work all the year. They are paid by the piece,
and can earn from $3 to $6. It requires three or four years to
learn all parts. Her girls cannot take their work home. Few
are willing to take learners. At another place, I was told a good
operator can get $6 a week. They sell most women corsets of
French and German make. The French fit American ladies
nearly as well as those made to order, but the German do not.
At another place, I was told it requires but a short time to learn.
There are but few manufactories in this country. The imported
corsets are mostly sold, because cheapest. The basters get $3 a
week, ten hours a day, and operators $4, and $4.50, according to
abilities. Mrs. B. thinks it difficult to become a good fitter.
She employs men to cut, put bones and eyelets in, and press.
Anybody that can sew well can soon take up corset making. All
her sewing is done by hand. She sends her work to the country,
because she can get it done more cheaply. The work pays poorly.
She says the form is retained much longer by wearing corsets.
A lady who employs women to stitch corsets for her by hand, pays
from $2.50 to $3.50 a week—ten working hours a day. It requires
six months to learn, and a just eye, a knowledge of figure,
and an ability to sew by hand and stitch by machine, to succeed.
She says most corset employers in New York are French, and
employés Irish. She thought, if a lady has good apartments in
[Pg 335]
a genteel part of the city, she may do well. Mrs. B., who has
been twenty-three years carrying on the business on Broadway,
says she has applications constantly, but finds it difficult to obtain
competent workmen. Men are practical corset makers, and
do the cutting. They are better able to cut the goods, so as to
make a handsome fit. They receive better wages than women.
It is a business as much to be learned as cutting gentlemen's
coats. She pays both by the piece and week, and her hands receive
from $3 to $8. Some of the stitching is done by machinery—some
by hand. It requires about the same time to learn corset
as dress making. Learners receive from her from $1.50 to $2
per week. She thinks the supply of hands just equal to the
demand. She employs from 100 to 150 hands. They are mostly
from Great Britain. The business is dependent on fashion.
Spring and fall are the busy seasons. In summer, she does not
sell so much, because ladies are then out of town; but the employés
can work all the year, and do so, as she keeps a stock on
hand. Corsets are more worn now than a few years back. A
manufacturer in Boston writes: "I employ ten American women
in sewing on corsets. They work by the piece, and average sixty
cents per day. The prospect of future employment is not flattering.
Board, $2.25." Another manufacturer in Boston "pays
from $3 to $4.50, and says it is all he can afford to pay. His
hands work ten hours a day. The prospect for this work is good.
July and August are the dullest months. He has found women
equal to men in all branches of business they conduct. Board,
$2.50."
348. Bleachers and Pressers.
I called in a place
where I saw the pressing of bonnets and children's hats. The
rims of the hats were pressed by a woman with a large iron, the
crowns by a man with an iron attached to a lever fastened in a
frame. It is all piecework, and some can earn from $4 to $5 a
week. I have been told that Mrs. K., New York, employs
women pressers. The iron is not so heavy for bonnet pressing
as for hats, but requires too much strength for a woman. Shaping
straw bonnets is done by women—that is, placing them on
blocks and pinning them around the edge, after they have been
bleached, until they acquire shape. A man pressing straw hats,
told me he is paid 5 cents a hat, and can press sixty in ten hours.
The time for learning either to sew or bleach, I find, is usually
[Pg 336]
six weeks. Mrs. M. pays learners nothing for six weeks. Her
busy seasons are from October to last of November, and from
December to spring. It is all piecework, and her girls earn
from $3 to $4. A bleacher of straw hats employs a lady at $5
per week to alter and wire bonnets, after they have been bleached,
which is done by her own family. She works ten hours a day.
The work is mostly confined to spring and fall. The bleaching
process is very deleterious, owing to the sulphur used. It produces
a loss of vitality and shortens life. A stout, healthy man,
in the course of a year, becomes quite pale and thin. The bleaching
does not require all the time of any one. The bonnets and
hats are put into the bleaching room, and, when they have become
white, are taken out.
349. Braiders.
The following is from the New York
Tribune, of 1845: "The Amazonia braid weavers—a large and
ill-paid class of working females—begin work at seven in the
morning, and continue until seven in the evening, with no intermission
save to swallow a hasty morsel. They earn, when in full
employment, $2 and $2.50 a week. Out of this, they must pay
their board and washing (for they have no time to wash their
own clothes), medical and other incidental expenses, and purchase
their clothes—to say nothing of the total absence of all
healthy recreation, and of all mental and moral culture, which
such a condition necessarily implies. They have, many of them,
no rooms of their own, but board with some poor family, sleeping
anyhow, and anywhere. For these accommodations they pay
$1.50 per week, some of the lowest and filthiest boarding houses
charging as low as $1 per week. The living here must be
imagined." At Foxboro', Franklin, Middleboro', and Nantucket,
Mass., are straw manufactories. "In 1855, 6,000,000
straw hats and bonnets were made in Massachusetts, giving
employment to ten thousand of her people." Rye straw is raised
in all the New England States. It is cut, soaked in water (I
think split), and then dried. It is sold by the pound—then
braided by women and children for 10 or 12 cents a day. It is
mostly done in farmers' families, who are at but little expense for
living. In this state, it is mostly sold to merchants or agents,
who sell it at manufactories, where it is trimmed by machinery,
and then sewed. It is then shaped into bonnets, wired, pressed,
and bleached, the crowns are lined with paper, and they are
packed ready for exportation. The women earn on an average
$5 a week. In England, wheat straw is raised, which is inferior to
rye straw. N. says the largest straw-bonnet establishments of England
are not as large as those of the United States. For making
straw hats in Philadelphia, men receive $7.50 a week, and women
[Pg 337]
$4.50. Philadelphia is said to spend $6,000,000 annually in the
manufacture of straw goods. At H.'s, New York, they employ
from fifty to one hundred hands. It is usual to have learners six
weeks for nothing, and then pay full wages, if they prove competent.
Work is given about ten months. They are paid by
the piece, and can earn from $4 to $6 per week. In December,
they begin to make up hats and bonnets for spring. A milliner
told me she pays her braiders by the yard. Some earn $4 a
week, and some even $5. They work at home. The summer
season is over by September. H. writes: "In my opinion the
best arranged industrial establishment is the Union Straw
Works at Foxboro', Mass. High wages, cushioned arm-chairs,
a literary society which carries on the lyceum lectures of the
town, are all far above any of our factories. The proprietor would
not call it a factory, to make it more attractive. Out of three
hundred operatives, sometimes, seventy-five have been teachers."
350. Sewers.
Mrs. K. employs about seventy-five girls for
bleaching and sewing braid and straw bonnets. She pays some
$3, some $3.50, and some $4 a week. They work ten hours.
All live at home, but bring their dinners. She bleaches by the
old-fashioned process with sulphur, and has men to do the pressing.
N. & Co. employ about one hundred and twenty-five on
an average six months, and about twenty-five all the year. The
bonnet business has increased very much during the last few
years. At B.'s, I was told the wholesale work for the South
begins in November; but the city work, the last of March, and
continues to July. It is light work, and does not require close
application of the eyes. Machinery can never be used for sewing
straw, because long stitches answer, and straw is too brittle.
Persons of a nervous temperament are often the most intellectual.
Such females make good straw sewers. It requires a peculiar
adaptability, as every other occupation does. Everybody cannot
learn to sing or to paint—just so some cannot make good
straw sewers. He thinks most young workpeople in New York
do not live at home, and considers obedience to parents and
observance of the Sabbath the foundation of success in life.
B—s, of Connecticut, write: "Women are employed in this
country, and in Italy, France, and England, in sewing straw.
Our girls (150) are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3
to $7 per week. They also trim straw hats. They spend four
weeks as learners, and are paid $2 a week while learning. To
be a fast sewer is the most important requisite. The prospect
of a continuance of this work is good. The busy season is from
September to June. The best locations are near New York and
Boston." "About 200 persons are employed in the straw
[Pg 338]
factory at Nantucket. Some of the operatives are daughters of
the leading men of the town, and make $5 a week at the
business." A firm at Middleboro', Mass., write: "We employ
850 women, and have them in preference to men, because
they are more dexterous with the needle. They receive from 30
cents to $1.62 per day, and are paid mostly by the piece. Women
are paid five eighths what the men receive, but could not perform
their labor even at the same price. Learners make enough to
pay their board the first three weeks. Good mechanical talent
is needed in a learner. They have work about nine months in
the year—generally stop July, August, and November. Nine
tenths are Americans; seven eighths live at home. A large number
of them are not dependent upon labor for a living. Board, $2
to $2.25." From a factory in Wrentham, Mass., we have
the following report: "We employ during the winter season, in
the factory, from seventy-five to one hundred females, and in
families who work at home about six hundred, whose pay is
not so good by about one third. Some of our workers are paid by
the piece—some by the hour. Most of them can earn $1 a day,
twelve hours being a day for females. Men are paid 15 cents
an hour; good help extra, and poor, less. They work ten hours.
For the part done by women, we pay the same price from the
first, but their work is not received until it is well done. A
person is employed to give them instruction; five or six weeks'
practice mostly makes a good sewer of one who can learn at all.
During this time most girls earn half wages. To good help we
usually give work nine months in the year. Busy seasons from
December 1st till June 1st, and from July 15th to October 1st.
The rest of the year, work is given out at reduced prices—sufficient
to earn about half wages. All American women. It is
desirable for manufacturers to be near New York city, so as to
keep posted on styles. Many ladies choose this business after
teaching school for years. Most of our hands come from Maine,
and board in houses provided for them, paying $2 a week."
Another straw manufacturer informs me "the girls in straw
shops earn more than in most other kinds of business, they being,
as a general thing, smarter girls, and such as would not work in
cotton and other large mills. Their work varies much, as the
styles and materials change." A firm employing about eighty
American girls write: "They are paid according to their skill
and smartness, from $2.50 to $10 per week. Two thirds work by
the piece—half will earn $5 to $6.50—average about $4.50 per
week. Male labor will average double. It cannot be done by
females—they are not strong enough. The reason of women's
being paid low wages is the surplus of female labor. They can
[Pg 339]not
be hired to do housework—it is too confining. It requires
one month, more or less, according to taste and genius, to learn
the work. Good references as to character are required, and
some skill with the needle, and an idea of form. Busy from December
to June, and from August to November. We do nothing
for about three months. Hands hired by the week are paid
extra for overwork. If we could not give them the amount of
work they have, the
best help would go elsewhere. There is
always plenty of help in this branch in New York, and they get
work done for much less, but by a different caste of girls. In
the New England States, girls are generally brought up to work,
whether rich or poor, and we can get help from the best families,
well educated and intelligent—while in some States we could
not find them. Board, $2.25 to $2.50." A straw firm in Franklin,
Mass., write: "We employ about 400 females—60 of
them in our manufactory—the remainder work at their homes.
The former have the privilege of working from 6
A. M. to 9
P. M.;
but as they work by the piece, they are not confined to any
particular time. The latter accommodate themselves. Few
get less than 80 cents per diem, and many can earn over $1—some
over $1.50. All are paid by the piece, except overseers. Males
and females are never employed in the same kind of labor.
Females make and trim bonnets and hats—males bleach, block,
and press them, which is too laborious work for females. Some
years would be required to learn to conduct the straw business
successfully. Some females will make a very good bonnet or hat
after a few weeks' practice. Others take a longer time, and a
few will never make a good bonnet. Our practice is to pay all
while learning. The qualifications required by us are a good
character, good health, skill in the use of the needle, and a desire
to acquire proficiency. The supply of hands is always greater than
the demand. All the females employed in straw factories
are American. Our girls have access to a good library, lectures,
&c. Those employed in manufacturing board at $2.25 per
week, including washing. Boarding houses attached to the different
straw manufactories in this town are of good character and
comfortable."
351. Gentlemen's Wear.
A dyer and scourer of
gentlemen's clothing told me she charges 37 cents for scouring
and pressing a pair of pantaloons; 75 cents for a coat, and $1 for
[Pg 340]
an overcoat. A woman could make a comfortable living at it if
she had constant employment.
352. Ladies' Wear.
The cleaning of kid gloves saves
quite an item in the purses of the wearers. Wooden frames, the
shape and size of gloves, are used for drying them on. The
renovating of silk shawls, dresses, and other goods is best done by
the French. They are sometimes made to look almost as bright and
clean as if they were new. Woollen goods, too, that will not bear
washing, are beautifully cleaned by those that rightly understand
the business. All that profess to, by the way, do not. Prices
vary, of course, according to goods, places, and renovators.
Women are mostly engaged in this business. A cleaner of kid
gloves writes: "I employ some women with pens and needles at
$3 per week, working from four to six hours per day. Cool
weather is the best for work, but they are employed all the year."
Mrs. C. told me that her husband and his men clean most gloves
in winter; they can clean them in two days. I noticed they are
free from any offensive odor. They pass through the hands
several times. She charges individuals 12½ cents a pair—storekeepers
less. She has been many years at it. They used to send
a wagon and collect them from the stores, but their business does
not warrant it now—so they send a messenger. As many have
attempted that do not thoroughly understand it, the business has
been injured.
353. Army and Navy Uniform.
Our Government
might do something toward bringing about a reform in the
prices paid women. If those who have clothing made for the
men of the army and navy would pay good prices to men of
standing, that pay their workwomen well, we think some good
might be done. At any rate, they would set a good example.
354. Buttons.
The making of buttons is chiefly done by
women, and affords employment for a great many. The proportion
of women to men in this branch of industry is six to one. Some
kinds of buttons are made by hand, but most by machinery,
moved by steam. The manufacture of cloth for buttons is a
distinct branch of business. It was estimated in 1851 that five
thousand persons were employed in Birmingham in the manufacture
of buttons of different kinds, more than half of whom were
women and children. In the manufacture of buttons a variety
[Pg 341]
of hands are employed—piercers, cutters, stampers, gilders, and
varnishers. "In a factory employing five men and thirty females,
from six to seven hundred gross of buttons can be turned
out daily." I called in a factory where buttons were made of
vegetable ivory. I think all the work could be done by women,
but it is a trade, and requires three years to learn all the parts.
One man might be needed to put the machinery in order when
it would get out of repair. Boys that polish buttons are paid
from $2 to $3 a week. Polishing looks simple, but, no doubt,
requires practice. A little girl, whose father makes common
horn buttons, says he employs some small girls who, by presses,
cut out the buttons and make the perforations. They are paid
seven cents for a thousand. Her parents assort them. H. &
C., manufacturers of cloth and gilt buttons, say it requires some
weeks to learn to chase the gilt buttons, which are done with
small metal tools and a hammer. Chasers are paid by the piece,
working ten hours a day, and some can earn $1 a day. Those
that make cloth buttons work by the week, eleven hours a day.
They pay nothing while the person is learning. They think the
prospect of employment in that branch is good. (I think it must
be, for it is a manufacture likely to extend.) They employ their
hands all the year. The girls sit while at work. S. has girls to
do most of the work in making men's coat buttons. They
cut out the iron and cloth with machines, and also cover
the buttons with machines. The girls require but a few
weeks to learn. They are paid from $1.75 to $3 a week. Some
of the girls are not more than twelve years of age. The average
of the oldest girls is $2.75. They work ten hours. Learners
are paid half wages. Good eyesight and smart fingers are needed.
The gilding of brass buttons is called water gilding, though no
water is used. The mercury and nitric acid used in gilding
metal buttons renders the business pernicious to the health, the
fumes of the nitric acid affecting the lungs, and the mercury producing
its peculiar disease. A manufacturer of tin buttons
writes: "Our women earn from 75 cents to $1 per day, and are
paid by the piece. It requires but little practice to learn. All
are American girls from neighboring families." A manufacturer
in Middlefield, Conn., writes: "We employ from twenty-five to
thirty girls in cutting, drilling, sorting, and packing buttons.
They work by the piece, and average $15 per month. While
learning they are paid $1 per week, and their board. They have
regular work, and pay for board $1.50 per week. The prospect
for an increase of the manufacture is fair." A button company
in Waterbury write: "Our hands receive $3 and upward, as
they are worth. The business is good when times are good.
[Pg 342]
The majority are Americans. Spring and fall are the best
seasons." A buttonmaker in Morrisville, Pa., writes: "We pay
our girls by the gross, and they earn from $1 to $4 per week.
Men earn from $3 to $9. The women's work is lighter. Beginners
are paid small wages. The prospect of future work is
poor. Seasons make no difference in the work."
355. Canes.
Walking canes could be painted and varnished
by women. I have been told that, in France, women are employed
in making ivory, gold, whalebone, and wire heads for
canes. Mrs. F. makes whalebone heads for canes. She offered to
teach me how for $20. P. says he pays from $6 to $100 a dozen
for the heads of canes—ivory, silver, and gold. The work is mostly
done by Germans. The business will not pay except in large cities.
There are only six in the business in New York, which is the
main depot. He sells most to Southerners and Canadians. The
business requires a regular apprenticeship. Making and putting
on the heads could be done by women, if they were instructed,
but there would not be enough of it to justify more than a few
in learning. The South offers the best opening.
356. Caps.
Cap makers receive very different prices for
their work, depending on the quality of the material and work,
and the house for which the work is done. There are between
eight hundred and one thousand cap makers in Philadelphia.
They are said to average $3 a week. Freedley says: "In Philadelphia,
there are a large number of concerns occupied exclusively
in making caps; those of cloth constituting the chief part of the
business, though plush, silk, glazed, and other caps are also
made. The cap manufacture employs a large number of females,
whose wages in the business will average about $4 per week.
Sewing machines are largely employed; being, in fact, indispensable
in consequence of the expansion of the trade. The annual
production is about $400,000." A few years ago there were
five thousand cap makers in New York city. Many of the cheap
caps in New York are furnished by Jews, who get them done
very cheaply. They not only do much to supply the home demand
for caps, but export large quantities. They sell some caps
for from $1 to $1.50 a dozen. B. pays his cap makers, some $5,
some $6 a week. When business is dull the work is divided, so
that all hands are retained, and have something to do. Caps
are mostly made by German men on sewing machines. Some
Germans take fifty or sixty dozen a week from a store, and employ
girls to make them up. They are middlemen, and cut out the
goods. In New York, almost every branch of business seems to
have its own locality—that of the hat and cap manufacturers is on
the lower part of Broadway. A good hand can earn about $3.50
[Pg 343]
a week of 10 hours a day, or by working fifteen or sixteen hours,
which many of them do, can earn $8 or $9. Working girls generally
receive about $3 a week. They pay $2 for board. The
remaining $1 is almost consumed in shoes. Nearly all are at
times out of employment. In New York, by constant labor, fifteen
or sixteen hours a day, some cap makers can earn only from
fourteen to twenty-five cents. "We were told by an old lady
who has lived by this kind of work a long time, that when she
begins at sunrise, and works till midnight, she can earn fourteen
cents a day. A large majority of these women are American
born, from the great middle class of life, many of whom have
once been in comfortable, and even affluent circumstances, and
have been reduced by the death or bankruptcy of husbands and
relatives, and other causes, to such straits. Many of them are
the wives of shipmasters, and other officers of vessels. Others
are the widows of mechanics and poor men, and have children,
and mothers and fathers, &c., to support by their needle. Many
have drunken husbands to add to their burdens and afflictions,
and to darken every faint gleam of sunshine that domestic affection
throws even into the humblest abode. Others have sick and
bedridden husbands or children, or perhaps have to endure the
agony of receiving home a fallen daughter, or an outlawed son,
suddenly checked in his career of vice." S., of S. & Co., told
me they take learners when they can make good use of them.
The business, some time back, in New York, was over done, but for
the last three or four years the supply has not more than met
the demand. It is piecework. A first-class hand can, in busy
seasons, make $10, but many are not swift with the needle, and
cannot earn more than $3 a week. They give out some of their
work. All that can be, he has done by machines. R. & H.
have their caps made by machines. It is piecework, and a good
hand can earn from $6 to $9 a week. In a cloth and fancy cap
store, I was told the girls earn $4, $5, and $6 a week. Few
people are willing to take learners, as the season, six weeks, is
nearly consumed by the time the trade is learned, and the instructor
gets nothing for his time and trouble. Children's fancy
caps cannot be made by machine. They are usually piecework.
To make them requires taste. Six weeks is the length of time
usually given to learning the trade. A.'s caps are made by machines.
Good hands earn $5, $6, and $7. His hands are busy
only in spring. He takes learners at that time, and pays from the
first, $2 or $3 a week. D., formerly a cap maker, told me that
P—s have some of their caps made on Blackwell's Island, by the
convicts. B. told me the greater part of the cap is made by sewing
machines tended by men, but the finishing, lining, &c., is done
[Pg 344]
by women, either at home or on the premises. They are paid by
the dozen, and can earn from $5 to $6 a week. Some have received
even more, but as the work was taken home, it cannot be
known with certainty that one person did it all. The first year
they work at caps of an inferior quality, for which they receive
fifty cents a dozen; girls of average ability, can then take the
better kind of cap, and of course the wages increase according to
the degree of proficiency. A cap maker told me, good hands can
have steady work all the year. The best season for work is when
manufacturing for the fall trade, which is generally in the months
of June, July, August, September, and part of October, and, for
the spring trade, in March and April. Another told me he pays
by the dozen, and his hands earn from $4 to $7 a week. A
maker of cap fronts, New York, told me he pays his girls from
$3 to $7, working ten hours a day. From July to November are
the best seasons—May and June the poorest months. Cutting
out is done by hand, and requires too much strength for women.
Some men cut out fifty dozen caps a day. It is done with a
knife of a peculiar shape, and several thicknesses of the cloth are
out at once. Women are not so employed where the business is
done on a large scale. Some cutters earn $24 a week. A cutter
should have taste and skill, as he is also expected to design
patterns. The English style for caps is sometimes adopted, and
the most of gentlemen's clothing is of the English style, in New
York; but the ladies prefer French fashions for themselves. An
extensive manufacturer of cap fronts and other trimmings, in
New York, writes: "I have about twenty-five females employed,
the majority of whom sew at home. The occupation is perfectly
healthy, easy, and comfortable. I pay by the piece, and the
workers earn from $3 to $6 per week. Any woman that can sew
and has ordinary intelligence can learn it in three hours. There
is no prospect for increase, but constant employment for those
already engaged. Spring and fall are the busy seasons, but employment
is given all the year. I can always get ten times the
help I require in this branch: four or five years ago we paid
much better wages, but competition regulates (unfortunately) the
scale of wages. Experience tells me women are inferior to men
employées, in regard to promptness in coming to the shop, and in
having the articles completed at stated times, when required for
shipment. But I find them superior to men in refinement, temperance,
decorum, attachment to the interest of their employers,
&c., when unmixed with the male sex. I formerly employed
women on sewing machines, and when first started in that branch,
they made from $8 to $10 per week, although, since the last three
years, goods are sold so much cheaper, as to reduce the wages
[Pg 345]
from $5 to $8." In Detroit, Mich., cap makers get from five to
twenty-three cents a cap for making, and can earn from $2 to
$4 per week.
357. Coats.
We were told by one that ought to know,
that many of the gentlemen's coats seen on Broadway are made
by women. We believe that women of intelligence and judgment,
if properly instructed, could make the greater part, if not
the whole of gentlemen's coats. Much of the tailors' work of
New York is distributed through the country, because it can be
made cheaper. Many men make it a business, as agents, to distribute,
collect, and pay for such work. Men press seams and
sew the heaviest cloth, because they have more strength. What
magnificent buildings there are in New York devoted to the sale
of gentlemen's wear! But to think they are made of the sinews
and muscles and tears and sighs of hard-working women, and to
see the clerks in the stores, with nothing to do but receive and
wait on customers, while those poor girls on the fifth floor are
toiling from early morn to dark to earn less than one half of
those clerks! What a hard life most women lead!
358. Cravats.
W. & D. usually employ fifty hands.
Part of the work is done in the store, on the fourth and fifth
floors. Cravats pay well, and a good hand can earn from $6 to
$18 a week, piecework. Most of their work is done by machine
and finished by hand. Those of their hands who take work
home, do it when not occupied with home duties. The gentleman
with whom I talked, thought a person would not be able to support
herself by that kind of work alone. They have been able
to keep their hands all the year. Another cravat maker told me
he has employed hands all the year, and had most of his cravats
made by machines. A great many have been made in Baltimore.
M. & Co. give some work out and have some done at the store.
They are most busy in spring and fall, but keep some hands all
the year. They can always get plenty of hands. They take
learners, and pay from the first, but not so much, of course.
Week workers earn from $4 to $5—ten hours a day in summer,
rather less in winter. Those that work by the piece can earn
from $8 to $9, for they work faster at home and sew in the evenings.
Part of their work is done by machine and part by hand.
They usually import the material. Most of this work is confined
to New York, and has been a separate branch but a few years. In
Detroit, girls earn from $2.50 to $3.50 a week making cravats.
359. Hats.
We will give an extract from "The Art and
Industry of the Crystal Palace": "In the manufacture of hats
in the United States, there are twenty-four thousand persons employed:
one half of them are men, and the remainder women.
[Pg 346]
The consumption of straw hats amounts to about $1,500,000,
about half of which are imported. The capital invested in the
hatting trade in this country is little short of $8,000,000. The
number of trimmers in New York are four hundred. There is
no branch of industry in which the rate of wages is so fluctuating;
no trade reflecting so faithfully the depressed or prosperous
condition of the country. There are between fifty and sixty finishing
shops in New York. There is no general understanding
between the shops as to a fixed rate of payment. It is a peculiarity
of the trade, that a person seeking employment never
addresses himself to the principal; he goes direct to the foreman."
Silk and felt hats are most worn in the United States.
We find there is great objection by the workmen to the use of
machinery. Some factories confine their work exclusively to the
making of hat bodies. The manufacture of hatters' trimmings
forms, in large cities, a distinct branch of business. "In C.'s
hat manufactory, in London, fifteen hundred hands are employed,
two hundred of whom are females. Among the processes by
which a beaver hat is produced, women and girls are there employed
in the following: Plucking the beaver skins; cropping
off the fur; sorting various kinds of wool; plucking and cutting
rabbits' wool; shearing the nap of the blocked hat (in some instances);
picking out defective fibres of fur; and trimming."
Women in our country could be employed in bowing the fur,
pressing it with a hatter's basket, folding it in a damp cloth, rolling,
rubbing, working it with the hands, and dipping it in hot
water. The last operation is a very warm one. As it is, we
know of no department in which they are employed, except that
of carding, binding, lining, trimming, and tip gilding. Binding
and lining are much done by them. The work is light, genteel,
and rather profitable, and can be done at home. When done in
factories, the workers cannot be so neat, on account of the dust,
the large number of operatives in a room, and the coloring matter
that rubs off the hats. All employers have reported it healthy,
and I suppose it is as much so as any sedentary occupation, unless
from causes mentioned in the preceding sentence. A hatter in
Philadelphia told us he employs girls to line and bind men's hats.
They are paid 75 cents a dozen for felt hats, and $1.25 for silk
hats. Girls can earn as much as $6 a week at it. It requires a
couple of months' apprenticeship. There is work for steady hands
all the year. We have seen it stated that "hat trimmers in Philadelphia
average $3.50 per week. They number from eight hundred
to one thousand females. Hat binders usually spend six
weeks learning their trade." The war department, about two
years ago, closed a contract with S., of Philadelphia, to furnish
[Pg 347]
sixteen thousand felt hats for the army, at $2.75 each. They
make all qualities of hats at P.'s, Brooklyn, from those at 75 cents
a dozen to those at $50 a dozen. The linings of the cheapest felt
hats are put in by machines operated on by steam, the others by
hand. I saw girls also laying gold leaf on muslin, which was
stamped by a machine, forming the ornamental work and figures
seen in the crown lining of cheap hats. These workers were
called tip gilders. All except the box makers and tip gilders sit
while at work. Girls at lining and binding can earn from $2.50
to $7. (I think he set his last mark high.) It is piecework, as
everything, I believe, in that line is. Some girls have worked in
P.'s factory eight years or more. The business is learned in a
short time. Operators are paid at the same rate as hand sewers;
but if any difference is made, it is in favor of operators. For
hand workers, care and ability to sew well are the principal requisites.
The hands have work all the year, but in midsummer and
midwinter may do only three fourths of the usual quantity for a
week or two. Hatters who manufacture in Brooklyn and sell in
New York, told me they employ five hundred women, who are
paid by the piece. Those that sew receive from $5 to $6, machine
operatives from $8 to $9. A knowledge of sewing and taste, in
finishing hats, is desirable. The business will extend. Three
times as many hats are sold as fifteen years ago. Some parts of
hat making are performed by machinery that could not be managed
by women. The West and Northwest of the United States
present good openings for this business. Manufactories, of course,
must be where there is plenty of water. At a hatter's in New
York, I was told that they pay 14 cents for trimming a hat of
any kind, coarse or fine, silk or felt; but sometimes pay only 10
cents. Their binder often makes $7 a week. At B.'s, New York,
the girls earn from $5 to $7, and are paid by the piece. They
sew in the establishment. Sewing the crowns in and wires on of
plush hats is a distinct business from trimming, yet one in which
they employ some women. It pays rather better than the other
part of women's work, but requires great care and neatness. Sewing
the leather linings in hats is the least profitable part. More
women might find employment in hat work. A lady said to me
she has an acquaintance that sometimes earns $2.50 a day at
trimming hats. (?) L. employs some girls for trimming in the
spring and fall. It is piecework, and some earn $9 a week. It
is sometimes difficult to get very good hands. There are some
factories in the West, but none in the South. Another hatter
told me he pays 12½ cents for trimming a hat. He has noticed
that the swiftest are the best workers. A hatter told me a smart
trimmer could earn from $8 to $10 a week, six months of the
[Pg 348]
year; but not more than $3 the other six months, because work
is slack. A salesman in D.'s store told me a brisk hand can trim
a dozen hats a day. The children's hats they have trimmed for
the wholesale trade are not so neatly and carefully done as those
for the retail trade. In selling a single hat, a purchaser examines
closely, and if there is any defect, condemns it. The occupation
is well filled in New York, and the work requires care, taste, and
expedition. D. has constant employment for his hands; but for
four months they have not as much as the hands wish, yet enough
to yield most about $4. The women work above the store, because
the blocks are there. They are allowed to take home and sew in
the evening the linings of those hats that have the rims faced
with leather. The plan is, generally, for a learner to spend six
weeks' apprenticeship with an experienced hand, giving her work
for instruction received. At Sing Sing prison, New York, of the
one hundred and fifty female convicts, a majority are employed
in binding hats, at 15 cents a dozen, made by the male convicts.
The usual price in St. Louis is 14½ cents a hat. At this rate, a
lady can bind and line in a day a number amounting to from $1
to $1.25. There are two hat factories in St. Louis, but they are
not enough to supply the demand. A firm in Danbury write us,
they "employ from seventy-five to one hundred women trimming
hats. They pay by the piece, and their hands average $5 per
week. Males average $9 a week. By the rules of trade, males
spend four years learning; females, five weeks. Women are not
paid while learning. The prospect for a continuance of the business
is good. The busy seasons are from July 1st to April 1st.
Time of work does not exceed ten hours. The majority are
Americans. There are advantages in being near the great centre
of trade in this country, New York. Board, $2." A firm manufacturing
wool hats in the same place—Danbury—write they
"employ ten Irish women in a card room, and sixty Yankee girls
in trimming hats. The first receive $3 per week, the others
$5.50. Women in the card room work ten hours. The American
girls are intelligent and pretty." Another wool-hat manufacturer
in Connecticut writes: "My women earn $1 each per day, on an
average. It takes male operatives two years to learn. Work,
on an average, ten months in the year. Board, $2." A firm in
Milford, Conn., write: "Women earn from $3 to $7 per week.
The reason why women are not better paid, is because the supply
is greater than the demand. The employment will last as long
as people wear hats. Fall and winter are the best seasons for
work. The nearer you get to the market, the better the location."
In reply to a letter, a firm employing from sixty to eighty
women give the following intelligence: "The females employed
[Pg 349]
by us are generally from fourteen to twenty-one years of age.
They are paid by the piece, and earn from $4 to $9 per week.
The labor of women is entirely distinct from that of men. It
takes a good needlewoman about two months to become proficient.
Women give their labor to the person who instructs them, from
two to eight weeks. The business is good six or eight months.
The rest of the year, they average about one half of what they
can do. Busy times are from January 1st to May 1st, and from
July 1st to November 1st. The demand is about equal to the
supply, except in very busy times, when we could employ more;
but I think there are plenty, as an increased supply would tend
to lower prices. Most of our women are foreigners. The proximity
to large cities is advantageous to this business, as the goods
are mostly sold in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, &c. I should
say there is little difference between the women employed in hat
manufactories and others who have to earn a livelihood, such as
dress makers, tailoresses, &c. Board, from $1.75 to $2. There
is an objection amongst boarding-house keepers to females generally,
and strangers frequently have great difficulty in obtaining
good board. This is certainly the fault of their own sex." A
wool-hat firm in Yonkers, N. Y., write they pay by the piece,
and workers earn from $5 to $7. Male and female labor do not
compete. A gentleman and his son, in New York, who import
and manufacture children's fancy hats, write me they pay from
$5 to $12 a week, according to ability. Women are paid while
learning, the time for which depends upon capacity and taste.
There is regular employment with them in all months but June
and December. Good operatives are always in demand. Large
cities are the best localities.
Hat Braiders
, &c. Most hats called "palm leaf" are made
of straw grown in the Northern States. P. & Co., of Boston,
write me: "The occupation of braiding hats is one that employs
the odd moments and hours of almost every Yankee farmer's sons
and daughters, throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire,
from one year's end to the other. We employ women, but not
exclusively, and pay by the piece, from $1 to $1.50 per dozen. A
wide-a-wake Yankee girl or boy, with nimble fingers, will learn
in a few hours." A manufacturer in New Hampshire, employing
"from 300 to 400, pays by the piece, and his workers earn from
$6 to $8 per month. They learn generally when children, by seeing
others braid. The future prospect is not flattering, as the
demand for palm-leaf hats is decreasing. The braiders work at
home." $60,000 worth of palm-leaf hats were annually manufactured
at Nashua, N. H., a few years ago. C. told me they
never employ women, except, in winter, to bind and put the oil
[Pg 350]-silk
lining in gentlemen's straw hats, for the spring trade of the
South. For the work they pay 12½ cents a dozen. A woman
can do from six to ten dozen a day. The best workers find employment.
The prospect of obtaining work to those who may
learn is good. B. thinks but few American girls are employed
in trimming straw hats. He pays by the piece, and some earn
as much as $5 per week. They should spend about one month
learning, and they do well to earn their board during that time.
360. Oil Clothing.
I was told at L. & Co.'s oil clothing
depot, that they have their sewing done by women at their
homes. It is done by machines. They do not require any deposit.
Since the panic, a number of girls and women have come
in and offered to do their work at under prices. The oiling is
done after the goods are made up. The garments are laid on
tables, and the oil applied with brushes. The clothes are then
hung on frames to dry, and it requires six months. Oiling the
goods is greasy, dirty work, but might be done by strong women.
The work is not at all unhealthy. L. & Co. sell $150,000 suits
a year. Their best sewers can make up six or eight dozen shirts
a week, for some of which they are paid $1 a dozen, and for
others, $1.25. The manufacture of oiled goods is confined to
New York.
361. Pantaloons.
In making pantaloons, as in most
other tailor's work, what is most neatly done commands the best
prices. Custom work pays best. Making pantaloons is not quite
so remunerative as making vests. The prices paid in cities by
good-class tailors for making summer pantaloons, runs from 75
cents to $1.25. For winter goods the prices are higher, ranging
from $1 a pair to $1.50. Some tailors have their pantaloons
made by men, and some even employ men to make their vests.
362. Regalias.
"Five American women are employed at
Chicopee, Mass., in stitching military goods. They are paid by
the piece. They never get their work perfect. Learners are
paid something. Men are preferable, because it takes too much
time to wait on women. There will be work as long as there are
wars." A regalia maker, in New York, told me her girls earn
from $3 to $5 a week. The sewing is done by hand. Those who
embroider in silk receive about the same; those with gold and
silver thread, something more.
363. Shirts.
"Women who make shirts by hand, are paid
for fine shirts from eighteen cents apiece to $1. Those who
make at the lowest prices appear to have no other mission on
earth but to sew up bleached muslin into shirts. The only
time which they economize is their sleeping time; and their food
is economized for them by circumstances over which it would
[Pg 351]
appear they have but little control. In some instances we have
been informed, that where there are two or three or more women
or girls engaged in this enterprise of making shirts to enable
gentlemen to appear respectable in society, they absolutely divide
the night season into watches, so that the claims of sleep
may not snatch from the grasp of the shirt manufacturers an iota
of their rights. In this way, by working about twenty hours a
day, the amazing sum of $2.50, and sometimes $3, is earned per
week. Sewing machines have so reduced the amount of labor required
for shirts, as well as the price, that they can in some
places only earn twenty-five cents by working twelve hours; and
they cannot get steady employment even at these prices." Between
2,000 and 3,000 women are supposed to be engaged in
shirt making in Philadelphia. Competition has depressed prices
fearfully low. A shirt maker in that city told me he pays by the
week. He gives the bodies out, and they are done by hand; the
collars and bosoms by machines. They are cut out by men with
knives, and the cloth is from twenty-four to thirty-six thicknesses.
They pay basters now mostly by the piece. B., of the same city,
who carries on general shirt making, puts the plain parts out in
the country to be done. It, of course, costs less than the finishing
off. Good workers can earn from $3 to $4 a week for plain
sewing—more for fine. At a shirt-bosom manufactory in Philadelphia,
P., the proprietor, told me he has the bosoms and collars
made by machinery, employing seventeen girls all the year.
Some establishments employ them only in the busy season,
spring and fall. His women earn from $3 to $5 a week. To
one machine are employed three girls: one to cut out, one to
baste, and one to stitch. The fine plaits of bosoms are laid by
machinery. Cutters and button-hole makers are better paid than
basters and stitchers. A shirt maker told me in New York (December,
1860), that the only houses there supplying the article
were those that made up for the California market. Operators,
good ones, he said, usually earn $1 a day, of nine hours in winter,
and ten in summer. Those that work at home can earn more,
because they do more. On Dey street, I was told by a gentleman
that he has shirts made in Connecticut, and he often finds it
difficult to get good hands. He has shirts cut out with scissors.
He used to employ a forewoman to cut and superintend. Most
shirts sold in the South, West, and California, have been
made at the North. New York, Troy, and New Haven are
the principal places. Operators usually earn $1 a day, of
eleven hours; but as the work is generally paid for by the
piece, they may earn only from fifty cents to $1. Making
button holes is a distinct branch. He pays half a cent apiece
[Pg 352]
for those of ordinary size, and one cent for the larger ones
of the wrists. In good times he employs girls all the year. The
spring sale commences in January, the fall sale in July. S.,
another manufacturer, has common drawers and shirts made by
machine. A brisk hand can make two dozen pair of drawers a
day, and are paid fifty cents a dozen (?) He keeps workers in
prosperous times all the year. A lady who makes shirts by hand
told me she could barely make a living, though her work is done
for customers. She does most in spring and summer. The
trimmings she makes by machine. Madame P. pays eighty cents
for making a shirt, except the bosom, which is imported. She
does her own cutting by hand. A shirt maker says girls that
can finish a shirt neatly get $3 a week of ten or eleven hours
a day. Work of that kind is not confined to seasons. J. has
most work to do in summer. The girls are paid by the piece, and
can earn from $3 to $4. His are made by machine, but finished
off by hand. He has girls of all kinds; idle and industrious,
easy of temper and obstinate; in short, the variety always to be
met with in help. A lady told me she cuts shirts by measure,
and has a variety of styles. She pays an old lady fifty cents a
day for basting, and from $5 to $6 a week to an operator. The
neatness of machine sewing depends much on the way in which
the basting is done. W. told me his basters earn from $3 to $4;
operators from $5 to $6; button-hole makers from $4 to $6. He
gives employment all the year. No demand, except in busy seasons
for good operators, and they can be obtained by advertising.
The owner of a shirt-collar manufactory and laundry said his
collars were stitched by machines, and the operators earn from
$3 to $9 per week. It is piece work. The washers are paid by
the hundred dozen. Six weeks, I believe, is the time usually
given by one that can sew neatly, to learn the trade. At L. &
G.'s, I was told the best seasons in the wholesale trade are spring
and fall; but in the retail trade there is little difference. Men
and boys cut out with a knife, and are able to cut through
seventy-two thicknesses of cloth. Women have not the strength to cut
such quantities. The prospect is fair for good hands. There is
a superabundance of indifferent hands. Their best sewers are
English. Many of them are married women. They used to employ
young girls, but they wasted material and were not steady
at work. They have lost much by women that would come and
take out a dozen shirts to make, and never return them. On inquiring
at the place where the women said they lived, they would
find they had never been there. Few, except the Jews, require a
deposit. It is difficult to obtain one from sewers of the value of
the material taken out. They could obtain one hundred and
[Pg 353]
fifty hands any day by advertising. Button-hole makers earn $5
a week; some operators, $9. A factory in New Haven employs
eight hundred women; two hundred work in the establishment,
the others work out. The indoor work is done by machines.
The other is finishing off, and is sent through the country. It
consists in gathering and sewing in the sleeves, felling down the
facing around them, stitching on wristbands, sewing in the bosoms,
putting on the collar, and working the button-holes, for
which they receive ten cents a shirt. A firm of shirt manufacturers
in Troy, N. Y., write: "We employ from three hundred
to four hundred women; some with sewing machines, some
with needles, and others in various kinds of labor connected with
our manufacturing. They are paid by the piece, and earn from
$3 to $10 a week. While learning they are paid according to
what they do. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but they
have some employment all the year. The supply is fully equal
to the demand in this locality. About half are Americans;
board, $2 to $2.50." Another firm in the same place writes:
"We employ four hundred, and pay from $5 to $10 per week to
about one hundred hands, and from $3 to $7 to those who do not
depend upon it for a livelihood. Women spend a few months learning;
men, years. Midwinter and summer are the best seasons for
work." A shirt-collar firm in Troy write: "In reply to yours
we would state, we are employing in and outside of our manufactory,
from six to eight hundred women, in running, turning,
stitching, banding, marking, and boxing gentlemen's collars.
Most of our workwomen are Americans, and live with parents or
relatives. Those boarding pay from $1.75 to $3 per week.
Many of our workwomen are very intelligent. All are required
to be steady and industrious. Some parts of our business can
be learned in two or three weeks, while other parts will take as
many months; but each one is paid while learning. Our work
is all done by the piece, and women earn from $5 to $8 per week
during business seasons, which are summer and winter. They
are usually thrown out of employment one month during the fall,
and one in spring. The employment requires from eight to nine
hours per day, in our manufactory. The making of gentlemen's
collars must increase in proportion to the increase of the male
population of our country; and, as styles are becoming more and
more varied, this also must tend to increase the manufacture.
There is, however, no demand for help in any department of the
business, yet. We have but five or six women in all our establishment
who are required to stand upon their feet while at
work. All others can make their positions quite comfortable.
We employ but few men (from five to eight), and they are in de
[Pg 354]partments
which women could not fill; nor could men well fill
the women's department." Manufacturers in Boston write:
"The prospect of future employment is good. Our women (fifty
in number) are nearly all Americans. There is no competition
between male and female labor in this branch, which, probably,
is the cause of women receiving less wages. The work is healthy,
only as it involves want of fresh air and exercise. Girls in the
shop are paid from $4 to $7 per week, and work from nine to ten
hours. Good sewers are getting scarcer every year. We are always
ready to employ a really good hand—one who can do nice
work. There is a growing demand for articles of all kinds.
There are a great many women unable to sew well, who compete
with each other for the work given out by the slop shops."
Shirt makers in Ithaca, New York, write: "The work is very
healthy in well ventilated establishments. What we employ men
for, women cannot do as well. There is a demand for collar finishers,
a surplus of machine operatives." Shirt manufacturers
in Watertown, Conn., write: "We employ in our establishment
from twelve to twenty girls and women, all Americans.
They work in winter about nine hours; in summer, ten. Most
of them work on sewing machines, and can earn from $4 to $5
per week. For board they pay $2 per week. There is no season
of the year when our work is entirely stopped." L., in Lynn,
Mass., engaged in custom-shirt manufacturing, writes: "I
pay fifty cents apiece for making shirts, and $4.50 per week
for a machine girl. My workwomen are widows and married
women, and they average five shirts or $2.50 per week, besides
their house work. But a woman that makes five shirts a week
cannot have much spare time." A lady in Massachusetts, who
has shirts made to order, informs me she pays by the piece, and
her girls earn from fifty to seventy-five cents a day. She employs
the most skilful. She says the nature of the employment
is such that no woman could enjoy health long, who did nothing
else, and the wages are so small that anyone must work all the
time to make a living; hence the work does not suit any, except
those who have homes and have recourse to this as a secondary
employment. The demand for the articles in the market is limited,
and she has never been able to carry it on in a wholesale
manner except by the aid of friends whose sympathy has created
a demand for the work.
364. Suspenders.
J., New York, says his girls can earn
from $4 to $5, and are paid by the piece. There are but four
suspender factories in the United States, of any size. The factories
at the east are mostly supplied by the daughters of farmers from
the vicinity. The one in Easthampton is of the best standing.
[Pg 355]
The girls are intelligent and well behaved. Board too is lower.
They like to employ families, father, mother, sons, and daughters.
A suspender maker, in New York, told me he buys the woven
goods, then cuts it the right length, and shapes the leather for the
ends, which his wife sews on. I expect, from the appearance of
their room, they earn but a meagre subsistence. The agent of
the American Suspender Co., at Waterbury, told me "they employ
a large number of girls to spool, weave, and pack. The straps
are sewed on by farmers' daughters, who take them home. They
are paid for by the gross. They earn less than weavers, who can
make from $4 to $6 a week. They have had constant work until
this fall (1860). The bindings are sewed on by hand. It requires
some time to become a good weaver. A man serves a regular
apprenticeship—women will learn for ten years, if they continue.
Ingenuity and mechanical talent are desirable. A learner
is not paid while in with another weaver. The amount of employment
in future depends on European competition. The hands
work ten hours a day, and they employ about fifty women, one
fourth of whom are American. Women are superior to men in
activity, and will handle thread much better than men. Board,
$1.75."
365. Tailoresses.
The tailors of London have a pension
society. All the tailors' work of this country might be performed
by women. It is most suitable for them. Some say women cannot
do the nice sewing of a coat. Give them the same training,
and pay them the same wages as men, and we are confident they
can. All of the clothes sold in the slop shops of cities are made
by women. Many can sew beautifully, but have not learned the
art of cutting out. This they will find an important part of their
trade. It will greatly assist those who make boys' clothes. It is
ascertained that at least 4,800 females are supplied with work by
the ready-made clothing establishments of Philadelphia, which
enables each industrious sewer to earn from $1.25 to $5 per week.
