428. Sewing-Machine Instructors.
In many of
the stores of New York, where sewing machines are sold, we
notice that many of those who give instructions to buyers of machines
are men. Shame on the men that teach women to sew!
When such is the case, to what may not a woman resort for earning
a livelihood? Shame on the man that engages in such an effeminate
employment, save he who is deformed and cannot engage in
harder work! Shame, I say, on the man seen at a sewing machine,
or with a needle in his hand! Surely the muscles and bones and
sinews of men were never given for such a purpose. W. & W.
employ five young ladies as instructors on machines, paying each
of them over $6 a week. They have one to sell thread, and two
to go about the city adjusting machines. It is something difficult
to do, as it requires almost the mechanical talent of a machinist.
They have no applications for instructors on sewing machines
out of the city, but have for some in the city. They employ
females because the purchasers of machines are generally ladies.
G. & B. employ a lady for adjusting machines, as they find
ladies prefer one of their own sex for the purpose. I was told at
S.'s, by the bookkeeper, they do not employ female instructors.
They used to employ both young men and young ladies, but they
spent so much time talking to each other, that they found it necessary
to dispense with either the one or the other. So they
gave up the girls eighteen months ago, and have not employed
any since. They paid girls $4 a week from the time they took
them, and increased their wages to $5 or $6. Many of the women
earned $6. They worked, on an average, ten hours a day. Ladies
are employed in Boston to sell machines. The ladies of New
York (said a young man selling machines) prefer to buy of a
gentleman. (?) Yet, he thinks the crying sin of civilization is, not
furnishing remunerative employment to women. Simply learning
to sew with a machine is by no means difficult, though the time
required depends very much upon the abilities of the learner.
Some become proficient in all its accomplishments of hemming,
tucking, gathering, preparing work for the machine, &c., in from
three to six months, while others do not become efficient workers in
less than a year. The time required to learn depends very much
on the machine used, as some are more complicated than others;
and a thorough knowledge of the machine is desirable for every
good worker. It is more difficult to learn to operate on one kind
of machine after learning on some other kind. By paying $1.50,
a person can receive six lessons on sewing machines at S.'s. At
W. & W.'s, and at G. & B.'s, purchasers and those who cannot
pay are taught free of charge. Some people charge $3 for teaching
to operate. L. & W. will teach any one to operate who buys
a machine, but they charge others $2.
429. Shepherdesses.
Boys who keep sheep in Scotland,
knit while so employed. Girls and women who tend sheep, might
perhaps do the same. Sheep are being raised to considerable
extent in Texas, and the raising of them is on the increase in the
Western States, but we do not know that females have ever been
employed in this country to tend sheep.
430. Toll Collectors.
It is not unusual to see women
receiving toll at the gates, but they are mostly foreigners, or poor
widows, or the wives of the gatekeepers.
431. Bathhouse Attendants.
There are some people
that cannot afford to have bathhouses in their dwellings, and for
such it is well there are houses where, for twenty-five cents, they
may enjoy the luxury of a bath. Particularly is it well for hard-working
people, on whom the dust and perspiration collect, and
who are refreshed and rendered more healthy by frequent baths.
Where a bathhouse is used for women alone—there being no department
for men—we think it might be owned and superintended
by a lady, just like any other branch of business. Females,
of course, would be in attendance to wait on those that frequent
the bath rooms. Quite a number are employed at water-cure
establishments, which are open for patients at all seasons of the
year. Not only does cleanliness promote comfort, but it is conducive
to health. Many of the diseases of the poor arise from a
want of cleanliness. Even the morals are improved, and the mind
freed as it were from its cobwebs. Most medicinal baths should
be superintended by some one that has a knowledge of medicine
and the human system. And those employed, if unacquainted
with the business, should be particular in observing directions
given. For baths, a person should have means to fit up rooms
neatly, and enough to live on until their establishment becomes
known. I called on the wife of a gentleman who has electro-magnetic
baths administered. He is a physician, and gives medical
advice as to the kind of bath required. He does not give
much medicine, thinking the article that would be prescribed had
better be administered externally in the form of a bath. The
baths are $3 for a single one; $10 for four. More people take
the baths in summer than winter. After a vapor bath the system
is stimulated, not relaxed; it is then better prepared for the reception
of medicine. The charge at one establishment I know to be 50
cents a bath, or $5 for twelve. In New York, I saw the People's
Washing and Bathing Establishment, which was put up by some
philanthropic citizens, for the benefit of the poor. A man is employed
to take charge of it; and in summer, several women attend
to bathers, and some wash and iron towels. They pay $3 a week
to a bath attendant, and from $3 to $3.50 to washers and ironers.
They have had 1,500 bathers a day, in summer. For a bath in a
small room and one towel, six cents are charged; for better accommodations,
twelve cents. A swimming bath for boys is attached,
and a charge made of three cents a swim of half an hour.
