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diff --git a/32725.txt b/32725.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18e30ff --- /dev/null +++ b/32725.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3078 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Work for Women, by George J. Manson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Work for Women + +Author: George J. Manson + +Release Date: June 7, 2010 [EBook #32725] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORK FOR WOMEN *** + + + + +Produced by Iris Gehring, D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + WORK FOR WOMEN + + BY + + GEORGE J. MANSON + + + NEW YORK + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + 27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET + 1883 + + + + + COPYRIGHT BY + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + 1883 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +When a woman, either from choice or through necessity, makes up her +mind to work for a living, and has selected the employment that seems +most suited to her, she probably asks herself such questions as these: +"Is there a good chance to get work? How long will it take me to make +myself competent? Are there many in the business? How much do they +earn? How hard will I have to work? Are there any objections against +entering this employment; if so, what are they?" + +To answer, as far as it is possible, these and similar questions is +the object of this little book. Some of the most important avocations, +professions, trades, businesses, in which women are now engaged, +have been selected, and the effort made to enlighten the would-be +woman-worker as to the practical points of interest connected with +each occupation. The information thus given has, in each case, been +gained from the most reliable sources. + +In the winter of 1882-3 I contributed to the columns of the New York +_Christian Union_ a series of articles under the title of "Work for +Women." They were written with the aim of furnishing to women useful +information in regard to various industries in which the gentler sex +are successfully seeking employment, and met with considerable favor +from the readers of that excellent journal. Through the courtesy of +Rev. Lyman Abbott and Hamilton W. Mabie, editors of the _Christian +Union_, the publishers of this book are allowed to use the title of +that series. It should be stated, however, that the chapters in the +present book are made up from new investigations, and that none of +them are reproductions of any of the articles in the series alluded +to. + +G. J. M. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + INDUSTRIAL DESIGNING 1 + + SHORT-HAND WRITING 10 + + TELEGRAPHY 20 + + FEATHER CURLING 29 + + PHOTOGRAPHY 37 + + PROFESSIONAL NURSING 47 + + PROOF-READERS, COMPOSITORS, AND BOOKBINDERS 60 + + THE DRAMA.--LECTURERS AND READERS 73 + + BOOK-AGENTS 97 + + DRESS-MAKING--MILLINERY 109 + + TEACHING 116 + + BRIEF NOTES: + Market Gardening, Poultry-raising, Bee-keeping, House-keepers, + Cashiers, Button-hole Making, Floriculture, Authorship, + Type-writing, and Working in Brass 123 + + + + +WORK FOR WOMEN. + +INDUSTRIAL DESIGNING. + + +A great many women have, or think they have, a taste for art. They can +make a pretty sketch, or draw a landscape quite fairly, and so they +think they will "take up" art as a profession. And nearly all of them +fail of success. The trouble seems to be that they lack originality; +they are mere copyists, and too often very poor reproducers of the +things they copy. + +One branch of art--that of industrial designing--offers golden +opportunities to make an excellent living in a pleasant way, but, +before deciding to enter it, a woman should be very sure indeed that +she has the necessary qualifications to pursue the study successfully; +otherwise her time will be wasted, and probably her heart will be so +discouraged that she will be sadly unfitted for any kind of work for +a long time to come. + +It is _industrial_ art of which I am speaking. A few introductory +words may be necessary, for the benefit of some persons ignorant in +the matter, to show what women are doing, or rather successfully +attempting to do, in that line at the present time. + +Industrial or technical designing means designing for wall-paper, +lace, silk, chintz, calico, oil-cloth, linoleum, book-covers, +embroidery, wood-carving, silver-ware, jewelry, silks, handkerchiefs, +upholstery goods, and carpets of all grades, from ingrains to +moquettes. Up to within a very short period all this work has been +done by men, principally foreigners; but talented and enterprising +women saw that they were able to do the work equally well, and it is +only a question of time when women will entirely monopolize this field +of industry. + +It will be seen at once that the woman who is ambitious to become an +industrial designer must have, first of all, originality. She must +have good taste and an eye for color. Drawing must come natural to +her. The mere ability to copy pictures, or make sketches from nature +is not enough. She must be full of ideas, and for some of the work +mentioned (notably carpet designing) she must have what might be +called a combining mind--that is, the ability to get ideas from +several designs, and by combining them together, make something new. +It must be confessed that this kind of ability is rare. Very few men +possess it, and fewer women. Manufacturers of carpets and wall-papers +say that they have to import nearly all their help of this kind from +Europe; they cannot find in this country the right kind of men to do +the work. + +But because a woman has not this talent for originating largely +developed, she should not be discouraged from becoming an industrial +designer. If she has even a little talent in that direction she may +find, after taking a few lessons, that the study is very congenial to +her, and that she has more ability than she imagined. The kind of +designing of which I am particularly speaking in this chapter is +designing for carpets, oil-cloths, and wall-paper. That seems to be +the most popular at the present time, though there is a good chance +for skilled workers in the other branches to which allusion was made. + +It is surprising what a demand there is for new designs in carpets, +wall-paper, and oil-cloths. One would suppose that a single design +would last for a long time; but such is not the fact. The demand of +the public is continually for novelty; the fashion changes in these +matters, just the same as it does in bonnets and dresses, and each +manufacturer is competing with his neighbor to get something pretty +and original. A good design can always be sold at a good price; an +ordinary or a poor design has no chance at all. + +There are two schools in New York where industrial designing is taught +to women. They are both carried on by women, and both present their +claims to the public under very favorable auspices. Some of the +instruction, however, is given by men--practical workers in the +various branches of art--who lecture on the special subject with which +they are familiar. Here are some of the subjects of these lectures: +"Conventionalization in Design," "Practical Design as Applied to +Wall-paper," "Principles of Botany" (delivered by a lady), "Historical +Ornament in Design," "Harmony in Color in Design," "Design as Applied +to Carpets," "Geometry in Design," "The Influence of Color in Design," +"Purity of Design," "Oriental Influence in Design," "Plant Forms: +their Use and Abuse." This last lecture was delivered by a lady. But +the pupil gets most of her learning in the class-room, the lectures +being considered simply as adjunct to the regular system of +instruction. + +In one school the first term begins October 2d, and closes December +22d. The second term begins January 4th and closes March 30th. The +post-graduate course commences April 2d, and ends May 25th. Those +pupils who have no knowledge of drawing are obliged to enter the +elementary class. Those who enter the advanced classes are obliged to +present specimens of free-hand drawing, such as flowers from nature, +ornamental figures or scrolls. During the year each pupil in the +elementary class must complete nine certificate sheets, of uniform +size (15 x 22 inches), one each of geometrical problems, blackboard +and dictation exercise, enlarged copy in outline, conventionalized +flowers in a geometrical figure, applied designs, outline drawing from +objects, outline drawing from flowers, historical ornament, botanical +analysis. In the flower painting class, three outline drawings, and +four paintings of flowers from nature. In the carpet class, one each +of a two-ply ingrain on the lines, three-ply ingrain on the lines, +tapestry sketch, body-Brussels sketch, moquette sketch, optional +sketch (for either stair-carpet, rug, chair back and seats, hall +carpet, or borders, body-Brussels working design on the lines, +tapestry working design on the lines.) + +The terms of tuition in this school per term are: for the elementary +class, $15; the advanced class, $25; the teachers' class, $15. Ten +lessons in wood-carving and designing for book-covers cost $12. Six +lessons in embroidery cost $5, and for a course of instruction +in flower-painting the charge is $15. The materials used in the +elementary class cost from $7 to $10, and for the advanced classes +from $10 to $12. The elementary class studies an hour and a half a day +three times a week; the advanced class the same length of time twice a +week. + +According to the prospectus of this school, it takes three years to +become thoroughly proficient. One year is spent in the elementary +class, and in obtaining a knowledge of flower-painting and making +simple designs for calico, muslin, stained glass, inlaid woods, +jewelry, etc. The second year is devoted to making advanced designs +for oil-cloth, linoleum, silk, and carpets. The third year is spent in +doing practical work under the supervision of the principal and her +assistants. It would not seem to be necessary for a pupil to return to +the school the third year for this purpose. After her first two years' +instruction she ought to be able to put her knowledge to business use, +and seek to sell her work among the various manufacturers. + +In the other school to which I have referred the terms for tuition in +drawing are $12 for a term of three months--thirty-six lessons. In the +design class the fee is $20. The method of instruction is +substantially the same as in the school first mentioned. + +And now comes the interesting question, How much can a woman make in +this profession, after she has become thoroughly qualified? I do not +think she can hope to get a permanent salaried position, at least just +at present. For this profession, albeit a good one, is a new one for +women; it is less than two years since the first school was started. +Men still hold the best positions, and they receive large salaries, +from $1,000 to $4,000 a year. In the present condition of affairs, +hedged in as the female industrial designer is by the masculine doubt +of the employer as to her ability, and the masculine jealousy of the +employe whose work she seeks to do, it would be the best plan for her +to do piece-work at her own home, or office. Her earnings, under this +plan, cannot even be stated approximately. The pay for a good carpet +design would be $20 to $30, and the design can be made in two and a +half days. Wall-paper designs bring $10 to $15; an oil-cloth sketch, +$8 or $10--the technicalities to be mastered in this latter branch are +not so great as in the others. + + + + +SHORT-HAND WRITING. + + +The custom of employing women as amanuenses has grown very largely of +late years. It is said on good authority that, fifteen years ago, +there were but five females in the city of New York who made their +living by writing short-hand; at the present time there are, as nearly +as can be estimated, between one hundred and fifty and two hundred. + +"Which is the best system of short-hand?" is generally the first +question asked by the person desirous of entering this profession. And +that is a very difficult question to answer, and many of the answers +that have been given to it have been very far from honest. + +In the first place, it must be stated that there are about a score of +"systems" of short-hand before the public, each of which has its +defenders and advocates. Each is highly recommended in commendatory +letters from this or that distinguished court or newspaper reporter. +Each can show, and does show, first-class notices from prominent daily +and weekly papers, and each has a circle of followers who loudly +proclaim that the particular system they follow is not only the best +in existence, but really the only one worth learning. In the search +after short-hand truth, it is but natural that the would-be learner +gets bewildered, and asks, "What shall I do?" + +The system of short-hand practised by the vast majority of writers, +both in this country and in England, is phonography, invented by Isaac +Pitman, of Bath, England, in 1837. That system is based on an alphabet +representing the sounds of the language, instead of the ordinary +alphabet we use in spelling words. Since 1837 there have been many +phonographic text-books written by as many different authors, and each +author has added a hook here or a circle there, lengthened this +stroke, or made that one heavier; and that accounts for the variety of +"systems." The fact is, they are all based on the original phonography +of Isaac Pitman, who himself, by the way, was the first to set the +example of making changes and "improvements." For all _practical_ +purposes phonography is no better now than it was thirty years ago. I +dwell upon this point, for I know "the best system" has been a sad +stumbling-block to many young people who were naturally anxious to +start on the right road. + +Which system, then, is the best? Answer: any system will answer the +purpose of the woman who desires to become simply a phonographic +amanuensis. And it is only of that branch of work of which I write, +for though there are a few female court reporters in the country, the +number is so small and the positions so exceptional in many respects +that it is not worth while to speak of woman's employment in that +direction. + +Let not the student, then, waste any time in listening to or reading +arguments in favor of the various systems, but go to a bookstore and +get some one of the various manuals on the subject, and begin to +study. These books cost from fifty cents to a dollar and a quarter +each. + +A teacher is not really necessary, but will prove a help, provided he +has a practical knowledge of the art. The trouble is, however, that +many of the so-called teachers of phonography have never done any +actual reporting in their lives, and their advice and suggestions are +not of much value. The best way for the pupil would be to get the +assistance of some man engaged in actual reporting. One lesson from +such a person would be worth a dozen from some of the teachers who +advertise to teach short-hand, or who are connected with the various +colleges. The price for such service cannot be accurately stated. +Short-hand schools and colleges have "courses" of one hundred and +twenty lessons, charging $75 for the same. Students can and do learn +at these schools, but the cheaper and more sensible way for the +student learner to do would be to get the help of a teacher, as I have +suggested, and then only as it was needed. The text-books I have +mentioned are very plain, and a teacher really cannot do much to make +them plainer. In six months' time, if the pupil is diligent, she +should be able to write eighty words a minute, and enter upon actual +work, when, with practice, her speed will gradually increase. If she +can reach a speed of one hundred and twenty words a minute, she will +be as good as the average; if she can reach one hundred and fifty +words a minute, she will do what few women ever accomplish. + +She need have no fear about getting a position, if she has made +herself competent. The demand for good workers in this profession is +constant and increasing. Out of several large classes taught by a lady +teacher in New York not one pupil failed, when qualified, to secure a +position. A gentleman connected with a large corporation, who employs +two lady amanuenses, and obtains positions for others, says that he +could secure situations for two or three a week. + +It should be added, however, that a knowledge of working on the +type-writer should accompany the ability to write phonography. This +instrument has come into such general use that no detailed description +of it is here required. Briefly, it may be said that it is an +instrument to print letters and documents with despatch, and it is +worked with keys like a piano. To learn this art of type-writing +requires but a very short time, and there are schools or offices in +most of the large cities where it is taught. + +A lady can learn phonography as young as sixteen, or at the mature age +of thirty-five; but it is almost needless to say that the art can be +mastered much easier at the former than the latter age. At one of the +schools in New York where it is taught free to women no pupils are +received under the age of eighteen. It is a study that requires +considerable application, a good memory, nimble fingers, and quick +apprehension. There are some people (and this remark applies to both +sexes) who would never be able to learn enough short-hand to be of any +practical service. But the study is nothing like as difficult as it +has often been represented to be. Every thing depends on the student. +If she makes haste slowly, and learns even a little thoroughly every +day, she will soon find herself mastering the theoretical part of the +art, and if she practises constantly, in season and out of season, +what she has properly learned, the secret of short-hand success is +hers. The necessity of practice cannot be overrated. Hence it is that +a teacher is ordinarily of little use. The exercises in the latest +manuals on this subject are very well arranged, and it would seem that +the art could not be presented in a