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

87. Sculptors.

Properzia di Rossi, Maria Domenica, Anna Maria Schurmann, Maria von Steinbach, Anne Seymour Damer, Falicie de Faveau, and in our own country and time Miss Lander, Harriet Hosmer, and Miss Stebbins, are among those who have proved the ability of woman to succeed in sculpture. Sculptors, it should be understood, seldom, if ever, labor with the chisel. They prepare models, which are made in a composition of clay or wax, and then superintend the imitation of these in marble. Sculpture is the chastest imitation of nature and the highest expression of the form and spirit of beauty known to art; and while woman is possessed of the finest sensibility and most exquisite perceptions, there can certainly be no reason why she should not succeed in it. Mr. Lagrange, in urging the establishment of Government schools of design in France, says: "Painting, engraving, and sculpture, encouraged as music and dancing are, promise equal success; they provide a more assured support in its being better acquired, and a more substantial renown, and especially a calmer and chaster existence. Painter, engraver, or sculptor, it is her works alone that claim the public eye. Her person is sacred; no one dares to lift the veil that conceals her countenance; no one presumes to call upon her to courtesy to feeble applause. A young girl, chaste and pure, she may watch by the lonely hearthside; a wife, she may not see her smiles and caresses in dispute as the seal of a purchased rite; a mother, she may educate her children under a name they will never be tempted to despise. Exhibitions, open to everybody, will afford the public an opportunity to measure her talent or genius; critics will confine their attacks to her works; and praise, if she deserves it, will reach her eyes and ears in terms that she will be able to listen to or peruse without the accompaniment of a blush." Mrs. Wilson, wife of a physician living in Cincinnati, has executed busts of her husband and children that are said to be excellent likenesses. Mrs. Dubois, of New York, has sculptured in marble several specimens. Misses Lander and Stebbins, and Miss Hosmer, we believe, find their art lucrative. Sculptors should attend anatomical dissections; should learn the structure of the human frame, and the appearance of the muscles under the various conditions to which circumstances may subject them. Indeed the study of anatomy is essential to success. In sculpture, we closely imitate the parent, nature. The most superior specimens of statuary are said to be modelled after nature, as seen in the unlaced, unpinched, unaltered original—just as nature's own hand has chiselled. In sculpture, modelling is the inventive part of the work, and requires taste and genius; copying is a merely mechanical operation. A pursuit of this kind, if followed from the love of it, becomes a soul-engrossing study. Means or friends to rely upon, for at least two years, during the time of study, will be necessary in most cases; for if the artist is to support herself while she studies, only the highest earnestness can sustain her; but then those that are not in earnest should not undertake this art—for "it is better to pursue a frivolous trade in a serious manner, than a sublime art frivolously." Without very decided talent it will be some time before a sculptor comes sufficiently into notice to sustain herself entirely by the filling of orders. "Sculpture has become almost a fashion in Paris; but a woman finds it difficult to devote herself to studies pertaining to the art. Though greater in number than painters, they have accomplished scarcely any remarkable works." Many women who might not undertake sculpture, might learn to work in marble for sculptors. A marble worker in its various branches, writes me: "I think women might be very well employed in the lighter parts of finishing. I suppose they are not so employed, because there has not yet been any organized and extended effort made to introduce them into this line of business. I am not sure, but think it likely, women are employed to a limited extent in chiselling marble in Italy and France. Miss Hosmer has done more than mould for others to copy. She has herself handled the mallet and chisel. The employment in general is healthy; but lettering, and indeed fine chiselling of any sort, requiring the eye to be brought near to the work, raises a dust, which is breathed into the lungs—though the injury is not very apparent till the lapse of years reveals it. The qualifications desirable are a good judgment, and eye for form, and a certain slight of hand. The prospect for marble workers is good in all departments." On the other hand, another writes: "Sculpture is too laborious for women, and if women practise the art, they hire all the work done." In Rome, two thousand women serve as models to painters and sculptors.

88. Steel and other Engravers.

Steel and copper engraving require a very good knowledge of drawing, and careful manipulation. A great advantage has been gained by substituting steel for copper plates. One beauty of steel engraving is that it can be done at home. Men like easy employments, and so have appropriated this one. An engraver must learn to convey the feelings of an artist. Lithography has seriously interfered with steel engraving, and photography has to some extent. There are very few journeymen engravers. Most go into business for themselves. Some women are employed in engraving copper cylinders for calico prints. Line and stipple are the most expensive engraving. Mezzotint is cheaper. Boys practise on copper, and do not work on anything valuable until they are able to engrave well. One reason that engravers do not like to take apprentices is, that they cannot do any thing under two or three years, of any value to their employer, but expect to be paid from the first. Besides, an engraver seldom has enough of such engraving as a learner can do to keep him constantly employed. Those who receive apprentices in New York take them for five years, and pay something from the first; but very few men in New York, in any branch of work, are willing to take apprentices. Much of the success of a learner depends on his inclination, taste, and individual exertion; and when he possesses these, they render him valuable to his master—so it proves a matter of mutual interest. All engraving is mechanical to a certain extent, but requires some artistic taste. In "Women Artists" we find the names of some ladies distinguished as engravers in Italy, France, Germany, and England, in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Jane Taylor and her sisters paid their share of the family expenses by engraving. Miss Caroline Watson was an engraver of portraits to the queen in the reign of George III. Angelica Kauffman and Elizabeth Blackwell both engraved on steel. We read: "In London, recently, one accomplished female engraver has turned her steel plates into a pleasant country house, which she means to furnish with the proceeds of her delicate painting on glass." In Paris, during the last thirty years, quite a number of ladies have earned a livelihood by steel engraving, and several are now employed there in card engraving, and engraving fashion plates. There are some engravers in the South and West, but there are openings for more. A card, seal, medal, and door-plate engraver writes: "The usual number of hours for engravers are from eight to ten. The business may be learned in from one to two years, to be of use; but to learn thoroughly requires three or four years. The business generally pays well by jobs, and I see no reason why females may not engrave as successfully as males with the same application."

