The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work, by Virginia Penny, a Project Gutenberg eBook.

334. Bonnets.

The making of silk, crape, velvet, and other fancy bonnets gives employment to many females. Connected with this is the bleaching of straw, Leghorn, and hair bonnets. In large cities this is a separate branch of business. The making and selling of bonnets has long been one of the few employments open to women in the United States. If a milliner gets a good run of fashionable custom, she can do well. Most proprietors of millinery establishments make a handsome profit on their goods, but some of the girls employed receive but a scanty pittance. I have been told that in Holland men milliners are common. From a newspaper we take this pithy article: "A stranger in Mexico is struck with the appearance of the milliners' shops, where twenty or thirty stout men with mustaches are employed in making muslin gowns, caps, and artificial flowers." The cruelty exercised by some milliners and dress makers toward those in their employ, by requiring of them too long and severe application, is very great. Many girls suffer, as the effects, diseases of the spine and the eyes. "In the case of the milliners and dress makers in the London Metropolitan Unions, during the year 1839, as shown by the mortuary register, out of fifty-two deceased, forty-two only had attained the age of twenty-five; and the average of thirty-three, who had died of disease of the lungs, was twenty-eight." But the length of time required of their employés by milliners and dress makers in London is longer than in the United States. A number of women are engaged in the sale of millinery on the streets of London. Girls usually spend from six months to a year learning the millinery business. Unless a girl has taste and talent, she is not likely to be benefited even by a year's apprenticeship, for it is rarely the case that they are instructed in any but the mechanical work. No pains are taken to instruct them in what is becoming or stylish, what shades are most harmonious, how to make a graceful bow, and turn a well-trimmed end, to arrange a face trimming, and render attractive the tout-ensemble. A hundred small minutiæ are essential to a first-class trimmer, among which is a nice discrimination of colors and shades. A knowledge of the languages is, in cities, desirable for milliners' saleswomen. A love of dress is said to be created by working at such articles. Many bad effects must result from the indulgence of such a taste by those who receive the small wages of most girls working at the millinery and dress-making business. Over four hundred women are employed in the large straw-goods and millinery establishments in Philadelphia. W. had, in 1854, three hundred girls making and trimming bonnets, and twenty-six in the store as saleswomen. They were paid from $2.50 to $6 per week. W. & L., his successors, employ about twenty-five women constantly all the year, and about one hundred and twenty-five on an average of six months in the year. Their best workers and saleswomen receive about $1 a day; some get a little more, and some rather less. The business has increased greatly during the last few years. The only kind made by that firm are silk and fancy bonnets. One of the firm told me that the largest establishments of fancy bonnets in Paris employ only about fifty women. They have girls spend three months learning, and pay nothing during the time. A girl does well to earn seventy-five cents a day. Six years ago a good worker could earn $8 or $9 a week. C., Philadelphia, employs twenty-six girls in the store and millinery department, and pays about $4 a week, according to their capacity and diligence. Learners spend six months with him. Some time ago I saw it stated that there are "450 millinery establishments in New York city, and 1,800 milliners working in shops, and 900 at home;—35,000 silk and velvet bonnets are turned out of the workshops of New York city, in the three months of the fall, and the five months of what is known as the spring trade." "Of straw bonnets, one million two hundred thousand are sold annually to the milliners of New York for their trade alone." A tasteful and dexterous trimmer can generally secure a good place and fair wages, but the majority of milliner girls are apt to be out of employment, except in the spring and fall. Most in the millinery business are Americans; yet French, German, and English are well represented. The prices paid for bonnets vary greatly in New York, according to the locality and establishment from which they are obtained. No one who has not priced them could believe the difference would be so great for bonnets of the same material and make, merely because purchased on such a street or at such a store. The milliner girls of New York are said to be good looking. The time milliners and dress makers spend at their work is such as to preclude (except in a few first-class establishments) any time for exercise and mental culture. Their wages are so low that they could not indulge in any recreation if they had the time. Those girls that live at home can afford to do work cheaper generally than others. Such girls are drawbacks to those who pay their board. Western merchants do not purchase as much as formerly in New York, because milliners have gone West. Southerners have purchased, until lately, nearly all their bonnets at the North. There are, or will be openings in the South for milliners. In 1845, "apprentices at the millinery business in New York gave one year to learn, boarded themselves, and, in some of the most aristocratic establishments, had to pay a bonus." Now it is different. The time given is usually six months, and an apprentice receives her board for her work. Mrs. S., Broadway, employs about fifty hands in the busy season—all American girls, very genteel looking. It requires six months to learn. They are not paid during the time; and, after that, are paid according to abilities. I called in one establishment where there were two girls employed, American. They received each $6 a week. A milliner told me she wanted a first-class workwoman, and would pay from $6 to $7 a week, according to her swiftness and taste. I called in a small store of dry and fancy goods, with which was connected a millinery. The young lady waited on customers, and, in the