plainer way than it is at +present. + +The pay of a lady amanuensis at the start is seldom more than $8 a +week. It is not to be supposed that she is fully competent when she +starts at that rate; that is to say, she will not be able to write +very rapidly, and she will be liable to make mistakes in transcribing +her notes. The actual practical experience which she will get in her +first situation will very soon serve to correct these faults. It +might, at first thought, be supposed that few persons would desire to +employ inferior help of this kind; but such is not the fact. Editors, +lawyers, occasionally doctors, and some classes of business men who +are obliged to make rough drafts of papers which go at once to the +printer, are often glad of such help. Their short-hand writer can +write fast enough to save some of their time, at a moderate charge, +and it is immaterial as to the appearance of the "copy" sent to the +printer, so long as it can be plainly read by him. But of course the +lady will soar higher than a salary of $8 a week, and just so soon as +she has become more expert, she will be able to obtain a position +requiring greater speed in taking notes and more accuracy in writing +them out. Her salary will then be $10 or $12 a week, and finally $15 a +week. It is not likely she will earn more than $18 a week, though +mention is made of some ladies who are making $20 or $25 a week, but +the situations are exceptional, and, it may be added, the ladies are +exceptional ladies. They have some peculiar business ability aside +from being able to write short-hand. The employer of one, for +instance, can merely indicate by two or three words the kind of letter +he wants written to a certain correspondent, and the lady clerk, +having simply received the idea, will write a satisfactory letter. If +a woman could possess herself of a thorough knowledge of phonography, +be able to work rapidly on the type-writer, and have a fair knowledge +of bookkeeping, she could be certain of obtaining a good position at +an extra large salary, say $1,500 a year; but there is no doubt that +she would have to work hard for the money. + +The hours of work in most all offices are from nine in the morning +until five in the afternoon. The employment is not more arduous than +any other sedentary occupation. In large offices an amanuensis will +receive from thirty to sixty full-page letters in a day and transcribe +them on the type-writer. She could not do so much work without the aid +of that instrument. + +It is sometimes the case that a woman can take dictation work for +professional people who only occasionally need such assistance, and be +paid for it by the "job." In such a case the rate of pay for taking +and transcribing the notes will range from six to twenty cents per +hundred words, depending partly on the class of work, but more +particularly on the liberality of the employer. + + + + +TELEGRAPHY. + + +There is one thing favorable to young women who want to become +telegraph operators: the qualifications required for success in this +line of business are very simple. An ordinary common school education, +with a special ability to spell well, and to write plainly and more or +less rapidly, is all that is required in a pupil before commencing to +learn this art. This may account for the large number of young ladies +who, of late years, have sought employment in this field of labor. +Another thing, it is office work, with just enough bustle and activity +about it to keep it from being dull, with the occasional chance, in +times of public excitement, of its being exceptionally interesting. + +In the city of New York there are, at the present time, about two +hundred ladies engaged in this occupation. They are nearly all +employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company, three fourths of the +number being employed at the main office of the company. Here and +there a lady may be found employed in a broker's office, a position, +by the way, which is considered exceptionally good, the pay being +generous, with the sure chance of the employe receiving a present at +the Christmas holiday-time. But the great majority of women are +employed by the companies, in hotels, in the smaller stations situated +throughout the city, and throughout the country in the offices located +in various villages and towns. + +Instruction in telegraphy has become a special feature in about forty +colleges in different parts of the Union, and in several special +schools, among which the New York Cooper Union School of Telegraphy +is preeminent. Instruction in this last institution is free, and the +Western Union Telegraph Company is so far interested in the success +of the school, that when operators are needed, graduates of the Cooper +Union are preferred over anybody else. The school is always crowded; +it is difficult to gain admission, and situations are not provided by +the company alluded to for all the graduates. Last year (1882) one +hundred and sixty applied at the regular examination of the school and +passed, but they could not be admitted to the class for want of room. +The school admitted sixty pupils during the year. The number receiving +certificates was twenty-eight. Some time since the Kansas State +Agricultural College added telegraphy as a branch of industrial +education, using Pope's "Hand-book of the Telegraph" as a text-book. + +Women can learn to become telegraph operators at almost any age. Young +girls of fifteen have successfully studied the art, and women as old +as forty have also learned it. But the age which is recommended by +good judges as being the best, is not younger than eighteen, nor +older than twenty-five. + +The time it takes to learn to become an operator depends, of course, +on the aptness of the pupil, her general intelligence, and previous +education. Some learn very readily, others after months of study never +become sufficiently proficient to take positions. + +The course of instruction, in most of the institutions where +telegraphy is taught, covers a period of six months. It is said, on +good authority, that practising four or five hours a day for a period +of six months, will enable a young woman to master the art. Probably +telegraphy is, in this respect, very much like phonography--a person +may learn the principles of the latter science in a comparatively +short space of time, but to avail himself really of its advantages, a +great deal of practice is required. The principles of telegraphy are +far simpler than those of phonography, but the necessity for practice +is equally important. Young girls learn easier than women over the +age of thirty, and yet there are several instances of women past the +age of forty, who have quickly qualified themselves to become +operators. + +The salary of lady telegraphers ranges from $25 to $65 per month. In +the office of the Western Union Telegraph Company they commence with a +salary of $25 per month; the highest wages paid being $60 a month, +unless in some special cases, where they take full charge of important +offices, when they are given $75 a month. + +What is called a "good" position may be either in the city or the +country. In fact, the term good, used in this connection, is a purely +relative term. For instance, the salary may be larger in a city, but +the expense of living will be greater, and the work more arduous than +it will be in some small country town, where the wages will be lower. +But, as a rule, the positions in the city seem to be preferred, +probably on the general principle that most young people prefer the +excitement and gayety of metropolitan life to the more quiet and +healthful enjoyments of country towns. During the summer months +positions at the various watering-places are particularly sought +after, the pay of the operator being $30 a month and her board. In the +large city hotels, where business is quite brisk and important, the +salary is from $40 to $50 a month. Operators in the country towns and +villages receive from $30 to $40 a month. But, as was stated above, +the brokers' offices supply the positions most sought after by +telegraph operators. There are very few of these positions. The salary +paid an operator in such a situation is from $75 to $90 a month. The +hours of work are light, being from 9.30 A.M. to 3 P.M. A woman, +however, to hold a position of this kind must be thoroughly competent, +and not only rapid, but accurate in her work. She must, too, be a +woman in whom the utmost confidence can be placed, and possessed of +that rare womanly gift--the ability to keep a secret; for she is, in +reality, a sort of confidential clerk. + +A gentleman occupying a high position in one of the leading telegraph +companies in New York says, that telegraphy is a good occupation for a +young woman, and, provided she has no talent to do any thing better, +it will furnish her a reasonably pleasant, profitable, and sure means +of employment. But the opportunities of eventually getting a large +salary, or of obtaining an enviable position, do not exist in this +field of work. Women, he says, do not make good managers. They do not +seem to possess the ability, so common even with many ordinary men, of +grasping the varied details of a large business, and conducting it +with system and regularity. In the company alluded to, there are +ladies who have been employed for the last twenty years, but they are +receiving no more pay now than they received ten years ago, and ten +years from now their salary will be no higher than it is at the +present time, if, indeed, it is as much. + +It might be thought by some, that from the comparative ease with which +this art is acquired, many might take it up as a temporary means of +subsistence, and leave it, either for some better employment, or to +assume matrimonial relations. But this is not the fact. The occupation +seems to be one in which few die, and none resign. It should be added, +however, that with the growing use of the telegraph by private +individuals, and the starting of new telegraph companies, good +operators may be reasonably sure of obtaining positions. + +Telegraphy is generally learned at some business college, or some +school which makes a specialty of teaching it. The lady who desires to +become an operator should be very careful in making her selection +among institutions of this kind. The Cooper Institute School is not +included in this remark, but attention is called to the many firms +throughout the country, who advertise largely in the weekly papers, to +teach telegraphy in an astonishingly short space of time, and, it may +be added, at astonishingly high rates of tuition. Some of these +schools are good, but many of them cannot be recommended. Before +entering any one of them, the would-be pupil should get the honest +advice of some man or woman who is engaged in the business, and who +knows something of the character of the institution she proposes to +enter. + + + + +FEATHER CURLING. + + +Fashion has, of late years, made feather curling a good trade for +women, and fashion, at almost any moment, may make it a very poor +business. For the last thirty years feathers have been used every +year, but, until within a very short time, their use has been confined +to the fall and winter season. During the past four or five years they +have been in great demand during the spring and early summer, taking +the place of flowers for ornamental purposes. As a consequence, the +occupation of feather curling has offered unusual good opportunities +for girls and women to earn a living,--that is to say, as female +workers are paid in the trades. + +There are several processes used in preparing the feathers before +they are ready for sale. Some of this work is done by men, but the +larger part of it is done by girls and women. When the feathers arrive +from abroad, they are of a dull brown color, and the first process +consists in washing them thoroughly with a peculiar kind of chemical +soap. Then they are wrung through an ordinary clothes-wringer, and +tied on to lines and hung out in the hot sun to dry, or put in a +drying room if the weather is not favorable. The work of washing and +wringing is done by men; the tying on to the lines by little girls. +After this men put them in big vats where they are dyed, black, blue, +red, yellow, or any other color that may be desired, and again dried. +Then comes the work of the women, who first scrape the rib of the +feather to make it soft and pliant. This is done with a piece of +glass. Then they are curled with a blunt knife. After this they are +packed in boxes and are ready to go from the wholesaler to the jobber, +from the jobber to the retailer, and from the retailer pass to the +purchasers whose hats they are meant to adorn. + +Except in rare cases, the people employed at this business are paid by +the piece, and all ages are represented in the different branches of +the industry. There are girls as young as fourteen, and women as old +as forty. The little girls tie the feathers on to the lines, and make +from $2 to $5 a week. The work of preparing and curling the feathers +pays the best, and women who devote themselves to this branch make +from $10 to $40 a week. This last sum is large pay; but it must be +stated that those who make it do so in the busiest season, and they +work hard, not only during the day, but at night, or, may be, they +have some one at their homes to whom a portion of the work is sent +from the shop, and in that way they are assisted to receive such large +pay. Nevertheless, if a woman thoroughly understands the trade, she +can always be sure of making good wages. Some exceptionally proficient +women will average $30 a week the year round. Take a hundred expert +workers, and each of them will average $15 to $20 a week during the +twelve months. The little girls never earn very much, because the work +they can do is limited to "stringing" the feathers, which is the +technical term for tying the feathers on a line. + +When a girl enters the establishment, she generally works the first +two weeks for nothing, then the superintendent is able to see what she +can do, and she makes $2, $3, or $4 a week, as the case may be; in six +or eight months she ought to be quite expert at the business. To be +successful she must have good taste. She should be able to "lay" the +feather out nicely, so that it will have a graceful appearance when +it is finished. And then she must have good judgment in putting the +feathers together, for it may not be known, but it is the fact, that +the plume which appears on the hat to be a single feather is made +up of a number of small pieces; this good judgment, then, consists, +as one manufacturer frankly stated, in not being wasteful in +selecting,--in short, in being careful not to pick out too many good +pieces. Though there are a great number of girls in this business, +there are very few who possess all these qualifications. That class of +help is of course a great saving to the employer, and consequently is +always sure of employment. One man said that on account of high rent +alone he wanted to hire all such women. "We have to economize our +room," he remarked, "and one such woman would be worth to us half a +dozen poor workers, who would take up just six times as much space and +waste a lot of material in the bargain. Such expert workers will make +three or four times as much as other women, doing the same kind of +work." + +The trade is a healthy one, or, to speak more accurately, there are no +special features about it to make it unhealthy. Probably the worst +feature about it is the crowding together of so many girls and women +in one large room. They sit on benches, or stools, without backs, +working at a long, low table that runs the length of the apartment. On +damp days the windows have to be shut, making the atmosphere of the +place close and unwholesome. But the rooms are generally large, with +high ceilings. Five hundred girls are employed in the largest +establishment of the kind in New York. The nominal hours of work are +from eight in the morning until six in the evening, though very often, +in the busy season, the girls are required to work at night as late as +half-past seven or eight o'clock. + +There are a few women in New York who profess to teach feather +curling; I say "profess," for I have it on good authority that some of +them have no practical knowledge of the business, and aim only at +securing a generous tuition-fee from the pupil. Now and then, however, +a teacher can be found who is able to impart the necessary knowledge. +It has been charged by women that those who learn privately in this +way are not able to secure good positions in any of the feather +curling establishments, the allegation being that the proprietors of +the same have formed a "ring" to exclude such help. From such +investigation as I have made in regard to this matter, I do not +believe that this statement is correct. Doubtless many such pupils, +after working for a short time in such establishments, have been +discharged, but I think the real reason has been that they were not +competent to do the work. And it can readily be imagined that the +facilities for learning a trade like this would be far better in a +large house, where several hundred girls were employed, or even fifty +or seventy-five girls, than they would be in a class of half a dozen +pupils, who had probably between them about as many feathers upon +which to work. It would be much pleasanter to learn the trade from a +teacher; but there are many practical objections against the +feasibility of so doing. If the girl has not worked herself up from +the very foot of the business, and does not have a knowledge of its +preparatory stages, she will be likely to find that if a feather has +been misplaced, or is out of order in any way, she could not put it in +proper shape as well as one who had commenced at the beginning of the +business. + +Rather than have any girl or woman hastily decide to learn this +trade, I will, at the risk of repetition, briefly recapitulate: the +earnings are good if you are thoroughly competent; and this may be +said to be true of the future, although there is a prospect, probably +a very strong prospect, that feathers may not be in such