432. Brace and Truss Makers.
I went to M. & Co.'s,
New York, who are surgical and anatomical mechanicians, inventors,
and manufacturers. They want to employ several good
female workers. They will not take any to learn, because it
requires time to teach them; yet a person of moderate abilities,
that can sew neatly, can learn in a few days, or weeks at most, to
do the cutting out and stitching. Part of the stitching is done by
hand, and part by machinery. The workwomen are paid $3 a
week, and work ten hours. At L.'s truss and bandage institute,
I learned that he employs a number at $3 a week. He cannot
get as many good hands as he wants. He drew several hands
from his former employer by paying them a little more. His
wife does the fitting for ladies. A truss maker in Middletown,
Conn., pays his women by the piece, and they earn from $3 to $4
per week. A., Brooklyn, pays a girl that sews neatly, but has
never worked at the business, $3 a week. Any one that can sew
well or operate on a machine, can do the mechanical work.
He pays experienced hands over $3, according to what they do.
His girls work but nine hours a day. Manufacturers of surgical
apparatus in Boston write: "We employ women in sewing exclusively,
generally about twenty, and all American. The work
is not more unhealthy than any sewing. We consider any steady
sewing, and the consequent confinement, more or less injurious.
Average wages, perhaps $4 per week—something depends upon
capabilities, however. Some have earned $6 per week, though
such cases are exceptions. All our work is done by the piece.
Females are paid about half the price of males. There appears
to be an ample supply of female labor. On this basis, prices,
details, &c., are governed accordingly. That portion of the work
done by males, it takes three years to learn; that done by women,
three months, presuming they were good sewers at the start.
Learners are paid the same as old hands. Of course, they are
slower, and accumulate less until well learned. To be a neat
sewer and possess some mechanical skill will prepare one for this
employment. We are seldom idle more than two weeks in the
year. The male portion of our work would be no more adapted
to women than horse shoeing. Our hands work from eight to
twelve hours each day, and have none too much time for the improvement
of their minds, considering they must be occupied
more or less upon their own private sewing in addition to their
business." A truss maker in Boston writes: "I pay by the
week, from $4 to$6 to women; to men, from $7 to $12, because
they can do more. They work from nine to ten hours. All are
Americans. It requires from three to six months to learn.
Some portions of the steel work would not be suitable for women.
Board, $2 per week." "W. & F. employ eight women for
making braces, bandages, &c. They pay $3 a week to those
who are employed by the week. Those that work by the piece can
earn from $4 to $6, and sometimes by overwork $7 a week.
Their work is steady in good times, and they are able to employ
their girls all the year. All sew by hand but one, and she receives
but $4 as an operator. The business is mostly confined to
cities."
433. Chiropodists.
W., of the firm of L. & W., was
quite a gentlemanly man in his manners, conversation, and dress.
He mentioned three women, each in different cities, engaged in
this occupation. He thinks his pursuit preferable to dentistry.
Both depend on the class of patients. To follow the calling
professionally requires a knowledge of anatomy and surgery.
There is a great deal of charlatanism practised by some in the
calling. A knowledge of how to extract corns is not sufficient.
Bunions, inverted nails, &c., require scientific treatment. He
charges $1 for removing one corn, fifty cents apiece for two, and
proportionately less for three or more. There are a great many
itinerant doctors. If any individual fits himself properly for the
calling, he may, after three or four years, in a large city, living
from hand to mouth during the time, succeed in establishing a
name and gaining respectable practice. The number of ladies
suffering from corns has not decreased, judging from his experience.
Men are more liable to have corns than women, because
of more severe and constant exercise. He thinks it would not
do for women to work at men's feet. I think it would not be
more agreeable to a woman to have a man work at her feet; and
as far as propriety goes, one is no better than the other. He
would discourage any lady friend of his from undertaking the
business. I called on Mme. K., a French lady. Her father
is a chiropodist in Paris, and what she knows of the business she
learned from seeing him. She found it unpleasant at first, but
now she does not mind it. She goes to the house of the patient
for the same price as she operates at her own room, namely, fifty
cents a corn. She has as much to do as she wants. She thinks,
in other places there are openings, and a woman that thoroughly
understands the business is in every way as fit and capable as a
man. She knows of but one other lady in the business in this
country, and she is quite aged. She thinks, by three months'
study and practice with a skilful operator, one might do very well
to commence for herself. She would as soon operate on a
gentleman's as a lady's foot. It might be well for one commencing
to practice to travel, or get custom in several towns and
villages in the same vicinity. I think she would instruct any
one for a satisfactory compensation. A chiropodist says, as long
as people are fools enough to abuse their feet, the prospect for his
employment is good. L. is the oldest practitioner in the United
States, and has practised in New York for twenty years. He
would be willing to instruct pupils, charging $100 for each
student. He would give thorough and systematic instruction,
and teach to make the material used. People have not had
much confidence in ladies, because of their deficiency in surgical
skill. Incompetent persons have injured the business. Times
do not affect the amount of practice. There are openings in
Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago. Many ladies come to L. to
have their finger nails trimmed, polished, and tinted. They
would no doubt be as willing to have a competent lady.