89. Bank Note Engravers.

"Steel engraving was first practised in England by the calico printers; but it was first employed for bank notes and for common designs by Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, Mass." The American Bank Note Company, New York, employ about sixty girls, forty-seven of whom are engaged in printing or making impressions; the others in drying, assorting, and laying together the sheets to be placed under a hydraulic press. It requires but a few weeks to learn the part done by girls. Some are paid $3 and some $3.50 per week. They are mostly American girls. A lady told me that she heard a girl, who had been employed to cut up bank notes (done with scissors), say she often earned $9 a week. The company pay a boy $3 a week from commencement until through his apprenticeship, which is usually four or five years. Here a man can earn $100 a week, if a first-class bank note engraver; but in England not more than $10 or $12. There, however, paper money is but little used; a £5 note being the smallest in value. Bank note engraving is both mechanical and artistic. At the office of the National Bank Note Company, a gentleman showed me the various processes. He had often thought ladies would do well to learn bank note engraving. I saw two or three gentlemen engraving. The process is simple, but requires a good deal of patience and practice. Their girls are employed to place the sheet for an impression under a roller, and, after the impression is made, remove it. Some receive $3, and some $3.50 a week. It is dirty work, on account of the oil and ink used. Their girls wash every evening the blankets used on the cylinders. Bank-note engravers of the first order receive a salary of $4,000. Some receive from $2,000 to $3,000 per annum. Bank note engravers work but eight hours a day. Mr. M. thinks there would not be much difficulty, if a lady wanted to learn bank note engraving, from the prejudices of men, for some of them are not only just but generous. One of the gentlemen engraving knew several ladies in England that were bank note engravers.

90. Card Engravers.

I was told by a card engraver that it was not usual to pay a learner anything. He gives his apprentice only his board the first year. A card engraver may draw letters well, and not be able to write well, and vice versa. One should be steady and patient to draw and form letters, and possess some natural taste, to succeed. It requires also much practice. A card engraver can earn $5 a day, if he is industrious, and has sufficient work. A journeyman is paid in proportion to his abilities, from $5 to $25 per week. Some card engravers earn $2,000 a year, clear of all expenses. The older a city, the more engraving is done. In Europe, first-class merchants never use type cards, but engraved ones.

91. Door Plate Engravers.

I was told by a door plate engraver that a skilful person, who would apply himself closely, could learn the business, so that, at the end of one year, he could make a living. For door plate engraving, it is necessary to form letters well. The size of the letters for a given space must be divided by the eye. It requires great care, as one badly formed letter would spoil the whole plate. Engraving of any kind fatigues the back from stooping, and the eyes from straining. In door plate engraving the eyes suffer least fatigue. Of course less strength is necessary for plate engraving if the tools are of a good quality and in proper order.

92. Map Engravers.

Map engraving is divided into two kinds: the lettering and plain work. The last can be learned in six months by a person of taste and talent. The most that is needed is practice. A knowledge of drawing is not necessary for this branch. There is not much map engraving done in this country, because of the expense. Most is done in New York and Philadelphia. The best map engraving done in Paris is executed by ladies. There are also some ladies employed in map engraving in London, and card engraving is there quite common for ladies.