intervals, trimmed bonnets for the store. She received $1 a day, and is at the store by half past seven, and leaves at nine at night. She lives near, so she goes home to her dinner and supper. A lady told me of a Miss M., on Canal street, who commenced the millinery business five years ago with twenty dollars, and is now worth $3,000. A milliner in New York told me she could, by piecework, sewing early and late, make $7 per week. Mrs. T. has learners spend six months, during which time they are not paid. After that she gives them from $3 to $7, according to competency. The number of hours spent in the store depends on the agreement of the parties. One can best learn where there are vacancies by inquiring at the millinery shops and of girls working at the business. At a fashionable millinery, on Broadway, the lady in the showroom told me the girls receive from $3 to $12, working ten hours a day. There is one that selects, arranges, and invents, who receives $12 per week. A surplus of indifferent hands can always be obtained. Sometimes good hands fail to get employment, because in busy times some indifferent hands are engaged, and it is difficult to get rid of them. She has had to turn away many nice-looking girls seeking for work. On back streets and avenues in New York, women work longer, and the stores are kept open later than on Broadway. On Division street, large cases of bonnets are exposed for sale in summer on the sidewalks. In the poorer portions of a city, people live much and sell mostly out of doors. Their crowded apartments and the high price of rent account for it. D., on Broadway, informs me that he knows of an invention connected with his business—the sale of straw goods—that will throw ten thousand people, mostly men, out of employment. He says his girls spend all they make on dress. He has two forewomen, to each of whom he pays $500 a year. They never save a cent. He had one to whom he paid $1,000, but she never laid by a dollar. Women, he thinks, have not as much originality of thought as men. They seldom invent. He would give $1,000 a year to a woman that would think for him, and originate styles, and combine and arrange the trimmings of his bonnets with taste. He walks on Broadway, and studies the fashion of bonnets; but none of his women ever do. (Perhaps they have no time.) Women, he thinks, never acquire such proficiency as men. They advance to a certain degree in the art, and ever after are stationary. He thinks it is partly because the majority look forward to marrying, and partly because they are so constituted that they are not susceptible of acquiring the highest degree of excellence. (I fear that D. does not consider that women have not had as much time nor so many opportunities for improving themselves as men, nor have they as much to stimulate them.) He pays women from $3 to $8 per week. His girls spend four months learning. B., another Broadway bonnet-dealer, told me "good workwomen could at any time find employment by going to the country towns around, but they do not like to go from the city. Milliners often come to the city, and spend two weeks trying to get hands, and then pay them more than they are worth to go. His forewoman directs some of the trimmings, but part are left to the taste of the girls. His is a wholesale business, and he trims many bonnets before sending them away. Some of his girls earn on an average $7—a forewoman more. The occupation is not entirely filled by good hands, and pays well. He employs his hands about eight months." One of the proprietors of a straw-goods warehouse told me "his women earn from $6 to $10 (average $7 a week), ten hours a day. The season commences December 1st, and runs to March 15th, and again from July 1st to September 1st. Taste, industry, and imitative powers are the qualities most needed. He employs about sixty in the busy season. When that is over, some go to millinery shops and work, some to the country, and some to towns in the surrounding States. The girls that work in cheap shops are mostly Germans, and earn from $2 to $4. Some women, while learning, receive their board for their work. By quilling ruches and such work, if not by their bonnet work, they can earn their board. He does not pay learners, because the waste of materials amounts to the worth of their work. Girls of Irish parentage often make good milliners, and display very good taste in trimming." A Boston milliner writes: "The wages of the women I employ vary from $3 to $15 per week, of ten hours a day, according to the amount of custom they can bring, and their aptness for the business. There are comparatively few persons that make good milliners. As a milliner, one must have good taste and nimble fingers; as a saleswoman, she needs to understand human nature, have activity, an honest heart, and good disposition. The best seasons are from March to July, and from September to January." A lady in Reading, Pa., who employs girls, informs me "she pays $3 a week, ten hours a day, to some; to others, $1.50, but the latter she boards. A knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic is desirable." A milliner in Auburn, N. Y., pays from $2.50 to $5 per week, of ten hours a day. A girl spends six months learning, if she boards herself; one year, if boarded by her employer. The dull months are July, August, January, and February. A lady in Poughkeepsie writes "she gives from $2.50 to $3.50 and board to some, and from $4 to $4.50 and dinner to those who lodge and otherwise board themselves. It requires one year and a half to learn the business thoroughly, and during the time they receive only board. None should learn millinery except those who have homes, or design to carry on the business. Her girls work from 7 A. M. to 7 P. M. The business is easy and pleasant to the industrious and to those who can sit much. Out of work hours, they have time for study, attendance on lectures, meetings, &c. Board, $2." Millinery is often carried on in connection with some other business, in small towns. A lady who combines millinery and book selling, in Easton, Pa., furnishes board and pays from $1.50 to $2 per week, of twelve hours per day, to her girls. She pays about one half the price of male wages. If they spend six months learning, she pays their board. Two or three first-class milliners could find employment in Sacramento, California.

