87. Sculptors.
Properzia di Rossi, Maria Domenica,
Anna Maria Schurmann, Maria von Steinbach, Anne Seymour
Damer, Falicie de Faveau, and in our own country and time
Miss Lander, Harriet Hosmer, and Miss Stebbins, are among
those who have proved the ability of woman to succeed in sculpture.
Sculptors, it should be understood, seldom, if ever, labor
with the chisel. They prepare models, which are made in a composition
of clay or wax, and then superintend the imitation of
these in marble. Sculpture is the chastest imitation of nature
and the highest expression of the form and spirit of beauty known
to art; and while woman is possessed of the finest sensibility and
most exquisite perceptions, there can certainly be no reason why
she should not succeed in it. Mr. Lagrange, in urging the establishment
of Government schools of design in France, says:
"Painting, engraving, and sculpture, encouraged as music and
dancing are, promise equal success; they provide a more assured
support in its being better acquired, and a more substantial renown,
and especially a calmer and chaster existence. Painter,
engraver, or sculptor, it is her
works alone that claim the public
eye. Her person is sacred; no one dares to lift the veil that
conceals her countenance; no one presumes to call upon her to
courtesy to feeble applause. A young girl, chaste and pure, she
may watch by the lonely hearthside; a wife, she may not see her
smiles and caresses in dispute as the seal of a purchased rite; a
mother, she may educate her children under a name they will
never be tempted to despise. Exhibitions, open to everybody,
will afford the public an opportunity to measure her talent or
genius; critics will confine their attacks to her works; and praise,
if she deserves it, will reach her eyes and ears in terms that she
will be able to listen to or peruse without the accompaniment of
a blush." Mrs. Wilson, wife of a physician living in Cincinnati,
has executed busts of her husband and children that are said to
be excellent likenesses. Mrs. Dubois, of New York, has sculptured
in marble several specimens. Misses Lander and Stebbins,
and Miss Hosmer, we believe, find their art lucrative. Sculptors
should attend anatomical dissections; should learn the structure
of the human frame, and the appearance of the muscles under the
various conditions to which circumstances may subject them. Indeed
the study of anatomy is essential to success. In sculpture,
we closely imitate the parent, nature. The most superior specimens
of statuary are said to be modelled after nature, as seen in
the unlaced, unpinched, unaltered original—just as nature's own
hand has chiselled. In sculpture, modelling is the inventive part
of the work, and requires taste and genius; copying is a merely
mechanical operation. A pursuit of this kind, if followed from
the love of it, becomes a soul-engrossing study. Means or friends
to rely upon, for at least two years, during the time of study,
will be necessary in most cases; for if the artist is to support herself
while she studies, only the highest earnestness can sustain
her; but then those that are not in earnest should not undertake
this art—for "it is better to pursue a frivolous trade in a serious
manner, than a sublime art frivolously." Without very decided
talent it will be some time before a sculptor comes sufficiently into
notice to sustain herself entirely by the filling of orders. "Sculpture
has become almost a fashion in Paris; but a woman finds it
difficult to devote herself to studies pertaining to the art. Though
greater in number than painters, they have accomplished scarcely
any remarkable works." Many women who might not undertake
sculpture, might learn to work in marble for sculptors. A marble
worker in its various branches, writes me: "I think women
might be very well employed in the lighter parts of finishing. I
suppose they are not so employed, because there has not yet been
any organized and extended effort made to introduce them into
this line of business. I am not sure, but think it likely, women
are employed to a limited extent in
chiselling marble in Italy
and France. Miss Hosmer has done more than mould for others
to copy. She has herself handled the mallet and chisel. The
employment in general is healthy; but lettering, and indeed fine
chiselling of any sort, requiring the eye to be brought near to the
work, raises a dust, which is breathed into the lungs—though the
injury is not very apparent till the lapse of years reveals it. The
qualifications desirable are a good judgment, and eye for form,
and a certain slight of hand. The prospect for marble workers
is good in all departments." On the other hand, another writes:
"Sculpture is too laborious for women, and if women practise
the art, they hire all the work done." In Rome, two thousand
women serve as models to painters and sculptors.
88. Steel and other Engravers.
Steel and copper
engraving require a very good knowledge of drawing, and careful
manipulation. A great advantage has been gained by substituting
steel for copper plates. One beauty of steel engraving is
that it can be done at home. Men like easy employments, and so
have appropriated this one. An engraver must learn to convey
the feelings of an artist. Lithography has seriously interfered
with steel engraving, and photography has to some extent. There
are very few journeymen engravers. Most go into business for
themselves. Some women are employed in engraving copper cylinders
for calico prints. Line and stipple are the most expensive
engraving. Mezzotint is cheaper. Boys practise on copper, and
do not work on anything valuable until they are able to engrave
well. One reason that engravers do not like to take apprentices
is, that they cannot do any thing under two or three years, of
any value to their employer, but expect to be paid from the first.
Besides, an engraver seldom has enough of such engraving as a
learner can do to keep him constantly employed. Those who receive
apprentices in New York take them for five years, and pay
something from the first; but very few men in New York, in any
branch of work, are willing to take apprentices. Much of the
success of a learner depends on his inclination, taste, and individual
exertion; and when he possesses these, they render him valuable
to his master—so it proves a matter of mutual interest. All
engraving is mechanical to a certain extent, but requires some
artistic taste. In "Women Artists" we find the names of some
ladies distinguished as engravers in Italy, France, Germany, and
England, in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries. Jane Taylor and her sisters paid their share of the
family expenses by engraving. Miss Caroline Watson was an
engraver of portraits to the queen in the reign of George III.