A large number of women are now engaged in making clothes for
the soldiers. At most large clothing establishments, work is done
both by hand and machine. Some is done in the house, but most
is given out. At O.'s, New York, they employ a large number.
The majority are Americans, but some are Germans, and a few
Irish. The foreman finds those that are dependent on their work
for a living, do their work better than those that merely do it for
pocket money. The best work is always best paid. A good
hand can earn $3 per week. They work by the piece. Some
women hire a room and employ girls to work for them. S. says
the principal reason that women do not get as good prices as men,
is that they do not learn to do their work so well. He spent five
[Pg 356]
years learning, but a girl expects to learn it in so many weeks,
or months, at most; but many women that sew for a support are
very poor, and cannot afford to spend much time learning. T.
pays his women from $5 to $10 a week, according to the work
they do. R. says girls do not feel the interest in their work they
should. They forget that three minutes lost by twenty girls
amounts to an hour. If a procession is passing, they think it very
hard if they cannot have ten or fifteen minutes to look out of the
windows. The girls that sew earn from $3 to $4.50, except those
who fasten the ends of threads and take out basting threads, who
receive $2.50. They all work ten hours. They have some who
take their work home, and are paid by the piece. Those that do
their work best have the highest prices, and are most sure of having
constant employment. Some of their women become mere
machines, and that in his opinion was a recommendation. They
have no life or spirit, but plod on day after day in the same way.
Such, when they do their work neatly and thoroughly, he thinks
most reliable. They find it difficult to get their work well done.
It is computed by Dr. L. that one thousand needlewomen fall
victims annually to overwork at the needle. A city missionary
told me that he knew of many sempstresses that spent sixteen
hours out of the twenty-four, stitching. I was told in D. & B.'s
clothing store, that the women who sew by hand, earn from $3
to $4 per week. P. measures and cuts, and he employs women
to operate on machines, paying from $3 to $4 per week, working
from 8 to 7 o'clock. It is done under Mrs. P.'s supervision.
The work is mostly for boys. They give work out, and of course
pay by the piece. Their most busy times are from October to
March, and from April to September. They do Southern work.
L. & Co. make boys' clothing, and pay by the piece. They require
a deposit from those that are doubtful. If business is good,
they give work all the year. He thinks there is enough of work,
in busy times, for all the tailoresses in the city. The best way
to learn is to receive instruction from journeymen who employ
hands and take learners. Some require an apprenticeship of
three months, and some of six months, in children's clothing.
The busy season commences November 1st and runs to March
1st, and from March to September 1st.
366. Vests.
First class vest makers receive better prices
than women in the other departments of tailoring, and are more
sure of work. Superior hands can earn from $4 to $5 a week.
Clothing, cap makers and shoe binders are often crowded together
from forty to fifty in a room, where it is stitch, stitch, stitch from
daylight to sundown. Some slop shops in New York pay only
fifteen cents for making a vest, and only ten cents for pantaloons!!!
[Pg 357]
There are over nine thousand tailoresses doing custom work in
New York, and of these 7,400 are vestmakers.
367. Upholsterers.
Some branches of upholstery are
hard work in consequence of the heaviness of the materials. At
some upholsterers in Philadelphia, when a girl applies for work,
she is taught during a fortnight, and receives enough to pay her
board—usually $1.50 per week. At the end of this time, if found
faithful and diligent, she is put upon full wages, $3.50 a week.
In this trade there is the serious drawback of remaining a great
part of the year unemployed, as it is only in the spring and fall
that the business is brisk. Men usually put up tapestry, and lay
down heavy carpets. The price to girls by upholsterers is about
on a par with other work done by females. H., Philadelphia,
employs several women. The forewoman receives $5.50 per
week; the next best hand, $5; the less proficient, from $2 to $5.
The business requires a good amount of intelligence, and about a
year's application to acquire it. H. is not exacting as to the
number of hours his operatives work. When business is slack
they have easy times. He employs his good hands all the year.
In one of the principal importing and manufacturing upholsteries
and carpet establishments in New York about seventy females
are employed. They make up a great many lace and damask
curtains, and are under the supervision of a forewoman. Seventeen
sewing machines are kept, though most of the sewing
is done by hand. Any person that can sew well can do all the
work, as it is cut out and prepared. With a very few exceptions
all are paid by the week, receiving from $3 to $4, working
ten hours a day. The piece workers can sometimes earn $5.
They are employed the whole year. An upholsterer told me
that his work is done to order, and consequently the measure for
beds, mattresses, curtains, &c., is always taken. There are many
women in Boston, I have been informed, working in sofa, chair,
and lounge manufactories that earn from $1 to $1.50 a day. A
firm in Boston writes: "I employ women to sew and attend
sales, and pay from $3 to $4 a week. Men are paid two thirds
more than women, because it is the fashion. It requires three
months to learn. A knowledge of the needle and figures is
desirable. Learners are paid. Females work nine hours and a
[Pg 358]
half. Some parts of our work are in wood, and too heavy for
women; the rest they can do better than men. Board, $2 to
$4. A firm in Boston, "employing two women to make sofa
cushions, pay them $4 each per week, working from eight to ten
hours a day. They pay women less than men, because female
help is generally cheaper. Men spend three years learning;
women, one month. Learners have their board paid. The prospect
for work is good. Spring and autumn are the most busy seasons,
but they have work all the year." Another firm in the same
place write they "employ fifteen women, pay by the piece, and
their hands earn $5 per week. The prospect for work is good,
but there are plenty of hands there."
368. Beds.
At a feather store I was told feathers for
stuffing beds are bought from merchants, who employ agents to
travel through the country, and buy them up. They get their
feathers from the West. Live geese feathers are the best. All
imported are from Russia. It requires great experience to buy
feathers. At another store I was told feathers must be baked to
render them light—otherwise they are flat and heavy. The
salesman never knew of a woman being employed in baking—thinks
it not suitable, for the down gets in the mouth and
nostrils, as the feathers must be constantly stirred. In the
spring and fall, when most people go to housekeeping, most beds
are sold.
369. Carpets.
Two thirds of the inhabitants of Saxony
are employed in weaving. It requires from two to three years
to become a good carpet weaver. To prepare warp and rags for
rag carpets is very suitable, but the weaving is rather hard for
women. Mrs. W. says it does not require a great deal of strength
to weave rag carpets, when the loom is a good one and in proper
order. In weaving, both the arms and lower limbs are exercised,
particularly the latter. She wove when she was only thirteen
years old. The exercise tends to develop the chest. The price
for weaving in small places is from 12½ to 18 cents a yard.
She knew one lady that often wove fourteen yards a day, amounting
to $1.75; but her health failed, and she changed her occupation.
I called in a weaver's, in Brooklyn. He charges 18¾
cents per yard for weaving, and can weave from eighteen to
twenty yards a day. Some rags are much more difficult to manage
than others. The dust from the rags in spooling and weaving
must be disagreeable. When not working for customers he
makes carpets to keep on hand for sale. He buys the rags of old
women, who get the scraps at tailors' shops every Monday morning,
and cut them into strips, then wind and sell them at $7.50
a hundred pounds. The women are mostly Germans, and make
[Pg 359]
a scanty living at it. In the Old Ladies' Home, Brooklyn, some of
the inmates pass part of their time in preparing rags for weaving.
Some old women buy of junk dealers the rags they sell to weavers.
A woman whose husband was a carpet weaver in New York, continues
the business since his death, employing two old men to
weave. She charges eighteen cents a yard for weaving. She
says that kind of weaving could never be done by machinery,
as it would pull the rags all to pieces. She buys listing and
cloth of old women who get it from the tailors and bring it around
to sell. She pays twelve cents a pound for listing, six for cloth.
She cuts them herself. A weaver told me he charges eighteen
cents a yard. He buys pieces of cloth from the tailors for making
up a stock to keep on hand. A pile of listing lay on the
floor, for which he had paid nine cents a pound. He can weave
from eight to sixteen yards a day. I have seen the average price
of weaving carpets stated at nine cents a yard. The dust that
flies in preparing carpet rags is disagreeable, and injurious to the
eyes and lungs.
370. Curled Hair Pullers.
Hair pullers are mostly
Irish women, the wives of foreigners and laboring men. A few
are women of a better class reduced in circumstances. In Philadelphia,
at the shop of a kind old man, I saw women picking hair
for mattresses. He pays two cents a pound for picking. The
women earn from forty to sixty cents a day. The dust that flies
from the hair is injurious to the lungs, and the constant watching
is trying to the eyes. At one curled hair factory in New York
I saw women employed at one cent a pound, at another two cents.
A smart woman can pick twenty-five or thirty a day. An upholsterer
in Boston writes: "We have women to sew, pick hair,
&c. We pay by the piece. Men receive one third better pay
than women. Women receive less, because they have not brass
enough to ask more. Any woman can do our work. The prospect
of work in our line is very fair. We have twenty women
who work all the time. The demand for hands is small, surplus
large. Large cities are best for our trade. Board, $2.50."
371. Curtain Trimmings.
I saw two girls, in New
York, who work at the trade. Their employer does not pay
learners for two weeks, then according to what they do. Some
are paid by the week, and some by the piece. The last plan pays
best. The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, some even as much
as $7. Plenty of hands can always be had. They have most
work in summer. At another place I was told it takes three or
four months to learn. Good hands can earn then from $4 to $5.
Mrs. B., in New York, told me her girls work by the piece,
making curtain trimmings, and earn from $5 to $6 a week. They
[Pg 360]
work from 6
A. M. until 7
P. M. They can learn it in a few weeks.
At Y.'s, in New York, I saw a plain, genteel-looking woman engaged
in making tassels. She pays $2 a week for board—washing
extra. She spoke very well of her employer, for whom she
had worked twelve years. She mentioned an old lady upstairs
who had been in his employ twenty years. He has fifteen women
in the tassel department, and fifteen making gimps and fringes.
Some of the hands are paid by the piece, and some by the week—ten
hours a day. They are paid every two weeks on Saturday
afternoon. In the old country women make twisted cord, but
not in this. Cordmakers are on their feet all the time. Y.'s
women get from $2 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get
from $6 to $9. It requires six months to learn, and learners receive
$1.50 per week. In winter, just before the holidays, is the
best time for work; but Y.'s hands have employment all the
time. When not filling orders, they make stock work. They have
a great many applications for work.
372. Furniture Goods.
"At Seymour, Conn., are
manufactured brocatelles and cotalines, a fabric composed of
silk and linen, or cotton, and used for furniture draperies and
carriage linings. Each loom is worked by a girl, who requires
very little previous experience to manage it perfectly. There
are about 60 persons employed at present in the work, two thirds
of whom are females from the age of fourteen upward. The
rate of wages paid by the company is higher than that given by
the neighboring factories, the nature of the work requiring a
superior degree of skill and intelligence."
373. Mattresses.
A girl engaged in making mattresses
told us they are mostly sewed up by machines, and operators
earn from $3 to $6, working ten hours a day. In some factories
women sew the mattresses, and boys and men prepare the hair
and fill them. A mattress seller told me he employs girls to
make mattresses in the spring and fall, paying $3 a week, of ten
hours a day. One bed furnisher told me her work is mostly done
by old ladies. She says some girls down street earn $6 a week,
making mattresses. One large manufacturer told me that his
is piecework, and some of his girls earn from $8 to $12 a week.
He furnishes the sewing machines. In April and May, he finds
it difficult to get enough of hands. At another large store, I
was told they pay from $6 to $7 a week to good operators, and
have their work done in the building. At another large bed and
mattress store, I was told they pay women for making ticks with
machines from $4 to $5 a week. It is not very steady work.
At another place they occupied a room back of the store, and
earned from $4 to $6 a week. A firm in Nashua, N. H.,
[Pg 361]
write me "they employ fourteen American women in making
mattresses, cushions, &c., and pay from $3 to $3.50 a week,
including board, and work ten hours a day. Men are paid
about $5 a week, and do different work from the women. Some
of the hands are employed all the year. There is no great
demand for mattress makers at present anywhere. Board, $2."
374. Venetian Blinds.
At W.'s Venetian blind manufactory,
in Philadelphia, I was told they generally employ several
women. They earn about $3 a week, and take their sewing home.
The work is sewing tapes on the main pieces to support the slats.
The business is best in the spring, from January to May, and is
good in the fall, but they endeavor to furnish some employment
all the year to their girls, who are American. A manufacturer
of Venetian blinds in Boston employs some women in writing,
sewing, laying out work, &c. They are mostly paid by the piece,
and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Male and female labor is not
of the same kind in his establishment. Men spend two years
learning; women, one month. The last part of spring and the
first part of summer are best for work. He could easily find
more sewers, if he had employment for them. He finds them
cheaper and more suitable for the work than men. The means
of mental and moral culture are those common to the residents
of Boston.
375. Window Shades.
At an establishment in Philadelphia,
a few women are employed in the busy seasons, spring
and fall, in laying the gilding on the borders of linen shades.
They earn from $1.50 to $3.00 per week. The painted linen
window shades (landscapes, buildings, &c.) are executed entirely
by men, who receive $12 a week wages. Our informant said
these men could paint (I think) 6 pair a day. I am sure there
is no reason why a lady could not paint landscapes and other
ornamental work on shades, if they would only qualify themselves.
It would probably require two or three years' practice to acquire
proficiency, for a person unaccustomed to painting of any kind.
The design of common ones is invented as the painter proceeds,
as he has no pattern to work from. It requires a knowledge of
colors, and some taste and ingenuity. A man is paid from $1.50
to $2 a day. K., New York, has a number of women stencilling
shades. The women earn about $4 a week. B., New York,
usually employs two girls in putting elastic over the bands of
pulleys and tying them up, for which they each receive $4 a
week. I saw a girl in New York, engaged in stencilling. She is
paid by the piece, and can earn $6 or $7 a week, when she has
constant employment. It does not take long to learn. I called
at a factory where they pay three cents a piece for painting the
[Pg 362]
centres of common shades. It is done with cloths. They pay
$2 a piece for fine ones. The fine ones have the principal parts
drawn before being painted. A smart man can earn $20 a week
at that work, but shades are not much used now. At a store on
Broadway, they used to employ girls for painting shades and
putting on the gilding. They had American girls mostly. German
men are mostly employed at that work. If American men
learn this business, they have so much energy and ambition they
are soon able to get an establishment of their own, and then employ
foreigners, many of whom work for less, to obtain employment,
and then cannot raise their prices, and so are apt ever to
retain a subordinate position. Their girls worked in the room
with the men, but it was a large room, and they worked at the far
end. Part of the work ought to be done by men. They had one
woman that put on the flowing colors and earned $9 a week.
But they found it necessary to have the girls wear Bloomer
costume, to prevent their dresses touching the shade while painting;
but they would not even then consent to lay down their
hoops, and as their skirts would touch the painting and injure
it, they altogether abandoned the employment of females. L.,
New York, told me he met with great opposition when he first
employed women to gild window curtains, and he could not have
held out if his house had not been established and he very firm.
He lost one or more of his customers by doing so. The work is
very suitable for women. L.'s men and women work in the same
apartment, but the men are required to be very respectful. The
women have a dressing room attached to their workroom. They
move about on their feet all the time, while at work. Men put
size on, but women could do it. The women receive $5 a week,
and never work over ten hours. The work can be learned in a day.
The Southerners are doing without fancy goods now, so the trade
is very poor. L. has saved about $1,000 the past year by employing
women. Men are in such haste to get through their
work, that they are careless and waste the gold leaf. A window-shade
manufacturer in Boston, who employs some girls in stencilling,
informs me by letter that "he pays by the piece from $3 to
$6 per week. A smart, active girl can earn more than a man of
medium abilities. Cleanliness and endurance are the most
essential qualifications. The prospect for continuance is as good
as that of any other fancy business. Best seasons for work are
from March to July, and October to January, but at other times
hands can make enough to pay their board. They work from
seven to twelve hours; for over hours, are paid extra. Board,
$2.50; (washing extra) but they have not a room alone." One
shade manufacturer writes: "There are parts of my work that
[Pg 363]
could be done by girls as well as men, but their style of dress is
not adapted to it." Another in Boston writes: "I would employ
women, if my shop was convenient, as I could get them for less
price than men. Men are paid thirty-three per cent. more than
women: one reason is they are capable of more endurance. We
work ten hours in summer, eight in winter." Another firm in
the same city employs from four to eight women, paying from $3 to
$6 per week, working from nine to ten hours a day. Six months is
the average time given by a learner. Spring and fall are the
most busy seasons."
Wire Window Shades.
Mrs. C. said a lady used to paint
wire shades for her husband. He also employed men. He has
most work done in summer. It requires care to keep from filling
the niches with paint. Miss —— acquired boldness and freedom
of execution in oil painting by the practice. Rapidity and lightness
of touch were also acquired. Her hand had got a stiff,
cramped feeling, from painting on canvas constantly. The price
paid for shades depends on the fineness of the cloth, the size, and
design. Miss S. says her father has the landscape painting done
by Germans, and pays good prices. It is paid for by the square
foot. He charges $2 a square foot, for a shade in the frame,
ready to put in the window. The artists take them to their
studios. Germans are preferred because they work most rapidly.
One makes a great deal of money, but he works late at night and
on Sundays. Several coats of paint are put on before the landscape
is painted. Some copy engravings, but enlarge the scale.
They make to order. The business is increasing. He sends a
great many to the South, particularly Havana and Baltimore.
376. Bookfolders.
I know of no work in a bookbindery
that could not be performed by intelligent women that were
properly instructed. Forwarding, marbling, gilding, stamping,
and finishing could be done by them, in addition to presswork,
folding, gathering, and sewing. The female bookfolders of New
York number several thousand. The women in Philadelphia
binderies are between 1,000 and 2,000. The most bookfolding
and sewing, out of New York, are done in Washington and Philadelphia,
and some in Cincinnati. The busy seasons for book
[Pg 364]
makers are from September to January, and from March to July.
In this business there is a union among the men regulating prices,
hours, &c. There is a great difference in the character of the
binderies in New York—every shade and grade is to be found.
In seeing the size and comfort of the workrooms, and the manners
and conversation of the employer, it would not be very difficult
to judge of the pay and condition of the workgirls. The
trade is well filled, and, no doubt, with quite as many women of
worth, self-respect, and education, as any other. At the Bible
House, Tract House, Methodist Book Concern, and Harper's,
New York, the faces of the workers are bright and cheerful.
Every precaution is taken to secure only those who are respectable,
and the associations surrounding them are calculated to
elevate, rather than degrade. Most of them are able to pay
enough for their board to secure the right kind of home associations.
These establishments, except in emergencies like the present,
retain their hands all the year; while those in a majority
of other houses fluctuate with their business and are unoccupied
three or four months in the year. Bookfolding is paid for by the
1,000 sheets, depending on the size of the sheet and the number
of times it is folded. A good, fast folder can earn from 50 cents
to 65 cents a day, whether folding with a machine or by hand.
A few can earn as much as $6 per week. Folding and collating
pay the best of woman's work. Collating is usually paid for at
20 cents an hour. Men in bookbinderies get from $8 to $20 per
week. Some employers are much more kind and intelligent than
others. Some bookbinders in New York impose on girls by
taking them to learn the business, requiring that they stay from
six weeks to six months to do so, and paying nothing during that
time. During the most of the time their work is efficient, and
they earn money for their employers. When the time has expired
they are turned off, and others taken on. Some bookbinders
employ those who will do their work at a very cheap rate,
often thus exposing them to influences that are pernicious.
Favoritism is often shown by employers and foremen. At H.'s,
200 women and girls are employed in folding, sewing, and gilding.
Either of the branches is light and pleasant, and soon
learned, after which the remuneration depends upon the abilities
of the learner. Their hours are from 7-½ to 6, but it is piece
work. All of his workpeople are temperance people. The work
of bookbinders is not more unhealthy than any other indoor
work. At the Tract House they take a few girls to learn to fold,
and have them work until they earn $6 before they pay anything.
An English woman told me that she used to earn $7 a week, as
forewoman, but they never allowed her to be absent a day. A
[Pg 365]
publisher in Philadelphia employs about fifty girls in his bindery,
but complains that as soon as they make a few dollars they will
take a holiday to spend it. He says the better he pays the girls
in his bindery, the more they are absent from their work and the
more difficult are they to manage. That, I think, arises from defective
moral training. We know that people of right principle
(both men and women), whose wages enable them to dress comfortably,
and provide wholesome food and well ventilated, healthy
apartments, are not only better able to work well and constantly,
but do so. It stands to reason they should. If the poor cannot
make a proper use of their scanty compensation, they are more
to be pitied than blamed, for we know well they have nothing to
spare. The manufacture of blank-books is an important branch
of business. A blank-book manufacturer in Troy writes: "I
pay both ways, and the wages are from $3 to $4.50 per week.
Men's wages are from $6 to $12, but their work is different and
heavier. Women's part of the work is learned in from six weeks
to one year. A ready hand and quick eye are wanted by a
learner. Busiest time from December to July. There is a surplus
of hands, so far as I know. When men work at the women's
branches (which is very seldom), they do it more substantially."
In France women do much of the work in blank-book
binderies. In M. Maitre's book bindery, Dijon, France, "No
apprentice, boy or girl, is received until after they have made
their premier communion, and received a certificate that they can
both read and write, and also a medical certificate of vaccination.
The workpeople are thus of a respectable class. The young
children of most of the married women are either sent out to
nurse in the country, according to the very common custom of
France, or else the married pair form one household with the
grand parents."
377. Book Sewers.
"Trades in general require a large
share of mechanical ingenuity, in combination with strength,
mathematical skill, and other qualifications. Strength is requisite
to the success of a bookbinder." Women employed in sewing
are paid by the piece, and as soon as they are competent, which
requires but a few days, are paid according to their application
from $3.50 to $7 per week. The work of women in binderies is
clean, and about as comfortable and remunerative as any other
of a mechanical nature. At the Methodist Book Concern we saw
girls folding, gathering, sewing, putting plates in books, gilding
the covers, and feeding the presses. They were well dressed and
intelligent looking, and evidently felt an interest in the welfare
of the establishment. The majority were Americans. The superintendent
told us, "girls earn, in the sewing department, from
[Pg 366]
$3 to $9 per week. A good sewer can earn, without difficulty,
from $5 to $5.50 per week. They have about thirty, most of
whom work by the piece. They have one strong woman who
sometimes earns $10 a week. They never work over ten hours,
as the house is only open for work that long. The folding and
enveloping of tracts and papers admit of a change of posture.
There is no similarity in the male and female labor. The comparison
in prices is about one-half to one-third. It requires a lifetime
to learn a man's branch; an intelligent woman can learn hers
in a week. The result of a bookbinder's work is not for a day,
but for all time. Bookbinders have more constant employment
than those in most other trades. The work is most dull in summer.
There is constant employment in New York for first-class hands,
and always a surplus of second-class. Large cities offer the best
localities—those in the South and West will probably furnish
many openings to publishers." A. & S. employ girls to fold,
stitch, and sew. They are paid by the piece (customary), and
earn from $3 to $5 per week. Sewers can earn more than folders
and stitchers—say from $5 to $7. They work until six o'clock
and commence when they please, as they are paid by the quantity.
A bookbinder told me his girls work from seven to six o'clock.
He gives work all the year. They are paid by the piece, and can
earn from $5 to $6 a week. I have been told folders and sewers
are taken as learners only where the cheapest work is done. At
some binderies three cents 100 is paid for folding, three cents for
sewing, and six cents for stitching. At some places five cents 100
is paid for folding 12mo. sheets. The proportion of hands employed
in the different branches of bookbinding is somewhat as
follows: About two thirds are folders, one sixth gatherers, and
one sixth sewers. A process has been invented by which books
can be strongly bound without sewing. I fear it may be the
means of throwing many sewers out of employment. At W.'s
bookbindery I was told they sometimes take learners. They expect
them to stay six months, and pay them half that they can
earn during that time. They pay workers by the piece, and they
can earn from $4 to $6 a week. Some of the girls are employed
to remove the covers from old books and magazines that are to
be rebound. M., who does the printing of the A.'s, informs me
that his girls work by the piece, and average over $4 per week.
His learners receive one half their earnings—the teacher the
other half. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the
women are never entirely out of employment. There is no surplus
of good hands, but many imperfect ones. He employs from
125 to 150. The superintendent at H.'s told me that the girls
in the sewing-room earn from $3.50 to $8. He says their women
[Pg 367]
are intelligent and lady-like, and would adorn the best society.
They change their dresses when they come to work, and then before
leaving. If they are at all hurried in their work, their
hands, both men and women, come early and stay late of their
own free will. Males average $10, females over $4. The reason
of the difference is, that men serve an apprenticeship of five or
seven years—women five or seven weeks. The former are the
mechanics; the latter merely assistants. The latter cheapen the
labor of the former, without having the strength or physical
ability to perform their work. (I cannot see how it should be so
when the branches performed are entirely distinct.) The foreman
at B.'s told me a very brisk worker can earn $6 a week, but
few do. They do not average over eight hours a day. They
never light their building. S.'s girls, in good times, are employed
all the year. He pays by the piece, and his girls earn from $3
to $5. In most small book binderies in New York men and girls
work in the same room. A girl at the Tract House told me they
pay better for sewing there than in most other places, and have
work all the year, in ordinary times. A printer boy told me his
sister earns, in a bindery, from $8 to $10 a week. D. has newspapers
printed and folded, and pays his women for folding from
$4 to $5 a week. A manufacturer in New York, having a bindery
in New Jersey, pays his girls mostly $3.50 a week, besides
their board and washing. He boards them, and he is very particular
in having them attend church on the Sabbath, and keeping
an oversight of their morals and habits. Most of the binding
done South and West is that of blank books. There is not so
much machinery at the South and West as at the North. F. says
the binding of blank books pays best. A good folder may earn
$6 a week, but a sewer not so much. The majority of both do
not earn more than $4. They pay from the first. One woman
can stitch enough to keep three men employed. So there are not
as many women employed in factories where blank books are
made, as where printed books are. I was told on Fulton street,
at a blank-book manufactory, that their girls earn from $5 to $7.
They give steady work all the year. The binding of blank books
pays best. They have one girl that sometimes earns $9 a week.
At jobbing houses girls generally earn $6 a week, when paid by
the week for binding.
378. Card Makers.
For about eleven hundred years
women have been more or less employed in the manufacture of
cards. At N.'s, New York, I saw two girls who each earn $6
a week, and work only in daylight, and have work all the year.
I went through D. & Co.'s work rooms, and saw the process of
making playing cards. A large number of girls were at work,
[Pg 368]
who receive average wages of $4 per week. It requires six
months to learn well. They do not like to take any learners with
whose character they are unacquainted; for many, when they
have learned, will go off where they can get better pay. Six
girls that learned with him last summer were drawn off by an
employer who offered them twenty-five cents a week more; but
when his busy time was over, they came back crying to be taken
in again. So he made a rule that none should be taken back that
once leave. (Do not men go where they get the best prices?)
They keep all their hands at work, because many of them represent
three or four others, who are dependent on their labor for
bread. They give work all the year, and pay a learner according
to what she accomplishes. They sometimes find it difficult to
get good hands. They will not take hands from another employer
unless they bring a note saying they have been honorably
discharged. It is to avoid getting bad and dishonest workers.
(If employers in that line of business, or any other, should agree
never to receive hands from each other's places of business, it
would cast workers entirely at the mercy of employers.) D. says
their regulations are strict. I thought the girls looked to be
comfortably situated. Some were cutting cards, some assorting,
some counting, and some enveloping. Nearly all sat. He thinks
the business so limited that it is not likely to furnish employment
to many more. He says girls working at bookbinding and hoop
skirts are out of employment a great deal; two thirds of the
hoop-skirt makers are now out of employment. S. & P. make
fancy and business cards. S. told me he pays his most experienced
girls $3.50 a week. Learners receive $2.50 a week for four
weeks—after that, according to activity and capability. He has
hundreds of applicants, and always selects those who seem most
destitute. They work ten hours a day. He has had some girls
several years. To the small girls he pays less. He often has two
or three girls from the same family. Foreign goods are so much
preferred by Americans that they put French labels on some.
Visiting Cards.
A., New York, employs two girls to put
up visiting cards, and pays $3 and $3.50 per week. It does not
require any time to learn. He now uses a machine for cutting
that does the work of several girls. I was told by a very obliging
girl, working in a visiting-card manufactory in New York, that
to some the occupation is unhealthy, because of the lead inhaled,
which injures the lungs. In that factory learners are paid $2 a
week. It requires but a week to learn to cut the cards, which is
done with a small hand press. The girl knew of two places in
the city where the work was paid for by the piece; but in that
factory they were mostly paid by the week, receiving $3.50 and
[Pg 369]
$4, working ten hours a day. It requires from four to six weeks
to learn. Nimbleness of fingers and ability to count are the most
desirable qualifications. They have work all the year, except in
November and December. They sit while cutting, assorting, and
packing. This work is confined to women, as they are best
adapted to it. Those in the brushing room stand. Several hundred
girls are employed in New York in the card business.
379. Card Stencillers and Painters.
A stencil engraver
told me he cannot use acids in his work, because his
lungs are weak, and it is very injurious. The business is dull in
winter, but good in spring and fall. It pays very well when
there is enough to do. His work has to be done hurriedly, as it
is generally for merchants who are going to ship goods, and frequently
do not order the plates until the barrels are headed and
the boxes are nailed. The making of embroidery stencil plates,
he thinks, would do better for a woman, and that could be done
without any regard to seasons. A visiting-card writer told me
he charges $1 a package of fifty-two for plain marking. Mrs. H.
saw the advertisement of one who writes one hundred cards for
$1. I. G., who makes show cards, says a boy for filling the letters
is paid six cents a sheet. For designing, a person could get
twenty-four cents a sheet. He could both design and fill thirty
a day, so earning $1.87½. He knows that the merchants of the
South used to purchase their cards in New York, and so there
must be openings in the South for writers of show cards, and
probably in the West. It requires about one year to learn to
design well, and two weeks to learn to fill in neatly. Employees
are paid by the piece. I was told that card painting must be
done by women, judging from the prices paid—some cards costing
but twelve cents a piece. I am sure women could do all the
work. Making the letters is very simple, and filling them up is
a mere mechanical operation. They can earn, I am confident,
over $2 a day, if they have enough of work. It is peculiarly
adapted to women, and some of them should learn it. I saw the
wife of a German stencil engraver, who assists her husband by
cutting out with scissors the parts that form the letters. He is
paid three cents a letter. He can cut forty letters in two or
three hours. A coat of wax is laid on the plate, and an instrument
used for working out the letters, figures, or design, then an
acid poured on, and when it has stood for a time removed with
the wax. It can then be cut out with scissors, or into large letters
and figures with other tools. Writing plates are cut by
hand, as they can be most neatly and delicately done in that way.
They are twice as high in price as stencil plates. S., who manufactures
show cards, has several times thought of employing
[Pg 370]
women. They could with a brush fill the outlines, which is now
done by men, who earn from $2.50 to $18 a week. It would require
about a year to acquire proficiency in drawing the outlines
of the letters and using the brush to fill them. He thinks it a
very suitable business for women, and will probably employ some
before long.
380. Cover and Edge Gilders.
I think burnishing
the edges of books could be done by women after they are put in
the frames, but considerable strength is required in the preparatory
processes of shaving and screwing up. The burnishing is
done with agates. I doubt whether it requires more strength
than many other things women do. Laying gold leaf on the
edges could certainly be done by them. Men that gild the edges
of books receive from $7 to $9 a week. Men will not fold or
stitch, because it does not pay well enough. G. says gilding the
covers of books requires a longer apprenticeship than either folding
or sewing; and at H.'s, workers are paid at first eight cents
an hour, afterward ten cents an hour. It being piecework, the
girls are not strictly confined to hours. Book and card edge-gilding
is done both in England and France by women.
381. Electrotypers.
Electrotyping is now more used
than stereotyping by those who expect to have many editions of
a work published. It costs but little more than stereotyping,
and is either four or six times as durable, I forget which.
2,000,000 impressions can be taken from an electrotype plate,
but only 800,000 from a stereotype plate. A boy learning the
business receives $4 a week the first year, and after that more.
A journeyman receives $2 a day, and some $2.50. A journeyman
told us he had spent seven years at it, and he felt that he
had yet much to learn; in fact, a person could be always learning.
Electrotyping would be a useful and profitable occupation
for women. An apprenticeship of three or four years is given
to it.
382. Envelope Makers.
At B. & G.'s, New York,
girls work by the piece all the year in busy times, and can earn
from $3 to $6. Most of those who get in factories, do so through
the influence of friends or acquaintances in or connected with the
establishment. Their business is increasing. They keep their
girls all the year. They give lessons in the busy months, August
and September, February and March, and pay from the first. A
good hand can earn from $3 to $5. P. & Co. usually employ
sixty girls. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $4 to
$4.50 a week. The envelopes are made by machines, attended
by women. They employ five or six girls making envelopes by
hand, as they have not machines of some sizes. P. thinks the
[Pg 371]
occupation is full. They have employed their girls all the year.
They used to take learners, and give the teachers their profits.
My companion, Mrs. F., inquired if envelopes could not be more
easily made where the paper is manufactured. He replied, they
could not, because paper (and, I believe, all other goods) are
delivered free of freight in New York, and he can make more by
being here in the centre of trade, than if he had to send his goods
here to be sold, and employ some one to sell them. He prefers
the girls that can be obtained in the villages and country, for he
thinks them more honest and truthful. He thinks the grade of
morals altogether superior in the country to that of the city. He
spoke of the want of moral obligation in the lower classes, arising
from the want of proper instruction, and the lower you descend
the worse you find it. The makers of boxes for containing envelopes
they got were such a common set, that they instructed
some nice American girls how to make them, and now employ
them. He says the box makers are a common set. So I have
heard bookbinders, umbrella makers, and hoop-skirt workers
spoken of. But I frequently hear one trade speak disparagingly
of another. W. told me their girls are paid so much a thousand.
The envelopes are cut by a machine attended by a man. They
are folded by a machine managed by two women, who of course
stand. They are pasted and enveloped by girls who sit. The
girls earn from $3 to $5 a week. It requires but two or three
weeks to acquire the trade. A learner is paid nothing. The
envelopes are tipped or gummed by a girl, who stands. This is
the most difficult part of the work done by women, and pays best.
There are eight factories in New York, one in Philadelphia, and
one in Connecticut. Nine tenths of the business is done in New
York. There are probably between two hundred and three hundred
girls employed in the business in that city. W. requires
references. Some employers are particular in their selection of
hands—others advertise, and take them as they come. 2,700
envelopes have been made in an hour by machinery. A manufacturer
in Massachusetts writes: "The work is considered particularly
healthy. Girls from 12 years up are employed, and
earn from thirty-three to seventy-five cents a day of ten hours.
Men are paid from $1 to $2.75 per day. Two are machinists,
two overseers, and two cutters of envelopes. Women are not
strong enough for this kind of work. Some parts can be learned
in a month, some in six months, and in others it requires a year
to excel. We give the same employment and pay through the
year, whether our profits are larger or smaller. I employ about
sixty, one sixth of whom are American. The work is light, and
[Pg 372]
we have constant applications from girls, who prefer this to any
other manufacturing business in town. Board, $1.50."
383. Folders and Directors of Newspapers.
The
lady at F. & W.'s who directs the papers for them, says the
business has been followed by women in New York for fifteen
years. I called at the office of the
Independent, and saw one of
the editors, who, on learning my business, kindly invited me into
the room where the young ladies were employed in directing
strips of paper to envelop newspapers. It is a pretty business,
and well adapted to women. Some learn it easily, and some
never learn it. Dr. C. remarked: "A person may have a willing
mind, but not an obedient hand." They had one young lady who
spent five months at it, and then gave it up, because she could
not succeed. It requires a peculiar aptitude, aside from an expeditious
movement of the pen. It was followed more by women
eight or nine years ago than now. Many ladies would like to
get employment of the kind, but cannot. I think all the young
ladies in the
Independent office were American, and were certainly
very pretty and lady-like. They have a separate room to
write in. They spend about eight hours directing envelopes for
papers to send away. One earns $6 a week, another $5, and
another $4. The one that first came is permitted to have as
much work as she can do. The next has what she leaves, and the
third the remainder. The objections made by some men to employing
ladies are that they do not like to have women work in
the same room where they are. They feel under more restraint,
and not so free to say what they please. Such a restraint may
be a wholesome one. Many women make the same objection in
regard to working with men. Again, if a lady does not work as
they wish, or is idle, they do not like to correct her, because
women are more quick to resent. The last excuse is a poor one.
They also waste much time by having their beaux call on them.
Some urge they find a boy more useful, because they can put him
to doing something else, when he is not busy writing. In the
Tribune office, men are employed because they can do it more
rapidly. It is said some direct eight hundred envelopes in an
hour. In some offices the girls are expected to seal the papers,
but not in all. At the Cosmopolitan Art Association, I saw a
lady that is employed in directing the
Art Journals that are sent
by mail. The covers are put on by a boy. She receives $9 a
week, and spends about eight hours writing. At the rooms of the
A. C. Association, we saw three ladies directing envelopes for the
report of the society. The Association issues a monthly magazine,
and at the time of its issue employs the same ladies for the
purpose of enveloping and directing them. At other times they
[Pg 373]
employ but one. She has been there ten years, and is very efficient.
She attends to the books containing the names of subscribers,
assists the treasurer sometimes, writes letters for the
secretary, and makes herself generally useful in that way. All
the ladies complained of women being so poorly paid. The one
who has been there ten years says, for the $350 a year she
gets, they could not secure a young man's services for less
than $700 or $800. The others are paid 63 cents per thousand
for directing, and ten cents per hundred for sealing and directing.
384. Ink.
A large quantity of writing and printing ink is
used in this country. There are factories for making each kind.
Making printing ink is hard and dirty work, unsuitable for women.
Some persons cut stencil plates and make indelible ink, and employ
agents to sell the ink and plates. Indelible, and all writing
inks, could be made and bottled by women. Care should be
taken that the acids used do not touch the flesh. Common clothes
should be worn while at work, as both the ingredients and compound
are of a kind to injure clothes. A maker of writing ink
in New York, employs three girls in summer for bottling and
labelling, and pays $3.50, working from seven till dark. He
never employed any in winter, but if his business extends, he will
employ his girls all the year, paying the same price in winter.
He has found it difficult to get good hands. The prospect for
learners is poor. A manufacturer of ink writes: "I have never
yet employed female help, though I am satisfied that most of the
work in my laboratory might be as well done by women as men.
The employment is not unhealthy. My men work ten hours a
day, and are paid by the month."
385. Label Cutters.
At P. Brothers', I was told some
of their labels are cut by hand, and some by machinery. The
first are square or oblong, the others are of different shapes.
Those cut with shears are most neatly done. For cutting by
hand the price is one cent per hundred. They take them home.
A lady and her two daughters, who work for them, often receive
$50 a month. Those cut by machinery could not well be cut by
women. It requires practice to make one expert. B. pays a
girl by the hundred to cut labels at home. He would employ a
girl to cut and attend his store, paying $3 a week from the first,
but she must not be absent a day. If her health is such that
she cannot always be there, he does not want her. He had one
three and a half years, who was absent only ten days during that
time. S. says cutting labels is always piecework, and a good
worker can earn from $4 to $6 a week. He gives them out, and
they are cut by hand. Common ones, for spices, mustard, &c.,
[Pg 374]
are cut by machinery. It does not require long to become expert.
The business is always dull in December and January.
386. Lead Pencils.
The young man at the agency for
the sale of Faber's pencils, says they are made at Steinway,
Germany, and he thinks women there are employed in varnishing
the wood of the pencils and tying them up. The pencils are
either painted or the simple wood varnished. "A man in New
York is reported to have made $60,000 by selling lead pencils
about the streets at a penny a piece, and safely investing his profits."
Some large pencils, such as are used by carpenters, were
some time back made in Massachusetts. The writing part of lead
pencils is made of lead and clay, mixed, pressed, and burnt. The
wooden part is in two pieces that are united when the lead is put
in. In Germany each man has his own part to do. Children
do some parts of it, such as joining the wood.
387. Operatives in Paper Factories.
Paper is of
various qualities and colors, and is adapted to different purposes.
At least one half of the operatives in paper factories in the United
States are females, amounting to several thousand. Water
power is used in some paper mills, but in most large mills steam
is used. Women are employed in paper mills to sift, sort, and
cut up rags. It is dusty, disagreeable work, and we presume
not particularly healthy, as much of the dust is no doubt inhaled.
In some factories, women attend the picking and cutting machines
and calenders. They are also employed for hanging, laying off,
reeling, folding, assorting, counting, enveloping, and labelling the
paper. The inability to meet fully the demand for rags in the
manufacture of paper has led to experimenting with a variety of
articles. One agent for the sale of paper made in New Jersey,
and the foreman of the same establishment, told me their girls
get from $2.50 to $3 a week. The majority receive $2.50. Part
work six consecutive hours, have a rest of one hour, then six
consecutive hours more, that is from six at night till seven in the
MORNING, HAVING ONE HOUR AT MIDNIGHT; THE OTHER HALF FROM 7
A. M. till 6
P. M., having an hour at noon. The day and night
workers take week about. They board for $1.50 a week. In Lee,
Mass., women get $3.50 and $4, and the men twice as much.
Women are paid best in the ruling department. In the paper
factories in New York, women receive from $3 to $5 per week.
Paper maker's girls, $1.50 to $2.50 per week. S. says, in some
paper factories girls are able to earn $6 a week. All the labor
in paper mills, except attending to the fires and machinery, could
be done by women. All manufacturers report the occupation as
healthy, except one in South Adams, who states that small pox
is sometimes taken from the rags—
not often. A paper manu
[Pg 375]facturer
in Lee, Mass., writes: "Women are employed in all
countries where paper is made. The time of learning depends
upon their skill and developments in certain directions in the
business. They are usually paid by the piece. Men are paid
more because their labor is greater. Boys learn the business in
about five years, girls in about one year. In learning they generally
receive enough to pay their board. They work at all
seasons—sometimes have nothing to do in July. There is a demand
for hands in the loft, a surplus in the rag room." The
New England Roofing Co. manufacture a felt, which is similar
to sheathing paper, but made of a fine stock. They employ six
females in sorting rags and other materials for the felt, and pay
from $3 to $5 per week, one half the price of males. They work
eleven hours, and pay $2 per week for board. A manufacturer
of wrapping and wall paper, in Connecticut, writes "he employs
a few females, and pays fifty cents per day of from eight to ten
hours. He prefers them because most economical. Those working
by the piece can earn from fifty to seventy-five cents per day.
He pays men $1 per day for doing like work. They require less
attention, and can perform other work when wanted, that is not
suitable for females to perform. He usually pays beginners the
same as others when they work by the day. His most busy time
is when there is most water for power. An active person can
usually earn as much in from six to eight hours as a house girl
is paid for a full day's work." A manufacturer at Niagara Falls
"employs between forty and fifty women, paying each from $2.50
to $4 per week, without board. They are paid about one half less
than men, because boys would do. The prospect of employment
is good. They are most busy in summer, although they run the
whole year, day and night (except Sunday). They are twelve
hours on, and twelve hours off. Board, $1.25 to $1.75. A firm
in South Adams, Mass., write me: "We pay by the piece and
the day. The prices for female labor, we think, compared with
work done, better than for male. It requires no time to learn to
cut rags, but experienced hands can earn more wages. For finishing,
from four to six months are given. Women are paid while
learning. We employ women always, when they can do the labor.
Women are superior in the neatness with which they do their
work. New England, and such States as have abundance of clear
spring water, are the best. Board, from $1.25 to $2 per week.
We think, perhaps, that at present the business of paper making
is pretty fully supplied with laborers, male and female, in this
section of the country, yet
good help finds ready employment, at
fair wages." Manufacturers of bank-note paper, in Lee, Mass.,
inform me by mail, they "pay by the piece, to women, from $3
[Pg 376]
to $4.50 per week. It would require five years for a man to
learn the business, so as to properly superintend it. That portion
done by women can be learned in one month." A newspaper
manufacturer in Taunton, Mass., writes: "Fifty or sixty women
are employed by me, in manufacturing cotton goods and newspaper. I pay by the piece and the week, from $2.50 to $6 per
week, depending on the age. I give equal pay to both sexes for
the same work. They are employed the year round, and work
eleven hours on the average. The climate of New England is
best adapted to indoor labor." Paper manufacturers in Dalton
write: "We pay women by the piece, from $12 to $16 per
month, and they have work all the year. No men are employed
for the same kind of work. For other branches of the business,
men are paid from $25 to $35 per month. Women are paid
while learning for what they accomplish. The prospect for work
is good. We employ women because they are cheaper. They
pay for board $1.25." A firm in Russell, Mass., write: "We
employ from forty to fifty; one tenth are Americans. They can
all live comfortably and earn good wages. New England is the
best part of this country for fine paper mills, on account of the
purity of the water. Board, $1.50 to $1.75."
388. Paper-Bag Makers.
At a paper-bag factory in
Brooklyn, the man pays from $1.50 to $2 a week to his girls. They
work ten hours. The work is all done by hand. The bags are
considered better than those made by machinery. He has twenty-six
girls at work. Some he pays by the quantity; for some kinds,
twenty cents a hundred; for some, thirty-seven cents. Those that
work by the piece have a forewoman, with whom he makes a contract.
She cleared $14 one week. It takes but a week to
learn. Work is furnished all the year. Some have worked for
him five years. Paper-bag manufacturers in Watertown, Mass.,
write: "We employ six women in tending bag machines, and
pay seventy cents per day of ten and a half hours. To males
we pay one third more. It requires about one month to learn,
and all that is necessary are care and application. Summer and
fall are the best seasons, but they can have work the year round.
We will not have any but American girls. Women are more
accustomed to sitting, but cannot keep the machine in order.
Their dress is objectionable, particularly their hoops, which take
up much room, and are in danger of getting in the machinery."
389. Paper-Box Makers.
Though this may seem a
trivial business, it is one very extensively carried on. Every
size and shape is called for. The most are made, we suppose,
in New York and Philadelphia, as greater demands exist there,
owing to the variety and quantity of goods manufactured and
[Pg 377]
offered for sale. Boxes are almost entirely made by women. I
think most of the men in this trade in New York are Germans.
The occupation for women is pretty well filled. The bandbox
manufacture is a distinct branch. Some women, who make small
match boxes, receive but one cent for thirty boxes. At a place
in New York where seventeen girls are employed, I was told they
are paid by the piece, and some can earn as much as $5 a week.
The calling can be learned in three or four weeks. At one
place, where they make bandboxes also, the girls earn from $2 to
$5. At another, they earn from $2.50 to $5. Some seasons of the
year are better than others. They have mostly American girls. It
is sometimes difficult to get good hands. They keep their hands all
the year. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Very little
sewing is ever done—mostly cutting and pasting. In some large
factories, machinery is used for much of the work. K. employs
a number of hands all the year. They work by the piece (customary
plan), and earn from $1.50 to $6. They are paid $1.50
per week from the time they begin to learn. He thinks there
are not more than from five hundred to six hundred females in
New York employed in his branch. There were three hundred
in Philadelphia about fifteen months ago. One paper-box maker
told me he pays fifty cents a hundred, and a smart girl can make
one hundred and fifty in a day. He gives employment all the
year; his brother, in the spring and fall. The work is always,
I think, cut out by a man. B.'s girls are paid by the piece, and
earn about $4 a week. While learning, his girls are paid $2 a
week. It requires but two or three months to become skilful.