demand as +they have been, and as they are now. You will have to work hard to +make good pay. The work is tolerably cleanly, but your associates, if +you are particularly nice in your ideas of companionship, may not +always please you. If you are competent you may be able to take work +home, but the facilities for doing it, and the want of that spirit of +competition which prevails, to a great extent, in a large work-room, +may not enable you to do so much work. + + + + +PHOTOGRAPHY. + + +It is a little singular that in a great city like New York, there +should be but one lady photographer, while in the western part of our +country there are quite a number. The photographers I speak of do all +the work of making a picture,--posing the sitter, preparing the +chemicals, and operating the camera. One reason why there are so +few ladies in this business is the fact, that up to within a short +time it has been a very disagreeable occupation on account of the +nature of some of the chemicals that were used--they would soil the +hands very easily, and the stains could not be removed. But recent +improvements in the art have removed this objection, and prominent +male photographers predict that it will not be long before their +business will be largely carried on by women. + +A contributor to a London magazine, writing some years ago, on the +subject of the employment of women in photography, said: "I have +pleasure in bearing testimony to the fact, that in photography there +is room for a larger amount of female labor; that it is a field +exactly suited to even the conventional notions of woman's capacity; +and further, that it is a field unsurrounded with traditional rules, +with apprenticeship, and with vested rights, and it is one in which +there is no sexual hostility to their employment." These remarks may, +with perfect safety and propriety, be applied to photography in this +country. + +There are several branches of the art in which women and girls have +always been engaged, viz., the mounting of photographs, the retouching +of negatives, and the coloring of photographs. + +The mounting of photographs is apparently a very simple kind of work, +consisting simply in trimming the photograph and pasting it upon the +card-board. But, simple though it seems, it requires great neatness +and considerable skill, if the work is to be done fast, and rapidity +of execution is a prerequisite to employment in nearly all the +large galleries. As an illustration that it is not a very simple +accomplishment, it may be mentioned that out of forty young ladies +who came to work on trial for a prominent photographer, he could find +only nine who were suitable to fill positions. The pay for this work +is not very munificent, ranging from $6 to $10 per week. + +The retouching, or taking out the marks or spots on negatives, is a +much more difficult branch of work. The pay, however, does not seem to +be as large as it should be, considering the amount of skill required. +Young women receive from $8 to $12 a week. A man doing the same kind +of work, and working the same number of hours, would be paid $16 a +week. There have been cases where ladies have received larger +salaries than the sums just mentioned, but such instances are rare. + +The coloring of photographs is the most important, or rather the +highest paid, of the three branches of work that have been mentioned. +It is said that to be successful at this calling one must have some +taste for drawing, and what is commonly called a good eye for color. +Very few photographers employ colorists on a salary, for the reason +that they do not have enough work to keep them constantly employed. +There are probably but eight or ten galleries in New York where +colorists are employed all the year round. The truth is, that it is +not alone necessary to be a good colorist--one must be very good; and +if very good, she can have her studio and take work from the galleries +as well as from private parties. Photograph coloring has come to be +considered as important as portraiture. Another qualification for +success in the work, therefore, should be the rare ability not only +to preserve, but sometimes to make, a likeness. + +There is one branch of the picture-making business that has grown to +large proportions within the past fifteen years; it is what is called +the "copying" business. There are many establishments in various +cities of the Union that constantly advertise for agents to collect +pictures. The agent goes through the rural districts, visiting each +dwelling, and inquiring of the inmates if there are any old pictures +of living or deceased friends that they would like to have copied, +enlarged, and colored. In nearly every farm-house there are such +pictures--old daguerreotypes of long-lost aunts, uncles, and +grandfathers, "old-fashioned photographs" of mother, together +with newer photographs of the living taken by the perambulating +picture-taker, and taken so badly with the use of bad chemicals that +they are fast fading away. Out of this motley group the family will +be pretty sure to select one or two pictures which they will deem it +worth their while to have copied and enlarged. + +When the agent has collected a sufficient number of pictures in this +way, he sends them by express to the home office, where the work is +done. Some years ago I chanced to know a gentleman who was in this +business; in fact, he claimed to have originated it, and, as he was +a shrewd, smart Yankee, born and brought up in the State of New +Hampshire, I never had the temerity to question his statement. He had +a good-sized brick building in a pleasant little New England city, and +employed a countless number of agents, who travelled in all parts of +the country, and, if I remember right, he had nearly a score of +ladies, whose business it was to color the pictures and to touch some +of them up into something resembling life, after they had been copied +and enlarged. I use these statements with due deliberation, and say +that the effort was made to give them the appearance of something +resembling life, for often they looked like mere blurs. Here and +there a nose would be gone, or an eye would be missing, the lower part +of the face would be entirely absent, but would be counterbalanced, +or, rather, overbalanced, by a heavy head of straight, black hair. +These, of course, were very bad specimens, but they came to the office +in the regular course of business, and had, to use the Yankee +expression of the proprietor, to be "fixed up." These worst specimens +were given to a middle-aged single lady, who really had a genius for +making something out of nothing,--at least in the matter of pictures. +It should be mentioned, however, that the worst of them were generally +accompanied with some written description of the subject. But we may +well believe that such crude data were of but little service to the +artist. The salaries of these colorists were from $13 to $25 per week. +The lady I have just mentioned received the latter sum, and often made +a few more dollars weekly by doing extra work. At present, she and +another lady from the same establishment, conduct an art school in a +city near New York, and are very prosperous. + +There are now opportunities for doing this same kind of work, but +there is not so much of it to do,--thousands of "active" agents having +very thoroughly worked in the best districts of the country. Still, +there is something to do, and the salaries paid, though not so high as +I have mentioned, are fair. + +As I have written above, few photographers in New York employ a +colorist on a regular salary. The largest sum paid to a woman is $25 a +week, and that is given by probably the most prominent photographer in +the city. Others receive from $20 down to $12 a week. But there are +quite a number of ladies who have studios, and who work on their own +account, among them a firm of two sisters, who employ a dozen young +women as assistants. Without a doubt, this plan, provided the woman is +competent in the art, and has good business qualifications, is the +best and most lucrative course to pursue. + +There has been lately introduced a new process of coloring pictures +for which very strong claims are made. It is said that the "secret" +can be learned in one lesson; the cost of the instruction is but $5. +The method consists in the application of water colors to any kind of +picture on paper. Some photographers say there is nothing new in the +method, and that the pictures will not stand the light of the sun; +others claim that it is a good process, and say that the pictures are +both brilliant and effective. The teacher of the art asserts that he +can, in half a day, paint a picture, and give all the necessary +effects. With the usual method, he says, a colorist would require two +days and a half. The process has not yet been introduced among +photographers, but several ladies are soliciting work at private +houses, receiving, it is said, $4 and $5 for painting a panel picture, +and making a good living at the work. For obvious reasons I do not +enter into the particulars of this method, or even mention the name by +which it is known. That, however, can easily be learned from almost +any photographer, and the searcher for information can then satisfy +herself as to whether the business is worth a trial. + + + + +PROFESSIONAL NURSING. + + +It may not be known to many that, of late years, nursing has come to +be a regular profession. Women are trained to become nurses by going +through a regular course of study in what are called training schools, +and they receive on their graduation a diploma signed by an Examining +Board and a Committee of a Board of Managers. For some women this is +an excellent occupation. The work is rather hard, but the pay is +exceptionally good. + +At the present time there are seventeen of these training schools in +the United States. There is one in each of the following cities: New +Haven (Conn.), Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, Syracuse (N. Y.), +Washington (D. C.), Burlington (Vt.), and there are three in Boston, +two in Brooklyn (N. Y.), three in New York City, and two in +Philadelphia. + +In order to gain admission to any of these institutions certain +conditions of admission have to be complied with. First of all, the +woman must have good health, she must be unmarried or a widow, she +must furnish satisfactory references as to moral character, and have a +fair common-school education. All these are essential prerequisites. +Her age must not be under twenty or over forty-five. In the Boston +schools the rule is between twenty-one and thirty-five; in Brooklyn, +twenty-one to forty; in New York City, twenty-five to thirty-five; in +Philadelphia, twenty-one to forty-five, and in Washington City, the +same as it is in Brooklyn. + +Aside from these qualifications, the woman who would enter upon this +employment must have considerable "nerve," for she will be obliged to +witness some very painful sights, and often be called upon to render +assistance in some very dangerous surgical operations. And yet, at +the same time, while possessing the necessary amount of self-control +to go through her duties properly, she must be possessed of that +gentleness, forbearance, and good temper, without which the most +scientific nursing will be of little avail. She may shudder at the +first operation in the hospital, even faint, but that is no sign that +she will not be able to overcome her want of self-control. Some of the +best surgeons have confessed to the same weakness at the beginning of +their professional experience. The nurse will soon get used to seeing +such unpleasant sights, and, as it was the case with the grave-digger +in Hamlet, custom will make her business "a property of easiness." +She, too, will learn that "the hand of little employment hath the +daintier sense." + +The pupil, having made her application to the superintendent of the +school, is required to answer, in writing, certain questions; to give +her name; to state whether she is single or married; to give her +present occupation; her age last birthday, and date and place of +birth; her height and weight; to state where educated; to tell whether +she is strong and healthy, and has always been so; whether her sight +and hearing are good; whether she has any physical defects, or any +tendency to pulmonary complaint; if she is a widow, to state if she +has any children, their number, ages, and how they are provided for; +to tell where she was last employed, and how long she was employed, +and to give the names of two persons as references, one of whom must +be her last employer, if she has been engaged in any occupation. And +then she signs her name to the statement, declaring it to be correct. + +If the answers are satisfactory, and there is a vacancy in the school, +she goes on trial for a month, and if, at the end of that time, she +decides that she likes the position, and the superintendent finds she +is able to fulfil the duties properly, she is engaged. For this +"trial" month she receives no pay, but gets her board and lodging +free of expense. Having been accepted as a pupil, she signs articles +of agreement to remain two years and obey the rules of the school and +hospital. All the schools are connected with some hospital; they are +not always in the same building, but in the immediate vicinity. The +pupils reside in the Home, or school, and in the large schools--the +one connected with Bellevue Hospital, for instance--there are two sets +of nurses, one set doing day duty, and the other going on at night. +The day nurses are on duty from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M., with an hour off for +dinner, and some additional time for exercise or rest. They have one +afternoon during the week, half of Sunday, and a two weeks' vacation +during the summer. If sick, they are cared for gratuitously. + +The course of instruction covers two years, when the pupil, after +passing a satisfactory examination, graduates and receives a diploma. +Then she chooses her own field of labor. + +In one of the large New York schools the course of instruction +includes: + +1. The dressing of blisters, burns, sores, and wounds; the application +of fomentations, poultices, cups, and leeches. + +2. The administration of enemas, and use of catheter. + +3. The management of appliances for uterine complaints. + +4. The best method of friction to the body and extremities. + +5. The management of helpless patients; making beds; moving, changing, +giving baths in bed; preventing and dressing bed-sores; and managing +positions. + +6. Bandaging, making bandages and rollers, lining of splints. + +7. The preparing, cooking, and serving of delicacies for the sick. + +They are also given instruction in the best practical methods of +supplying fresh air, warming and ventilating sick-rooms in a proper +manner, and are taught to take care of rooms and wards; to keep +all utensils perfectly clean and disinfected; to make accurate +observations and reports to the physician of the state of the +secretions, expectoration, pulse, skin, appetite, temperature of +the body, intelligence--as delirium or stupor,--breathing, sleep, +condition of wounds, eruptions, formation of matter, effect of diet, +or of stimulants, or of medicines; and to learn the management of +convalescents. + +This teaching is given by physicians, some of whom are connected with +the hospital, while others, often prominent men, occasionally give +lectures. The superintendent, assistant superintendent, and head +nurses also give practical directions to the pupils as to the +management of the sick. + +Each school has its favorite text-book on nursing. One of the most +popular works is the "New Haven Hand-book of Nursing," which is used +in the East and West, and in New York. In the New York schools the +"Bellevue Manual" is also used. Among the other text-books studied in +the different schools throughout the country are "Anatomy and +Physiology," "Domville's Manual," "Woolsey's Hand-book for Hospital +Visitors," "Williams and Fisher's Hints to Hospital Nurses," "Lee's +Hand-book for Hospital Sisters," "Cutter's Anatomy and Physiology," +"Putnam's Manual," "Huxley's Physiology," "Smith on Nursing," +"Frankel's Manual," "West on Children," "Notes on Nursing," by +Florence Nightingale, "Draper's Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene," +"Bartholow's Materia Medica," and "Miss Veitch's Hand-book for +Nursing." The Boston and New York schools use the largest number of +text-books, averaging six. At one of the schools in Philadelphia, +but one book is used; in Connecticut, Chicago, and Washington two +text-books are studied. + +While the nurse is receiving her training she is boarded free of +expense, and receives a stated salary per month during the time she is +in the school. The amount varies throughout the country. In New Haven +it is $170 for the term of eighteen months. In Chicago, $8 a month +for the first year, $12 a month for the second year. In Boston, at two +of the schools it is $10 a month for the first year, and $14 a month +for the second year. At the third school it is $1 a week for the first +six months, $2 dollars a week for the second six months, and $3 a week +for the last four months. Brooklyn, $9 a month for the first year, $15 +a month for the second year. In New York, at the Charity Hospital on +Blackwell's Island, it is $10 a month for the first year, and $15 a +month for the second year; at Bellevue Hospital, $9 a month for the +first year, $15 a month for the second year; at the New York Hospital, +it is $10, $13, and $16 a month for the first, second, and third six +months, respectively. In Syracuse $10 a month. In Philadelphia, $5 a +month for the first six months, $10 a month for the second six months, +and $16 a month for the second year. + +It will be seen at a glance that this is merely nominal pay, but it +must also be borne in mind that the nurse is receiving instruction in +what is to be to her a profession. Then, again, she is under little +or no expense; she is boarded, lodged, has her washing done in the +institution, and the dress or uniform which she is obliged to wear +costs but a trifle, the material of which it is made being