introduction of machinery; nor is it strange, for goods have become

cheaper and the demand is greater. The materials for manufacturing are abundant in this country; but the want of workmen acquainted with this business, and the want of capital, have prevented some branches of American manufacture from equalling those of older countries. The improvements in machinery for removing dust and floating cotton in the work rooms, no doubt renders it more healthy than it was. "In proof of his assertion that factory labor shortens life, Dr. Jarrold deposed, that having examined, in the schools, all the children whose fathers had ever worked, or were still working in factories, he found that from one third to one fourth were fatherless." "Out of about two thousand children and young persons taken promiscuously, who were carefully examined in 1832, two hundred were deformed. These were factory operatives." These statements refer to operatives in England. Some women are employed in the manufactories of Birmingham, England, as overseers in the departments where women work, but the number is small, and in our country it is still more uncommon. Cotton and woollen goods are extensively manufactured in the New England States, New York, and Pennsylvania. A gentleman told me that a little more than a year ago, as he came from Vermont, he saw a young man in the cars with about twenty girls, that he was bringing down from Canada to a cotton factory in Massachusetts. The manufacturers had offered a bonus of $5 apiece for girls, and to pay their travelling expenses, and this young man was making a business of it. He says, in busy seasons there is a scarcity of hands in the New England factories. We believe that when men and women do the same kind of work, such as weaving, and are paid by the quantity, no difference is made in their wages. In comparing returns from several factories in Massachusetts, I find weavers earn in them from $4 to $5.50 per week; warpers, $3 to $5; dotters, $3 to $4. Irish women, by working for less wages, have pushed American women out of factories. In Lowell, a few years back, nearly all the operatives were young American girls from the country. Many worked from the most honorable, self-denying motives; some to educate younger members of the family, some to assist widowed mothers or hard-working fathers, some to lay by a sum to support themselves in old age, and some to acquire the means for obtaining a more extensive school education. A manufacturer of printing cloths, Reading, Pennsylvania, writes: "In all countries where there are cotton mills, women are employed as weavers, fly and drawing tenders, spoolers, warpers, dressers, and cloth pickers. The work is not more unhealthy than any indoor employment. Workers earn from $2.25 to $6. Men and women are paid the same for the same kind of work. Our kind of work may be destroyed a year or so by the unsettled state of the country--otherwise it is good. The hands work about eleven hours at present prices, one hour less would reduce wages about 10 per cent. There are openings in cotton mills along the Hudson River, and farther East, and a surplus of hands in mechanical towns inland. The work is lighter than most of womanly employments. Women are superior in attending faithfully to their work, and are more easily managed than men. Board is from $1.50 to $1.75 per week, and is much better than their homes would be, if they were the daughters of day laborers, as many of them are. I would say further, in our branch of business women are treated in all respects as regards their work the same as men, paid the same, and under the same rules and restraint. In our dressing department the women make from $6 to $8, while the men make from $8 to $10, with the same machine at the same price. There are but few mills that employ women dressers, except in Pennsylvania. They are not strong enough; but here the descendants of the old Dutch stock are more masculinely developed, and are taking the place of the men in this branch." A gentleman who has been manufacturing cotton cloth in North Adams, Massachusetts, between twenty and thirty years, writes: "We employ women and girls in our mill. Some of the work requires constant stepping and walking. Wages for spinning girls, $2.50 to $3 per week; for boys the same, for spooling; from $2.75 to $3 for speeder and drawer tenders; $3 for warpers, or $4; all the rates of labor include the board. Farther East, women are employed as dressers, earning from $4 to $6 per week. Weaving is paid for by the piece--most other work by the week, as it cannot so well be let by the piece. To learn to spin on the throstle frames requires from six to eight weeks. The qualifications desired in an applicant are expertness, good behavior, ability to read and write, industry, and a desire to be useful to the employer. In midsummer, hands are most scarce. Good workers are never thrown out of employment except during panics. In this place (North Adams), hands usually work from twelve to twelve and a half hours; Saturdays we close at four o'clock in summer. Farther East, a number of operators work eleven hours; some, twelve; and some, even twelve and a half. The legislature of the General Government is, and has been for many years, against encouraging the industry of the country. Whatever revenue laws would promote the making of iron, wool, cotton, or cutlery, would assist and support agriculture, the making of shoes, and all other branches of labor. The cotton mills can merely subsist. The hours could not be shortened. Those employed in watching, warming, oiling up, superintending, repairing, &c., have the same hours. There has been a demand for hands everywhere in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and adjoining States. Women are