I noticed the girls in some work rooms sat, and some stood. I was
told those making small boxes sit, but those making large boxes
stand, because of the time consumed in rising to reach the parts
needed to be joined. Learners work with F. fourteen days for
nothing, and then are paid by the hundred. Some can accomplish
more than others in the same time, because they are quicker
with their fingers and apply themselves more closely. In putting
on labels, it is best to stand, as it can be done more expeditiously.
It is best for girls to learn where the cheap kind of boxes are
to be made. Those that make fine boxes are seldom willing to
take learners, because of the materials that are wasted in learning.
Good hands can get work all the year; indifferent hands
are likely to get out of employment for one or two months. The
girls in the trade are mostly Irish and German. For three months,
the past year, F. was out of hands. He deserved to be all the
time, for his factory was on the fifth floor, and the steps of the
open wood kind. So girls must have been very much exposed in
[Pg 378]
going up and down stairs, as every flight of stairs led to a floor
on which men were at work. At C.'s, I was told his best workers
earn from $4 to $6 a week, and are paid by the gross. They never
work over ten hours, as his work is of a large kind. In some factories,
where the boxes made are small, the girls are allowed to
take work home with them to do in the evening. He keeps his
best hands all the year. He requires two weeks of learners, and
then pays them according to the amount of work done. Another
box maker gives his work to three or four families in an adjoining
city. His workers earn from $3 to $4 per week. A girl sewing
small bandboxes told me she is paid six cents a dozen, and can
usually sew ten dozen a day. It takes but a week to learn. They
are most busy in spring and fall. In pasting, girls can earn from
$4 to $5 a week. The girls sewing, sat; those pasting, stood. At
another factory I was told April and September are their most
busy months, and then they take learners. Most box makers have
steady work. If they are not making boxes for one branch of
trade, they are for another—confectioners, candle makers, &c.
The business is increasing. Girls can earn from $3 to $7. There
are openings in New Orleans. It is difficult to get good hands in
busy times. It takes some time to become expert. A boy remarked
to me that paper-box makers are a hard set; but I find
there is considerable jealousy and envy existing between some
members of the different trades, and consequently always make
some allowance for what I hear. A firm of paper-box manufacturers
in Connecticut write: "Women are employed by us to
run machinery, making paper boxes, &c. It is healthy, clean,
neat work. Average wages are seventy-eight cents per day, including
board. Our male help are employed at some laborious work,
which females could not perform. Average price paid men is
$1.25 per day, of eleven hours. No time is required to learn the
paper-box business, but practice makes it more remunerative.
There are advantages in being in large cities; but, having no
market near, we prefer the country, on the ground of better
advantages for our help, and its being easier to procure trusty,
intelligent girls to labor. Our women have constant employment,
and are superior to men in their work. Most of them are well
suited for making good wives, being from eighteen to twenty-five
years of age. Board, $1.75." B., of Philadelphia, writes:
"We pay women from $2.50 to $5 per week, working by the
piece. Men's wages are double, as they generally have families.
Neatness and to be good sewers are desirable. They generally
have work the year round. The demand is greatest in Philadelphia,
New York, and the Eastern States. We employ them because
of their ability to use the needle. Women are superior in
[Pg 379]
their own branch." A manufacturer of hook-and-eye and button
boxes writes: "We employ twelve women, and pay by the piece,
from $4 to $6 a week. Women's wages are low, because of the
competition in the article manufactured. Time of learning depends
upon the natural skill of the learner—one can learn for
years. The prospect for a continuance of this work is good.
The price, and fittedness for the work, recommend women to us."
390. Paper Marblers.
I saw the process of marbling—something
very suitable for women, if they would properly qualify
themselves for it. The young man said a paper marbler in
Philadelphia used to employ some women to assist him, but he
had to mix their paints. A paper marbler in Boston writes: "I
do not know of any females being employed as marblers of book
edges in the United States. Some are employed in marbling
paper for the covers and linings of books."
391. Paper Rulers.
In ruling paper for blank books
and ledgers, females are employed in some establishments to feed
the machine. It is not difficult to learn, though there are not
many willing to take learners, as considerable paper must be
wasted before they can become proficient. Only a few weeks are
required, and they are seldom paid while learning. $4 a week is
a fair average for female workers. Very closely connected with
this branch is that of paging blank books. It may be learned in
from ten to twelve days. This is a limited business, and would
not justify many in learning. K. thinks thirty girls would supply
the demand for the whole United States. The most busy
season is from the first of July to the last of October, and they
seldom refuse any applicants during this season. March and
April are also busy months. About half the hands are retained
through the dull season. The girls earn from $5 to $6 a week;
the forewoman something more. All are required to be orderly
and respectable, and there are no associations that would have an
immoral tendency. A journeyman paper ruler in Boston writes:
"There are a few girls employed in this city at ruling,
i. e.,
where they feed on the paper, watch the work, fixing it when it
requires attention, &c. The paper is trimmed for them, it being
hard work, and requiring a man's strength to do it. The wages
are from $3 to $4.50 per week—$3.75 about the average—and
when they board away from home, pay $2 to $2.25 per week. I
work by the piece, and make sometimes $10, sometimes $16 per
week; can make $12 and $13 per week well enough, nine hours
to the day. One disadvantage females have, is, that some
of them are inclined to marry when a good opportunity
is offered. I wish to be understood that this is a disadvantage
only as keeping down the price of female labor. The
[Pg 380]
young man learns his trade, then he marries. He does not
quit the shop, but still improves in skill in his trade. The
female, when she marries, bids farewell to the shop and her
trade. Nine or ten hours a day is as long as girls work at our
trade here. One great objection girls have to our trade is, they
do not like to soil their hands with the ruling ink, and one cannot
get through much ruling without soiling their hands more or
less."
392. Press Feeders.
"The number of women who feed
power presses in printing offices in Philadelphia may number one
hundred and fifty. They can earn, upon an average, $4 per week."
At the Methodist Book Concern, New York, they pay to press
feeders the usual price, $4 per week. It requires about six months
to become a good press feeder. When work is scarce, they retain
all their hands, if possible, but work a less number of hours,
and pay in proportion. At a blank-book manufactory I was told
their girls are paid $6 a week for feeding. Their girls think they
make poor wages when they earn but ten cents an hour. Some
embossers, in Boston, who employ thirty women in binding and
press feeding, write: "They pay both by the week and by the
piece. Their women, on an average, earn $5 per week. Female
labor is thirty-three per cent. cheaper than men's, and the part
done by women is too effeminate for men. Women spend from
one to two months learning. Prospect of employment in this
branch is good. The women work ten hours. They are out of
employment in summer. Board, $1.50 to $2.50." At a printing
office where from forty to fifty women were employed, I was
told the girls were mostly German, because the foreman was a
German. It requires four weeks to learn. They work ten hours
a day, and are never thrown out of employment. The demand
seems to be fully met in New York.
393. Printers.
"In 1476, Fra Domenico da Pistoya and
Fra Pietro da Pisa, the spiritual directors of a Dominican convent,
established a printing press within its walls; the nuns
served as compositors, and many works of considerable value
issued from this press between 1476 and 1484, when, Bartolomeo
da Pistoya dying, the nuns ceased their labors." In the
Victoria Printing Office, of London, all the compositors' work
is done by women. The Printers' Unions in the United States
have done all they could to prevent women from entering the
occupation and obtaining employment. Men's employments in
the cities, they say, are now filled, and if women enter, men's
wages will fall. They do fall, at any rate, because women will
work for less than men. To obviate this difficulty, I would suggest
that more men engage in agricultural and other occupations
[Pg 381]
that will take them out of the cities. At present, the war demands
large numbers. A printer told me that type setting could
be carried on more easily by women in towns and villages than
in cities, where men are slaves to the Unions. In the latest rules
of the Printers' Union, New York, a printer is not prohibited
from working in the office with a woman. Yet few publishers
are willing to employ them, because it is supposed they are employed
for less wages. At a printers' convention, held recently
in Springfield, Ill., the following resolutions were adopted:
"Whereas, the employment of females in printing offices, as compositors,
has, wherever adopted, been found a decided benefit,
both as regards the moral tendencies inculcated and the dependence
to be placed in their constant presence and attendance upon
the duties required of them, and as a means of opening a wider
field of remunerative labor to a deserving class of society; therefore,
be it resolved, That the Association recommend to its
members the employment of females in their offices, wherever and
whenever practicable." Printing is mostly paid for by the thousand
ems. More is paid for printing from manuscript than for
reprint. Newspaper is paid rather higher than book printing,
and morning papers more than evening. Much has been said of
the unhealthiness of a printer's work. The majority of causes
that render it so are not confined to the occupation itself. Some
printers must work during the night. Their habits become
irregular, and many run into dissipation. The rooms occupied
by some are poorly ventilated, and so poorly lighted as even in
the day to require artificial light, which helps to absorb the oxygen
of the atmosphere. When type are heated they emit an odor
that affects respiration, and will in the course of time paralyze
the hand. But there is no necessity for using them when heated.
The standing position of compositors weakens the organs of
digestion; but compositors can as well sit as stand. Stools may
occasionally be seen in the offices of men. Bending over the
stone to correct is not more tiresome than bending over cloth
when sewing. A good education and general intelligence are
necessary for a printer. A gentleman connected with a printing
office remarked to me that printers generally possess much desultory
information, but have not their faculties more fully developed
than people in most other trades. Women's fineness of touch and
quickness of motion will fit them for type setting. "They might
be instructed, not merely to compose and distribute, but to correct,
make up, impose forms, and prepare the type completely for
the press or stereotype foundery." A man should be employed
to carry the chases to the press room. When the pressman has
had the type inked and used them, he should have the form
[Pg 382]
washed and returned to the compositors' room. When women
have had as much experience as men in the printing business,
they will be fair competitors. In most large cities, and even
towns, many are now employed in type setting; but they are
much scattered, and consequently not much is known of them.
In Boston, women have been engaged in type setting for nearly
thirty years, in New York eight years, and in Philadelphia five
years. More girls are employed as type setters in Boston than
any other city of the United States. They set type for nearly all
the large periodicals. They are paid less than men; but some
earn $8 a week. F., of Boston, who employs some women as
type setters, writes: "I pay twenty cents per thousand ems,
which averages to a good hand about $6 or $7 per week. It requires
about six months to learn type setting. I pay my learners,
because I consider it to my advantage in the long run to
do so. Type setters with an ordinary education will improve
as they progress. In a few years, women will work in many
branches that to-day would be termed innovation. I consider
winter the best season for printing books and periodicals. On
account of neatness and taste, women are well suited for the ornamental
branches of printing." The proprietors of a printing
house in Boston, who have some thought of employing females,
write me: "The printing business is considered rather unhealthy,
on account of its being both mental and physical. It requires
from two to three years to become good workmen at our business
for males, and would take about the same time for females,
although our business is now classed composition room and press
room, and females are sometimes employed in other offices in
both rooms. Our business does not vary much, except in the
month of August, when it is generally dull. Our number of
hours for work are ten, the year through. Our business is not
considered very laborious, and females make from $4 to $8
per week. Men are generally superior to women in education
and judgment. The printing business is almost a school for
learning. Board, from $1.50 to $2.50." The largest number of
printers in New York are employed on books and periodicals. I
think it likely there are more Americans employed in the book-making
trade in New York than any other trade. From an article
on "Printers," in the New York
Tribune of April, 1853, we
extract the following: "We estimate the services of a competent
young woman at type setting as worth in this city $2 per week,
after a fortnight—$4 per week, after three months—$6 per week,
after a year—$8, after two years. Every compositor on the
Tribune
at work at the case has thirty-seven cents per thousand
ems, and thirty cents per hour for steady time." The present
[Pg 383]
price required by members of the New York Typographical Union
for newspaper work, when employed by the week, is $12—ten hours
constituting a day's work. For book and job work $11 is required.
At the
Day Book office I saw one of the editors, who thinks
women do not correct so well as men, and they want self-reliance.
Besides, they cannot lift the forms. Men are paid better for
these reasons. He thinks more women might very advantageously
be employed in setting type for papers. Job printing he
thinks not so well adapted to them, because of the variety in the
work, and the judgment and self-reliance required. Two of
the girls in the
Day Book office have with their earnings bought
their mother a home in the country. Their girls are more intelligent,
have more pride, and dress better than most working
girls. To set type requires more intelligence than most shop girls
possess. The foreman of the same paper writes: "We employ ten
women, whose exclusive business is type setting. Seven are
American women. I deem the employment of type setting unhealthy,
but not more injurious to women than it is to men. We
pay women twenty cents per thousand ems. Men receive
thirty-one cents per thousand ems in our office. Women are not
as competent to do all kinds of work as men, particularly in a
newspaper office; hence the difference in wages. The time of
learning depends almost wholly on the aptitude of the new beginner.
Some persons (men as well as women) would or could
not learn the business in a lifetime. Women have been paid
while learning in this office. A knowledge of the English
language, and a disposition to improve that knowledge on all
suitable occasions, are the principal requisites. The general order
of intellect did not amount to much, when we first tried the experiment;
those who have worked steady have improved wonderfully.
They work ten hours per day. Average wages $6.50 per
week in this office. With proper training and instruction, they
would be competent to do any portion of the work not requiring
too much physical exertion. The best seasons for a printer's
work depend almost wholly on circumstances. Large cities are
the best places for the printer who wishes to have steady employment."
T., of New York, told me "he employed girls for a
while, and would have retained them if he could have had time
to attend to the composition department. He paid his girls the
same price he did his men. He thinks it strange that more
broken-down ministers and worn-out school teachers do not turn
to type setting, as it is learned in a very short time, requires intelligence,
and demands no outlay of muscle. On the principle
that a stout muscular man should be a blacksmith, and a small
delicate one a watchmaker, a woman should be a type setter. A
[Pg 384]
girl should begin when young. Women are no more thrown
with men in type setting than in feeding presses. In all large
establishments, type setting and press work are done in separate
rooms." I think if some lady teachers would learn the art of
printing and get places as forewomen, they could from girls obtain
as much work as a foreman does from boys; but he thinks it
difficult for a foreman to be exacting with women, particularly
with those who are old enough to be sensitive and self-willed.
He thinks, "in New York, women are not so much employed in
intelligent occupations as in Boston. In the cities printers make
most all their profits off two-thirders, as they are called—boys who
have not attained their majority, and do their work as well for
much less than journeymen. His son, a boy of sixteen, earns
from $5 to $6 a week as type setter." H., in New York, employs
three girls. They get $6 a week of ten hours a day. They can
sit if they choose. They have a room to work in, separate from
the men. At W.'s, opposite, a youth told me a fast worker could
earn $8 a week. The girls there were working in the same room
with the men. J., of Philadelphia, said he used to employ
women to print his labels, but they demanded $6 a week, and
men he could get for $9. He told the women they were cutting
their throats in asking so much. He said women should not expect
as high wages as men, even if they did their work as well,
and as much of it, for they would thereby displace men; and besides,
you could not order women about as you could men. B.,
editor of the Pittsburg
Commercial Journal, employs six girls
as compositors. Connected with his office are two journeymen,
who set type after 6
P. M., reporting telegraphic and local news.
All type setting should be done by women in the day, unless they
board very near, or in the house of the printing office, because of
the exposure of going home late at night. Three fourths of the
work of a printing office could be done by women. Afternoon
and weekly papers could be very well printed by ladies, as they
are printed in the day. One of B.'s lady compositors receives
$7 a week, another $6, and the others $4 and $3.50. They work
eight or nine hours a day; and to a learner they pay $1.50 a week,
until she can set type correctly—then more; and in two years she
will be very nearly or quite perfect in the art. It requires
quickness of eye and finger to succeed. At the office of the
Detroit
Daily Democrat, girls as apprentices are paid from $3
to $4 per week, and those advanced twenty-five cents per thousand
ems. "The compositors' office of the
Ohio Farmer, at Cleveland,
has four apprentice girls. Compensation light at present, but
after the first year they will have the same that journeymen are
receiving in this place,
i. e., twenty-five cents per thousand ems."
[Pg 385]
A lady learning to set type in Indiana writes: "I think the reason
of the printers objecting to my learning was that I was not required
to run of errands, or, in other words, be the 'devil' of the office,
as boys are who learn the printing business. Besides, my compensation
is better than theirs, in consequence of my ability to
do more than they. I receive my board and $50 a year while
learning; after that, journeyman's wages by the week or by the
thousand ems, as I prefer. In this time I can learn to do all,
except the press work, making up, &c. The girls employed as
type setters in the office receive $3 per week while learning." I
have been told that in Rochester, Buffalo, and New Haven, printing
is done more cheaply than in New York, and some publishers
send their printing to those towns to have it done. A great deal
of raised printing is done for the blind in the United States, but
women do not work at that. Printers were wanted some time
back in Charleston, S. C., and when affairs become settled in the
South, we doubt not there will be many openings for printers.
An institution has been founded in Edinburg for teaching girls the
art of printing. Monsieur P. says in many of the villages of
France it is difficult to get printers. He proposes that a certain
number of girls be qualified for the work, as women are well
suited to such work, and it is of a kind that pleases those who
have tried it.
394. Sealing-Wax Makers.
D., sealing-wax, ink, and
mucilage manufacturer, employs two girls in putting up carmine
ink and gum mucilage, also in rolling, stamping, and boxing
sealing wax. To one he pays $5 a week, to the other $4. He
employs his girls all the year. Making sealing wax is too heavy
work for women, D. thought, and there is not much demand for
the kind used in sealing letters. Self-sealing envelopes and
mucilage have done away with both wafers and wax. In the
United States, one pound is sold where formerly one ton was sold.
Had the use of wafers increased with correspondence, it would
have been an extensive business; but the making and baking of
wafers, D. thought, was too heavy work for women. I expect it is
not more so than making and baking bread. But little ink is made
in the South and West. C. said women could not make sealing
wax, because of the danger of being about the fire. I suggested
there is not more than in cooking. He said lifting the vessels is
very heavy.
395. Stereotypers.
All the first plates in this country
were moulded by a Mrs. Watts, the wife of an Englishman, who
introduced the art from London. Stereotyping could be learned
by women. It is an interesting employment, but requires intelligence
and judgment. In stereotyping, one department of labor
[Pg 386]
is that of correcting metal plates. If a letter is wanting, a type
is soldered in the plate. If any of the letters or spaces are filled
with superfluous metal, it is removed. I think stereotyping an
occupation well adapted to skilful and educated women. It requires
an apprenticeship of three or four years.
396. Type Rubbers and Setters.
At P. & Co.'s, I
saw the whole process of type making. They employ some
women to rub type, and some to set them up. The setters earn
from $1.50 to $2 a week. It is very simple, but there is much
difference in the quantity done by different individuals. A careful
and rapid manipulation is desirable for the worker, as it is
paid for by the number of types set up. The rubbers are paid by
the pound, and earn from $8 to $9 a week. Some people can rub
2,000 types in an hour. The fingers become hardened. P. & Co.
do not employ many American girls, for American girls do not
like such dirty work, and most of them dislike to work where men
are. Breaking off the jets is in some places done by women. It
is a mechanical operation for removing the inequalities of the
metal, caused by the imperfect chasing of the moulds. It requires
a very rapid movement of the hand, but is not a laborious operation.
It is said that some fast workers can break off 5,000 in an
hour. Girls are employed at type rubbing and setting, in the same
room with men. Type are cut of a soft metal, from which copper
moulds are taken for forming printers' type. It requires a steady
hand, a correct eye, and some practice to cut them, but not much
strength. It could be done by women. B. thinks the work is
not unhealthy. I suppose the same objection as regards health
might be made to breaking off the jets, type rubbing, and type
setting, that is often made to the business of a compositor—that
the lead in the metal has a tendency to paralyze the arm; but I
have never heard the objection offered. B. does not pay learners.
Prospect for employment tolerable. When times are good, he
keeps girls all the year. They are paid by the quantity. The
little girls can earn $2.50 each, and some of the larger girls, who
are very expert, can earn $4.50. Girls always sit in rubbing
type. In setting up, I think they can sit or stand, as they please.
There will be a demand for type so long as books and papers are
printed. I suppose there will now be an opening in the South
for type founderies. W. takes learners, and pays by the quantity
from the first. All his women sit while at work. It is not
healthy work, because of the lead floating in the atmosphere being
inhaled. He can always get hands by advertising. Setters
get about $2.50 a week, and rubbers $3, and $3.50. C. says, if
type rubbers are industrious and attentive, they can earn from
$3 to $7 a week. Rubbing pays better than setting, but is quite
[Pg 387]
laborious. Setters earn from $2 to $3.50, and are generally
small girls. They are always paid by the quantity. It does not
require long to learn. The prospect is good for employment. In
ordinary times they are employed all the year. At H.'s, I was
told that girls are never taught rubbing until they have learned
setting, as rubbing pays best, and it is not fair to give a learner
the advantage of an old hand. Setters cannot earn more than
$2.50 a week; rubbers, from $4 to $6. He gives work all the
year. Some of his girls are always absent on Monday. He
thinks there are from 700 to 800 girls in founderies in New
York. His girls earn from $3 to $6 a week. Printers, he says,
are always first to suffer in a panic. A type founder in Buffalo,
writes: "I employ fifteen American girls in finishing type, and
pay by the piece. They earn from $3 to $5 per week. One day
is sufficient to learn, and nimble fingers greatly assist. Seasons
make no difference with the work. The work is easy in a warm
room in winter." The proprietors of the Boston Type Foundery
sent me the following intelligence by mail: "We employ about
twenty women in breaking, rubbing, and setting type. The
metallic dust from the type is considered unwholesome. We pay
by the piece. The girls are from ten to twenty years of age, and
average from $1 to $6 per week, working from six to nine hours.
But a short time is required to learn the parts, except rubbing,
which occupies some months. They are paid while learning. All
other parts of our business, except those mentioned, are too severe
for women. The prospect for a continuance of work is tolerable."
397. Wall Paper Gilders.
Most of the wall paper
used in the United States for many years past has been made in
Philadelphia, and I believe it is still thought to produce the best
qualities. There are three modes of impressing wall paper: one by
printing, another by stencilling, and the third by painting with a
brush. In the cheapest paper, the outlines are printed and the
colors put on by stencil plates. For printing, large blocks are
used that are cut by hand, and for each color a separate block
must be used. This work forms a separate occupation, that of a
block cutter. For the finest papers, the outlines are printed, and
then filled by the use of the brush. The ailments of colorers of
wall paper arise principally from the coloring matter, much of
which is very poisonous. "By laboring upon arsenical paper in
the finishing department, small tumors are produced, and some
have to change their occupation in consequence." At H.'s store,
Philadelphia, the young man told me they employ girls from
twelve to sixteen years of age, for putting gilding on paper.
They work ten hours, and earn from $3.50 to $4.50 a week.
[Pg 388]
They merely lay gilding on, which is fastened by the pressure
of machinery. Some manufacturers have the gilding put on
with a size. At C.'s, New York, the foreman told me they
employ two girls, at $3 a week each. A powder is sprinkled
on by boys, which, by the way, could be done by girls. The
girls then lay the gold leaf on the powder. A machine then
passes over the gold leaf, making an impression by a die, of the
pattern desired. Another branch of labor in which they employed
girls for a time, was the rolling of paper for the store. It requires
a peculiar tact acquired by practice only. They are paid
seven cents for 100 rolls, each roll containing eight yards. It
would take a brisk and careful hand to become at all expert three
months, at which time she could earn about sixty cents a day, of
ten hours' work. At the end of three months more she would,
perhaps, be able to earn an additional twenty cents a day. It
makes the fingers very sore, as considerable force is thrown into
the tips of the fingers. Some fingers cannot become hardened to
it, and the individual has to give it up. C——'s have work all the
year, except a week in summer, and one in winter, and when the
machinery is out of repair. They have most to do in winter,
getting their paper ready for spring sale, and to send away to the
West and South. It is not unhealthy labor. Many girls might
be employed in departments now occupied by boys. At N. C. &
Co.'s, I was told by a young German that from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty boys are employed in that building, but no
women or girls. There are several parts that could be done by
women. The common paper is rolled by machinery, the fine by
hand. In one factory in Boston, girls are employed to roll, and
in one in some other part of Massachusetts. Paper stainers in
Nashua, New Hampshire, write: "Women are employed in coloring
and finishing papers. The work is healthy, though all cannot
use green. We pay some by the week and some by the day:
$3 per week for day hands. It requires two or three months to
learn. A light hand, quick motions, &c., are desirable qualifications.
The prospect of employment is the same as all other
branches of manufacture. Warm weather is our most busy season.
The hands spend a few weeks in the country in midsummer.
We employ from twenty to twenty-five women, and they
work ten hours a day. They have the advantages of libraries, religious
services, &c., and pay for board $1.50 per week." A wall-paper
manufacturer, in Boston, writes: "The different kinds of
work and a fair knowledge of the manufacture of paper hangings
must be seen to be appreciated. For one to be capable of taking
charge of a manufactory in my line, he must devote many years
of close application, and must be a man of fine taste, in order to
[Pg 389]
get up a
taking style of goods, as the success of the business, in
a great measure, depends upon that, coupled with a fine finish.
The perfection of the manufacture may be all that could be desired,
but if the arrangement of the shadings of the colors were
faulty, there would be a very limited sale of them. A woman
might perhaps make a color mixer (as we call them), if the work
was not too hard and too dirty. We employ three girls to roll
paper. It is light work, and they are paid from $2 to $4 per
week—day hands, ten hours. The time to learn depends upon
the capacity of the learner—say a month. The women are not
out of employment long. The women are mostly foreign, and
can make a comfortable living if they choose. Women have not
sufficient strength for some parts of our work."
398. Chemicals.
One chemist wrote me that some part
of the work in the manufacture of chemicals is wet and disagreeable.
Another writes that "women are not employed in that
branch in this country, but may possibly be employed in England,
Germany, and France; but if at all, only to a small extent. The
employment is not generally unhealthy. To learn it in all its details,
a pretty thorough knowledge of chemistry ought to be acquired.
But a short time is required to learn the ordinary part
of the business. The prospect of the employment of women is
slight, but your inquiries have, however, suggested the idea and
possibility of employing women to a small extent. Men in chemical
works are employed at all seasons, and constantly for eleven
hours per day. No particular locality has advantage over another,
except its proximity to market. Uneducated persons, of ordinary
intellect, can be employed to some extent in the labor." Another
informant writes: "The manufacture of those chemicals most
largely used in the arts, requires laborious work. It is, besides,
rather severe on the clothes and hands, and is entirely unsuitable
for women. There is, perhaps, room for the employment of
women in the manufacture of the finer chemicals, but rather in
the way of putting up than in the manufacture itself. We are
not engaged in this branch. The demand for pure chemicals is
so very limited, that only regularly educated chemists engage in
the business, and they do most of the nice work themselves.
There is nothing to hinder women from studying practical chem
[Pg 390]istry,
but there are few chances for educated chemists; and there
are more than men enough to take all the places that are to be
filled." A manufacturer of acids writes: "We employ no female
labor in our establishment, it being heavy work, not suitable for
them." The present style of female dress would be inconvenient,
if not dangerous, in the preparation of such chemicals as require
the operator to be near the fire. This difficulty, however, could
be obviated.
399. Baking Powders.
D. employs girls to put up
baking powders, spices, &c. It is piecework. A very brisk
hand can earn $5 a week, but few can do so. They work longest
in summer days. They like to close early enough to give their
girls time to get home before it is very late. Mechanical talent
only is necessary.
400. Bar and Soft Soap.
Large quantities of soap are
made in the United States. That sold in groceries is made mostly
in towns or the country. It is hardened by muriate of soda, and
called bar soap. That used by people in the country is generally
of their own make, and called soft soap. In New York, we observed
in some groceries barrels of soft soap of a very light color,
almost white. Vegetable substances were used previous to the
invention of soap, for washing the person and garments. A plant
growing in California is said to yield a very good substitute.
Some kinds of earth, mixed with lye ashes, have been used.
Making soap in large quantities would be very heavy work for
women. A machine has been invented for cutting soap into bars,
which will doubtless in time do away with the primitive plan of
cutting it with wires. At a soap factory, a man told us that
women are never employed in factories in making coarse soap.
Attending the kettles could not be well done by them. The
only part that could be done would be cutting it in bars, but
that is rather too hard, on account of the strain and change of position.
It is cut with wire after it has become hard.
401. Blacking.
In London, in 1852, there were, by Mayhew's
estimate, one hundred and fifty women and girls selling cake
blacking. M., manufacturer, Philadelphia, occupies a four-story
granite-fronted building. He employs about fifty women in
making tin boxes, filling them with blacking in paste, and labelling
them. It requires but a few weeks for a smart girl to acquire
dexterity. We saw the women at work in two large rooms (each
being the whole floor of the house). They looked cheerful, though
somewhat grimy. They work ten hours, and earn about $3 a
week. The steady hands are kept in work the year round. The
tin boxes pass, almost with the swiftness of thought, through eight
hands, three of these operations being performed by steam ma
[Pg 391]chinery,
tended by women. The boxes are soldered by men, who
receive $6 per week. It was once done by women, but is right
warm work, particularly in summer. All stood while at work, except
the women sorting bands. The premises had been rendered as
healthy as possible. All the small pipes of the soldering stoves
led into one large pipe, which carries off the fumes of the coal; and
a cylinder has been made to confine a white powder which is used
in the business, and which formerly floated through the atmosphere
of the work rooms. The women are sometimes employed
in bottling ink, and earn from $2 to $3 a week, working about
the usual time—ten hours.
402. Candles.
Candles are made of different materials,
of which wax, tallow, and spermaceti are most common. Some
candle makers employ women to prepare the wax for candles.
Candle manufacturers write us: "Women are never employed in
our business, and we never heard of their being so employed. We
consider the work too heavy, and too cold. The principal part
of the work is done in winter, and the manufacturing rooms must
be kept cold. Women were at one time employed in cutting and
preparing the wick for candles; but since the introduction of machinery,
that part is dispensed with." A manufacturer writes
from another city: "Men sometimes work all night, at the season
when the nights are long. The only place, I think, where there
can be a demand for female labor in my branch, is where there
are no men." Another informant writes: "I think women could
not be to any considerable extent employed in making soap and
candles, for several reasons: 1st. It is for the most part a heavy
business, requiring more than female strength. 2d. It is objectionable
on account of the dirt, which is the result of coming in
contact with tallow, &c." Another says: "Our plan for moulding
is too heavy for women to work at." At an oil and candle
manufactory, New York, I was told they used to employ some
women in putting wicks into moulds, drawing candles, and packing
them. Machinery is so much used now, that women cannot
do as much of it as they did. Besides, candles are not used so
much as they were, owing to the introduction of gas and various
oils. They paid their girls $4 a week. They now employ one
woman in putting the wicks in moulds for wax candles, and drawing
and packing them. J. employs two women in making sperm
candles, but they have been at it twenty years. They each get
$4 a week. M—s, New York, write: "We employ six women in
making and packing candles. They are so employed in France
and England, and very likely in Germany. The work is not unhealthy.
Our women are paid from $2.50 to $4 per week, of
ten hours a day. They are generally paid by the week, though
[Pg 392]
sometimes by the piece. Men's wages are from $9 to $12. We
know of no reason why women are paid less, except that it is the
general custom. It requires from two to three weeks to learn.
Women are paid while learning. Dexterity of the hands is the
best qualification for a worker. The occupation is gradually decreasing.
There is no material difference in the seasons for work.
Women are sometimes thrown out of employment in the summer
months. We employ women because they are more nimble fingered
than men, and female labor is cheaper. Workwomen are
more apt to get in trouble among themselves, where many are
employed, and are more difficult to control. We have generally
found them more careless and less uniform in their work than
men; so much so, that their employment is constantly diminishing
in our work, being replaced by machinery. We find them in no way
superior to men, except their nimble fingers." We place against
this the preliminary report to the United States Census of 1860,
where one hundred and forty-two women are returned as being
employed in soap and candle manufactures.
403. Chalk.
I saw a man making prepared chalk. He
sometimes employs small girls to put it in boxes, and pays from
seventy-five cents to $2 per week. They work ten hours a day.
There is nothing unhealthy in it. He thinks there are but few
manufacturers of it, and consequently there is not much prospect
for employment.
404. Emery Paper.
G. would be willing to employ
girls to pack and tie up emery paper, paying $3.50 a week. It is
dirty work, on account of the glue that is used, and is very severe
on the fingers, causing the blood to flow often, and unfortunately
does not harden the fingers by practice.
405. Fancy Soaps.
Some of the fancy soaps of American
manufacture are equal to any in the world. Those of Bazin,
Philadelphia, are considered best. Those of Jules Hauel and Harrison
are nearly equal. There are other manufacturers of fancy
soap in the United States. On Spruce street, Philadelphia, is a
place where they employ girls to put up fancy soaps, and pay by the
piece, from $2 to $5 per week. L., New York, employs girls by the
week, for from $2 to $3.50. It requires practice to put up either
soap or perfumery. They are most busy in spring and fall. None
made South or West. L. has lost the custom of shop girls by the
hard times. They have no money now to spend for fancy soap
and hair oil.
406. Fire Works.
Two hundred and eleven females are
reported in the census of Great Britain as being employed in making
fire works. S. & Co., New York, employ ten or twelve women
for pasting the paper covers on fire works, but not for filling with
[Pg 393]
powder. All the work is done in daylight. They are paid
something while learning, and then from $3 to $5 a week. For
overwork, they are paid by the hour. Their factory is in Greenville,
N. J. There is one in Cincinnati, one in Boston, and one
in Philadelphia. Girls sit while at work. The prospect for
learners is good. S. & Co. are most busy in spring and summer
but able to keep their hands employed all the year. They have
a great many children employed on Long Island, in making
torpedoes, who cannot earn more than $1.50 a week.
407. Flavoring Extracts.
Manufacturers in Rochester
write: "We have about twenty women engaged in putting up
and packing perfumery, &c., and pay from $2 to $3 per week.
A smart girl will learn in a week. Quickness of movement and
steadiness of habit are the best qualifications. The prospect of
work in this line is good. They are employed all the year, and
work ten hours a day." C., of Boston, employs a number, "because
they can work cheaper than men. They are paid by the
day or week, according to their experience. Good workers earn
50 cents a day, of nine hours. To thoroughly understand the
business requires a lifetime. Women's part of the work is learned
in six months. Women are paid while learning. All seasons
are alike. The work is easy, and the pay good. Board, $1.50."
H. C. & Co., of Boston say: "In compliance with your wishes,
we give below answers to your inquiries. We manufacture perfumery,
cooking extracts, hair oils, &c. We employ females to
bottle and label them. We pay by the amount of labor done, and
the average earnings are about $4 per week. Why women are not
generally better paid is a difficult question to answer. We think,
however, the argument is good that they do not as a general
thing have family expenses to bear. If they were taxed (are not
those that own property?) and also bore a proportionate share of
family expenses, there is no good reason why they should not
have the same pay for the same labor as males. (Have not the
majority of workwomen some one dependent upon them, even with
their scanty wages?) The work may be learned in a few weeks.
An aptness and tact to handle small bottles, to tie ribbons, and
cut corks quickly, best fit one for this work. There is a constant
demand for the kind of goods we manufacture. Our females
work ten hours a day, and their employment is steady. The
work is clean and comfortable; the remuneration, we think, just.
Women are superior to men, from being quicker in their movements
and displaying better taste. Board, $2.50." Other
manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ ten American
women, because they do the work cheaper than men could. We
pay by the piece. They earn $6 a week, and receive three fourths
[Pg 394]
of the wages of men. They are paid $3 per week while learning.
Women are inferior in business capacity, superior in details.
Board, $3 per week."
408. Glue.
Glue is made from the parings of hides, and
refuse leather. First they are put in alkaline water to be cleaned,
and then boiled in large vessels. The liquid is poured off
from the gelatine which coats the vessel and forms in sheets. I
think women might spread the substance on nets in drying rooms,
and, when dry, cut it and pack it. It is cut by wires having
handles, which are held in the hand, to assist in pressing the wire
with more force across the glue. S. employs several girls, who
earn from $3 to $6 per week. He pays by the gross. Most of
the girls have been with him ever since he commenced manufacturing,
eight years ago.
409. Gunpowder.
The agent of the Hazard Gunpowder
Company told me they employ at the manufacture as many of
the widows and children of those killed by explosions as they
can, in making linen covers for kegs, and putting gunpowder in
envelopes, and cutting labels, and putting on them. D. writes
to an acquaintance for us: "We employ women at times in
labelling canisters, and then only two."
410. Oils.
A manufacturer of machine oil says a lady
that understands the business could give men orders, and keep
the office, and so carry on the business; but the work is too warm
for women, and too laborious. It is certainly greasy work, and
therefore hard on clothes. A manufacturer of oil writes me
"he thinks the business not at all suitable for women: the only
part that could be done by them is such as pertains to the office,
which would be the same as that of other merchants." The
manufacture of hair oils forms an extensive business. A manufacturer
of linseed oil told me he could employ a woman to
remove the seed from the bags, after the oil has been pressed out,
but it would be greasy work. Some oil manufacturers told me
they would employ girls to put oil in bottles for sewing machines.
They would also be willing to employ female agents to sell oil for
sewing machines. If a lady could sell twelve bottles a day, at 25
cents a bottle, she could make $1.75.
411. Paints.
Oil paint is so disagreeable to handle and
put up in such large quantities that it is unsuitable work for
women. An English workman in B. & I.'s factory told us that
women are employed in the paint factories in London and Hull
as extensively as men. What they do we could not exactly
learn, except that they put the powder for paint in cans, and
label them. The man said the business is pernicious to the health.
Ex-Mayor T. employed some women in his color factory at
[Pg 395]
Manhattanville to label. At O.'s Philadelphia, a few women
are employed in moulding the cakes of water paints, and stamping
them, and in tubing and packing fine oil paints. A paint manufacturer
in Brooklyn writes: "The only way we can employ
females is at putting up paint dry in six-pound boxes or in cans.
This last is ground in oil. We have generally employed boys
for this purpose, but I think females would suit better, provided
they were kept by themselves. If this could be done, we might
be able to employ from four to five hands. The work is rather
unhealthy, as it affects the lungs. We pay one woman $4 per
week, working ten hours a day. It requires a week to learn.
We do not work for four months in winter. Cleanliness and tact
are necessary for putting up goods. Women would attend to
their work better than boys."
412. Patent Medicines.
Women are very extensively
employed in putting up patent medicines. At H.'s, Philadelphia,
where extract of ginger is made, they once employed women in
the summer. They prefer boys and men, because in intervals
men and boys can do other work that women cannot. Women
were only employed by them to put up, seal, and label. Where
H.'s bitters are made, women are employed to envelop, seal,
and label, and paid according to the industry and skill of the
workers. They receive from $3 to $4 a week. Dr. Ayres, I
have been told, has his medicine put up by females in Canada,
because he can have it done there more cheaply, although a duty
of 15 per cent. is paid for importing.
413. Pearlash.
Women could make pearlash in the
country, where large quantities of wood are burned in clearing
off land, and would no doubt find it pay very well for the trouble.
414. Perfumery.
Perfumeries have been used in oriental
countries from the most remote ages. The finest and most
costly perfumes are still brought from the East. They were
much used in England about the time of Queen Elizabeth. The
essential oil of plants confers their odors. This oil may be obtained
by expression, infusion, or distillation. In some cases, it
may be pressed out of the cellular structure that contains it.
Roses and such plants are mostly steeped in water, but some
plants are steeped in wine and similar substances. There is a
difference in oils obtained from different parts of the same plant;
for instance, the leaves, flowers, and fruit of the orange tree yield
distinct oils. The perfumeries of France have the best reputation
of any others. Considerable perfumery is manufactured in
this country, that meets with a ready sale at a good profit. At
J. H.'s, Philadelphia, the woman who superintends others employed
in putting up perfumery, told me that the hands work
[Pg 396]
three months before they are paid. They then receive from $1.50
to $5 a week. It would require two years, she thinks, to acquire
proficiency. J. H. finds employment for his hands all the year
round. The girls cut kid for the tops, tie them on, label the
bottles, lay them in cotton in small boxes, and then put them in
large boxes ready for nailing and sending away. The girls each
perform the entire process. It is not divided into separate
branches. Sometimes they are employed in putting up fine soaps.
The labels are all imported from France. They sit while employed,
and spend from ten to twelve hours at it, according to the work
on hand. R. says some perfumery is made by machinery and
some by hand. He thinks a woman should spend from six months
to one year learning to put up perfumery, as it must be done very
neatly. He pays his girls, while learning, $2.50 a week, and after
that according to ability and industry. The business is now dull,
for people cannot afford to indulge in luxuries. At P.'s perfumery
manufactory, I learned that the girls work from 7½ to 6,
and earn from $2 to $8 per week—the average, $3.50. They
are mostly Americans. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but
they keep them all the year. They have many applications, but
are often puzzled to get enough of good hands. Girls do better
than men for putting up perfumery. It requires some taste. Poor
workers are very destructive, for the articles of which some perfumeries
are made are very costly. There are employed in packing
fancy soap and preparing perfumery, between six hundred
and seven hundred girls, in New York; average wages, $4. A
manufacturer of hair oil pays his men from $10 to $15 per week.
Good taste and a quick hand are the requisites. Near a city is
the best location. At H.'s perfumery and fancy soap manufactory,
one of the firm told me they "import" Frenchmen to make
the perfumery, who impart to them the secret, and they furnish
the materials. Their busy season commences in January. They
pay their girls from the first, but not much until they get to
working well. It requires some time to become expert and tasteful
in putting up perfumery. They are paid by the piece (customary
plan), but do not work over ten hours, as it is all done at
the factory. They can earn from $3 to $9 a week. They keep
their hands all the year, but in busy times employ extra hands.
They employ a number of girls in making boxes, who earn about
$3 a week. P. & F. employ one woman, paying $3.50 a week.
P. told me such work is usually paid for by the gross, and workers
earn about $4.50. The business is likely to increase. No manufactures
West or South. It requires six months to become expert.
Vacancies are often occurring among the hands. Some are employed
in label cutting some in filling bottles, corking, tying,
[Pg 397]
labelling, and boxing, while others envelop and seal the soap.
They sit most of the time, but change their position every little
while. There is but one establishment of the kind west of Philadelphia,
and that is in Cincinnati.
415. Quinine.
At P. & W.'s laboratory, Philadelphia, they
employ a number of girls in weighing and putting up quinine, calomel,
&c., to send away. The girls work eight hours in winter and
nine in summer, and receive from $3 to $9 a week. The employment
is thought not to be healthy. It changes the fairest complexion
to a sallow, just as the taking of the medicine would.
The air of the room where we sat, and where the girls were corking,
sealing, enveloping, and labelling, was strongly impregnated
with the quinine. It was so offensive that I could not rid myself
of the taste for several hours after I left the room. In one apartment
a man and woman were weighing the article. The woman
wore a bandage over her mouth and a muslin cap on her head, and
spectacles with large, dark, convex frames, to prevent the quinine
from getting in her eyes, as it turns the white of the eye yellow.
The women had each their own apartment of labor. They looked
as healthy as you generally see, but I do not know how they may
have looked when they commenced working there. The lady
who accompanied me, said her friend had fallen off very much
and lost the beauty of her complexion while working there during
the last two years.
416. Salt.
"In certain cities, especially at Dieppe, France,
women have the business of carrying salt; it is a monopoly which
has belonged to them from time immemorial. They form a corporation,
have a syndic, and salt in the sack cannot, in this city, be
transported from the vessel to the depots or warehouses by any
but them." According to the statistics of the salt manufacture
in 1850, there were 2,699 males employed and 87 females
in the United States. Water from the ocean, lakes, and
salt springs, I suppose, could be boiled by women. A rock-salt
manufacturer writes: "Women might do some of our work better
than a man; but one man can tend the hopper and tie as fast as
another can fill. The best salt for dairy purposes is imported, and
therefore a seaport is the best place for our business." A manufacturer
in Barnstable, Mass., writes: "Women are not employed
in my branch of industry, as far as my knowledge extends,
in
making salt; but, when it is ground for table use, women are
sometimes employed
in making the bags to put the salt in. They
formerly made good wages in this business; but, since sewing
machines have come into almost general use, the price of labor
has fallen, and I am not posted as to the price now paid, as most
of the ground salt and the bags are manufactured in Boston.
[Pg 398]
Working with salt is very healthy. We manufacture our salt
between the 1st of April and the last of October, by solar evaporation;
but very little if any salt can be made in this way after
the latter month, as the sun runs too low for salt making. Our
works are provided with covers, which require too hard labor for
women to shove on as rain approaches, and to be opened every
fair day. Women can, and occasionally do lend a hand in this
business; but it is too laborious. Then, the salt has to be taken
out by men with shovels, and this is too hard labor for women.
They might assist in drawing the water from one room to another,
by simply taking out and putting in plugs; but under a hot summer's
sun, we think our business entirely unsuitable for them.
In the winter, we manufacture epsom salts; but even this work
we consider too laborious for women." A salt manufacturer in
South Yarmouth, Maine, writes: "I believe women are employed
in the mills in Boston for grinding salt, in making the bags, putting
it up, &c., for table use. Otherwise, the service is too hard."
Manufacturers in Syracuse, N. Y., say "they have but a limited
number of women employed in making sacks. The most of their
sacks are furnished by the manufacturing establishments." Salt
clarifiers in Burlington, Vt., write: "We employ one woman,
because it is cheaper to do so. We pay her $4 per week—a man
we would have to pay $6. The work is healthy, and women's
part soon learned. Spring and summer are the best seasons.
The prospect for work in this line is good. Board, $1.70 per
week." A gentleman in the salt business at Geddes, N. Y.,
writes: "There used to be employed far more women than now
in making bags to hold dairy or bag salt. Now, sewing machines
have entirely superseded them in this branch of our business.
During the summer season, formerly, there were from one hundred
to three hundred women at bag making. There are now,
say one hundred or more women engaged in packing and filling
the barrels with salt. They are all foreigners. It is dirty, heavy,
and laborious work, and not suitable for women, but is extremely
healthy. No difference is made in the price paid men and women,
all being paid by the piece, and earning from 75 cents to $1 per
day. A strong woman can learn very soon. The amount of
work, probably, will not change much in future. The work is
done only in the summer season. A large proportion of all the
salt made in this country is made here. The annual product of
our salt springs is about seven million bushels salt, produced at
an expense for
labor of not less than ten cents per bushel. Nearly
all is paid to men, Irish and Dutch getting the most of it. A
very small part of the work, if any, is adapted to women. Most
of our women workers are the wives or mothers of men and boys
[Pg 399]
who fasten hoops on barrels. Most of the salt at Syracuse, N. Y.,
is made by boiling down the water that springs from artesian
wells. At Turk's Island, salt is made by simply digging vats in
the meadow and throwing the water into them. As it rarely
rains there for a number of months, they require no covering to
their works, and have only to take out the salt and stack it up
when it is made."