335. Bonnet Frames.

Bonnets, of course, are worn in all civilized countries, and as long as bonnets are worn there must be bonnet frames. Several hundred women are employed in bonnet-frame making in New York. K. employs two hundred girls, and H. one hundred and fifty. The time of learning is from two weeks to two months, but some never learn. The more practice a worker has, the better she succeeds. Learners are paid nothing. Some women working at the trade, take learners for their labor. Workers earn from $2 to $12 a week, but it is a rare thing any earn the last-mentioned sum. Fast hands, to work constantly from 6 A. M. till 10 P. M., sometimes can. The usual price, in all respectable establishments, is fifty cents a dozen. In busy seasons there is sometimes a scarcity of hands. There are no factories South and West, consequently they present openings for the business. Apprentices generally commence in March. The busy seasons are from January to June, and from August to December. Some houses are not busy until in February, and their fall business lasts till January. The art of making the wire part of the frames is learned in six weeks. The crowns are made by machinery attended by women. Some manufacturers have all their women to work in the establishments, but the majority have the work taken home. H. says "the business is the same, so far as confinement is involved, as making up clothes at home. The girls come two or three times a week for their work; so they have that much walking. The prospect of work to competent hands is good. He has a great many to reply to his advertisements for learners, but for hands he has lately advertised seven times and got but five. Some leave the business for places as saleswomen in millinery establishments; but that is more uncertain, for it is more difficult to retain the same place long. It requires a year to learn thoroughly. It is necessary that the work be uniformly done; for instance, one hundred and twenty bonnet frames should be so uniform that one would not differ from another. Buckram frames are used to shape them on. The wages paid, he said, vary as much as the rainbow. They range from $2.50 to $8. He knows one woman that earns $10 a week now and then. He sends goods away to California, and other parts of the Union. He also manufactures for the city trade. The season for work to send away commences about the 20th of January, and ends about the middle of May; the fall season begins 20th July, and ends 15th December. The city trade gives work in the intervals. A girl of intelligence and ability can make enough to keep her when out of work. Some employers keep their hands all the time, for the sake of having them the next season. The girls employed in the business are mostly Irish and Americans. He boarded some of his girls, but they would associate with the servants. What was said before them was repeated to the servants, and vice versa. They got the impression that he was making money off their board, though he charged but $2 a week. He thinks the result of large numbers of girls congregating in the same house is bad. The influence of one depraved one may be exerted over every fourteen good ones, and discontent and rebellion be the consequence. Few persons are willing to board working girls, because the remuneration is small, and the girls are expected to be furnished with nearly the same advantages as higher-priced boarders. Those that work in their rooms are about the house nearly all the time, and all expect the privilege of using the laundry for doing their washing."

338. Cloaks and Mantillas.

Mayhew says: "In London, the workwomen for good shops, that get fair or tolerably fair wages, and execute good work, can make six average-sized mantles in a week, working from ten to twelve hours a day; but the slop workers, by toiling from thirteen to sixteen hours, will make nine such mantles in a week." At a wholesale store, Philadelphia, where sixty women are employed, I was told they earn from $3 to $6 per week. The head cutter has $6, the assistant, $5. When the work is finished at the wholesale houses, the good hands can find work at the retail houses. The best and most steady hands are kept in work all the year. Miss S., New York, has her stitching and seaming done by machines. She pays $5 a week to a good operator. She does her own cutting. The prospect of employment to learners is good, even in the city, in prosperous times. She has sold a great deal to Southern ladies stopping at the hotels. She estimates one machine to do as much as seven sewers. M. pays his girls $5 a week, and they work in daylight only. A cutter designs, and consequently should have taste, judgment, and experience. A good cutter can earn from $7 to $10 a week, and usually has one assistant, who superintends the girls while at work. Several mantilla manufacturers have failed, and he could get fifty thousand mantilla makers to-day. G. & Co. make for wholesale houses. They pay by the piece, and a girl can earn $4 a week, taking work home with her at night. It requires from six weeks to three months to learn. Nothing is paid during that time. Mrs. M., who makes mantillas for S., Broadway, says she takes learners, but they do not learn anything, for most they do is to pick out basting threads, run errands, &c. Good sewers can make from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Cutters can earn from $6 to $7. She thinks the prospect for a few, that would properly qualify themselves, would be good in the South or West, provided they find openings, take hands from New York, and be willing to incur some expense for a short time. In Richmond, Savannah, and Charleston, it has been almost impossible to get good hands. S. wanted a woman cutter, and would pay from $8 to $10 for a competent one. His work is done mostly in the house, and continues all the year. It is almost entirely done by machine. B—s (German Jews) employ German girls mostly. They prefer to keep old hands that have been with them several years. They think German girls most industrious, and love best to make money. American girls, B. charged (I think unjustly) with working just enough to get along, and spending all their spare time promenading. According to his account, cutters earn from $15 to $20 a week. He employs his girls most of the year. The occupation of mantilla making, he says, is more than filled in New York. Board, $2.50 to $3. At H.'s wholesale mantilla depot, I was told it is best to learn to make mantillas with those who sew for the mantilla merchants. Some of their girls sew in the building, some take their work home. If they do not know applicants for work, they require some one as security, who has property or is in business for himself. A gentleman told me that, not long since, he saw an advertisement by a mantilla manufacturer for men to make mantillas and cloaks. A manufacturer in Boston writes me he "employs seventy-five women, and pays them mostly by the piece; some receive as high as $12 per week, average $6. They are paid by the piece from the first; but until they acquire dexterity, they can earn but $3 or less per week. Cloak and mantilla making is constantly increasing, like the ready-made clothing business. The busy seasons are from February to July, and from September to December. Many are out of employment about three months in the year. As sellers of goods, he finds men better qualified, because of having been educated from children with views to business. The New England States are the best for manufacturing, as in other localities it is more difficult to obtain female help. Board, from $2 to $3." Another cloak maker in Boston writes: "I employ from twenty to thirty women (mostly American), and pay by the day. They work nine hours a day, and receive from $4 to $10 a week. A good sewer, with taste, will learn in six months. Some learners I pay, some I do not. Spring and autumn are the most busy seasons. The girls are not out of employment two months. I employ three ladies as saleswomen. Board, from $2 to $5 a week." A cloak and mantilla maker in New Haven writes me "he employs twenty-five American girls, and pays by the week, from $4 to $8. He pays learners when they have spent six months at the trade. His girls are principally farmers' daughters, who are rapidly taking the place of men in stores. Board, $2.25 to $3.50." A manufacturer in Providence writes: "I employ women in making and trimming bonnets, making cloaks and mantillas, and as saleswomen in my store. I pay by the week, from $3 to $8—average, $4.75—ten hours a day. Six months is the time usually spent in learning either trade. In January, February, July, and August, some of my workers are out of employment. All are Americans, and pay for board from $2 to $2.50." P., of Providence, "employs about twenty girls making dresses and cloaks, whose wages depend upon their ability as sewers; average price per week, about $4."

