401. Blacking.
In London, in 1852, there were, by Mayhew's
estimate, one hundred and fifty women and girls selling cake
blacking. M., manufacturer, Philadelphia, occupies a four-story
granite-fronted building. He employs about fifty women in
making tin boxes, filling them with blacking in paste, and labelling
them. It requires but a few weeks for a smart girl to acquire
dexterity. We saw the women at work in two large rooms (each
being the whole floor of the house). They looked cheerful, though
somewhat grimy. They work ten hours, and earn about $3 a
week. The steady hands are kept in work the year round. The
tin boxes pass, almost with the swiftness of thought, through eight
hands, three of these operations being performed by steam ma
chinery,
tended by women. The boxes are soldered by men, who
receive $6 per week. It was once done by women, but is right
warm work, particularly in summer. All stood while at work, except
the women sorting bands. The premises had been rendered as
healthy as possible. All the small pipes of the soldering stoves
led into one large pipe, which carries off the fumes of the coal; and
a cylinder has been made to confine a white powder which is used
in the business, and which formerly floated through the atmosphere
of the work rooms. The women are sometimes employed
in bottling ink, and earn from $2 to $3 a week, working about
the usual time—ten hours.
402. Candles.
Candles are made of different materials,
of which wax, tallow, and spermaceti are most common. Some
candle makers employ women to prepare the wax for candles.
Candle manufacturers write us: "Women are never employed in
our business, and we never heard of their being so employed. We
consider the work too heavy, and too cold. The principal part
of the work is done in winter, and the manufacturing rooms must
be kept cold. Women were at one time employed in cutting and
preparing the wick for candles; but since the introduction of machinery,
that part is dispensed with." A manufacturer writes
from another city: "Men sometimes work all night, at the season
when the nights are long. The only place, I think, where there
can be a demand for female labor in my branch, is where there
are no men." Another informant writes: "I think women could
not be to any considerable extent employed in making soap and
candles, for several reasons: 1st. It is for the most part a heavy
business, requiring more than female strength. 2d. It is objectionable
on account of the dirt, which is the result of coming in
contact with tallow, &c." Another says: "Our plan for moulding
is too heavy for women to work at." At an oil and candle
manufactory, New York, I was told they used to employ some
women in putting wicks into moulds, drawing candles, and packing
them. Machinery is so much used now, that women cannot
do as much of it as they did. Besides, candles are not used so
much as they were, owing to the introduction of gas and various
oils. They paid their girls $4 a week. They now employ one
woman in putting the wicks in moulds for wax candles, and drawing
and packing them. J. employs two women in making sperm
candles, but they have been at it twenty years. They each get
$4 a week. M—s, New York, write: "We employ six women in
making and packing candles. They are so employed in France
and England, and very likely in Germany. The work is not unhealthy.
Our women are paid from $2.50 to $4 per week, of
ten hours a day. They are generally paid by the week, though
sometimes by the piece. Men's wages are from $9 to $12. We
know of no reason why women are paid less, except that it is the
general custom. It requires from two to three weeks to learn.
Women are paid while learning. Dexterity of the hands is the
best qualification for a worker. The occupation is gradually decreasing.
There is no material difference in the seasons for work.
Women are sometimes thrown out of employment in the summer
months. We employ women because they are more nimble fingered
than men, and female labor is cheaper. Workwomen are
more apt to get in trouble among themselves, where many are
employed, and are more difficult to control. We have generally
found them more careless and less uniform in their work than
men; so much so, that their employment is constantly diminishing
in our work, being replaced by machinery. We find them in no way
superior to men, except their nimble fingers." We place against
this the preliminary report to the United States Census of 1860,
where one hundred and forty-two women are returned as being
employed in soap and candle manufactures.
403. Chalk.
I saw a man making prepared chalk. He
sometimes employs small girls to put it in boxes, and pays from
seventy-five cents to $2 per week. They work ten hours a day.
There is nothing unhealthy in it. He thinks there are but few
manufacturers of it, and consequently there is not much prospect
for employment.
404. Emery Paper.
G. would be willing to employ
girls to pack and tie up emery paper, paying $3.50 a week. It is
dirty work, on account of the glue that is used, and is very severe
on the fingers, causing the blood to flow often, and unfortunately
does not harden the fingers by practice.
405. Fancy Soaps.
Some of the fancy soaps of American
manufacture are equal to any in the world. Those of Bazin,
Philadelphia, are considered best. Those of Jules Hauel and Harrison
are nearly equal. There are other manufacturers of fancy
soap in the United States. On Spruce street, Philadelphia, is a
place where they employ girls to put up fancy soaps, and pay by the
piece, from $2 to $5 per week. L., New York, employs girls by the
week, for from $2 to $3.50. It requires practice to put up either
soap or perfumery. They are most busy in spring and fall. None
made South or West. L. has lost the custom of shop girls by the
hard times. They have no money now to spend for fancy soap
and hair oil.