Angelica Kauffman and Elizabeth Blackwell both engraved on
steel. We read: "In London, recently, one accomplished female
engraver has turned her steel plates into a pleasant country house,
which she means to furnish with the proceeds of her delicate
painting on glass." In Paris, during the last thirty years, quite
a number of ladies have earned a livelihood by steel engraving,
and several are now employed there in card engraving, and engraving
fashion plates. There are some engravers in the South
and West, but there are openings for more. A card, seal, medal,
and door-plate engraver writes: "The usual number of hours for
engravers are from eight to ten. The business may be learned
in from one to two years, to be of use; but to learn thoroughly
requires three or four years. The business generally pays well
by jobs, and I see no reason why females may not engrave as
successfully as males with the same application."
89. Bank Note Engravers.
"Steel engraving was
first practised in England by the calico printers; but it was first
employed for bank notes and for common designs by Jacob Perkins,
of Newburyport, Mass." The American Bank Note Company,
New York, employ about sixty girls, forty-seven of whom
are engaged in printing or making impressions; the others in drying,
assorting, and laying together the sheets to be placed under a
hydraulic press. It requires but a few weeks to learn the part
done by girls. Some are paid $3 and some $3.50 per week.
They are mostly American girls. A lady told me that she heard
a girl, who had been employed to cut up bank notes (done with
scissors), say she often earned $9 a week. The company pay a
boy $3 a week from commencement until through his apprenticeship,
which is usually four or five years. Here a man can
earn $100 a week, if a first-class bank note engraver; but in England
not more than $10 or $12. There, however, paper money
is but little used; a £5 note being the smallest in value. Bank
note engraving is both mechanical and artistic. At the office of
the National Bank Note Company, a gentleman showed me the
various processes. He had often thought ladies would do well to
learn bank note engraving. I saw two or three gentlemen engraving.
The process is simple, but requires a good deal of patience
and practice. Their girls are employed to place the sheet for an
impression under a roller, and, after the impression is made, remove
it. Some receive $3, and some $3.50 a week. It is dirty work,
on account of the oil and ink used. Their girls wash every evening
the blankets used on the cylinders. Bank-note engravers of
the first order receive a salary of $4,000. Some receive from
$2,000 to $3,000 per annum. Bank note engravers work but
eight hours a day. Mr. M. thinks there would not be much difficulty,
if a lady wanted to learn bank note engraving, from the
prejudices of men, for some of them are not only just but generous.
One of the gentlemen engraving knew several ladies in
England that were bank note engravers.
90. Card Engravers.
I was told by a card engraver
that it was not usual to pay a learner anything. He gives his
apprentice only his board the first year. A card engraver may
draw letters well, and not be able to write well, and vice versa.
One should be steady and patient to draw and form letters, and
possess some natural taste, to succeed. It requires also much
practice. A card engraver can earn $5 a day, if he is industrious,
and has sufficient work. A journeyman is paid in proportion
to his abilities, from $5 to $25 per week. Some card engravers
earn $2,000 a year, clear of all expenses. The older a city, the
more engraving is done. In Europe, first-class merchants never
use type cards, but engraved ones.
91. Door Plate Engravers.
I was told by a door plate
engraver that a skilful person, who would apply himself closely,
could learn the business, so that, at the end of one year, he could
make a living. For door plate engraving, it is necessary to form
letters well. The size of the letters for a given space must be
divided by the eye. It requires great care, as one badly formed
letter would spoil the whole plate. Engraving of any kind
fatigues the back from stooping, and the eyes from straining. In
door plate engraving the eyes suffer least fatigue. Of course less
strength is necessary for plate engraving if the tools are of a
good quality and in proper order.
92. Map Engravers.
Map engraving is divided into
two kinds: the lettering and plain work. The last can be
learned in six months by a person of taste and talent. The
most that is needed is practice. A knowledge of drawing is not
necessary for this branch. There is not much map engraving
done in this country, because of the expense. Most is done in
New York and Philadelphia. The best map engraving done in
Paris is executed by ladies. There are also some ladies employed
in map engraving in London, and card engraving is there quite
common for ladies.
93. Picture and Heraldry Engravers.
Engraving
pictures pays well—a man often earning $10 a day. A superior
landscape engraver calculates to earn $2,500 a year. Mr. R.
historical engraver, does the engraving for the
Cosmopolitan
Art Journal. He says: "In England, better prices are paid for
historical engraving than here. Those who do the work receive
less, but the employer has a greater profit than in the United
States. More time is allowed the engraver in England to execute
a piece of work." Mr. R. pays his hands from $7 to $10 a
week, and the best historical engraver never gets in this country
over $30 a week. In England the work hours of an engraver are
nine; here seven. He says the art is dying out both here and in
England. It is a something in which we can always be improving.
Seven years was formerly the length of apprenticeship in
England, and there an apprentice was paid nothing while learning;
on the contrary, the parent usually pays a premium of £100.
When an apprentice has finished, he will earn £1 a week, and
continue to receive more according to his skill and ability. Some
people send pictures from the United States to England to be
engraved, saying they cannot do such work in this country as in
England; while, if they would pay the same price, and allow the
engravers as much time, it could be done just as well. Such an
engraving as you would pay $150 for here, in England you would
pay $200 for. In England it is customary for an engraver to
confine himself to one style; for instance, in "Falstaff Mustering
his Recruits," one engraver would do the wall, another the
figures, and another the drapery. Mr. R. was paid only $2,000 for
engraving "Falstaff Mustering his Recruits," and it took three
men two years. The business is not unhealthy, and not injurious
to the eyesight, although a glass must be used constantly. Mr. J.,
historical engraver, used to have persons employed that did the
different parts of a picture, and he paid them each from $15 to
$25 a week. He thinks, of those who learn metal engraving in
Europe, not more than fifty per cent. pursue it as a vocation, and
not above four per cent. attain perfection. Some engraving, both
picture and letter, is done by etching, but the best and most expensive
with a graver. Mr. J. M. Sartain writes in answer to a
circular: "I have no females in my employment, because I work
alone. To direct others or alter what they do wrong, takes
longer than doing the whole work myself. Neither do I know
of females being employed by others in my branch of business.