434. Cuppers and Leechers.
This business is sometimes
connected with that of a barber. But in cities, some women
engage in it, and, no doubt, are as competent as men. Indeed,
for their own sex and children they are better fitted. Mrs. A.,
a cupper and leecher, told me the best way to obtain custom is
to form the acquaintance of some of the best physicians, as they
will then recommend you but you must always be ready to attend
their patients, or they forget you. Her father was a physician,
and in that way she learned the treatment of leeches.
It is well to get into the favor of persons that serve as leechers at
the infirmaries—they may be willing to instruct you. The Germans
have killed the business in New York. Some charge but
twenty-five cents for cupping, and proportionately low for leeching.
Leeching is sooner learned than cupping, but there is much
less of both done than formerly. Homœopathy has interfered with
their use. She used to be out all day and up all night, but now
she seldom has a call; and yet she must be always at home, and
ready for a call. She never goes to take a cup of tea with a
friend, and is frequently called out of church. Leeching and
cupping require a steady hand, and ability to use the scarificator.
A person in the business must go into all kinds of sickness, without
even asking what it is. Accidents give considerable custom,
and in the sickly season there is most. It has become common
for lads in apothecary shops to be sent out to apply leeches.
When they are to be applied to any hidden part of a lady, a female
leecher, of course, is preferable. Mrs. A. charges twenty-five
cents a leech, if more than one is applied—if not, thirty-seven
cents. For cupping she charges $1. One lady in New
York charges not less than $1 apiece for applying leeches, and
in some cases more. Mrs. L. thinks a lady could not make a
living at the business in New York, because the Germans have
killed the trade by working at half price, and, as might be supposed,
do not properly understand it. A good location should
be fixed upon for an office. A cupper and leecher is expected to
go in all weather, and in all hours of the day and night, and in
any kind of sickness. Most of it is done in fall and winter, because
there is then most inflammation. Judgment must be used
in the quantity of blood to be drawn. A leecher should be a
good judge of the quality of leeches, and the proper treatment of
them. Particular attention should be paid to the directions of
the doctor in applying leeches. Mrs. L. says there is an opening for
a cupper and leecher in Albany, N. Y. A friend of hers there
had to pay exorbitantly for the services of a leecher.
435. Fishing-Tackle Preparers.
In Philadelphia,
I was told at the store where most fishing tackle is sold, that one
woman is employed by them in fastening small hooks, with silk
thread, on the end of worm gut. Large hooks are prepared in the
same way for other kinds of fishing. It would seem that few
women know of the existence of that kind of work in Philadelphia,
for when the proprietor advertises for a female hand, he never
has any applicants. It is clean, healthy work, and the materials
can be easily carried home. Fifty cents a day a woman earns at
it, but a man $1. There is but a small demand for fishing tackle
in Philadelphia, but in New York the trade is much more important.
C., of New York, says most engaged in this work are
English women. A fast and correct worker can earn $6 a week
at it. They are paid for by the dozen. He finds women more
honest than men, and therefore prefers them. Men will steal
some of the line or some of the hooks. For making flies, a superior
hand may earn $8 a week. Something of a mechanical
turn is all that is necessary to make a good workman. They
have more work of that kind done than any house in New York,
and pay a better price to have it well done. Nets pay very
poorly, because all the large nets are now made by machinery, and
the smaller ones are made by infirm people, who do it to keep employed
as much as for the compensation. When the coarse netting
is done by machinery, it can be obtained at 12½ cents a
fathom, and a fathom of the same kind done by hand would require
a day. The peculiar system of the business is that the work
is all done in winter, and the goods sold in summer. It is a
luxury, and consequently dispensed with when times are hard.
C. pays for putting hooks on the lines by the gross. The silk
lines are manufactured in England. G. & B. employ four women
who work at home in making fishing tackle and artificial flies.
They are made in winter. An experienced hand can obtain $15
a week, working from six in the morning till ten at night. He
thinks, there are so few in the business, workers would not give
instruction without good pay. A woman may possibly earn $4
a week making nets. They employ Irishmen to weave the silk
worm gut on the hooks. The three or four large fishing-tackle
establishments in New York could furnish all that is needed for
the United States. Mrs. R., who makes artificial flies and fishing
tackle, says she has now and then earned $9 a week—a difference
of $6 in the report of the clerk. But there is considerable difference
in the amount of work of the different kinds; and as they
are paid for by the gross, some kinds of work pay better than
others. There is now considerable competition in this work, because
of the many that are out of employment. Girls apply at
the store, offering to do the work at forty-two cents a gross.
None are prepared South or West—so there may be openings
before long in St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, &c. Making
artificial flies is mostly in the hands of Irishmen.
436. Fortune Tellers.
In London is a class of men
and women called Druynackers, that take goods around in baskets
to sell, and profess to tell fortunes. This magic power gives
them influence over many silly girls, that are tempted to buy of
them on that account. We cannot believe that God would
vouchsafe to a mortal the power to foretell future events—to
unite the present and future—time and eternity. The constitution
of all nature and the teachings of the Bible confute such a
belief. "The veil," says some one, "which covers futurity is
woven by the hand of mercy. Seek not to raise the veil therefore,
for sadness might be seen to shade the brow that fancy had
arrayed in smiles of gladness." Wherever there are people
tempted to pry into the future, there will be some to take advantage
of it. Many a fortune teller sells her soul to Satan for
the power of imposing the belief that she reveals future events.