406. Fire Works.
Two hundred and eleven females are
reported in the census of Great Britain as being employed in making
fire works. S. & Co., New York, employ ten or twelve women
for pasting the paper covers on fire works, but not for filling with
powder. All the work is done in daylight. They are paid
something while learning, and then from $3 to $5 a week. For
overwork, they are paid by the hour. Their factory is in Greenville,
N. J. There is one in Cincinnati, one in Boston, and one
in Philadelphia. Girls sit while at work. The prospect for
learners is good. S. & Co. are most busy in spring and summer
but able to keep their hands employed all the year. They have
a great many children employed on Long Island, in making
torpedoes, who cannot earn more than $1.50 a week.
407. Flavoring Extracts.
Manufacturers in Rochester
write: "We have about twenty women engaged in putting up
and packing perfumery, &c., and pay from $2 to $3 per week.
A smart girl will learn in a week. Quickness of movement and
steadiness of habit are the best qualifications. The prospect of
work in this line is good. They are employed all the year, and
work ten hours a day." C., of Boston, employs a number, "because
they can work cheaper than men. They are paid by the
day or week, according to their experience. Good workers earn
50 cents a day, of nine hours. To thoroughly understand the
business requires a lifetime. Women's part of the work is learned
in six months. Women are paid while learning. All seasons
are alike. The work is easy, and the pay good. Board, $1.50."
H. C. & Co., of Boston say: "In compliance with your wishes,
we give below answers to your inquiries. We manufacture perfumery,
cooking extracts, hair oils, &c. We employ females to
bottle and label them. We pay by the amount of labor done, and
the average earnings are about $4 per week. Why women are not
generally better paid is a difficult question to answer. We think,
however, the argument is good that they do not as a general
thing have family expenses to bear. If they were taxed (are not
those that own property?) and also bore a proportionate share of
family expenses, there is no good reason why they should not
have the same pay for the same labor as males. (Have not the
majority of workwomen some one dependent upon them, even with
their scanty wages?) The work may be learned in a few weeks.
An aptness and tact to handle small bottles, to tie ribbons, and
cut corks quickly, best fit one for this work. There is a constant
demand for the kind of goods we manufacture. Our females
work ten hours a day, and their employment is steady. The
work is clean and comfortable; the remuneration, we think, just.
Women are superior to men, from being quicker in their movements
and displaying better taste. Board, $2.50." Other
manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ ten American
women, because they do the work cheaper than men could. We
pay by the piece. They earn $6 a week, and receive three fourths
of the wages of men. They are paid $3 per week while learning.
Women are inferior in business capacity, superior in details.
Board, $3 per week."
408. Glue.
Glue is made from the parings of hides, and
refuse leather. First they are put in alkaline water to be cleaned,
and then boiled in large vessels. The liquid is poured off
from the gelatine which coats the vessel and forms in sheets. I
think women might spread the substance on nets in drying rooms,
and, when dry, cut it and pack it. It is cut by wires having
handles, which are held in the hand, to assist in pressing the wire
with more force across the glue. S. employs several girls, who
earn from $3 to $6 per week. He pays by the gross. Most of
the girls have been with him ever since he commenced manufacturing,
eight years ago.
409. Gunpowder.
The agent of the Hazard Gunpowder
Company told me they employ at the manufacture as many of
the widows and children of those killed by explosions as they
can, in making linen covers for kegs, and putting gunpowder in
envelopes, and cutting labels, and putting on them. D. writes
to an acquaintance for us: "We employ women at times in
labelling canisters, and then only two."
410. Oils.
A manufacturer of machine oil says a lady
that understands the business could give men orders, and keep
the office, and so carry on the business; but the work is too warm
for women, and too laborious. It is certainly greasy work, and
therefore hard on clothes. A manufacturer of oil writes me
"he thinks the business not at all suitable for women: the only
part that could be done by them is such as pertains to the office,
which would be the same as that of other merchants." The
manufacture of hair oils forms an extensive business. A manufacturer
of linseed oil told me he could employ a woman to
remove the seed from the bags, after the oil has been pressed out,
but it would be greasy work. Some oil manufacturers told me
they would employ girls to put oil in bottles for sewing machines.
They would also be willing to employ female agents to sell oil for
sewing machines. If a lady could sell twelve bottles a day, at 25
cents a bottle, she could make $1.75.
411. Paints.
Oil paint is so disagreeable to handle and
put up in such large quantities that it is unsuitable work for
women. An English workman in B. & I.'s factory told us that
women are employed in the paint factories in London and Hull
as extensively as men. What they do we could not exactly
learn, except that they put the powder for paint in cans, and
label them. The man said the business is pernicious to the health.
Ex-Mayor T. employed some women in his color factory at
Manhattanville to label. At O.'s Philadelphia, a few women
are employed in moulding the cakes of water paints, and stamping
them, and in tubing and packing fine oil paints. A paint manufacturer
in Brooklyn writes: "The only way we can employ
females is at putting up paint dry in six-pound boxes or in cans.