But if I were willing to be troubled with the teaching of any one
at all, I should choose a female. This is from my experience of
the males I taught in times past. Women have the requisites
more than men—patience, neatness, delicacy; and the occupation
is as suitable for them as any other they are accustomed to
adopt. An unmarried daughter of mine is about to learn from
me, with a view to follow it as a profession. The chance of employment
is however very limited, for the reason that the cost of
printing plates separately necessitates, in an extensive class of
pictorial embellishments, the use of woodcuts. This wood engraving
is equally suited for females, and to a limited extent they
are thus employed. The field in that branch is a wide one already,
with a constantly increasing demand. In my own branch
of engraving, the kind of skill required is that of
drawing. The
mere mechanical skill required in
any kind of engraving is easily
attained; but the art of
drawing is the great thing, and positively
demands aptitude and taste—at all events, quite close application
and earnestness.
Skill in drawing is a key that admits to a
wider range of arts than I can readily enumerate, and successful
and profitable employment in any engraving depends on
that. I
am chairman of the committee on instruction of the Board of
Directors of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and in
that capacity do all I can (as do also the other directors) to encourage
female talent. We have seven or eight ladies among
our students, and they
certainly are fully equal to the males in
capacity for acquiring art. Some model, others only draw. The
whole of our academy studies are gratuitous. For whatever
branch of the fine arts is to be followed, the first requisite is
drawing, and the next is
drawing, and the third and last is
drawing." Mr. B., heraldic chaser, says there are several processes
in making heraldry plates, sketching, engraving, embossing,
chasing, and burnishing. He used to employ girls to burnish.
The making of patterns for heraldry is never taught in this country
to women, as it would cause the labor of men so employed to
depreciate. He pays a man from $15 to $20 a week for chasing.
He charges $1 for finding the coat of arms of an individual or
family.
94. Telegraph Operators.
A new source of employment
has been opened by the invention of the electric telegraph.
Most of the telegraphing in England is done by women, and in
the United States a number of ladies are employed as operators.
To a quick and intelligent mind it requires but a short time to
learn. An English paper says: "Here women do the business
better than men, because of the more undivided attention they
pay to their duties; but considerable inconvenience is found to
result from their ignorance of business terms, which causes them
to make mistakes in the messages sent. However, a short course
of previous instruction easily overcomes this impediment." We
have been told that, in one telegraph office in London, several
hundred women are employed. I hope the application of steam
to the operations of the electric telegraph may not interfere with
the entrance of women into the occupation. In New Lisbon,
Ohio, a young woman was employed, a few years ago, as principal
operator in a telegraph office, with the same salary received
by the man who preceded her in that office. "I was told by
her," writes my informant, "that several women were qualifying
themselves, in Cleveland, for the same occupation." The ex-superintendent
of a line writes: "I have long been persuaded that ultimately
a large proportion of the telegraphists, employed exclusively
for writing, would be females, both because of their usually
reliable habits, their ability to abstract and concentrate thought
upon their engagements, their greater patience and industry, and
the economy of their wages. In offices where there is a large
amount of business, and, consequently, much intercommunication
with customers, I have supposed the arrangement would be to
have a clerk to receive and deliver communications, and the corps
of operators and writers, composed exclusively of females, in an
adjoining or upper room, apart from public inspection. And to this
arrangement, I think, there is at this time very little to oppose,
except the antagonism naturally felt by male operators, who see
in it a loss of employment to themselves, and a want of proper
facilities for teaching and obtaining a complement, in number, of
female telegraphists. Any female proficient in orthography, with
an inclination to useful employment, would make a good telegraphist,
and might readily command, under a system above indicated,
a salary of from $300 to $500, and be profitable to her
employers beyond the ordinary male telegraphists employed under
the present arrangement of office. It is in operating by the
Morse system that ladies are mostly or entirely employed. The
Morse is the easiest. They telegraph in small towns, where there
is not much to do, and the compensation is small." The Electric
Telegraph Company in London suggests that women should be employed
in preference to men, as working more rapidly. All the
lady telegraphists we have heard of gave satisfaction to all parties
concerned. To Mr. A., connected with the New York and Boston
telegraph line, I am indebted for the following information:
"Women are employed in operating the Morse instrument. They
are paid from $6 to $25 per month, and are paid by the month.
For the class of offices in which females are employed, about the
same wages are paid both sexes. It requires from three to six
weeks to learn, and nothing is paid while learning. The qualifications
needed are a fair knowledge of orthography, arithmetic,
geography, and ordinary mechanical ability. We may want a
few operatives, say six annually. The employment is constant,
and about ten hours a day are devoted to work. We employ
about fifty women, and they only at small offices. Nearly all are
American. The employment is comfortable. There are no parts
of our occupation suitable for women in which they are not engaged.
They are generally more attentive and trustworthy than
men. The price they pay for board depends on the locality, say
from $1.50 to $2 per week."