The prices charged by fortune tellers for their services vary from
25 cents to $5.
437. Guides and Door Attendants.
"In Paris, the
box offices of all the theatres are tended by women—not only
those of the evening, but those open during the day for the sale
of reserved places. The box openers and audience seaters are
women." "The proprietor of the London Adelphi advertised,
at the opening of the last season, that his box openers, check
takers, and so on, would all be women." We have seen it stated
that in some of the Roman Catholic churches in Paris, ladies of
the congregation pass around the plates to take up a collection.
Women in some of the old countries are occupied as doorkeepers
at museums and galleries of paintings. In Great Britain, many
of the door attendants are females, where the houses are occupied
by several families, as is often the case. In England, some
women are employed as pew openers. To come nearer home.
Those who have visited the Academy of Fine Arts, in Philadelphia,
will remember the pleasant face of the janitress who
receives the tickets of the visitors, and that an obliging young
woman checked the canes and parasols. In New York, most of
the picture galleries have female doorkeepers.
438. Lodging and Boarding House Keepers.
Patience, a spirit of forgiveness, and an ability to overlook faults,
are very necessary for gliding along smoothly in this difficult and
often ungrateful calling. A cheerful disposition, too, is almost indispensable,
for everybody likes smiles better than frowns. A love
of society is desirable. It is a principle that has been wisely implanted
in the human heart, and one that affords numerous and
important advantages to mankind. It is one that tends to produce
a desire for the comfort and happiness of those around.
Yet too great a fondness for society may cause a neglect of duty
and a love of gossipping. It is sometimes the case that light,
frivolous talk and too great fondness for excitement characterize
the keepers and inmates of a boarding house. Yet such, of
course, is not always the case. Keeping a boarding house is an
office that will give to one of a kind and benevolent nature a
good opportunity of exercising her native qualities. Sympathy
closely binds such to the unfortunate, and pleasures are doubled
by participating with others. Whether those who keep boarding
houses happen to have by nature more idle curiosity than others,
or whether the business is one calculated to create and foster
such a quality, I cannot say, but favor the latter opinion. The
tempers of those who keep boarding houses are apt to be very
much tried. They need great firmness and uniformity in deportment.
The price paid for boarding is usually proportioned
to the comforts enjoyed, but not always. In early times, houses
of entertainment for travellers were kept mostly by women. In
a region of country where hunting and fishing are good, or the
scenery fine, and the roads pleasant, ladies often accommodate,
for the summer and autumn, families from the city. It is a very
general fashion for people in the cities to go during the warmest
weather to the country, seaside, or springs. Boarding house
keepers usually find it most profitable to keep a large house, as
only one kitchen and parlor are needed, and many other expenses
attending a house are proportionately diminished. Good boarding
houses for workwomen are scarce in all large cities, particularly
New York. Most keepers of boarding houses prefer men,
because they are less about the house. I have been told that it
is very difficult for work girls to get board in well kept houses.
I think several respectable boarding houses should be established
in large cities by wealthy and influential ladies, or religious societies,
for working women. In New York are some houses
where none but merchants' clerks board. Why might not one or
more be established for shop girls? A list, as given by employers,
of the prices paid by work girls for their board, I will annex
at the close of this work; but I would add that comfortable
rooms and wholesome food cannot be furnished
in cities at these
prices, and afford a reasonable profit to the keepers of the houses.
And I would further say, the prices paid women for their labor
does not enable them to pay higher rates for their board.
439. Makers of Artificial Eyes.
The science of
supplying defects in the physique is such that an artificial man
can almost be manufactured. Artificial teeth, hair, eyes, ears,
noses, chins, palates, arms, hands, and legs, are some of the missing
parts of the frame that can be supplied. In the census report
of Great Britain for 1850, we find four women under the head
of artificial limb and eye makers. G., of New York, knows two
or three ladies in Paris, and one in London, that are engaged in
making the whites of glass eyes. G. may be able to give employment
to a lady in making the white of the eyes, in a few
months. It is done by blowing the glass, and requires but a
short time to learn. He says he would pay a woman well for
the work. I called at D.'s, a manufacturer of glass eyes, and
saw D.'s son, a youth about eighteen years of age. He says there
are but two other makers of glass eyes in the United States, and
only two or three in London. D. spent fourteen years in London
and Dublin, manufacturing eyes at the infirmaries, and giving
them away. He did it to get in practice. He prefers to insert
the eyes himself. They move as a natural eye does, and
certainly were very natural in color. He sells them at from $10
to $20. Some physicians furnish their patients with them,
charging $60 or $70 for one, and so making a handsome profit.
When a person that does not understand the form of the glass
eye and the anatomy of the human eye inserts one, the inside of
the eye is liable to become inflamed, and proud flesh is formed.
D. spent a fortune experimenting. It requires an extensive
knowledge of chemicals, and the effect produced on them by heat.