339. Costumes.

P. pays his girls (five in number), each, $3 a week. They work from eight to five o'clock. He has no difficulty in getting hands. Anybody that can sew can make costumes, but it requires taste for the design and arrangement of such as his—theatrical. B.'s girls sew at the house, 9½ hours in winter, and the best earn from $3 to $4 a week. Their costumes are theatrical, and are very slightly put together. A slow, careful sewer would not answer for them. They want their work done so that it will rip up easily. They have many costumes on hand for sale. They have a lady cutter. They give employment but four months, and they are in winter. W., employed in both flag and costume making, has been in the business since 1822, and employs six girls all the year. Flags, costumes, &c., used in the South, have always been ordered in New York, so there will be some openings in the South for such work. W. pays $3 and $4 a week to his best hands, and has his sewing done in the house. His work is of a superior quality, and, consequently, commands a good price. He employs only correct and fast sewers. He thinks there are openings for girls of good moral character, properly qualified. A lady cutting out costumes told me that it requires judgment to make the two halves alike—sleeves, for instance; also to know in how short a time an article can be made up, where and how to get workers, &c. It is difficult to get good hands, and some of the materials are costly—so they do not like to give work to any one they do not know. A spangler receives from them 62½ cents a day. Mrs. T. employs a number of hands, paying $3 a week to those that work in the house—ten hours a day. Those that take their work home are, of course, paid by the piece. She does all her own cutting out. It requires ability to fit, ingenuity to design, and taste to execute. Spangling pays best. She had a lady tinselling and spangling for her, that made a good living at it. She does opera and theatrical work, mostly. She makes some ball costumes also. Equestrian work she does not like, as it is pretty much made up of horse trappings. The prospect for those who would learn it well, she thinks very good. She finds it difficult to get superior workers. The girls that sew for costumers are mostly those who prefer that to going out to do housework, because they can have their evenings as their own. It is usual to have a costumer travel with an opera troupe, who directs and superintends the making up of costumes, and dresses the prima donna before she makes her appearance on the stage. Mrs. S. takes learners, paying them half price for two or three months, while learning. She makes up most after Thanksgiving, for the Christmas festivities; but in summer she makes up some ball costumes, and apparel and drapery for tableaux, and operas at watering places. She has from one to two hundred women and girls sewing for her at different times. Frequently she is very much hurried, and must employ a great many to assist, for bills announcing operas are often out before the costume is brought to her. At W.'s, they pay $3 a week—ten hours a day—and are most busy about Christmas.