95. Vocalists.
This is an important and profitable employment—one
that has secured to many a poor foreigner visiting
this country a snug little fortune. We have only to cite the
cases of Jenny Lind, Garcia, Sontag, Parodi, and Catherine
Hays. It was stated in the New York Tribune of December,
1853, that Catherine Hays had sent $50,000 to purchase an
estate in Ireland. American talent is in some cases very highly
cultivated; but we fear the Scripture verse applies to the substantial
encouragement of native vocalists amongst us: "A prophet
is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own
house." Too much money and attention, we think, are lavished
upon foreign vocalists, while home talent is depreciated. An
American singer must often go to other countries and acquire a
name, before she is received with eclat in her own. It may be
that other countries have the same failing, but, we think, not to
the same extent. Let us love American talent, and encourage it
before every other. Adelaide Patti, Miss Hinckley, and Miss
Kellogg are at present the most noted singers of American birth.
Mr. C. told me, that in New York, lady singers receive from $100
to $400 per annum for singing in churches. One lady choir-singer
of whom we knew, received $500 a year, singing twice on
Sabbath. Not more than from twelve to fifteen lady singers in
New York receive over $350. One lady in a fashionable church
receives $1,000; but she is a widow, and somewhat favored. Another
lady, leading the choir in a Broadway church, receives a
salary of $1,000, I have been told.
96. Wax Work.
I called on two Italians that make wax
fruit; their baskets vary in price from twenty-five cents to $2.
It would take a day and a half to make a $2 basket. The Italian
that could speak some English told me that when he goes
out to work, he charges $2.50 a day; but to give lessons, he
would charge $2 a day. He thought an individual might learn in
eight, ten, twelve, or fifteen lessons, according to abilities and
taste. Miss W., teacher of wax flowers, charges $1 a lesson, and
thinks eight or ten lessons sufficient. She thinks in country
places there would be openings for teachers. I think, where
there are large seminaries, a teacher would do better. She says
there is an opening in Troy. If a person has enough to do, it
pays well. She makes by hand; they are more natural than
those made by moulds.
97. Wood Engravers.
Much and long-continued toil
is requisite for success in wood engraving. A great deal depends,
also, on the talent of the individual. Wood engraving
is a business adapted to women, as it requires mostly patience
and application, and but little physical strength. Mechanical
skill is the most that is requisite, yet, as in everything else, it
bespeaks the soul and taste of the originator. "Women's nimble
fingers, accustomed to wield the needle, lend themselves quite
easily to minute operations in the use of small instruments and
the almost imperceptible shades of manipulation that wood engraving
exacts." As more publishing is done in our country, of
course there will be a greater demand for wood engravers. A
great many newspapers now contain a large number of woodcuts,
as
Harper's Weekly,
Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, &c.
Wood engraving has been called into use for Government reports
and scientific works, aside from its extensive demands for periodical
literature. A lady engaged in the business writes of a class
in wood engraving: "The pupils vary so much in ability, application,
perseverance, and in the number of hours devoted to it,
that it is impossible to judge what any one may do who has not
made a trial. My own experience is that the practice of wood
engraving brings a sure return for all the outlay of time and
trouble spent in acquiring the art. It would hardly be safe to
rely entirely upon the proceeds of the second year; the third
may make up for it. The best wood engraving is done in England
and the United States. In classes of wood engraving in the
schools of design in England, the students are required to produce
the drawing as well as to engrave it." "For a quarter of a
century past, many hundreds of young women, we are assured,
have supported themselves by wood engraving, for which there is
now a demand which no jealousy in the stronger sex can intercept.
The effort to exclude women was made in this, as in other
branches of art; but the interests of publishers and the public
were more than a match for it." "In 1839, Charlotte Nesbit,
Marianne Williams, Mary Byfield, Mary and Elizabeth Clint,
held honorable positions among English wood engravers." Miss
F., at Elmira, New York, carries on business for herself in wood
engraving. She learned it at the Cooper Institute, four years ago.
The pupils of that institute canvassed for work, some two and
two, but she went alone, and principally in the lower part of the
city. They visited publishers mostly—she went to manufacturers.
She got an order for $500 worth of engraving at a gas-fixture
manufactory. I have heard that ladies in the school of
design, New York, receive the same price for wood engraving
that men would receive. N. Orr, the wood engraver, thinks the
prospect very good for a woman to earn a livelihood at it. He
knows a lady who has not only supported herself but partially
supported her parents by her work. For wood engraving, women
usually receive as good prices as men. The business is increasing.
There are none West, except a few in Cincinnati, and I
believe a still smaller number in St. Louis and Chicago. A
person that has any talent for it can earn a living at it in less
than two years' practice. A knowledge of drawing is not essential,
as the drawing is usually put on the wood by the designer.
Mr. Orr takes apprentices, but pays nothing the first year. They
are bound to him for five or six years. Some engravers require
a premium. I have been told that designing requires a very
different and much higher order of talent than wood engraving.
One designer can do enough in a day to keep a man busy a week.
New York is the principal city for wood engraving. I think
most men, while engraving, stand; but all the ladies that I have
seen at work sat. "A wood-engraving office in Cleveland employed
three girls in 1845, at wages varying from $3 to $7 per
week, according to the experience of each in the business, being
the same that men receive in the same office."
98. Merchants.
Occasionally we hear such complaints
as these: "Women who keep stores of their own ask higher for
their goods than men, and saleswomen are less obliging than
male clerks." Women, as a general thing, do not understand
their business as well as men, and that is the reason they are not
so well liked. Those inclined to be bold, may become pert; and
those in poor health, peevish. "If women were more employed
in stores," said Mr. P., "there would probably be less shopping,
but as many goods sold. Young girls that go shopping to whisper
in the ears of clerks, would then find something else to do."
Woman has a power of adaptedness that fits her admirably for
the vocation of a merchant. A friend remarked to me that Mr.