generally +what is called "seersucker." + +After the nurse has received a certain amount of training, she is +deemed competent to go out to private service. She receives no extra +pay for this, her salary being paid into the institution, which, in +that way, is enabled partly to maintain itself. + +When she goes to a private house, she carries with her a certificate +of recommendation signed by the lady superintendent of the school. +When she returns to the school, she brings with her a report of her +conduct and efficiency, either from one of the family or the medical +attendant. While engaged in this service, the people employing her +must allow her reasonable time for rest in every twenty-four hours, +and when her services are needed for several consecutive nights, she +is to have at least six hours in the day out of the sick-room. Except +in cases of extreme illness, she is to be allowed opportunity to +attend church once every Sunday. + +Appended to the rules of the Bellevue Hospital Training School, in +regard to this subject, are the following remarks: + +"It is expected that nurses will bear in mind the importance of the +situation they have undertaken, and will evince, at all times, the +self-denial, forbearance, gentleness, and good temper so essential in +their attendance on the sick, and also to their character as Christian +nurses. They are to take the whole charge of the sick-room, doing +everything that is requisite in it, when called upon to do so. When +nursing in families where there are no servants, if their attention be +not of necessity wholly devoted to their patient, they are expected +to make themselves generally useful. They are to be careful not to +increase the expense of the family in any way. They are also most +earnestly charged to hold sacred the knowledge which, to a certain +extent, they must obtain of the private affairs of such households or +individuals as they may attend." + +The field of employment which has just been described, offers great +opportunities for the proper kind of women to make an independent +livelihood. The work is hard and confining, but the pay, as women are +paid, is very good. A trained nurse never receives less than $20 a +week, her board being, of course, included, and more often she will +get $25, or even $30, a week; in fact, she can command her own price, +and that price will depend upon the wealth and liberality of her +patrons, and the ability which she brings to bear on the case in hand. +Good nursing is very often more important than good doctoring, and +thousands of people are willing to pay liberally for such exceptional +help. The demand for trained nurses far exceeds the supply, and, +provided a woman has made herself fully competent in this peculiarly +appropriate branch of women's work, the extent of her employment will +only be limited by her physical strength to render the services +required. + + + + +PROOF-READERS, COMPOSITORS, AND BOOKBINDERS. + + +Men who employ women in trades and businesses where they have to work +for some length of time before they become skilled laborers have one +very strong objection against female help. "No sooner," they say, +"do we really begin to get some benefit from the woman's work, +after having borne long and patiently with her sins of omission and +commission, than along comes a good-looking young fellow and marries +her." + +For this reason women sometimes find it difficult to obtain entrance +into the most desirable establishments where trades can be learned. +And yet these same employers are not hostile to female labor; on the +contrary, they are strongly in favor of it, but they say that they +are not willing to encourage it to the extent of sacrificing the +necessary time and trouble in making a woman perfect in a trade, and +then seeing her leave them to enter upon the presumably more congenial +duties of matrimony. + +The woman, therefore, who desires to learn a trade may find this +difficulty meeting her at the threshold. All employers, however, are +not alike, and some establishment can generally be found where a woman +can learn the first principles of the occupation she wishes to follow; +as soon as she has attained a reasonable degree of proficiency in it, +she can get a position in a larger and better establishment, where the +pay will probably be higher and the surroundings more agreeable. + +Of the three employments mentioned at the head of this chapter +proof-reading is probably the most pleasant. A woman to be properly +qualified must have a good education, and must have graduated from +the printer's case. A great many young women who know nothing about +the compositor's trade think they can be good proof-readers, but they +may have a good collegiate education, and if they are not familiar +with the practical details of printing, as they can be learned +in a printing establishment, they will never amount to much as +proof-readers. This is the class of proof-readers who "get interested" +in what they are reading; they are on the look-out for bad sentences +which, having found, they promptly proceed to correct, a self-imposed +duty for which they receive no thanks from either their employer or +the author whose language or style they seek to improve. A good +proof-reader reads mechanically. The moment she takes a personal +interest in what she is reading, or becomes critical on the matter in +hand, she is apt to overlook typographical errors of the most common +sort. Of course, she must be a first-class speller and have a good +knowledge of punctuation, though how far she will have to apply the +latter knowledge will depend very much on what kind of proof she is +reading. If she is engaged in an establishment where books are printed +exclusively, she will find that authors, as a rule, have their own +systems of punctuation, with which (supposing the authors to be men +and women of ability) she will not be expected to interfere. But if +she is engaged on newspaper or general work, she will have ample +opportunity to display her knowledge and exercise her judgment in the +matter of punctuation. In all important work female proof-readers +seldom read the second or revised proof. That is generally given to a +male proof-reader of large experience, who gives the matter a critical +reading. + +The pay of good women proof-readers is from $15 to $20 a week. Those +who receive the latter sum are capable of reading "revises." Now and +then a woman receives exceptionally good pay for this kind of service. +A prominent American historian paid a lady proof-reader $30 a week; +but she was unusually well educated, and capable of often making +valuable suggestions to the author. + +No encouragement can be given to the woman desirous of becoming a +proof-reader who will not learn the practical details of the calling +in a printing establishment. + +In connection with proof-reading it may be mentioned that young girls +or young women find employment as "copy-holders." Their duty is to +read aloud to the proof-reader the copy of the author. If they can +read rapidly and correctly they can earn about $8 a week. + + * * * * * + +Female compositors are now largely employed in job and newspaper +offices, but it is only fair to state the objections to their +following this trade. In some establishments they are obliged, like +the men, to stand at their work. Physicians state, and the experience +of the women themselves proves, that this is very detrimental to +health. It has been urged by women, also, that in printing-offices +they are forced to hear profane and improper language from their male +companions, who sometimes, doubtless, in this way, harass the women, +sometimes with the purpose of expressing their dissatisfaction at the +employment of female labor. But too much weight should not be given to +this complaint. In all the large, well-regulated establishments such +conduct would not be tolerated, provided the men and women worked in +the same room, which, however, is rarely the case; as a rule, the +female help are set off in an apartment by themselves. + +Employers who have employed female compositors say that they cause a +great deal of trouble. They have to have a separate room, and require +to be waited upon a great deal, especially if they are learning the +trade, while men readily get along by themselves. They are sure to +lose more or less time through sickness, and that, too, very often in +the busiest season, when there is great pressure of work, and their +services are in especial demand. Of late, the female compositors in +one of the largest establishments in New York demanded to be paid the +same rate as the men. The demand was not acceded to, and the +proprietors came very near discharging all their female compositors, +urging the objections which have just been stated, together with the +general objection to the employment of female help stated in the +beginning of this chapter. + +Notwithstanding all these objections, however, which a woman can weigh +and take for what they are worth, the trade of a compositor is a very +good one. Among men, a type-setter has always been considered the most +independent of mortals. If he is thorough master of his trade, he is +always sure of work, and with the great development of our country, +there is hardly a spot to which he may drift where he will not find a +printing-office and an opportunity to earn money. Numerous instances +might be related of printers who, being of a roving disposition, have +travelled all over the United States, earning their living as they +went. The trade is just as good, or nearly as good, for a woman. She +is never paid, it is true, the same rate that the men receive, but if +she is a quick worker she can make much more money in a week, as a +compositor, than she could at many other occupations. She can never +hope to perform as much work as a first-class male compositor; that is +a physical impossibility. + +Good compositors in the large New York establishments where books are +printed (and it is only in such places that women are employed in the +large cities), earn from $14 to $15 a week. The poor ones average $9 +and $10 a week. Sometimes good women make more than $15 a week, +earning as much as $18 or $20 a week. This kind of work, it must be +understood, is paid by the piece, so that how much a woman earns +depends entirely on her ability. + +In many small cities and country towns, especially throughout New +England, young women are employed as compositors in newspaper +offices. Their rate of pay is never as high as it is in the cities, +but their living expenses are proportionately less, so that really +they are just as well off. It would seem, indeed, that such situations +were to be preferred. There is less noise and hurry in such small +establishments, and, therefore, less wear and tear on the human +system. The papers are generally afternoon papers, and, therefore, the +work is all done in the daytime. The women are allowed to sit at their +work. In such situations they will be able to earn from $5 to $12 a +week. + +It is, at present, difficult for a woman entirely ignorant of the +trade, to get into any of the large establishments in New York, where +such help is engaged, for the purpose of learning to become a +type-setter. If her ambition lies in this direction, and she lives +outside the large cities, she could do no better than obtain an +introductory knowledge of the art in some country newspaper office, +or, failing in that, get the necessary practical instruction in some +job office, in either city or country. + + * * * * * + +Certain parts of the work of bookbinding are monopolized by young +girls and young women. They are employed in folding, collating, +sewing, pasting, binding, and gold-laying. There is probably no large +establishment in the country where men are employed to do this kind of +work. The industry seems to be peculiarly adapted to young women who +are quick with their hands. + +Employes in this trade are paid by the piece, with the exception of +the collaters, who receive a stated salary of $8 a week. "Collating," +it may be mentioned for the benefit of those who are not familiar with +the term, means the gathering together of the various folded sheets or +sections of the book, and seeing that the pages run right, preparatory +to their being handed over to the sewers, who stitch them together. +The pay of folders, binders, pasters, and sewers will average, during +the year, from $6 to $7 a week. Gold-layers are paid by the hour and +make a dollar or two more a week. This average, it must be understood, +is for the whole fifty-two weeks. Some weeks the girls make $12 and +$15, other weeks not one third as much. Girls as young as fourteen +years are employed, and women forty and fifty years of age may be +found working beside them. Nine hours and a half constitute a day's +work. Some girls will make more than the average named. Those are the +steady workers who, to use the expression of one employer, "work just +like a man and don't care to hurry home and crimp up to see company in +the evening." Such employes will, the year round, average each week +two or three dollars more than the ordinary run of help. + +It is said that there is always work in this trade for competent +women. But it is a trade that no woman of ambition would want to +enter, unless she was unable to find any thing better to do. +There is no chance to rise in the business and get a better paying +position, for the rule is to employ male foremen. In only one large +establishment in New York is there a woman occupying such a position. +It is proper to state, however, that she gives perfect satisfaction, +that her employer would not replace her for a man, and that he +believes other bookbinders will eventually see the advisability of +having a female instead of a male overseer. A man, it is said, is apt, +in giving out work, to favor the pretty girls at the expense of the +plain-looking damsels, thus creating jealousy among the employes, +while a woman is not influenced in that way. + +The proprietors of the large bookbinderies make every effort to secure +a respectable kind of help, but young women of loose principles, and +sometimes, it is to be feared, of actual immoral character, get +employment at the trade, and, when they do, their influence is any +thing but good on their companions. It must, however, be largely a +girl's own fault if she allows herself to associate with such company. +During working hours, of course, nothing but business is attended to. +Lunch is eaten in the establishment, and during the lunch hour the +girls gather together in little knots and talk about the last picnic +or the coming ball. But the place is so large, that a girl of reserved +manners can generally keep by herself, or select such companions as +she prefers. + +The trade is not difficult to learn, the work is neat and clean, the +rooms where the girls work--that is, in the large bookbinderies--are +commodious, well lighted, and airy. If a young woman, getting her +board free at home, wanted to make a little money by working only a +few months, or a year, she could probably accomplish this object by +entering a bookbindery. + + + + +THE DRAMA.--LECTURERS AND READERS. + + +A woman need not have the genius of a Rachel, a Modjeska, or a Clara +Morris, to be able to make a good living in the theatrical profession. +Probably the great majority of young ladies who go upon the stage are +inflated with the notion that they are creatures of wonderful genius, +and for this reason they fail; they are so taken up with the good +opinion they have of themselves that they will not go through the +necessary amount of work, in the subordinate positions, to perfect +themselves for places up higher. They want to fly before they can +walk. It would seem as if common-sense deserted a woman the moment she +felt a desire to go upon the stage. + +An old theatrical agent whose views were sought on this subject did +not offer much encouragement to the aspirants for dramatic honors. I +will give a paraphrase of his views so that the gentle reader may have +the benefit of the pessimistic presentation of the question. + +The great majority of young ladies, he observed, "who sought positions +had been members of some amateur dramatic company, which they had +joined from a love of recreation and amusement. The friends of a young +woman continually spoiled her by undeserved praise, and, finally, she +believed herself capable of taking the highest and most difficult +parts, and forthwith rushed to the nearest theatrical manager or +dramatic agent and sought a position. In the majority of instances +such young ladies had not the slightest amount of ability; besides, +experience in an amateur dramatic company was of no benefit. People +might come to an agent with the highest recommendations from stage +instructors, or actors who had taken upon themselves the task of +giving them instruction--who had spoken of them as 'promising +pupils'--and yet, when they came to go upon the stage, they did not +show the slightest degree of talent for the profession. An amateur +experience was no criterion to go by." + +"When," said the dramatic agent, "I managed the tour of Mr. ---- +(mentioning the name of one of our leading tragedians), I had to +select the company which was to support him. Yielding to the +solicitations of an old friend I engaged a young lady who had been +studying with Miss ----, one of the brightest stars on the American +stage. Miss ---- told me that she considered her a most promising +young woman, and had it not been that her manager had already selected +her company, she would have been glad to have had her in her own +company. She felt sure if I took her I would be pleased. I engaged +her, and was never more mistaken in my ideas in all my life. She +thought she could act, but she did not know the first principles of +acting. Offended at my plain criticisms on her efforts she went to Mr. +----, the star, and complained that she thought I was prejudiced +against her, and had been unjust and unkind. But Mr. ---- repeated, +kindly but plainly, the substance of what I had said. She had left a +good paying position to seek dramatic fame only to find dramatic +failure. At the end of the season she became convinced