340. Dresses.

In Germany, many dress makers are men, and there is one on Broadway, New York. France is the fountain head of fashion for ladies' dress. Most of the fashions, however, are Americanized when introduced into this country. Dress is, to some extent, an index to the mind of the wearer. Judgment and good taste are the best guides. Several things are to be taken into consideration—age, complexion, proportion, means, station, comfort, and decorum. A lady, with command of a full purse, can dress as she pleases. Rich and elegant clothing, appropriately made, is an ornament, and well becomes those that can afford it. With a scant purse, a lady cannot dress very handsomely, yet she may always observe neatness and propriety of costume. A passion for dress is apt to betray an empty mind or great vanity. Much of the beauty of a dress depends on its tasteful make. If the figure is bad, it improves it. If good, it adds to the beauty of the figure, which is one of the most impressive modifications of beauty. In dress making, a lady has only to establish a reputation as a successful fitter and fashionable trimmer, and she will be sure of a run of custom and handsome profits. I am sorry to say, in the majority of dress-making establishments, no reliance can be placed on the word of the principals, in regard to the time work will be finished. While many of those at the head of dress-making establishments are realizing dazzling profits, the poor sempstress, working in busy times from twelve to sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, receives the generous allowance of from $1.50 to $4.50 a week. But few, and those only of much skill, taste, and dexterity, ever gain better prices. Fitters and forewomen, in some places, gain from $4 to $7 per week. I believe it is generally thought men fit better than women, so many ladies have their basques and riding habits made at tailors' establishments. We do not see why the plan used by tailors, of fitting by measure, is not more generally applied to dress fitting. Dress making is more fatiguing than millinery work, because you have to sit at it more steadily and there is more sameness in it. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Those who can secure sewing in good families, and have some decent place to go in the intervals, are better off than most others. They receive from 50 cents to $1.25 per day and their dinner. It would probably require a little time to become known; and one, to succeed, must know how to do all parts, from the fitting to the finishing off; so it requires skill and a thorough knowledge of the business. A lady who sews by the day told me she often gets her system out of order by the different food of the several families she is in, and the different times of taking it. We think there are no regular hours for those who work by the day in New York. The length of the day depends on the mercy of the employer. "Dress makers in Boston, some years ago, adopted the ten-hour system, and now average $1.25 per day. Previously they received but 75 cents or $1." The demand for dress makers in the Northern and Eastern States is fully met, but throughout the South and West there are openings, here and there, for good dress makers. There is probably no occupation in which there are so many incompetent persons as that of dress making. Many persons take it up without having learned the trade at all, and many who become reduced in circumstances immediately resort to it without any preparation, and are destitute, not only of experience, but of skill, ingenuity, and taste. In New York, the conditions on which apprentices are taken vary greatly. Some pay nothing for six months, and even receive $10 or $15 for instruction. The girls are kept at making up skirts, sewing up sleeves, and such plain work, and so learn nothing during the time. Some are taken for a year, and boarded during that time for their work. Some live at home, and are paid from $1.50 to $2.50 for their work. Some are taken for two years, to learn the trade thoroughly, and work from eight to twelve hours a day. Some apprentices have not the ability to become good fitters and sewers, and are destitute of artistic taste; but women seldom change from one employment to another on discovering their incompetency. The majority, probably, have not the time or means of doing so. Miss B. says those who sew for dress makers receive from $2.50 to $4 a week, working ten hours a day. Apprentices that can sew right well when they commence, receive at some houses $2 a week for six months, but they are not taught to fit unless the employer is a conscientious woman and there is a special contract. When the busy season is over, the inferior hands are turned off without an hour's warning. It is desirable to get a good class of customers, that the pay will be sure, and that the dress maker may know what to rely on. Some dress makers in New York have kept the patterns of ladies in the South, and made their dresses for years. If a slight change was needed, for instance, the length increased, or the waist made smaller, or vice versa, the lady wrote accordingly. Miss B. never works for servants. They do not pay as well, and are just as particular as their mistresses. She never works for a stranger, unless recommended by one of her customers. Mrs. C. told me that a girl of fair abilities can learn dress making in six months. The first three months she does not pay anything, but the last three $1 a week. After they have learned she pays according to their taste, skill, and industry. One girl, that has good taste in trimming and finishing off, she pays $4 a week; another, that sews well and is industrious, but deficient in taste, she pays $2. They all live at home. Those girls that live at home are often willing to work for less than the ordinary wages, as they are not at the greatest of all expenses—boarding. They work from seven in the morning until six, having an hour at noon. They prefer it to the hours of some of the Broadway shops, which are usually from eight to seven. By the first arrangement they are enabled to get home early and go to any place of amusement. Miss H. told me that three years ago she earned $7 per week, ten hours a day, sewing for a French lady on Broadway, who had a great run of Southern custom. There were many strangers in the city at the time. "Servant girls seldom pay over $1 for making a dress; yet 10,000 servant girls in New York city, will have from three to six and eight new dresses a year." At Wilson's Industrial School, New York, some of the older girls are taught dress making.