93. Picture and Heraldry Engravers.

Engraving pictures pays well—a man often earning $10 a day. A superior landscape engraver calculates to earn $2,500 a year. Mr. R. historical engraver, does the engraving for the Cosmopolitan Art Journal. He says: "In England, better prices are paid for historical engraving than here. Those who do the work receive less, but the employer has a greater profit than in the United States. More time is allowed the engraver in England to execute a piece of work." Mr. R. pays his hands from $7 to $10 a week, and the best historical engraver never gets in this country over $30 a week. In England the work hours of an engraver are nine; here seven. He says the art is dying out both here and in England. It is a something in which we can always be improving. Seven years was formerly the length of apprenticeship in England, and there an apprentice was paid nothing while learning; on the contrary, the parent usually pays a premium of £100. When an apprentice has finished, he will earn £1 a week, and continue to receive more according to his skill and ability. Some people send pictures from the United States to England to be engraved, saying they cannot do such work in this country as in England; while, if they would pay the same price, and allow the engravers as much time, it could be done just as well. Such an engraving as you would pay $150 for here, in England you would pay $200 for. In England it is customary for an engraver to confine himself to one style; for instance, in "Falstaff Mustering his Recruits," one engraver would do the wall, another the figures, and another the drapery. Mr. R. was paid only $2,000 for engraving "Falstaff Mustering his Recruits," and it took three men two years. The business is not unhealthy, and not injurious to the eyesight, although a glass must be used constantly. Mr. J., historical engraver, used to have persons employed that did the different parts of a picture, and he paid them each from $15 to $25 a week. He thinks, of those who learn metal engraving in Europe, not more than fifty per cent. pursue it as a vocation, and not above four per cent. attain perfection. Some engraving, both picture and letter, is done by etching, but the best and most expensive with a graver. Mr. J. M. Sartain writes in answer to a circular: "I have no females in my employment, because I work alone. To direct others or alter what they do wrong, takes longer than doing the whole work myself. Neither do I know of females being employed by others in my branch of business. But if I were willing to be troubled with the teaching of any one at all, I should choose a female. This is from my experience of the males I taught in times past. Women have the requisites more than men—patience, neatness, delicacy; and the occupation is as suitable for them as any other they are accustomed to adopt. An unmarried daughter of mine is about to learn from me, with a view to follow it as a profession. The chance of employment is however very limited, for the reason that the cost of printing plates separately necessitates, in an extensive class of pictorial embellishments, the use of woodcuts. This wood engraving is equally suited for females, and to a limited extent they are thus employed. The field in that branch is a wide one already, with a constantly increasing demand. In my own branch of engraving, the kind of skill required is that of drawing. The mere mechanical skill required in any kind of engraving is easily attained; but the art of drawing is the great thing, and positively demands aptitude and taste—at all events, quite close application and earnestness. Skill in drawing is a key that admits to a wider range of arts than I can readily enumerate, and successful and profitable employment in any engraving depends on that. I am chairman of the committee on instruction of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and in that capacity do all I can (as do also the other directors) to encourage female talent. We have seven or eight ladies among our students, and they certainly are fully equal to the males in capacity for acquiring art. Some model, others only draw. The whole of our academy studies are gratuitous. For whatever branch of the fine arts is to be followed, the first requisite is drawing, and the next is drawing, and the third and last is drawing." Mr. B., heraldic chaser, says there are several processes in making heraldry plates, sketching, engraving, embossing, chasing, and burnishing. He used to employ girls to burnish. The making of patterns for heraldry is never taught in this country to women, as it would cause the labor of men so employed to depreciate. He pays a man from $15 to $20 a week for chasing. He charges $1 for finding the coat of arms of an individual or family.

94. Telegraph Operators.

A new source of employment has been opened by the invention of the electric telegraph. Most of the telegraphing in England is done by women, and in the United States a number of ladies are employed as operators. To a quick and intelligent mind it requires but a short time to learn. An English paper says: "Here women do the business better than men, because of the more undivided attention they pay to their duties; but considerable inconvenience is found to result from their ignorance of business terms, which causes them to make mistakes in the messages sent. However, a short course of previous instruction easily overcomes this impediment." We have been told that, in one telegraph office in London, several hundred women are employed. I hope the application of steam to the operations of the electric telegraph may not interfere with the entrance of women into the occupation. In New Lisbon, Ohio, a young woman was employed, a few years ago, as principal operator in a telegraph office, with the same salary received by the man who preceded her in that office. "I was told by her," writes my informant, "that several women were qualifying themselves, in Cleveland, for the same occupation." The ex-superintendent of a line writes: "I have long been persuaded that ultimately a large proportion of the telegraphists, employed exclusively for writing, would be females, both because of their usually reliable habits, their ability to abstract and concentrate thought upon their engagements, their greater patience and industry, and the economy of their wages. In offices where there is a large amount of business, and, consequently, much intercommunication with customers, I have supposed the arrangement would be to have a clerk to receive and deliver communications, and the corps of operators and writers, composed exclusively of females, in an adjoining or upper room, apart from public inspection. And to this arrangement, I think, there is at this time very little to oppose, except the antagonism naturally felt by male operators, who see in it a loss of employment to themselves, and a want of proper facilities for teaching and obtaining a complement, in number, of female telegraphists. Any female proficient in orthography, with an inclination to useful employment, would make a good telegraphist, and might readily command, under a system above indicated, a salary of from $300 to $500, and be profitable to her employers beyond the ordinary male telegraphists employed under the present arrangement of office. It is in operating by the Morse system that ladies are mostly or entirely employed. The Morse is the easiest. They telegraph in small towns, where there is not much to do, and the compensation is small." The Electric Telegraph Company in London suggests that women should be employed in preference to men, as working more rapidly. All the lady telegraphists we have heard of gave satisfaction to all parties concerned. To Mr. A., connected with the New York and Boston telegraph line, I am indebted for the following information: "Women are employed in operating the Morse instrument. They are paid from $6 to $25 per month, and are paid by the month. For the class of offices in which females are employed, about the same wages are paid both sexes. It requires from three to six weeks to learn, and nothing is paid while learning. The qualifications needed are a fair knowledge of orthography, arithmetic, geography, and ordinary mechanical ability. We may want a few operatives, say six annually. The employment is constant, and about ten hours a day are devoted to work. We employ about fifty women, and they only at small offices. Nearly all are American. The employment is comfortable. There are no parts of our occupation suitable for women in which they are not engaged. They are generally more attentive and trustworthy than men. The price they pay for board depends on the locality, say from $1.50 to $2 per week."