This last is ground in oil. We have generally employed boys
for this purpose, but I think females would suit better, provided
they were kept by themselves. If this could be done, we might
be able to employ from four to five hands. The work is rather
unhealthy, as it affects the lungs. We pay one woman $4 per
week, working ten hours a day. It requires a week to learn.
We do not work for four months in winter. Cleanliness and tact
are necessary for putting up goods. Women would attend to
their work better than boys."
412. Patent Medicines.
Women are very extensively
employed in putting up patent medicines. At H.'s, Philadelphia,
where extract of ginger is made, they once employed women in
the summer. They prefer boys and men, because in intervals
men and boys can do other work that women cannot. Women
were only employed by them to put up, seal, and label. Where
H.'s bitters are made, women are employed to envelop, seal,
and label, and paid according to the industry and skill of the
workers. They receive from $3 to $4 a week. Dr. Ayres, I
have been told, has his medicine put up by females in Canada,
because he can have it done there more cheaply, although a duty
of 15 per cent. is paid for importing.
413. Pearlash.
Women could make pearlash in the
country, where large quantities of wood are burned in clearing
off land, and would no doubt find it pay very well for the trouble.
414. Perfumery.
Perfumeries have been used in oriental
countries from the most remote ages. The finest and most
costly perfumes are still brought from the East. They were
much used in England about the time of Queen Elizabeth. The
essential oil of plants confers their odors. This oil may be obtained
by expression, infusion, or distillation. In some cases, it
may be pressed out of the cellular structure that contains it.
Roses and such plants are mostly steeped in water, but some
plants are steeped in wine and similar substances. There is a
difference in oils obtained from different parts of the same plant;
for instance, the leaves, flowers, and fruit of the orange tree yield
distinct oils. The perfumeries of France have the best reputation
of any others. Considerable perfumery is manufactured in
this country, that meets with a ready sale at a good profit. At
J. H.'s, Philadelphia, the woman who superintends others employed
in putting up perfumery, told me that the hands work
three months before they are paid. They then receive from $1.50
to $5 a week. It would require two years, she thinks, to acquire
proficiency. J. H. finds employment for his hands all the year
round. The girls cut kid for the tops, tie them on, label the
bottles, lay them in cotton in small boxes, and then put them in
large boxes ready for nailing and sending away. The girls each
perform the entire process. It is not divided into separate
branches. Sometimes they are employed in putting up fine soaps.
The labels are all imported from France. They sit while employed,
and spend from ten to twelve hours at it, according to the work
on hand. R. says some perfumery is made by machinery and
some by hand. He thinks a woman should spend from six months
to one year learning to put up perfumery, as it must be done very
neatly. He pays his girls, while learning, $2.50 a week, and after
that according to ability and industry. The business is now dull,
for people cannot afford to indulge in luxuries. At P.'s perfumery
manufactory, I learned that the girls work from 7½ to 6,
and earn from $2 to $8 per week—the average, $3.50. They
are mostly Americans. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but
they keep them all the year. They have many applications, but
are often puzzled to get enough of good hands. Girls do better
than men for putting up perfumery. It requires some taste. Poor
workers are very destructive, for the articles of which some perfumeries
are made are very costly. There are employed in packing
fancy soap and preparing perfumery, between six hundred
and seven hundred girls, in New York; average wages, $4. A
manufacturer of hair oil pays his men from $10 to $15 per week.
Good taste and a quick hand are the requisites. Near a city is
the best location. At H.'s perfumery and fancy soap manufactory,
one of the firm told me they "import" Frenchmen to make
the perfumery, who impart to them the secret, and they furnish
the materials. Their busy season commences in January. They
pay their girls from the first, but not much until they get to
working well. It requires some time to become expert and tasteful
in putting up perfumery. They are paid by the piece (customary
plan), but do not work over ten hours, as it is all done at
the factory. They can earn from $3 to $9 a week. They keep
their hands all the year, but in busy times employ extra hands.
They employ a number of girls in making boxes, who earn about
$3 a week. P. & F. employ one woman, paying $3.50 a week.
P. told me such work is usually paid for by the gross, and workers
earn about $4.50. The business is likely to increase. No manufactures
West or South. It requires six months to become expert.
Vacancies are often occurring among the hands. Some are employed
in label cutting some in filling bottles, corking, tying,
labelling, and boxing, while others envelop and seal the soap.
They sit most of the time, but change their position every little
while. There is but one establishment of the kind west of Philadelphia,
and that is in Cincinnati.
415. Quinine.
At P. & W.'s laboratory, Philadelphia, they
employ a number of girls in weighing and putting up quinine, calomel,
&c., to send away. The girls work eight hours in winter and
nine in summer, and receive from $3 to $9 a week. The employment
is thought not to be healthy. It changes the fairest complexion
to a sallow, just as the taking of the medicine would.