417. Soda.
I find that in factories of this kind, girls are
not employed in this country, except for putting the article in
papers. They are paid from twelve to sixteen cents per hundred,
according to the size. At a factory I saw many at work. They
looked very neat. All wore clean calico dresses, and snow-white
handkerchiefs over their heads, to prevent the soda from lodging
in their hair. They must inhale considerable of it, as the atmosphere
was strongly impregnated. One of the workers told me
they are paid eighteen cents per hundred packages, which were
rather large. A box contained sixty packages. Some are able
to put up as many as seven hundred packages a day. The proprietor
and one of the girls said it was not unhealthy work; but
it is my impression that it is, if worked at constantly. It requires
but a week to get in the way of doing it, and expertness
is gained by practice. They work all the year, but sometimes
there is not much to do. They are most busy in spring and fall.
Some of the hands live near; so, in slack times, if the proprietor
receives an order to be filled, he sends immediately for his girls.
At another factory, I was told September and October are the
most busy months for their hands. They cannot send much
away in winter, because the rivers are closed and railroad freight
is high. Soda, I was told, is more used in the South than saleratus.
Some of their girls are paid by the week, and some by the
box. They earn from $3 to $4. The gentleman said the dust
was disagreeable, but not unhealthy. Their girls stand while at
work.
418. Starch.
A large number of plants and vegetable
substances contain starch. Wheat, potatoes, rice, and maize are
the principal. It is also found in the seeds and stems of plants.
It is not soluble in cold water, consequently may be easily washed
out of any vegetable substance. For those from which it cannot
be so removed chemical decomposition may be employed. Manufacturers
write us: "The making of starch is hard and unsuitable
work for females; but girls are employed to put up the starch in
papers and label it, receiving from thirty-seven to seventy-five
cents a day, according to what the worker accomplishes." The
following intelligence we received from the Oswego factory: "We
employ from fifteen to twenty women, because we find them more
[Pg 400]
attentive than boys. They paste labels on packages of starch,
and receive thirty-seven and a half cents per day, of from eight
to ten hours. A smart girl can learn in a few hours. The prospect
of employment in future is good. They are paid the same
that boys would be, and have work the year round. There are
no parts suitable for women, in which they are not engaged.
Board, $1.25 to $1.50."
419. White Lead.
At the store of a white lead manufacturer,
I was told they employ a number of girls, when busy, to
label the tin cans. The making of white lead is unhealthy, and,
I suppose, very disagreeable work. Women are employed in England
in the manufacture of white lead.
420. Whiting.
This article is used for cleaning silver,
and one preparation of it for the face. There are not more than
from twelve to twenty women at the work in the United States.
B. used to employ women, and paid by the pound. The women
earned about $3 a week, of ten hours. They were employed
merely in putting up the article.
421. Assistants in Public and Benevolent Institutions.
There is a wide field of usefulness open to ladies,
as matrons in charitable institutions. Blessed is the influence a
woman exerts as a matron, if she is a kind, good woman. Her
responsibilities are great, but a consciousness of the vast amount
of good she may accomplish should reconcile her to them. The
discharge of her duties will often cast her in the society of visitors,
many of whom are refined and educated people. In
reformatory
institutions for children, a matron may do incalculable
good.
The female department of almshouses, lunatic asylums,
hospitals, prisons, workhouses, and all other public and charitable
institutions, should be in the hands of women. They can
exert a better influence. They know better the wants of their
sister women. They can enter into their feelings. They can
check familiarities with the male inmates, and exert more influence
when temptation is offered. In short, they are women, and
know a woman's heart.
Orphan, and deaf and dumb asylums,
houses of refuge, eye and ear infirmaries, schools for imbecile[Pg 401]
children, and all such places, should be managed by women, as
far as practicable. The managers of the home department of
such institutions should be firm and efficient, yet kind hearted.
Nor should merely the filling of these offices be given to women,
but there should be a number of lady visitors to coöperate
with the managers. They can often suggest many improvements
for the comfort and health of the inmates, that would escape the
notice of men. I was told by a friend, now deceased, who took
an active part in establishing and advancing benevolent institutions,
that she found it very difficult to obtain matrons, seamstresses,
and tailoresses, willing and competent to instruct the inmates
of the institutions in their various branches of labor. She
thought it would be well to instruct women so thoroughly in
their business that they might efficiently impart a knowledge of
it to others. She thought there should be a house where women
and girls could be properly prepared to perform the duties of
cooks, nurses, and house servants. A lady friend suggested that
many of the situations in the public institutions of New York
might be filled by some of the women who are now keeping boarding
houses, and so, the pressure in that quarter being removed,
there would be fairer and fuller play to those that are left in the
occupation. A principal reason of the order and cleanliness of
the workhouses in Holland, is the attention and humanity of the
governesses; for each house has four, who take charge of the inspection,
and have their names painted in the room. For the
moral management of convicts, men are systematically trained in
some countries of Europe. In the hospitals, prisons, and reformatory
institutions of England, supported by the government, women
are employed. They are even eligible as overseers of the poor.
The President of the Board of Public Institutions in New York
city furnished me with answers to questions in regard to the
women employed therein, as follows: "Women are employed as
matrons, nurses, and laborers in this city, and on Blackwell's and
Randall's islands. They receive from $5 per month to $430 per
annum, and are paid by the month. The labor performed, properly
belongs to women, although we employ some men for part of the
same labor, but their pay is about the same. There is no need
of an apprenticeship to become familiar with their employments,
and the only special qualifications are health and strength. There
is no difference as to seasons with us. They work only as many
hours as are necessary. The demand for those occupying this
position grows out of the number of the destitute and criminal
thrown on our hands. About twenty-five per cent. employed are
Americans. We employ women in all work for which they are
suited. The more intelligent are selected for the most responsi
[Pg 402]ble
positions. If so disposed, they have ample time for mental
and moral culture. They live where they labor, and their places
of residence are comfortable." Each of the janitresses of the
public schools of New York receives a salary of from $100 to $400
per annum. At the Tombs of New York, a woman has charge
of the department where the female convicts are. At a meeting
of ladies in Dublin, for the employment of women, Mr. McFarlane
said that "for the last twenty-five years, the Grangegorman
Penitentiary had been under the management of a lady, and it
had been most admirably conducted."
422. Commissioners of Deeds.
There are about two
hundred in the city of New York, and, with a moderate run of
custom, each can make several hundred dollars per annum. Their
duties are very light, and, I have been told, could as well be performed
by women as men.
423. Housekeepers.
A kind, yet decided manner, will
more effectually govern a household than fretting and scolding.
A portion of time should be regularly set aside for servants to
feel as their own. It will often prove a matter of economy to
those who exact work of them. Those of principle will work
more diligently. Everybody needs some rest. Gain the good
will and confidence of servants, and they will reward you in the
labor of their stronger muscles. But avoid familiarity, by all
means. Much of the long, wearing toil of servants might be
avoided by consideration and management on the part of a housekeeper.
Domestics labor hard, and much of the comfort of a
family depends on them. Do not accuse on suspicion those in
your employ of doing or having done wrong. Be careful of the
reputation of others, particularly dependent females. A man of
standing, to whom I expressed the desire that more occupations
should be opened to women, expressed the wish that our domestics
should be Americans, and of a more intelligent class. An effort
should be made to elevate the standard of servants, he said, to
induce more respectable and intelligent women to enter domestic
service. Those engaged in it, he thought, should find something
else to do, and will be pushed out as a more competent class enter.
I would prefer to see our present class of servants fit themselves
better for the discharge of their duties, and American girls enter
occupations of a more refined and exalted nature. The same gentleman
referred to, stated that his servants each receive $2 a week,
dress handsomely, and lay by money. (?) They do better for
themselves, he remarked, than the girls in his bookbindery. In
some of the convents of France, the sisters go through a course
of training to prepare them for the duties of housekeepers, and
are then sent to take charge of religious and charitable institu
[Pg 403]tions
connected with their church. Why might not some such
plan be pursued by Protestants? Says an English review: "In
Germany, the employment of women in the offices of house-steward,
maitre d'hotel, butler or lackey, sanctioned by universal
custom, is not considered so incompatible as it would be with us,
with the other branches of a first-rate establishment."
424. Keepers of Intelligence Offices.
Intelligence
offices are established for the purpose of giving information
to or respecting persons seeking employment. They are individual
enterprises. From fifty cents to $1 is paid by an applicant
for information of persons desiring one of such capacity as they
seek to fill. The same price is paid by the person seeking an assistant
or domestic. Most offices are limited to supplying domestics;
but one or more might be established for the supply of
seamstresses, saleswomen, milliners, dress makers, &c. Girls often
find it an advantage to apply at an office, if they have not friends
to interest themselves and secure them situations. But they
should be particular to know the character of the office they
patronize. A lady remarked to me, if a girl was willing to
spend a year in a family where she could be well instructed
for her work, she could then be sure of a good home and fair
wages. Servant girls are universally complained of at the North.
Many of them are very exacting. Most are raw Irish girls, who
think, when they come to this country, everybody is equal. Consequently,
they do not know their places as they do in the old
country, where there are distinct grades in society. Another thing
that makes some so trifling is that such swarms come, and they
are so ignorant, and many of them so corrupt, that they instigate
each other. I was told, by the keeper of an intelligence office,
that girls and women always ask more than they expect to get.
Some cooks get as high as $20 a month. They are mostly French
and German. Now and then he has a good American. He has
a lady in attendance that can speak French and German. His
terms are fifty cents a month from the employer, and the same
from the employée. It gives the privileges of the office for one
or two months. Few are willing to go to the country. Many
girls come from the country that do not know where to board.
The keeper of the office sends them to a cheap but respectable
house. His office is open from eight to five. To employers he
sends a blank certificate of character, to be filled when the servant
leaves. There is a Protestant office in Philadelphia, and
one or more in New York. At an intelligence office on Grand
street, where girls pay fifty cents and the employer fifty cents, the
girl has the privilege of being supplied with places for two months,
if she remains on trial the time specified by agreement with her
[Pg 404]
various employers. If not, she forfeits the privilege. This office
had a servants' home connected with it, that is, a boarding house
for servants out of employ. The girls paid $2 a week. A training
school was connected with this, in which the servants received
instructions in cooking and the various details of housekeeping.
The cooking of the boarding house was done by some of the number.
He failed in his enterprise, he said, from want of capital.
One has been in operation in England for eight years very successfully,
connected with which is a training school. They have
few Americans to apply for places; for Americans like lighter
work, as nursing, sewing, being lady's maid, &c. In summer
there is a scarcity of girls, for they go to the country and watering
places to cook and do housework. In the fall they flock to
the city, and there are more applicants than situations. At some
offices the privilege is accorded for three months, and at some
only one month. A lady who keeps an office in Williamsburg
told me, when the girls come to her, she takes their names and
qualifications. She receives the calls of ladies wanting girls, and
also records their wants. After five o'clock, and on Saturday
after two o'clock, the office is closed, and she then compares the
wants of employers and employées, and makes out a corresponding
list. Next day she sends girls to their places. I could have
got a lady's maid for $5 a month with board and lodging. I saw
a lady securing a nurse for her child at the same price. Fifty
cents is the fee for the privilege of her office for three months.
She furnishes girls during that time until the mistress is satisfied;
and the girl pays the same, and is furnished with places for three
months until she is satisfied. She does not require references
from her girls, but sends the lady to the last employer of the
girl. I called at Mrs. Y.'s office, New York. Girls, she says,
get different prices in different States. In wealthy States, as
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Southern States, they get
good prices. In Cincinnati, and the States of Wisconsin and
New Jersey, poor prices. She sends many from the city to every
part of the United States. People write to her, inclosing the
money for the girl's passage. She then buys her a ticket and
provisions, and sends her on; but the arrangement is always for
a year or six months, as people are not willing to incur the expense
of paying the passage of a girl for less time. She could
get many more places for girls, if they would go to the country;
but they do not wish to go, and, if dissatisfied, be at the expense
of returning. The girl may be deceived, by finding there are
twice as many in the family as represented, or the work is much
harder. Mrs. Y. learns the character of a girl that applies to
her, and then registers it in her book. So ladies applying for a
[Pg 405]
girl have from her the true character. She has no difficulty in
finding places for her girls. She is always busy but on a rainy
day. People object to having an intelligence office near them, as
the girls are inclined to stand about the door. It is said that the
majority of the keepers of intelligence offices furnish the best
places to those by whom they are bribed. A few years ago, the
number of white female servants in New York city was estimated
at 100,000, that of Boston 50,000, Philadelphia 30,000, and Baltimore
20,000. There is a lady in Boston who goes around
among her friends and secures to them good domestics, receiving
some compensation for her services—I think, fifty cents a domestic.
When the influence of servants over children is considered,
I think parents cannot be too careful in the selection of their
servants; and to obtain good ones, they should be willing to
pay a fair price. There is a waste of time to girls sitting in
offices, and a risk run of being sent, by a person of whose moral
character they know nothing, to a house that may prove the
wreck of their virtue. At a boarding house and intelligence
office for workwomen, the lady told me they charge $2 a week for
board, allowing the privilege of the wash room, and of sitting in
the parlor in the evening, which is warmed and contains a piano.
To those who cannot pay as much as this, they charge from $1 to
$1.25, giving them rooms in the attic. They have been applied
to often for persons of a higher class than usually frequent intelligence
offices, but only until since the times have been so hard
have they had such applicants. I was told, at another office, they
seldom have American girls apply for places, except as house
girls, and they are mostly girls who have worked in factories.
They send girls to California and all parts of the United States,
and they have some who travel through Europe in the capacity
of ladies' maids. Their office is open from nine to five o'clock.
When a girl is sent for from another place, the money is sent by
express and a receipt taken, or by mail, and a receipt taken at
the post office. One of a high order for cultivated women, who
desire places as bookkeepers, copyists, secretaries, &c., is quite
necessary. We would suggest the establishment of such an office
for furnishing female workers to different parts of the United
States, where they are wanted in the higher branches of woman's
labor. It would confer a blessing on virtuous and industrious
women, and be an accommodation to employers. A paper devoted
to the same interests might do much good also; but we think
it doubtful whether it would pay its way.
425. Lighthouse Keepers.
Miss H. told me of two
young women whose father keeps a lighthouse, but he is very
feeble and infirm. They attend the lights, and often row out, if
[Pg 406]
they see a wreck, and do what they can to rescue the passengers.
We observed this newspaper paragraph a few years back: "A
Mrs. Lydia Smith has been appointed assistant keeper of the
lighthouse at Manitou Island (Michigan) at $250 per annum."
"They have a Grace Darling at Bridgeport, Conn. On the night
of the 13th inst., Miss Moore, an accomplished young lady, the
daughter of the keeper of the lighthouse on Fairweather Island, just
below Bridgeport, heard cries for help at a distance from the
shore, and determined that an effort should be made to rescue
whom it might be. It was too dark to tell the direction or the
distance, but, summoning two young men to her aid, she launched
the boat belonging to the lighthouse, and ordered them to pull
out in the direction of the cries, herself holding the tiller. About
two miles out in the Sound, they found a sailboat capsized, and
clinging to it were two men nearly exhausted. One of them was
entirely helpless, and with great difficulty got in the boat; but
both were finally rescued from death by the courage and efforts
of this brave girl, and brought safely to shore. Mr. Moore, the
keeper of the lighthouse, has been for some time afflicted with
ill health, and when unable to see to the details of his office, this
daughter assumes the entire management, and, through the lonely
watches of the night, it is her fair hand that trims and tends the
beacon that guides the mariner safely on his way."
426. Pawnbrokers.
I suppose this business requires a
general knowledge of the value of goods. Some pawnbrokers
profess to make liberal advances, but a very heavy percentage is
usually charged. Indeed, some pawnbrokers extort an incredible
interest on money loaned to the poor. S., an intelligent Irish
pawnbroker, into whose office I went to ask something of the
business, told me he never knew of but one woman in the business.
She was nominally a widow, and employed a young man to stay
in the shop. When women are employed in pawnbrokers' establishments,
it is nearly always as auxiliaries, being the wife, sister,
or daughter of the keeper. He thinks it not a suitable business
for a woman, as the class of people that come require a strong
man to deal with them, who can use their slang language, and
drive them away if they become very rude. No doubt, many go
to pawn what they have when under the influence of liquor, or
to pawn their clothes to get liquor. The broker retains what is
pawned for a year, if it is not redeemed in less time. It is then
sold at auction. There is a law that permits it. His shelves
were filled with bundles, on which were pinned numbered papers.
Another pawnbroker told me that the fashion and quality of
goods decide the price put on them, particularly wearing apparel.
There may be a difference in the value estimation of pawnbrokers,
[Pg 407]
just as there is in different establishments where the same kind
of new goods are sold. I saw the name of a female pawnbroker
in a business directory, and called. I did not see her, but the
young man who was employed to assist her in attending the store
said they have most business to do in summer, and that it is a
business requiring experience. They pay on articles taken to
them what they will be likely to sell for at auction. They must
make some allowance for what they may lose on the article.
They charge at the rate of twenty-five per cent. for a year's time,
which is as long as anything pawned is kept. They lose more
on clothes than other goods. They allow a depositor to draw any
sum of less amount than the estimated value of an article; and
when the article is redeemed, a percentage is paid on the
amount of the money drawn, and not on the full value of the
article.
427. Postmistresses.
There are (1854) 128 postmistresses
in the United States. They receive the same salaries
that postmasters do. The clerks in post offices sometimes count
at the rate of sixty letters a minute. There are 29,000 post
offices in the United States, ninety clerks in Chicago, and, I
think, nearly three hundred in New York. Might not a large
number of these be women? I have read that it is in contemplation
to place in the general post office in London a number of
lady clerks. I called on Mrs. W., who was for nearly two years
at the ladies' window in the general post office, New York. Very
few approved of a lady being there. She found some advantages,
but many disadvantages, arising from her position. In the first
place, it yielded her and her child a support, the salary being
$600. She was treated with respect by all the attachés of the
office except two—one of whom was immediately dismissed, and
the other removed. But the class of women who go to the
general post office constantly for letters, are of a kind a respectable
woman would not like to come in contact with. The majority
receive letters under fictitious names. Some of them were
very impudent to her. And sometimes men would come to the
window and insist on her getting the letters of their lady friends
for them. Besides, there were about fifty clerks immediately
around her, and altogether in the office between two hundred and
three hundred. They were men of all classes and nations. The
office is one influenced by political motives, and a man has the
advantage as candidate by gaining the votes of his friends. She
says she was kind and courteous, but found it necessary to be
very decided, and keep at a distance from every one. The men
in the office did not like it, because they had to guard their
tongues. She remained there from 8.30
A. M. to 4.30
P. M., and
[Pg 408]
was on her feet all the time, with the exception of a few minutes.
There were no conveniences or comforts for a woman. So she
suffered severely from the effects. She thinks the plan of employing
ladies in the post offices of towns and villages might be
done more easily. Even here it might be done more advantageously,
if the office was situated farther up street, the regulations
were different, and a number of ladies were employed instead of
but one. A lady could not well use a ladder to reach down letters
from the upper boxes. A young man did that for her. For a
postmistress we might enumerate the qualifications of quickness
of eye, strict integrity, a retentive memory, and patient industry.
"Unmarried females only can hold the office of postmistress.
They are appointed, give bonds, and are commissioned in the
same manner as postmasters, and receive the same compensation.
There is, however, a larger number of females, generally the wives
and daughters of postmasters, employed as assistants; but as the
latter are appointed and paid by the postmasters themselves, to
whom alone they are responsible, their names are not recorded on
the government books."
428. Sewing-Machine Instructors.
In many of
the stores of New York, where sewing machines are sold, we
notice that many of those who give instructions to buyers of machines
are men. Shame on the men that teach women to sew!
When such is the case, to what may not a woman resort for earning
a livelihood? Shame on the man that engages in such an effeminate
employment, save he who is deformed and cannot engage in
harder work! Shame, I say, on the man seen at a sewing machine,
or with a needle in his hand! Surely the muscles and bones and
sinews of men were never given for such a purpose. W. & W.
employ five young ladies as instructors on machines, paying each
of them over $6 a week. They have one to sell thread, and two
to go about the city adjusting machines. It is something difficult
to do, as it requires almost the mechanical talent of a machinist.
They have no applications for instructors on sewing machines
out of the city, but have for some in the city. They employ
females because the purchasers of machines are generally ladies.
G. & B. employ a lady for adjusting machines, as they find
ladies prefer one of their own sex for the purpose. I was told at
S.'s, by the bookkeeper, they do not employ female instructors.
They used to employ both young men and young ladies, but they
spent so much time talking to each other, that they found it necessary
to dispense with either the one or the other. So they
gave up the girls eighteen months ago, and have not employed
any since. They paid girls $4 a week from the time they took
them, and increased their wages to $5 or $6. Many of the women
[Pg 409]
earned $6. They worked, on an average, ten hours a day. Ladies
are employed in Boston to sell machines. The ladies of New
York (said a young man selling machines) prefer to buy of a
gentleman. (?) Yet, he thinks the crying sin of civilization is, not
furnishing remunerative employment to women. Simply learning
to sew with a machine is by no means difficult, though the time
required depends very much upon the abilities of the learner.
Some become proficient in all its accomplishments of hemming,
tucking, gathering, preparing work for the machine, &c., in from
three to six months, while others do not become efficient workers in
less than a year. The time required to learn depends very much
on the machine used, as some are more complicated than others;
and a thorough knowledge of the machine is desirable for every
good worker. It is more difficult to learn to operate on one kind
of machine after learning on some other kind. By paying $1.50,
a person can receive six lessons on sewing machines at S.'s. At
W. & W.'s, and at G. & B.'s, purchasers and those who cannot
pay are taught free of charge. Some people charge $3 for teaching
to operate. L. & W. will teach any one to operate who buys
a machine, but they charge others $2.
429. Shepherdesses.
Boys who keep sheep in Scotland,
knit while so employed. Girls and women who tend sheep, might
perhaps do the same. Sheep are being raised to considerable
extent in Texas, and the raising of them is on the increase in the
Western States, but we do not know that females have ever been
employed in this country to tend sheep.
430. Toll Collectors.
It is not unusual to see women
receiving toll at the gates, but they are mostly foreigners, or poor
widows, or the wives of the gatekeepers.
431. Bathhouse Attendants.
There are some people
that cannot afford to have bathhouses in their dwellings, and for
such it is well there are houses where, for twenty-five cents, they
may enjoy the luxury of a bath. Particularly is it well for hard-working
people, on whom the dust and perspiration collect, and
who are refreshed and rendered more healthy by frequent baths.
Where a bathhouse is used for women alone—there being no department
for men—we think it might be owned and superintended
by a lady, just like any other branch of business. Females,
[Pg 410]
of course, would be in attendance to wait on those that frequent
the bath rooms. Quite a number are employed at water-cure
establishments, which are open for patients at all seasons of the
year. Not only does cleanliness promote comfort, but it is conducive
to health. Many of the diseases of the poor arise from a
want of cleanliness. Even the morals are improved, and the mind
freed as it were from its cobwebs. Most medicinal baths should
be superintended by some one that has a knowledge of medicine
and the human system. And those employed, if unacquainted
with the business, should be particular in observing directions
given. For baths, a person should have means to fit up rooms
neatly, and enough to live on until their establishment becomes
known. I called on the wife of a gentleman who has electro-magnetic
baths administered. He is a physician, and gives medical
advice as to the kind of bath required. He does not give
much medicine, thinking the article that would be prescribed had
better be administered externally in the form of a bath. The
baths are $3 for a single one; $10 for four. More people take
the baths in summer than winter. After a vapor bath the system
is stimulated, not relaxed; it is then better prepared for the reception
of medicine. The charge at one establishment I know to be 50
cents a bath, or $5 for twelve. In New York, I saw the People's
Washing and Bathing Establishment, which was put up by some
philanthropic citizens, for the benefit of the poor. A man is employed
to take charge of it; and in summer, several women attend
to bathers, and some wash and iron towels. They pay $3 a week
to a bath attendant, and from $3 to $3.50 to washers and ironers.
They have had 1,500 bathers a day, in summer. For a bath in a
small room and one towel, six cents are charged; for better accommodations,
twelve cents. A swimming bath for boys is attached,
and a charge made of three cents a swim of half an hour.
432. Brace and Truss Makers.
I went to M. & Co.'s,
New York, who are surgical and anatomical mechanicians, inventors,
and manufacturers. They want to employ several good
female workers. They will not take any to learn, because it
requires time to teach them; yet a person of moderate abilities,
that can sew neatly, can learn in a few days, or weeks at most, to
do the cutting out and stitching. Part of the stitching is done by
hand, and part by machinery. The workwomen are paid $3 a
week, and work ten hours. At L.'s truss and bandage institute,
I learned that he employs a number at $3 a week. He cannot
get as many good hands as he wants. He drew several hands
from his former employer by paying them a little more. His
wife does the fitting for ladies. A truss maker in Middletown,
Conn., pays his women by the piece, and they earn from $3 to $4
[Pg 411]
per week. A., Brooklyn, pays a girl that sews neatly, but has
never worked at the business, $3 a week. Any one that can sew
well or operate on a machine, can do the mechanical work.
He pays experienced hands over $3, according to what they do.
His girls work but nine hours a day. Manufacturers of surgical
apparatus in Boston write: "We employ women in sewing exclusively,
generally about twenty, and all American. The work
is not more unhealthy than any sewing. We consider any steady
sewing, and the consequent confinement, more or less injurious.
Average wages, perhaps $4 per week—something depends upon
capabilities, however. Some have earned $6 per week, though
such cases are exceptions. All our work is done by the piece.
Females are paid about half the price of males. There appears
to be an ample supply of female labor. On this basis, prices,
details, &c., are governed accordingly. That portion of the work
done by males, it takes three years to learn; that done by women,
three months, presuming they were good sewers at the start.
Learners are paid the same as old hands. Of course, they are
slower, and accumulate less until well learned. To be a neat
sewer and possess some mechanical skill will prepare one for this
employment. We are seldom idle more than two weeks in the
year. The male portion of our work would be no more adapted
to women than horse shoeing. Our hands work from eight to
twelve hours each day, and have none too much time for the improvement
of their minds, considering they must be occupied
more or less upon their own private sewing in addition to their
business." A truss maker in Boston writes: "I pay by the
week, from $4 to$6 to women; to men, from $7 to $12, because
they can do more. They work from nine to ten hours. All are
Americans. It requires from three to six months to learn.
Some portions of the steel work would not be suitable for women.
Board, $2 per week." "W. & F. employ eight women for
making braces, bandages, &c. They pay $3 a week to those
who are employed by the week. Those that work by the piece can
earn from $4 to $6, and sometimes by overwork $7 a week.
Their work is steady in good times, and they are able to employ
their girls all the year. All sew by hand but one, and she receives
but $4 as an operator. The business is mostly confined to
cities."
433. Chiropodists.
W., of the firm of L. & W., was
quite a gentlemanly man in his manners, conversation, and dress.
He mentioned three women, each in different cities, engaged in
this occupation. He thinks his pursuit preferable to dentistry.
Both depend on the class of patients. To follow the calling
professionally requires a knowledge of anatomy and surgery.
[Pg 412]
There is a great deal of charlatanism practised by some in the
calling. A knowledge of how to extract corns is not sufficient.
Bunions, inverted nails, &c., require scientific treatment. He
charges $1 for removing one corn, fifty cents apiece for two, and
proportionately less for three or more. There are a great many
itinerant doctors. If any individual fits himself properly for the
calling, he may, after three or four years, in a large city, living
from hand to mouth during the time, succeed in establishing a
name and gaining respectable practice. The number of ladies
suffering from corns has not decreased, judging from his experience.
Men are more liable to have corns than women, because
of more severe and constant exercise. He thinks it would not
do for women to work at men's feet. I think it would not be
more agreeable to a woman to have a man work at her feet; and
as far as propriety goes, one is no better than the other. He
would discourage any lady friend of his from undertaking the
business. I called on Mme. K., a French lady. Her father
is a chiropodist in Paris, and what she knows of the business she
learned from seeing him. She found it unpleasant at first, but
now she does not mind it. She goes to the house of the patient
for the same price as she operates at her own room, namely, fifty
cents a corn. She has as much to do as she wants. She thinks,
in other places there are openings, and a woman that thoroughly
understands the business is in every way as fit and capable as a
man. She knows of but one other lady in the business in this
country, and she is quite aged. She thinks, by three months'
study and practice with a skilful operator, one might do very well
to commence for herself. She would as soon operate on a
gentleman's as a lady's foot. It might be well for one commencing
to practice to travel, or get custom in several towns and
villages in the same vicinity. I think she would instruct any
one for a satisfactory compensation. A chiropodist says, as long
as people are fools enough to abuse their feet, the prospect for his
employment is good. L. is the oldest practitioner in the United
States, and has practised in New York for twenty years. He
would be willing to instruct pupils, charging $100 for each
student. He would give thorough and systematic instruction,
and teach to make the material used. People have not had
much confidence in ladies, because of their deficiency in surgical
skill. Incompetent persons have injured the business. Times
do not affect the amount of practice. There are openings in
Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago. Many ladies come to L. to
have their finger nails trimmed, polished, and tinted. They
would no doubt be as willing to have a competent lady.
[Pg 413]
434. Cuppers and Leechers.
This business is sometimes
connected with that of a barber. But in cities, some women
engage in it, and, no doubt, are as competent as men. Indeed,
for their own sex and children they are better fitted. Mrs. A.,
a cupper and leecher, told me the best way to obtain custom is
to form the acquaintance of some of the best physicians, as they
will then recommend you but you must always be ready to attend
their patients, or they forget you. Her father was a physician,
and in that way she learned the treatment of leeches.
It is well to get into the favor of persons that serve as leechers at
the infirmaries—they may be willing to instruct you. The Germans
have killed the business in New York. Some charge but
twenty-five cents for cupping, and proportionately low for leeching.
Leeching is sooner learned than cupping, but there is much
less of both done than formerly. Homœopathy has interfered with
their use. She used to be out all day and up all night, but now
she seldom has a call; and yet she must be always at home, and
ready for a call. She never goes to take a cup of tea with a
friend, and is frequently called out of church. Leeching and
cupping require a steady hand, and ability to use the scarificator.
A person in the business must go into all kinds of sickness, without
even asking what it is. Accidents give considerable custom,
and in the sickly season there is most. It has become common
for lads in apothecary shops to be sent out to apply leeches.
When they are to be applied to any hidden part of a lady, a female
leecher, of course, is preferable. Mrs. A. charges twenty-five
cents a leech, if more than one is applied—if not, thirty-seven
cents. For cupping she charges $1. One lady in New
York charges not less than $1 apiece for applying leeches, and
in some cases more. Mrs. L. thinks a lady could not make a
living at the business in New York, because the Germans have
killed the trade by working at half price, and, as might be supposed,
do not properly understand it. A good location should
be fixed upon for an office. A cupper and leecher is expected to
go in all weather, and in all hours of the day and night, and in
any kind of sickness. Most of it is done in fall and winter, because
there is then most inflammation. Judgment must be used
in the quantity of blood to be drawn. A leecher should be a
good judge of the quality of leeches, and the proper treatment of
them. Particular attention should be paid to the directions of
the doctor in applying leeches. Mrs. L. says there is an opening for
a cupper and leecher in Albany, N. Y. A friend of hers there
had to pay exorbitantly for the services of a leecher.
435. Fishing-Tackle Preparers.
In Philadelphia,
I was told at the store where most fishing tackle is sold, that one
[Pg 414]
woman is employed by them in fastening small hooks, with silk
thread, on the end of worm gut. Large hooks are prepared in the
same way for other kinds of fishing. It would seem that few
women know of the existence of that kind of work in Philadelphia,
for when the proprietor advertises for a female hand, he never
has any applicants. It is clean, healthy work, and the materials
can be easily carried home. Fifty cents a day a woman earns at
it, but a man $1. There is but a small demand for fishing tackle
in Philadelphia, but in New York the trade is much more important.
C., of New York, says most engaged in this work are
English women. A fast and correct worker can earn $6 a week
at it. They are paid for by the dozen. He finds women more
honest than men, and therefore prefers them. Men will steal
some of the line or some of the hooks. For making flies, a superior
hand may earn $8 a week. Something of a mechanical
turn is all that is necessary to make a good workman. They
have more work of that kind done than any house in New York,
and pay a better price to have it well done. Nets pay very
poorly, because all the large nets are now made by machinery, and
the smaller ones are made by infirm people, who do it to keep employed
as much as for the compensation. When the coarse netting
is done by machinery, it can be obtained at 12½ cents a
fathom, and a fathom of the same kind done by hand would require
a day. The peculiar system of the business is that the work
is all done in winter, and the goods sold in summer. It is a
luxury, and consequently dispensed with when times are hard.
C. pays for putting hooks on the lines by the gross. The silk
lines are manufactured in England. G. & B. employ four women
who work at home in making fishing tackle and artificial flies.
They are made in winter. An experienced hand can obtain $15
a week, working from six in the morning till ten at night. He
thinks, there are so few in the business, workers would not give
instruction without good pay. A woman may possibly earn $4
a week making nets. They employ Irishmen to weave the silk
worm gut on the hooks. The three or four large fishing-tackle
establishments in New York could furnish all that is needed for
the United States. Mrs. R., who makes artificial flies and fishing
tackle, says she has now and then earned $9 a week—a difference
of $6 in the report of the clerk. But there is considerable difference
in the amount of work of the different kinds; and as they
are paid for by the gross, some kinds of work pay better than
others. There is now considerable competition in this work, because
of the many that are out of employment. Girls apply at
the store, offering to do the work at forty-two cents a gross.
None are prepared South or West—so there may be openings
[Pg 415]
before long in St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, &c. Making
artificial flies is mostly in the hands of Irishmen.
436. Fortune Tellers.
In London is a class of men
and women called Druynackers, that take goods around in baskets
to sell, and profess to tell fortunes. This magic power gives
them influence over many silly girls, that are tempted to buy of
them on that account. We cannot believe that God would
vouchsafe to a mortal the power to foretell future events—to
unite the present and future—time and eternity. The constitution
of all nature and the teachings of the Bible confute such a
belief. "The veil," says some one, "which covers futurity is
woven by the hand of mercy. Seek not to raise the veil therefore,
for sadness might be seen to shade the brow that fancy had
arrayed in smiles of gladness." Wherever there are people
tempted to pry into the future, there will be some to take advantage
of it. Many a fortune teller sells her soul to Satan for
the power of imposing the belief that she reveals future events.
The prices charged by fortune tellers for their services vary from
25 cents to $5.
437. Guides and Door Attendants.
"In Paris, the
box offices of all the theatres are tended by women—not only
those of the evening, but those open during the day for the sale
of reserved places. The box openers and audience seaters are
women." "The proprietor of the London Adelphi advertised,
at the opening of the last season, that his box openers, check
takers, and so on, would all be women." We have seen it stated
that in some of the Roman Catholic churches in Paris, ladies of
the congregation pass around the plates to take up a collection.
Women in some of the old countries are occupied as doorkeepers
at museums and galleries of paintings. In Great Britain, many
of the door attendants are females, where the houses are occupied
by several families, as is often the case. In England, some
women are employed as pew openers. To come nearer home.
Those who have visited the Academy of Fine Arts, in Philadelphia,
will remember the pleasant face of the janitress who
receives the tickets of the visitors, and that an obliging young
woman checked the canes and parasols. In New York, most of
the picture galleries have female doorkeepers.
438. Lodging and Boarding House Keepers.
Patience, a spirit of forgiveness, and an ability to overlook faults,
are very necessary for gliding along smoothly in this difficult and
often ungrateful calling. A cheerful disposition, too, is almost indispensable,
for everybody likes smiles better than frowns. A love
of society is desirable. It is a principle that has been wisely implanted
in the human heart, and one that affords numerous and
[Pg 416]
important advantages to mankind. It is one that tends to produce
a desire for the comfort and happiness of those around.
Yet too great a fondness for society may cause a neglect of duty
and a love of gossipping. It is sometimes the case that light,
frivolous talk and too great fondness for excitement characterize
the keepers and inmates of a boarding house. Yet such, of
course, is not always the case. Keeping a boarding house is an
office that will give to one of a kind and benevolent nature a
good opportunity of exercising her native qualities. Sympathy
closely binds such to the unfortunate, and pleasures are doubled
by participating with others. Whether those who keep boarding
houses happen to have by nature more idle curiosity than others,
or whether the business is one calculated to create and foster
such a quality, I cannot say, but favor the latter opinion. The
tempers of those who keep boarding houses are apt to be very
much tried. They need great firmness and uniformity in deportment.
The price paid for boarding is usually proportioned
to the comforts enjoyed, but not always. In early times, houses
of entertainment for travellers were kept mostly by women. In
a region of country where hunting and fishing are good, or the
scenery fine, and the roads pleasant, ladies often accommodate,
for the summer and autumn, families from the city. It is a very
general fashion for people in the cities to go during the warmest
weather to the country, seaside, or springs. Boarding house
keepers usually find it most profitable to keep a large house, as
only one kitchen and parlor are needed, and many other expenses
attending a house are proportionately diminished. Good boarding
houses for workwomen are scarce in all large cities, particularly
New York. Most keepers of boarding houses prefer men,
because they are less about the house. I have been told that it
is very difficult for work girls to get board in well kept houses.
I think several respectable boarding houses should be established
in large cities by wealthy and influential ladies, or religious societies,
for working women. In New York are some houses
where none but merchants' clerks board. Why might not one or
more be established for shop girls? A list, as given by employers,
of the prices paid by work girls for their board, I will annex
at the close of this work; but I would add that comfortable
rooms and wholesome food cannot be furnished
in cities at these
prices, and afford a reasonable profit to the keepers of the houses.
And I would further say, the prices paid women for their labor
does not enable them to pay higher rates for their board.
439. Makers of Artificial Eyes.
The science of
supplying defects in the physique is such that an artificial man
can almost be manufactured. Artificial teeth, hair, eyes, ears,
[Pg 417]
noses, chins, palates, arms, hands, and legs, are some of the missing
parts of the frame that can be supplied. In the census report
of Great Britain for 1850, we find four women under the head
of artificial limb and eye makers. G., of New York, knows two
or three ladies in Paris, and one in London, that are engaged in
making the whites of glass eyes. G. may be able to give employment
to a lady in making the white of the eyes, in a few
months. It is done by blowing the glass, and requires but a
short time to learn. He says he would pay a woman well for
the work. I called at D.'s, a manufacturer of glass eyes, and
saw D.'s son, a youth about eighteen years of age. He says there
are but two other makers of glass eyes in the United States, and
only two or three in London. D. spent fourteen years in London
and Dublin, manufacturing eyes at the infirmaries, and giving
them away. He did it to get in practice. He prefers to insert
the eyes himself. They move as a natural eye does, and
certainly were very natural in color. He sells them at from $10
to $20. Some physicians furnish their patients with them,
charging $60 or $70 for one, and so making a handsome profit.
When a person that does not understand the form of the glass
eye and the anatomy of the human eye inserts one, the inside of
the eye is liable to become inflamed, and proud flesh is formed.
D. spent a fortune experimenting. It requires an extensive
knowledge of chemicals, and the effect produced on them by heat.
A small furnace is used for burning the colors, in the glass.
Some people would give thousands of dollars to know the chemicals
used, and their proportions. The young man says his father
has never even imparted to him the information. Some people
that wear glass eyes take them out at night. D. judges of the shape
and size required by merely looking at the remaining eye of the
individual. We think a competent person in this business might
establish himself at the South. I called on an Englishman who has
been at the business twenty years in New York. He is over sixty
years of age, and has been in the business fifty years; learned it
with his father in London. He had a number of certificates on
his walls. He says a woman would go into a decline directly, if
exposed to the heat of a furnace in baking eyes. It is necessary
to stay in the oven while the change is taking place in the chemicals.
In summer it is intolerable. His son would not continue
the business on that account. He says the French eyes are
made of glass, covered with porcelain, and break easily; the
white is made by being blown. The English are not blown, and
are made entirely of porcelain. He says they will not break unless
very cold water is applied in bathing the eyes (a common
fashion in the United States). He has had eyes worn for a year
[Pg 418]
without being taken out. He takes the dimensions of the eye by
fitting in different sized ones. If an eye is too small, it will slip
out, fall, and break. It requires long experience to become proficient
in making glass eyes; but it is a beautiful art, and not inappropriate
to competent women.
440. Artificial Limbs.
We had thought, perhaps, a
few women could be employed in this vocation, and accordingly
addressed a circular to a gentleman so occupied. He thinks no
women are engaged in this business in the United States or any
other country; but says they could be, and the reason they are
not is, there is not enough of the kind of work connected with it,
that could be done by women, to employ them. "It requires some
men one year to learn, some five years, and some never can learn.
It depends on natural ability and skill. The qualifications required
are skill, judgment, sobriety, morality, pleasing address,
dignity, imitation, industry, love of the beautiful, and anatomy.
The prospect of work is good; superior workmen will succeed.
The best seasons for work are from September 1st to July 1st.
There is a demand for the work in California. Large seaport
towns are not good localities—patients generally charity cases.
Inland cities surrounded by a populous country, the best localities—patients
better able to pay."
441. Artificial Teeth.
It is said that 3,000,000 artificial
teeth are made in the United States annually. The materials
are all found in the United States. Each tooth passes
through ten different processes. I called at J. & W.'s, Philadelphia.
They employ sixty-two girls, all American. They pay
a learner, after two or three weeks' practice, according to the
quality and quantity of her work. Their girls earn from $1.50
to $7 per week; average $4.50. They have but one hand earning
$7. They would be glad to get more such at the same price,
for it is difficult to get good hands. They have to turn away a
great many applicants. The prospect is good to learners. They
keep their hands all the year. The business has advanced rapidly
during the last few years, and is likely to continue increasing.
There are constant improvements in the business. Consequently
a hand may be always improving. They will not receive a girl
without reference, or credentials of moral character. They do
not want any but intelligent girls, for the hand is guided by the
mind. There are three or four processes carried on in different
rooms. They work at the establishment, and never carry work
home, unless a mother or sister is sick and requires their attention.
It is a light, genteel business; and one well adapted to
women of some education and intelligence. A lady in the cars
[Pg 419]
told me she knew a lady who received $7 a week for making
teeth in Baltimore. She came to Philadelphia, but could not get
as good wages; so she returned to Baltimore. The New York
Teeth Manufacturing Company pay from $3 to $5 a week.
Learners are paid $2.50 a week, from the first, for six months;
and then, if competent, paid more. The work is not unhealthy.
Men average $10, but their branch is different; the work is
heavier. It requires about two months to learn, in one department.
Neither men nor women are often taught more than one
branch. All seasons are alike, and they are never out of work.
The supply of hands is greater than the demand everywhere.
Small hands, nimble fingers, and good eyesight are important to
a worker. In the establishment of R., New York, four processes
in the making of artificial teeth are performed by women. Some
branches require a longer time to learn than others. It takes
six months to learn any one perfectly. R. pays $3 a week to his
learners, and $5 a week to experienced workers. Careful manipulation
is the most that is needed. Judging from the increase in
the last five years, the prospect for employment is excellent; yet
the openings in New York are limited. Women are the best
workers, but some prefer men. The only manufacturers are in
New York, Philadelphia, Hartford, and Bridgeport. It is desirable
to have careful workers. B. had a girl ruin $500 worth of
teeth for him. The parts performed by women are cleaning the
moulds, setting the pins, filling the moulds with the tooth materials,
and trimming, and putting on the pink color answering the
place of gums; also placing them on slides preparatory to baking
and carding.
442. Nurses for the Sick.
Attention to this subject
has been awakened during the last few years, by the heroic conduct
of Miss Florence Nightingale and the ladies who went with
her to the Crimea to wait on the sick and wounded. When the
people of England proposed making some testimonial of regard
to Florence Nightingale, she proposed that, with the means expended
in doing so, they should establish an institution for the
training of nurses. We would not fail to notice a fact that
reflects much credit on Miss Anne M. Andrews, of Syracuse,
N. Y. While the yellow fever raged in Norfolk, Va., she left
her home and went alone to Norfolk, devoting her time and services
to the sick of all conditions. She received the medal that
is usually awarded to a physician on such occasions, and the citizens
talked of placing a statue in a conspicuous part of their city,
as a memorial of her goodness and their indebtedness. In Berlin,
Vienna, Turin, and Halle, hospitals have been established for the
[Pg 420]
education of nurses. In Germany, there has been one for many
years. A number of good ladies connected with that institution
are now in Pittsburg, where they form an order of deaconesses.
Some take care of the sick, and some have charge of an orphan
asylum. St. Luke's Hospital, New York, is under Episcopal
supervision, and connected with it is an order of Protestant deaconesses,
who attend the sick. Most of the hospitals in this
country have been established by the Roman Catholic Church,
and are under its guidance. We think Protestant hospitals for
the sick are greatly needed, especially in the Western and Southern
cities—Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and New
Orleans. It may be that some exist in those cities; but, if so,
we think they must be quite limited in extent. Asylums for sick
children are established in some of our largest cities. A number
exist in Europe. A nurse should have a kind, sympathizing nature,
good health, strong nerves, great powers of endurance, ability
to sit up all night, and bear exposure to extremes of temperature.
In addition, she needs a good memory, that she may give the right
medicine at the proper time. If she has not, she should commit
to paper such orders, and consult them frequently. A long and
thorough training is needed by an attendant on the sick. Great
self-control is necessary, for many persons are very impatient in
sickness. A bright, cheerful spirit should be cultivated. A sweet
voice is pleasant in a nurse, because a sick person is sensitively
alive to the smallest matters. It requires a woman of education,
consideration, and delicacy of feeling, to be an acceptable nurse
to people of refinement; and such a one must become attached
to those she serves, if treated kindly. To make a kind and sympathizing
nurse, one must have waited, in sickness, upon those she
loved dearly. A nurse should use the precaution of wearing
camphor, or something of that nature, on her person, particularly
where there is contagious fever. The room should be large and
well ventilated, and preventives used to keep the infectious air
from spreading. A better class of women are employed to wait
on the sick than formerly. The infirmary for women, established
by Dr. Blackwell, in New York, is designed partly as a school for
nurses. There is also an institution in Philadelphia for training
them. Nurses earn from $4 to $10 a week. Some wait only on
male patients, some only on ladies; some attend incurables, but
the most serve in general sickness. Mrs. B. gets $7 and sometimes
$8 a week and her board for monthly nursing. She knows some
that get $10 a week. She stays in the room with the lady and her
infant, and takes care of and waits on them. When food is to be
prepared, the child's clothes washed, or anything of that kind done,
[Pg 421]
she rings a bell and gives orders to a servant. Mrs. B., another
ladies' nurse, charges from $8 to $10 a week, according to the
amount of rest she loses at night. She told me that most good
physicians keep a list of the best nurses. A nurse is expected to
be able to make all the nice dishes required by her patient. In
most small places, she is not expected to have the assistance of
any one else, unless the sickness is very protracted, or the patient
is delirious. In some places, a nurse is expected to close the eyes
of the dying, and wash them after death, and perform any other
service of that nature. But it is not uncommon for an undertaker's
wife to be sent for to perform these duties, and take a
measure for a shroud. For these services she is paid from $3 to
$5. A nurse runs the risk of contracting a contagious disease;
but, if the system is in a good condition, there is not much danger.