A small furnace is used for burning the colors, in the glass.
Some people would give thousands of dollars to know the chemicals
used, and their proportions. The young man says his father
has never even imparted to him the information. Some people
that wear glass eyes take them out at night. D. judges of the shape
and size required by merely looking at the remaining eye of the
individual. We think a competent person in this business might
establish himself at the South. I called on an Englishman who has
been at the business twenty years in New York. He is over sixty
years of age, and has been in the business fifty years; learned it
with his father in London. He had a number of certificates on
his walls. He says a woman would go into a decline directly, if
exposed to the heat of a furnace in baking eyes. It is necessary
to stay in the oven while the change is taking place in the chemicals.
In summer it is intolerable. His son would not continue
the business on that account. He says the French eyes are
made of glass, covered with porcelain, and break easily; the
white is made by being blown. The English are not blown, and
are made entirely of porcelain. He says they will not break unless
very cold water is applied in bathing the eyes (a common
fashion in the United States). He has had eyes worn for a year
without being taken out. He takes the dimensions of the eye by
fitting in different sized ones. If an eye is too small, it will slip
out, fall, and break. It requires long experience to become proficient
in making glass eyes; but it is a beautiful art, and not inappropriate
to competent women.
440. Artificial Limbs.
We had thought, perhaps, a
few women could be employed in this vocation, and accordingly
addressed a circular to a gentleman so occupied. He thinks no
women are engaged in this business in the United States or any
other country; but says they could be, and the reason they are
not is, there is not enough of the kind of work connected with it,
that could be done by women, to employ them. "It requires some
men one year to learn, some five years, and some never can learn.
It depends on natural ability and skill. The qualifications required
are skill, judgment, sobriety, morality, pleasing address,
dignity, imitation, industry, love of the beautiful, and anatomy.
The prospect of work is good; superior workmen will succeed.
The best seasons for work are from September 1st to July 1st.
There is a demand for the work in California. Large seaport
towns are not good localities—patients generally charity cases.
Inland cities surrounded by a populous country, the best localities—patients
better able to pay."
441. Artificial Teeth.
It is said that 3,000,000 artificial
teeth are made in the United States annually. The materials
are all found in the United States. Each tooth passes
through ten different processes. I called at J. & W.'s, Philadelphia.
They employ sixty-two girls, all American. They pay
a learner, after two or three weeks' practice, according to the
quality and quantity of her work. Their girls earn from $1.50
to $7 per week; average $4.50. They have but one hand earning
$7. They would be glad to get more such at the same price,
for it is difficult to get good hands. They have to turn away a
great many applicants. The prospect is good to learners. They
keep their hands all the year. The business has advanced rapidly
during the last few years, and is likely to continue increasing.
There are constant improvements in the business. Consequently
a hand may be always improving. They will not receive a girl
without reference, or credentials of moral character. They do
not want any but intelligent girls, for the hand is guided by the
mind. There are three or four processes carried on in different
rooms. They work at the establishment, and never carry work
home, unless a mother or sister is sick and requires their attention.
It is a light, genteel business; and one well adapted to
women of some education and intelligence. A lady in the cars
told me she knew a lady who received $7 a week for making
teeth in Baltimore. She came to Philadelphia, but could not get
as good wages; so she returned to Baltimore. The New York
Teeth Manufacturing Company pay from $3 to $5 a week.
Learners are paid $2.50 a week, from the first, for six months;
and then, if competent, paid more. The work is not unhealthy.
Men average $10, but their branch is different; the work is
heavier. It requires about two months to learn, in one department.
Neither men nor women are often taught more than one
branch. All seasons are alike, and they are never out of work.
The supply of hands is greater than the demand everywhere.
Small hands, nimble fingers, and good eyesight are important to
a worker. In the establishment of R., New York, four processes
in the making of artificial teeth are performed by women. Some
branches require a longer time to learn than others. It takes
six months to learn any one perfectly. R. pays $3 a week to his
learners, and $5 a week to experienced workers. Careful manipulation
is the most that is needed. Judging from the increase in
the last five years, the prospect for employment is excellent; yet
the openings in New York are limited. Women are the best
workers, but some prefer men. The only manufacturers are in
New York, Philadelphia, Hartford, and Bridgeport. It is desirable
to have careful workers. B. had a girl ruin $500 worth of
teeth for him. The parts performed by women are cleaning the
moulds, setting the pins, filling the moulds with the tooth materials,
and trimming, and putting on the pink color answering the
place of gums; also placing them on slides preparatory to baking
and carding.
442. Nurses for the Sick.
Attention to this subject
has been awakened during the last few years, by the heroic conduct
of Miss Florence Nightingale and the ladies who went with
her to the Crimea to wait on the sick and wounded. When the
people of England proposed making some testimonial of regard
to Florence Nightingale, she proposed that, with the means expended
in doing so, they should establish an institution for the
training of nurses. We would not fail to notice a fact that
reflects much credit on Miss Anne M. Andrews, of Syracuse,
N. Y. While the yellow fever raged in Norfolk, Va., she left
her home and went alone to Norfolk, devoting her time and services
to the sick of all conditions. She received the medal that
is usually awarded to a physician on such occasions, and the citizens
talked of placing a statue in a conspicuous part of their city,
as a memorial of her goodness and their indebtedness. In Berlin,
Vienna, Turin, and Halle, hospitals have been established for the
education of nurses. In Germany, there has been one for many
years. A number of good ladies connected with that institution
are now in Pittsburg, where they form an order of deaconesses.
