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
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 company
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;
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."
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
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."
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 employed
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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."
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,
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
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
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
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.'"
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 different
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."
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
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.
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."
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.
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
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."
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
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
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."
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
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."
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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."
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
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
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
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.
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
$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
$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."
"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.
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
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.
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
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.
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."
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 requires
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
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.
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.
The first opera of modern
times was performed about the close of the fifteenth century. At
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
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."
"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 instruction,
$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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Some very good marine views have been
executed in this country, but none by ladies.
"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
facility of expression make it a branch for which she is especially
fitted."
, 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.
"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
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."
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.
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.
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 cannot
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.
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
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."
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
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."
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
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
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.
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 business
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
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. Photographists
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,
like the present, when soldiers are going from their homes, there
is much for the artists to do.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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."
"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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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,
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."
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.
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
pays well. She makes by hand; they are more natural than
those made by moulds.
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
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."
MERCANTILE PURSUITS. — 98. Merchants. — 99. Bookkeepers. — 100. Book Merchants. — 101. China Merchants. — 102. Clothiers. — 103. Curiosity Dealers. — 104. Druggists and Druggists' Clerks. — 105. Keepers of Fancy Stores. — 106. Gentlemen's Furnishing Stores. — 107. Furniture Sellers. — 108. Grocers. — 109. Junk Dealers. — 110. Music Sellers. — 111. Sellers of Artists' Materials. — 112. Sellers of Seeds, Roots, and Herbs. — 113. Sellers of Small Wares. — 114. Sellers of Snuff, Tobacco, and Cigars. — 115. Saleswomen. — 116. Street Sellers. — 117. Toy Merchants. — 118. Wall Paper Dealers. — 119. Worn Clothes and Second-hand Furniture. — 120. Variety Shops.
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
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.
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 saleswomen
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
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."
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
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.
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 business
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.
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 establishments,
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
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
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; thirty-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
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.
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.
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
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,
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.
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
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."
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.
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 discharged
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.
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
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.
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
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!
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.
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
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."
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
them around only in the afternoon, and sometimes sells to the
amount of $1.25.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
EMPLOYMENTS PERTAINING TO GRAIN, BIRDS, FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND VEGETABLES. — 121. Agriculturists. — 122. Bee Dealers. — 123. Bird Importers and Raisers. — 124. Bird and Animal Preservers. — 125. Florists. — 126. Flower Girls. — 127. Fruit Growers. — 128. Fruit Venders. — 129. Gardeners. — 130. Makers of Cordial and Syrups. — 131. Root, Bark, and Seed Gatherers. — 132. Seed Envelopers and Herb Packers. — 133. Sellers of Pets. — 134. Wine Manufacturers and Grape Growers.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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 unhealthy.
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.
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
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
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."
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.
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 Rochester,
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.
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
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.
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."
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
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."
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.
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
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
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."
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.
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
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."
RAISERS, MAKERS, PREPARERS, AND DISPOSERS OF ARTICLES OF FOOD. — 135. Bread Bakers. — 136. Brewers. — 137. Candy Manufacturers. — 138. Cheesemakers. — 139. Coffee and Chocolate Packers. — 140. Cracker Bakers. — 141. Fancy Confectionery. — 142. Fish Women. — 143. Macaroni. — 144. Maple Sugar. — 145. Market Women. — 146. Meat Sellers. — 147. Milk Dealers. — 148. Mince Meat and Apple Butter. — 149. Mustard Packers. — 150. Oyster Sellers. — 151. Pie Bakers. — 152. Picklers of Oysters. — 153. Poulterers. — 154. Restaurant Keepers. — 155. Sealed Provisions, Pickles, and Sauces. — 156. Sugar Makers. — 157. Tea Packers. — 158. Vermicelli. — 159. Vinegar. — 160. Yeast.
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
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
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.
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."
"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,
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
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.
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 morning
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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 altogether.
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,
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
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."
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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,
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."
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 defective
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.
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."
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.
"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
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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."