of the truth of +our criticisms, and quit the stage forever." + +It must be stated here that the stage is largely run on what is called +the "combination" plan, and a very poor plan it is. In the old times +the theatres had what were called "stock" companies; that is, the +company was made up of a certain number of members, each member having +a particular line of "business," and keeping to that line year after +year, in the same company, which remained in the same theatre. At the +present time there are only two "stock" companies in the United +States. The great majority of theatrical enterprises are called +"combinations." In old times the actor had to suit himself to the +play; nowadays the play is written to suit the actor. A comedian can +sing and dance, or "make up" good as a Jew, a Negro, or an eccentric +German, and forthwith he gets some author to write a play for him in +which his "strong" points will be made to plainly appear. Then he +selects his company, picking out men and women that he may deem +suitable for the characters they are to assume. Then the company is +christened "The Great Jones Combination," or "The Great Scott +Combination," as the case may be, and off it starts for a more or less +successful tour throughout the country. + +Sterling, old-time actors like John Gilbert, William Warren, Joseph +Jefferson, and men of that school, lament the decadence of the "stock" +company system. But, in the dramatic as in the real world, we must +take things as we find them, and the fact is that there is very +little chance for a young lady who would be an actress to get a +thorough knowledge of her art--that is, thorough as it is understood +by those in the front rank of the profession, who have reached their +position by following the old methods. + +On the other hand, the stage never offered so many opportunities for +bright young women with dramatic talent to make a living as it does at +the present time. Every city, both large and small, can boast of its +theatre or opera-house, and in many of the large towns throughout the +country there are town-halls arranged with a view to accommodate some +of the minor theatrical combinations. + +The young lady who would succeed in making a fair living on the stage +must, first of all, be attractive. The stage appeals as much to the +eye as it does to the ear, and there is scarcely an instance of an +ugly actress being successful, or, indeed, even having the opportunity +of exhibiting herself on the stage. + +It seems to be the general opinion among actors and theatrical +managers that the instruction received from professors of elocution is +of little or no account. As to the experience gained from performing +in amateur companies, there is a difference of opinion. The dramatic +agent whose views have just been given speaks, it will be seen, very +strongly against the amateur actor. Others, however, whose opinions +are entitled to great weight, say that experience gained in amateur +organizations is always valuable. The manager of one of the principal +theatres in New York--a theatre, too, that has had an unusually large +number of travelling companies on the road--told the writer that he +had employed a large number of amateur actors, and that some of the +greatest pecuniary successes had been made by actors and actresses +who had come to him from some amateur theatrical company. Of course, +the new-comers were not successful at first. They had to serve an +apprenticeship on the regular stage; but he meant to say that their +previous experience, amateur though it was, had been a benefit to +them, and that they had got along quicker than they would if they had +been without it. + +"Utility business" is the kind of work a young woman going upon the +stage must first expect to do; or, to speak more accurately, according +to the technique of the profession, she will first be allowed to make +an "announcement." She will come on the stage and say, "My lady, a +letter," or make some other simple speech to the extent of one or two +lines. If she does this well, she will be given parts where there is +more to say, until, finally, she has reached thirty lines, at which +point she is capable of being entrusted with a "responsible" part. The +salary of this class of actresses ranges from $15 to $30 per week. + +If she does not start in this line of business, she may be a "ballet +lady,"--not a dancer, but one of the group of ladies that make up the +ballroom or party scenes. In this case, she will start on a salary of +from $5 to $7 per week. If she is very pretty, she will get $7; if she +is an "ancient,"--that is, rather old and decidedly plain,--she will +get only $5. The ability to sing commands an extra dollar per week. +The manager of the theatre alluded to above said, that in one of their +companies they employed a young lady without previous theatrical +experience. She was, however, very quick to learn, and commencing on a +salary of $20 a week, she quickly made herself valuable. After a while +a part was given her in which she made "a hit," and her salary has +been increased until now it is $70 a week when she is travelling, and +$55 a week when she plays in New York City, the extra $15 given to her +when she is away being for hotel expenses. + +There has been so much said and written on the morals of the stage +that it will not be necessary here to warn the young dramatic aspirant +that this is a branch of the subject which she should well consider. +That there are actresses who are good women, fulfilling nobly all +the duties of wives, mothers, and sisters, nobody pretends to deny. +But that the stage offers very strong and dangerous temptations to +young and pretty women is a fact which every one who knows any thing +about the subject will admit. These temptations are not in the +theatre itself. The profession of acting is conducted on purely +business principles. Life behind the scenes is dull, uninteresting, +matter-of-fact. The actors and the actresses are full of their work, +and the whole place is decidedly unromantic. But there are great +temptations from without the theatre, into the details of which it is +not necessary to enter. It is not necessary that she should yield to +these temptations, nor are they, probably, all things considered, any +greater or stronger than the pretty shop-girl has to meet. But if she +values her character she will, when she enters this profession, make +up her mind to devote herself thoroughly to work, and she will be +particularly careful about the acquaintances she forms with the +opposite sex, and above all avoid that large and growing class of +silly men, both young and old, who love to boast that they number an +"actress" among their female acquaintances. + +In the _North American Review_ for December, 1882, there was published +a symposium on the subject of success on the stage. There are so many +young ladies whose ambition lies in the direction of the drama, and +the contribution referred to contained such wholesome advice, that I +am tempted to quote from it at considerable length. There were six +contributors: John McCullough, Joseph Jefferson, Lawrence Barrett, +William Warren, Miss Maggie Mitchell, and Madame Helena Modjeska. The +views of the lady contributors will be found of especial interest to +the readers of this book. + +The article was addressed more particularly to those whose ambition it +is to reach the highest rank in the profession, but the extracts +contain many useful hints for those who are simply looking forward to +a respectable, well-paying "utility" position on the stage. + +Miss Mitchell says:-- + +"To succeed on the stage, the candidate must have a fairly +prepossessing appearance, a mind capable of receiving picturesque +impressions easily and deeply, a strong, artistic sense of form and +color, the faculty of divesting herself of her own mental as well as +physical identity, a profound sympathy with her art, utter sincerity +in assuming a character, power enough over herself to refrain from +analyzing or dissecting her part, a habit of generalization, and at +the same time a quick eye and ready invention for detail, a resonant +voice, a distinct articulation, natural grace, presence of mind, a +sense of humor so well under control that it will never run riot; the +gift of being able to transform herself, at will, into any type of +character; pride, even conceit, in her work; patience, tenacity of +purpose, industry, good-humor, and docility. She must behave, in her +earlier years, very much as if she were a careful, self-respecting +scholar, taking lessons of people better informed than herself, with +her eyes and ears constantly open and ready to receive impressions. + +"She should begin by getting, if possible, into a stock company, even +in the most inferior capacity, keeping within reach of the influence +of her home,--or by joining a reputable combination on the road. +Managers, no matter what may be said to the contrary, are always +eagerly looking for talent in the bud, and if a young girl, with +reasonable pretensions to good looks, who is modest and well-behaved, +and shows the slightest ability with a common-sense readiness to begin +at the bottom of the ladder, should offer herself for an engagement, +the chances are that she would get it with much less difficulty than +she imagined. There are, no doubt, numerous candidates, even for the +smallest positions on the stage, but those who possess even moderate +qualifications are extremely rare. Managers have, at present, to take +the best they can pick from a host of worse than interlopers. + +"I do not think that novices reap any practical benefit from private +lessons. The neophyte learns not merely of her professional teacher, +but of her audience; and to be informed by the one without being +influenced by the other is to have very lopsided instruction. The +stage itself is the best, in fact, the only school for actresses. +It is a profession made up of traditions and precedents and +technicalities. Mere oral advice, or training in elocution or gesture, +counts for very little. They are, in fact, too often obstacles which +have to be eventually and with difficulty surmounted. In some +instances I have known 'instruction'--of this sort--to bring about as +prejudicial effects as if the victim had tried to learn the art of +swimming at a dancing academy, and then put the knowledge thus gained +into practice. The modulations of the voice and the language of +illustrative gesture ought to be either taught by example or +insensibly acquired by experience. To learn them by precept and rule +has for a result, usually, that woodenness and jerkiness which one +cannot help noticing in the 'youthful prodigies' of the stage. To be +an actress one has to learn other things than merely how to act, and +that is why nobody ever succeeded in the profession who tried to enter +it at the top. * * * + +"The early bent of her studies and reading should be precisely the +same as that of any other woman aspiring to be liberally educated. She +should, if possible, speak French, at all events read it. She should +be familiar with English literature. She should cultivate an +acquaintance, through books and otherwise, with the highest as well as +the lowest forms of human society. Refinement and general information +ought to be the characteristics of every actress. * * * + +"It would be bold for me to pretend to descry the chances of success +for the actress of the future. It is a lottery, this profession of +ours, in which even the prizes are, after all, not very considerable. +My own days, spent most of them far from my children and the comforts +and delights of my home, are full of exhausting labor. Rehearsals +and other business occupy me from early morning to the hour of +performance, with brief intervals for rest and food and a little +sleep. In the best hotels my time is so invaded that I can scarcely +live comfortably, much less luxuriously. At the worst, existence +becomes a torment and a burden. I am the eager, yet weary, slave of +my profession, and the best it can do for me--who am fortunate enough +to be included among its successful members--is to barely palliate +the suffering of a forty-weeks' exile from my own house and my family. + +"For those of our calling who have to make this weary round, year +after year, with disappointed ambitions and defeated hopes as their +inseparable company, I can feel from the bottom of my heart. Each +season makes the life harder and drearier; each year robs it of one +more prospect, one more chance, one more opportunity to try and catch +the fleeting bubble in another field." + +Madame Modjeska writes: + +"* * * It would be a great mistake to choose the profession with the +idea that money comes easier and work is less hard in this than in any +other. There is little hope for the advancement of such aspirants. + +"There is no greater mistake than to suppose that mere professional +training is the only necessary education. The general cultivation of +the mind, the development of all the intellectual faculties, the +knowledge how to think, are more essential to the actor than mere +professional instruction. In no case should he neglect the other +branches of art; all of them being so nearly akin, he cannot attain to +a fine artistic taste if he is entirely unacquainted with music, the +plastic arts, and poetry. + +"The best school of acting seems to me to be the stage itself--when +one begins by playing small parts, and slowly, step by step, reaches +the more important ones. There is a probability that if you play well +a minor character, you will play greater ones well by and by; while if +you begin with the latter, you may prove deficient in them, and +afterward be both unwilling and unable to play small parts. It was my +ill-fortune to be put, soon after my entrance on the stage, in the +position of a star in a travelling company. I think it was the +greatest danger I encountered in my career, and the consequence was +that when I afterward entered a regular stock company, I had not only +a great deal to learn, but much more to unlearn. + +"The training by acting, in order to be useful, requires a certain +combination of circumstances. It is good in the stock companies of +Europe, because with them the play-bill is constantly changed, and +the young actor is required to appear in a great variety of characters +during a short period. But it may prove the reverse of good in a +theatre where the beginner may be compelled for a year or so to play +one insignificant part. Such a course would be likely to kill in him +all the love of his art, render him a mechanical automaton, and teach +him but very little. + +"Private instruction can be given either by professors of elocution or +by experienced actors. I know nothing of the first, as there are no +professors of elocution, to my knowledge, outside of America and of +England, and I never knew one personally. But speaking of private +lessons given by experienced actors, there are certainly a great many +arguments and instances in favor of that mode of instruction. Of +course, a great deal depends upon the choice of the teacher. But, +supposing he is capable, he can devote more time to a private pupil +than he can to one in a public school. Some of the greatest actresses +that ever lived owed, in great part, their success to the instructions +of an experienced actor, of less genius than themselves. Take, for +instance, Rachel and Samson. Strange to say, it happens often that +very good actors make but poor professors, while the best private +teacher I ever met was, like Michonnet, but an indifferent actor +himself. The danger is that the pupil in this kind of instruction may +become a mere imitator of his model. Imitation is the worst mode of +learning, and the worst method in art, as it kills the individual +creative power, and in most cases, the imitators only follow the +peculiar failings of their model. + +"There are many objections to dramatic schools, some of which are +very forcible. There is in them, as in private teaching, the danger +of imitation, and of getting into a purely mechanical habit, which +produces conventional, artificial acting. Yet it is not to be denied +that a great number of the best French and German actresses and +actors have been pupils of dramatic schools, and that two of the +schools--those of Paris and Vienna--have justly enjoyed a great +celebrity. Of the schools I have known personally I cannot speak very +favorably. One point must be borne in mind; a dramatic school ought to +have an independent financial basis, and not rely for its support on +the number of its pupils, because in such a case the managers might +be induced to receive candidates not in the least qualified for the +dramatic profession. + +"Of the three elements that, in my opinion, go to make up a good +dramatic artist, the first one, technique, must be acquired by +professional training; the second and higher one, which is art itself, +originates in a natural genius, but can and ought to be improved by +the general cultivation of the mind. But there is yet something beyond +these two: it is inspiration. This cannot be acquired or improved, but +it can be lost by neglect. Inspiration, which Jefferson calls his +demon, and which I would call my angel, does not depend upon us. +Happy the moments when it responds to our appeal. It is only at such +moments that an artist can feel satisfaction in his work--pride in his +creation; and this feeling is the only real and true success which +ought to be the object of his ambition." + + * * * * * + +There is but very little chance for women to succeed as lecturers at +the present time. Some few years ago the country seemed to be overrun +with orators, both male and female. Probably the woman-suffrage +excitement had a great deal to do with this; at all events, there is +not much demand now for female eloquence. Twelve years ago a number of +distinguished women were before the public. Anna Dickinson spoke on +politics; since then she entered the dramatic profession. Susan B. +Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, spoke about woman-suffrage, a subject +which seems for the time to have died out. Olive Logan talked on +social topics; now she is in Europe. Mrs. Livermore