95. Vocalists.

This is an important and profitable employment—one that has secured to many a poor foreigner visiting this country a snug little fortune. We have only to cite the cases of Jenny Lind, Garcia, Sontag, Parodi, and Catherine Hays. It was stated in the New York Tribune of December, 1853, that Catherine Hays had sent $50,000 to purchase an estate in Ireland. American talent is in some cases very highly cultivated; but we fear the Scripture verse applies to the substantial encouragement of native vocalists amongst us: "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house." Too much money and attention, we think, are lavished upon foreign vocalists, while home talent is depreciated. An American singer must often go to other countries and acquire a name, before she is received with eclat in her own. It may be that other countries have the same failing, but, we think, not to the same extent. Let us love American talent, and encourage it before every other. Adelaide Patti, Miss Hinckley, and Miss Kellogg are at present the most noted singers of American birth. Mr. C. told me, that in New York, lady singers receive from $100 to $400 per annum for singing in churches. One lady choir-singer of whom we knew, received $500 a year, singing twice on Sabbath. Not more than from twelve to fifteen lady singers in New York receive over $350. One lady in a fashionable church receives $1,000; but she is a widow, and somewhat favored. Another lady, leading the choir in a Broadway church, receives a salary of $1,000, I have been told.

96. Wax Work.

I called on two Italians that make wax fruit; their baskets vary in price from twenty-five cents to $2. It would take a day and a half to make a $2 basket. The Italian that could speak some English told me that when he goes out to work, he charges $2.50 a day; but to give lessons, he would charge $2 a day. He thought an individual might learn in eight, ten, twelve, or fifteen lessons, according to abilities and taste. Miss W., teacher of wax flowers, charges $1 a lesson, and thinks eight or ten lessons sufficient. She thinks in country places there would be openings for teachers. I think, where there are large seminaries, a teacher would do better. She says there is an opening in Troy. If a person has enough to do, it pays well. She makes by hand; they are more natural than those made by moulds.

97. Wood Engravers.

Much and long-continued toil is requisite for success in wood engraving. A great deal depends, also, on the talent of the individual. Wood engraving is a business adapted to women, as it requires mostly patience and application, and but little physical strength. Mechanical skill is the most that is requisite, yet, as in everything else, it bespeaks the soul and taste of the originator. "Women's nimble fingers, accustomed to wield the needle, lend themselves quite easily to minute operations in the use of small instruments and the almost imperceptible shades of manipulation that wood engraving exacts." As more publishing is done in our country, of course there will be a greater demand for wood engravers. A great many newspapers now contain a large number of woodcuts, as Harper's Weekly, Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, &c. Wood engraving has been called into use for Government reports and scientific works, aside from its extensive demands for periodical literature. A lady engaged in the business writes of a class in wood engraving: "The pupils vary so much in ability, application, perseverance, and in the number of hours devoted to it, that it is impossible to judge what any one may do who has not made a trial. My own experience is that the practice of wood engraving brings a sure return for all the outlay of time and trouble spent in acquiring the art. It would hardly be safe to rely entirely upon the proceeds of the second year; the third may make up for it. The best wood engraving is done in England and the United States. In classes of wood engraving in the schools of design in England, the students are required to produce the drawing as well as to engrave it." "For a quarter of a century past, many hundreds of young women, we are assured, have supported themselves by wood engraving, for which there is now a demand which no jealousy in the stronger sex can intercept. The effort to exclude women was made in this, as in other branches of art; but the interests of publishers and the public were more than a match for it." "In 1839, Charlotte Nesbit, Marianne Williams, Mary Byfield, Mary and Elizabeth Clint, held honorable positions among English wood engravers." Miss F., at Elmira, New York, carries on business for herself in wood engraving. She learned it at the Cooper Institute, four years ago. The pupils of that institute canvassed for work, some two and two, but she went alone, and principally in the lower part of the city. They visited publishers mostly—she went to manufacturers. She got an order for $500 worth of engraving at a gas-fixture manufactory. I have heard that ladies in the school of design, New York, receive the same price for wood engraving that men would receive. N. Orr, the wood engraver, thinks the prospect very good for a woman to earn a livelihood at it. He knows a lady who has not only supported herself but partially supported her parents by her work. For wood engraving, women usually receive as good prices as men. The business is increasing. There are none West, except a few in Cincinnati, and I believe a still smaller number in St. Louis and Chicago. A person that has any talent for it can earn a living at it in less than two years' practice. A knowledge of drawing is not essential, as the drawing is usually put on the wood by the designer. Mr. Orr takes apprentices, but pays nothing the first year. They are bound to him for five or six years. Some engravers require a premium. I have been told that designing requires a very different and much higher order of talent than wood engraving. One designer can do enough in a day to keep a man busy a week. New York is the principal city for wood engraving. I think most men, while engraving, stand; but all the ladies that I have seen at work sat. "A wood-engraving office in Cleveland employed three girls in 1845, at wages varying from $3 to $7 per week, according to the experience of each in the business, being the same that men receive in the same office."