more orderly, more easily governed, and more cleanly than men. Their slim fingers enable them to be more expert. They are more attentive, as a general thing, where the labor requires only looking after, creating no fatigue, except that which arises from close attention. For these reasons women are preferable. Their labor is somewhat cheaper than men's of the same age. In Western Massachusetts, about three fourths are American women; in Eastern Massachusetts about one half are, and the other half foreigners. The women have good boarding houses, and live and dress well. Here, a hand can leave his employer by giving two weeks' notice; farther East, four weeks' notice is required. In both places, effort is made to spare them at once, if they desire it. My American work people are above mediocrity; the others, rather below. Children under fifteen years of age are required by law to be kept out of the mills for at least three months in the year, to attend school; more if the parents choose, as the schools are free. Employers, as a general thing, press and urge the children to school, as intelligent hands are worth more than ignorant ones. For good board, women pay $1.50 per week; with lodging and washing, $2. Many hands lay up sums in the savings banks; very many more might do so, if they chose. Good female spinners, speeder tenders, spoolers, warpers, twisters-in, and weavers are always rather scarce. They command from $3 to $6 per week. Widow women, with families of girls to support, can get a good living by such work, and lay up some money if they try." Hitherto few manufactories have been established in the Southern United States: but now that the South will depend more on its own resources, no doubt manufactories of cotton goods will be built up very rapidly. From "Northern Profits and Southern Wealth," we make an extract: "One third of the hands employed in factories at the East are females. At the South, female labor is taking the same direction. At the North, this element of labor is supplied by immigration in nearly its whole extent--a very large proportion of the females employed in the factories being Irish. The Eagle mills in Georgia have one hundred and thirty-six looms, and employ seventy girls, who earn 50 cents to $1 per day. The operatives in all these factories are white people, chiefly girls and boys, from twelve to twenty years of age. On an average they are better paid and worked easier than is usually the case in the North. Country girls from the pine forests, as green and awkward as it is possible to find them, soon become skilful operatives; and ere they have been in the mills a year, they are able to earn from $4 to $6 a week. They are only required to work ten hours a day. Particular attention is paid to the character of the operatives, and in some mills none are received but those having testimonials of good moral character and industrious habits. Churches and Sabbath schools are also attached to several of the manufactories, so that the religious training of the operatives may be properly attended to. In 1860, 45,315 males and 73,605 females were employed in cotton factories. The woollen manufacturers employed as operatives in 1860, 28,780 males and 20,120 females. =169. Gingham.= From the Manchester Gingham Manufactory, we learn 149 American women are there employed in weaving, winding, spooling, piecing, drawing, reeling, and spinning. "Spinners' maximum is sixty cents per day. Weavers receive twenty-six and eighteen cents per cut. Women receive for winding ten cents per cut, nine cents for spooling, forty cents per day for piecing, for drawing $2.50 per week, and for reeling 1¼ and 1½ cents per doff. We pay the same to men and women for the same kind of work. They are usually about two months learning. Prospect for work is very good. We make a staple article. Summer is the best season; we have steady work the year round. Hands work sixty-nine hours during six days--twelve hours, five days; and nine on Saturday. There is some demand for them; we prefer women for weaving. They pay for board $1.40 per week." The agent of the Gingham Mills, in Clinton, Mass., in reply to a letter seeking information, says: "We employ four hundred females, young and old, in the various branches of cotton manufacture. They are paid from forty cents to $1.25, according to skill and ability; they work 11½ hours. They are paid partly by the piece, and partly by the day. By the piece, and for the same kind of work, women receive as much as men. Some branches are learned very quickly, and some slowly, according to capacity. Women are paid while learning, much to our loss. Ordinary intelligence and complete use of the physical faculties are necessary qualifications. We work at all seasons. The women are very careful to select their times for absence, visiting, &c., when we are preparing the winter style of goods, which are of darker colors, and possibly less profitable to them. They are sure to come back during the manufacture of lighter styles. It is clearly a womanly way of doing business, but _the men do the same_. The kinds of work women do in mills do not require the strength of men, and so women are employed. It is cheapest to employ women; because, if we employed only men, half the village would be idle. Boys can do all the work that the females do. We have four hundred males also. One third are American. In weaving, where men's and women's work is most justly and fully compared, men do the most and the best in quality. In other branches there is no decided difference. Board $1.50 per week; the houses are of good moral character, and very comfortable." =170. Hosiers.