Stewart, of New York, she thought, would employ women in his
store, if a large number of fashionable and influential ladies
would petition him to do so. If the retail merchants of our
large cities and towns would combine and employ only saleswomen,
how greatly would they promote the welfare of the nation!
Young men would no longer waste their health, strength, and
talents selling gloves, tape, and dress goods, but would cultivate
the soil, or find openings as traders, speculators, mechanics, and
manufacturers, in cities, towns, and villages of our Western country.
They might do something more creditable to their physical
powers, while they gave their half-starved sisters a chance to earn
an honest livelihood. If ladies would patronize those stores only
in which there were saleswomen, and influence their friends to do
so, employers who now engage the service of salesmen would
soon learn what was to their interest, and make a change.
Promptness and regularity are desirable qualifications in a shopkeeper.
The business brings those engaged into intercourse with
all classes of people. Mrs. Dall makes this statement: "It is
a singular fact that there are a great many more women in England
in business for themselves than employed as tenders or
clerks; while in America, the fact, at the present day, is directly
the reverse." A lady who has lived in New York all her life
said, if the merchants of the city would employ women, they
could find twenty thousand to-morrow, ready and willing to enter
their stores. In Paris large stores are owned and conducted by
women, and even the importing and exporting of goods is in the
hands of some. The tact and address of French women admirably
fit them for shopkeepers. Many of the smaller fancy and
variety stores in our cities are owned by women, that have by
long-continued industry earned a competency. Lady merchants
can to some extent control the taste of the community where
they are; for such articles as they purchase and keep on hand
will be likely to find sale. The taste of the best keepers of dry-goods
and fancy stores, millinery establishments, and embroidery
shops will be displayed in the dress of their patrons. To merchandize
extensively, requires much experience and knowledge of
business; but to those that are qualified it presents an extensive
opening for enterprise. Barter, or the exchange of one kind of
goods for another, is very common in the villages and towns of
our country. The Gothscheer (Austrian) women often follow
the trade of peddlers, and are absent from their homes many
months, travelling about the country with staff in hand and a
pack at their back. "Advertising and politeness are the main
levers to get customers. Advertising will draw them; ability to
fill their orders will satisfy them; and politeness will induce
them to buy." Quick perceptive powers and judgment are also
essential to the success of merchants. It is very desirable to
have a good location for a store. A lady keeping a small dry-goods store told me she sells $100 worth of goods a week on an
average. She has been nine years in the business, and constantly
gaining trade. She likes rainy Saturday evenings, as she then
sells most. She said one must use judgment in the amount of
profit to be made on various articles. A person must regulate
her prices by others. On some goods she can make but five per
cent., and on some others fifty. Many of the fortunes in Boston
are said to have been founded by women engaged in trade. And
the ladies on Nantucket Island during the Revolutionary war
conducted the business of their husbands, fathers, and brothers.
A lady wrote, some years back, of some stores in one of our large
cities: "The proprietors say they give from twenty-five to fifty
per cent. more to the males than to the females of equal talent
and capacity, but can give no reason why they should do it,
except that it is the custom, and some parts of the business require
more physical strength, as some articles are too heavy to
be handled by women." Yet why not, we would ask, place
women in the lighter departments, and pay them exactly what
would be paid a man for the same work? The average wages of
females in Philadelphia are $4.50 per week, though some get as
high as $7 or $8, but very few above $6. In a few of the stores
of New York and Philadelphia the business is conducted entirely
by ladies. There is a school of commerce for women at Perth,
France. We read an account some time ago of a colored woman
on the Island of Hayti, who is a wholesale dealer in provisions,
and worth from $15,000 to $20,000, that she has made by her
own industry and business tact. She can neither read nor write,
but trusts entirely to her memory. She sells on credit to retail
dealers, and to girls whom she has trained. The merchants have
such unlimited confidence in her, that they will trust her to any
amount. Nearly all the commercial business of Hayti is done
by women.
99. Bookkeepers.
The employment of female accountants
is gradually extending in our cities. In female institutions
of learning, and in benevolent institutions, lady bookkeepers
might be very well employed. Indeed, we think, they would
find no difficulty in obtaining situations. We know that many
merchants would employ them, if they were properly qualified.
We know of some that now occupy lucrative situations in fancy
dry goods and millinery stores. We have no doubt but the
books of most mercantile men would be more accurately kept, if
their wives and daughters had charge of them. In all European
countries women keep the books of the majority of retail stores.
The books of nine tenths of the retail stores in Paris are kept
by women. They are fenced in, and separated from the sales
women
by a framework of glass. A number of women are employed
as accountants at hotels in Europe. There is a large school
for instruction in bookkeeping in Paris, where the pupils are
practically trained. An exchange of articles of a trivial nature,
and a cheap coin of some kind, are used as a medium of circulation.
At one of the largest wholesale warehouses in Boston, the head
corresponding clerk is a young woman, who writes a beautiful,
rapid hand, and fulfils the duties of the situation to the complete
satisfaction of her liberal employer. A practical knowledge of
arithmetic is necessary for bookkeeping and selling goods—two of
the most inviting openings now presented to women of ordinary
intelligence. The lady who keeps the books of T——'s skirt factory,
New York, receives a salary of $400. Mr. M. prefers lady
bookkeepers, because they are more particular in keeping accounts,
and they are more patient in their calculations. They are,
as a general thing, more honest and conscientious. Women are
just as capable of becoming good financiers as men. Industry,
honesty, and promptness, with the ability to write a plain, correct
business letter, ability to calculate rapidly and correctly, with a
knowledge of bookkeeping, certainly should insure a situation to
a lady, where there is a vacancy. It is well, however, for those
who have qualified themselves for bookkeeping, to obtain a certificate:
it is a passport that will aid them in securing a place.