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
TEXTILE MANUFACTURES. — 161. Cotton Manufacturers. — 162. Batting. — 163. Calicoes. — 164. Canton Flannels. — 165. Carpet Chains. — 166. Cord. — 167. Dyers and Bleachers. — 168. Factory Operatives. — 169. Gingham. — 170. Hosiers. — 171. Men's Wear. — 172. Print Works. — 173. Spinners. — 174. Spool Cotton. — 175. Tape. — 176. Weavers. — 177. Linen Manufacture. — 178. Sewing Thread. — 179. Woollen Manufacture. — 180. Blankets. — 181. Carpets. — 182. Carpet Bags. — 183. Cassimere. — 184. Cloths. — 185. Coverlets. — 186. Dry Goods Refinishers. — 187. Flannels. — 188. Gloves. — 189. Linseys. — 190. Woollen Shawls. — 191. Shoddy. — 192. Yarn. — 193. Silk Manufacture. — 194. Ribbons. — 195. Sewing Silk. — 196. Lace Makers. — 197. Lace Menders. — 198. Hair Cloth Manufacture.
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
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
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 manufacturer
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.
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."
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 consecutively.
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."
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."
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
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."
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.
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
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
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,
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."
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
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
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
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.
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
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."
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
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
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."
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."
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
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
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 measuring
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."
"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."
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
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."
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.
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
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.
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 manufacturers
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
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."
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
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.
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,
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.
"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."
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.
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.
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
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."
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
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."
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.
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
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, expresses
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.
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."
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.
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
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
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."
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
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:
"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.
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
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.
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."
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."
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."
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
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."
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
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."
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
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."
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
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.
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
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.
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
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."
"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
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."
METAL MANUFACTURES. — 199. Iron. — 200. Files. — 201. Guns. — 202. Hinges. — 203. Locks. — 204. Nails. — 205. Rivets. — 206. Screws. — 207. Skates. — 208. Shovels. — 209. Wire Workers. — Brass Manufacture. — 210. Candlesticks. — 211. Hooks and Eyes. — 212. Lamps. — 213. Pins. — 214. Rings. — 215. Scales. — 216. Stair Rods. — 217. Steel Manufacture. — 218. Buckles. — 219. Edge Tools. — 220. Electrical Machines. — 221. Fire Arms. — 222. Knives and Forks. — 223. Needles. — 224. Pens — 225. Philosophical Apparatus. — 226. Saws. — 227. Scissors. — 228. Spectacles. — 229. Surgical Instruments. — 230. Telescopes. — 231. Thermometers. — 232. Copper and Zinc Manufacture. — 233. Tin Manufacture. — 234. Lanterns. — 235. Britannia Ware. — 236. Silver. — 237. Burnishers. — 238. Thimbles. — 239. Silver Plating. — 240. Bronze. — 241. Gold and Jewelry Manufactures. — 242. Gold Assayers. — 243. Enamellers. — 244. Gold and Silver Leaf. — 245. Jewellers' Findings. — 246. Pencils. — 247. Pens. — 248. Watches. — 249. Watch Case and Jewelry Polishers. — 250. Watch Chains. — 251. Watch Jewels.
"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 development
of its resources. Many women are employed in dressing
and sorting ore in Great Britain.
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."
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."
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
$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."
"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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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
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."
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.
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
$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."
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."
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.
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."
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
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
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."
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."
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.
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."
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.
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
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."
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
of these propensities that has recommended them so largely to
the notice of the employer. In London the practice is gaining
ground."
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.
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."
The metals used for knives
and forks are iron, steel, and silver, according to use or expense.
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."
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
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.
(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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
women do better for light work than men, but require more
watching.
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.
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.
Some Britannia is burnished by
hand, and some by lathe. Women occasionally do the first
kind.
"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.
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
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
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."
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.
There are not more than from eight to twelve thimble makers in
the United States. There are none South or West of Philadelphia.
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.
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.
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
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."
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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
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,
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."
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 become
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
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.
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
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
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."
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.
MISCELLANEOUS WORK. — 252. Indian Goods. — 253. Inkstands. — 254. Lithoconia — 255. Marble Workers. — 256. Mineral Door Knobs. — 257. Paper Cutters. — 258. Papier-Maché Finishers. — 259. Pipes. — 260. Porcelain. — 261. Pottery and Earthenware. — 262. Stucco Work. — 263. Terra Cotta. — 264. Transferrers on Wood.
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.
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 perform
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."
, 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."
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
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.
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."
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."
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."
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.
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
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.
"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
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."
"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.
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."
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.
GLASS MANUFACTURERS. — 265. Glass Manufacture. — 266. Blowers. — 267. Beads. — 268. Cutters or Grinders. — 269. Embossers. — 270. Enamellers. — 271. Engravers. — 272. Painters. — 273. Stainers. — 274. Watch Crystals.
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
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.