As long as people are sick, which will be as long as there
are any, nurses will be employed. Of course, there is most to
do in sickly seasons. I called on Mrs. P., who charges $5 a week
for her services. She does all that is required for the patient,
except give medical advice. She would rather wait on men than
women, as they are sure either to pay better wages or make presents.
As she has had children of her own, and raised them all,
she feels competent to take care of children in sickness. It is
well for a woman to have a home to go to, when relieved from the
labor and anxiety of nursing.
443. Steamboat and Railroad News Venders.
Boys and men are much more frequently engaged in the sale of
newspapers, than women and girls. They are more disposed to
sell edibles. We have seen some little girls selling papers on the
streets of New York and Philadelphia; but we do not remember
ever to have seen women selling papers at railroad depots or on
steamboats, though many are seen with baskets of sweetmeats.
Many, perhaps, cannot read, and do not wish to sell papers with
whose contents they are unacquainted. Others may think they
will be less likely to make any profit by their sale. Some women
sell papers at stands on the streets of New York, and about the
hotel doors. I saw a newspaper boy with an armful of Ledgers.
He had sixty that he had bought at three and a half cents apiece,
and was selling at four cents apiece. A girl that sells newspapers
at the door of a hotel on Broadway, told me that she and her
mother take turns about in being at the stand, and the profits of
their joint sales are from 50 cents to $1 a day. She has several
Sunday customers, to whose houses she takes ordered papers.
444. Street Musicians.
Organ grinders and street
harpers have ever found a fair representation in the softer sex.
Such representation is, however, among our foreign population—
[Pg 422]German
and Italian, mostly. Last summer, in the streets of
Philadelphia, might be seen, from day to day, a German woman
with an organ on her back, and a baby in a hand-wagon, going
from street to street, stopping now and then under a window to
play. And in New York was another, whose organ was placed
in a small barrow, which she wheeled through the streets of the
city. We have seen two old women going through the streets of
New York, one playing an organ, the other a tambourine; and a
few days since, we observed one drawing very creditable music
from a violin. Girls in the Swiss costume are sometimes seen
walking from place to place, with a harp and tambourine. Some
people say that, by the encouragement of street musicians, we
encourage idleness. Most such people would treat a musician
with scorn, and close the door in their faces, but step out where
they could enjoy the music and save their pennies; or they would
stand behind closed shutters, that their neighbors might not think
them capable of having such vulgar taste as listening to a street
musician. Now, we may encourage a disposition to roam, but
scarcely idleness. This propensity to roam may be unfavorable
to the cultivation of business habits; but the class of listless
Italians who engage in it could never become business people.
In the first place, harpers, violinists, and flutists must depend on
their own skill and knowledge of music, to perform. They must
prepare for their particular vocation, as others do. Those who
play on organs, harmonias, and similar instruments, where no
knowledge of music is necessary, we must admit, require no training;
but walking, as most musicians do, from eight to twenty
miles a day, is in itself laborious. We have been told that in
New York most street musicians are employed by two or three
individuals, who furnish the instruments, and allow the carriers
to have so much of the proceeds. In older countries, there is a
greater variety in the instruments used by street musicians.
"There are sometimes fifty persons engaged in the sale of second-hand
musical instruments on the streets of London."
445. Tavern Keepers.
The keeping of taverns in small
villages, or on the roadside in the country, furnishes some with the
means of gaining a livelihood. Women engaged in this business
should be wives whose husbands can attend to receiving travellers,
settling bills, ordering horses, and such duties, or widows with
sons old enough to do so. It is laborious enough for a woman to
superintend the table and bed rooms, and the man must be in
wretched health, or good for nothing, that cannot attend to the
outdoor duties. Much money has been accumulated by some
people keeping taverns in the Western country, where fifty cents
is the usual price for a meal. Indeed, the accommodations are
[Pg 423]
often such that a person cannot be rendered comfortable, and yet
the price paid would command all the comforts of a good boarding
house in a large town. It is the same case with the hotels,
or saloons, at some railroad depots. At others an abundance of
life's good things is furnished. The tavern keepers of London
have a pension society.
446. Travelling Companions.
Travelling alone, is
most favorable to thought, but not to pleasure. How much more
we enjoy a lovely scene in nature, or the novel and brilliant
sentiments of an author, when in company with one to whom we can
talk freely! Good conversational powers, and an ability to appreciate
the beautiful, are desirable in a travelling companion. Conversation
should flow in a free, easy, unrestrained current. Will
it not promote the entertainment and edification of rational, responsible,
and immortal beings, to engage in wholesome conversation—to
exchange sentiments in regard to books and the improvements
of the age—to learn of the heavens above and the earth
beneath? In talking with strangers, might not much be learned
of their various countries, and a thousand things pertaining to
them? Conversation exercises the imagination, gives play to a
talent of invention, and strengthens the reasoning faculty. It
sharpens thought as fermentation does wine. It tends, also, to restore
the diseased imagination of the secluded and morbidly sensitive.
447. Mistresses.
We scarcely know that it is in
place to say anything to this large and influential class of
ladies. Yet, as we treat of servants, and endeavor to impress
their duty upon them, we hope we may be excused for saying
a few words to those who have charge of them. From the
relation existing between a mistress and her servants, the mistress
is supposed to have had superior mental and moral advantages.
Then let that strongest of all incentives, a good example, be given.
In some cases, the only good influence likely to be exerted over
the servant, is by the mistress. No woman of right feelings can
look upon her servants as mere beasts of burden. She knows and
feels that they have souls, and are accountable beings; that each
one is capable of extremes of misery and happiness. Should they
[Pg 424]
not therefore receive kind and careful instruction in what is right?
If the same regular system of domestic service were employed in
this country that exists in Europe, housekeepers would be saved
much labor. There, each department, even of kitchen labor, is
distinct, and a servant is promoted according to her industry and
improvement. But the expense of a large number of servants is
one that most people in our country feel unable to support. Difficulties
often arise from labor being required of servants that
they have not stipulated to perform; and no definite understanding
as to the extent of the privilege of receiving visitors is likely
to prove a source of trouble. The thousand petty annoyances
to which a mistress is subject, renders it necessary that she have
a perfect command of her temper. A mistress must make great
allowance for ignorance of what is right and wrong, for untamed
passions, strong appetites, unimproved reason, and want of self-control.
Many domestics are foreigners—ignorant, dull, and unacquainted
with our language. We are sorry to say some mistresses
expect their servants to be faultless, when they themselves,
with their superior advantages, are not so. Mistresses are responsible,
to some extent, for the spiritual, as well as the mental
and physical good of their servants. They are in charge of immortal
souls. The tendency of their influence and example must
be either elevating or depressing. The quiet of the Sabbath,
we think, might be granted to those in most departments of domestic
labor. Cooks, we think, might prepare a dinner on Saturday,
to be served cold on Sunday, with tea, if the weather be
cold, or the habits of the people require it. Sabbaths have been
called "milestones in the journey of life," and has not the poor
cook, steaming over the fire day after day, need to count the
milestones in the journey of her toilsome life? Says Mrs. Graves,
in her "Woman in America:" "Is it not strange, that, among
all the societies of the day, not one should have been formed for
the intellectual and moral improvement of domestic servants, and
for instructing them in household employments?" At the House
of Protection, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, girls and
women of good character, out of employment, or strangers in the
city, are received on application. The girls are taught to wash,
iron, do housework, sew, and embroider. Would that the Protestants
would imitate this noble charity more fully! I am happy
to add that in connection with the Child's Nursery (a Protestant
institution), Fifty-first street, New York, has been commenced a
servants' school. Young girls taken into the institution receive a
year's instruction in washing, ironing, house cleaning, and sewing.
448. Domestics.
We think an important work of benevolence
presents itself in Free States. It is providing homes for
[Pg 425]
servant girls, when they are out of employment or sick. Many
of them are in a strange land, unacquainted with the language
and the ways of the people. When sick, some of them are immediately
sent off by their mistresses to save the trouble of waiting
on them. The negroes of the Slave States, when sick, are (if
they have kind masters and mistresses) as tenderly cared for as
any member of the family, and are never without a home in health
or in sickness. That lonely and wretched feeling of having no
place to consider home, is not their experience. Connected with
this subject, arises one to which we have never yet given much
attention, but which forces itself on our mind as one calling for
attention from the benevolent: it is the establishment of institutions
for the afflicted portion of the colored population, both in
Slave and Free States. We refer to the blind, the deaf and dumb,
and the insane. We know of no separate institution for such,
and no arrangement whatever, with the exception of limited arrangements
for the insane, in connection with institutions for
white people. Now and then we hear people advocate the old
plan of binding orphans and destitute children. Whether that
would be advantageous, would depend altogether on the kind of
people to whom they were bound. Some servants soon fail,
and are not fit for service more than a few years. It arises mostly
from their exposure to cold and dampness without being properly
clothed and fed, and sometimes from a too free indulgence in the
pleasures of the palate, particularly that of the consuming liquid
which burns out life and sense. The hard work that most Irish
women can perform, and the large number in this country, have
made them the most numerous domestics in the Free States.
They are generally employed as maids of all work. I think the
number of American girls going into service is increasing. The
majority of white female domestics in this country are single
women, from sixteen to thirty-five years of age. In Providence,
R. I., a census was taken in 1855, stating, among other particulars,
the number of American families having servants, the
number in foreign families, and the aggregate; but the number of
white domestics has never been fully taken in the United States,
even when collecting statistics for the census. A short time ago,
we counted in the New York
Herald eight columns of situations
wanted, three fourths of which were by female domestics. It
shows what a surplus there is of domestics in the cities, that no
doubt could find situations through the country, and in the villages.
The majority of female domestics would rather starve
in New York than go to the country, or even little towns around
for fair wages. I think it arises from the fear that they will
not find associates. A social feeling is natural, but should be
[Pg 426]
controlled by circumstances. With many, the great drawback is
the fear that they may not be able to have the privileges of their
own particular church; and still another is that they may not find
the place to which they go, or are sent, exactly what it is represented
to be, and the expense that would be incurred by a
return. Domestics are more respected in the country, and treated
more as members of the family, than domestics in towns. The
preference is usually given, in towns and cities, to domestics from
the country, because of their superior strength and better health.
"For a person to be a good servant, there are three requisites:
first, she must have professional skill in her calling; secondly, she
must be a good woman; thirdly, she must have feelings of kindliness
and regard to her master and mistress." In 1853, domestics
were receiving wages in San Francisco proportioned to the prices
paid for everything else. Cooks got $100 a month, and board; house
servants, from $35 to $70, and board. Chambermaids $40 to
$70, and board. Prices have fallen since 1853 in California, but
good female domestics can now earn there from $25 to $30 a
month besides board. "In most towns through our country
domestics get from $1.25 to $2.50 a week, and board. We give
the rates of wages of domestics in New York (1857) at the intelligence
offices. Maids of all work, very raw, $4 per month;
average, $5; good, $6 to $7. Chambermaids—good, $6. Cooks—good,
$7 to $8—extra $12 to $16. Laundresses $8 to $10.
The cooks who obtain the highest rates, sometimes reaching $20,
are employed mostly in hotels or private families, in New York.
Five or six years' education in a restaurant, during which period
the pupil is supporting herself, will thus often add seventy-five
per cent. to the market value." I have had numberless statements
from different parts of Free States that it was almost impossible
to obtain good domestics. I have just taken up a paper
in which I read: "Female domestics are scarce in Minnesota
and Wisconsin, and obtain employment readily at good prices
in almost all the river towns." More particularly are female
domestics scarce, where there are factories. Girls, especially
American girls, prefer to work in factories to being servants, as
they think it more honorable, and it secures to them more time—in
short, they are more their own mistresses.
449. Chambermaids.
"Of the 200,000 female servants
in England, the largest in number, the shortest in life, and of
course the worst paid are the general housemaids, or unhappy
servants of all work." Chambermaids in the United States may
be classed under three heads: those in hotels, those in private
families, and those on steamboats. The business of a chambermaid
in a hotel, or on a steamboat, is an occupation affording
[Pg 427]
variety in frequent change of faces. Of course, prices and conditions
are stipulated for. Many get $20 a month, and do the
washing of the boat, that is, the table and bed linen. Others get
$25, $30, and $35 a month. On small boats, they are expected
to do the washing of the boat, but in some cases have a woman
hired while in port to assist them. On large boats, or small
packet boats, there are generally two chambermaids. The first
chambermaid attends to receiving lady passengers, seeing that
they are furnished with berths, and giving them such attention
as they need. She cleans the state rooms, and wakes any lady
passengers that are to land in the night. The second chambermaid
does the washing and ironing. In some cases, the washing
is sent up from the boats, while in port, to laundries. But
clothes are thought to be injured in that way, and the plan is not
so popular as while the novelty lasted. Most of the rivers of the
United States are either too low to be navigable, or are frozen
over, part of the year; so, constant employment in that way cannot
be found. The first chambermaid on the steamboat E. received
$20 a month. Her business was to wait on the ladies. She
had several hours' time that she could devote to sewing for herself.
The second chambermaid did the washing of the boat, and
received $15 per month. A steamboat chambermaid told me
she averages $20 a month (and board, of course); but, in addition
to her services as chambermaid, is required to do the washing
for the boat; that is, the sheets, table linen, and towels. In
families, the prices for chambermaids are about the same as at
hotels, and of course the duties are pretty much the same, except
that in families all of a chambermaid's time is expected. In a
hotel, a chambermaid is often through her work in the early part
of the afternoon, and has several hours as her own. We think it
advisable for a servant to keep a place with good people, even if
her wages are less, rather than with more selfish and more remunerative
people. The first mentioned would feel an interest
in, and be more ready and willing to do for a servant in sickness
or distress. Besides, they would be more apt to keep a watch
over her welfare, should circumstances intervene to bring about
a separation. It does not answer well for servants to move about
much from place to place; it is likely to create suspicion of unfaithfulness
or want of qualification. Yet, if they are not comfortable
and satisfied, I would advise them to move, if confident
they have a prospect of bettering their condition. The usual wages
of chambermaids in cities are from $1.50 to $2.50 per week.
In the Northern cities, white chambermaids are rather better paid
than in Southern, as colored servants are preferred in the South.
For doing housework by the day women receive in New York,
[Pg 428]
fifty, seventy-five cents, and $1; for cleaning stores, they often
receive $1.25 per day. Tidy, honest American girls will not
find much difficulty in getting situations. If every family in
New York city would take a girl, and either instruct her thoroughly
or have her instructed in one branch of domestic service,
there would not be such universal complaint of bad servants. In
Paris, men are employed in some hotels as chambermaids. In a
newspaper, we met with the following paragraph some time ago;
"Females are so scarce in some of the interior towns of California,
that men have to be employed to do the chamberwork."
450. Cooks.
I know of several benevolent institutions in
Philadelphia and New York where poor women are furnished
with employment. From most of them sewing is given out; but,
in a few, housework is given to those who cannot sew. A school
of cookery is now in operation in London. The object is to give
instruction, gratis, to the lower classes, in preparing the most
common articles of food in general use. It was established by
Miss Burdett Coutts. To acquire the higher branches of the
art requires much time and practice. Much of the nutriment of
food is lost in cooking. Health depends much on the kind of
food eaten, and the way in which it is prepared. Simple diet is
most healthy; yet what contributes to the nourishment of one
person may not to another. Persons can better learn what is
nutritious and beneficial to them in health than it were possible
for an Æsculapius to prescribe. Eating too hastily and too
hurriedly, when the mind is excited and agitated, is one cause of
bad health. The modes of preparing food, in the most wholesome
way, should be a matter of study and interest to all engaged
in a matter where health is so much at stake. Articles of food
that contribute to the nourishment of every part of the body
should be used. Children should have not only wholesome food,
but as much as nature craves, when the system is in a state of
health. A morbid appetite, of course, should be regulated. Some
cooks devote themselves exclusively to the making and baking of
pastry. At hotels they command a good price. In New York
and Philadelphia, cooks receive from $1.50 to $5 a week, but in
the small towns adjoining do not get more than from $1 to $1.50.
Much of the success of servants will depend upon themselves.
They may rest assured they will be able to please most families
if they are good-natured, honest, truthful, active, and willing to
do what they can. They will need patience. They should consider
there are many trials, cares, and griefs attendant on those
occupying a more responsible station. Punctuality is a desirable
item in a cook. A skilful cook, of taste and experience, can, at
any time, for reasonable wages, obtain a situation in one of the
[Pg 429]
Northern cities. Hotel cooks are most frequently in demand,
and receive from $12 to $25. A woman who cooks for a saloon
frequented by gentlemen only, in a business part of New York,
told me that she goes at 8 in the morning and remains, generally,
until 2 o'clock next morning, when she goes home. She is paid
$12 a month for her work, having her meals besides. A colored
man, a public cook, told me he employs two or three women to
assist him in getting up parties. He pays them from $6 to $7 a
week. He loans plate for parties, charging for plated knives
twenty-five cents a dozen, and the same price for forks, and
thirty-seven or fifty cents for a basket. He keeps some articles,
but hires most from another party. Sometimes he will receive
three or four orders a day; then again he may not have one for
two weeks. It is a very irregular business. He prepares lunches
for bankers and political men, mostly; but finds it inconvenient,
as these lunches are often given in their offices, and he prepares
the dishes at home, and must have them warm when served up.
In some offices, he can have an apartment for that purpose; in
others, he cannot. A colored woman, who goes on a propeller in
summer, and does the cooking for ten men, told me she receives
$19 a month. The boats at New York seldom stop running
longer than three months in the year. She thinks the trouble in
New York is, you cannot have one kind of work regularly. In
Germany, most of the women, in every class of society, learn to
cook. In Stuttgart, a wealthy man died, leaving a certain sum,
the interest of which goes to a given number of the best hotel
cooks, to teach a limited number of young women the art. In
some cities in Germany, ladies pay something to pastry cooks at
hotels and restaurants for instruction in cooking.
451. Dining-Room Waiters.
It would be well, had
we such laws as England, for the protection and rights of servants.
There, a servant cannot have her character scandalized,
her good name maligned, or her faithfulness as a servant belied.
Neither may a servant say aught that is false against her mistress.
Scandalizing becomes, oftentimes, a curse in our Free
States, and consequently self-respect, with servants, becomes, to
a great extent, a defunct virtue. Nor is the fault confined to one
party. Both are often culpable—mistress and servant. A good
character is the best capital a servant can possess. Servants
have an opportunity of improving themselves, and gaining much
practical information from intercourse with their mistresses while
in the discharge of their duties. If worthy American girls would
get situations as domestics in respectable families, they would be
likely to fare better than by working in shops; for they would
lay by more money, secure the interests and good wishes of their
[Pg 430]
employers, and be more certain of lasting employment. A servant
should be active and quick in motion, to perform well the duties
of a waiter. In 1854, from seventeen to twenty-four white girls
were employed as dining-room waiters at the Delavan House,
Albany, N. Y. Their wages were from $5 to $7, in one or two
cases $8, a calendar month. The wages of men for similar service
were from $14 to $20. The ages of the women were from
seventeen to twenty-four. They dressed uniformly in calico,
and were under a head waiter—a man. At that time, women
had been employed at the establishment about two years and a
half. The result was entirely satisfactory in every respect. A
gentleman inquired of the proprietor, after he had employed
them two years, if there was any inferiority to men's service, and
was informed there was not any. They were more quiet than
men, and less troublesome. In this time, only four had left the
house of their own accord, and then to be married. When more
hands were needed, there was no difficulty in getting them. It
was apprehended that improprieties might occur, from the gallantries
of the gentlemen. No difficulty of the kind had been
experienced. It was suggested that it might be otherwise in a
liquor house. In April, 1860, we had a few lines from the proprietor
of the Delavan House, saying he found women would not
answer for first-class hotels, where the crowd is very great, as the
work is too severe. He changed the plan of having them in
1858.
452. Ladies' Maids.
Some of the most wealthy or self-indulgent
ladies have a female attendant to dress and wait on
them, but it is not so common in the United States as in older
and more wealthy countries. In Slave States, a colored woman,
graceful and good natured, is often set apart from the family servants
for this purpose. The difficulty that attends the taking of
a colored servant in travelling, sometimes calls for a white attendant
to act in this capacity. The business is light, and brings
good wages. A maid should endeavor to secure a place with a
lady that is amiable and patient. She will find ability to perform
the services of a lady's hair dresser a valuable acquisition.
453. Nurses for Children.
None should enter this
occupation unless they have a love for children. It requires affection
and patience. Added to this, is needed a degree of mild
firmness that children find it difficult to resist. It requires
strength too, and a lady had better, if possible, furnish a grown
nurse for her child. Nurses receive as wages from $1 to $1.25
per week. Wet nurses receive higher wages. Being able to
speak the French and German languages correctly, is in some
places a desirable qualification. Fashionable and educated peo
[Pg 431]ple,
who desire to have their children early instructed in the languages,
are willing to pay a better price for such a nurse. The
habit of nursing children is indicated, in both mothers and nursery
maids, by the right shoulder being larger and more elevated
than the left. C. thinks it would be well for young American
girls to devote themselves to domestic service—thinks it a misplaced
pride which prevents their doing so. Many would certainly
be much better off in every respect than they now are, and,
if their affairs were well conducted, would save money.
454. Saloon Attendants.
"This class of labor is performed
by young men and girls. Although the girls are preferred
in some places, and do make most excellent waitresses, their remuneration
is not as high as that paid to men. In some cases the
men get as high as $14 a month; in most cases, however, they do
not receive more than $12 a month. The girls get paid from $8
to $10 a month, varying according to experience. The hours
employed do not exceed, in most cases, ten per day. These rates
are exclusive of board and lodging. Where lodgings are not provided,
an allowance is made for the purpose." The ladies that T.
employs in his saloon, board in the International—a hotel connected
with the saloon and confectionery. He pays them $6 a
month, besides their board. M., Broadway, pays those that stay
in his confectionery $12 a month, and their board. In the northern
part of France, women are employed on some of the packet
boats as table waiters. They are young and pretty, and misconduct
among them is very rare.
455. Washers, Ironers, and Manglers.
The plan
of washing by steam is said to have been practised many years
back in France. There were, some years ago, over 300 different
models of washing machines at the Patent Office in Washington.
Some families have their washing done by hand, some by machinery,
and some at laundries. Where washing, ironing, and
mangling are carried on extensively, it is mostly by men, but
women are employed to do the labor. It is thought by some that
clothes are injured when washed at laundries. We do not know
whether it originates from the plan of washing, or the carelessness
of those employed. In New York is a public washing house,
where, for four cents an hour, steam, water, and troughs can be
used for washing clothes. At the same price, the privileges of the
wringing machine, the drying room, and the ironing room are
granted. A mangler costs from $50 to $100. Those that are
operated on by steam cost more, and are often used in laundries.
A woman told me that she is paid fifteen cents a dozen for mangling
sheets and table cloths. She can mangle eight or nine dozen
pieces a day, and so earn from $1.20 to $1.25. It takes but a
[Pg 432]
very short time to become expert. Strong arms and a strong back
are more necessary than anything else. She could work her mangle
all day, but it would be a hard day's work. She has much work
in summer, before people go to the country. The prices given for
family washing and ironing by the dozen, range from fifty cents to
$1. Others make arrangements by the parcel, at so much a week
or month. Those employed in ironing receive good wages. Where
new shirts are done up for stores, the best prices are given. A
woman employed in an establishment of the kind in Cincinnati,
told me that she received for her work, which was ironing the
bosoms of new shirts for stores, $7 a week. She ironed thirty
or forty a day, averaging one, I think, every twelve minutes. I
called on Mrs. S., who has a laundry. Women in that branch
are well paid, both principals and employées. Some of the laundry
keepers in New York go down to Castle Garden and get fresh
emigrant girls. They give them their board until they can wash
right well (for about four weeks), then pay them by the week or
the piece. If by the week, $6 a month and their board, or allow
them $1.50 a week to pay their board. They instruct some hands
in ironing, if they need hands in that department. When qualified,
they pay three cents a shirt for ironing; or, if by the week,
§4.75. It is most satisfactory generally to both parties to pay by
the piece. The best doers up of muslin and cotton goods are the
French. New shirts are sent from Boston, Philadelphia, &c., to
New York, to be done up. The openings for ironers are good,
and the work pays well. A right active, skilful hand can iron
fifty shirts a day, and so earn $1.50. When women are employed
by the week, they are required to iron twenty-five shirts a day,
and, if brisk, may get through by one or two o'clock. Mrs. S.
charges $1.50 a dozen for store shirts, and $1 for others. Washers
earn $12 a month; ironers, $21; and starchers, $14. The
girls employed in laundries are mostly Irish, with strong muscular
power. A shirt manufacturer told me that ironers of new shirts
are much needed. He cannot obtain enough. Ironers can learn
the business in three months. Ironers earn from $5 to $8 per
week. I called on A. G., who charges from $1 to $1.50 a dozen
for doing up new shirts, according to the quality and the work on
them. She pays her ironers from $10 to $12 a month. I called
at B.'s laundry. The proprietor and his family are Americans.
They do only store shirts. They employ more than one hundred
hands, who are boarded and paid by the month. Learners receive
their board. Ironers are paid best. Those that work fast get
through earliest in the day, each one having a certain number to
do. I called at another laundry, where I was told all the girls
receive $1.75 per week for board money. While learning, they
[Pg 433]
are paid their board money, and more, if their services are worth
it. The washers are paid $12 a month, and ironers from $10 to
$25, boarding themselves. Some are fast, and some are slow;
some smart, and some stupid. The ironers are paid 2¼ cents a
piece for common shirts, 2½ for fine ones. The proprietor says
experienced ironers are so scarce, you never find a good one in
an intelligence office. If a laundryman fails, a good ironer can go
to another laundry and get a place at once. At another place, I
was told their washers receive $5 a month and their board. Ironers
are paid by the month, and required to do so many in that
time. She corroborated the statement of the other that a good
ironer need never want a place. I heard a washerwoman say
that, as the system is very much relaxed by washing, the vapor
from the suds and soiled clothes renders it unhealthy. H. pays
ironers $10 a month and board; $1.75 a week. Some he boards
in his own house. An ironer is expected to iron from twenty to
thirty a day, according to the contract. It requires a long time
to iron well. Almost all washers and ironers are Irish girls—they
are stronger and quicker in their motions. He has washing done
only for the New York stores, because the time and trouble of
going to steamboats for those from other places and returning
them, are more than he wishes.
456. Backgammon-Board Finishers.
We called at
L.'s backgammon-board manufactory, and saw a girl about thirteen
years old, who has worked at the business for one year. She
pastes the morocco on the back of the boards, and lays the gold
leaf on, which is passed under a press, and receives, from a man
who has charge of it, the ornamental gilding. They used to employ
girls, and paid $4 a week, working from 7 to 6 o'clock—eleven
hours. L. does not take learners—it is too much trouble.
K. used to employ girls in finishing boards, but those he had
were not steady and reliable.
457. Balloon Makers.
Large balloons are stitched up by
sewing machines. Prof. L.'s required several days' work. Prof.
W.'s sister and niece make both cotton and silk balloons. They have
the substance put on the silk by men with a brush. They think
that part of the work would be rather hard on women, because
of the stooping and bending.
[Pg 434]
458. Billiard-Table Finishers.
I saw G., who employs
one woman to make and put on the billiard bags at the corners
and sides. He pays her such wages for her work that she can
by industry earn $1.50 a day. He does not know of any woman
that makes it a regular business, but thinks, if a woman could engage
all that kind of work to be had at the billiard manufactories
in New York city, it would be a good business, and probably pay
about $3 a day. It is very easy work, and would require but a few
weeks' practice. Besides, it would not require any capital, as the
manufacturers furnish the materials. They pay twenty-five cents
for making a cover of unbleached domestic, when two seams are
sewed and it is hemmed at the ends. The cloth that is fastened
on the table could not be put on by a woman, as it requires too
much strength. Netting the bags is done by hand. I was told
by a manufacturer that two women could do all the work for
New York.
459. Bill Posters.
This is a business confined to cities.
W. heard of one woman that went through New York distributing
circulars for some benevolent institution. I do not see
why a woman might not be so employed. An immense quantity of
waste paper is sold in London to grocers, butchers, fishmongers,
poulterers, and others that need paper for wrapping up the articles
they sell to purchasers.
460. Block Cutters.
Block cutters prepare blocks of
wood for the coloring of wall paper. A block about eighteen
inches square and two inches thick is made perfectly smooth.
The pattern is then traced on it with a lead pencil. It is then
cut with chisels, which are of all sizes and many shapes. Each
one, as required, is driven into the wood with a mallet. It requires
considerable physical strength, but is remunerative when
sufficient orders are given to keep one constantly employed.
Each color, and even shade, in wall paper, requires a separate
block. It is the same case where wooden blocks are used for
printing calicoes. The wall-paper establishments in Philadelphia
are the most extensive in the United States. A lady in Philadelphia,
engaged in the business, told me that she got about $10
a week, working ten hours a day, but that she had not orders
enough to keep her constantly employed. At N. & C.'s paper-hanging
factory, New York, they employ six male block cutters,
who earn from $2 to $2.25 a day. A boy, when apprenticed to
a block cutter, receives $2.50 a week the first year, $3 the next,
$4 the next, and $5 the last. There are probably from sixty to
one hundred block cutters in New York city. Block letters, we
were told, are made by machinery. A gentleman in Maine
writes: "There are but very few females in this section who work
[Pg 435]
at block cutting (blocks for printing oil carpets); but three or
four in this State, I think. I have none with me excepting my
wife. It is a branch of business that females cannot carry on
alone, as the most of it requires considerable labor that women
are not able to perform." In the census returns of Great Britain
for 1850, we find four women under the head of block cutters.
461. Boatwomen.
In the countries of Europe, it is not
unusual to see women employed as rowers of boats, on the lakes
and rivers. On the lakes of Scotland, made famous by the poetry
and fiction of Sir Walter Scott, women are seen waiting in their
little boats to take passengers out on the lakes. In the sealochs
of Scotland, fisherwomen manage their own boats. In Germany,
women also ply the oar. In the United States, it is seldom done;
but I think Miss Murray, in her Travels, mentions being rowed
upon a lake in New York State by a woman. Some of the Indian
women, of the Arctic regions, are noted for their skill in the
management of a boat; and some of the women of the Polynesian
Islands are distinguished in the same way. In the census of
Great Britain for 1850, in class eight, and third division (Carriers
on Canals), are reported 1,708 bargewomen over twenty years
of age, and 525 under that age.
462. Bone Collectors.
Some collectors of bones sell
them to people who make soup of them, and sell it to the poor at
a penny a bowl. Some sell their bones to soap manufacturers, who
boil them to obtain the marrow and oily substance, and then sell
them to button makers, or makers of cane and whip handles.
Some sell them to glue manufacturers, who boil them to obtain
the gelatine for making glue. Some have establishments where
they are ground and sold as a fertilizer for the soil. Some bone
gatherers give toys to children for collecting bones. I saw a girl
gathering some, who told me she sold them at fifteen cents a
half bushel. She gathers sometimes half a bushel a day, and
sometimes more. A boy told me he got thirty cents a bushel for
bones; and another, that he got one cent a pound. The profit
must be great of those who sell them again, judging from the
price paid by the makers of cane handles. Yet it may be, so
much is not paid by manufacturers for those taken from the
street as for new ones.
463. Bottlers and Labellers.
In large establishments
where wine, porter, ale, or beer is corked, women could, and in
some places do, have the job. When it is done from day to day,
it affords a reliable resource. The payment is generally, I believe,
by the dozen or hundred bottles. "In one house or more,
in London, are seen from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
women bottling pickles all day long, at the charge of sixpence a
[Pg 436]
score of bottles, at which an industrious woman, without any extra
exertion, will earn her two shillings a day." In establishments
for the sale of patent medicines and other articles of a similar
nature, women are employed. I saw a man bottling lager beer
by hand. He is paid $15 a month, and full board. For labelling,
another received $6 a month, and full board. In Europe,
where women do such work, they wear wooden shoes to keep their
feet dry. A woman could as well cork as a man, when it is done
by hand, and, no doubt, could use the machines employed for
corking. A large manufacturer of hair restorative employs two
girls to put it up, and pays from $3 to $4 a week. A brewer
writes that "women might be employed in the bottling department,
cleaning, filling, corking, &c., but the proportion would be
small in comparison with the number of men at work." A woman
that buys and sells empty bottles says she and her husband made a
comfortable living at it. If they make three cents profit on a
dozen they do well. They send a wagon to hotels, groceries, and
private houses, if the number is sufficient to justify it. They
find a ready sale for their bottles. The bottles must be washed
clean before they will buy them. I was told at the office of Mrs.
W.'s S. Syrup, that girls are paid by the week, from $5 to $6.
R., in putting up his Ready Relief, employs several girls to fill
bottles, cork and label them. They earn from $3 to $6 a week.
They are paid by the quantity, and the work is all done in daylight.
Until the last few days they have had work all the year round.
S. employs from five to ten girls, and pays from $4 to $5 a week
for bottling medicines and putting up Seidlitz powders. He keeps
his hands all the year. They can either sit or stand. He does
not know of any women being so employed South or West. L.
employs three, and pays $5 a week, ten hours a day. One is employed
in putting up Seidlitz powders—the others in bottling.
All three work at the store. K. employs three girls to put up
Seidlitz powders, perfumery, &c. He pays from $3 to $3.50 a
week. B. & M., stove-polish manufacturers, employ girls to put
up the polish in papers. The paper is folded on a wooden
block and pasted, then withdrawn, and the polish put in and sealed.
464. Broom Makers.
C. employs a girl to paint the
handles of brooms, paying $4 a week, of ten hours a day. After
New Year is the most busy season. It requires but a short time
to learn. A man can earn at broom making $1.25 to $1.75 a
day. At some of the broom factories girls are employed to assort
the broom by laying perfect pieces of a certain length in one
pile, and those shorter in another, &c. Only strong, robust
women could perform the entire process of broom making.
465. Bronzes.
When a bronze appearance is desired for
[Pg 437]
some metals, bronze powders are used. I have been told that a
patent has been granted for the making of them. Parties that
we think competent to know tell us that "bronze powders are
made in very few establishments in this country, and they think
women and boys, much more than men, are both here and in
Europe engaged in the making and working of bronze. They
suggest that manufacturers, printers, japanners, and all who have
operatives engaged in handling bronze powders should, in
all
cases, see that their people are protected, by gauze, sponge, or
some sort of screen over the mouth and nostrils, from inhaling
the fine particles that arise and impregnate the atmosphere where
the powders are handled, and which are liable to cause serious
injury to those who inhale them. The same might also be said of
Dutch metal or gold leaf used in gilding house paper and other
things." Magnetic masks are used by some grinders and polishers
to prevent iron filings from passing down their throats.
We suppose they would answer also for bronzers. Men oppose
the introduction of women into the business. I saw three sisters
bronzing in New York. They told me each receives $5 a week,
and works about nine hours a day. It requires but a few months'
practice to become perfect, and seemed to be an easy business.
The young ladies employed at it looked genteel enough to grace
any calling. Men get $10 a week. Women do it just as well, if
not a little better, and accomplish just as much, yet receive only $5.
I called in the store of the Ornamental Iron Works, New York.
The young man says they employ about twenty-five German bronzers.
It is a work easily done, and would require but a short time
to learn. Women could just as well do it as men. If women
were employed, it would be desirable to have a separate room for
them to work in. Their men work ten hours a day, and receive
from $1.50 to $2 a day.
466. Canvas and Cotton Bag Makers.
The firm
of B. E. C. & Co. employ about forty females during the whole
year, and seventy during the summer. Men cut out the bags.
The folding and turning is done by little girls, who receive, some
$1.50 per week, and some more, while the sewing is done by
machines, for which the operators receive $4.50 per week. I do
not remember what the spoolers were paid. This business is
confined exclusively to seaports or river cities, and is not very
extensive. The usual time required is ten hours. For extra
work, girls receive double wages. C. & Co. have certain regulations,
requiring morality and order. The girls were more
cheerful, neat, and genteel-looking than the general run of work
girls. They have a dressing room, where each one has a peg
for her bonnet and shawl, and a small box in which to lay her
[Pg 438]
dinner. They have washbowls and all the conveniences needed.
Spring and fall are their most busy times, but they are able to
keep their hands all the year in prosperous times. They are always
busy just before the sailing of vessels, as they supply many
vessels with bags to carry grain. They are well located for their
business, being immediately on the river. The prospect for
learners C. thinks very good, as bags are considered almost as
essential as boats; and now they can be purchased so cheaply they
are used for purposes to which they were never applied before.
V. employs fifteen girls all the year, and sometimes extra help.
Some girls get $3.50, and some $4 a week, of ten hours a day.
Most of their machines are propelled by hot air. They never
have any trouble in getting hands. There are a few bag factories
in the West. W. & O. make cotton bags for flour, seed,
grain, &c. We saw the girls sewing on machines moved by
steam. They are paid $3 a week, ten hours a day. Their girls
are not punctual, and are so often absent that they find it necessary
to employ more hands than they want, that they may not
get out of a supply. I met an old woman with bolts of heavy
unbleached cotton, who was going to make up bags, sewing them
with the needle. She receives seventy-five cents for one hundred
bags. A bag manufacturer in Boston writes: "We pay by the
week; girls, from $3 to $4—men, $7.25. The men's branch requires
from six to twelve months to become proficient and reliable.
Women require about one week. Perseverance and industry are
needed by workers. Business in future is dubious. Winter and
spring are the best seasons, but we are generally employed ten
months out of the year. The hands work ten hours, unless driven
up by brisk trade, when extra wages are paid
pro rata. They
receive all the comforts which women of this class require, viz.,
sufficient to live upon, with a small surplus for the priest, and to
send to 'ould Ireland.' The labor of the men and women are
entirely dissimilar. The advantages have been entirely in favor
of the city of Boston; but from present indications, I fear that this
business, if done at all, will be done in the cities of Charleston,
Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans. The women can scarcely
read; none can write. They can have free access to the city
library and free evening schools. Board, $1.25—mostly whole
families in one room."
467. Carriage and Car Painters.
At a very large car
establishment in New York, I was told that when they take boys
to learn ornamental painting, they pay $2.40 a week the first year.
After that, eight cents a day more, the next year; and so continue
until the apprenticeship expires. Three or four years are usually
given. We saw a foreman ornamenting the side of a car to be
[Pg 439]
sent to Liverpool, who was taken by the firm when a penniless
boy. He now has $3,000 deposited with his employers, drawing
a handsome interest. The painters are paid twenty-five cents an
hour while ornamenting cars, and omnibuses. They do their work
better than when paid by the piece. They prefer Germans, as
they have more taste, and are more easily obtained. Miss H.
knew a young lady that painted a cutter. Her father was a
coach painter, and she painted in oils on canvas. A lady, if she
would give time and attention, might become an ornamental
painter of carriages, omnibuses, and cars. E. G. & Co., car
builders, in Troy, write: "There are some portions of our ornamental
painting women might be instructed to perform, that
would be suitable for them, and, if proficient, they could make
good wages at it."
468. Carriage Trimmers.
I was told by G., a carriage
maker, that women usually make the cushions and trimmings
for carriages. At a railroad-car and omnibus factory, the
trimmer told me the work was too hard for women. The sewing
is all done by hand. Much wax must be used on the thread, and
a machine will not draw the threads tight enough. A shield of
leather is worn on the little finger. I have read that "landscape
painters, upholsterers, and trimmers of cars and carriages receive
from $1.50 to $2 per day, of ten hours, in New York and New
Jersey. Women are not generally employed; but they are occasionally
serviceable in preparing the hair for seats, by which they
could make, at steady employment, from $3 to $5 per week."
B., at his carriage manufactory, said he intends employing two
women to make curtains for his carriages. He now employs a
girl to make covers for them. He thinks the curtains and much
of the lining might be stitched by a machine. He thinks women
might make fair wages at it—say, $4 or $5 a week. A carriage
maker in Boston writes me: "I employ female labor only to the
amount of about $50 a year. It is done by the piece, and a
woman who is tolerably smart with her needle can in a very short
time learn to do it, and can earn from eight to ten cents an hour.
The work is irregular, a large portion of it coming in the months
of April, May, and June, and sometimes requiring to be done at
short notice." Car builders in Albany, N. Y., write: "Dear
Madam—In reply to your inquiries, would say that, out of seventy-five
to eighty hands employed by us, two only are women.
One has charge of a sewing machine, the other picks curled hair.
They have constant employment, at $5 a week." Carriage
makers in Syracuse reply to a circular, saying: "We employ
one lady to run the sewing machine in making leather and cloth
tops for carriages. The work is healthy. We pay from $3 to $4
[Pg 440]
per week, of ten hours a day. Girls receive from one third to
one half as much as men. It requires about two months to learn.
Learners receive from $2 to $2.50 per week. The prospect for
more such work to women is increasing. The employment is
steady. There is a demand for women capable of good, heavy
stitching." C—s, of New Haven, write: "We employ about
twelve women in carriage trimming, running sewing machines, &c.
Good wages are earned—from $5 to $9 per week, of ten hours a
day. We pay mostly by the week. At the same kind of work
our girls earn as much as men. The main part of their business
being sewing, women are preferable at the same wages as men.
In two days any ordinary person can learn to use a sewing
machine; but to learn all parts of the business would require
from two to three months' time. Girls receive a small compensation
while learning. They are never out of employment, except
in hard times, like the past winter. Two thirds are American
girls. The girls employed by us are intelligent and happy;
earning good wages, and always have work when we are doing
anything. Board, $2.50."
469. Chair Seaters.
The putting of seats in chairs,
the material being of cane, hickory, flags, willow, and corn husks,
is carried on very often in orphan asylums, institutions for the
blind, or for the deaf and dumb, and in penitentiaries. There is
a large establishment in Worcester, Mass., where women are employed.
At the House of Refuge, on Randall's Island, I saw
the boys seating chairs with rattan. It is learned in three months.
It is very severe on the fingers at first. In a small second-hand
furniture store, I saw a woman seating chairs with cane. I stepped
in and inquired of the woman how long it required to learn
the work. She said she learned it in one day, of a German who
kept a furniture store next door, and who wished her to work for
him. She could seat two chairs in a day, and earn by doing so
a dollar. For such a chair as she would be paid sixty-two cents
the cane would cost twelve cents, leaving her a profit of fifty
cents a chair for her work. It cuts the fingers some. She has
most family work in winter; but her husband can always get
enough for her from the stores. Another German woman seating
chairs said she could seat three in a day. She charged fifty
cents apiece for ordinary chairs. At a chair-seating factory, I
saw several girls caning chairs for the proprietor, who receives
orders from stores. We were told that it is always piecework.
Some girls earn from sixty to seventy-five cents a day. They
have work all the year. The girls were very clean-looking. They
stood while at work. A girl told us it would take but three
weeks to learn. Work is most apt to be slack in January, Feb
[Pg 441]ruary,
August, and September. The work is mostly done by
German women. At another factory, I was told the prospect for
work is very good. The man said, three years ago he had more
work for his women than they could do. They are not paid
while learning, and have work the same all the year. His best
hands can earn $4 or $5 a week. The work is always paid for by
the piece. The superintendent of the Monroe County Penitentiary,
N. Y., writes: "We employ our female convicts at the
manufacture of both flag and cane chair seats. They are equally
adapted to the employment of women; the flag seats, however,
cannot be made except near a chair manufactory, because of the
expense of transporting the frames upon which they are made.
The cane-seat frames can be easily transported; but the market
is overstocked, and has been for years. They are made in many
Northern and more Eastern prisons, and are made by both sexes.
At the Albany (N. Y.) Prison, the females are employed at cane-chair
seating, and at some part of the manufacture of shoes. At
the Erie County Penitentiary, Buffalo, N. Y., the female convicts
are employed at cane chair seating and packing hardware,
manufactured by the male convicts; and at the Onondago County
Penitentiary, Syracuse, caning chair seats. New York, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, and Michigan are the only States, probably,
having county prisons, where the convicts are regularly employed.
Cane seating is a business employing many females (free
labor) in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and is well adapted
to girls and women of the lower grades of intelligence; and the
same is applicable to flag seating. They can earn, on an average,
about thirty cents per day. The business may be acquired in a
few days—say, thirty." The proprietor of the Oswego chair
factory writes: "I have in my employ about forty women and
girls in the cane-seating department. An attentive worker, possessing
ordinary skill, can earn about fifty cents per day, of ten
hours. Young persons of either sex are much more sprightly at
the work than older persons." By a chair manufacturer in Fitchburg,
Mass., several hundreds of women, girls, and children are
employed in seating chairs, which they do at home.
470. China Menders.
All parts of this work are very
suitable for women. Covering and repairing fans, mending
china, wax dolls, works of virtu, &c., require care and taste.
Connected with this might be the mending of jewelry, card cases,
work boxes, and other ornaments of the toilet. A china mender
told me he estimates his time at twenty-five cents an hour. His
prices vary, according to the quality of the article, and the time
and care required. He sells the composition for cementing at
twenty-five cents a bottle. His work was beautifully done. I
[Pg 442]
talked with another china mender and glass driller. After the
fourth of July he goes to the country and mends ware. Some
learn his business in a short time. He charges $10 to teach
to make cement, drill, and mend articles. He thinks, in Boston,
Philadelphia, and Brooklyn, there are probably openings. He
says money can be made at the business by advertising, and having
some one to go for the articles and collect the money. He
is recommended by one customer to another, and so has enough
to do; yet, from the want of capital, barely makes a living. If he
could get a place in a china store, ladies could get their china
mended there, and the store would give him some. He makes
between thirty and forty kinds of cement. Some of them stand
water. If a lady would learn, he would pay her $3 a week for her
services.
471. Cigar Makers.
At F.'s, Philadelphia, we were
told that girls who make cigars are usually idle; but when we
afterward saw the rapid motion of their fingers, we felt disposed
to doubt the charge. Habits of order, temperance, industry, and
the
reverse, are said to run in some trades. F. had heard some
employer lamenting that there is no such thing as a sober reed-cutter.
May not the flavor of tobacco, in making cigars, produce
an excitement that craves some artificial stimulus? We think it
would not be strange if it did; but have no means of ascertaining,
and hope that it does not. Bending over was the only item
mentioned by F. as being uncomfortable or injurious in the work.