The air of the room where we sat, and where the girls were corking,
sealing, enveloping, and labelling, was strongly impregnated
with the quinine. It was so offensive that I could not rid myself
of the taste for several hours after I left the room. In one apartment
a man and woman were weighing the article. The woman
wore a bandage over her mouth and a muslin cap on her head, and
spectacles with large, dark, convex frames, to prevent the quinine
from getting in her eyes, as it turns the white of the eye yellow.
The women had each their own apartment of labor. They looked
as healthy as you generally see, but I do not know how they may
have looked when they commenced working there. The lady
who accompanied me, said her friend had fallen off very much
and lost the beauty of her complexion while working there during
the last two years.
416. Salt.
"In certain cities, especially at Dieppe, France,
women have the business of carrying salt; it is a monopoly which
has belonged to them from time immemorial. They form a corporation,
have a syndic, and salt in the sack cannot, in this city, be
transported from the vessel to the depots or warehouses by any
but them." According to the statistics of the salt manufacture
in 1850, there were 2,699 males employed and 87 females
in the United States. Water from the ocean, lakes, and
salt springs, I suppose, could be boiled by women. A rock-salt
manufacturer writes: "Women might do some of our work better
than a man; but one man can tend the hopper and tie as fast as
another can fill. The best salt for dairy purposes is imported, and
therefore a seaport is the best place for our business." A manufacturer
in Barnstable, Mass., writes: "Women are not employed
in my branch of industry, as far as my knowledge extends,
in
making salt; but, when it is ground for table use, women are
sometimes employed
in making the bags to put the salt in. They
formerly made good wages in this business; but, since sewing
machines have come into almost general use, the price of labor
has fallen, and I am not posted as to the price now paid, as most
of the ground salt and the bags are manufactured in Boston.
Working with salt is very healthy. We manufacture our salt
between the 1st of April and the last of October, by solar evaporation;
but very little if any salt can be made in this way after
the latter month, as the sun runs too low for salt making. Our
works are provided with covers, which require too hard labor for
women to shove on as rain approaches, and to be opened every
fair day. Women can, and occasionally do lend a hand in this
business; but it is too laborious. Then, the salt has to be taken
out by men with shovels, and this is too hard labor for women.
They might assist in drawing the water from one room to another,
by simply taking out and putting in plugs; but under a hot summer's
sun, we think our business entirely unsuitable for them.
In the winter, we manufacture epsom salts; but even this work
we consider too laborious for women." A salt manufacturer in
South Yarmouth, Maine, writes: "I believe women are employed
in the mills in Boston for grinding salt, in making the bags, putting
it up, &c., for table use. Otherwise, the service is too hard."
Manufacturers in Syracuse, N. Y., say "they have but a limited
number of women employed in making sacks. The most of their
sacks are furnished by the manufacturing establishments." Salt
clarifiers in Burlington, Vt., write: "We employ one woman,
because it is cheaper to do so. We pay her $4 per week—a man
we would have to pay $6. The work is healthy, and women's
part soon learned. Spring and summer are the best seasons.
The prospect for work in this line is good. Board, $1.70 per
week." A gentleman in the salt business at Geddes, N. Y.,
writes: "There used to be employed far more women than now
in making bags to hold dairy or bag salt. Now, sewing machines
have entirely superseded them in this branch of our business.
During the summer season, formerly, there were from one hundred
to three hundred women at bag making. There are now,
say one hundred or more women engaged in packing and filling
the barrels with salt. They are all foreigners. It is dirty, heavy,
and laborious work, and not suitable for women, but is extremely
healthy. No difference is made in the price paid men and women,
all being paid by the piece, and earning from 75 cents to $1 per
day. A strong woman can learn very soon. The amount of
work, probably, will not change much in future. The work is
done only in the summer season. A large proportion of all the
salt made in this country is made here. The annual product of
our salt springs is about seven million bushels salt, produced at
an expense for
labor of not less than ten cents per bushel. Nearly
all is paid to men, Irish and Dutch getting the most of it. A
very small part of the work, if any, is adapted to women. Most
of our women workers are the wives or mothers of men and boys
who fasten hoops on barrels. Most of the salt at Syracuse, N. Y.,
is made by boiling down the water that springs from artesian
wells. At Turk's Island, salt is made by simply digging vats in
the meadow and throwing the water into them. As it rarely
rains there for a number of months, they require no covering to
their works, and have only to take out the salt and stack it up
when it is made."