341. Dress Caps and Head Dresses.

The making of ladies' dress caps is an extensive and important branch of business. The rates at which they are now put together, enable most ladies to buy them already made. In large cities there are separate establishments for the sale of them, but in smaller towns they are sold at milliner shops. Much taste should be, and generally is, exercised in this department of business. In London, on the streets, the caps and bonnets exposed for sale are placed in inverted umbrellas. On summing up what was told me by eight manufacturers of dress caps and head dresses, I find the prices they pay the women who sew for them, run from $2 a week to $10—the average $4. Some pay by the week, but most by the piece, which is usually most profitable to the worker, and most satisfactory to both parties. Superior hands prefer to work by the piece, and, when working for first-class stores, earn from $6 to $8 per week. There is a scarcity of good hands in New York, and I would advise some ladies to learn. Taste, and swiftness of fingers are required. The finer and more delicate the hands of a worker the better. Some are employed all the year, but the majority are not. The busy season begins in January and lasts till the middle of May, and begins in September and lasts till the middle of October, when city work usually commences. Some houses, in the intervals, make up for the city trade. The South has depended almost entirely on the North for the supply of these articles. There will be openings in the South for establishments of the kind. One keeper of a large fancy store said to me, there are not more than ten first-class makers of dress caps in New York. He thought the Irish succeed, many of whom learn in the convents of their own country to use the needle well. Hands employed by the week usually work ten hours a day. Most people prefer to employ the hands they have had. The best place for learning is in a shop confined to the city trade. Mrs. D. devotes herself to making up caps for the dead, but employs sewers to make ladies' dress caps. It requires time to get to making them tastefully and rapidly. An experienced hand can earn from $4 to $6 a week, piecework. It is thought three months' time is necessary for learning, and during that time a girl cannot earn over $1 a week. Mrs. D. says some can earn but eight or nine cents a day while learning, and become discouraged and give it up. She will not trust any but experienced hands, on account of the loss of materials, for when badly cut, they cannot be altered into anything else, and, when they have to be ripped, lose their stiffening, and are only fit for the scrap bag. They can soon judge of hands by their appearance, the way they sew, and knowing for whom they have worked, and the kind of work that house turns out. They always require reference or deposit. They keep their hands all the year, making caps part of the year to send away, and the remainder of the year for city trade. Ladies' dress caps have been superseded to a great extent by fancy head dresses and flowers. Miss C., Broadway, told me her best hands earn, by the piece, from $6 to $7 per week. It requires three months to learn the business. Learners, that have some knowledge of sewing, receive from her $1 a week. Judgment, in size, form, and manner of putting together, is desirable. The busy seasons are spring and fall. There is rather a deficiency of good hands in New York, and in busy seasons it is sometimes difficult to get enough of indifferent hands. The French are very successful, on account of their cultivated taste. I was told that Mme. D. employs two Austrian girls that invent beautiful styles of head dresses. Mr. D. says the person that has the taste and ingenuity to invent pleasing styles will receive a good price. He had to pay $4 a dozen more for a new style of head dresses imported not long ago from Paris, merely because it was of a new design. He playfully remarked: "Fancy goods must bring fancy prices." A woman that has lived in Paris, and been engaged in the business there, and accustomed to observing the fashions and inventing them, would receive a high salary. He pays from $6 to $9 a week, according to qualifications. The abilities and taste of a person have much to do with the time of learning—six months are usually given. He pays $3 a week to smart learners. He sells rather more goods in fall, as ladies are then preparing for balls and parties. He prefers to have foreigners to work for him, as he is himself a foreigner. His store girls leave at 6 P. M. Those that board pay $3 a week. In most stores for the sale of ladies' fancy articles, the ladies in attendance make up such articles, when not waiting on customers. From a larger establishment, the superintendent sent me the following report: "Women earn from $4 to $10 per week, being paid by the piece. It requires from three months to one year to learn the business. After six weeks, the hands are paid a small trifle. Women are employed about eight months in the year, but first-class hands find employment always. In busy seasons the work must be done—so hands cannot limit themselves to time, but must be employed late and early. The demand for first-class hands is great, and enough cannot be found. I employ from one hundred and fifty to two hundred on an average. Most of my hands are foreigners, and married women that live at home."