"In Philadelphia, the whole number of employés, journeymen
and girls, engaged in making cigars, is fully four thousand. The
average labor expended upon each thousand cigars costs $3.50,
and the average cost of each thousand cigars is $8." In Philadelphia,
many Americans work at the business; but in New York,
almost all are Germans. In Germany, many women make cigars.
A cigar maker told me that some women find the odor too strong;
and even men with weak lungs are likely to have the consumption,
if they work at it long. He pays women the same price as men,
and he pays according to the quality and the workmanship—$2,
$3, $4, $5, and $6 per thousand. Quickness in the use of the
fingers is necessary. He has never known women to make the
finest cigars. At K.'s, New York, I saw some bright, pleasant-looking
girls at work. They are paid six cents a hundred. One
girl told me she generally made thirteen hundred a day—seventy-eight
cents. Women receive the same rates of wages as men.
The son of the proprietor told me he had thought the work not
altogether healthy; for the men you see working at the business
are pale and thin. His father's girls are kept busy all the year.
Girls generally make from $3 to $4 a week. There are enough
[Pg 443]
of girls at it in New York, though there are but few places where
girls are employed. The atmosphere almost stifled me, the tobacco
scent was so strong. I inquired of a girl if she thought it
unhealthy. She said no—that when she first came there, her
head ached all the time, and she had constant nausea of the
stomach; but now she never notices the smell of the tobacco,
and does not feel any bad effects. She said she had learned to
make cigars in three weeks; another girl said she learned it in
one week. In summer, when the days are long, a girl earns most.
A bundler is paid the best price, as she receives six cents a hundred.
It is very dirty work. A cigar dealer told me he pays
from $2 up to $6 per thousand. A man can make two hundred
per day, and so earn from 40 cents to $1.20. He thinks it not
unhealthy, where there is a circulation of air. The rapidity in
making cigars depends much on the quality of the tobacco.
Some leaves are not so well dried, nor so fine and perfect, as
others. Such, of course, require a longer time to make. D.,
New York, says women mostly make the quality called sixes; and
he knows that, farther East, in making that kind they often earn
$1 a day. They can make the common ones more rapidly than
men. He attributes the inability of women to make fine cigars
to the want of instruction. Men do not like to teach them, because
they are afraid of the competition that may be created,
causing them to lose work or have to do it at lower wages.
Now and then a woman may be found who makes cigars equal to
any man. It requires a knowledge of tobacco, to select the different
kinds for the various grades. Some judgment and intelligence
are needed to cut the leaf economically, and to select
tobacco of proper strength for making various brands. It is
usual for a boy to serve three years, who is paid about $30 a year,
and boarded. He has boys fifteen years of age working for him
as journeymen. He says cigar makers in New York earn from
$6 to $15 per week. Good hands can usually find employment.
It can easily be learned in one year. All seasons are favorable
for the work. From five hundred to fifteen hundred cigars are
made in a day, according to the expertness of the manipulator
and the kind of tobacco. Machines have not as yet been found
to work well. The machine cigars are finished at the end by
hand. He remarked that machines never can succeed so well as
men, until they have the brains of men. A very nice widow,
who kept a cigar store in New York, told me that many more
women are employed in making cigars in Philadelphia than in
New York; but the cigars made and sold there are mostly of the
cheap kind, selling for two or three cents apiece. Six months'
practice is required by a learner, to become perfect. Careful
[Pg 444]
and rapid movement of the fingers, and ability to use the left
hand, are desirable. I would suggest that a few smart women
learn of a competent workman to make the best quality, and instruct
several of their own sex. I find the making of cigars is
paid for, altogether, by the thousand, and cigar makers earn from
$3 to $18 a week. The usual price paid for a thousand cigars is
$5, and a fast worker can make fifteen hundred a day.
472. Cigar-End Finders.
Mayhew says: "There are,
strictly speaking, none who make a living by picking up the ends
of cigars thrown away as useless by the smokers in the streets;
but there are very many who employ themselves, from time to
time, in collecting them. How they are disposed of, is unknown;
but it is supposed that they are resold to some of the large manufacturers
of cigars, and go to form a component part of a new
stock of the best Havanas. There are five persons, residing in
different parts of London, who are known to purchase cigar ends.
In Naples, the sale of cigar ends is a regular street traffic. In
Paris, the ends thus collected are sold as cheap tobacco to the
poor. In the low lodging-houses of London, the ends, when dried,
are cut up and sold to such of their fellow lodgers as are anxious
to enjoy their pipe at the cheapest possible rate."
473. Cinder Gatherers.
I saw some girls gathering
cinders. They burn them at home, after washing them. One
pailful lasts from one and a half to two days. The larger
girls gather two pails a day, generally; the smaller girls each
gather one.
474. Clear Starchers.
The doing up of muslin, in large
cities, has made for itself a separate calling. Where there is constant
employment, it pays well. Mrs. N. charges from sixteen
to twenty-five cents for doing up a set of muslin. She does most
of the work herself, as she feels responsible for the way in which
it is done, and would be afraid a stranger might tear or burn the
muslin. When she has not enough to do, she fills up her time
crocheting for the stores. I think the best locations must be in
a part of the city where the best residences are.
475. Clock Makers.
The amount and variety of wooden
clocks manufactured in this country are very great. The low price
at which they sell, puts it in the power of almost every one to
purchase. Clock-case and clock-movement making are two distinct
branches. Connecticut is the only State in which clock
movements are made; but there are many shops all over the
North in which the cases are manufactured. In 1845, there were
twenty establishments in New York city, in which the cases were
made. "Wages of clock makers are poor. Women are occasionally
employed in painting the cases of clocks, painting the dials,
[Pg 445]
and making part of the movements." The New Haven Clock
Company employ women to paint the glass tablets, and in lettering,
or putting the figures on the dial, at which work they can
earn from 90 cents to $1 per day, of ten hours. They also use
quite a number in making trimmings, and the lighter part of the
movements, at which they earn about seventy-five cents per day.
All their work is done by the piece. The time necessary to learn
depends much on the intelligence and aptness of the person.
Manufacturers of clock dials in Farmington, Conn., write: "We
employ twelve American women figuring clock dials. The spirit
of turpentine used is unhealthy to some. They are paid by the
piece, and average $2.50, with board. Men are not employed in the
same department. It requires about four weeks to learn, and
learners are furnished with board. The amount of employment
in future is indefinite. Fall, winter, and spring are the best
seasons for work; but constant employment is given by us.
Board, $2."
476. Clothes-Pin Makers.
A clothes-pin manufacturer
in Vermont writes: "Women are employed in packing clothes
pins, and are paid from 25 to 50 cents per day, usually working
ten hours. Our women are Americans. The clothes-pin business
should be carried on in a sparsely settled community, where
timber can be obtained at cheap rates."
477. Clothes Repairers.
We have seen it suggested
that shops for repairing, remodelling, and remaking ladies' clothes,
would, in large cities, if conducted by competent persons, probably
yield a support. The mending of ladies' shoes, and mending
second-hand ones to sell again, could employ the time of a number.
478. Cork Assorters and Sole Stitchers.
The principal
use made of cork in this country is for bottle stoppers. It is
also used in making cork soles for shoes. Cork is mostly imported
from Spain, Portugal, and the south of France, in large blocks,
and cut in the shapes wanted. A member of a large cork-cutting
company at the East writes: "In France, Spain, and Portugal,
women are employed to a limited extent in cutting the smaller description
of corks, and a few are also employed in England, but
not to any extent." He thinks the employment not suitable for
women, and says none are employed in this country. But from
the public reports of the city of his residence, I find women are
employed as cork cutters in that city. At one establishment, we
saw men at work cutting corks. There did not appear any objection
to women employing themselves in this trade. A good
deal of practice is required. S., of New York, cuts by machine,
and employs six girls to assort. He pays 50 cents a day, of ten
hours. At another cork store, I was told they employ boys and
[Pg 446]
girls to assort, who receive from $2 to $3 a week. The coverings
of cork soles are put on by women with sewing machines. A
good hand, we were told, can make eight dozen pairs a day, and is
paid eighteen cents a dozen. I suppose it requires at least a day to
cut out and baste on the covering of that number; so the compensation
is not as great as one might at first suppose. Some can
baste five dozen a day, and could stitch from twelve to twenty
dozen a day. Girls are paid 10 cents a dozen for basting, and
6 cents per dozen for stitching them on machines. A cork-sole
manufacturer in the upper part of the city, pays for basting
covers on, 10 cents a dozen. Some women baste five or six dozen
a day. It requires care and a little skill. If not properly done,
it is almost impossible to stitch them correctly. He pays 6 cents
a dozen for stitching, and an operator can stitch from twelve to
twenty dozen a day. He has often sold two hundred dozen in a
year.
479. Daguerreotype Apparatus.
In most large
cities, daguerreotype apparatus is manufactured. A maker of
daguerreotype cases and materials told me that his girls earn
from 50 to 75 cents a day, the latter being the highest price ever
paid. S., whose factory is in New Haven, employs about one hundred
and fifty girls. It is piecework. The business is increasing,
but still is so limited that it cannot furnish employment for a
great many. No difficulty is found in getting hands, as there are
a great many girls in New Haven. No factory in the South or
West. New York is the depot for everything made in a limited
quantity, and for everything new in style. G. Brothers have
given work all the year until lately. It is piecework. Girls
earn from $4 to $6 a week. It does not take a smart girl more
than eight days to learn. The busy time commences in April.
It is an increasing business. The foreman at A.'s factory said
a nice, steady, cleanly girl, that has sufficient dignity to
command respect, can always get work. One that is not very
sensitive to ridicule, and independent in the performance of duty,
will be sure to succeed in that establishment; for so many learners
are taken in and need supervision, that such a one is sure to
be prized. He has seventy-five girls. It requires but a week to
learn, and the girl that instructs gets the profit of that week's
labor. In some branches they stand, in some they sit. They
are paid by the piece, and earn from $2 to $6 a week. Some of
their girls learn bookbinding; so, when there is much to do in that
line, they find it difficult to get hands. The manufacture of
daguerreotype apparatus is increasing; so the prospect for learners
is good. Most of his hands have work all the year. He has
found many work girls very trifling. (No wonder, with such train
[Pg 447]ing,
and so little encouragement to do right.) They have all
their photograph pictures colored by ladies in New York, except
the glass ones. It pays well, and is done at home. I think some
lady would do well to learn to color the glass ones. No manufactories
West or South. A firm in Waterbury write: "We
employ twelve women making daguerreotype mattings, &c. We
prefer them, because men work better with a few women to work
with them. We pay by the piece. They earn $3 per week, ten
hours a day. They are paid the same as male labor in the same
business. It requires one month to learn. Activity and
common sense are all that is necessary for a learner. The
majority are Americans, and pay for board $1.75 per week."
480. Feather Dressers.
Those that purify the feathers
of beds, also renovate the hair and moss of mattresses. A gentleman
told me he thought the business of a feather dresser too
hard for a woman. Carrying bags of feathers, weighing them,
assorting and filling other bags, he considered too heavy. Feathers
are cleaned by steam. Some people, to renovate feathers,
place them in the sun for a few days in summer, and then bake
them. There is never any need of renovating feathers, if they
are properly cured at first.
481. Flag Makers.
At A.'s, New York, the young
man said it requires about a year to learn the business thoroughly.
The hands employed in the house are paid by the week, and receive
$4. They work from half-past seven to six o'clock, having
an hour at noon. Those working out of the house are paid by
the piece. They do not always have enough of good hands.
They do not require the girls to invent designs, but like to have
them quick to understand and execute any particular device or
new pattern. To sew well and rapidly are the principal qualifications.
He thinks about two hundred women are employed in
this way in summer, but not more than fifty in winter. The
sewing and embroidering are confined exclusively to females. The
cutting is mostly done by those who carry on the business,
whether men or women. Learners receive a compensation of $2
per week while learning, after which they receive from $4 to $6
per week. Some employers require their hands to spend six
months at it as learners; but any one that can sew neatly, and has
taste, could as well make a flag, after it is cut out and basted, as
a bedquilt. The most busy seasons are spring, summer, and fall.
When employed by the week, the hours are ten. The business
is pretty well filled. Probably the most flags are made for vessels,
and the next most for military and other processions. A
flag maker told me he employs some girls and women, paying from
thirty-seven to fifty cents a day, of ten hours, to those working in
[Pg 448]
his rooms. Those that work at home, often earn seventy-five
cents, as they sew in the evening also, and are paid by the piece.
He does all his cutting. He has most work to do in summer
and in political campaigns. In winter, vessels are laid up, and
consequently no flags are wanted for them. Most work is done
in seaports. More is probably done in Boston than any other
city. In Philadelphia, flag stitching is done by machines. He
will not have it done so, because it will throw women out of employment,
and their pay is small enough at best. He takes those
that can sew, and pays from the first. He complains that most
women are mere machines, and display no intelligence in their
work. (Query: Whose fault is it?) Mrs. McF. pays her girls
$3 a week, of nine and a half hours. She employs eight now
(January, 1861), but sixteen in summer. In summer she makes
flags for vessels, but in winter she has made national flags. When
she wants any intricate pattern prepared, she employs a regular
designer, but cuts the goods herself. Ability to draw well is a
great assistance to a flag maker. She does all her own cutting,
even to the letters that are placed on her flags. Her forewoman
sometimes assists in cutting the figures. She works some for a
house in Mobile that sells flags. It requires taste and ingenuity
to succeed, but a good sewer can soon do the mechanical part.
She has been in the business nineteen years. We suppose there
are some openings in the South for this business.
482. Furniture Painters.
F., who confines his business
to the ornamenting of furniture, says it requires taste and a
knowledge of colors. He thinks the Americans excel the Europeans
in applying ornament to works of utility. He has a man
of twenty-five that he employed when a boy in his store. He
observed that he had such talents as would make him a good ornamental
painter, so he gave him instruction. The first year he
paid him $4 a week; the next, $6; and now he earns from $12
to $20. The young man invents when F. has given him an idea
of the style he wishes. A manufacturer of enamelled furniture
said no women are employed in enamelling, to his knowledge;
that lifting and turning the furniture about would be too heavy
for women. So it would; but they might have a man to do
that. Another one told us he did not know of any women
employed in enamelling furniture; but with a knowledge of painting,
they might be. Men often earn $20 a week at it. A manufacturer
of chairs told me that he pays ornamenters (men) from
$9 to $18 a week, of ten hours a day. The men sit while painting
them. A girl must have a natural taste for such work to succeed.
The coloring requires experience. The French and Germans
do most of it. It is piecework. A girl, no doubt, could
[Pg 449]
get work, if she were competent. The Heywood Chair Company
write: "We employ women to some extent in ornamenting chairs.
The work is not considered especially unhealthy. We pay by the
piece, and our women earn from $5 to $6 per week, averaging ten
hours a day, the year round. There is no difference in the prices
between the two sexes. Six months' apprenticeship is required, at
$3 per week. Nimbleness, neatness, taste, and a true eye are
needed in a worker. In ordinary times, there is no difference in
the amount of work. We employ women, because they will do
the same work better, faster, and cheaper than men. We would
employ more, if they could perform other parts of the work.
Women are inferior in strength to men, superior in manual dexterity,
neatness, and taste. All are Americans. We can hardly
speak with confidence of any considerable opening for female labor
in our business. Most of our work requires skilled mechanics,
or hard, rough bone and muscle. We have for five or six
years employed all the females we could find room or work for,
and can see no chance for any increase." According to the census
of 1860, the number of hands employed in the New England,
Middle, and Western States, in
making furniture, were 21,953
males and 1,880 females.
483. Gilders of Mirror Frames.
About the same arrangements
are made with apprentices in this as in other trades.
In the old country, women do as much of the work in all its
branches as men; but in this country, the custom of women working
in shops with men is not so common, and consequently some
females that learned it in the old country will not engage in it,
because of having to work with the men. I have been informed
that in Dublin there are at least forty women employed in gilding—some
in business for themselves. A good male worker earns
$12 a week. Gilders calculate to make twenty cents an hour,
the most usual price for good hands in all trades. In some trades
men are paid twenty-five, some twenty, some eighteen, and in
some but fifteen cents an hour. Gilders that manufacture frames
for mirrors and artists, are most likely to have work all the
year. In most shops there is a slack time just after New Year,
and after the Fourth of July. It is a very close, confining business,
in summer, while laying the gold leaf on, as it is so light it
is apt to fly, and should be done in a close room. It is not at all
unhealthy. Most of the work is done standing; but, I think, in
gilding, women are permitted to sit. A German that sells ornamental
furniture, thinks women might do the gilding on furniture.
G. employs a number of girls in gilding oval frames. They earn,
on an average, from $4 to $4.50. It requires but a short time
[Pg 450]
to learn the business. B. used to employ some for the same
purpose, paying $4, $5, and $6 a week. I think this work
preferable for women to most mechanical employments, and, no
doubt, in a few years many will be so occupied. I was told by a
gilder that women are employed, because they can be had cheaper
than men, seldom, if ever, receiving over $5 a week, of ten hours
a day; and they have no knowledge of the business, except the
one department in which they work. The frames are sold cheaply
for photographs. There are no extensive gilders in the South or
West, except one in Cincinnati, and one in Chicago. In the
mirror and picture frame departments, there are now a great many
stores that cut up the business of the large establishments, and
the times are hard—so the business is dull. Not more than forty
women in New York city are employed in gilding frames, and
twenty of them are at G.'s. A gilder in New Hampshire writes:
"It depends upon how much painted work there is in the same
room whether the occupation is unhealthy. As far as my observation
goes, women are as good workers at this business as men."
One in Massachusetts writes: "My wife sometimes does my gilding,
which is no harder than sewing. The carver's daughter in
Essex, near here, did all his gilding for ten years." Gilders in
Boston write: "We employ a girl to burnish, and pay from $3 to
$5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get from $9 to $12. Fall
and spring are the most busy seasons. Most of the cities northeast
of Baltimore are good for this work. Board, $2 to $3."
484. Globe Makers.
H., manufacturer of school apparatus
in Connecticut, writes: "From four to six women are employed
by us, in the construction of globes and other articles. Some are
paid by the piece, and some by the week, and earn from $3 to $5
per week, ten hours a day. Women receive less than one half
the wages of men. They do not perform the same kind of labor.
Women are employed at the lighter work, requiring less strength,
but an even amount of skill. The abundance of the supply of
labor prevents the increase of wages. Learners are paid, and it
requires but a few weeks to succeed. A nicety of eye and readiness
of hand are necessary for a worker. The prospect of employment
is good, but limited. The winter is best for the work,
but hands are occupied at all seasons. The employment is pleasant,
and as well paid as any in this vicinity. Women are employed
in all parts of the work suitable for them. The work is
best adapted to the Eastern States. All our employés are
Americans, and live at home. Board here, $2 a week."
485. Hobby Horse Finishers.
In summer time, Mr. —— has children's carriages trimmed by women. They are paid
[Pg 451]
by the piece, and earn from $3 to $4 a week. At B.'s they are
employed all the year. The horses and carriages could be painted
by women, and the manes, tails, saddles and bridles could be
put on by them. At C.'s, one lady is employed for trimming
children's carriages—$5 a week—ten hours a day. She sews by
machine. C.'s busy season for children's carriages, is from February
to November, and he employs his hands the rest of the
time at hobby horses. He says there is one factory in Columbus,
two in Chicago. He thinks there are good openings (1860) in
Richmond and Petersburg, Va., for they sell many there. He
thinks wrong must succumb to right—that there is no justice in
withholding from women their proper compensation for labor, and
the time will come when the prejudice will be done away that
now exists on that subject.
486. Horse Coverings.
I was told, at a store in Philadelphia,
they pay twenty-five cents a piece for ordinary blankets and
linens, and a woman can make from three to four a day. One,
on which was considerable chain stitching, the storekeeper paid
$2 for making, and he thought a woman could make one in a day.
A saddle and harness maker, New York, told me the prospect of
getting such work is good. The wives of his workmen make his
blankets, and can earn from $1 to $1.50 a day, as he pays thirty-seven
cents a blanket. Another one told me his girls earn from
$4 to $6 a week at such work; and another rated the payments
still higher, from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. At a large store on
Broadway, I was told all the work is given to one woman, who
employs other women to help her. Her workers can earn $4 a
week, if industrious. They make horse linens and blankets, and
rosettes for head ornaments. Netting for horses is made by hand,
in a large establishment near New York. L. L. & Co. pay for
the coarsest blankets twenty cents apiece, and a woman can
make two a day. For some they pay as high as from $4 to $5.
A very swift sewer could make one such in little over two days—consequently
her day's wages would be $2. So the prices vary according
to style. The chain stitch, so much used for ornamenting,
is done by hand, because in that way the edges of the cloth can
be more neatly and securely turned under. L. L. & Co. employ
ladies, who in their turn employ others. The coarse heavy
blankets are generally lined, and the work is mostly done by Irish
women. They are most busy on blankets from June to January,
and on linen from February 1st to May 1st. Linen covers are
used on horses in stables, as flies annoy horses much where they
are standing quiet. Out of doors, nets answer, because they are
kept in motion by the horse. When busy, L. & L. employ about
one hundred girls. The business is growing. The blankets are
[Pg 452]
mostly used in the country. The manufacture of them is confined
principally to New York and Boston. Those in the cities are
different in style; indeed, each city has its own style. Many are
made in Chicago. The rosettes pay very well, but it requires a
long time to become expert. One lady they employ earns occasionally
$50 a week. Tassels are paid for by the piece, and girls
can earn from $2 to $4. Tassel making requires some time to
learn perfectly. Cloth goods are confined to seasons, and consequently
occupations in which they are involved are confined to
seasons. Styles of trimming are apt to change. A man who
makes blankets for a large wholesale house, employs from one
hundred to two hundred women. They earn from $3 to $7 a
week. The stitching is done by machine, but the ornamental
part by hand. Men do all the cutting. He has paid as high as
$100 for one pattern of blankets and ornaments. There are no
blankets made in the South or West, except here and there a saddler's
wife will make a few. In Williamsburg, I saw a number
of women in the basement of the employer's residence. They
looked sad, and the rooms were small, damp, and filthy. The employer
told me most of his stitching is done by machine. Anybody
that can sew tolerably well, and has strength, can do it.
Women seldom, if ever, cut them out; but I think they could.
A manufacturer in Brooklyn writes: "We employ women for
making horse clothing, who are paid by the piece, and earn from
seventy-five cents to $1 per day. Spring and fall are the best
seasons for work. We have no difficulty in procuring hands."
487. House Painters.
The tools of a painter cost but
little. Women might be employed in glazing, and in painting the
inside work of houses. Their ingenuity and taste might be successfully
exercised in embellishing walls and ornamenting doors.
The style for doors, called graining, would be particularly appropriate.
The business could be best carried on by men and women
in partnership, as the outdoor work is most suitable for men.
An apprenticeship should be served of two or three years. The
work would pay well. Most of it is done in spring. A woman
would need to make some change in her style of dress. The
Bloomer would probably be best—at any rate, hoops should be
laid aside. The vocation presents a very good opening to women,
who could best engage in it, at first, in towns and villages.
488. Japanners.
Japanning is one of the few arts that
had its origin in a heathen country. It is now practised in all
civilized countries. Many metal articles are japanned—as tea
trays, candlesticks, &c. Wood is also japanned. In a late report
of one of the schools of design in England, we observed on
the list of female students the names of two japanners. Care, and
[Pg 453]
ability to stand, are all that are required for success, to those doing
the plain painting; but some taste is required for ornamental
japanning. There is a good prospect for employment, as the tin
trade has been increasing rapidly in the last two years, and is
likely to, as our country grows older, and depends less on other
countries for a supply. California has created quite a demand in
the last few years, and it is supplied mostly from New York. M.,
in New York, told us he and his partner employ some women to
japan. They pay from $3 to $4 a week. They have one woman
to do the ornamental work, painting flowers and gilding. To ornamental
painters they pay from $10 to $15 a week. They had
a man to whom they often paid $15 a week. Most of the men
that have been employed in ornamental japanning have gone to
painting clocks, which pays better. They sometimes find it difficult
to get hands—so if some women could take it up, they would
be likely to find employment. The painters design as they paint,
not using a pattern. Japanning of the heavy kind could not be
done by women. The pieces are too heavy to lift. B., an ornamental
japanner, used to employ women to put on the pearl
scraps, but now employs boys, because he can get them cheaper
and take them as apprentices. He can send them on errands and
make use of them in that way. He pays an apprentice $1.50 a
week for one year, then increases at the rate of fifty cents a week
the next year, and so on. B. thinks no women are employed at
it. Women are employed at such work in Paris. Japanning, he
thinks, is not unhealthy, although the ovens into which japanners
must pass are often heated to 260°. The spirits of tar used in
japanning renders it healthy, and consumptives go frequently into
japanning furnaces, feeling that they are benefited by it. At a
firm of japanners, the boy told me they employ an artist to come
and paint for them. They once had a lady that painted landscapes
and flowers on piano boards in oils. They were not baked in a furnace
afterward, but the oil permitted to dry, as with a painting
on canvas. S. used to employ women in making pearl piecework,
but it is not much used now. For painting clocks, not more
than six cents a piece is paid for many. Men are so rapid that
they can make money, but women could not earn more than $2.50
a week. Some men earn $25 a week, and formerly even $35, at
painting the finer clocks; but there are now so many in the business
that wages have fallen, though the business is increasing. At
a tin manufactory in Williamsburg, I saw two girls employed in
tying up goods, and seven girls employed in putting the first coat
of paint on tin ware—grounding, it is called. They are paid from
$1.25 up. One woman they have earns $6 a week. She is an
English woman, and has been at the business nearly all her life.
[Pg 454]
She is quick and skilful. A boy who paints flowers on tin ware,
after the first coat is put on by the girls, gets $1 a day for his
work. Japanning is done in England by women. Many women
are employed through the country, in the Eastern States, in making
tin canisters, &c., and some in japanning; but japanners carry
their work into ovens, which he thought would be too hard for
women. Yet he thinks doing so is not unhealthy. If the employment
is unhealthy, it arises from the evaporation of the turpentine
in the paint. The unhealthiness of the common painter's
business arises from the turpentine, in evaporating, carrying off
with it white lead, but no white lead is employed on the tin ware.
Girls are paid by the week. Men, for graining, a style resembling
the graining of wood, and in fact being the same except on a different
material, received $2.50 per day. Male labor is twice or
three times as high in their establishment. Why women are not
better paid the man could not answer, but, like many other men
with whom I have talked, thought it unjust they were not paid
at the same rate as men. Their girls are employed all the year.
They work ten hours a day. They were mostly Americans, and
miserably dressed. The work soils their clothes greatly. They
wore old skirts over their dresses to work in. I think some men
and boys work in the same room with them. The fine work
could be well done by them, if they would take time to learn it
efficiently, for it requires taste, ingenuity, and delicacy of touch.
At an ornamental japanner's, I was told it requires three or four
years to learn the business well. A good workman earns from
$12 to $18 a week. It is piecework.
489. Knitters.
The knitting done by machinery is not
so soft, so warm, or so durable as that done by hand. It is almost
impossible to obtain ladies' hand-knit hose in cities. Gentlemen's
are sometimes made by the Shakers, and bring a very high
price. We have no doubt but some old ladies might even now
find it profitable to knit to order, or supply some store where
their goods would be brought forward and disposed of to those
who can appreciate the difference between machine and hand knitting.
The Germans are famous knitters. "The peasant women
of the Channel Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, &c., knit a great
deal. They are seldom, if ever, without the materials for this
occupation. On the way to and from market, and at other times,
knitting forms their almost constant employment." A knitting
machine has been invented in Seneca, N. Y., that is said to knit
a perfect stocking in less than five minutes. Aiken's knitting
machines are very popular. We have thought ladies would do
well to try them, and devote themselves to making up hosiery.
We doubt not but it would pay very well. The cloth is knit in
[Pg 455]
a straight piece, and another lady cuts it into shape and sews
into the articles wanted. A machine has been invented by Mr.
Aiken, also, for toeing and heeling socks. A manufacturer of
knit goods writes: "We employ about twenty hands, one half
of whom are girls. Their wages are from $3 to $5 per week,
except when working by the piece. Those who run the knitting
machines are paid by the piece, and earn from 75 cents to $1 per
day. Males receive from $1 to $1.75 per day. The work done
by them is generally harder, and such as females could not well do.
To effectually superintend the knitting business would require at
least five years. The part performed by females can be learned
in six months. They are paid while learning, from $2.75 to $3
per week. The business is overdone at present; although there
is always a demand in our section of country for girls. They
work regularly throughout the year, twelve hours in summer, ten
in winter. It would be better for all parties to run their mills
only ten hours per day, and thus tend to keep down the production,
and so keep up the prices to a fair profit. Those tending
sewing machines are generally married, or widows with children,
and in general support their families. Their machines are repaired
by a foreman, but with a little practice they can learn
to do it themselves. In other branches generally pursued by
girls, they earn sufficient to dress well, but seldom accumulate.
A location is preferred in some thickly settled place, on account
of getting sewing done by hand, as all the goods are finished off
by hand. After working twelve hours a day, they will be necessarily
rather too much fatigued to go through any mental processes
otherwise than reading a novel. If all the mills of all
descriptions would work ten hours only, and establish evening
schools, and request all to attend, it would greatly elevate them
in the social scale. But selfishness rules, and where one manufacturer
would agree to this arrangement, two would not. Board,
$1.50 per week, including washing." A hose manufacturer in
Holderness writes: "We employ about sixty females in the mill.
Work is given out to three hundred. Almost all are American.
Their wages are from $3 to $6 per week. The wages in the
knitting department are not much less for women than men.
Women learn the knitting so as to earn good pay in three months.
Women are paid $2 per week for the first four weeks; after that,
by the piece. A learner should be steady and quick with her
fingers. The employment is healthy, as the knitters sit only about
half the time. We run all the year eleven hours a day. There
is not female help enough. We are trying women where men
have been employed. I think women are in some respects superior
workers to men." Manufacturers of seamless hosiery, in
[Pg 456]
Connecticut, write they "pay from $3 to $5 per week, eleven
hours a day—that it requires from six to eight weeks to learn—that
their hands have access to libraries; and board is for men
$3, for women $2." At Cohoes, N. Y., is a manufactory of
shirts, drawers, &c. I have a letter from the company saying:
"We employ two hundred and fifty women, and pay from 40
cents to $1 per day. Some are paid by the piece, and some by
the week. Men receive from 75 cents to $2.50 per day, of twelve
hours. The reason why they obtain better wages is that they do
work which women cannot do. (Query: Do not the women perform
work that men cannot do?) Men are continually learning.
Women can learn to perform certain work in a few days. The
best qualifications are soundness of mind and body, activity, steadiness,
quick perception, and a desire to make money. The business
is increasing yearly. Occasionally, in the winter, the mills
stop for a month. There is at present (October, 1860) a surplus
of labor. Board, $1.75 to $2." At L.'s knitting factory, in
Brooklyn, the foreman told me there are six machines in operation,
each of which cost between $5,000 and $6,000. The articles
made by them are softer than any knitting done by
machine I have seen; but it may be owing to the quality of
the wool: I cannot say. Those working at machines stand, the
others sit. The machine operators receive from $1.50 to $3.50:
those in the finishing room are paid by the piece, and earn from
$2 to $5. A foreman superintends the work and puts the machinery
in order. A woman of good abilities can learn in three months,
if the factory is in a position to put her forward. From May to
December is the best time for work. Double price is paid the
hands for night work in busy times. They prefer American girls,
because they are neater. A manufacturer of factory supplies, in
Massachusetts, writes: "We employ thirty women in knitting loom
harnesses. The work is not more unhealthy than any employment
that requires one to sit all the time. They are paid by the
piece. The employment is sure so long as cotton manufacturing
is good. The work is equally good all seasons. Board, $1.62 to
$2.25 per week." The secretary of the Waterbury Knitting
Company writes: "We employ one hundred hands, at from 50
cents to $1 per day, working twelve hours in summer, ten in winter.
Women are paid as well or better than men of the same
age; working by the piece, they are paid the same. The women
are not thrown out of work at any season. Women are inferior
in mechanical genius. We are obliged to keep a man to every
fifteen women to overlook them. A woman will run a knitting
machine for seven years, and never be able to straighten a needle,
or knit the cloth slack or tight. A boy or man will learn to
[Pg 457]
oversee a whole room in half that time. Women cannot be made
to think or act for themselves in the least thing, or in any case
to rely on their own judgment. This is equally true of the stupid
Irish, German, and English, and of the more acute Yankee.
Women are superior perhaps in good looks." S., of Enfield,
N. H., has his daughter write: "I use three of Aikens's knitting
machines, and other machinery for making yarn. The wool is
first made into yarn and then knit into webbing, and marked for
heeling and toeing. It is then divided into dozens, and distributed
around the country to be heeled and toed, in which branch we
employ usually five hundred American women. We pay $1 a
dozen for heeling and toeing; for tending the machine, $2 per
week, of eleven hours a day. Women are paid less, because they
are not usually as strong as men, and therefore cannot do the
same work, or, if the same kind, not so great an amount in a
limited time. Men can be employed by paying them what they
require, and as they are considered, or rather seem to consider
themselves the 'lords of creation,' they demand higher wages
than women. In four weeks the females can perform their part
without trouble. Learners receive their board. The prospect is
good for the same number employed as at present. The summer
season is the best for work. If at any time there is a want of
work, it is in January and February."
490. Lace Bleachers.
Mrs. L. spent five years learning
the business in Paris. A girl that spent two years learning
with her, is now doing well in the business in St. Louis. She prefers
to take learners a week on trial. She charges from $1 to
$1.50 a pair for curtains. The French are the most successful
in that line. She often has thirty or more pair from a hotel and
other large houses. One can make a good living at it. L. says
the work is unhealthy, particularly while the vapor of the chemicals
is warm. The curtains are not wrung out, but the water
pressed out with the hands. The dirt, of course, is first washed
out. It requires strength to handle the goods. Curtains are put
on frames to dry, and women, he says, are not strong enough. It
requires strength to get the extra starch out, as it is done by
squeezing. It is surprising how many objections, as regards
health and physical strength required, can be presented by selfish
men, who do not wish women to engage in their occupations.
None but those who have had occasion to test the matter would
believe it possible that the majority of men are so selfish and unjust
in this respect. Another man told me he does all the washing
and drying himself, because he is responsible for the goods,
and is not willing to trust them to strangers. He charges $1 a
[Pg 458]
pair, except for a very large size. Different kinds of laces require
different methods of washing and ironing.
491. Lacquerers.
Lacquering is warm work, and in
summer is done in rooms the temperature of which is over 200°.
M. thought women could be employed in burnishing, lacquering,
polishing, and bronzing. Girls were at one time employed in
lacquering gas fixtures on William street, New York; but they
were dismissed, because they did not prove steady and efficient
workers. The process previous to lacquering, called dipping, is
dirty work. It requires but a short time to learn to lacquer.
F. told me that in France women do all the fine lacquering, and
they do it much better than men can. They take it home with
them to do; and the same plan could be followed in this country,
and probably will be before long. The finest lacquering, such as
ormolu clocks, &c., is done with gold dust. The varnish must
be put on evenly. It requires care and delicacy of touch. Most
of the gas fixtures sold as brass are merely zinc gilded, and then
lacquered—the bronzed part the same metal, bronzed. Zinc can
be bought at six cents a pound—brass is thirty cents a pound.
Mathematical instruments, daguerreotype cases, and gas fixtures
are lacquered. A man earns from $8 to $10 a week, working ten
hours a day. Lacquering, I was told, is not unhealthy, and a person
can sit two or three feet from the fire while at work. A firm
in New York, manufacturing gas fixtures, wrote to us as follows:
"Lacquering is a suitable occupation for women; but we do not
employ them, because men are considered more reliable as to
regularity of hours, and are more easily managed. Women can
be made equally good lacquerers with the men; but when employed
by us, some years since, we found, with few exceptions,
that they produced inferior work, owing, as we think, to want of
application. Women are employed in similar establishments to
ours in England and, we learn, in Boston. The employment is
not unhealthy. They are paid by the week in England. It
requires from three to five years to learn the business. Steady
application and a good eye for colors will make a good lacquerer."
492. Life Preservers.
R. employs two women to
stitch his life preservers with a sewing machine, and pays the
usual price of operatives. None are made South or West.
(Would not New Orleans offer an opening?)
493. Lucifer Matches.
This is a business that has
been largely entered into in New York. The making and selling
of matches have furnished employment for hundreds and thousands
of boys and girls in all our large cities. The making of matches
is a dangerous employment. Its unhealthy tendency (owing to
the use of sulphur), and the long period of twelve, and even four
[Pg 459]teen
hours' confinement, no doubt serve to account for the sad
and woe-begone faces of the poor little operators. At a match
factory where I stopped, girls are paid three cents a gross for
cutting matches and filling boxes. Some can do as many as forty
gross a day; but very few can. It is best for girls to commence
early in life, and most do so. Some girls earn as much as $5 to $6
per week, if we may believe the proprietor's statement. Girls are
paid for filling the frames in which they are to be dipped, sixty-two
cents 100 frames, each frame containing 1,500 double, or
3,000 single matches. The factory is open from seven in the
morning to ten at night. The business for women and girls is not
crowded. Most learners become discouraged and leave it, because
it is so long before they can become expert enough to earn
fair wages. It is not as healthy, he says, as some occupations. I
should think not, judging from his sallow face, and the pale,
spiritless faces of all I have seen in the match factories. He buys
bundles of sticks, ready to cut for matches, of those who make it
a business to prepare them. They are cut by hand. He pays
twenty-five cents a bunch, and a man can cut a bunch in five
minutes. They never stop work, except in December and January.
A brisk hand can earn from $5 to $7 a week. They
make from twenty to forty different kinds of matches, to suit all
climates. At the store of this manufacturer, the bookkeeper told
me that, if a person has a tooth extracted, the phosphorus will be
absorbed by the jaw bone and cause it to decay, if the individual
works in the factory before the gum is entirely well. A lady told
me she knows a girl that earns $6 a week in a match factory. In
H.'s factory, I saw small girls and boys putting matches in the
frames to be dipped. They are paid sixty cents 100 frames, containing
1,500 double matches. They can seldom fill more than
85 frames a day. They commence work at 6½ in winter, and
work until 8; in summer, they commence at 6, and work until 7½.
They are not obliged to work all the time, as they are paid by the
piece; but with the exception of an hour at noon, which all have
the privilege of taking, they no doubt work the full time. They
were poor, dirty-looking children. In the room where the boxes
were filled, large girls worked. Most match makers are Germans
and Irish. A manufacturer told me that he now employs boys
only—that girls he found so wild he could not manage them.
He says some of his girls used to earn $5 a week. He thinks
none but strong, healthy persons should work at the business, as
the fumes of sulphur are injurious. A manufacturer in Vermont
writes: "Women are employed to pack matches. They are paid
by the thousand, and their wages amount to fifty cents per day,
of ten hours, after they get accustomed to it. Women's work in
[Pg 460]
this department is lighter than men's—so will not yield as good
wages. A learner will gain the trade in about six months. An
increase of this business is not flattering. No difference in the
seasons for work. Women are more nimble in the use of their
fingers, and consequently succeed better in this kind of work."
494. Mat Makers.
Door mats are made of sea grass,
corn husks, worsted, manilla, hemp, and cocoa-nut fibre. At the
largest manufactory in the United States, I saw the process of
making several kinds. No girls or women were employed. The
superintendent told us it was too heavy work for women. In one
establishment in Philadelphia, girls are employed as tenders,
which is merely picking the substance to be woven—jute, hemp,
or wool—into bunches of the right thickness, and handing to the
weaver. Some of their mat weavers earn $14 a week—boys, from
$1.50 to $3. Mats are sometimes made by women of osier, rushes,
and straw.
495. Manufacturers of Musical Instruments.
The
manufacture of different musical instruments is engaged in as so
many distinct branches of business. Musical instruments are
usually classed as follows: 1. Wind instruments, of wood or
metal. 2. Stringed instruments. 3. Keyed instruments. 4. Instruments
of percussion. 5. Automatic instruments. 6. Miscellaneous
articles in connection with musical instruments. On
wind instruments made of wood and ornamented with metals, as
flutes, clarionets, &c., women might be employed to polish the
metal. Those that are all metal, as horns, trumpets, &c., are
polished in making, and could not well be divided into a separate
branch of work. Of stringed instruments, the ornamental part,
as painting, inlaying of pearl, &c., would be very pretty work for
women of taste. The smaller strings could be covered by
women. Of keyed instruments, some of the smaller and finer
work would be very suitable for women. In instruments of percussion,
the drum and tambourine are probably the only instruments
presenting a field for woman's work. Of automatic
instruments, mechanical organs are the only ones, I think, at
which women do work. I cannot learn that women are employed
in making musical boxes, which are imported from Switzerland,
Germany, and France. Women are employed to some
extent, in other countries, in the manufacture of musical instruments.
Z. thinks the reason women are not employed in the manufacture
of musical instruments in this country is, that they do not
understand the business.—1.
Wind Instruments. Women might
polish the metal on flutes, and even paint the woodwork. I was told
by a manufacturer in New York, whose factory is in Connecticut,
that he once employed women in that way, but they did not suc
[Pg 461]ceed,
because they did not try.—2.
Stringed Instruments. I called
on L., engaged in the manufacture of harps. There are but two
harp manufacturers in the United States. Ladies might do the
gilding and ornamental painting on harps. Sizing is put on,
and then gold leaf laid on, and smoothed down with a small
brush. The varnishing could be very well done by women. The
same kind of work is executed on guitar frames, of which a
number are made in the United States. The painting is done
as on enamelled furniture. L. employs an Englishman to do the
gilding and ornamental painting. The other manufacturer, B.,
thinks there is no part of the work in making harps that could
be done by a lady. The ornamental part is done by the varnisher,
and varnishing requires much strength. It requires a
regular apprenticeship, and some artistic taste. So few harps are
made in this country, that it would not pay a woman to learn. He
was evidently opposed to women having anything to do with
the business.—3.
Keyed Instruments. Accordions. In making
accordions women could put on the keys and kid, and do so in
Germany. Accordions are nearly all imported, because they can
be made more cheaply in Europe than in this country. L., Philadelphia,
says he is in partnership with his brother in Germany,
who has musical instruments made there, and employs a number
of women and girls.—
Melodeons. C., New York, manufacturer,
says he does not know of any women being employed in the making
of melodeons; but much of the work, I am sure, could be done
by women. Cutting the keys, polishing, gluing them on the
board, and fastening the hammers on, are done by hand, and the
work is as suitable for women as men. Men receive for such work,
$2 a day. Women properly trained, and with a good ear for
music could also tune the instruments. Men who do so, earn
about $3 a day. A manufacturer of melodeons writes: "We do
not employ women, but think larger firms might."—
Organs. I
was told by a manufacturer that in Germany some women assist
their husbands in making the action, but there is lighter work
and more of it in piano actions. J., another organ builder, told
me that in England, in some organ factories, women are employed
to gild the pipes. In making the organs turned by a crank,
used in some churches in England, women, he said, are employed
in putting the pins in the cylinders. They are made on the same
principle as the music box. J. seldom makes more than one of
these organs in a year, and I think he is the only one in the
United States that does make them. Mrs. Dall says "there
are women, who strain silk in fluting, across the old-fashioned
workbag, or parlor organ front."
[Pg 462]
Pianos.
In England, the men engaged in making piano
actions used to do much of the work at home, and their
wives and daughters would assist them. In the United States,
each branch in the making of pianos is now done separately, except
in very large establishments, and consequently most of the
work is done at home by the workmen. At a factory in New York, an
apprentice, nearly out of his time, told me that an individual to
learn the business is bound, and must remain until of age. Otherwise
he could not get a certificate, and is not likely to find employment
without one. An apprentice receives $3 a week the
first year, $4 the second year, and more afterward if he is bright
and quick to learn. A journeyman receives from $10 to $12 a
week for his work. At W.'s piano manufactory, New York, we
were kindly permitted to pass through and see the entire process
of making. Among other parts that I thought could be done by
women, were those of varnishing and polishing. This work
forms a separate branch of itself, and requires an apprenticeship
of three or four years. It looked to be very simple. The
pianos are first rubbed with pumice stone, to render them
smooth and susceptible of a polish, then with rotten stone.
Rubbing with pumice stone all day might be too laborious, except
for a very strong woman; but the other process is feasible
for any woman of moderate health. Indeed, the finest polish
could be better given by women than men, because it is done by
the naked hand, and the softer the hand the better. The ornamenting
of the sounding boards could be done by women that
know anything of painting, and also the gilding on the inside top
and outside front. I asked an old Frenchman, doing that kind
of work, how long it would require to learn. He said he had
been at it fifty years, and had not learned it perfectly yet. It is
pretty work, and very suitable for a woman of taste. The delicacy
of woman's touch, with some knowledge of drawing and
painting, would enable her to succeed. Covering wire, and putting
it in, is another branch that might be done by women.
Bleaching ivory for the keys, cutting them, and gluing them on,
are also within woman's range. Cutting leather and buckskin,
and gluing it on the hammers, are very light and simple work.
Another branch suitable for women is regulating the tone of
pianos. Men, said W., would oppose women working at the piano
business in large establishments, but a man would not be likely
to suffer inconvenience from employing women in his own house
to do the part he carries on. If he were independent of his business
it would be better. At ——'s, New York, a manufacturer of
pianoforte actions, I saw two girls at work. It is very nice, clean
work. Part of the time they stand, and the remainder they sit.
[Pg 463]
One is paid $3 a week, and the other less. The young man who
showed us through the factory, said much of the work in making
pianoforte action that is now done by men could be done by
women. D——'s girls looked to be Americans. They have work
all the year. It mostly consists in covering hammers. A manufacturer
of pianofortes writes: "Our men are paid both by the
piece and by the week, according to the departments in which
they are engaged. The time of learning is from five to seven
years for men. Apprentices (boys) are paid from 25 cents to $1
per day, beginning with the first amount, and increasing from
year to year. In some departments, physical strength is required,
in others, aptness and ready tact—in others, a cultivated musical
ear. The prospect for future employment is very fine in all
branches for men—in some, equally good for women. The majority
of workmen are below mediocrity, as compared with most
all others in manufacturing." A manufacturer in Meredith,
N. H., writes: "We once employed a lady in our key and action
department. She was the wife of one of our workmen. She
earned as much as her husband, and in every respect did her work
as well. She learned her trade in half the time it took her husband
to learn the same. Theirs was jobwork; the two earned
about $3 per day. She did her housework besides. I think
there might be many ladies employed in our business, to the advantage
of all concerned. We expect to test the matter further
by employing some in our varnish rooms soon."
Seraphines.
A manufacturer writes: "I think women
might be employed to advantage in some parts of the work,
and in any part of it, if they could adopt a different style of
dress, something like the Bloomer. The long dress with hoops,
as now worn, must be an insurmountable barrier against their
entering many employments. It is injurious to health, and prevents
a proper development of form."