417. Soda.
I find that in factories of this kind, girls are
not employed in this country, except for putting the article in
papers. They are paid from twelve to sixteen cents per hundred,
according to the size. At a factory I saw many at work. They
looked very neat. All wore clean calico dresses, and snow-white
handkerchiefs over their heads, to prevent the soda from lodging
in their hair. They must inhale considerable of it, as the atmosphere
was strongly impregnated. One of the workers told me
they are paid eighteen cents per hundred packages, which were
rather large. A box contained sixty packages. Some are able
to put up as many as seven hundred packages a day. The proprietor
and one of the girls said it was not unhealthy work; but
it is my impression that it is, if worked at constantly. It requires
but a week to get in the way of doing it, and expertness
is gained by practice. They work all the year, but sometimes
there is not much to do. They are most busy in spring and fall.
Some of the hands live near; so, in slack times, if the proprietor
receives an order to be filled, he sends immediately for his girls.
At another factory, I was told September and October are the
most busy months for their hands. They cannot send much
away in winter, because the rivers are closed and railroad freight
is high. Soda, I was told, is more used in the South than saleratus.
Some of their girls are paid by the week, and some by the
box. They earn from $3 to $4. The gentleman said the dust
was disagreeable, but not unhealthy. Their girls stand while at
work.
418. Starch.
A large number of plants and vegetable
substances contain starch. Wheat, potatoes, rice, and maize are
the principal. It is also found in the seeds and stems of plants.
It is not soluble in cold water, consequently may be easily washed
out of any vegetable substance. For those from which it cannot
be so removed chemical decomposition may be employed. Manufacturers
write us: "The making of starch is hard and unsuitable
work for females; but girls are employed to put up the starch in
papers and label it, receiving from thirty-seven to seventy-five
cents a day, according to what the worker accomplishes." The
following intelligence we received from the Oswego factory: "We
employ from fifteen to twenty women, because we find them more
attentive than boys. They paste labels on packages of starch,
and receive thirty-seven and a half cents per day, of from eight
to ten hours. A smart girl can learn in a few hours. The prospect
of employment in future is good. They are paid the same
that boys would be, and have work the year round. There are
no parts suitable for women, in which they are not engaged.
Board, $1.25 to $1.50."
419. White Lead.
At the store of a white lead manufacturer,
I was told they employ a number of girls, when busy, to
label the tin cans. The making of white lead is unhealthy, and,
I suppose, very disagreeable work. Women are employed in England
in the manufacture of white lead.
420. Whiting.
This article is used for cleaning silver,
and one preparation of it for the face. There are not more than
from twelve to twenty women at the work in the United States.
B. used to employ women, and paid by the pound. The women
earned about $3 a week, of ten hours. They were employed
merely in putting up the article.
421. Assistants in Public and Benevolent Institutions.
There is a wide field of usefulness open to ladies,
as matrons in charitable institutions. Blessed is the influence a
woman exerts as a matron, if she is a kind, good woman. Her
responsibilities are great, but a consciousness of the vast amount
of good she may accomplish should reconcile her to them. The
discharge of her duties will often cast her in the society of visitors,
many of whom are refined and educated people. In
reformatory
institutions for children, a matron may do incalculable
good.
The female department of almshouses, lunatic asylums,
hospitals, prisons, workhouses, and all other public and charitable
institutions, should be in the hands of women. They can
exert a better influence. They know better the wants of their
sister women. They can enter into their feelings. They can
check familiarities with the male inmates, and exert more influence
when temptation is offered. In short, they are women, and
know a woman's heart.
Orphan, and deaf and dumb asylums,
houses of refuge, eye and ear infirmaries, schools for imbecile
children, and all such places, should be managed by women, as
far as practicable. The managers of the home department of
such institutions should be firm and efficient, yet kind hearted.
Nor should merely the filling of these offices be given to women,
but there should be a number of lady visitors to coöperate
with the managers. They can often suggest many improvements
for the comfort and health of the inmates, that would escape the
notice of men. I was told by a friend, now deceased, who took
an active part in establishing and advancing benevolent institutions,
that she found it very difficult to obtain matrons, seamstresses,
and tailoresses, willing and competent to instruct the inmates
of the institutions in their various branches of labor. She
thought it would be well to instruct women so thoroughly in
their business that they might efficiently impart a knowledge of
it to others. She thought there should be a house where women
and girls could be properly prepared to perform the duties of
cooks, nurses, and house servants. A lady friend suggested that
many of the situations in the public institutions of New York
might be filled by some of the women who are now keeping boarding
houses, and so, the pressure in that quarter being removed,
there would be fairer and fuller play to those that are left in the
occupation. A principal reason of the order and cleanliness of
the workhouses in Holland, is the attention and humanity of the
governesses; for each house has four, who take charge of the inspection,
and have their names painted in the room. For the
moral management of convicts, men are systematically trained in
some countries of Europe. In the hospitals, prisons, and reformatory
institutions of England, supported by the government, women
are employed. They are even eligible as overseers of the poor.