= The invention of machinery for making hose is ascribed to William Lee, of England, 1589. Some trace the invention of knit stockings to Spain. The number of hands employed in the manufacture of hose in Saxony amounts to 45,000. Cotton, woollen, linen, and silk are the kinds of hose common to us. The manufacture of hose worn by Americans is mostly English. The amount of capital required, and the small number of good operatives in our country, cause the products of some of our manufactures to be of an inferior quality. Years back knitting was much done, particularly in the country, but the general use of machinery has superseded the knitting needle. In our large cities, the great amount of hosiery worn might make the sale of hose and half hose a payable business. In making cotton and woollen hose, some children wind the cotton, some join the seams, and others sew them on the boards, to put them in shape. We called to see Aiken's knitting machine. It is quite an ingenious affair; price, $65. I think if any two women would buy one, and one should knit, while the other formed the feet and finished them off, it would pay better than sewing. Large quantities of hosiery are made in Germantown, Pa. It gives employment to many women, who, at their houses, finish them off. The United States Government have usually obtained their clothing, shoes, hats, and socks for the army and navy at Philadelphia, but since the war commenced, most of the clothing has been made up in New York. The manufacture of hosiery is very limited in New York. At the principal hosiery establishment we were told they only employ women to seam that are the wives of the weavers, and they do the work at home. It is very poor pay, and is done almost altogether by English women who have been brought up to the business. It would not pay a person to learn it. An English stocking weaver told me that he does theatrical work, as it pays best. He has known two women from his own country that wove hosiery in the United States. One did journey work with her husband in New York. She earned from $4 to $5 per week. Such work is paid for by the piece or dozen. The work pays poorly. A woman cannot earn at it more than thirty-seven or fifty cents a day, being paid eighteen cents a dozen for seaming socks. To seam shirts and drawers pays better, six cents being paid for each article. Weaving stockings by hand looms will not pay in this country--they can be imported so cheaply. It is rather light work. Work done by steam power is not so neat; the selvages are not well made, and the goods must be cut and sewed in seams. Many women are employed in hosiery manufactures where steam is used. A stocking manufacturer in Lake Village, N. H., writes: "Seven hundred girls and married women are employed in this village to make stockings. Wages run from 50 cents to $1 per day of ten hours; some are paid by the day, others by the piece. Men's work, being harder, is better paid. It requires from three to five weeks to learn. Women have their board paid while learning. Spring, summer, and autumn are the best seasons for work. Some work at the business to maintain their families; others, because they have nothing to do. All are Americans. They pay for board from $1.25 to $1.50 per week." A manufacturer writes: "We employ twenty-five females in the mill, and from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five who take work to their homes. Nine tenths are Americans. We pay from $3.50 to $6 per week. It requires but a short time to learn in some departments. They are paid from the time of entering the factory as a learner. It is considered a permanent business. Men and women do not work on the same branches." At the Troy hosiery manufactory, "sixty women are employed in tending knitting machines, winding yarn, and sewing by hand and by machines. The employment is healthy. Their wages run from $3 to $6 per week, average $4.50. They work mostly by the piece, a few by the week. Males and females usually work side by side, and the wages are alike. They are continually learning, from 18 years old to 40. The prospect is good for future employment, and the employment in factories is generally constant. They work twelve hours per day. If shorter time was universal, it would not affect the profits. About one half are Americans. The rooms are well ventilated, and the temperature from sixty to seventy degrees summer and winter." =171. Men's Wear.= A gentleman in Darby, Penn., writes: "Women are employed in factories equally with men, throughout this section of country, as weavers. They are paid just as well, for the same kind of labor. The employment, for aught I can see, is entirely healthy. They receive from $18 to $25 per month of four weeks. They are paid by the piece. It requires about three months to learn weaving, dependent upon the facility with which the learners acquire knowledge. Learners are never paid while receiving instruction; but on the other hand, they more often pay their companions for the privilege of being taught. Industrious habits and quickness of perception are essential to complete success. By a law of Pennsylvania, sixty hours constitute a week's labor in factories. There is neither a demand nor surplus of hands at present, though a number of factories are in course of erection in this section of country; but they will doubtless be filled as soon as ready, for American women especially prefer factory to household labor. About one half our hands are American. Women have more stability of character than men, and are generally superior to them in the neatness with which they bring the cloth from the looms. Board for operatives is from $8 to $9 per month." =172. Print Works.