496. Musical String Makers.
The manufacture of
strings for musical instruments is carried on as a separate branch.
A German violin maker told me that women are employed in
Germany in winding wire for guitar strings. I find they are
also in a factory in Connecticut, and the manufacturer said they
could earn as high as $9 a week. It is rather severe on the fingers,
but that can be avoided to some extent by wearing a glove
finger. In New York, it is mostly done by Germans and French,
who have taken the trade from Americans. The preparing of
catgut from the intestines of sheep and goats, and making it into
strings, is carried on mostly in Germany, and some women are
employed at that. Most metal strings are of steel, and covered
with fine wire of other metals. Mrs. Z., whose husband, when
[Pg 464]
living, manufactured covered strings for musical instruments, told
me, she and her daughters had often assisted in covering guitar
strings and the lighter piano strings. She thinks a person of
good abilities could learn it in from two to four weeks, with an
attentive instructor. She usually rested against a bench while
employed. A good worker will earn from $3 to $5 per week.
She has never heard of any but English and German women
being engaged in it. In some of the up town shops the machinery
is moved by steam, but it does not answer so well, because
it is not so easily slackened or checked. Harp strings and the
larger piano strings cannot be made by women, because of the
strength and firmness required.
497. Netters.
Netting is now generally done by machinery.
Seines are mostly made in that way. When by hand, it is
done by old people, who receive a very inadequate compensation
for their labor. The nets so much used for horses are mostly
made in a large factory near the city of New York. In England,
woollen netting is used by some gardeners for the protection of
the bloom of fruit trees from frost. They are also used to prevent
birds destroying currants, cherries, raspberries, and other
small fruit. The making of purses of different kinds, and of
hammocks, have employed a small number of people. Net and
seine manufacturers in Gloucester write me: "We employ one
hundred women who work at their homes, and are paid by the
piece. It requires a year to learn. From October to June are
the best seasons for our trade. A few that we employ to work
by the week spend ten hours a day at it. The comfort of the
occupation is good, but the pay poor. We think women better
company than men. Health and strength are the best qualifications
for our work." A net and twine company in Boston
write: "We employ women for converting twine into netting. It
is mostly job work, and they have cash for what they earn. The
comparative prices of men and women are the same as those of
factories in general. It requires about as long to learn as it takes
a woman to learn to knit stockings. The business is good as
long as the sea furnishes fish and mankind eat them. The employment
of women in the work is a providential necessity.
Nearly all ours are American. Women are quicker in their
work—men stronger. Our women have the leisure that belongs
to nearly all manual occupations."
498. Oakum Pickers.
Perhaps some one reading this
book may not know what oakum is. It is old rope, pulled to
pieces until it is soft and pliable, like the original material, and
used for the purpose of corking vessels. Ten years ago, the picking
was done by hand, and many women employed. Now, this
[Pg 465]
work is mostly done by machinery in this country, and very few
women are employed. In some factories, women are employed
in teazing, that is, untwisting the pieces of rope that are not
pulled to pieces by passing through the machinery the first time.
They are paid so much per hundred pounds, and do not earn
more than $2 a week. It is dirty, disagreeable work. A firm in
Maine write: "We have seen females, both young and old, at
work in oakum mills in the State of New Jersey. In England
(we believe) all oakum is made in their almshouses, consequently
a part by females. The business is healthy. We use many boys
that do work which might be done by females; but we prefer the
boys."
499. Paper Hangers.
An English lady, who has spent
much time in various parts of Europe, told me she had known of
women being engaged in paper hanging in small towns. I believe
it is customary, when papering a room, to have one person put the
paste on, and another put it up. We are confident women could
do the first-mentioned part of the work.
500. Polishers.
Women are employed in France in polishing
furniture. They are mostly the wives of cabinet makers.
It requires art to do it that some can never learn. A person
must be able to put the gum shellac on evenly. A woman in
London earned a very good living by applying French polish to
the furniture of cabinet makers. A French woman that polished
furniture in Paris, told me that the work is hard on the fingers,
and one could not learn it in less than a year. A piano manufacturer
told me that women could be profitably employed in polishing
pianos. It is better learned by women than men, he thought. It
is tedious, however, and requires patience. I have been told that
the finest polish is imparted to furniture by the naked hand, and
the softer and finer the hand the better. For that reason, women
are employed in France to polish piano cases with the palms of
their hands, and, when not employed, wear kid gloves to keep their
hands soft and smooth.
501. Pure Finders.
The finders of dog pure constitute a
small class in this country; but Mr. Mayhew thinks in the city
of London there are between two hundred and three hundred
constantly employed. It is used for dressing leather and kid,
and sold at from sixteen to twenty cents a bucketful. In our
country, it is probably carried on with bone grubbing and rag
gathering.
502. Rag Cutters.
I find nearly all rag cutters are
Irish, and they are mostly old women or young girls. The girls
usually earn about 75 cents or $1 a week. I called at a rag
dealer's, and was told by a woman that one cent a pound is paid
[Pg 466]
for cutting the seams off, taking the linings out, and removing the
buttons. A woman can earn, she says, from $2 to $2.50 a week.
It is not unhealthy. They grow fat on it. Theirs are mostly
old women, and all are Irish. For assorting they are paid by the
week, and receive $2.75. They work from seven to five in winter;
in summer, ten hours. The keeper of the wareroom sells his rags
for making paper, and sends many to Europe. The women work
all the year. No other kind of work could be done by women in
that business, as the only other is packing in bales, and that, of
course, must be done by men. The warerooms close at six; so the
women have the evenings for themselves. P., a rag dealer, says
he buys and sells according to the quality of the rags. It is customary
to pay by the week for sorting rags. Some get $2, and
some $2.50. Cutting the seams off is paid for by the pound.
The odor was extremely offensive (it was a damp day); but the
man said it was not unhealthy, unless the rags are worked with in
a close room; then the dust is apt to affect the eyes. Occasionally
the small pox is taken from rags. I called at a rag dealer's,
and was told by a filthy, squalid, barefooted girl at work, that for
cutting up rags a penny a pound is paid. She was assorting.
For that work, hands are paid twenty-five cents a day, and their
board. It is very dirty work. The dust and sand must affect the
eyes and lungs. Some men can cut as many as thirty-five pounds
a day. Men are paid twice as much as women for assorting. I
inquired why. I was told by a young junk dealer, standing by,
that they could pick twice as much in the same time, the truth
of which the reader can decide as well as I. Some men earn at
it, he said, $6 a week. A woman, who seemed to have some interest
in the place, remarked the girls have work all the year.
Called at the door of a large wareroom, where I saw men assorting
waste paper to be sold for the purpose of being made into new paper.
503. Rag Gatherers.
The chiffoniers or rag gatherers
of Paris are said to number about 6,000; those of London about
800 or 1,000. The chiffonier in Paris can collect only from
eight in the evening until early next morning, as the streets are
all swept before six o'clock in the morning, as after that time until
eight in the evening the citizens are passing. A few in Paris
have realized fortunes; but we suspect the most, in all countries,
barely gain a subsistence. They all lead a hard and gloomy life.
In the United States, most of the rags collected are converted
into paper. Some are sold at shoddy manufactories, and those
unfit for either shoddy or paper are spread over corn land, or
used as a fertilizer for hops. One of the most handsome buildings
on Broadway is said to be owned by a man that commenced
life in the petty business of a rag collector. So much for econ
[Pg 467]omy
and industry! Most of the rag pickers in New York live in
the Five Points, and near the Central Park. Scarcely any person
that has seen the old women rag pickers of New York in
rain and snow, cold and driving winds, partially clad, can ever
deny that a woman is capable of very hard and degrading labor,
when driven to it by want. Rag picking and rag assorting are
distinct branches. Rag pickers make the most, and are chiefly
Germans. The number of rag gatherers in New York is very
great, and the majority of them are women. I never observe the
face of an American or French woman. Rag gatherers have
each their own province, and none of the rest dare intrude. The
majority do not confine themselves to picking up rags only, but
bones and bits of metal and glass. Some even carry a basket in
which they gather waste vegetables or putrid meat, or the trimmings
of uncooked meat, which they feed on themselves, or
give to a pet pig, or trade with some neighbor better off
that has a cow. When the rag collectors reach their homes,
they assort the articles they have collected. They separate
the rags into clean and dirty (the last they wash), into linen and
woollen, and the paper into clean and dirty, white and colored.
The life led by rag gatherers is very laborious, as they must
spend all the hours of daylight on their feet, walking many miles.
Their earnings are so scanty that they must be out in all kinds
of weather. The enormous rent they pay for wretched accommodations
is a disgrace to the landlords. Many of them sleep a
dozen in a room, on the bare floor. By the most rigid economy
and unremitting industry, a few are enabled to lay by a small sum
for old age, or purchase a little cottage and a plot of ground,
when they change their filthy occupation for a more healthy and
agreeable one, that of raising vegetables for the market. If I
had to make a living on the streets of New York, I would prefer
carrying a wheel around to grind knives and scissors, or putting
window-glass in, to collecting rags, for the work of neither is so
filthy. The children of rag gatherers begin very early to follow
the pursuit of their parents. I saw some children one day
picking rags, that told me they received two cents a pound.
They were at the dirt heaps where carts of dirt from town
had been emptied. They sometimes gather forty pounds each a
day. They cannot do so well in winter. I saw a rag collector
who starts at five in the morning, and is gathering rags until
eight in the evening. She eats nothing during the time. She
was German. Her father and mother also gather rags. Her father
sells them at two cents a pound. She did not know how many
pounds she gathered, but said she got three large bags full every
day in good weather. I saw other collectors, who told me they
[Pg 468]
gather each from ten to thirty pounds a day. Some families succeed
in gathering from fifty cents to $1.50 worth a day, in good
weather and good seasons. "The prices paid for the staple articles
of their trade, purchased exclusively by middlemen, are:
bones, 36 cents per bushel; rags, whether linen or woollen, $1
per cwt.; paper, $1 per cwt.; and these sell them again to the
down-town customers, the rags at $2.50 to $3.50; the paper at
$1.25 to $1.50; with a proportionate advance on bones, and all
the articles in the junk business."
504. Rope and Twine Makers.
Ropes are made
of the fibres of various plants, and particular kinds of grasses,
and the fibres of the cocoanut cover. Hair from the manes and
tails of horses is also used. Hemp and flax are most common in
the United States. The simplest mode of making rope is under
long sheds. After the material is spun into yarn, it is doubled
or trebled, and twisted. Ropes for the rigging of vessels employ
a large number of men. The great variety and amount of cordage
used make it an extensive trade. Ropes are now manufactured
in some places by steam. A small number of women are
employed in rope making. S. & M., Philadelphia, employ about
fifty female hands. Some are engaged in spinning, and a dexterous
woman will keep from forty to fifty spindles in constant
motion, some at carding, some at balling. The last-named operation
is the only one in which the women can sit while at
work. They work ten hours, and earn from $1.50 (for young
girls), to $5 a week (for the experienced frame spinners). The
last mentioned are mostly English, Scotch, or Irish women,
who have followed the trade from childhood. It requires long
practice to command the highest wages. A good steady hand is
much valued, and is not liable to be thrown out of work. Water
power is used with the machinery. W., New York, employs
them in his manufactory for spooling only. A manufacturer on
Long Island writes: "I pay my hands $1 a week, for the first
four weeks; then $1.50 a week, for the next four weeks; and
for the four weeks following, $2 per week; and so increase their
wages till I allow them $3.50 per week. I employ mostly boys
and girls. I pay them the same, regardless of sex. They work
from ten to twelve hours, and are employed all the year. Board,
$1.25 to $1.50 per week. At eighteen, my boys learn a trade.
I pay my hands well and use them well. I do not receive children
under twelve years of age. I encourage them in going to school
before and after they work in my factory." There are only two
factories of this kind in New York city that employ women. The
proprietor of the largest gave me the following items: "I employ
thirteen girls and women (mostly Irish) in spooling, twist
[Pg 469]ing,
&c. Most are paid by the week. Women receive $3.50;
girls, from $1.15 to $3.50. The time of learning is one, two, or
three weeks, according to the kind of work, and the ability of the
girl. The prospect is poor for more learners. My girls work ten
hours a day, and have employment the year round. There are
enough of hands in New York. Some of the minor parts could
be performed by women, that are not, but not enough to give
many employment. Cities are the best for selling the article,
country the best for making. Men do not perform the same
kind of work women do. Women are best suited to their
branches. Boys could be got to do the work of the girls for as
low wages. Indeed, most boys work for less in New York than
girls." We think the last assertion a mistake on the part of H.
The agent of the Royal River Yarn and Twine Company writes:
"We consider our employment healthy. It proves so. Take,
for instance, a certain number, at random, of different ages, employed
in cotton mills, and compare with the same number, taken
in the same way, from farm neighborhoods, and you will find
more sickness and death among farmers' daughters." (This is
rather a startling statement, but we are not prepared to disprove
it.) He adds: "The regularity in exercise, taking meals, and
resting, accounts, I think, for the steady employment in cotton
mills, and the like, being so conducive to health. I have been
engaged as a machinist, &c., about a cotton mill, for thirty-five
years; and, according to my observation, more girls improve
their health, taking ordinary care of themselves, than otherwise.
Part of our hands are paid by the week, and part by the piece.
They have from $2 to $4.50 per week, new hands having only $2.
It takes from three months to two years to learn. Common
sense and industrious habits are the only qualifications needed.
Spring and summer are the best seasons, but work is furnished
continuously the year round. Our girls go home now and then
to spend a few weeks, visit, fix their clothing, &c. To shorten
their time would be rather a disadvantage, as capital invested
must pay, or no encouragement would be given to invest more.
Demand for hands is steady; and if a surplus, it is on the neatest
and lightest kind of work. Women are neater, steadier, and
more active than men. Our girls make the best of housewives.
Overseers, agents, and business men marry them, and we may
look around and see, in some that have worked in mills, the
brightest and best mothers of the land. The faculties of the
mind are quickened by the busy hum and movement of machinery.
Board, $1.50, respectable and comfortable. Parties not
regarding that, would not have respectable help."
[Pg 470]
505. Sail and Awning Makers.
I think it would
require considerable strength and long practice to make sails, but
not more than some occupations in which women are engaged. L.
sometimes employs women to run the binding on awnings, paying
2 and 2½ cents a yard. He thinks no women are employed in
the United States in making sails. They worked at tents during
the Mexican war, but now only men are employed. S. knows
that, in France, women make the lightest kind of sails. In Russia,
sails are made by women. A sail maker in a large maritime
city writes: "Some women are employed in sail making in Massachusetts.
It is a healthy trade, and men spend three years learning
it. A sail maker needs a tough constitution and steady habits.
Some parts of the work are suitable for women. The best locations
are on the lakes or in seaport towns." An awning manufacturer
told me he employs girls in summer, and pays from $4
to $5 a week, of ten hours a day. They work by hand, and bind
and put on fringe. T. employs some girls for binding. They
can earn from $3 to $4 a week when constantly employed. He
usually pays by the week, and has it done in his shop. A sail
maker in Connecticut writes: "Women are employed at sail
making in France. A knowledge of arithmetic and draughting
are essential. The work is done at all seasons. The occupation
is filled. It is usual to spend four years as an apprentice. The
best locations are in seaports or river towns. I think the occupation
is too laborious for women."
506. Shoe-Peg Makers.
A shoe-peg manufacturing association,
in New Hampshire, furnish me a report of the work
they have done by women, as follows: "Women are employed
only to feed the machine with prepared blocks, and sorting pegs
after they are split. The work is light, and well adapted to the
physical capacity of girls and women. They can do the work just
as well as young men and boys, and perhaps a little quicker.
Wages are perhaps two thirds as much as that of men in the same
branches. Two hundred women would do all the work, in their
several departments, in the business, for the whole of North and
South America. We employ sixteen in our mill, at $3.50 per
week, including board, which is called about $1.75. Men are not
employed in the same branches. A part could be learned in one
month—nearly half of it would require from six to twelve months.
Girls are paid $3 a week, while learning. Nothing needed but
ready and quick application. They work eleven hours. Each
hour less would be more than a private loss. All are Americans."
507. Shroud Makers.
There is something repulsive in
death—the shroud—the cap—the coffin—the sunken eyes—the
[Pg 471]
still hands and ghastly face. Death is fearful, even in its mildest
forms. And yet how we yearn for rest—how we long for quiet!
How we pant for that glorious freedom from anxiety and care,
that awaits the just in heaven! The change of the chrysalis to
the butterfly, of the seed to the plant, of the earth beneath our
feet, and the heavens above—the very consciousness within us, all
proclaim unmistakably the truth that the spirit will not die—that
it is immortal. There are duties connected with the house of
mourning that afflicted friends and relatives have not the heart to
perform. These, therefore, devolve upon persons interested in
the dead, or hired attendants. Closing the eyes, washing the
body, making the shroud and putting it on, are in some cases performed
by the hired nurse, but generally making the shroud is
done by the undertaker's wife. Some undertakers keep shrouds
in their shops ready for sale. In large cities, an undertaker's wife
is in many cases sent for by the nurse, to assist in laying out the
dead, and receives, as a compensation, from $3 to $5. The wife
of an undertaker told me that she lines the coffins for her husband.
They buy their caps already made, of an old lady who
brings them around. Mr. ——, an undertaker, is always willing to
dress the remains of any but those who have died of small pox. He
charges $3 to wash and dress a corpse, $5 with shaving. An
undertaker told me he knew women could be employed in plaiting
the folds of silk in coffins, and making coffin pillows. The
wholesale trade send away large quantities of shrouds and caps,
and so have many made up. A man in Newark, who devotes
himself exclusively to making shrouds, employs several women.
In England, some undertakers employ women to make up mourning
suits.
508. Sign Painters.
Sign painting requires a long,
steady, and regular apprenticeship. It requires also a correct
eye and a steady hand. In large cities, sign and ornamental
painting can be made a distinct branch of painting; but in a town
or village it is combined with carriage or house painting, as one
individual seldom has enough sign and ornamental painting to
keep him constantly occupied. It is not more necessary for a
painter to know how to mix the paints, and use judgment and
taste in the selection of colors, than to form letters according to
geometrical proportions. A painter must measure, more by the
eye than a rule, the size and arrangement of letters in a given
space. Good painters receive $3, $4, and $5 a day for their work,
but generally are paid by the piece. When paid by the week,
and they work regularly, they receive from $12 to $15 a week.
Mrs. K., New York, says in Dublin there are many families that
devote themselves to sign painting, but she knows of none in this
[Pg 472]
country except her own. She employs a man to grind paints, put
up signs, &c.,—also to paint out-of-door signs, that is, such as
must be painted on the building. Her two daughters paint all
the signs that are to be put up. Some of the large signs above
stores in New York have been painted by them. They are paid
as good prices as men. She thinks an individual should commence
early to learn. Her daughters received their instruction
and advice from their father. In that way they acquired maturity
of judgment and nicety of hand. Judgment needs to be exercised
in regard to size and space, and artistic taste in ornamenting.
A sign painter told me that superior workers can earn from
$3 to $15 a day, if they have sufficient employment. Many
house and other painters, in cities, profess to paint signs, but in
reality have it done. Germans do much of it in New York, because
they do it cheaply, but many of them do not execute their
work well. It is customary to have an apprentice three years,
and pay the usual terms, $2.50 a week, the first year. A boy, during
the first year, mostly grinds paints, goes errands, &c. Spring
is the most busy season. Painting in oils is not neat work. A sign
and carriage painter writes me: "The work is unhealthy on account
of the poisonous vapors and dust. It requires two or three
years to learn, and one must have a great deal of practice. A
common education, natural taste, and a correct eye are the qualifications
needed. Many parts of it are very easy and pleasant.
Some parts might be done by women." The business pays best
in large towns and cities. An ornamental painter writes me:
"Women are employed in sign painting in England, France, Germany,
and Belgium. The time required to learn would depend
on the taste or genius of the individual. The qualifications requisite
are those of an artist in a less degree." B., an emblematic
sign painter, thinks the employment very suitable for females,
but supposes there are better openings in other cities than New
York. It requires two or three years to learn all the different
branches well. During the first year a learner could not support
herself, but after that could, if she had a taste for it, was industrious,
and received enough orders to keep her busy.
509. Snuff Packers.
At a snuff factory, I saw two
women putting up snuff. The women color the bladders for holding
snuff, in tobacco water, pack, cap, label, varnish, and wrap
them. They are weighed after being packed, and women are
paid at the rate of one cent a pound. Women always stand in
packing. They can earn from $5 to $6 a week, and have work
all the year. The woman with whom we conversed was a sensible
American, who told us her health had failed greatly during the
nine years she had worked in snuff. While working in the snuff,
[Pg 473]
women wear caps, but are so covered with it that they might be
mistaken for bags of snuff. Of course, a great deal is inhaled.
Both the women I saw complained of difficulty in breathing, particularly
when they lie down at night. One said, when suffering
great oppression she would vomit, and throw up snuff as fresh in
taste and smell as before it was inhaled. For packing snuff in
jars, they are paid by the week, $4.50, and, for putting it in bottles
still less. Men are mostly employed in packing snuff.
510. Stencil Makers.
A stencil-plate maker told me
that cutting the plates could be done by women, but it would require
a strong, stout woman to hammer the plates after they are
cool. In learning, a boy receives $2 a week. There are very
few stencil cutters in the South and West. People send North
for their plates, or get them cut by travelling peddlers, who are
not allowed now in the South. The price of stencil plates has
fallen very greatly. Such as would have sold for $5 a few years
ago, can now be had for fifty cents. I saw a lady who cut stencil
plates. She wanted an agent to sell her plates and ink.
511. Street Sweepers.
The girls seen in New York
sweeping the crossings in winter, are not paid by the city, but receive,
now and then, from a passer by, a penny for their labor.
If enough of strong men were employed by the city, and properly
paid, it would serve to diminish the $13,000,000 annually spent
in New York for preventable sickness, where thirty-one die every
day more than in Philadelphia, while its natural advantages are
greater. In Paris, women are employed as street sweepers.
512. Tip Gilders.
Most hats and caps are made in New
York city. There are six establishments in the city devoted to
tip gilding, and morocco cutting and rolling, and four girls, on an
average, in each. The girls put the sizing and gold leaf on, and,
when the impression is made, brush the loose gold leaf off. A
man in the business told me he sometimes finds it difficult
to get a good hand, and always prefers to teach a girl. He
pays from $2 to $6 a week. The men cut the morocco for linings,
and girls roll down the edge by running it through a small
machine.
513. Tobacco Strippers.
In tobacco factories, women
are generally employed to strip the leaves from the stems.
Smoking tobacco is cut in machines, and put in papers of different
sizes. But little chewing tobacco is prepared in the Southern
and Western States, though some factories have commenced it in
the West during the last few years. Some leaf tobacco is put up
in the South by slaves. In the West it is difficult to get hands,
but in New York there is a surplus, though they are the very
dregs of society. A. told me the women he employs are mostly
[Pg 474]
Irish, and of low origin. They are generally old women, not fit
for much else, and they are quite as poorly paid as in any other
branch of labor. The part done by women is not unhealthy,
though some of the parts done by men in close rooms are thought
to be unhealthy. H. pays by the pound for stripping, and the
girls earn from $2 to $4 a week. They sit while at work. In
packing they stand, because they can do more. He employs his
hands all the year. For packing tobacco in papers and boxes the
girls are paid by the paper, and earn about the same as the strippers.
The work is dirty, and the hands change their clothes
when they come and go. It requires some time to acquire expertness.
H. considers tobacco very healthy, if not taken inwardly
to excess. He says tobacco workers never have fevers. (?) I
went through G.'s factory. I never saw females engaged in such
degrading work, and so uncomfortably situated, in all my life.
It is far worse than rag picking. A tier of bunks (two on a side),
in dark, narrow rooms, the centre filled with hogsheads of tobacco,
a hatchway, and machinery made up the furniture of the place.
The air was so close and strong, that I was almost stifled during
the short time I spent there. The floor was covered with filth
and waste tobacco. In the lower bunks, in one room, it was with
difficulty I could discover the features of the old women and neglected
children, at work. A forewoman had the superintendence,
who assisted the workers in weighing the tobacco, and keeping
an account of the amount given each. They were mostly Irish.
It is very filthy, disagreeable work. Their tobacco strippers are
paid fifty cents one hundred pounds. They strip from twenty to
fifty pounds a day, earning from $1 to $3 a week. The majority
have no homes, but hire lodgings at thirty-seven cents a week,
and buy something to eat. They work from seven to half past five
or six, having half an hour at noon. At C.'s, the rooms were not so
dark, cramped, and uncomfortable as at G.'s. They employ seventy-five
women and children. The forewoman told me that a smart
hand, working in good leaf, and having constant employment, can
earn from $3 to $5 a week. They are paid two cents for three
pounds. The packers, if active and skilful, can earn more. At
a place on Greenwich street, they pay thirty-five cents per hundred
pounds for stripping, and a woman may earn from $1 to $4
a week at it. At packing they can earn from $3 to $6. At L.'s,
they employ one hundred and twenty-five girls and women. At
packing their girls can earn from $4.25 to $9 a week, working
only in daylight. Strippers can earn from $1.50 to $3.50, and
are mostly old widow women with children. The foreman thinks
it most healthy for packers to stand, as they are thereby saved
from stooping. He tries to get the best class of girls he can, but
[Pg 475]
he finds it impossible to secure the services of American girls. I
am glad American girls object to working in the filthy weed.
The girls at L.'s have employment all the year. M. pays forty
cents per hundred pounds for stripping. His strippers earn from
thirty to forty cents a day. Some packers are able to earn $1 a
day. They have work all the year. Tobacconists in Albany
write: "We employ women in papering tobacco, and pay by the
dozen, the hands earning from $3 to $5 per week. They work
ten hours a day, the year through." A tobacconist in Hartford
"pays his women by the week, $3.50, for stripping tobacco. They
work ten hours a day. It requires but a few weeks to learn the
work done by women." B——'s, of Boston, write: "We always have
employment for women, in stripping and papering tobacco, and
other light work. They are employed, also, in making cigars.
By some physicians the work is considered healthy. We pay by
the week, from $3 to $5, working ten hours a day. The men
who make cigars are mostly foreigners, thoroughly acquainted
with their business, a kind of work which requires a regular apprenticeship
to learn. The women never give their time to learn,
and we cannot afford to teach them, on account of the low price
of goods made in Germany, shipped here by millions. Hence,
the men, in their part of the business, earn from $6 to $15 per
week. Learners receive their board. It would be much better
if a tariff, excluding cheap cigars, were passed. The comfort and
remuneration are as good as any branch of female industry.
Board, $2 to $3."
514. Toy Makers.
The thousand and one inventions for
amusing children have given exercise to a variety of talents.
Any particular style of toy follows the fashion of the world—it
passes away, and another takes its place. Pewter toys are made
in New York, tin toys in Philadelphia and Connecticut. The
reason more toys are not made in this country is the high price
of labor and living. Children's drums are made both in the
city and country. N. & Co., manufacturers of military and toy
drums in Massachusetts, write: "We employ one woman only in
our factory, who makes the straps for drums. She works by the
piece, and earns $1 a day, boarding herself." A manufacturer
of pewter toys, in New York, employs ten or twelve boys. He
pays $1.75 per week, of ten hours a day. He could use girls just
as well, but prefers boys. I called at a manufactory of tin ware.
The proprietor makes tin toys, and employs some women to paint
them. The work has to be done on the premises, as the articles
have to be subjected to heat after they are painted. The girls
work ten hours a day, and are paid $3 a week. H., New York,
makes small boats and vessels. They range in price from 37
[Pg 476]
cents to $30. The highest priced are perfect in all their parts.
He pays a woman $80 a year for stitching by machine the edges
of the sails. B., manufacturer of mechanical toys, employs twenty
girls in soldering and painting. The painting is done by stencils.
It requires but a short time to learn. Good hands earn from
$2.50 to $4 per week. There are two departments in the manufacture
of dolls—making and painting. D. employs women out of
the house to make bodies for dolls—muslin stuffed with wadding.
G., New York, pays his girls about $4 per week for dressing
dolls. At a large store in New York, I was told they employ a
number of girls for dressing dolls, paying from $3 to $4 per
week. They pay by the piece, according to the size, and style
of dress. In busy seasons, the girls are allowed to take some
dolls home and dress them in the evening. Doll dressing requires
taste, expertness, ingenuity, and economy in cutting the
materials. Their room is superintended by a lady. At a store
for the sale of fancy goods, on inquiring about the canton-flannel
rabbits, mice, &c., I was told they give them to a school girl in
Brooklyn to make. She makes them out of school hours, and
earns $1.50 per week. They are sewed by a machine, because it
can be done faster. The treasurer of a firm manufacturing
Yankee notions, in Providence, writes they have six women
employed in labelling and packing light goods, who earn from
$3 to $6 per week, of ten hours a day. It requires about four
weeks to learn to do the work. There is no difference in seasons.
What work women do at all they do as well as men. Some
places are better than others for this style of manufacture.
515. Varnishers and Varnish Makers.
In France,
women are employed as varnishers of furniture. At some varnish
factories, women are employed to separate the good from the imperfect
gum, and I think are paid the usual price of woman's
work, 50 cents a day. Women might make spirit varnish.
Copal varnish has to be boiled, and is liable to take fire. As it
requires much strength to stir it, women could not very well
make it. The varnishing of pianos could be done by women.
A manufacturer of musical instruments told me a solution, one
constituent of which is pulverized marble, has been made for
varnishing, that is very substantial. A knife can be broken
against it, after it has become hardened on furniture. It will
probably be used very extensively.
516. Water Carriers.
"Everywhere on the banks of
the Nile, the poorer sort of women may be seen bringing up
water from the river, in pitchers, on their heads or shoulders."
There are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty water carriers
in London, but they are mostly or all men.
[Pg 477]
517. Blind Women.
Many blind persons are employed
as follows: Attendants in blind institutions, authors, basket
makers, bead workers, broom makers, brush makers, carpet and
rug weavers, chair seaters, flower and fruit venders, governesses,
hair and moss pickers, hucksters, knitters, match sellers, mattress
makers, milk sellers, music teachers, netters, newspaper and
book agents, paper-box makers, seamstresses, stationers, straw
braiders, teachers, umbrella sewers, washerwomen, willow workers.
We think they usually engage in their work with pleasure
and profit. Fortunately the tools employed in the occupations
of the blind do not cost much. So if the blind have a
thorough knowledge of some pursuit, and means to keep them
until they are established and able to secure constant work, they
may feel sure of a comfortable livelihood. Their occupations are
of a kind to furnish them with most constant employment in a
city. Though the compensation for each article is small, yet,
when one's time is fully occupied, the aggregate is considerable.
518. Deaf Mutes.
Deaf mutes can engage in most
branches of book making, fancy work, sewing, shoe making, teach
drawing, and teach those afflicted like themselves.
519. The Lame.
The lame can braid straw, color photographs,
copy, cut labels, edit papers, embroider, engrave, make
mats, make pens, model, paint, sew—indeed, do almost anything.
Lameness is no excuse for idleness. What do lame men do?
None of them, that have any self-respect, beg or sit idle because
they are lame.
520. United States.
Last summer, a lady ascended
alone in a balloon, from Palace Garden, N. Y. She went
up once in a balloon filled with hot air. She received part of
the profits derived from the admittance fees, and the keeper of the
garden the other portion, neither of which were very large.
Several women have gone up with their husbands. We take the
following items from the summary of the San Francisco
Alta
California, of December 5th: "At the recent election, two
women were elected to fill office in Placer County—one as jus
[Pg 478]tice
of the peace, and the other as constable. Each received
one vote in the precinct, and there was no opposition." It is
seldom that a lady's exertions are called forth as were those of
Mrs. Patton, wife of the captain of the ship
Neptune's Car.
Yet, it goes to confirm what we have stated in some other place,
that any valuable information acquired will always come in use.
We will quote the extract as we saw it in a newspaper, copied
from a San Francisco letter: "Fifty days ago, Captain Patton
was attacked with the brain fever, and for the last twenty-five
days has been blind. Previous to his illness, he had put the first
mate off duty on account of his incompetency. After the captain's
illness, the second mate took charge of the ship, but he did not
understand navigation. The first mate wrote Mrs. Patton a letter,
reminding her of the dangers of the coast, and of the great responsibility
she had assumed, and offered to take charge of the
ship; but she stood by the decision of her husband and declined
the offer. She worked up the reckoning every day, and brought
the ship safely into port. During all this time she acted as nurse
to the captain. She studied medicine to learn how to treat his
case, and shaved his head, and by competent care and watchfulness
kept him alive. She said that for fifty nights she had not
undressed herself. Few women could have done so much and
done it so well. She was at once navigator, nurse, and physician,
and protector of the property intrusted to her husband." The
Geneva
Courier notices the appearance in that village "of a strong-armed,
strong-backed, and, of course, strong-minded woman, in
charge of a canal boat, of which she is owner and captain. She
is of German origin, and manages her craft with great ability."
In New York, I saw a woman driving a bread wagon, one rolling
a wheelbarrow, and another drawing a similar wagon filled with
ashes. A few women are employed in charcoal burning in New
Jersey.
521. England.
In looking over the census of Great Britain,
for 1850, we are surprised to find that in some of those
occupations most suitable for women, as physicians, music composers,
teachers of mathematics, macaroni packers, mask makers,
honey dealers, lecturers, reporters, and spice merchants, not one
female is reported; while, in occupations altogether unsuitable,
many women are employed—in some, even hundreds. No doubt
many of these women, perhaps a majority, and in some occupations
it may be all, are the widows of men who have been engaged
in the business, and who employ others to do the work. In some
of the other occupations, the women probably do only the lighter
work, under the direction of the masters or competent foremen.
Circumstances, as regards occupation, certainly do much to in
[Pg 479]fluence
the fate of every one. But in no respect is there a greater
need of reform, than in the proper appreciation of employments
by the sexes. Men have, in bygone times, seized upon the lightest
and most lucrative occupations, and by custom still retain them.
The most laborious and disagreeable work is left for women, and
what is still worse, they are paid only from one third to one half
as much as men, doing the same kind of work. Of the occupations
that strike us as odd for women, in the census of Great Britain,
are makers of agricultural implements, anchor smiths, barge
women, barge boat builders, bell hangers, bedstead makers, bill
stickers, blacksmiths, brass manufacturers, brick makers, bristle
manufacturers, builders, carpenters, case (packing) makers, chimney
sweepers, coke burners, commercial travellers, engine and
machinery makers, ferriers, goldbeaters, grindstone cutters,
gun makers, hawkers, hemp manufacturers, hinge makers,
nail manufacturers, oil refiners, paper hangers, parasol and
umbrella stick manufacturers, peat cutters, plasterers, potato
merchants, railway-station attendants, razor makers, ring-chain
makers, rivet makers, rope makers, saddle-tree makers, sail
makers, scale makers, sawyers, scavengers, sextons, ship agents,
ship builders, small steel-ware manufacturers, snuff and tobacco
manufacturers, spade makers, spar cutters, spirit and wine merchants,
stone breakers, stone quarriers, stove, grate, and range
makers, sugar refiners, surgical-instrument makers, timber merchants,
timber choppers and benders, tin manufacturers, trunk
makers, turners, turpentine manufacturers, undertakers, vermin
destroyers, well sinkers, wheelwrights, white-metal manufacturers,
wine manufacturers, wood dealers, and zinc manufacturers. In
the furniture trade of Great Britain, 5,763 women are employed,
while 7,479 are engaged in conveyance. I would also add, that
in Great Britain, women have been, and still are, to some extent,
employed in coal, copper, iron, lead, manganese, salt, tin, and
other mineral mines. Of those for men extremely inappropriate,
are reported three hundred and sixty-six dress makers, and
sixty-one embroiderers. "In the reign of George II. (says Mrs.
Childs), the minister of Clerkenwell was chosen by a majority of
women. The office of champion has frequently been held by a
woman, and was so at the coronation of George I. The office of
grand chamberlain, in 1822, was filled by two women; and that
of clerk of the crown, in the court of king's bench, has been
granted to a female. The celebrated Anne, Countess of Pembroke,
held the hereditary office of sheriff of Westmoreland, and
exercised it in person, sitting on the bench of the judges. In
ancient councils, mention is made of deaconesses; and in an edition
of the New Testament printed in 1574, a woman is spoken of as
[Pg 480]
minister of a church." Miss Betsy Miller has for years commanded
the Scotch brig, Cleotus. Her father commanded
a vessel plying between England and France. After his
wife died, the daughter frequently accompanied him. On his
death, being without a home on land, she took command of the
vessel, and remained in the capacity of captain several years.
An English correspondent of an American paper writes: "Walking,
lately, near some white-lead works, about the hour of closing,
we observed the sudden egress of about a hundred women from
the establishment, all Irish, and all decently clad and well conducted.
On inquiry, we found that they are employed continuously
in the works, piling the lead for oxidation, and in various
other processes, not by any means coming under the denomination
of light labor." A few years ago, a singular death occurred in
England. It was that of a woman, who, owing to harsh treatment
from her parents when a child, left her home at the age of
eight, dressed in boy's clothes, got work as a boy, learned the
trade of a mason, and worked at it until about middle age, when
the business was changed for that of a beer house, in which occupation
the individual continued until her death, at the age of sixty.
She always dressed as a man. When quite young, she was very
industrious and hard-working. Many of the large houses and tall
chimneys in Manchester and Salford were built by her. "The
7,000 women returned in the census under the head of miners,
are, no doubt, for the most part, the dressers of the ores in the
Cornish and Welsh mines. The work is dirty, but not too laborious;
less laborious than the work which may perhaps be included
under the same head—the supplying porcelain clay from the same
regions of country. Travellers in Devonshire and Cornwall are
familiar with the ugly scenery of hillsides where turf is taken up,
and the series of clay pits is overflowing, and the plastered women
are stirring the mess, or sifting and straining, or drying or moulding
the refined clay. The mineral interest is, however, one of the
smallest in the schedule of female industry; and it is likely to
contract, rather than expand—except the labor of sorting the
ores." In Great Britain, some women work in alabaster, and
some in alum mines. In what is called the Black country, some
women are employed on the pit banks, and some about the furnace
yards. A London paper says: "Melton and its neighborhood
can boast of three public characters, which, perhaps, no other
can; namely, two independent ladies, who have taken out game
certificates, and who enter the field, and can bring down the game
equal to any sportsman, as well as those indulging in fishing,
hunting over the country with hounds, &c. The third is a female
blacksmith, a daughter of Mr. William Hinman, who is such an
[Pg 481]
adept at shoeing a horse or working at the anvil, as to cause universal
excitement. It was but the other day that she took off the
old shoes of a horse, pared the feet, and fitted the shoes at the fire,
and affixed them in the most scientific manner possible, and in
considerably less time than her father could, who is called one of
the quickest shoers in Melton." Some women are employed as
kelp burners in Great Britain; and some, as bathers, manage the
bathing machines used on the coast. In the census of Great
Britain are reported some women as hack proprietors.
522. France.
A Paris correspondent of the New York
Times writes: "My washerwoman is a man. He lives in the
Rue Blanc, and any one may see him up to his elbows in soap
suds, or ironing frills on bosoms. His wife is a wood sawyer."
It is not unusual, in the public gardens of Germany, and on the
broad sidewalks of the Boulevards in Paris, for men and women
to hire a chair for a sou to a passer by who wishes to rest. In
France, some women are engaged in cutting and drying seaweeds,
and some in making wooden shoes. "In the department of Somme,
France, women alone have the right to go into the fields and gather
stones to repair the roads. In the cantons where peat is dug, the
privilege of loading and unloading the boats which carry it is
given them. At Cistal, in Provence, women alone have been
authorized to sell the water which was brought from a fountain
some distance from the city. No man could be a carrier of water.
In other parts, to women is given the transport of trunks, valises,
clothes bags, and effects for the use of travellers on packets. These
resources are momentary. Accorded by one mayor, they can be
withdrawn by another." "In Paris, women cry the rate of exchange,
after Bourse hours." They also "undertake the moving
of furniture, agree with you as to price, and you find them quite
as responsible as men." The author of "Parisian Sights and
French Principles" mentions a number of female employments
rather novel to Americans: "I will say nothing of their laboring
in the field, their driving huge carts through the streets of
Paris, and other rude labors which soon rub out of them all
feminine softness; but confine myself to the more agreeable duties
which they have here usurped from men. Indeed, a man is but a
secondary being in the scale of French civilization. The 'dames
à comptoir' are as essential to the success of a Parisian
café as
the cook himself. More hats are donned at their shrines than
before the most brilliant belles of the metropolis. My boot
maker, or the head of the establishment, is a woman; my porter
is of the same sex, older in years and worse in looks; my butcher,
milkman, and the old-clothes man, newsboy, and rag gatherer beneath
my window, ditto. They are waiters at the baths, door
[Pg 482]keepers
at the theatres, ticket sellers, fiddlers, chair letters of
the churches; they figure in every revolution, and have a tongue
and arms in every fight; in short, they are at the bottom and top
of everything in France." In the Hotel des Invalides, at Paris,
is Lieutenant Madame Brulow, who entered in 1799, and has been
there ever since. Her father, brothers, and husband were soldiers,
and were all killed in battle; at the age of twenty she was
a widow and a mother. She joined the French army at Corsica,
where she behaved very bravely; but was disabled for service by
the bursting of a bomb while in the discharge of her duties as
sergeant. She is a woman of chaste manners and correct principles.
She dresses in the uniform of the Invalides. Louis XVIII.
conferred on her the rank of second lieutenant, and by the present
Napoleon she was made a member of the society of the Legion
of Honor. A female soldier, whose history is similar to Madame
Brulow's, died near Paris, a short time since, at the age of eighty-seven.
She was a dragoon, and served in Italy, Germany, and
Spain, in all the campaigns of the French, from 1793 to 1812.
When Bonaparte was first consul, he expressed a wish to see
her, and she was kindly received by him at St. Cloud. She
received many wounds in battle, and had four horses killed under
her. We find the following article, taken from Galignani's
Messenger:
"In consequence of the success obtained by Madame
Isabella in breaking horses for the Russian army, the French
Minister of War authorized her to proceed, officially, before a
commission of generals and superior officers of cavalry, to a
practical demonstration of the method, on a certain number of
young cavalry horses. After twenty days' training, the horses
were so perfectly broken in, that the Minister no longer hesitated
to enter into an arrangement with Madame Isabella to introduce
her system into all the imperial schools of cavalry, beginning
with that of Saumur."
523. Other Countries.
Professor Ingraham, in his
"Pillar of Fire," describing the Hebrews at work in Egypt,
says: "The men that carried brick to the smoothly swept ground
where they were to be dried, delivered them to women, who, many
hundreds in number, placed them side by side on the earth in
rows—a lighter task than that of the men. The borders of this
busy plain, where it touched the fields of stubble wheat, were
thronged with women and children gathering straw for the men
who mixed the clay." "The Egyptian ladies," says the same
writer, "employed much of their time with the needle, and either
with their own hands, or by the agency of their maidens, they
embroidered, wove, spun, and did needlework." Herodotus says:
"It was expected of the virgins consecrated to the service of the
[Pg 483]
Egyptian temples to gather flowers for the altars, to feed the sacred
birds, and daily to fill the vases with pure, fresh water from
the Nile." During the middle ages, "women preached in public,
supported controversies, published and defended theses, filled the
chairs of philosophy and law, harangued the popes in Latin,
wrote Greek, and read Hebrew. Nuns wrote poetry, women of
rank became divines, and young girls publicly exhorted Christian
princes to take up arms for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre."
"In the Greek island of Hinnin, the inhabitants gain a livelihood
by obtaining sponges for the Turkish baths; and no girl is allowed
to marry till she has proved her dexterity by bringing up from the
sea a certain quantity of this marketable article." The wife of
the Burmese governor was observed, by some Englishmen, to superintend
the building of her husband's ship. "In many of the
South Sea islands, women assist in the construction of the buildings
appropriated to common use. Sometimes a woman of distinction
may be seen carrying a heavy stone for the foundation of
a building, while a stout attendant carries the light feathered
staff to denote her rank." "In Genoa there are marriage brokers,
who have pocketbooks filled with the names of marriageable
girls of different classes, with an account of their fortunes, personal
attractions, &c. When they succeed in arranging connections,
they have two or three per cent. commission on the portion.
The contract is often drawn up before the parties have seen
each other. If a man dislikes the appearance or manners of his
future partner, he may break off the match, on condition of paying
the brokerage and other expenses." In the "Art Student in
Munich," we find this passage: "You know, in Germany, your
neighbor's dresses by meeting the laundresses bearing them home
through the streets upon tall poles, like gay pennons." "In
Munich, a servant girl will be sent around with a number of advertisements
and a paste pot, and pastes up the advertisements at
the corners of the streets throughout the city." "At Homburg,
Germany, four, six, or eight girls, according to the season, dip the
water from the spring, by taking three tumblers by the handles in
each hand, and filling them without stopping, and supplying
those in waiting, so fast that there is no crowd and no jostling
and impatience." Mrs. Nicolson says: "Many a poor widow
have I seen in Ireland, with some little son or daughter, spreading
manure, by moonlight, over her scanty patch of ground; or,
before the rising of the sun, going out, with her wisp about her
forehead and basket to her back, to gather her turf or potatoes."
"In the elevated, cold, dry regions of Thibet, the goats are furnished
with a fine down or hair-like wool under the coarse, common
outer wool. The long hairs are picked out, the remainder
[Pg 484]
washed out in nice water, and then handspun by women." "In
some African tribes, it is common for the women to unite with
the men in hunting the lion and the leopard." During the reign
of Anne of Austria, the French women often appeared at the
head of political factions, wearing scarfs that designated the party
to which they belonged. Swords and harps, violins and cuirasses,
were seen together in the same saloon. There was a regiment
created under the name of mademoiselle. "During the late war,
Polish women assisted the men in erecting fortifications, and one
of the outworks was called the 'lunette of the women,' because it
was built entirely by their hands. The Countess Plater raised
and equipped a regiment of five or six hundred Lithuanians at her
own expense; and she was uniformly at their head, encouraging
them by her brave example in every battle. The women proposed
to form three companies of their own sex, to share the
fatigues and perils of the army; but their countrymen, wishing
to employ their energies in a manner less dangerous, distributed
them among the hospitals to attend the wounded." "In the army
of the King of Siam, one corps particularly attracts the attention
of strangers, which is a battalion of the king's guard, composed
of women. This battalion consists of four hundred women,
chosen from among the handsomest and most robust girls in the
country. They receive excellent pay, and their discipline is perfect.
They are admitted to serve at the age of thirteen, and are
placed in the army of reserve at twenty-five. From that period
they no longer serve about the king's person, but are employed to
guard the royal palaces and crown lands."