Some take care of the sick, and some have charge of an orphan
asylum. St. Luke's Hospital, New York, is under Episcopal
supervision, and connected with it is an order of Protestant deaconesses,
who attend the sick. Most of the hospitals in this
country have been established by the Roman Catholic Church,
and are under its guidance. We think Protestant hospitals for
the sick are greatly needed, especially in the Western and Southern
cities—Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and New
Orleans. It may be that some exist in those cities; but, if so,
we think they must be quite limited in extent. Asylums for sick
children are established in some of our largest cities. A number
exist in Europe. A nurse should have a kind, sympathizing nature,
good health, strong nerves, great powers of endurance, ability
to sit up all night, and bear exposure to extremes of temperature.
In addition, she needs a good memory, that she may give the right
medicine at the proper time. If she has not, she should commit
to paper such orders, and consult them frequently. A long and
thorough training is needed by an attendant on the sick. Great
self-control is necessary, for many persons are very impatient in
sickness. A bright, cheerful spirit should be cultivated. A sweet
voice is pleasant in a nurse, because a sick person is sensitively
alive to the smallest matters. It requires a woman of education,
consideration, and delicacy of feeling, to be an acceptable nurse
to people of refinement; and such a one must become attached
to those she serves, if treated kindly. To make a kind and sympathizing
nurse, one must have waited, in sickness, upon those she
loved dearly. A nurse should use the precaution of wearing
camphor, or something of that nature, on her person, particularly
where there is contagious fever. The room should be large and
well ventilated, and preventives used to keep the infectious air
from spreading. A better class of women are employed to wait
on the sick than formerly. The infirmary for women, established
by Dr. Blackwell, in New York, is designed partly as a school for
nurses. There is also an institution in Philadelphia for training
them. Nurses earn from $4 to $10 a week. Some wait only on
male patients, some only on ladies; some attend incurables, but
the most serve in general sickness. Mrs. B. gets $7 and sometimes
$8 a week and her board for monthly nursing. She knows some
that get $10 a week. She stays in the room with the lady and her
infant, and takes care of and waits on them. When food is to be
prepared, the child's clothes washed, or anything of that kind done,
she rings a bell and gives orders to a servant. Mrs. B., another
ladies' nurse, charges from $8 to $10 a week, according to the
amount of rest she loses at night. She told me that most good
physicians keep a list of the best nurses. A nurse is expected to
be able to make all the nice dishes required by her patient. In
most small places, she is not expected to have the assistance of
any one else, unless the sickness is very protracted, or the patient
is delirious. In some places, a nurse is expected to close the eyes
of the dying, and wash them after death, and perform any other
service of that nature. But it is not uncommon for an undertaker's
wife to be sent for to perform these duties, and take a
measure for a shroud. For these services she is paid from $3 to
$5. A nurse runs the risk of contracting a contagious disease;
but, if the system is in a good condition, there is not much danger.
As long as people are sick, which will be as long as there
are any, nurses will be employed. Of course, there is most to
do in sickly seasons. I called on Mrs. P., who charges $5 a week
for her services. She does all that is required for the patient,
except give medical advice. She would rather wait on men than
women, as they are sure either to pay better wages or make presents.
As she has had children of her own, and raised them all,
she feels competent to take care of children in sickness. It is
well for a woman to have a home to go to, when relieved from the
labor and anxiety of nursing.
443. Steamboat and Railroad News Venders.
Boys and men are much more frequently engaged in the sale of
newspapers, than women and girls. They are more disposed to
sell edibles. We have seen some little girls selling papers on the
streets of New York and Philadelphia; but we do not remember
ever to have seen women selling papers at railroad depots or on
steamboats, though many are seen with baskets of sweetmeats.
Many, perhaps, cannot read, and do not wish to sell papers with
whose contents they are unacquainted. Others may think they
will be less likely to make any profit by their sale. Some women
sell papers at stands on the streets of New York, and about the
hotel doors. I saw a newspaper boy with an armful of Ledgers.
He had sixty that he had bought at three and a half cents apiece,
and was selling at four cents apiece. A girl that sells newspapers
at the door of a hotel on Broadway, told me that she and her
mother take turns about in being at the stand, and the profits of
their joint sales are from 50 cents to $1 a day. She has several
Sunday customers, to whose houses she takes ordered papers.
444. Street Musicians.
Organ grinders and street
harpers have ever found a fair representation in the softer sex.