The President of the Board of Public Institutions in New York
city furnished me with answers to questions in regard to the
women employed therein, as follows: "Women are employed as
matrons, nurses, and laborers in this city, and on Blackwell's and
Randall's islands. They receive from $5 per month to $430 per
annum, and are paid by the month. The labor performed, properly
belongs to women, although we employ some men for part of the
same labor, but their pay is about the same. There is no need
of an apprenticeship to become familiar with their employments,
and the only special qualifications are health and strength. There
is no difference as to seasons with us. They work only as many
hours as are necessary. The demand for those occupying this
position grows out of the number of the destitute and criminal
thrown on our hands. About twenty-five per cent. employed are
Americans. We employ women in all work for which they are
suited. The more intelligent are selected for the most responsi
ble
positions. If so disposed, they have ample time for mental
and moral culture. They live where they labor, and their places
of residence are comfortable." Each of the janitresses of the
public schools of New York receives a salary of from $100 to $400
per annum. At the Tombs of New York, a woman has charge
of the department where the female convicts are. At a meeting
of ladies in Dublin, for the employment of women, Mr. McFarlane
said that "for the last twenty-five years, the Grangegorman
Penitentiary had been under the management of a lady, and it
had been most admirably conducted."
422. Commissioners of Deeds.
There are about two
hundred in the city of New York, and, with a moderate run of
custom, each can make several hundred dollars per annum. Their
duties are very light, and, I have been told, could as well be performed
by women as men.
423. Housekeepers.
A kind, yet decided manner, will
more effectually govern a household than fretting and scolding.
A portion of time should be regularly set aside for servants to
feel as their own. It will often prove a matter of economy to
those who exact work of them. Those of principle will work
more diligently. Everybody needs some rest. Gain the good
will and confidence of servants, and they will reward you in the
labor of their stronger muscles. But avoid familiarity, by all
means. Much of the long, wearing toil of servants might be
avoided by consideration and management on the part of a housekeeper.
Domestics labor hard, and much of the comfort of a
family depends on them. Do not accuse on suspicion those in
your employ of doing or having done wrong. Be careful of the
reputation of others, particularly dependent females. A man of
standing, to whom I expressed the desire that more occupations
should be opened to women, expressed the wish that our domestics
should be Americans, and of a more intelligent class. An effort
should be made to elevate the standard of servants, he said, to
induce more respectable and intelligent women to enter domestic
service. Those engaged in it, he thought, should find something
else to do, and will be pushed out as a more competent class enter.
I would prefer to see our present class of servants fit themselves
better for the discharge of their duties, and American girls enter
occupations of a more refined and exalted nature. The same gentleman
referred to, stated that his servants each receive $2 a week,
dress handsomely, and lay by money. (?) They do better for
themselves, he remarked, than the girls in his bookbindery. In
some of the convents of France, the sisters go through a course
of training to prepare them for the duties of housekeepers, and
are then sent to take charge of religious and charitable institu
tions
connected with their church. Why might not some such
plan be pursued by Protestants? Says an English review: "In
Germany, the employment of women in the offices of house-steward,
maitre d'hotel, butler or lackey, sanctioned by universal
custom, is not considered so incompatible as it would be with us,
with the other branches of a first-rate establishment."
424. Keepers of Intelligence Offices.
Intelligence
offices are established for the purpose of giving information
to or respecting persons seeking employment. They are individual
enterprises. From fifty cents to $1 is paid by an applicant
for information of persons desiring one of such capacity as they
seek to fill. The same price is paid by the person seeking an assistant
or domestic. Most offices are limited to supplying domestics;
but one or more might be established for the supply of
seamstresses, saleswomen, milliners, dress makers, &c. Girls often
find it an advantage to apply at an office, if they have not friends
to interest themselves and secure them situations. But they
should be particular to know the character of the office they
patronize. A lady remarked to me, if a girl was willing to
spend a year in a family where she could be well instructed
for her work, she could then be sure of a good home and fair
wages. Servant girls are universally complained of at the North.
Many of them are very exacting. Most are raw Irish girls, who
think, when they come to this country, everybody is equal. Consequently,
they do not know their places as they do in the old
country, where there are distinct grades in society. Another thing
that makes some so trifling is that such swarms come, and they
are so ignorant, and many of them so corrupt, that they instigate
each other. I was told, by the keeper of an intelligence office,
that girls and women always ask more than they expect to get.
Some cooks get as high as $20 a month. They are mostly French
and German. Now and then he has a good American. He has
a lady in attendance that can speak French and German. His
terms are fifty cents a month from the employer, and the same
from the employée. It gives the privileges of the office for one
or two months. Few are willing to go to the country. Many
girls come from the country that do not know where to board.
The keeper of the office sends them to a cheap but respectable
house. His office is open from eight to five. To employers he
sends a blank certificate of character, to be filled when the servant
leaves. There is a Protestant office in Philadelphia, and
one or more in New York. At an intelligence office on Grand
street, where girls pay fifty cents and the employer fifty cents, the
girl has the privilege of being supplied with places for two months,
if she remains on trial the time specified by agreement with her
various employers. If not, she forfeits the privilege. This office
had a servants' home connected with it, that is, a boarding house
for servants out of employ. The girls paid $2 a week. A training
school was connected with this, in which the servants received
instructions in cooking and the various details of housekeeping.