524. United States.
A little boy told me he used to
catch butterflies, and sell them in New York at a penny apiece
for canary birds. Sometimes he would get one hundred a day;
and at other times, not as many a week. Some women are seen
on the streets of our large cities, selling baskets, brushes, sponges,
and wash leather—and many with baskets containing tape, cord,
pins, &c. Some women buy waste paper to sell to grocers,
butchers, fishmongers, and such others as would use it for wrapping.
A few resort to levees and warehouses to seek the scraps
of waste cotton that are lost by the removal of bales. Some col
[Pg 485]lect
ashes, separate the cinders, wash and sell them; while some
collect wood scattered about lumber yards, and catch that drifting
in rivers.
525. England.
Some children on the streets of London
are employed in the sale of fly-papers. Some sell paper cuttings
to ornament ceilings. Sand is sold on the streets for scouring
and for birds—also gravel for birds. Some women, in London,
go around and buy the skins of rabbits and hares to sell again,
and some keep little shops where they buy kitchen stuff, grease,
and dripping. In England, women are hired to pick currants
and gooseberries, put up fruit, weed gardens, bind grain, pick
hops, and sometimes even to cut hay and dig potatoes. On the
streets of London, some women sell conundrums and playbills,
which are pinned to a large screen, and a number sell stationery.
In old countries nothing is lost. Use is found for every article,
even when no longer of value for its original purpose. For instance,
old tin kettles and coal scuttles, we learn from Mr. Babbage,
are cut up for the bottoms and bands of trunks, and by
manufacturing chemists in preparing a black dye used by calico
printers. In some cities of the old countries, every variety of
second-hand miscellaneous articles are sold in shops, from a
Jew's harp to a bedstead. In London, Mayhew says: "Among
the mudlarks may be seen many old women, and it is indeed
pitiable to behold them, especially during the winter, bent nearly
double with age and infirmity, paddling and groping among the
wet mud for small pieces of coal, chips of wood, copper nails that
drop out of the sheathing of vessels, or any sort of refuse washed
up by the tide. These women always have with them an old
basket, or an old tin kettle, in which they put whatever they may
chance to find. It usually takes them the whole tide to fill the
receptacle, but, when filled, it is as much as the feeble old creatures
are able to carry home." Little girls, too, eagerly press into the
mud as the tide recedes, to secure what trifles they can, by which
to gain bread.
526. France.
In France, many women are employed in
vineyards to pick grapes, tie up the vines, &c. L. told me he
had seen women in France employed in preparing a kind of fuel
made of clay mixed in water, cast in moulds, and dried. Females
are employed by some of the merchants in Paris to carry goods
home for purchasers. One of the most flourishing of the minor
street trades of Paris is that in fried potatoes, invented some
twenty-five years ago by a man that made his fortune at the business.
A few years back might have been seen in the grounds
of the Tuileries an old woman with a long stick, drawing off the
surface of the water the feathers that loosened and fell from the
[Pg 486]
swans that floated on the ponds. That old woman sold the
feathers to buy bread.
527. Occupations in which no Women are employed.
I have received information from persons saying
women are never engaged in their branches of business, which
are the following: Architectural Ornamentation, Bonedust,
Buckets, Carriage painting, Copperas ("hard and unsuitable"),
Currying, Drug Mills ("only fit for able-bodied men"), Edge
Tools ("not adapted to the sex"), Emery Paper, Flour Mills,
Glazier's Diamonds, Gunpowder ("dangerous"), India Rubber
Belting, Magnesia, Melodeons, Mercantile Agencies, Metallic
Furniture, Oil, Oil Cloth, Organ building, Paint Mills, Pattern
making (of wood), Pearlash ("unsuitable"), Philosophical Instruments
(except Globes), Pine Furniture, Pork packing, Reed
making, Rivets, Roll covering, Seed crushing ("requires able
bodied men"), Sellers of License, Ship Crackers, Shot and Lead
("dangerous and unhealthy"), Shovels, Slate, Spools, Starch
("too hard"), Steel-letter cutting, Stone quarrying, Street-lamp
lighting, Sulphur ("unhealthy"), Superphosphate of Lime ("requires
too much muscular strength"), Surveyors' and Engineers'
Instruments, Tanning, Tinfoil, Trowels, Vinegar, Wholesale Fruit
dealing, Wire drawing, Wool combing, and Zinc manufacture.
528. None in the United States.
There are no
women employed in any capacity in connection with mining and
shipping coal in our country. Neither could any branch of the
business be well placed under their supervision, for very nearly
all the labor is performed by foreigners of the most low and illiterate
class. None are employed in Baggage transportation,
Bleaching, Brokers' Offices, Chemical Works, Cutlery, Furniture
moving, Glue drying, Gun making, Iron Works, Landscape gardening,
Lead Pencils, Sail making, Savings Banks, Silvering
Mirrors, Tending Sheep, and Wood carving.
529. Very few employed.
Attending in offices of
ladies' physicians, Charcoal burning, China painting, Chiropody,
Clock Work, Lacquering, Marble Work, Mirror Frames, Sign
painting, Stencil cutting, and Stone Ware. "As a curious incident
of the growing availability of female labor, Vermont returns four
females engaged in ship building, and Virginia reports two so
employed." Mrs. Swisshelm is an inspector of lumber, receiving
a salary of $500 per annum. Mrs. N. Smith was recently elected
mayoress in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the first time that office was ever
filled by a lady. We have been told of a Miss D., who furnishes
houses, receiving a stipulated sum for the exercise of her taste
and judgment, and the time and trouble of making purchases.
In the Southern States, a few colored women are employed about
sugar mills, and many in gathering cotton. I suppose that in
some countries women may be, and probably are employed in
the preparation of isinglass and gelatine; also, in collecting cochineal,
and gathering rice and coffee.
530. The South.
There will be openings in the South for
business in the following branches:
- Artificial Eyes, Limbs, and Teeth.
- Artificial Flowers.
- Bags (Cotton and Paper).
- Baskets.
- Belts (Ladies').
- Bonnets.
- Bonnet Ruches.
- Bonnet Frames.
- Books.
- Braces and Trusses.
- Brushes.
- Buttons.
- Candles (from the tallow tree of South Carolina and Georgia).
- Candy.
- Canes.
- Caps.
- Card Printing and Stencilling.
- Carpets.
- Carriage Trimmings.
- Car and Carriage Ornamenting.
- China.
- Cigars.
- Cloaks and Mantillas.
- Clocks.
- Clothing.
- Cord.
- Cordage and Twine.
- Cutlery.
- Daguerreotype Apparatus, &c.
- Designs.
- Drawings (Architectural, &c.).
- Dress Caps.
- Dress Trimmings.
- Embroideries.
- Envelopes.
- Factory Work.
- Fancy Stores.
- Feather Dressing.
- Fishing Tackle.
- Furniture.
- Gilding.
- Gold Chains.
- Gold Pens.
- Gold and Silver Leaf.
- Grape Growing.
- Gum-Elastic Goods.
- Hair Dressing and Manufacturing.
- Hardware.
- Hats.
- Hoop Skirts.
- Horse Coverings.
- Ink.
- Jewelry.
- Labels.
- Lamps.
- Lapidaries' Work.
- Laundries.
- Lead.
- Leather.
- Life Preservers.
- Lithographing.
- Maps.
- Matches.
- Military Goods.
- Needle and Thread Stores.
- Oils.
- Paper Boxes.
- Patterns (Ladies' and Children's).
- Plated Ware.
- Paints.
- Painting and Staining of Glass.
- Perfumery.
- Photography.
- Practising Medicine.
- Picture Restoring.
- Pipes.
- Places of Summer Resort.
- Porcelain.
- Potash.
- Pottery.
- Printing.
- Rag Collecting.
- Sealed Provisions.
- Sewing-Machine Labor.
- Shoes.
- Shot.
- Soda and Saleratus.
- Spectacles.
- Stair Rods.
- Steel Engraving.
- Straw Working.
- Surgical Instruments.
- Suspenders.
- Tailors' Work.
- Tape.
- Tobacco Stripping and Packing.
- Toys.
- Types.
- Umbrellas and Parasols.
- Under Wear.
- Wall Paper.
- Watches.
- Willow Growing.
- Window Shades.
- Wood Engraving.
There will be openings in St. Louis and Chicago for fur
sewers. There has been a demand for mill girls in Rhode Island.[Pg 487]
[Pg 488]
There is a surplus now of workers in cotton mills, but not of
operatives in woollen mills. A gentleman in Middletown, Conn.,
wrote me a boarding house for work girls is wanted there.
Makers of ladies' dress caps and ironers of new shirts have been
scarce in New York city.
531. Prices of Board for Workwomen, and Remarks
of Employers.
Aside from the prices of board for
workwomen as mentioned in different parts of this work, I have
intelligence from employers in one hundred and fifteen towns and
cities of the Eastern States, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
These places number: Maine 4, New Hampshire 13, Vermont
4, Massachusetts 34, Rhode Island 5, Connecticut 29, New York
19, Pennsylvania 5, and New Jersey 2. Of the places in Maine,
prices of board for women run from $1.33 ¹/3 to $1.50 a week. In
New Hampshire, they make the same range. In Vermont, the
price is given, of all places, at $1.50. In Rhode Island, from
$1.50 to $3. In Connecticut, from $1.42. to $3. Massachusetts,
from $1.25 to $4. New York, $1.50 to $3.50. Pennsylvania,
$1.50 to $5. New Jersey, $1.25 to $1.75. The difference in
board is something between a small town and a city in any State.
The largest number of employers in cities give, as the most common
prices, from $1.50 to $3 per week. Lights and washing are
sometimes included in these prices, but washing very seldom—fuel
in the rooms of the boarders, never. Employers write the
boarding houses of their workmen are comfortable and respectable.
We hope they are so, and wish that as much could be said
of all. But we must acknowledge that we feel disposed to question
the comfort of the majority of those for which such prices
are paid in cities as mentioned by the employers. In villages
and towns, board could be had at such rates. But we are confident
it would be impossible to furnish sufficient wholesome food
and clean, well ventilated lodging rooms, at the rates mostly specified
in cities, where rent and provisions are high, with any profit
to the keepers of the houses. Some employers assert that women
can live cheaper than men. They cannot, in most places, to have
as good accommodations; and when they can, the difference is
slight. So a just proportion in wages is not observed, even with
such a plea. Most men in industrial avocations receive $1.50 a
day (many $2); women, from 50 cents to $1—most generally the
former price. In France, a workman usually receives 60 cents a
day; a woman, over 30 cents. So women do not receive even as
good wages, in proportion to men, in the United States, as in
France. In Lyons, France, women have always been paid for
work performed in the same proportion as men. Most hand seamstresses
receive starvation prices in both countries. In most in
[Pg 489]dustrial
employments in Dublin, Ireland, women receive six
English shillings a week, for their work of ten hours a day. Yet
on the dusty and disagreeable labor of sorting and picking
rags, some are enabled to earn eight shillings a week, but they are
paid by the piece. School children in Dublin, as well as the working
classes, usually take Monday for a holiday. Nor is it confined
to Dublin. In France and England, Monday is made a day
of freedom from work, and of reckless dissipation, with a large
portion of the working people. In most occupations open to
women, the times for work are usually not more than six months
in the year, while men's extend the year round. Some employers
write their women have more time than inclination for mental
improvement—that all their time is at their disposal, except those
hours employed in the factory, workshop, or store, which run
from ten to seventeen hours. A woman's wardrobe requires
some hours' attention; and the more limited her means, the more
time is needed to keep it in repair. We think employers could
do much good by learning the condition of their work people—what
their habits and home comforts are; and would recommend
to those disposed to learn something of the results, to read a work
called "The Successful Merchant." I have heard there is a great
laxity of morals in some of the establishments of New York,
where men and women are employed. Proprietors and foremen
of correct principles could do much to prevent this. Much, too,
might be avoided by a careful selection of work people. I learn
from one employer that one of his workwomen reads aloud to the
others while at work. It is an admirable plan, but, where machinery
is employed, could not be adopted, because of the noise. The
best policy for any government is a protection of home produce
and manufactures—a policy that it is desirable to see carried out
more fully in our country. It will be observed that the farther
we go south, as a general thing, the better are the prices paid for
labor. Living, however, is somewhat higher. So what is gained
in one way is lost in another. A majority of workwomen in this
country are foreigners. In New York, I have heard the opinion
expressed that there are in that city fifteen foreign workwomen
where there is one American. One source of trouble among
workwomen is the indifferent way in which they execute their
work, arising from the want of proper instruction, the want of
application, or a careless habit they acquire. Another failing is
stopping often when at work. A misfortune with many workwomen
is that they have not the physical strength to do much
work, to do it constantly, or to do it fast.
532. Number of Work Hours.
In France, the number
of work hours is 12; in England, 10; and in most of the United
[Pg 490]
States, 10. In some of the United States there are no laws regulating
the number of work hours; and in some States, where
such laws do exist, they are evaded.
533. Extracts from the Census Report for 1860.
In advance of publication, Mr. Kennedy, Superintendent of the
United States Census Report, writes: "The whole number, approximately,
of females employed in the various branches of manufacture,
is 285,000. The following are approximations to the average
wages paid in New York and New England. Monthly wages
of females employed in making
| Boots and shoes, |
$11 25 |
| Clothing, |
12 00 |
| Cotton goods, |
13 30 |
| Woollen, |
16 00 |
| Paper boxes, |
14 30 |
| Umbrellas, &c. |
13 38 |
| Book folding, |
15 38 |
| Printing, |
13 65 |
| Millinery, |
17 47 |
| Ladies' mantillas, &c. |
16 00 |
| Hoop skirts, |
14 00 |
[Pg 491]
[Pg 492]
INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS OF PARIS, IN 1848.
| OCCUPATIONS. |
Number of Men. |
Number of Women. |
Minimum of Men's Wages per Day. |
Maximum of Men's Wages per Day. |
Minimum of Women's Wages per
Day. |
Maximum of Women's Wages per
Day. |
Months when Work is slack. |
|
|
|
cents |
$ cts |
cents |
cents |
|
| Makers of Accordions |
217 |
51 |
40 |
1 00 |
15 |
35 |
Jan., Feb., Aug. |
| Sculptors in Alabaster Night Lamps,
and Wicks |
51 |
14 |
40 |
1 20 |
30 |
45 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Makers of Matches |
184 |
357 |
25 |
1 00 |
12 |
60 |
May, June, July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Starch and Spongers
of Cloths |
83 |
4 |
45 |
0 80 |
30 |
.. |
June, July, Aug. |
| Dressers of Woven Goods, Silver and
Copper |
491 |
325 |
25 |
1 00 |
20 |
50 |
June, July, Jan. |
| Dressers and Drawers of Gold |
31 |
3 |
50 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Gunsmiths |
492 |
8 |
30 |
1 10 |
.. |
35 |
June, July, May, March. |
| Makers of Scales and Weights |
205 |
2 |
60 |
1 10 |
.. |
.. |
Jan., Feb., Aug. |
| Whalebone Splitters |
96 |
42 |
20 |
1 00 |
average 29 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Bandage and Truss Makers |
278 |
404 |
50 |
0 83 |
60 |
$2 00 |
Jan., Feb., and part of Dec. |
| Beaters of Gold and Silver |
195 |
377 |
50 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Polishers of Steel Jewelry |
1,091 |
784 |
30 |
2 00 |
15 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Mourning Jewelry |
170 |
54 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| False Jewelry |
1,507 |
456 |
25 |
1 60 |
16 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Fine Jewelry |
2,942 |
637 |
20 |
2 40 |
.. |
48 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Garnishers of Jewels |
83 |
4 |
50 |
1 10 |
20 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., and part of July. |
| Manufacturers of Implements for
Billiards |
216 |
9 |
40 |
2 00 |
30 |
60 |
July, Aug., Jan. |
| Toy Manufacturers |
641 |
1,345 |
25 |
1 20 |
10 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., March, April. |
| Bleachers of Woven Goods |
65 |
275 |
50 |
1 00 |
10 |
55 |
June, July, Aug., and part of Sept. |
| Washerwomen |
36 |
7,491 |
40 |
0 70 |
20 |
60 |
Aug., July, Jan., Feb. |
| Wood Workers |
43 |
20 |
40 |
1 00 |
15 |
60 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Cap Makers |
1,068 |
1,565 |
18 |
1 00 |
8 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., July, and part of Aug. |
| Makers of Hooks and Eyes, and Buckles |
127 |
75 |
60 |
1 00 |
20 |
35 |
Jan. and part of Feb. |
| Makers of Wax and Tallow Candles |
186 |
113 |
40 |
1 00 |
15 |
60 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Bakers |
1,996 |
643 |
25 |
0 60 |
30 and a loaf of
bread every day. |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Embroiderers of Bags and Purses |
7 |
876 |
60 |
0 80 |
15 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July, and Aug. |
| Button Makers, Horn, Pearl,
&c. |
405 |
185 |
40 |
1 20 |
18 |
40 |
From Dec., to Feb., being most of 3
months. |
| Button Makers, Cloth and Metal |
716 |
522 |
30 |
1 20 |
10 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., and part of July and Aug. |
| Bricks, Tiles, and Pipes for Chimneys |
497 |
27 |
40 |
2 80 |
25 |
60 |
Commence in Nov. and end in March. |
| Book Stitchers |
183 |
678 |
20 |
1 00 |
20 |
65 |
|
| Tapestry Embroiderers |
14 |
969 |
70 |
1 20 |
15 |
70 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Embroiderers |
43 |
3,746 |
60 |
3 00 |
10 |
$1 00 |
July, Aug., and part of Jan. and Feb. |
| Manufacturers of Bronze |
2,515 |
27 |
45 |
2 00 |
25 |
70 |
Most active in Oct., Nov., and Dec. |
| Bronze Carvers |
752 |
6 |
30 |
1 25 |
30 |
.. |
" " " |
| Bronze Gilders |
343 |
24 |
50 |
1 20 |
30 |
55 |
Oct., Nov., Dec. |
| Bronze Founders |
1,178 |
1 |
40 |
1 40 |
27 |
.. |
" " " |
| Bronze Mounters |
32 |
11 |
40 |
0 70 |
25 |
70 |
Sept., Oct., and Nov. |
| Bronze Finishers |
333 |
2 |
30 |
1 20 |
40 |
.. |
Oct., Nov., and Dec. |
| Bronze Turners |
164 |
4 |
30 |
1 20 |
30 |
40 |
Sept., Oct., and Nov. |
| Bronze Varnishers |
168 |
233 |
40 |
1 40 |
25 |
$1 00 |
Oct., Nov., Dec. |
| Makers of Common Brushes |
365 |
163 |
35 |
1 00 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Makers of Fine Brushes |
371 |
421 |
30 |
1 20 |
15 |
60 |
" " " |
| Coffee Toasters |
37 |
22 |
30 |
1 00 |
30 |
40 |
June, July. |
| Contractors for Washrooms and Public
Washing Houses |
193 |
45 |
40 |
0 80 |
25 |
55 |
Jan., Feb., March, April. |
| Manufacturers of Dials for
Watchesand Clocks |
24 |
10 |
55 |
1 00 |
30 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Manufacturers of Mouldings for Gilt
Frames |
989 |
57 |
40 |
2 00 |
25 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., and part of July and Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Cotton Canvas |
114 |
30 |
33 |
0 80 |
25 |
40 |
Jan., July. |
| Cane and Whip Makers |
796 |
84 |
35 |
1 40 |
20 |
55 |
Jan., Feb., Dec., July. |
| Cane Chair Seaters |
10 |
169 |
35 |
0 80 |
15 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Makers of Gum Elastic Works |
259 |
310 |
50 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., June. |
| Coachmakers |
3,685 |
2 |
30 |
1 60 |
$2
40 a month each and boarded. |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Playing Cards |
160 |
97 |
45 |
1 00 |
20 |
50 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Pasteboard and
Cards, Glazed Paper |
210 |
121 |
30 |
1 30 |
20 |
45 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Manufacturers of Pasteboard Boxes |
569 |
1,357 |
40 |
1 20 |
6 |
70 |
Jan., Feb., March, July. |
| Makers of Men's and Boy's Caps |
81 |
3,929 |
30 |
1 20 |
10 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Shawls |
786 |
1,133 |
30 |
1 80 |
10 |
60 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Mounters and Trimmers of Straw Hats |
173 |
1,974 |
30 |
2 00 |
15 |
$1 00 |
Work slack six months, from June to
Nov. |
| Weavers of Braid for Straw Bonnets |
12 |
108 |
50 |
0 70 |
20 |
60 |
" " " |
| Bleachers and Pressers of Straw Hats |
117 |
101 |
40 |
1 40 |
20 |
60 |
July to Jan. |
| Hat Makers |
2,829 |
1,158 |
30 |
2 40 |
15 |
$1 00 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Meat Sellers |
629 |
72 |
10 |
0 80 |
$30
to $160 per
year for female accountants. |
June, July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Articles for Hunting |
162 |
82 |
30 |
1 00 |
20 |
35 |
Jan., Feb., March, Dec. |
| Embroiderers of Church Ornaments |
9 |
174 |
60 |
1 00 |
25 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., and part of March. |
| Coppersmith ... wife of patron |
.... |
1 |
.. |
.. |
.. |
.. |
|
| Makers of Woven and Knit Shoes |
728 |
1,154 |
20 |
0 90 |
10 |
50 |
Dec., July, Aug., and part of March. |
| Hair Preparers, Dressers, Wig
Makers, &c. |
678 |
280 |
30 |
1 40 |
15 |
60 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Washers and Assorters of Rags |
27 |
44 |
50 |
0 70 |
12 |
40 |
Dec. and Jan. |
| Chocolate Makers |
266 |
122 |
45 |
1 10 |
20 |
55 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Manufacturers of Blacking and Varnish |
86 |
45 |
25 |
0 80 |
20 |
40 |
" " " |
| Manufacturers of Wafers and Sealing
Wax |
57 |
23 |
40 |
0 80 |
30 |
40 |
July, Aug. |
| Chasers and Engravers |
330 |
21 |
50 |
1 40 |
30 |
$1 20 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Bells and Clock Bells |
40 |
2 |
50 |
1 20 |
30 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., and part of March. |
| Nailmakers |
347 |
33 |
40 |
1 40 |
20 |
25 |
Jan., July, Aug. |
| Print Colorers |
18 |
626 |
45 |
0 70 |
20 |
60 |
" " " |
| Makers of Women's Clothing |
1 |
1,301 |
.. |
1 00 |
10 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Confectioners |
367 |
284 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
June to Sept. |
| Makers of Nutritious Conserves |
75 |
45 |
30 |
0 80 |
20 |
40 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Rope Makers |
392 |
5 |
15 |
0 80 |
25 |
40 |
From Dec. to Feb. |
| Boot and Shoe Makers |
13,553 |
6,713 |
15 |
1 80 |
8 |
70 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Makers of Shoes to Order |
7,511 |
1,555 |
20 |
1 82 |
12 |
70 |
" " " |
| Curriers |
2,170 |
189 |
30 |
2 00 |
10 |
30 |
" " " |
| Corset Makers |
38 |
2,810 |
40 |
1 00 |
10 |
80 |
July, Aug., Sept., and part of Jan. |
| Costumers |
37 |
47 |
60 |
1 00 |
20 |
50 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Colors and Varnish |
510 |
12 |
40 |
1 10 |
30 |
50 |
Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Knife Makers |
503 |
39 |
25 |
1 60 |
25 |
50 |
July, Aug. |
| Mantua Makers |
.. |
5,287 |
.. |
.. |
10 |
80 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Flannels and Blankets |
404 |
215 |
30 |
0 70 |
$1 00 |
$1 80 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Makers of Crayons |
65 |
21 |
35 |
0 90 |
20 |
40 |
" " " |
| Curd and Cheese Makers |
53 |
30 |
40 |
0 60 |
20 |
40 |
Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Horse-hair Goods |
43 |
68 |
45 |
0 90 |
15 |
90 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Dressers and Liners of Horse Hair |
145 |
72 |
40 |
0 SO |
25 |
50 |
Dec., Jan. |
| Manufacturers of Razor Leather |
38 |
8 |
60 |
0 70 |
30 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Varnished Leather |
175 |
9 |
60 |
1 00 |
30 |
40 |
June, July |
| Daguerreotypists |
34 |
8 |
60 |
1 00 |
40 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Pinkers of Shawls and Woven Goods |
12 |
32 |
45 |
0 70 |
20 |
45 |
June, July. |
| Makers, Hookers, and Washers of Laces |
1 |
817 |
.. |
0 70 |
12 |
70 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Artificial Teeth |
63 |
20 |
50 |
2 00 |
35 |
40 |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Designers for Manufacturers |
579 |
43 |
50 |
4 00 |
.. |
40 |
July, Aug., Feb., March. |
| Designers for Embroidery |
173 |
46 |
50 |
2 40 |
20 |
50 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Distilled Liquors
and Sirups |
294 |
13 |
30 |
0 90 |
30 |
45 |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Gilders and Silverers of Ware and
Jewelry |
442 |
163 |
40 |
2 00 |
20 |
50 |
July, Jan., Feb. |
| Wood Gilders |
773 |
257 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Gilders of Edges of Paper and
Parchment |
95 |
72 |
50 |
1 20 |
39 |
.. |
" " " " |
| Mineral and other Gaseous Waters |
177 |
12 |
40 |
1 20 |
30 |
40 |
Nov. to Feb. Women make powders
for gaseous waters. |
| Furniture Makers |
8,459 |
90 |
25 |
2 00 |
25 |
80 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Writers and Designers for Lithographs |
54 |
11 |
70 |
1 60 |
20 |
80 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Publishers of Images and Engravings |
356 |
464 |
50 |
2 40 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers and Painters of
Enamelled Ware |
240 |
113 |
40 |
2 00 |
30 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Makers of False Stones and Enamels |
19 |
14 |
50 |
1 00 |
30 |
50 |
" " " |
| Makers of Artificial Eyes, Porcelain
Buttons,
& Glass Links |
93 |
408 |
55 |
2 50 |
20 |
40 |
" " " |
| Makers of Writing and Printing Ink |
85 |
11 |
40 |
0 55 |
15 |
40 |
Jan., Aug. |
| Fancy Inkstands and Toilet Articles |
150 |
12 |
50 |
1 00 |
12 |
40 |
|
| Grocers, Manufacturing |
851 |
24 |
40 |
0 90 |
30 |
45 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Military Equipments |
1,649 |
2,254 |
25 |
1 40 |
10 |
70 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Embossers |
337 |
74 |
40 |
1 60 |
30 |
60 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Stampers and Engravers of Moulds for
Goldware & Jewelry |
220 |
9 |
40 |
1 20 |
30 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., July, and part of March. |
| Pewterers |
102 |
17 |
50 |
1 00 |
30 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Fan Makers. There are several
branches |
252 |
264 |
40 |
1 20 |
12 |
$1 00 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Chairs and Arm Chairs |
1,673 |
53 |
45 |
1 60 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Makers of Sheet Pewter |
84 |
14 |
40 |
1 00 |
25 |
35 |
April, May, June, July. |
| Makers of Wax Figures |
21 |
13 |
70 |
1 20 |
25 |
40 |
March, June, July, Aug. |
| Spinners, Dressers, and Twisters of
Silk |
47 |
113 |
30 |
1 00 |
20 |
40 |
Jan., June, July. |
| Spinners and Twisters of Cotton |
578 |
1,334 |
35 |
1 00 |
18 |
45 |
Jan., July, Aug. |
| Spinners and Twisters of Wool |
445 |
452 |
50 |
1 20 |
14 |
60 |
April, May, June. |
| Makers of Artificial Flowers |
414 |
5,063 |
40 |
1 20 |
12 |
80 |
June, July, Aug., Jan. |
| Metal Melters |
1,785 |
4 |
60 |
2 30 |
40 |
.. |
Jan., Feb. |
| Suet and Tallow Melters |
80 |
3 |
50 |
1 40 |
25 |
30 |
From a month to six weeks in summer. |
| Melters and Engravers of Stamps and
Metal Plates |
624 |
133 |
50 |
2 00 |
25 |
50 |
Aug., Sept. |
| Block Makers |
130 |
21 |
50 |
0 90 |
25 |
50 |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Fur Dealers and Dressers |
232 |
399 |
50 |
1 80 |
12 |
60 |
Mar., April, May, June, July,
& part of Aug. |
| Old Clothes Women |
.. |
50 |
.. |
.. |
12 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., March, Aug. |
| Sheath Makers |
341 |
70 |
30 |
1 20 |
20 |
50 |
July, Aug., Jan. |
| Makers of Kid Gloves |
1,045 |
873 |
40 |
1 20 |
15 |
50 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Cloth Gloves |
19 |
203 |
40 |
1 00 |
8 |
60 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Stampers and Printers of Stuffs and
Garments |
136 |
39 |
40 |
2 40 |
20 |
60 |
June, July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Gelatine and Glue Makers |
78 |
35 |
.. |
0 60 |
20 |
35 |
Jan., Feb., Nov., Dec. |
| Makers of Cloth for Under Vests |
751 |
369 |
20 |
1 20 |
20 |
40 |
April, Aug., Sept., Jan. |
| Carvers and Gem Engravers |
165 |
17 |
60 |
1 60 |
35 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., and parts of July and
Aug. |
| Mould Engravers |
68 |
10 |
60 |
1 40 |
.. |
30 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Copper Plate Engravers |
226 |
62 |
60 |
2 00 |
25 |
70 |
July, Aug. |
| Engravers on Wood and on Metal for
Printing |
160 |
6 |
60 |
2 00 |
60 |
$1 00 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Engravers on Wood for Impressions on
Stuff and Printed Papers |
154 |
11 |
40 |
1 10 |
.. |
30 |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Engravers on Metals for Seals and
Clocks |
205 |
7 |
30 |
1 60 |
40 |
70 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Legging Makers |
73 |
206 |
40 |
1 00 |
20 |
60 |
Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Clocks and Clock Trimmings |
1,826 |
155 |
35 |
2 50 |
12 |
$1 00 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Lithographic and Copperplate Printers |
1,909 |
186 |
30 |
7 00 |
20 |
60 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Cloth Printers |
316 |
45 |
40 |
2 00 |
25 |
55 |
" " " " |
| Type Printers |
4,053 |
304 |
60 |
3 00 |
10 |
80 |
" " " " |
| Makers of Surgical Instruments |
247 |
14 |
40 |
1 40 |
40 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., Sept. |
| Makers of Musical Wind Instruments |
71 |
4 |
50 |
1 10 |
30 |
70 |
Business most active in Oct., Nov. |
| Copper Musical Instruments |
461 |
1 |
45 |
1 60 |
55 |
.. |
Slack in June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of False Jewels |
192 |
26 |
50 |
2 00 |
30 |
80 |
July, Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Fine Jewels |
416 |
65 |
20 |
2 50 |
35 |
$1 00 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Lamps |
1,856 |
24 |
40 |
1 60 |
25 |
60 |
May, June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Coach Lamps |
142 |
6 |
50 |
1 40 |
30 |
50 |
July, Aug. |
| Lapidaries |
112 |
10 |
60 |
1 40 |
25 |
35 |
Jan., Feb., March, July. |
| Box Makers and Packers |
1,089 |
2 |
20 |
1 20 |
30 |
.. |
" " " " |
| Makers of Letters in Relief |
95 |
7 |
55 |
1 20 |
30 |
40 |
Dec., Jan. |
| Cork Makers |
159 |
53 |
50 |
1 00 |
20 |
40 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| File Makers |
418 |
10 |
60 |
2 40 |
25 |
60 |
Jan. |
| Contractors for Linen Drapery |
80 |
8,974 |
45 |
1 10 |
3 |
80 |
July, Aug, Jan., Feb. |
| Manufacturers of Linen Drapery |
80 |
2,312 |
.. |
.. |
12 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Design Readers |
121 |
99 |
50 |
1 00 |
30 |
70 |
June, July, Aug., Jan. |
| Makers of Bed Clothing |
257 |
410 |
40 |
1 20 |
16 |
80 |
Dec., Jan., Feb., March. |
| Makers of Spectacle Frames |
336 |
44 |
40 |
1 20 |
12 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Trunk Makers |
210 |
73 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Dec., Jan., Feb., March. |
| Cutters of Marble for Furniture |
574 |
45 |
80 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., March |
| Cutters of Marble for Buildings |
933 |
23 |
50 |
1 60 |
30 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., Dec. |
| Horse Farriers |
346 |
2 |
30 |
1 30 |
30 |
.. |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Veneerers and Carvers |
306 |
34 |
40 |
1 40 |
30 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Alum Leather Dressers |
164 |
1 |
40 |
0 80 |
.. |
.. |
|
| Looms for Weaving |
176 |
21 |
50 |
1 20 |
25 |
30 |
July, Aug., Jan. |
| Trellis Makers Wives of patrons |
50 |
3 |
40 |
1 00 |
|
|
|
| Looking-Glass Makers |
515 |
96 |
40 |
1 40 |
20 |
55 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Milliners |
24 |
2,354 |
50 |
0 90 |
20 |
$1 00 |
July, Aug., Sept., Feb. |
| Makers of Watch Cases |
57 |
20 |
20 |
1 00 |
25 |
60 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Mosaic Work |
51 |
2 |
50 |
1 30 |
.. |
$1 00 |
June, July, and part of Aug. |
| Plaster and Composition Moulders |
155 |
4 |
30 |
1 20 |
.. |
30 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Makers of Mouldings, Copper Pipes,
and Show Cases |
266 |
3 |
60 |
1 70 |
.. |
30 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Eyelet Holes, Percussion
Caps, Pen Holders,
&c. |
223 |
85 |
35 |
1 20 |
15 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Makers of Instruments of Precision
and Spectacles |
1,634 |
101 |
40 |
3 20 |
30 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Makers of Silver-Plated Ware |
544 |
59 |
40 |
2 00 |
25 |
60 |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Silver Trinkets and Jewelry |
328 |
81 |
40 |
1 30 |
30 |
70 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Manufacturers of Gold Plate |
541 |
188 |
40 |
1 60 |
28 |
60 |
July, Aug., and part of Jan. and Feb. |
| Organ Manufacturers ... Wives of
patrons |
401 |
2 |
40 |
2 00 |
.. |
.. |
|
| Wadding Makers |
104 |
122 |
25 |
0 90 |
20 |
40 |
Commences in Feb., ends in July. |
| Mat Makers |
57 |
91 |
30 |
0 90 |
8 |
35 |
Commences in May, ends in Sept. |
| Makers of Paper Bags, &c. |
40 |
120 |
30 |
0 90 |
10 |
45 |
Jan., July, Aug. |
| Makers of Fancy Papers |
114 |
129 |
50 |
1 20 |
20 |
30 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Wall Paper |
1,855 |
93 |
30 |
2 00 |
20 |
60 |
June, July, Aug., and part of Sept. |
| Makers of Parasols and Umbrellas |
601 |
742 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
July, Sept., Jan., Feb. |
| Perfumers |
349 |
366 |
30 |
2 00 |
15 |
60 |
July, Aug., Sept. |
| Makers of Lace Embroidery |
2,545 |
6,046 |
20 |
1 20 |
5 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Novelty Embroiderers |
1,142 |
2,331 |
20 |
1 20 |
8 |
80 |
" " " " |
| Embroiderers for Furniture |
473 |
941 |
30 |
1 00 |
12 |
60 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Chenille Embroiderers |
37 |
69 |
40 |
0 90 |
30 |
80 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Military Embroiderers |
160 |
589 |
25 |
0 80 |
10 |
40 |
July, Aug., and part of Jan. and Feb. |
| Furniture and Coach Embroiderers |
198 |
114 |
30 |
1 00 |
12 |
50 |
July, Aug., and Jan. |
| False and Fine Embroiderers |
108 |
387 |
35 |
0 90 |
25 |
70 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Embroiderers of Braces and Garters |
367 |
1,615 |
25 |
1 00 |
5 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Makers of Nutritious Pastry |
92 |
59 |
45 |
1 40 |
25 |
60 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Pastry Cooks |
973 |
60 |
20 |
1 10 |
30 |
45 |
" " " " |
| Skinners and Morocco Dressers |
644 |
15 |
40 |
1 20 |
25 |
30 |
July, Aug., Jan. |
| Makers of Articles for Fishing |
0 |
25 |
30 |
1 00 |
20 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., Oct., Nov., Dec. |
| Comb Manufacturers |
585 |
210 |
40 |
1 20 |
15 |
70 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Wool Combers |
694 |
194 |
30 |
1 00 |
25 |
35 |
April, May. |
| House Painters |
5,213 |
15 |
30 |
2 00 |
25 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., Nov., Dec. |
| Manufacturers of Plush |
202 |
63 |
25 |
0 80 |
15 |
40 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of False Pearls and Pearl
Flowers |
56 |
154 |
60 |
2 00 |
20 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., and part of Dec. |
| Stringers and Mounters of Pearls |
.... |
52 |
.. |
.. |
15 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., and part of March. |
| Makers of Painters' Pencils and
Brushes |
114 |
129 |
50 |
1 20 |
20 |
30 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Polishers of Gold &
Daguerreotypes |
52 |
4 |
30 |
1 40 |
30 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., part of July and Aug. |
| Plaiters and Winders of Cotton,
Wool, and Cashmere |
170 |
492 |
30 |
0 60 |
10 |
35 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Plaiters and Winders of silk |
44 |
277 |
40 |
1 00 |
15 |
50 |
July, Aug., Jan. |
| Plumbers, Pump, & Fountain
Makers Wives of patrons |
1,014 |
2 |
40 |
1 40 |
.. |
.. |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Feather Dressers |
78 |
533 |
40 |
1 00 |
20 |
60 |
Jan., July. |
| Makers of Feather Brooms |
120 |
28 |
50 |
1 20 |
30 |
40 |
July, Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Quill Pens |
55 |
44 |
50 |
1 40 |
15 |
50 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Cutters and Preparers of Hair for
Hatters |
91 |
505 |
40 |
1 20 |
15 |
50 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Polishers and Burnishers of Gold and
Jewelry |
23 |
284 |
50 |
0 90 |
15 |
65 |
Jan, Feb., July, Aug. |
| Decorators of Porcelain |
1,641 |
1,010 |
40 |
2 40 |
20 |
$4 00 |
Jan., Feb., part of March. |
| Makers, Moulders, Polishers, and
Menders of Porcelain |
155 |
9 |
50 |
3 00 |
30 |
50 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Portfolios and Articles of Morocco |
506 |
307 |
25 |
1 30 |
20 |
55 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Makers of Articles of Earthenware,
Stoneware, and China |
330 |
20 |
25 |
1 60 |
25 |
40 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Pewterers |
337 |
84 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
40 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Preparers of Animals |
15 |
20 |
60 |
1 20 |
12 |
60 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Chemical Products |
138 |
20 |
60 |
1 10 |
25 |
30 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Pharmaceutical Products |
108 |
75 |
85 |
1 00 |
20 |
55 |
July, Aug. |
| Makers of Ironware Articles |
226 |
5 |
30 |
1 00 |
25 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Refiners of Sugar |
425 |
5 |
30 |
1 20 |
30 |
.. |
About six weeks work is slack. |
| Makers of Registers |
43 |
123 |
60 |
1 20 |
20 |
50 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Rulers, Easels, &c. |
39 |
12 |
60 |
1 00 |
35 |
60 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Paper Rulers |
35 |
143 |
30 |
0 70 |
30 |
50 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Bookbinders |
939 |
807 |
25 |
1 20 |
20 |
60 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Borers of Jewelry |
.. |
30 |
.. |
.. |
20 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., March, July. |
| Ribbon Makers |
19 |
30 |
60 |
0 70 |
35 |
45 |
Jan., Feb, and part of July. |
| Makers of Wooden Shoes |
60 |
34 |
50 |
1 00 |
15 |
40 |
March, May, June, July, Aug, Sept. |
| Ebony Sculptors (for Furniture) |
471 |
3 |
40 |
1 60 |
25 |
60 |
Jan., Feb, March. |
| Modern Sculptors in Bronze |
448 |
15 |
40 |
2 00 |
30 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., some report. Others say,
July, Aug. |
| Wood Carvers |
424 |
39 |
30 |
1 40 |
30 |
45 |
June, July, Aug. |
| Saddle and Harness Makers and
Furnishers |
1,347 |
142 |
30 |
1 20 |
12 |
40 |
Dec., Jan., July, Aug. |
| Saddle Belts and Girdles |
124 |
80 |
40 |
1 00 |
15 |
50 |
Jan., Feb., Dec. |
| Saddle Spurs, Plates, and Ironware
for Harnesses, &c. |
447 |
28 |
40 |
1 60 |
20 |
50 |
Three months, part in winter and
part in summer. |
| Mechanical Locksmiths |
959 |
16 |
30 |
1 40 |
30 |
40 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Locks for Furniture |
760 |
7 |
60 |
1 40 |
20 |
50 |
" " |
| Settings for Jewels ... Wives of
patrons |
46 |
2 |
50 |
1 20 |
.. |
.. |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Spar Ornaments |
10 |
63 |
50 |
0 60 |
8 |
40 |
Dec., Jan., Feb. |
| Makers of Coach Blinds |
118 |
11 |
40 |
3 00 |
20 |
40 |
" " " |
| Makers of Tinctures |
184 |
11 |
40 |
1 20 |
25 |
30 |
Dec., Jan. |
| Toy Manufacturers |
1,404 |
174 |
30 |
1 40 |
15 |
70 |
Jan., Feb., July. |
| Makers of Toy Umbrellas |
264 |
6 |
40 |
1 20 |
15 |
25 |
June, July, Aug, Jan. |
| Edge Tool Makers |
854 |
2 |
30 |
1 40 |
.. |
40 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Tailors |
11,066 |
10,769 |
15 |
1 60 |
10 |
90 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
| Tailors who work by Measure |
6,660 |
2,947 |
30 |
1 60 |
10 |
90 |
1st July to middle of Sept., and 1st
Jan. to middle of March. |
| Carpet Clippers and Drawers |
20 |
15 |
50 |
80 |
30 |
35 |
Feb., March. |
| Upholsterers |
1,832 |
1,797 |
40 |
3 00 |
15 |
70 |
June, July, Aug., Sept. |
| Dyers of Thread and Woven Goods |
149 |
20 |
40 |
1 10 |
30 |
60 |
July, Aug. |
| Dyers, Scourers |
523 |
510 |
40 |
1 20 |
20 |
$1 00 |
Jan., Feb., July, Aug. |
| Dyers of Skins for Gloves |
149 |
20 |
40 |
1 10 |
30 |
60 |
July, Aug. |
| Makers of Cloths for Robes, Buttons,
Furniture |
462 |
431 |
30 |
1 20 |
7 |
40 |
July, Jan. |
| Makers of Oil Paper and Cloth |
144 |
30 |
30 |
1 40 |
25 |
40 |
Feb., and part of Jan. |
| Metal Varnishers, Painters, Gilders,
and Silverers |
300 |
111 |
40 |
1 40 |
20 |
40 |
Dec., Jan., Feb., March. |
| Constructors and Decorators of Tombs |
357 |
86 |
35 |
2 00 |
15 |
30 |
Jan., Feb., Dec. |
| Metal Turners |
646 |
12 |
40 |
1 20 |
36 |
.. |
Jan., Feb., Mar, and part of July. |
| Wood Turners |
361 |
7 |
25 |
1 10 |
30 |
|
" " " " " |
| Turners of Wood Furniture |
316 |
11 |
30 |
1 00 |
30 |
60 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Chair Turners |
665 |
234 |
30 |
1 20 |
15 |
50 |
" " " |
| Makers of Metal Traps |
411 |
43 |
60 |
1 80 |
25 |
60 |
Jan., Feb. |
| Seamless Bags of Hemp and Flax |
20 |
29 |
30 |
0 70 |
20 |
35 |
Jan., Aug., Sept. |
| Basket Makers |
231 |
27 |
18 |
1 20 |
30 |
40 |
Dec., Jan., Feb., and part of Aug. |
| Glass Blowers |
76 |
6 |
30 |
1 00 |
.. |
40 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Painters and Gilders of Glass |
103 |
35 |
30 |
2 00A |
20 |
50 |
" " " |
| Glass and Crystal Cutters, Engravers
and Polishers |
327 |
8 |
60 |
2 00 |
25 |
40 |
July, Aug., Jan. |
| Makers of Glass Beads |
13 |
90 |
60 |
1 00 |
20 |
40 |
Jan., Feb., March. |
| Vinegar Makers |
60 |
3 |
40 |
0 90 |
30 |
.. |
One has $80 per annum, board and
lodging. June, July, Aug. |
| Makers of Morocco for Hats,
&c. |
296 |
356 |
40 |
1 40 |
10 |
50 |
July, Aug., Jan., Feb. |
[Pg 500]
REMARKS ON PRECEDING TABLES.
Employed in the thirteen groups of industrials, 112,891 women;
7,851 girls, of whom 869 were under 12—rest from 12 to 16. To
every two men employed, one woman. Women more numerous than
men in the manufacture of garments and materials for them. None
employed in the laborious occupations. Equal in fancy wares. Highest
wages of women per day, 20 francs, least 15 centimes—average, 1
franc 63 centimes.
|
950 |
women's salaries |
less than 60 centimes. |
|
626 |
" |
higher than 3 francs. |
| The bulk, or 100,050 |
" |
range between the two extremes. |
Extremely low salaries are exceptional. Thus only two were so low
as 15 centimes, and one of these workers was aged sixty-eight, and
the other seventy-one. Women's wages are rather over half what
the wages of men are.B
THE END.
Transcriber's notes:
In "By
giving a suitable notice to the overseer, it is so arranged that the
help can be absent from their work one day or a month." or was changed into of.
In "Another lady told me that in
pattern making she gives instruction two months, paying nothing,
but then they can earn $2.50, and, as they become more expert,
can earn $3, $3.50, and $4.", $ was added before the figure of 3.50.
The name of the inventor of the knitting machine mentioned several times in this book (Mr. Aiken) was spelled "Aikens" on occasion; this was corrected except in the one instance which was a
quotation from another document.
In "In the department of Sonne,
France, women alone have the right to go into the fields", Sonne was changed into Somme.
In "Many of the young Swabian girls
of thirteen or fourteen years old are sent to Stuttgard", Stuttgard was changed into Stuttgart.
There are many opening or closing quotation marks missing in the text. As in most instances, it is impossible to say where the quotation was meant to begin or end, those errors have not
been corrected. Only in the following two instances were quotation marks removed:
- In >"Mrs. B., who has
been twenty-three years carrying on the business on Broadway,
says "she has applications constantly, but finds it difficult to obtain
competent workmen."<, opening quotation mark before Mrs. B. (lacking a closing quotation mark, and since text indicates only indirect quotation) was removed.
- In >The war department, about two
years ago, closed a contract with S., of Philadelphia, to furnish
sixteen thousand felt hats for the army, at $2.75 each."<, closing quotation mark was removed as erroneous.
"Employee/s" is found in various different spellings throughout the book; this inconsistency has been retained.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Employments of Women, by Virginia Penny
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