Such representation is, however, among our foreign population—
German
and Italian, mostly. Last summer, in the streets of
Philadelphia, might be seen, from day to day, a German woman
with an organ on her back, and a baby in a hand-wagon, going
from street to street, stopping now and then under a window to
play. And in New York was another, whose organ was placed
in a small barrow, which she wheeled through the streets of the
city. We have seen two old women going through the streets of
New York, one playing an organ, the other a tambourine; and a
few days since, we observed one drawing very creditable music
from a violin. Girls in the Swiss costume are sometimes seen
walking from place to place, with a harp and tambourine. Some
people say that, by the encouragement of street musicians, we
encourage idleness. Most such people would treat a musician
with scorn, and close the door in their faces, but step out where
they could enjoy the music and save their pennies; or they would
stand behind closed shutters, that their neighbors might not think
them capable of having such vulgar taste as listening to a street
musician. Now, we may encourage a disposition to roam, but
scarcely idleness. This propensity to roam may be unfavorable
to the cultivation of business habits; but the class of listless
Italians who engage in it could never become business people.
In the first place, harpers, violinists, and flutists must depend on
their own skill and knowledge of music, to perform. They must
prepare for their particular vocation, as others do. Those who
play on organs, harmonias, and similar instruments, where no
knowledge of music is necessary, we must admit, require no training;
but walking, as most musicians do, from eight to twenty
miles a day, is in itself laborious. We have been told that in
New York most street musicians are employed by two or three
individuals, who furnish the instruments, and allow the carriers
to have so much of the proceeds. In older countries, there is a
greater variety in the instruments used by street musicians.
"There are sometimes fifty persons engaged in the sale of second-hand
musical instruments on the streets of London."
445. Tavern Keepers.
The keeping of taverns in small
villages, or on the roadside in the country, furnishes some with the
means of gaining a livelihood. Women engaged in this business
should be wives whose husbands can attend to receiving travellers,
settling bills, ordering horses, and such duties, or widows with
sons old enough to do so. It is laborious enough for a woman to
superintend the table and bed rooms, and the man must be in
wretched health, or good for nothing, that cannot attend to the
outdoor duties. Much money has been accumulated by some
people keeping taverns in the Western country, where fifty cents
is the usual price for a meal. Indeed, the accommodations are
often such that a person cannot be rendered comfortable, and yet
the price paid would command all the comforts of a good boarding
house in a large town. It is the same case with the hotels,
or saloons, at some railroad depots. At others an abundance of
life's good things is furnished. The tavern keepers of London
have a pension society.
446. Travelling Companions.
Travelling alone, is
most favorable to thought, but not to pleasure. How much more
we enjoy a lovely scene in nature, or the novel and brilliant
sentiments of an author, when in company with one to whom we can
talk freely! Good conversational powers, and an ability to appreciate
the beautiful, are desirable in a travelling companion. Conversation
should flow in a free, easy, unrestrained current. Will
it not promote the entertainment and edification of rational, responsible,
and immortal beings, to engage in wholesome conversation—to
exchange sentiments in regard to books and the improvements
of the age—to learn of the heavens above and the earth
beneath? In talking with strangers, might not much be learned
of their various countries, and a thousand things pertaining to
them? Conversation exercises the imagination, gives play to a
talent of invention, and strengthens the reasoning faculty. It
sharpens thought as fermentation does wine. It tends, also, to restore
the diseased imagination of the secluded and morbidly sensitive.
447. Mistresses.
We scarcely know that it is in
place to say anything to this large and influential class of
ladies. Yet, as we treat of servants, and endeavor to impress
their duty upon them, we hope we may be excused for saying
a few words to those who have charge of them. From the
relation existing between a mistress and her servants, the mistress
is supposed to have had superior mental and moral advantages.
Then let that strongest of all incentives, a good example, be given.
In some cases, the only good influence likely to be exerted over
the servant, is by the mistress. No woman of right feelings can
look upon her servants as mere beasts of burden. She knows and
feels that they have souls, and are accountable beings; that each
one is capable of extremes of misery and happiness. Should they
not therefore receive kind and careful instruction in what is right?
If the same regular system of domestic service were employed in
this country that exists in Europe, housekeepers would be saved
much labor. There, each department, even of kitchen labor, is
distinct, and a servant is promoted according to her industry and
improvement. But the expense of a large number of servants is
one that most people in our country feel unable to support. Difficulties
often arise from labor being required of servants that
they have not stipulated to perform; and no definite understanding
as to the extent of the privilege of receiving visitors is likely
to prove a source of trouble. The thousand petty annoyances
to which a mistress is subject, renders it necessary that she have
a perfect command of her temper. A mistress must make great
allowance for ignorance of what is right and wrong, for untamed
passions, strong appetites, unimproved reason, and want of self-control.