The cooking of the boarding house was done by some of the number.
He failed in his enterprise, he said, from want of capital.
One has been in operation in England for eight years very successfully,
connected with which is a training school. They have
few Americans to apply for places; for Americans like lighter
work, as nursing, sewing, being lady's maid, &c. In summer
there is a scarcity of girls, for they go to the country and watering
places to cook and do housework. In the fall they flock to
the city, and there are more applicants than situations. At some
offices the privilege is accorded for three months, and at some
only one month. A lady who keeps an office in Williamsburg
told me, when the girls come to her, she takes their names and
qualifications. She receives the calls of ladies wanting girls, and
also records their wants. After five o'clock, and on Saturday
after two o'clock, the office is closed, and she then compares the
wants of employers and employées, and makes out a corresponding
list. Next day she sends girls to their places. I could have
got a lady's maid for $5 a month with board and lodging. I saw
a lady securing a nurse for her child at the same price. Fifty
cents is the fee for the privilege of her office for three months.
She furnishes girls during that time until the mistress is satisfied;
and the girl pays the same, and is furnished with places for three
months until she is satisfied. She does not require references
from her girls, but sends the lady to the last employer of the
girl. I called at Mrs. Y.'s office, New York. Girls, she says,
get different prices in different States. In wealthy States, as
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Southern States, they get
good prices. In Cincinnati, and the States of Wisconsin and
New Jersey, poor prices. She sends many from the city to every
part of the United States. People write to her, inclosing the
money for the girl's passage. She then buys her a ticket and
provisions, and sends her on; but the arrangement is always for
a year or six months, as people are not willing to incur the expense
of paying the passage of a girl for less time. She could
get many more places for girls, if they would go to the country;
but they do not wish to go, and, if dissatisfied, be at the expense
of returning. The girl may be deceived, by finding there are
twice as many in the family as represented, or the work is much
harder. Mrs. Y. learns the character of a girl that applies to
her, and then registers it in her book. So ladies applying for a
girl have from her the true character. She has no difficulty in
finding places for her girls. She is always busy but on a rainy
day. People object to having an intelligence office near them, as
the girls are inclined to stand about the door. It is said that the
majority of the keepers of intelligence offices furnish the best
places to those by whom they are bribed. A few years ago, the
number of white female servants in New York city was estimated
at 100,000, that of Boston 50,000, Philadelphia 30,000, and Baltimore
20,000. There is a lady in Boston who goes around
among her friends and secures to them good domestics, receiving
some compensation for her services—I think, fifty cents a domestic.
When the influence of servants over children is considered,
I think parents cannot be too careful in the selection of their
servants; and to obtain good ones, they should be willing to
pay a fair price. There is a waste of time to girls sitting in
offices, and a risk run of being sent, by a person of whose moral
character they know nothing, to a house that may prove the
wreck of their virtue. At a boarding house and intelligence
office for workwomen, the lady told me they charge $2 a week for
board, allowing the privilege of the wash room, and of sitting in
the parlor in the evening, which is warmed and contains a piano.
To those who cannot pay as much as this, they charge from $1 to
$1.25, giving them rooms in the attic. They have been applied
to often for persons of a higher class than usually frequent intelligence
offices, but only until since the times have been so hard
have they had such applicants. I was told, at another office, they
seldom have American girls apply for places, except as house
girls, and they are mostly girls who have worked in factories.
They send girls to California and all parts of the United States,
and they have some who travel through Europe in the capacity
of ladies' maids. Their office is open from nine to five o'clock.
When a girl is sent for from another place, the money is sent by
express and a receipt taken, or by mail, and a receipt taken at
the post office. One of a high order for cultivated women, who
desire places as bookkeepers, copyists, secretaries, &c., is quite
necessary. We would suggest the establishment of such an office
for furnishing female workers to different parts of the United
States, where they are wanted in the higher branches of woman's
labor. It would confer a blessing on virtuous and industrious
women, and be an accommodation to employers. A paper devoted
to the same interests might do much good also; but we think
it doubtful whether it would pay its way.
425. Lighthouse Keepers.
Miss H. told me of two
young women whose father keeps a lighthouse, but he is very
feeble and infirm. They attend the lights, and often row out, if
they see a wreck, and do what they can to rescue the passengers.
We observed this newspaper paragraph a few years back: "A
Mrs. Lydia Smith has been appointed assistant keeper of the
lighthouse at Manitou Island (Michigan) at $250 per annum."