343. Ladies' Under-Wear.

A sempstress in New York can seldom earn more than seventy-five cents a day—fifty is the more usual sum. At Mrs. C. & Co.'s, all the work is done by hand. They employ by the week and by the piece. They will not allow goods to be taken out unless they know the person to be reliable, because they find it difficult to get work back at the time promised. They sell most articles made up, about Christmas, and in the spring. People do not have half so much sewing done out as they used to, because so many own sewing machines, and they are not willing to pay the same prices that they formerly did. Some women that live and dress well in New York, take in sewing to obtain pinmoney. She mentioned one lady that came dressed in her elegant furs and point lace, and got sewing, she said, for a sick young friend; but when she came back, she said the friend was not able to do it, and so she did it herself, and would like to have more. She lived in style on —— street. The cutters of under-wear, who are competent and responsible, can earn $6 per week, and even more, but it requires considerable experience. A lady that has sewing done told me that nothing pays so poorly as white work. She requires a sample of work and a deposit from any one that takes sewing out, to the amount of the value of the article. A lady that has most beautiful under-wear made up for ladies in New York and in the South, told me her Southern orders have all ceased. Her work is mostly done by hand. She has a forewoman that bastes and cuts. She has not less than ten or twelve applicants every day for work. Some of her hands earn $5 or $6 a week, and others work just as long and do not earn $3. Some of her workers can earn $4 by embroidering, but sewing generally pays best. She pays her operator by the piece—so much a yard. When she had Southern orders, she sent goods by express, and the express collected the money on the goods. If the money was not paid by those who had ordered the goods, the express would not deliver them, but returned them. They were responsible for their return, in case they were not paid for. In the first place, something was paid for transmitting and collecting; in the latter, for transmitting both ways. Many ladies used to send their measures and directions, and she would make up accordingly. She finds bridal apparel most profitable. In large cities there is a small demand for the costume of artists, sea bathers, and practisers of gymnastics. At the Employment House, B., I was told they have more applications than they can attend to, for plain sewing; but fine sewing it is more difficult to get done. Fine sewing pays for itself very well, but coarse does not. At L. & T.'s, New York, they have every branch done, and pay sewers by hand as good prices as operators. A right neat and fast sempstress can earn $6 a week: it is piecework. Operators can earn $5 or $6. Part of the work is done in the building, and part is given out. At first they found it difficult to get superior sewers, but they have plenty now. They have sometimes employed 375 hands. About half their women are Americans. It is usual for the forewoman to do the cutting, and she can earn from $6 to $12. When they pay by the week, the girls work from 8 A. M. to 6 P. M., and have three fourths of an hour at noon. They pay by the week for making mantillas and cloaks. It is most profitable to the employées to pay by the piece. Their customers can rely on their work, and are willing to pay a good price for hand sewing. A lady that supplies under-wear told me that she finds it difficult to obtain any one that is reliable to give her work to—one that she can be sure will do her work well at the proper time. She pays those that work in the house $3 a week, of ten hours a day. Neatness, care, and expedition, she requires of her hands. There is an abundance of indifferent hands, but a scarcity of superior ones.

345. Patterns.

In large cities there is a constant call for a supply of new patterns; consequently stores are kept for the purpose of cutting and selling them. A dress and cloak making establishment is frequently connected with them. The sale of patterns to dress and cloak makers in the South and West is considerable—greater, perhaps, than that in the city. T., and Mme. D., are the leaders of this branch in New York. Mme. D. has in pattern making mostly young girls. A large room of young girls requires but two or three ladies to assist and direct. It takes but little time to learn. She does not pay until they have learned, and then pays young girls $1 a week and upward. T., son of the editor of the Bon Ton, told me their fashion magazines have a circulation of three thousand, mostly among milliners and dress makers. The plates are colored in Paris. Leslie's and Godey's plates are colored in this country. T.'s takes six French publications devoted to the fashions. They look over plates and select such styles as they think will be popular. They have a lady in Paris who writes to them from there, describing the fashions. They employ a lady in connection with their pattern making who, by looking at the plates, is able to cut out a mantle, sleeve, &c., exactly like the plates. Some ladies could never learn to do so. They employ ladies, both in pattern cutting and dress making, and pay from $3 to $5 per week—to a competent forewoman, $10 and $15. Women are paid small wages while learning. Their business is advancing—has advanced most during the last few years. Their trade is Eastern, Western, and Southern—mostly Southern. Their girls are employed from 8 A. M. to 6 P. M.; having an hour at noon. In the pattern business, there are just about enough of hands in New York. Spring and fall are the busy seasons. E. G. says the busy season commences the middle of January, when she is willing to receive learners. She gives instruction for nothing for one month; after that, she pays $2.50 a week, if successful, and continues to increase salary according to the abilities of the individual. A good hand can earn $5 per week, working ten hours a day. Another lady told me that in pattern making she gives instruction two months, paying nothing, but then they can earn $2.50, and, as they become more expert, can earn $3, $3.50, and $4. They are paid by the week, and it would be impossible to pay by the piece. It requires practice to become an expert cutter. She prefers, for pattern cutting, young girls from twelve to fifteen years old. In large cities, some women go around to cut patterns, sell stays, embroidery, &c.