Many domestics are foreigners—ignorant, dull, and unacquainted
with our language. We are sorry to say some mistresses
expect their servants to be faultless, when they themselves,
with their superior advantages, are not so. Mistresses are responsible,
to some extent, for the spiritual, as well as the mental
and physical good of their servants. They are in charge of immortal
souls. The tendency of their influence and example must
be either elevating or depressing. The quiet of the Sabbath,
we think, might be granted to those in most departments of domestic
labor. Cooks, we think, might prepare a dinner on Saturday,
to be served cold on Sunday, with tea, if the weather be
cold, or the habits of the people require it. Sabbaths have been
called "milestones in the journey of life," and has not the poor
cook, steaming over the fire day after day, need to count the
milestones in the journey of her toilsome life? Says Mrs. Graves,
in her "Woman in America:" "Is it not strange, that, among
all the societies of the day, not one should have been formed for
the intellectual and moral improvement of domestic servants, and
for instructing them in household employments?" At the House
of Protection, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, girls and
women of good character, out of employment, or strangers in the
city, are received on application. The girls are taught to wash,
iron, do housework, sew, and embroider. Would that the Protestants
would imitate this noble charity more fully! I am happy
to add that in connection with the Child's Nursery (a Protestant
institution), Fifty-first street, New York, has been commenced a
servants' school. Young girls taken into the institution receive a
year's instruction in washing, ironing, house cleaning, and sewing.
448. Domestics.
We think an important work of benevolence
presents itself in Free States. It is providing homes for
servant girls, when they are out of employment or sick. Many
of them are in a strange land, unacquainted with the language
and the ways of the people. When sick, some of them are immediately
sent off by their mistresses to save the trouble of waiting
on them. The negroes of the Slave States, when sick, are (if
they have kind masters and mistresses) as tenderly cared for as
any member of the family, and are never without a home in health
or in sickness. That lonely and wretched feeling of having no
place to consider home, is not their experience. Connected with
this subject, arises one to which we have never yet given much
attention, but which forces itself on our mind as one calling for
attention from the benevolent: it is the establishment of institutions
for the afflicted portion of the colored population, both in
Slave and Free States. We refer to the blind, the deaf and dumb,
and the insane. We know of no separate institution for such,
and no arrangement whatever, with the exception of limited arrangements
for the insane, in connection with institutions for
white people. Now and then we hear people advocate the old
plan of binding orphans and destitute children. Whether that
would be advantageous, would depend altogether on the kind of
people to whom they were bound. Some servants soon fail,
and are not fit for service more than a few years. It arises mostly
from their exposure to cold and dampness without being properly
clothed and fed, and sometimes from a too free indulgence in the
pleasures of the palate, particularly that of the consuming liquid
which burns out life and sense. The hard work that most Irish
women can perform, and the large number in this country, have
made them the most numerous domestics in the Free States.
They are generally employed as maids of all work. I think the
number of American girls going into service is increasing. The
majority of white female domestics in this country are single
women, from sixteen to thirty-five years of age. In Providence,
R. I., a census was taken in 1855, stating, among other particulars,
the number of American families having servants, the
number in foreign families, and the aggregate; but the number of
white domestics has never been fully taken in the United States,
even when collecting statistics for the census. A short time ago,
we counted in the New York
Herald eight columns of situations
wanted, three fourths of which were by female domestics. It
shows what a surplus there is of domestics in the cities, that no
doubt could find situations through the country, and in the villages.
The majority of female domestics would rather starve
in New York than go to the country, or even little towns around
for fair wages. I think it arises from the fear that they will
not find associates. A social feeling is natural, but should be
controlled by circumstances. With many, the great drawback is
the fear that they may not be able to have the privileges of their
own particular church; and still another is that they may not find
the place to which they go, or are sent, exactly what it is represented
to be, and the expense that would be incurred by a
return. Domestics are more respected in the country, and treated
more as members of the family, than domestics in towns. The
preference is usually given, in towns and cities, to domestics from
the country, because of their superior strength and better health.
"For a person to be a good servant, there are three requisites:
first, she must have professional skill in her calling; secondly, she
must be a good woman; thirdly, she must have feelings of kindliness
and regard to her master and mistress." In 1853, domestics
were receiving wages in San Francisco proportioned to the prices
paid for everything else. Cooks got $100 a month, and board; house
servants, from $35 to $70, and board. Chambermaids $40 to
$70, and board. Prices have fallen since 1853 in California, but
good female domestics can now earn there from $25 to $30 a
month besides board. "In most towns through our country
domestics get from $1.25 to $2.50 a week, and board. We give
the rates of wages of domestics in New York (1857) at the intelligence
offices. Maids of all work, very raw, $4 per month;
average, $5; good, $6 to $7. Chambermaids—good, $6. Cooks—good,
$7 to $8—extra $12 to $16. Laundresses $8 to $10.
The cooks who obtain the highest rates, sometimes reaching $20,
are employed mostly in hotels or private families, in New York.
Five or six years' education in a restaurant, during which period
the pupil is supporting herself, will thus often add seventy-five
per cent. to the market value." I have had numberless statements
from different parts of Free States that it was almost impossible
to obtain good domestics. I have just taken up a paper
in which I read: "Female domestics are scarce in Minnesota
and Wisconsin, and obtain employment readily at good prices
in almost all the river towns." More particularly are female
domestics scarce, where there are factories. Girls, especially
American girls, prefer to work in factories to being servants, as
they think it more honorable, and it secures to them more time—in
short, they are more their own mistresses.