is the only +female orator of that time who is now before the public, and she is +as successful now as she was then. + + * * * * * + +As public readers, women who have a talent in that direction have an +excellent chance at the present time. "Readings" are getting to be a +very popular form of entertainment. The theatres are offering such +poor and trashy attractions that many educated people who want to be +amused, are forced to seek diversion in this way. The general spread +of culture is also, probably, creating a taste in this direction. + +The lady who would succeed as a public reader must, like the actress, +be good-looking. The most successful lady readers now before the +public are physically attractive. Some of them are large, fine-looking +women, while others are petite; but no matter what the particular +style of beauty may be, they are all pleasing in their personal +appearance. + +The woman who wants to make public reading a profession will do all +she can to get her name and profession before the public. At first +she will give free readings before church societies. In this way she +will gradually become known, and, after a while, she will be able +to appear before some lyceum in the small outlying towns. If she +is favorably received she will be invited to come again, and so, +gradually, her name and fame will become known, and if she has the +necessary talent she will eventually command very good pay. + +At first she will give free readings. Her readings for pay will, in +the beginning, bring her from $10 to $25 a reading. After that the +compensation will increase, according to her reputation as a reader. +The very best female readers, or "elocutionists," as they prefer to +term themselves, receive as much as $500 for one entertainment. + +The social position which a lady occupies will have much to do with +her success. If she has a large circle of influential friends in good +social standing, provided, of course, she is talented, she will find +the road to success much easier than it otherwise would be. + + + + +BOOK-AGENTS. + + +Canvassing for books is a business in which some men have been known +to make $10,000 a year, and a large number of other men have earned +$2,000 and $3,000 in the same length of time. This is an occupation +which, under certain conditions, is admitted to be just as suitable +for a woman as a man. + +The newspapers have poked a great deal of fun at book-agents, and +their ridicule has, doubtless, deterred many a person from following +the occupation. A young man, a book-agent, once wrote for advice to +the editor of a New York paper. He said that he had followed the +calling for some time, and that he made, the year round, from $50 to +$60 a week. He liked the work of travelling from place to place, but +he had doubts as to whether his calling was a respectable one. Would +it not be better for him to get some other employment? The editor +promptly informed him that the work he was doing was not only +respectable but exceedingly useful; that many persons were glad to +see him present to their notice the new and useful books he was +endeavoring to sell; that his earnings were exceptionally large, and +that it would be a long time before he could hope to earn as much in +any other business. By all means he should remain a book-agent. + +It is said by the publishers of books that women make excellent +book-agents; they cannot hope to make as much money as the very best +male agents, but if they have the necessary qualifications they can do +very well. The prerequisites required can be summed up under four +heads: + +First of all, a woman must have pretty good health; if she has not, +she will not be able to go through the necessary amount of physical +exercise involved in the work. But it is not necessary that she shall +be perfectly sound in body. Many a woman enters the business because +she has a delicate constitution, and because she believes that the +exercise she will be obliged to take will do her good. And if her +ailments are not too serious, she is seldom disappointed in this +respect. + +Second, she must have a great deal of what business men call "push," +and what some people might term impudence. She cannot afford to be +nervous about going into stores, offices, and houses, and offering +what she has for sale. Nor will it go well with her if she is +bad-natured, and shows temper when she is not greeted cordially by the +master or mistress of the house. She must have smiles and pleasant +words for those who do not buy as well as for those who do. + +Third, she must be a good judge of human nature, and on this one +commandment, probably, hangs all the law and the prophets of +book-canvassing. For, if she has been a student of mankind she will +use great judgment in her vocation. She will call at the proper time, +at the proper place, upon the kind of people who will most likely want +to see her, or rather the book she has to offer. She will, by her +demeanor, win the respect of the men, the admiration of the women, and +the love of the children. It seems like saying a great deal too much, +but it is a fact, that there are some lady book-agents whose calls are +remembered as angels' visits, so agreeable were they in their manners, +so charming in conversation. It must be admitted, however, that there +are not many such women roaming up and down through the country. + +Last of all, she must have great perseverance, and work continuously. +Women get very easily discouraged, no matter what occupation they +pursue, if they do not very quickly see some substantial return for +their work. The idea that "hope springs eternal in the human breast," +was certainly never meant to apply to women; nor, maybe, was it meant +to, seeing that it occurs in the "Essay on Man." The female book-agent +is very much depressed if she does not make good earnings at the +start. Her depression so affects her spirits that she cannot be as +industrious as she otherwise would, and so she does more and more +poorly until, finally, she gives up the business. Men agents do not, +as a rule, become discouraged so easy. They know that provided they +have got a good book, published by a good house, it is only a question +of time when they will be making good earnings. Women should go to +work in the same spirit. + +If poor success is apt to discourage a woman (and, in what I say now I +am only the mouthpiece of several publishers I have seen), a run of +very good luck is liable to demoralize her. It is said that some lady +agents, after making a considerable sum of money in a short space of +time, will at once stop work, and, retiring to their homes, will not +think of following the employment until their means are exhausted. +Of course that is foolish. While they are spending their time in +idleness some new-comer has been assigned to the field they found so +profitable. When they return to work it is with a listless spirit, +and it will be quite a while before they can summon up that old-time +energy, which comes, in any vocation, from long and continuous +performance. + +Women book-agents--and, in defence of this ungallant remark, I must +state again that "I say the tale as 'twas said to me"--women +book-agents are apt to waste a great deal of time in the spring and +fall in getting their wardrobes ready for the coming season. "Who ever +knew of a man," remarked a cynical publisher, "stopping work for two +or three weeks because he was going to have a suit of clothes made? No +one. And yet you will find a female book-agent stop canvassing in the +busiest season in order to superintend the making of her dresses." Of +course, all lady book-agents do not adopt this practice, but it is +well to allude to the custom, because it is very unbusiness-like, and +furnishes a hint in the direction of how not to succeed. + +Two classes of women, publishers find, seek the employment of +book-canvassing. A great many young ladies enter the business--it +might be said skip into it--with all the gayety and with all the +inexperience of youth. These young persons are about eighteen or +nineteen years of age; they are buoyant of nature, full of hope, +bursting with self-confidence. They work a few days or weeks, then +abandon the business, tearfully proclaiming that it wasn't any thing +like what they thought it would be. + +The really successful female book-agent belongs to the second class. +She is of middle age, sometimes single, sometimes a widow, or, it may +be, she is married, and is bravely assisting a sick or unfortunate +husband in the support of the family. Such a woman enters the business +with the idea of making it her vocation. If she is a single lady or a +widow, she is not on the look-out for a husband, when she should be +carefully watching for customers. Having passed the youthful stage of +life, she is apt to be a pretty good judge of human nature, and, at +all events, she will be quick to learn the ways and weaknesses of men +when she is thus forced to daily come in contact with them. + +The earnings of this latter class of women are sometimes very large. +Of course, the reader understands that book-agents almost invariably +work upon a commission. + +That commission varies. On some books it is only ten per cent.; on +others it is sixty per cent. The better the book the less the per +centage of profit; but, let it be remembered also, the better the +book, the more ease in obtaining subscribers. Some women make $50 a +week for many weeks running; some earn $30 a week the year round. +One lady made enough money in two years' canvassing to send her +boy to college, and to purchase a home. In fact, the earnings of +book-agents, even the best of them, cannot even be approximately +stated. It is sufficient to say that a woman with the proper +qualifications, who strictly attends to her business, who is +persevering, full of courage, and who works diligently, is sure +to succeed. No, there is one thing more needed--a good book. + +There are a great number of subscription books offered to agents every +year, but out of the whole lot very few of them are of real value. And +yet, it is not necessary that a book should be, intellectually +speaking, first-class, in order to meet with a sale. Some books issued +by subscription at the present time cost $20 and $30 apiece. There is +a cyclopedia for which the price is over $100. Such books as these, it +has been found, must be sold by male agents only. It has also been +discovered that women are most successful in the sale of books of a +religious or semi-religious character, issued at a reasonable price. +The reason for this is apparent. They are brought in contact with the +female members of families, and in thus meeting members of their own +sex they are at no loss for interesting topics of conversation. For +the successful book-agent, it is needless to say, does not, the moment +she enters a house, present her wares and cry boldly "Buy"; she "leads +up" to the business in hand. + +In selecting a book a woman should go to a first-class publisher and +pick out a work which, according to her judgment (and without much +regard to what he may say, because he may very often be wrong), will +meet a popular household demand. Let her beware of all the small +catch-penny kind of publications; reproductions, from old and worn-out +stereotype plates, of books that no one, who really cares for books, +will be likely to buy. There are so many good subscription books +coming from the press in the present day that there is hardly any +excuse for a woman who will waste her time in canvassing for poor +ones. Of course, the hasty books outnumber the books of real merit, +but there are enough of the latter to furnish employment to all the +women who will be likely to engage in this occupation. + +To give an example of the kind of publisher to be avoided, I may state +that in a large Eastern city there is a man who makes it his business, +at certain seasons of the year, to advertise for young lady agents. He +always wants "_young_ ladies," and he always wants them to be without +experience. He publishes but one book, of which he is the putative +author. The young ladies receive their board and a trifle for spending +money at the end of every week, all living under one roof. Accounts +are settled only semi-annually. At the end of the first six months it +is very generally found that the young lady agent is in debt to her +publisher for board, and, at all events, whatever the statement of +affairs may reveal, she is told that her services are no longer +required, and a fresh and inexperienced damsel is at once secured to +take her place. + + * * * * * + +While writing on the subject of agents, it may be well to put down +a suggestion made to the author of this little book by a prominent +florist. He said that it was surprising to him that ladies were not +employed to solicit orders for trees, flowers, and seeds, etc. To his +knowledge, no women were engaged in this occupation, and yet it seemed +to be one for which they were especially fitted. Agents of this +character, it appears, carry with them large books containing highly +illuminated drawings of the trees or plants they are endeavoring to +sell. A lady could appeal with particular propriety to females who +would be likely to be purchasers. The competition in the nursery +business has been very great during the past few years, but the +profits of agents are said to be good. As this is a new field of +female labor, it might be worth while for a woman who has a fancy for +such work to endeavor to secure an agency. + + + + +DRESS-MAKING--MILLINERY. + + +From the modest appearance of the thousands of dwellings throughout +the country that bear the legend: "Fashionable Dress- and +Cloak-making," no one would suppose it was a very lucrative +employment. Indeed, from the dingy and broken-down aspect of some of +the establishments referred to, grave doubts might be entertained as +to whether the inmates were able to earn the most modest kind of a +living. The fact is that the great majority of dress-makers who set up +in business for themselves are not very successful, for the reason +that, in most cases, they have a very superficial knowledge of the +trade, and cannot meet the demand for good work. + +A really first-class dress-maker is always sure of work, in either +city or country. In order to be first-class she must have served an +apprenticeship with, or learned the trade of, a woman who is actively +engaged in the business. A great many women think they can get a good +knowledge of dress-making by the use of charts and patterns. This is +not the fact. Undoubtedly charts and patterns are very useful for +women who cut and make their own dresses, and they are aids in cutting +and fitting generally; but so many changes have to be made, depending +on the size and style of the woman to be fitted, and so much judgment +is required to be used, that competent critics say that they are of no +value to the professional dress-maker. One lady remarked that if all +women were perfectly formed, charts and patterns would be a great +help; but as the modern Eves come very far short of physical +perfection, not much help could be got from them. + +Some authorities say that dress-making as a trade is not so good a +business in New York as it was some ten years ago. The large +dress-makers who employ considerable help are obliged to select the +best locations in the city for their establishments, where the rent is +very high, and to furnish their places in a style very much more +expensive than in former years. As a consequence they do not pay as +good wages as they once did, on account of having to lay out money in +these ways. + +Another change from the old methods is that the work of dress-making +is, at the present time, divided into various departments. One woman +will make the skirt, another will finish it, another will work on the +sleeves, another will work the button-holes, and the fitting and +draping are branches by themselves. The woman who would receive the +highest wages to be obtained in this industry should master the whole +business, and make herself competent to do all, or nearly all, the +kinds of work which have just been mentioned. If she does do that, she +need have no fear about obtaining employment. There are thousands of +dress-makers in the country, but very few good ones. It is a trade of +which it may be emphatically said that there is "room at the top." + +The dress-making season lasts from October 1st to February 1st; then +there is very little to do until March 10th, when business becomes +brisk and remains so until about the 1st of August. The hours of work +are from 8 A.M. until 6 P.M. In the busy season it is often necessary +to work in the evening. The pay ranges from $6 to $8 per week for +ordinary hands, while competent women receive $10, $12, and $14 a +week. The forelady in a dress-making establishment will receive $15 or +$20 a week. It is her duty to superintend the girls, to see that they +arrive on time, to give out the work, and to see that it is done +promptly and properly. + +Some women who follow this calling prefer to go out to private +families and work by the day. For such service they receive $3 or +$3.50 a day. In many respects this is a pleasant method, but it has +its disadvantages. A woman is not always sure of how much she will +earn unless, after years of work, she has secured the custom of a +certain number of families, on whose patronage she can depend. There +is so much responsibility and worriment attached to this way of +working at the trade that the majority of dress-makers prefer to hire +themselves out by the week, and feel sure of receiving each Saturday +night a stated amount for their services. + +The objection that applies to going out to private service is urged +against a woman going into the business on her own account. Besides, +in large cities it would require considerable capital to pursue such a +course. A dingy, insignificant little place could not hope to get much +custom, and to compete with the large establishments a woman would +have to be prepared to pay a high rent, lay out a large amount in +furniture, and then, probably, have to wait a long time before she +could be the owner of a good paying business. Still, if