346. Shoes.

The business of making and selling shoes opens a wide field of employment to women. The fashion, a few years back, of ladies making their own shoes, raged like a fever. Those that had leisure did so with economy, as the lasts and implements for working cost only $3, and the materials for a pair of shoes from sixty cents to $1. Afterward no further expense was needed but the materials. The fitting of shoes is basting, stitching, and putting them together. Fitting is generally done by females, and is so simple that children can work at it. A good deal of this work is done in families at the East. Crimping and bottoming are done altogether by men. Some firms in cities confine themselves to importing and dealing in shoe-manufacturers' tools, materials, &c. In Massachusetts, most of the shoes are made in country towns, where living is much cheaper than in the cities; and the business in cities is very much absorbed by foreigners, that can live much cheaper than Americans. The principal defect in ready-made shoes is their imperfect shape. It would be well for every adult to have a last made the exact shape of his or her foot, and keep it at the shoemaker's. "The application of machinery to the manufacture of shoes has made so vast a difference in the ease and rapidity of their production that those engaged in the business can scarcely realize the advantage they possess, and before they are aware of it they are in the way of creating a surplus. The effect of this change in their production will be to lessen the number of manufacturers and operatives." Says a writer in the Pennsylvania Inquirer: "Individuals that are prominent in the shoe business assert that about 2,000 females are employed in Philadelphia in binding shoes or sewing uppers; but they do not obtain steady work, and the average of their wages is only $75 to $100 per annum." Four thousand two hundred men are employed in Philadelphia in making women's shoes. Might not a large part of that work be done by women? Yes; the cutting, binding, stitching—indeed, the entire making of ladies' shoes might be done by women. Most of the stitching is now done by machines. The most depressed trades in New York, in 1845, were those of shoe and shirt making. From the New York Tribune of May, 1853, we take the subjoined extract: "The binding of children's shoes is paid for at the rate of two pairs for three cents, or eighteen cents a dozen pair; while for the full size, five cents a pair. Now a first-rate hand may succeed, by the closest application—say from fourteen to seventeen hours a day, if uninterrupted by domestic cares—in making, during the week, four dozen pairs, for which, after delivery and approval, she will be paid $2.40, that being the maximum paid, and representing the value of not less than eighty hours' labor; and from this miserable dole the cost of light and fire is to be deducted. We are not prepared to say this sum is never exceeded, as some houses may pay a slight advance on these prices; but it is more than sufficient for us to know that this is above the average that hundreds of women and girls in this city (New York) are earning from that source." We have seen it stated, elsewhere, that good shoebinders, in New York, usually earn from $4 to $7 a week. I talked with a shoe fitter in New York, who works for a large and fashionable store and employs a number of hands. Some of her operators have $6 a week, and have better wages than hand workers, because they can do more work in the same time. As sewing machines become cheaper, wages for work done by them will fall. Shoemakers made more money before ladies wore heels on their shoes, as they wore out more. Mrs. I., a shoe fitter, told me that she pays one of her hands $7, another $6, and none less than $4. It requires about six months for most women to learn the trade. The business is one that will extend. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Her hands usually spend but nine hours a day at labor, as stitching shoes is heavy work. Men usually do the cutting in the back of the store, and receive better wages than the women. The cutting is done by hand. Her workers pay $2.50 for board. There is a scarcity of good operators on uppers. Plenty of indifferent hands can be had at any time. She says American women are too fond of pleasure and dress. They make money, and then must have a day or two to rest. She was an Irish woman. The journeymen shoemakers of New York have an association for regulating prices and hours of work, and a lady branch was started, but has become extinct. A shoebinder in Brooklyn told me that he employs a number of girls, paying his operatives $3, $4, $5, and some even $6 per week. The machines have taken work from many, and lowered the prices of those that do it by hand. To make fancy shoes requires taste and judgment. The late strikes have given us, through the newspapers, some reliable information in regard to the starving rates paid for work, and wages have been somewhat increased by it. I heard a shoemaker say he knew one sewer that received forty cents for a week's work, stitching sixty pairs of gaiters. Two cents is what some of the Massachusetts women received for binding a pair of boots. Yet the consumer must pay as high for boots and shoes as ever. The reason given is, that leather costs more than formerly—a statement we are led to doubt when considering the increased facilities for tanning. An intelligent shoe fitter told me the prices of work were formerly much higher than now. The work that would formerly have brought fifty cents is now not paid more than twenty-five cents. Mrs. B. says well-dressed women sometimes come and bring what they say is a sample of their work. A few pairs will be given them to make, which they will bring in poorly stitched. She thinks any one in the shoe-making business that does her work well can always find employment. "In Ohio, several women are employed as shoemakers, and others are working independently and successfully, evincing both taste and ability in their elegant and substantial work." A manufacturer in Albany, N. Y., writes: "I employ ten women running sewing machines, binding by hand, and stitching with wax-thread and awl. I pay mostly by the piece, and my hands earn from $2 to $5 per week. Women cannot do men's labor in our branch. Learners are paid what they earn. Mechanical talent is a desirable qualification. The prospect for extension of the business is necessarily poor. Prison work is interfering much with our craft. Women can have steady work, if employers manage prudently. Women that work with awl and wax thread are mostly foreign." The returns of 1860 give 56,039 males and 24,978 females employed in making boots and shoes in New England; and in all the States, 96,287 males and 31,140 females. In Dublin, about five hundred women are employed in eight of the large establishments of that city in boot closing, and earn on an average eight shillings per week, of nine hours a day.

334. Bonnets.

335. Bonnet Frames.

336. Bonnet Wire.

337. Children's Clothes.