98. Merchants.

Occasionally we hear such complaints as these: "Women who keep stores of their own ask higher for their goods than men, and saleswomen are less obliging than male clerks." Women, as a general thing, do not understand their business as well as men, and that is the reason they are not so well liked. Those inclined to be bold, may become pert; and those in poor health, peevish. "If women were more employed in stores," said Mr. P., "there would probably be less shopping, but as many goods sold. Young girls that go shopping to whisper in the ears of clerks, would then find something else to do." Woman has a power of adaptedness that fits her admirably for the vocation of a merchant. A friend remarked to me that Mr. Stewart, of New York, she thought, would employ women in his store, if a large number of fashionable and influential ladies would petition him to do so. If the retail merchants of our large cities and towns would combine and employ only saleswomen, how greatly would they promote the welfare of the nation! Young men would no longer waste their health, strength, and talents selling gloves, tape, and dress goods, but would cultivate the soil, or find openings as traders, speculators, mechanics, and manufacturers, in cities, towns, and villages of our Western country. They might do something more creditable to their physical powers, while they gave their half-starved sisters a chance to earn an honest livelihood. If ladies would patronize those stores only in which there were saleswomen, and influence their friends to do so, employers who now engage the service of salesmen would soon learn what was to their interest, and make a change. Promptness and regularity are desirable qualifications in a shopkeeper. The business brings those engaged into intercourse with all classes of people. Mrs. Dall makes this statement: "It is a singular fact that there are a great many more women in England in business for themselves than employed as tenders or clerks; while in America, the fact, at the present day, is directly the reverse." A lady who has lived in New York all her life said, if the merchants of the city would employ women, they could find twenty thousand to-morrow, ready and willing to enter their stores. In Paris large stores are owned and conducted by women, and even the importing and exporting of goods is in the hands of some. The tact and address of French women admirably fit them for shopkeepers. Many of the smaller fancy and variety stores in our cities are owned by women, that have by long-continued industry earned a competency. Lady merchants can to some extent control the taste of the community where they are; for such articles as they purchase and keep on hand will be likely to find sale. The taste of the best keepers of dry-goods and fancy stores, millinery establishments, and embroidery shops will be displayed in the dress of their patrons. To merchandize extensively, requires much experience and knowledge of business; but to those that are qualified it presents an extensive opening for enterprise. Barter, or the exchange of one kind of goods for another, is very common in the villages and towns of our country. The Gothscheer (Austrian) women often follow the trade of peddlers, and are absent from their homes many months, travelling about the country with staff in hand and a pack at their back. "Advertising and politeness are the main levers to get customers. Advertising will draw them; ability to fill their orders will satisfy them; and politeness will induce them to buy." Quick perceptive powers and judgment are also essential to the success of merchants. It is very desirable to have a good location for a store. A lady keeping a small dry-goods store told me she sells $100 worth of goods a week on an average. She has been nine years in the business, and constantly gaining trade. She likes rainy Saturday evenings, as she then sells most. She said one must use judgment in the amount of profit to be made on various articles. A person must regulate her prices by others. On some goods she can make but five per cent., and on some others fifty. Many of the fortunes in Boston are said to have been founded by women engaged in trade. And the ladies on Nantucket Island during the Revolutionary war conducted the business of their husbands, fathers, and brothers. A lady wrote, some years back, of some stores in one of our large cities: "The proprietors say they give from twenty-five to fifty per cent. more to the males than to the females of equal talent and capacity, but can give no reason why they should do it, except that it is the custom, and some parts of the business require more physical strength, as some articles are too heavy to be handled by women." Yet why not, we would ask, place women in the lighter departments, and pay them exactly what would be paid a man for the same work? The average wages of females in Philadelphia are $4.50 per week, though some get as high as $7 or $8, but very few above $6. In a few of the stores of New York and Philadelphia the business is conducted entirely by ladies. There is a school of commerce for women at Perth, France. We read an account some time ago of a colored woman on the Island of Hayti, who is a wholesale dealer in provisions, and worth from $15,000 to $20,000, that she has made by her own industry and business tact. She can neither read nor write, but trusts entirely to her memory. She sells on credit to retail dealers, and to girls whom she has trained. The merchants have such unlimited confidence in her, that they will trust her to any amount. Nearly all the commercial business of Hayti is done by women.