The salaries of bookkeepers in New York run from $250 to
$2,500. At a large store, where saleswomen were employed,
I was told they find lady bookkeepers more accurate in their accounts,
and not so likely to appropriate money that don't belong
to them. Where a gentleman bookkeeper receives $15, a lady
usually receives but $8. I know of one lady in Cleveland, assistant
cashier, who received a salary of $300. An accountant
in Boston replies to a circular sent him: "I think the employment
as favorable to bodily health as any sedentary occupation;
but in my particular line of business it is rather trying to the
head, as it often requires close application and intense thought.
Those who employ women here as clerks, undoubtedly pay them
by the day, week, month, or year, where they have permanent
situations; but for transient work, by the piece. Women can always
be hired cheaper than men, as it costs them less to live. I
am fifty years old, and have been figuring ever since I was sixteen;
still, I learn something new about accounts every day. A
woman would have to serve a long apprenticeship in accounts
and on books, before she could do much in adjusting accounts.
For a first-class bookkeeper, practical experience in accounts and
bookkeeping of business of all kinds are necessary qualifications.
I always prefer the early part of the day for work. My business
is as good at one season of the year as another. I attend to
business as it suits my pleasure—sometimes four or five hours,
and sometimes twelve or fifteen, according to the nature and importance
of the task, and depending oftentimes upon the length
of it, and the time when it is wanted. As a general thing, men
and women everywhere in the United States keep as far apart in
business affairs as possible—it is the custom. The counting house,
office, and place of business are not suitable for a female. I
would state that I charge for making out accounts and adjusting
books, as a general rule here in Boston, $10 per day, and sometimes
more—never less. I have had all prices, from $10 to $50
per day, for one, two, and three months in succession. Sometimes
I take a job by contract, say for $500, or some other specific
sum, as may be agreed upon, according to the nature and value
of the service rendered."
100. Book Merchants.
In many of the new towns
springing up in the West, there are openings for booksellers.
Many colleges and seminaries are being built up, thereby offering
a still better market for the sale of school books. It would be
well for those going into the business to ascertain, before doing so,
what books are used in the literary institutions of the place.
Some booksellers are so mean as to sell old-fashioned, out-of-date
school books to country merchants, thereby clearing their
own stock, and imposing their unsalable goods on others. No
doubt, many established book merchants would be willing to
trust, to such as they have confidence in, a stock of books to be
sold on commission. When a sufficient sum is acquired, the individual
can purchase a stock of her own. Many dry-goods merchants
keep a few books, but when there is a sufficient sale of
books, a store, if expenses are only cleared for a while, may
gradually become a revenue of profit, and is likely to prove a permanent
business, where discretion and industry are used. In
London and Paris, women sell stationery, almanacs, memorandum
books, diaries, and pocket books, on the streets. Public auctions
of books are held frequently in cities and towns. Agents
do much to extend a circulation of books. In large cities, merchants
confine their stock of books to two or three kinds—as
those of medicine, law, theology, or school books; but, as a general
thing, miscellaneous books are kept. The trade sales which
occur in Boston once, and in Philadelphia and New York twice
a year, are only attended by booksellers. These sales last but a
few days. The prices at which books sell at these auctions are
considered a pretty fair criterion of their future worth. Miss
H. told me of a Miss P., niece of Horace Mann, now living in
Concord, N. H., who kept a bookstore in Boston, and imported
books to fill orders, but was crushed by other book importers,
because she was a woman. In many towns and cities, women
keep small stores for the sale of stationery, magazines, newspapers,
&c. "In large stationery stores, women might be employed
to stamp initials on paper," with small hand presses made
for the purpose.
101. China Merchants.
This business is peculiarly appropriate
to women. Who so well able to handle china as careful
women? Who so well able to judge what will look well on
a table? It comes so entirely within their province, that the
mind readily suggests the appropriateness. In Paris, most, if
not all the china stores are kept by women. A lady china-dealer,
on one of the avenues, told me that she sells considerable at night
to working women, who cannot spare the time to go shopping in
the day; also, to ladies living in cross streets near, who go out
walking in the evenings with their husbands, and call to buy articles
in her line. It does not require as many attendants in a
china as in any other kind of store. A girl is more careful and
steady, and can dust china better than a boy; but a boy answers
best to take china home. She sells most about the holidays. It
takes time to learn the business well. In an Eastern city, two
ladies stood in their father's store, and so learned the business.
They married brothers, and each opened china stores, which they
attended, while their husbands engaged in other business. They
are both widows now, but have raised and educated their children.
A son and son-in-law of one conduct the business. They
employ saleswomen, paying from $5 to $8 a week. They are
now in search of two intelligent young women, from fifteen to
eighteen years of age, to grow up to the business. They require
a little more readiness in arithmetic, tact, and general business
qualifications than they can easily meet with. From their experience
they judge the employment to be healthy. A lady in
a large china store on Broadway, New York, receives $5 a week.
A lady in another store told me that lifting crockery causes quite
a strain on the back, and should be done by men. A person gets
very dusty who attends china. It requires lifting and dusting,
and now and then must be washed—always when first taken out
of the crate. Mrs. L. and her husband are English, and have
been brought up to the business. She sells most about Christmas.
She is on her feet all the time. To learn the names of all
the articles sold in a large store, and their prices, and to exercise
care in handling, requires patience. A china merchant writes:
"Women are generally paid less than men. There is a difference
of from $10 to $40 per month in favor of men, because
(with few exceptions) women are not so well qualified to do busi
ness
as men. It would take from six to eight months to learn to
sell china. A clear head, common sense, and activity are the
qualifications needed. Women are not more likely to be thrown
out of employment than men, if as well qualified." A lady told
me, the china is a slow business and seldom pays more than twenty-five
per cent., but is a sure business for the cheaper kind of
goods. The profit is not so much as for fancy articles of ladies'
wear; but less is lost from the change of style. China merchants,
she thought, seldom employ women; why, she could not tell.