she has plenty +of capital, thoroughly understands the trade, and is enterprising in +her methods of securing business, there is no reason why she should +not succeed, provided she has a good location. + + * * * * * + +Only the rich and the utterly incompetent patronize the milliner +nowadays. It seems that women are very prompt to attend the "openings" +in the spring and fall seasons, but the great majority of them do so +only to see the styles. They go home and, unless they are very poor +hands with the needle, make their bonnets themselves. A hat that would +cost $5 in the store, a woman of taste could make for $1.50; and one +that would cost $15 she could duplicate for a five-dollar bill. + +An idea can thus be formed of the profits of the business, and the +suggestion will probably occur to the reader that it is a good +business to follow. If a woman could secure a good store, at a +reasonable rent, in a nice neighborhood, she would have a fair chance +of doing well. Of course it is to be supposed that she understands the +milliner's trade, and that she has gained her knowledge in a practical +way. It is seldom, however, that women are successful as proprietors +of such stores. Either they have made a mistake in selecting a +location, or their means become exhausted while waiting for custom +during the early dull days of their venture. It would take at least +$2,000 or $3,000 to start a millinery store. A woman of unusually good +taste and sound business judgment might get along with $1,000. The +best location in New York City would be between Fourteenth and +Thirty-third streets, and Broadway and Sixth Avenue; or on Broadway or +Sixth Avenue. + + + + +TEACHING. + + +The profession of teaching would seem, at a first glance, to be +overcrowded. School committees who are charged with the duty of +selecting tutors are, it is said, overwhelmed with applicants for the +positions that are to be filled. Young women are constantly striving +to get places in academies, and the host of females who are seeking +situations in the public schools of New York is, indeed, mighty. +Notwithstanding this discouraging view, a thoroughly qualified teacher +need seldom be without employment. The women who have had a solid +systematic training in the English branches, and who, in addition to +mere mental qualifications, have the knack, or genius, it might be +called, of reaching the minds of the young, are very few. There are +plenty of superficially educated young women who "take up" teaching +as their profession. They are not thoroughly grounded in the very +rudiments of knowledge; they have no knowledge of, or sympathy with, +children; they go through their work in a purely mechanical spirit; +and they are utterly unfitted, in every way, for the profession they +have selected for themselves. The woman who makes teaching her +profession must have real ability, and feel herself thoroughly +_adapted_ for the calling. + +No woman, unless she has great "influence," can hope to obtain a +position in the public schools of New York. The western part of our +country seems to be a good field for well-qualified teachers, who +must, however, be endowed with some courage. + +The country is a good place for a young lady to begin work. Positions +are more easily secured, and the qualifications required are not so +great as in the city. + +In the schools throughout the country the salaries of female teachers +range from $300 to $1,200 a year. The smaller salary would be given in +a country school; the higher salaries would be paid in the academies +in the large towns, and in cities. + + * * * * * + +Teaching young children by the Kindergarten method has become very +popular within the past few years, and there is quite a demand for the +establishment of Kindergarten schools. In New York young ladies can +learn this method of teaching in two schools; one a free school +connected with a society devoted to "ethical culture," and a private +school. The instruction given in the former is free, but the young +women are expected to devote part of the day to the free scholars. +This is an advantage, for it gives them a practical knowledge of the +method. During the week there are three theoretical lessons, each +lasting about two hours. So many are desirous of entering this +institution, that it has been found necessary to have a competitive +examination for the admission of candidates. In the private school the +price of tuition is $200. In Boston there are twenty kindergartens, +all carried on by a lady. The salary of the teachers there is $600. In +private families teachers are paid from $400 to $600; there is a good +demand for instructors in that quarter. The price obtained from +scholars taught in a kindergarten school depends solely on how much +they can afford to pay; probably $50 for the school year of nine +months would be the average price. + + * * * * * + +The educational market is overstocked with teachers of languages. +There are so many poor, broken-down foreigners in America who are +perfectly competent to teach their respective languages, that there is +a very small chance for home talent. A good teacher, in the city of +New York, will receive $1 an hour; but there are some who will teach +as low as 25 cents an hour, and there are others who, through their +good address and social qualifications, will secure an entrance into +fashionable society, and receive as high as $5 an hour for doing no +better service than their poorer-paid sisters. In academies and +schools a lady teaching French and German will receive her board +and from $300 to $800 a year. She must have learned these languages +abroad, and have the real foreign accent, or she cannot obtain +employment at these rates. If she has obtained her knowledge in this +country, the salary will be from $300 to $500. + + * * * * * + +Music is now so generally taught to children, that there is a good +chance for competent female teachers of the art to obtain scholars. +There is a wide range in the prices paid for tuition; some teachers +receive only 50 cents a lesson, and some as high as $8. Those who +receive the latter sum are women of very great ability, who train +young ladies to become public performers. The terms depend almost +altogether on the wealth of the teacher's patrons; among people in +moderate circumstances she will receive moderate pay, while the rich +will very often give twice the amount for the same service. The +ability and reputation of the teacher will have much to do with her +earnings. + +To become a thoroughly competent music teacher will take three or four +years' instruction. It is said that a good musical education can be +obtained as well on this as on the other side of the water. Many of +the foreign music teachers in this country are as good as can be +obtained abroad, and the European instructors, some critics say, do +not give as much time and attention to pupils as the American tutors. + + * * * * * + +If a woman has a thorough knowledge of short-hand, she can do well, as +a teacher of the art, in almost any community. Many persons, even in +remote and small places, would learn phonography if the subject were +brought to their attention by an instructor. Clergymen, lawyers, +doctors, many women of leisure, young women who would study with a +view to being amanuenses--all such people could be obtained as pupils. +The teacher could give from fifteen to thirty or forty lessons, at a +charge of from fifty cents to a dollar a lesson. A great many learners +of this art prefer to have a teacher's help, though phonography can be +mastered without such aid. + + * * * * * + +Teachers of the art of decoration--the ornamentation of China screens, +plaques, panels, etc.--and drawing, receive from $400 to $2,000 a +year. A course of two or three years' study will fit a properly +talented woman to be an art teacher. There is a fair demand for such +teachers in the large schools and academies throughout the country. + + + + +BRIEF NOTES + + ON MARKET GARDENING, POULTRY-RAISING, BEE-KEEPING, HOUSE-KEEPERS, + CASHIERS, BUTTON-HOLE MAKING, FLORICULTURE, AUTHORSHIP, + TYPE-WRITING, AND WORKING IN BRASS. + + +It would be impossible, within the limits of this little book, to go +into the details of all the employments suitable for women; only the +most important and best paying kinds of work have been mentioned in +detail. Some brief notes are here given of various occupations in +which females are now engaged, and in which they are meeting with more +or less success. + +=Market Gardening.=--Some women make money by raising vegetables for +the city markets. The produce is sometimes sent by rail, but, as a +rule, it is brought in by trucks. This industry is not, as many might +suppose, confined entirely to foreigners. There are thousands of +American-born women throughout the country who are engaged in it, and +who are doing well. Mention is made of a woman who, starting with a +capital of $25, made a good living in this way, cultivating only an +acre of ground. Her husband plowed and prepared the ground, and in her +part of the work she had the assistance of the younger boys and the +older girls. During the past year she made more money than her husband +did from his farm. A woman could not expect to be successful in this +occupation unless she was unusually strong and healthy, and had the +taste for agricultural work very largely developed. Those who are born +and brought up in the country do the best. + +The raising of =poultry= for the large city markets is a lucrative +occupation, or rather it can be made so, after a time, if the +poultry-raiser gradually increases her stock of fowls. Even if she +does not care to do this she can be pretty sure of a fair living. +About $300 would be required to start in this business--$100 for the +fowls, and the balance for the erection of appropriate buildings for +the animals. + +=Bee-keeping.=--There is always a good market for honey, and those who +understand the art of raising bees can be sure of making a fair +living. Women can do just as well as men, and many ladies are very +successful. It would be necessary to start with not less than thirty +swarms of bees, at a cost of from $5 to $15 a swarm, or hive. If the +business is properly followed, it will increase in a very short time, +as the colonies multiply rapidly. There are excellent books showing +how this business can be carried on, but the theoretical knowledge +gained from them must be supplemented by practical knowledge gained +from experience. + +=House-keepers.=--The demand for house-keepers is very small; that is +to say, there is very little chance for a strange woman to obtain a +position of that kind. There are plenty of house-keepers, but when one +is wanted she is generally found in the person of a poor relation or +struggling friend within the immediate social precinct of the family +who desire her services. Such positions, however, when they can be +obtained in the large cities, are looked upon as unusually good. +House-keepers are employed by widowers to take entire charge of a +house and look after the children, if there are any; by husbands with +sick and delicate wives; or by couples who are wealthy enough to +engage such service. They are paid from $30 to $100 per month, the +salary depending on the duties they are expected to perform, and the +wealth of the parties who employ them. + +A house-keeper in a large hotel occupies a responsible position. She +must possess that rare feminine virtue--the ability to "get along" +with servants. The occupation is very confining, and such workers can +very seldom get, at one time, many hours' recess from their work. +Their wages run from $20 to $60 a month and their board; the larger +the hotel, the more responsible the position and the greater the pay. + +=Cashiers in Hotels.=--It requires a great deal of "influence" to get +the position of cashier in a hotel; it is a situation that is very +much coveted. As the cashier is employed in the restaurant, it is only +in hotels that are conducted on "the European plan" where such +services are required. In such hotels the guests pay so much for their +room, and get their meals where they please, paying at the time for +what they get. As a rule, they patronize the restaurant connected with +the hotel. The cashier has to work long hours. For instance: one day +she will be on duty from 8 A.M. until 8 P.M. The next day from 7 A.M. +until 10 A.M.; then a recess until 5 P.M., then on duty until 12, +midnight. She receives her board and a salary of from $12 to $25 a +month. The board is always good. In the best hotels the cashier is +allowed to order what she pleases from the regular bill of fare; other +hotels have a special bill for the "officers" (as the better class of +help are called), and from this the selection of food has to be made. + +=Button-holes.=--Ladies do not need to be told that the button-holes +in fine dresses are made by hand. This kind of work has become a +separate business, although there are some seamstresses who combine +the making of button-holes with their regular sewing. Dress-makers who +employ twenty-five or thirty needlewomen usually keep one button-hole +maker, paying her from $9 to $12 a week; very few pay the latter +price. Some women who work at this trade prefer to be paid by the +piece. In this case they are paid at the rate of two cents and a half +per button-hole. A good worker can make fifty button-holes in a day, +and earn $1.25. It would be a very smart woman who could make eighty, +and earn $2 a day. One trouble about working by the piece is that the +woman very often has to wait until the work is got ready for her. As +she is obliged to attend on several customers during the day she often +suffers from this loss of time, sometimes losing a customer through +the failure to keep an appointment, or being obliged to do a part of +her work at night. + +The button-holes in white vests are done by hand. The pay is one cent +a button-hole, and a woman can make $1 or $1.25 a day. The work is +always done during the winter months, there is plenty of it to do, and +never any time lost in waiting. + +=Florists.=--There are eight or ten ladies in New York and Brooklyn +who have charge of floral establishments. Most of them assist their +husbands; some are widows who have inherited the business. There is +one lady in Brooklyn who has built up a good business solely through +her own efforts. This is a very good occupation for women who love +flowers, who have good taste, an eye for color and the necessary +executive ability to carry on a business by themselves. Most of the +florists in New York and Brooklyn get their plants and flowers at +wholesale from nurseries on the outskirts, purchasing such stock +as they may require from time to time. Land is so valuable in the +city that florists have long since been compelled to give up the +cultivation of flowers; besides, the streets in the central and +business parts are so built up, both in New York and Brooklyn, that +the ground cannot be obtained at any price. Now, they have small +stores where they make a display of "samples" of the different +varieties of flowers. + +The work is hard at times, the florist being obliged to remain up the +best part of the night to fill an order, given at the last moment, for +funeral or wedding pieces. The decorating of churches, halls, etc., is +tiresome work, especially where palms are used, and where it is +necessary to climb up and down ladders. The keeping of plants in pots +in the store requires a good deal of labor. Many women call and want +to see what the florist has got. She has to raise up the pots of +plants many times a day, and this is very tiresome to the wrists. + +The amount of capital required to start the florist's business is +nothing like as much as it was before the large nurseries supplied the +florists with what they wanted at wholesale rates. The sum would +probably range from $200 to $1000, depending on the location, the +style in which the store was fitted up, and the amount of rent that +had to be paid. The profits are good, but vary, depending on the class +of custom the florist obtains; twenty-five per cent. is considered a +fair profit. + +The lady florist would not, probably, care to devote much time to +potted plants. She could keep a few of the more common varieties, +which would be sufficient. Most of her business--and the best paying +part of her business--would consist in making bouquets, and selling +cut flowers. That is more profitable and pleasant than the selling and +propagation of plants, and would require much less manual labor. +Florists keep informed about their occupation by carefully reading the +catalogues issued by the various large wholesale dealers, in this +country, and in Europe, and the interesting and valuable books on +Floriculture that are issued from time to time. + +To establish a regular greenhouse, and raise plants and flowers for +both the wholesale and retail trade, would require at least $5,000. A +woman to carry on the business in that way would have to be possessed +of a great deal of executive ability, give her whole personal +attention to the work, and be able to manage a considerable number of +men. + +The business is better in the smaller cities than in either New +York or Brooklyn. In Schenectady, it may be mentioned by way of +illustration that, six years ago, there were no florists; now +there are three. + +=Authorship.