99. Bookkeepers.

The employment of female accountants is gradually extending in our cities. In female institutions of learning, and in benevolent institutions, lady bookkeepers might be very well employed. Indeed, we think, they would find no difficulty in obtaining situations. We know that many merchants would employ them, if they were properly qualified. We know of some that now occupy lucrative situations in fancy dry goods and millinery stores. We have no doubt but the books of most mercantile men would be more accurately kept, if their wives and daughters had charge of them. In all European countries women keep the books of the majority of retail stores. The books of nine tenths of the retail stores in Paris are kept by women. They are fenced in, and separated from the saleswomen by a framework of glass. A number of women are employed as accountants at hotels in Europe. There is a large school for instruction in bookkeeping in Paris, where the pupils are practically trained. An exchange of articles of a trivial nature, and a cheap coin of some kind, are used as a medium of circulation. At one of the largest wholesale warehouses in Boston, the head corresponding clerk is a young woman, who writes a beautiful, rapid hand, and fulfils the duties of the situation to the complete satisfaction of her liberal employer. A practical knowledge of arithmetic is necessary for bookkeeping and selling goods—two of the most inviting openings now presented to women of ordinary intelligence. The lady who keeps the books of T——'s skirt factory, New York, receives a salary of $400. Mr. M. prefers lady bookkeepers, because they are more particular in keeping accounts, and they are more patient in their calculations. They are, as a general thing, more honest and conscientious. Women are just as capable of becoming good financiers as men. Industry, honesty, and promptness, with the ability to write a plain, correct business letter, ability to calculate rapidly and correctly, with a knowledge of bookkeeping, certainly should insure a situation to a lady, where there is a vacancy. It is well, however, for those who have qualified themselves for bookkeeping, to obtain a certificate: it is a passport that will aid them in securing a place. The salaries of bookkeepers in New York run from $250 to $2,500. At a large store, where saleswomen were employed, I was told they find lady bookkeepers more accurate in their accounts, and not so likely to appropriate money that don't belong to them. Where a gentleman bookkeeper receives $15, a lady usually receives but $8. I know of one lady in Cleveland, assistant cashier, who received a salary of $300. An accountant in Boston replies to a circular sent him: "I think the employment as favorable to bodily health as any sedentary occupation; but in my particular line of business it is rather trying to the head, as it often requires close application and intense thought. Those who employ women here as clerks, undoubtedly pay them by the day, week, month, or year, where they have permanent situations; but for transient work, by the piece. Women can always be hired cheaper than men, as it costs them less to live. I am fifty years old, and have been figuring ever since I was sixteen; still, I learn something new about accounts every day. A woman would have to serve a long apprenticeship in accounts and on books, before she could do much in adjusting accounts. For a first-class bookkeeper, practical experience in accounts and bookkeeping of business of all kinds are necessary qualifications. I always prefer the early part of the day for work. My business is as good at one season of the year as another. I attend to business as it suits my pleasure—sometimes four or five hours, and sometimes twelve or fifteen, according to the nature and importance of the task, and depending oftentimes upon the length of it, and the time when it is wanted. As a general thing, men and women everywhere in the United States keep as far apart in business affairs as possible—it is the custom. The counting house, office, and place of business are not suitable for a female. I would state that I charge for making out accounts and adjusting books, as a general rule here in Boston, $10 per day, and sometimes more—never less. I have had all prices, from $10 to $50 per day, for one, two, and three months in succession. Sometimes I take a job by contract, say for $500, or some other specific sum, as may be agreed upon, according to the nature and value of the service rendered."

100. Book Merchants.

In many of the new towns springing up in the West, there are openings for booksellers. Many colleges and seminaries are being built up, thereby offering a still better market for the sale of school books. It would be well for those going into the business to ascertain, before doing so, what books are used in the literary institutions of the place. Some booksellers are so mean as to sell old-fashioned, out-of-date school books to country merchants, thereby clearing their own stock, and imposing their unsalable goods on others. No doubt, many established book merchants would be willing to trust, to such as they have confidence in, a stock of books to be sold on commission. When a sufficient sum is acquired, the individual can purchase a stock of her own. Many dry-goods merchants keep a few books, but when there is a sufficient sale of books, a store, if expenses are only cleared for a while, may gradually become a revenue of profit, and is likely to prove a permanent business, where discretion and industry are used. In London and Paris, women sell stationery, almanacs, memorandum books, diaries, and pocket books, on the streets. Public auctions of books are held frequently in cities and towns. Agents do much to extend a circulation of books. In large cities, merchants confine their stock of books to two or three kinds—as those of medicine, law, theology, or school books; but, as a general thing, miscellaneous books are kept. The trade sales which occur in Boston once, and in Philadelphia and New York twice a year, are only attended by booksellers. These sales last but a few days. The prices at which books sell at these auctions are considered a pretty fair criterion of their future worth. Miss H. told me of a Miss P., niece of Horace Mann, now living in Concord, N. H., who kept a bookstore in Boston, and imported books to fill orders, but was crushed by other book importers, because she was a woman. In many towns and cities, women keep small stores for the sale of stationery, magazines, newspapers, &c. "In large stationery stores, women might be employed to stamp initials on paper," with small hand presses made for the purpose.

101. China Merchants.

This business is peculiarly appropriate to women. Who so well able to handle china as careful women? Who so well able to judge what will look well on a table? It comes so entirely within their province, that the mind readily suggests the appropriateness. In Paris, most, if not all the china stores are kept by women. A lady china-dealer, on one of the avenues, told me that she sells considerable at night to working women, who cannot spare the time to go shopping in the day; also, to ladies living in cross streets near, who go out walking in the evenings with their husbands, and call to buy articles in her line. It does not require as many attendants in a china as in any other kind of store. A girl is more careful and steady, and can dust china better than a boy; but a boy answers best to take china home. She sells most about the holidays. It takes time to learn the business well. In an Eastern city, two ladies stood in their father's store, and so learned the business. They married brothers, and each opened china stores, which they attended, while their husbands engaged in other business. They are both widows now, but have raised and educated their children. A son and son-in-law of one conduct the business. They employ saleswomen, paying from $5 to $8 a week. They are now in search of two intelligent young women, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, to grow up to the business. They require a little more readiness in arithmetic, tact, and general business qualifications than they can easily meet with. From their experience they judge the employment to be healthy. A lady in a large china store on Broadway, New York, receives $5 a week. A lady in another store told me that lifting crockery causes quite a strain on the back, and should be done by men. A person gets very dusty who attends china. It requires lifting and dusting, and now and then must be washed—always when first taken out of the crate. Mrs. L. and her husband are English, and have been brought up to the business. She sells most about Christmas. She is on her feet all the time. To learn the names of all the articles sold in a large store, and their prices, and to exercise care in handling, requires patience. A china merchant writes: "Women are generally paid less than men. There is a difference of from $10 to $40 per month in favor of men, because (with few exceptions) women are not so well qualified to do business as men. It would take from six to eight months to learn to sell china. A clear head, common sense, and activity are the qualifications needed. Women are not more likely to be thrown out of employment than men, if as well qualified." A lady told me, the china is a slow business and seldom pays more than twenty-five per cent., but is a sure business for the cheaper kind of goods. The profit is not so much as for fancy articles of ladies' wear; but less is lost from the change of style. China merchants, she thought, seldom employ women; why, she could not tell. Mr. H., who employs a girl, paid her $1.50 a week and board the first year, then raised her wages to $7 a month. He thinks if more girls would qualify themselves for china stores they would be likely to find employment. A girl should commence young, but should know how to read and write, on account of taking orders. He thinks it best to get homely girls, rather advanced in age, to attend store, because the young and handsome ones will get married. He prefers girls, because they are more quiet and steady. Small articles of china he sends the girl home with; heavy articles he takes himself. A lady, whose ware was partly out of doors and partly in the house, said she had dusted it at least a dozen times through the day, and then it was covered with dust. Her breakage is considerable. She sells most about Christmas. Another china dealer told me, she sells most in spring, when people go to housekeeping. E. L., in the Five Points, sells most in summer, because her patrons are poor people, and in summer the men have most work, and their expenses are lighter—consequently the women have more money. Her stand is a good one, but she does not much more than make a living. The business requires some experience in buying and selling. Ladies sometimes come into the store to purchase articles they would not like to ask a man for. A girl keeping a china stand told me she sells most in spring and fall. She pays $3 a month for ground rent, but owns the shelter. She locks it at night, and it is perfectly secure, for her lock is different from all others. It does not take long to learn to sell common ware. She expects to sell all winter at her stand, and has to be on her feet all the time. She sells on an average from $2 to $3 worth a day.