Mr. H., who employs a girl, paid her $1.50 a week and board the
first year, then raised her wages to $7 a month. He thinks
if more girls would qualify themselves for china stores they
would be likely to find employment. A girl should commence
young, but should know how to read and write, on account
of taking orders. He thinks it best to get homely girls, rather
advanced in age, to attend store, because the young and handsome
ones will get married. He prefers girls, because they are
more quiet and steady. Small articles of china he sends the girl
home with; heavy articles he takes himself. A lady, whose
ware was partly out of doors and partly in the house, said she
had dusted it at least a dozen times through the day, and then it
was covered with dust. Her breakage is considerable. She sells
most about Christmas. Another china dealer told me, she sells
most in spring, when people go to housekeeping. E. L., in the
Five Points, sells most in summer, because her patrons are poor
people, and in summer the men have most work, and their expenses
are lighter—consequently the women have more money.
Her stand is a good one, but she does not much more than make
a living. The business requires some experience in buying and
selling. Ladies sometimes come into the store to purchase articles
they would not like to ask a man for. A girl keeping a china
stand told me she sells most in spring and fall. She pays $3 a
month for ground rent, but owns the shelter. She locks it at
night, and it is perfectly secure, for her lock is different from all
others. It does not take long to learn to sell common ware.
She expects to sell all winter at her stand, and has to be on her
feet all the time. She sells on an average from $2 to $3 worth
a day.
102. Clothiers.
In London there are shops confined to the
sale of nautical clothes, and some to the sale of theatrical attire.
B.'s sewers (New York) earn from $2 to $10 per week—piece
work, of course. Most of it is done by machine. Meritorious
girls need never be out of work, said Mr. B.; yet he can always
get plenty of hands. He has much of his work done in New
Jersey. Some men make a business of taking it from establish
ments,
and hire women all through the country to do it. There
are two kinds of tailoring—custom and slop work. The last is
subdivided into the cheap slop work and that of the best quality,
and there are two kinds of establishments for this common
work—that which is not better done perhaps than the other, but
for which a better price is paid and received, and done by houses
of standing and reputation. The other is done by extortionists,
Jews and Germans, and patronized by their own class. As tailoring
is done now, it does not require a regular apprenticeship
as in bygone years, particularly for those who work by machine.
I met a girl on the steps, seeking for work, who told me she
makes $4 a week as operator, when she can get steady work.
One of the proprietors of L. & B.'s clothing establishment told
me some of their workmen earn from $8 to $10 a week, working
by the piece. Much of their work is for California. They employ
hands most of the year, as they work both for the home and
foreign market. The great trouble is that the majority of tailoresses
are inefficient. Some are widows, striving to support
their children. Some have dissipated husbands, and are subject
to constant interruption. Some have not the time to properly
learn the trade, and, consequently, such workers cannot have that
labor which pays best, however much they need it. The character
of work done by applicants is judged of by turning to the
book of their former employer, and seeing what prices were paid.
In hard times, like these, employers try to retain those that are
dependent on their labor for their bread. The foreman said, in
good times, there is work enough for all the tailoresses in New
York. They pay good operators $5 a week—a day of ten hours.
All the summer work is done by machines. The pressing and
basting is done by men. The foreman of the S. Brothers' establishment
says the best place for tailoresses is in the West, where
there are openings, and they can make money. The only trouble
is, the poor have not money to go West. All their work is done
by machines, and all given out. They do not give work more
than six months in the year, and that barely keeps the girls while
they are at work. P. & C. have their machines worked by hot
condensed air. The operators receive from $4.50 to $6. Basters
are only small girls, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. B. &
Co., clothiers, give work out, and, of course, pay by the piece.
Their most busy times are from October to March, and from
April to September. They do Southern work. Some of the
workers only earn $2.50 if they are slow, even if they are industrious
and constantly at work. Some of their best hands can earn
$6 a week, but are likely to be at least two months out of employment.
The prospect for tailoresses is poor. I have heard that
some good hands are wanted in Chicago. A great deal of clothing
is sold there to people from the surrounding country and towns.
B. does not require any deposit, but a girl must show her book
from her other employers. They have thousands of applications
for work. The reason more clothing is not made up out of the
city is the difficulty in procuring such tailors' trimmings as they
need just at the time they are wanted. Most clothing establishments
keep a list of those that do not return work taken out, and
send them to each other. On persons applying to the foremen,
he turns to his book to see if the names are among the delinquents.
He thinks girls in service are more certain of making a living, for
they are paid from $1 to $2 a week for their work, and have their
board, which would be from $1 to $3 a week, and a competent
servant need not be out of employment; while slop work is very
uncertain, and everything that is made goes for board and clothes.
Many of these shop girls sleep half a dozen in a garret, on straw
beds, without sufficient covering. Many might go to the country
and the West and get employment, but they have not the means;
and, if they had the means to go, might not have enough to come
back, if they found it necessary. F. D. & Co., clothiers. Their
girls earn from $3 to $6 per week, paid by the piece, and done
at home. They give most of their work to men who have machines
and employ operatives. The prospect for this kind of
work is poor. Not more than two thirds of the hands in the
city, in this department of labor, will be retained. When business
is good they are able to keep their hands employed all
the year, except for a few weeks when changing from thin to
thick work, and
vice versa. They sometimes give a girl work
to do as a sample. A woman told me of three girls occupying
the room above her, that have a sewing machine. Two
baste and finish off, and one operates. They work day and
night, and one she knows is even now earning $8 a week. They
make flannel shirts, receiving 75 cents a dozen, without putting
in the sleeves, working the button holes, or putting on the buttons.