= The Calico Print Works, New Hampshire, report: "We employ about 24 girls. The employment is healthy. We pay girls about fourteen years old, thirty-three cents a day for 10½ hours in summer; in winter they work till dark, averaging ten hours. To girls about twenty years old, we pay fifty cents per day. The men and women do different work. The prospect of future employment is good. Hands work all the year the same. The price of good board is from $1.25 to $1.50 per week." The agent of the Pacific Print Works, Lawrence, Mass., gives the following reply to inquiries: "We employ one thousand women in carding, spinning, spooling, warping, and weaving, on sewing machines, sewing by hand, measuring, knotting, ticketing, &c. The employment is generally healthy, but the workers are more or less exposed to bad air and to dust. They are paid from twenty-five cents to $1 per day, according to age or skill. They work from ten to eleven hours per day. Some work but 5½ days, from choice. It would doubtless be a pecuniary loss to shorten the hours. Women are as well paid here, generally, as men, when comparative strength and power of endurance are considered. It requires from three to twelve months to learn. While learning, they usually receive enough to pay their board. The more strength and intelligence they have, the better. The prospect for this employment is good. They work during all seasons. Women are not usually as well fitted as men to attend large machines, but are better for smaller ones. From three hundred to four hundred of our women are continual readers of our library. They pay $1.50 per week for board. It is as good, for the class of people to be accommodated, as any I ever saw." The agent of the print works, Manchester, N. H., writes: "Women are employed in all departments. They average sixty-five cents a day, and work eleven hours. They are paid by the piece, and at the same rate as the men. It requires from one to four weeks to learn. This kind of business is increasing. There is a demand all through New England for female labor in our branch of business. We employ 1,200, and three fourths are American. They are more steady than men. Some of our girls go West to teach, and some teach here. They have separate boarding houses, and pay $1.37 per week, including washing and lights. The houses are kept with as much order as any female school. No operative is received until they certify that they will comply with the regulations," a copy of which we examined, and found to be very good. From the print works at Haverstraw, N. Y., we receive the following information: "Women are employed in sewing, measuring calico, and in the engraving department, in running the pantograph machines, which dispense entirely with hand engraving, die making, and machine engraving. Women are employed in England, but only partially in other European countries. The women earn from $2 to $4 per week. Men receive double the pay of women: I know of no reason but usage. Only a few weeks are necessary to become proficient in our work, except in the engraving department. Men serve seven years to learn the art of engraving and printing. Women learn to trace by the pantograph in three months; become proficient in one year. Ability and good judgment are necessary. The prospect for the employment of females is good in many other departments, particularly _designing_. We are decided that females could successfully acquire the art and trade of designing and drawing patterns for calico. Wages of males for this work are from $10 to $40 per week--few at the former, more at $20. Ten hours constitute a day. The time could be shortened an hour or two without loss. We employ about forty females, because their labor is cheaper, and they are more reliable. We find women superior in all branches in which they are employed. The trade society forbids their employment in other parts of the work. Ability to read and write are indispensable in some departments. Men pay for board, $3; women, $1.50." The Suffolk print works pay by the piece, and average eighty cents per day. One of the proprietors at the print works in Pawtucket, Mass., writes: "Women are employed in tracing pantograph designs, and receive from fifty to sixty-seven cents per day. We have one woman who does a man's work at folding, and is paid a man's wages. The work is soon learned, with ordinary capacity. A good physical condition is needed. There is prospect for employment as long as calicoes are used. Cool seasons are the best for work--in very warm weather, work is suspended a short time. We employ fifty. The work is light and clean. The number of American women is very small. We adopt female labor as soon as the aid of machinery renders it practicable. Men are superior in strength and endurance. A locality is desirable where a free circulation of air is furnished on all sides. For ordinary board, women pay $2.50." The agent of the Fall River print works writes: "We pay women by the piece. They earn from $18 to $20 a month; have work the year round. For five days in the week they work 10½ hours; on Saturday, 8½. We employ women because they can do more and cost less than men. Localities are sought where there is a good supply of soft water. Board from $2 to $2.50." A lawn manufacturer in Lodi, N. J., writes: "We employ women in engraving, in stitching, and in finishing goods. The work is very healthy. We pay women $5 per week for engraving; from $2.50 to $5 for other branches. The work can be learned in from four to five weeks. The business is increasing. The women are never out of work. One half are Americans. Women are employed ten hours a day; on Saturday, eight. Women are employed, to help the village along. Very comfortable board, $5 per month." The proprietor of some works in Rhode Island writes me: "We employ about twenty women and girls in measuring cloth, sewing the ends together for bleaching and fulling, knotting the ends of the pieces of cloth when folded; also in engraving copper rolls for printing calicoes, with a pantograph engraving machine. The prices vary from $1 per week to $3 and over, working ten hours a day. For the same work, females are paid the same as males. The work is easily learned. Women are paid while learning. Women will be more employed in future. Work is constant, so far as seasons go. There is probably no other branch of this work, in which women may be employed, than those in which they are. Where women are employed they are as valuable as males. Board of women, $1.50 per week." "In the calico mills of Great Britain, girls grind and mix the colors. They are called teerers. They begin at five years of age, and labor twelve hours a day, sometimes sixteen; and are kept late into the night to prepare for the following day." =173. Spinners.