102. Clothiers.

In London there are shops confined to the sale of nautical clothes, and some to the sale of theatrical attire. B.'s sewers (New York) earn from $2 to $10 per week—piece work, of course. Most of it is done by machine. Meritorious girls need never be out of work, said Mr. B.; yet he can always get plenty of hands. He has much of his work done in New Jersey. Some men make a business of taking it from establishments, and hire women all through the country to do it. There are two kinds of tailoring—custom and slop work. The last is subdivided into the cheap slop work and that of the best quality, and there are two kinds of establishments for this common work—that which is not better done perhaps than the other, but for which a better price is paid and received, and done by houses of standing and reputation. The other is done by extortionists, Jews and Germans, and patronized by their own class. As tailoring is done now, it does not require a regular apprenticeship as in bygone years, particularly for those who work by machine. I met a girl on the steps, seeking for work, who told me she makes $4 a week as operator, when she can get steady work. One of the proprietors of L. & B.'s clothing establishment told me some of their workmen earn from $8 to $10 a week, working by the piece. Much of their work is for California. They employ hands most of the year, as they work both for the home and foreign market. The great trouble is that the majority of tailoresses are inefficient. Some are widows, striving to support their children. Some have dissipated husbands, and are subject to constant interruption. Some have not the time to properly learn the trade, and, consequently, such workers cannot have that labor which pays best, however much they need it. The character of work done by applicants is judged of by turning to the book of their former employer, and seeing what prices were paid. In hard times, like these, employers try to retain those that are dependent on their labor for their bread. The foreman said, in good times, there is work enough for all the tailoresses in New York. They pay good operators $5 a week—a day of ten hours. All the summer work is done by machines. The pressing and basting is done by men. The foreman of the S. Brothers' establishment says the best place for tailoresses is in the West, where there are openings, and they can make money. The only trouble is, the poor have not money to go West. All their work is done by machines, and all given out. They do not give work more than six months in the year, and that barely keeps the girls while they are at work. P. & C. have their machines worked by hot condensed air. The operators receive from $4.50 to $6. Basters are only small girls, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. B. & Co., clothiers, give work out, and, of course, pay by the piece. Their most busy times are from October to March, and from April to September. They do Southern work. Some of the workers only earn $2.50 if they are slow, even if they are industrious and constantly at work. Some of their best hands can earn $6 a week, but are likely to be at least two months out of employment. The prospect for tailoresses is poor. I have heard that some good hands are wanted in Chicago. A great deal of clothing is sold there to people from the surrounding country and towns. B. does not require any deposit, but a girl must show her book from her other employers. They have thousands of applications for work. The reason more clothing is not made up out of the city is the difficulty in procuring such tailors' trimmings as they need just at the time they are wanted. Most clothing establishments keep a list of those that do not return work taken out, and send them to each other. On persons applying to the foremen, he turns to his book to see if the names are among the delinquents. He thinks girls in service are more certain of making a living, for they are paid from $1 to $2 a week for their work, and have their board, which would be from $1 to $3 a week, and a competent servant need not be out of employment; while slop work is very uncertain, and everything that is made goes for board and clothes. Many of these shop girls sleep half a dozen in a garret, on straw beds, without sufficient covering. Many might go to the country and the West and get employment, but they have not the means; and, if they had the means to go, might not have enough to come back, if they found it necessary. F. D. & Co., clothiers. Their girls earn from $3 to $6 per week, paid by the piece, and done at home. They give most of their work to men who have machines and employ operatives. The prospect for this kind of work is poor. Not more than two thirds of the hands in the city, in this department of labor, will be retained. When business is good they are able to keep their hands employed all the year, except for a few weeks when changing from thin to thick work, and vice versa. They sometimes give a girl work to do as a sample. A woman told me of three girls occupying the room above her, that have a sewing machine. Two baste and finish off, and one operates. They work day and night, and one she knows is even now earning $8 a week. They make flannel shirts, receiving 75 cents a dozen, without putting in the sleeves, working the button holes, or putting on the buttons. I saw a girl that receives 87 cents a dozen for making flannel shirts. We have seen it stated that a persons possessed of machines, who make up large quantities of clothing at very low prices, are enabled, by the speed at which they can work the machines, to produce sufficient to remunerate all the parties employed, at an average of $4 a week." One clothier in Albany, New York, pays $3 a week to his hands working eleven hours a a day. He furnishes work steadily through the fall, and pays men better wages, because they can do more work. The proprietor of a mammoth establishment in New York, D., writes: "We employ women in making pants, vests, shirts, and summer coats, both by the week and by the piece. When the sewers take work out, it is by the piece; but when the work is done in the shop, it is paid for by the week. The wages by the week range from $3 to $7. Women thoroughly educated in the trade can make about $6 per week, men about $9—their work is heavier. The number of branches in this trade, and the time of preparation for each, varies. We never receive learners. As the articles are of general use, good hands usually find employment. The work is brisk from November till March 1st, and from May till September 1st. The time of work could be shortened, but at the expense of the laborers' wages. In a city like ours, there is always a full supply of hands. About two thirds of our women are American. Women could not be employed to sell clothing to men." This firm employed, in February, 1860, five hundred hands in the shop, and eight hundred outside. In B. Brothers' establishment, "indoor work is paid by the week. An agent pays for the outdoor work by the piece. Those in the house average $5 per week. Men do heavier work and receive $7. Women make vests and pantaloons; men, coats. They work in the same room. The men do the pressing." (I expect it is a rule that they shall not speak to each other, for not one word did I hear any of them speak in the half hour I spent in the room.) "It requires about six months to learn the business. They do not take learners. An ability to sew well, and neatness with the work, are necessary. They sell most when the country is in a peaceful and prosperous condition. They sell most clothing to Western customers about the 1st of January, and to city retail stores about the 1st of February. They work ten hours a day. There is a surplus of hands in New York. They employ seventy in the house, and between 2,000 and 3,000 outside. The number of Americans is about 20 per cent." Great injustice is done by women in the country, in comfortable circumstances, who do the work at a very low price, merely to obtain pocket money. An English tailor in New York hires girls for making pants and coats. He pays one $4, one $3.50, and another $3, and they work from 7 A. M. to 7 P. M. There is no difference in the prices paid, except when the man's work is heavier. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Men can press better, because they have more strength; but women can stitch as well, if they have the experience. He kept one operator at $6 a week in busy times, and $3 in slack times, and another at $5 the year round. Some of the poor tailors in New York rent a room, occupy a spot themselves, and rent out the rest of the room to others at the same kind of work, charging fifty cents for seat room for a man and a girl to assist him; thirty-seven cents for a man alone. It is not easy to get good hand tailoresses, for most are employed on machines. One firm, that employ about five hundred hands, write they pay from $3 to $5 per week of ten hours a day, and that it requires two years to learn the trade. S. & D., manufacturers and venders of boys' clothing, write: "Their work is done by the piece, so much a garment, and wages run from $2 to $6 a week, of ten hours a day—of course, depending on the skill and hours of the worker. The relative wages between men and women are, as sewers, say for men, one third more; that is, as four for the women and six for the men. The business of a tailoress is numbered among the regular trades for women, and requires somewhat more than the average trade time, say one year. They excel as vest makers—a branch almost exclusively confined to them. There is no uniform usage in regard to pay. The requisites are good eyesight, average strength, and if taste be superadded, the better. Winter is the best season for those who work for wholesale venders. Women are most apt to be out of employment in summer. The demand is, at present, less than the supply. There is a surplus of vest makers, and a deficiency, if anywhere, in children's suit making. It is an occupation less suited to women than trades that require more nicety of touch and eye, such as designing or wood engraving. The majority of tailoresses in New York city are German and Irish." A firm engaged in the merchant tailoring and ready-made clothing business write: "The occupation is unhealthy, because the workers are constantly sitting. They earn from $2 to $4.50 per week, ten hours a day. We pay men better, because they are stronger and more capable, and have more experience. Men receive from $9 to $12. It requires four years for men to learn the business, and two years for women to learn it so as to earn $4 per week. The qualifications needed are common sense, good taste, and strong eyes. From March to January is the busy season; but good hands have work all the year." B. O. & S. "give their work out. Their trade is Southern. Their spring work begins 1st October, and continues until the last of March; and fall work begins in May, and lasts until September. They do not require a deposit, but a recommendation from the last employer, and give some work to applicants to do as a sample. Some is done by hand, some by machinery, Wages run from $3 up. Much of their work is done by Germans, whose wives assist them. It is sometimes difficult for them to get good hands. The foreman dismissed the Jews he found at work when he went there, for he thinks they are not reliable. Some get work out, but intrust it to others to do, and so it is poorly done. The foreman said many women spend a day or two out of every week running from shop to shop to get work. He has never lost anything by girls not returning goods. If they should keep them, they would soon be known at the different establishments, and have no place to go for work." In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Ohio, during the year ending June 1st, 1860, 36,155 males and 52,515 females were employed in making clothing.