"They have a Grace Darling at Bridgeport, Conn. On the night
of the 13th inst., Miss Moore, an accomplished young lady, the
daughter of the keeper of the lighthouse on Fairweather Island, just
below Bridgeport, heard cries for help at a distance from the
shore, and determined that an effort should be made to rescue
whom it might be. It was too dark to tell the direction or the
distance, but, summoning two young men to her aid, she launched
the boat belonging to the lighthouse, and ordered them to pull
out in the direction of the cries, herself holding the tiller. About
two miles out in the Sound, they found a sailboat capsized, and
clinging to it were two men nearly exhausted. One of them was
entirely helpless, and with great difficulty got in the boat; but
both were finally rescued from death by the courage and efforts
of this brave girl, and brought safely to shore. Mr. Moore, the
keeper of the lighthouse, has been for some time afflicted with
ill health, and when unable to see to the details of his office, this
daughter assumes the entire management, and, through the lonely
watches of the night, it is her fair hand that trims and tends the
beacon that guides the mariner safely on his way."
426. Pawnbrokers.
I suppose this business requires a
general knowledge of the value of goods. Some pawnbrokers
profess to make liberal advances, but a very heavy percentage is
usually charged. Indeed, some pawnbrokers extort an incredible
interest on money loaned to the poor. S., an intelligent Irish
pawnbroker, into whose office I went to ask something of the
business, told me he never knew of but one woman in the business.
She was nominally a widow, and employed a young man to stay
in the shop. When women are employed in pawnbrokers' establishments,
it is nearly always as auxiliaries, being the wife, sister,
or daughter of the keeper. He thinks it not a suitable business
for a woman, as the class of people that come require a strong
man to deal with them, who can use their slang language, and
drive them away if they become very rude. No doubt, many go
to pawn what they have when under the influence of liquor, or
to pawn their clothes to get liquor. The broker retains what is
pawned for a year, if it is not redeemed in less time. It is then
sold at auction. There is a law that permits it. His shelves
were filled with bundles, on which were pinned numbered papers.
Another pawnbroker told me that the fashion and quality of
goods decide the price put on them, particularly wearing apparel.
There may be a difference in the value estimation of pawnbrokers,
just as there is in different establishments where the same kind
of new goods are sold. I saw the name of a female pawnbroker
in a business directory, and called. I did not see her, but the
young man who was employed to assist her in attending the store
said they have most business to do in summer, and that it is a
business requiring experience. They pay on articles taken to
them what they will be likely to sell for at auction. They must
make some allowance for what they may lose on the article.
They charge at the rate of twenty-five per cent. for a year's time,
which is as long as anything pawned is kept. They lose more
on clothes than other goods. They allow a depositor to draw any
sum of less amount than the estimated value of an article; and
when the article is redeemed, a percentage is paid on the
amount of the money drawn, and not on the full value of the
article.
427. Postmistresses.
There are (1854) 128 postmistresses
in the United States. They receive the same salaries
that postmasters do. The clerks in post offices sometimes count
at the rate of sixty letters a minute. There are 29,000 post
offices in the United States, ninety clerks in Chicago, and, I
think, nearly three hundred in New York. Might not a large
number of these be women? I have read that it is in contemplation
to place in the general post office in London a number of
lady clerks. I called on Mrs. W., who was for nearly two years
at the ladies' window in the general post office, New York. Very
few approved of a lady being there. She found some advantages,
but many disadvantages, arising from her position. In the first
place, it yielded her and her child a support, the salary being
$600. She was treated with respect by all the attachés of the
office except two—one of whom was immediately dismissed, and
the other removed. But the class of women who go to the
general post office constantly for letters, are of a kind a respectable
woman would not like to come in contact with. The majority
receive letters under fictitious names. Some of them were
very impudent to her. And sometimes men would come to the
window and insist on her getting the letters of their lady friends
for them. Besides, there were about fifty clerks immediately
around her, and altogether in the office between two hundred and
three hundred. They were men of all classes and nations. The
office is one influenced by political motives, and a man has the
advantage as candidate by gaining the votes of his friends. She
says she was kind and courteous, but found it necessary to be
very decided, and keep at a distance from every one. The men
in the office did not like it, because they had to guard their
tongues. She remained there from 8.30
A. M. to 4.30
P. M., and
was on her feet all the time, with the exception of a few minutes.
There were no conveniences or comforts for a woman. So she
suffered severely from the effects. She thinks the plan of employing
ladies in the post offices of towns and villages might be
done more easily. Even here it might be done more advantageously,
if the office was situated farther up street, the regulations
were different, and a number of ladies were employed instead of
but one. A lady could not well use a ladder to reach down letters
from the upper boxes. A young man did that for her. For a
postmistress we might enumerate the qualifications of quickness
of eye, strict integrity, a retentive memory, and patient industry.
"Unmarried females only can hold the office of postmistress.
They are appointed, give bonds, and are commissioned in the
same manner as postmasters, and receive the same compensation.
There is, however, a larger number of females, generally the wives
and daughters of postmasters, employed as assistants; but as the
latter are appointed and paid by the postmasters themselves, to
whom alone they are responsible, their names are not recorded on
the government books."