I saw a girl that receives 87 cents a dozen for making
flannel shirts. We have seen it stated that a persons possessed of
machines, who make up large quantities of clothing at very low
prices, are enabled, by the speed at which they can work the
machines, to produce sufficient to remunerate all the parties employed,
at an average of $4 a week." One clothier in Albany,
New York, pays $3 a week to his hands working eleven hours a
a day. He furnishes work steadily through the fall, and pays
men better wages, because they can do more work. The proprietor
of a mammoth establishment in New York, D., writes:
"We employ women in making pants, vests, shirts, and summer
coats, both by the week and by the piece. When the sewers
take work out, it is by the piece; but when the work is done in
the shop, it is paid for by the week. The wages by the week
range from $3 to $7. Women thoroughly educated in the trade
can make about $6 per week, men about $9—their work is
heavier. The number of branches in this trade, and the time of
preparation for each, varies. We never receive learners. As
the articles are of general use, good hands usually find employment.
The work is brisk from November till March 1st, and
from May till September 1st. The time of work could be shortened,
but at the expense of the laborers' wages. In a city like
ours, there is always a full supply of hands. About two thirds
of our women are American. Women could not be employed to
sell clothing to men." This firm employed, in February, 1860,
five hundred hands in the shop, and eight hundred outside. In
B. Brothers' establishment, "indoor work is paid by the week.
An agent pays for the outdoor work by the piece. Those in the
house average $5 per week. Men do heavier work and receive
$7. Women make vests and pantaloons; men, coats. They
work in the same room. The men do the pressing." (I expect
it is a rule that they shall not speak to each other, for not one
word did I hear any of them speak in the half hour I spent in
the room.) "It requires about six months to learn the business.
They do not take learners. An ability to sew well, and neatness
with the work, are necessary. They sell most when the country
is in a peaceful and prosperous condition. They sell most clothing
to Western customers about the 1st of January, and to city
retail stores about the 1st of February. They work ten hours a
day. There is a surplus of hands in New York. They employ
seventy in the house, and between 2,000 and 3,000 outside.
The number of Americans is about 20 per cent." Great injustice
is done by women in the country, in comfortable circumstances,
who do the work at a very low price, merely to obtain
pocket money. An English tailor in New York hires girls for
making pants and coats. He pays one $4, one $3.50, and
another $3, and they work from 7
A. M. to 7
P. M. There is
no difference in the prices paid, except when the man's work is
heavier. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Men
can press better, because they have more strength; but women
can stitch as well, if they have the experience. He kept one
operator at $6 a week in busy times, and $3 in slack times, and
another at $5 the year round. Some of the poor tailors in New
York rent a room, occupy a spot themselves, and rent out the
rest of the room to others at the same kind of work, charging
fifty cents for seat room for a man and a girl to assist him; thir
ty-seven
cents for a man alone. It is not easy to get good hand
tailoresses, for most are employed on machines. One firm, that
employ about five hundred hands, write they pay from $3 to $5
per week of ten hours a day, and that it requires two years to
learn the trade. S. & D., manufacturers and venders of boys'
clothing, write: "Their work is done by the piece, so much a
garment, and wages run from $2 to $6 a week, of ten hours a
day—of course, depending on the skill and hours of the worker.
The relative wages between men and women are, as sewers, say
for men, one third more; that is, as four for the women and six
for the men. The business of a tailoress is numbered among the
regular trades for women, and requires somewhat more than the
average trade time, say one year. They excel as vest makers—a
branch almost exclusively confined to them. There is no uniform
usage in regard to pay. The requisites are good eyesight,
average strength, and if taste be superadded, the better. Winter
is the best season for those who work for wholesale venders.
Women are most apt to be out of employment in summer. The
demand is, at present, less than the supply. There is a surplus
of vest makers, and a deficiency, if anywhere, in children's suit
making. It is an occupation less suited to women than trades
that require more nicety of touch and eye, such as designing or
wood engraving. The majority of tailoresses in New York city
are German and Irish." A firm engaged in the merchant tailoring
and ready-made clothing business write: "The occupation
is unhealthy, because the workers are constantly sitting. They
earn from $2 to $4.50 per week, ten hours a day. We pay men
better, because they are stronger and more capable, and have
more experience. Men receive from $9 to $12. It requires four
years for men to learn the business, and two years for women to
learn it so as to earn $4 per week. The qualifications needed
are common sense, good taste, and strong eyes. From March to
January is the busy season; but good hands have work all the
year." B. O. & S. "give their work out. Their trade is
Southern. Their spring work begins 1st October, and continues
until the last of March; and fall work begins in May, and
lasts until September. They do not require a deposit, but a
recommendation from the last employer, and give some work to
applicants to do as a sample. Some is done by hand, some by
machinery, Wages run from $3 up. Much of their work is
done by Germans, whose wives assist them. It is sometimes
difficult for them to get good hands. The foreman dismissed the
Jews he found at work when he went there, for he thinks they
are not reliable. Some get work out, but intrust it to others to
do, and so it is poorly done. The foreman said many women
spend a day or two out of every week running from shop to shop
to get work. He has never lost anything by girls not returning
goods. If they should keep them, they would soon be known at
the different establishments, and have no place to go for work."
In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, District of Columbia, and Ohio, during the year
ending June 1st, 1860, 36,155 males and 52,515 females were
employed in making clothing.