=--Authorship has now become, very largely, a +matter-of-fact business conducted on business principles. If any woman +has any thing to say that is worth listening to she will have no +trouble in securing a publisher to reproduce her thoughts in book +form. The idea that publishers strive to crush budding genius has +long since been exploded. If they were guilty of doing that very often +their occupation would be gone. + +The woman who has a manuscript to offer for publication should first +see that it is written plainly on one side of the paper. Then she +should select a publisher who issues books of the same general +character as the one she has written. Some publishers make a specialty +of light summer novels, some of society stories, some of scientific +books, and so on. The manuscript is read by a "reader," who passes +judgment upon it. If his opinion is favorable the publisher reads the +manuscript and decides whether he will undertake to publish it. + +The book may be bought for a certain sum outright. Or, a certain +amount may be paid on publication, and an additional sum after the +book has attained a stated circulation; or, a royalty of ten per cent. +on what will be the retail price of the book may be given; or, the +author may pay for the cost of manufacturing the book, owning the +copyright, the plates, and the books printed, and paying the publisher +ten per cent. for taking charge of the publication and sale of the +book. + +Contributions for the daily and the weekly literary papers are paid +for at the rate of from $6 to $10 per one thousand words. Many young +women are ambitious to write for the story papers. There is but little +chance of success in this direction. Nearly all of the story papers +have a regular corps of contributors, who often write under several +different names, and who are paid a salary, or so much for each +"instalment" of a continued story. A publisher, however, will always +buy a "sensational" continued story if it is very good, and the fact +that the author is unknown will not count against its acceptance. A +continued story should contain not less than eight, nor more than +thirteen, instalments of about four thousand words each. The pay for +such a contribution would be from $10 to $20 an instalment. There is +a greater demand for short stories for the story papers, stories +containing from two to four thousand words. The price paid for such +tales would be $5 or $10.[A] + +[Footnote A: The woman who contemplates authorship, or journalistic +work, is advised to consult "Authors and Publishers; a Manual of +Suggestions for Beginners in Literature." Price, $1.00. Published by +G. P. Putnam's Sons, 27 and 29 West 23d Street, New York. This is not +only the latest but the best book on the subject.] + +=Type-Writing.=--Young women in the large cities do well working on +the type-writer. A girl with a good common-school education, who is +naturally bright, and quick with her fingers, can learn in four +months' time to work on the type-writer. In eight months she ought to +be an expert at the business. Some pupils might be required to +practise a year, or a year and a half, before they were thoroughly +competent. Forty words a minute is considered a good average rate of +speed. Salaries of lady type-writers in law, newspaper, and mercantile +offices range from $10 to $20 a week. A woman would have to be a very +expert type-writer, or have joined with the knowledge of type-writing +some knowledge of short-hand, to earn $20 a week. In railroad offices +type-writers are paid $60 a month. Type-writing offices, where +type-writing is done for the public by the job, and where this kind of +help is employed, pay $10 and $12 a week. + +Some women open offices and depend on job work. They receive five +cents a folio (one hundred words) for furnishing one copy of a +manuscript, eight cents a folio for two, and ten cents a folio for +three copies. Some charge ten cents per page (three hundred words) for +furnishing one copy, twelve cents for furnishing two copies, and +fifteen cents for furnishing three copies. Several copies of a page +can be taken at one time on the type-writer. This is an excellent +industry for women. No special talent is required, except that a woman +should be a good speller and have a fair knowledge of the rules of +punctuation. A new telegraph company that has just been started is, it +is said, going to employ lady type-writers in many of its offices to +take down the messages as they are received by the operators. This of +itself will create a great demand for lady type-writers. + +=Wood-Engraving.=--It requires four or five years' study for a woman +to become competent in wood-engraving. After three years of hard work +she may hope to do some ordinary engraving for which she will receive +compensation. In the Cooper Institute (New York), where the art is +taught to women, the course of instruction covers four years. The +pupils work every day from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. the year round, obtaining +theoretical instruction from a teacher twice a week. + +For engraving a block a trifle larger than this page a woman will +receive $50. It will take her from three to five weeks to do the work, +depending on the amount of experience she has had in the business. +Some women occupy themselves on "catalogue work," _i. e._, engraving +the illustrations for mercantile books and agricultural catalogues. +At this branch of work they can make from $20 to $25 a week. There are +very few female wood-engravers at present. To women who have the +necessary talent, and who can afford to give the requisite amount of +time to the study of the art, wood-engraving will furnish a sure means +of making a living. + +=Working in Brass.=--This is a new occupation for women that is being +taught in one of the technical schools in New York. A few women are +successfully doing some work in the business and receiving fair pay. A +lady who has a good knowledge of drawing can, it is said, after a +course of twelve lessons do marketable work. Pupils who are able to +make original designs do the best. A course of twelve lessons in the +school alluded to costs $10. The work is by the piece, and is paid for +according to the style of the pattern. For small leaves the pay is +from 60 to 70 cents each; leaves six inches in length $1 each; a panel +10 x 6 inches, $4 to $5, according to pattern. Tiles are popular and +well paid for. The work is very well suited for a woman, and her +earnings ought to run from $10 to $25 a week, depending altogether on +her talent. After taking lessons and learning the theoretical part of +the business it would be well for a woman to go, for a short time, +into some establishment where brass-work is done. There she would +probably get some practical hints that would be of great service. + + +THE END. + + + + + Putnam's Handy-Book Series + + OF + + BOOKS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. + + +I.--=The Best Reading.= A Classified Bibliography for easy Reference, +with hints on the selection of books, on the formation of libraries, +public and private, on courses of reading, etc.; a guide for the +librarian, bookbuyer, and bookseller. The classified lists, arranged +under about 500 subject-headings, include all the most desirable books +now to be obtained either in Great Britain or the United States, with +the published prices annexed. New edition, corrected, enlarged, and +continued to August, 1876. 12mo, paper, $1.00; cloth $1.50 + +"We know of no manual that can take its place as a guide to the +selector of a library."--_Independent._ + + +=The Library Companion.= Annual Supplement to "The Best Reading." Five +volumes, for 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, and 1881, each 50 + + +II.--=Hand-Book of Statistics of the United States.= A Record of the +Administrations and Events from the Organization of the United States +Government to 1874. Comprising brief biographical data of the +presidents, cabinet officers, the signers of the Declaration of +Independence, and members of the Continental Congress, statements of +finances under each administration, and other valuable material. 12mo, +cloth $1 00 + +"The book is of so comprehensive a character and so compact a form +that it is especially valuable to the journalist or student."--_N. Y. +World._ + + +III.--=What to Eat.= A Manual for the Housekeeper; giving a bill of +fare for every day in the year. 134 pages, boards 50 + +"It can hardly fail to prove a valuable aid to housekeepers who are +brought to their wits' end to know what to get for the day's +meals."--_San Francisco Bulletin._ + + +IV.--=Till the Doctor Comes, and How to Help Him.= By GEORGE H. HOPE, +M.D. Revised with additions by a New York physician. :: A popular +guide in all cases of accident and sudden illness. 12mo, 99 pages, +boards 50 + +"A most admirable treatise; short, concise, and practical."--_Harper's +Monthly_ (Editorial). + + +V.--=Stimulants and Narcotics=; MEDICALLY, PHILOSOPHICALLY, AND +MORALLY CONSIDERED. By GEORGE M. BEARD, M.D. 12mo, 155 pages, cloth 75 + +"Dr. Beard has given the question of stimulants the first fair +discussion in moderate compass that it has received in this country. +* * * The book should be widely read."--_N. Y. Independent._ + + +VI.--=Eating and Drinking.= A Popular Manual of Food and Diet in +Health and Disease. By GEORGE M. BEARD, M.D. 12mo, 180 pages, cloth 75 + +"The best manual upon the subject we have seen."--_N. Y. World._ + + +VII.--=The Student's Own Speaker.= By PAUL REEVES. A Manual of +Oratory, comprising new selections, patriotic, pathetic, grave, and +humorous, for home use and for schools. 12mo, 215 pages, boards 75 + +"We have never before seen a collection so admirably adapted for its +purpose."--_Cincinnati Chronicle._ + + +VIII.--=How to Educate Yourself.= A Complete Guide to Students; +showing how to study, what to study, and how and what to read. It is, +in short, a "Pocket School-master." By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON. 12mo, +151 pages, boards 50 + +"We write with unqualified enthusiasm about this book, which is +untellably good and for good."--_N. Y. Evening Mail._ + + +IX.--=A Manual of Etiquette.= With Hints on Politeness, Good-Breeding, +etc. By "DAISY EYEBRIGHT." 12mo, boards 50 + +"The suggestions and directions are given with taste and judgment, and +express the habits of good society."--_Louisville Courier-Journal._ + + +X.--=The Mother's Register.= Current Notes on the Health of Children, +Part I., Boys. Part II., Girls. "The Mother records for the Physician +to interpret." From the French of Prof. J. B. FONSSAGRIVES, M.D. 12mo, +cloth 75 + + +XI.--=Hints on Dress.= By an American woman. 12mo, 124 pages, cloth 75 + + +XII.--=The Home=: WHERE IT SHOULD BE AND WHAT TO PUT IN IT. Containing +hints for the selection of a Home, its furniture and internal +arrangements, with carefully prepared price-lists of nearly every +thing needed by a housekeeper, and numerous valuable suggestions for +saving money and gaining comfort. By FRANK R. STOCKTON. 12mo, 182 +pages, boards 50 + +"Young housekeepers will be especially benefited, and all housekeepers +may learn much from this book."--_Albany Journal._ + + +XIII.--=The Mother's Work with Sick Children.= By Prof. J. B. +FONSSAGRIVES, M.D. Translated and edited by F. P. FOSTER, M.D. A +volume full of the most practical advice and suggestions for Mothers +and Nurses. 12mo, 244 pages, cloth 1 00 + +"A volume which should be in the hands of every mother in the +land."--_Binghamton Herald._ + + +XIV.--=Manual of Thermometry.= For Mothers, Nurses, Hospitals, etc., +and all who have charge of the sick and the young. By EDWARD SEGUIN, +M.D. 12mo, cloth 75 + + +XV.--=Infant Diet.= By A. JACOBI, M.D., Clinical Professor of Diseases +of Children, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. Revised, +enlarged, and adapted to popular use by MARY PUTNAM JACOBI, M.D. 12mo, +boards 50 + +"Dr. Jacobi's rules are admirable in their simplicity and +comprehensiveness."--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + +XVI.--=How to Make a Living.= By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON, author of "How +to Educate Yourself." 12mo, boards 50 + +"Shrewd, sound, and entertaining."--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + +XVII.--=Manual of Nursing.= Prepared under the instructions of the New +York Training School for Nurses, by VICTORIA WHITE, M.D., and revised +by MARY PUTNAM JACOBI, M.D. Boards 75 + +"Better adapted to render the nurse a faithful and efficient +cooperator with the physician than any work we have seen."--_Home +Journal._ + + +XVIII.--=The Blessed Bees.= An account of practical Bee-keeping, and +the author's success in the same. By JOHN ALLEN. Boards 75 + +"I scarcely looked up from the volume before I had scanned all its +fascinating pages."--Prof. A. T. COOK, in _American Bee Journal_, +1878, p. 422. + + +XIX.--=The Handy-Book of Quotations.= A Dictionary of Common Poetical +Quotations in the English Language. 16mo, boards 75 + +"Compact and comprehensive. * * * An invaluable little +volume."--_Providence Journal._ + + +XX.--=From Attic to Cellar.= A Book for Young Housekeepers. By Mrs. +OAKEY. 16mo, cloth 75 + +"An admirable collection of directions and counsels, written by a lady +of large experience, in a style of perfect simplicity and great force. +* * * I wish it were in the hands of every housekeeper and every +domestic in the land."--H. W. BELLOWS, D.D. + + +XXI.--=Emergencies, and How to Meet Them.= Compiled by BURT G. WILDER, +M.D., Prof. of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy in Cornell +University. 16mo, sewed 15 + +"Invaluable instructions, prompt attention to which would often save +life or serious disaster."--_Providence Journal._ + + +XXII.--=The Maintenance of Health.= By J. MILNER FOTHERGILL, M.D. +Third and cheaper edition. Octavo, boards 1 25 + +"The most important book of its kind that has ever been published in +this country."--_Christian Union._ + + +XXIII.--=The Art of Cooking.= A series of practical lessons by MATILDA +LEES DODS the South Kensington School of Cookery. Edited by HENRIETTA +DE CONDE SHERMAN. 16mo, cloth extra 1 00 + +"The thoroughness of her preparation for the work which this +experience has afforded is seen in the marked success of the +experimental lessons that she is now giving. They are so clear and +methodical, her manipulation is so deft and easy, and the dishes +produced are so excellent, as to win the praise of all who hear +her."--_N. Y. Times._ + + +XXIV.--=Hints for Home Reading.= A series of papers by EDWARD EVERETT +HALE, F. B. PERKINS, H. W. BEECHER, CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, JOSEPH +COOK, LYMAN ABBOTT, M. J. SWEETSER, CYRUS HAMLIN, H. W. MABIE, and +others. Edited by LYMAN ABBOTT. Together with a new edition of +"Suggestions for Libraries," with first, second, and third lists of +500, 1,000, and 2,000 volumes recommended as the most important and +desirable. 8vo, cloth, $1 00; boards 75 + +"We warmly commend the book for the guidance not only of bookbuyers +but readers. Its suggestions are invaluable to both."--_Boston +Transcript._ + + +XXV.--=First Aid to the Injured.= Prepared under the authority of the +First Aid to the Injured Society. By PETER SHEPHERD, M.D., and +BOWDITCH MORTON, M.D. Square 16mo, cloth extra 50 + +"It is a book which ought to have a place in every family, and its +simple rules should be carefully studied and mastered by every +one."--_Providence Press._ + + +XXVI.--=How to Succeed=, in Public Life, as a Minister, as a +Physician, as a Musician, as an Engineer, as an Artist, in Mercantile +Life, as a Farmer, as an Inventor, and in Literature. A series of +essays by Senators BAYARD and EDMUNDS; Doctors JOHN HALL, WILLARD +PARKER, and LEOPOLD DAMROSCH; Gen. SOOY SMITH, HAMILTON GIBSON, +Commissioner GEO. B. LORING, LAWSON VALENTINE, THOMAS EDISON, and +E. P. ROE. With an Introduction by LYMAN ABBOTT. 16mo, boards 50 + +"No book, we fancy, could more directly appeal to the mass of +Americans than one with this title. * * * Will find solid help in +these remarkable little essays that deal with great +expectations."--_N. Y. Herald._ + + +XXVII.--=Work for Women.= Being hints to aid women in the selection of +a vocation in life, and describing the several occupations of +Short-Hand Writing, Industrial Designing, Photographing, Nursing, +Telegraphing, Teaching, Dress-Making, Proof-Reading, Engraving, etc., +etc., etc. By George J. Manson. 16mo, boards 60 + +"Full of useful suggestions."--_Philadelphia American._ + + +XXVIII.--=Health Notes for Students.= By Prof. BURT G. WILDER, of +Cornell University. Uniform with "Emergencies." 16mo, paper 20 + +"The instructions are never extreme, and always sensible."--_Chicago +Tribune._ + + +XXIX.--=The Home Physician.= A summary of Practical Medicine and +Surgery for the Use of Travellers and of Families at a distance from +Physicians. By LUTHER M. GILBERT, M.D., Attending Physician to the +Connecticut General Hospital. 16mo, cloth 1 00 + +"Concise, comprehensive, and practical."--_St. Paul Dispatch._ + + +XXX.--=Bread-Making.= A practical treatise, giving full instructions +for the making of bread and biscuits, 16mo, boards 50 + + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. +Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. + +Other than the corrections listed below, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been +retained. + +Two different versions of spelling for housekeeper and Hand-book occur +in this book (advertisements: housekeeper and Hand-Book; main text: +house-keeper and Hand-book). + +The following misprints have been corrected: + + changed "Abbot" into "Abbott" in Preface + changed "they are familliar," into "they are familiar." page 5 + changed "or eight o'clock," into "or eight o'clock." page 34 + changed "gratuitiously" into "gratuitously" page 51 + changed "month" into "months" page 55 + changed "treshhold" into "threshold" page 61 + added " after "to go by." page 75 + changed "negro" into "Negro" page 77 + changed "about woman suffrage, a" into "about woman-suffrage, a" + page 94 + changed "Bee-Keeping.--There is" into "Bee-keeping.--There is" + page 125 + changed "Type-Writing.--Young women" into "Type-writing.--Young + women" page 135 + changed "excellant" into "excellent" advertisement + changed "and 1881, each," into "and 1881, each" advertisement + changed "134 pages, boards," into "134 pages, boards" advertisement + changed "215 pages, boards," into "215 pages, boards" advertisement + changed "16mo, paper," into "16mo, paper" advertisement + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Work for Women, by George J. Manson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORK FOR WOMEN *** + +***** This file should be named 32725.txt or 32725.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/7/2/32725/ + +Produced by Iris Gehring, D Alexander, Juliet Sutherland +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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