= "Each of the workmen at present employed in a cotton mill superintends as much work as could have been executed by two hundred or three hundred workmen sixty or seventy years ago; and yet, instead of being diminished, the numbers have increased even in a still greater proportion." Again, we read that "a single person can spin as much cotton in Lowell in an hour, as could three thousand Hindoos, by whom at one time cotton cloth was principally manufactured." The wages of cotton spinners in Paris are only from twenty to forty cents per day of twelve hours. We read in the _Monthly Review_, that "the masters of mills are unanimous in asserting that girls, and they alone are trained to flax spinning, never become expert artists, if they begin to learn after eleven." The small particles set loose in spinning affect respiration, and in the course of time do so very seriously. In many parts of Europe women carry portable distaffs, and spin as they walk. Two kinds of wheels are used for spinning--one for spinning cotton, tow, and wool--the other is used for flax. Steam machinery is mostly used for spinning cotton. The prices usually paid spinners will be found under factory operatives. I inquired of a girl spooling cotton for a weaver of coverlets, what wages she received. She replied: "$1.50 a week, working five hours a day." =174. Spool Cotton.= A manufacturer at Fall River, Mass., writes: "We employ twenty women in spooling thread, and preparing it for market. The average pay is $3 per week, and they work eleven hours per day. It requires from one to two months to become expert. When learning, they are paid for what they do carefully. The qualifications needed are neatness, and dexterity in their manipulations. They are employed at all seasons. The demand and supply of work people are about equal. We employ twenty females, because the work is adapted to them, and they are quicker in motion than men. They pay $1.75 per week for board." =175. Tape.= At W.'s, New York, I saw several women weaving tape for hoop skirts. They looked dirty and sad enough. They earn from $2 to $3.50 a week. It does not require long to learn, but they must stand all the time. W. finds it difficult to get good workers. The incessant hum of the machinery in such a low-roofed room would deafen me. I think it must affect the nerves of females. He pays a learner the first month $1.50 a week. After that, if she is competent, she will receive full wages. At the Graham Buildings, I saw the girls putting up tape for skirts. They earn from $3 to $4. The weavers earn from $4 to $6. It requires but a few days to learn to weave, and but a few hours to learn to measure and tie up tape. Most of the girls were Irish. Sixty were employed, and received work all the year. =176. Weavers.= Weaving is an occupation that was followed by all classes of women in primitive ages. The story of Penelope's shroud has been read as far as Homer is known. In Africa spinning is mostly done by women, and the weaving by men. The invention of machinery has very much done away with manual weaving. Fifty years back all woollen and most of cotton goods were made in that way. Some jeans, coarse flannel, rag carpets, coverlets, and other similar articles are still woven by hand. Now, shawls, dress goods, gloves, hosiery, fine carpets, cassimere, and cloth in all its varieties, are woven by machinery. The uniting of threads, and a constant attention to the machinery, are all that is necessary. The wages vary according to the places, the capabilities of the operatives, the goods woven, and the price of living. "A practical working machine is now in activity, weaving silk by the motive power of electricity. It is applied at Lyons and St. Etienne to the Jacquard loom." Children are extensively employed in Great Britain as drawers to weavers. "The great majority of hand-loom cotton weavers work in cellars, sufficiently lighted to enable them to throw the shuttle, but cheerless, because seldom visited by the sun. The reason cellars are chosen is that cotton, unlike silk, requires to be woven damp. The air, therefore, must be cool and moist, instead of warm and dry." In Philadelphia, the average payment of female weavers is from $2.50 to $4 per week. Spinners and spoolers make but from 75 cents to $2. They are generally unskilful adults or very young girls. The number of female operatives engaged in the manufacture of textile fabrics in Philadelphia exceeds twelve thousand. A manufacturer in Providence writes me: "We do not consider weaving particularly unhealthy. We pay on an average $1 per day, by the piece. They work eleven hours a day; the time could not be shortened. Men spend from three to twelve months learning; women, from three to six weeks. Women are not paid while learning; men are. All seasons are alike. There is always a demand for weavers. We employ twenty-two women, one fourth are American; they are not inferior to men as weavers. Men pay $2 for good board; women, $1.75." A manufacturer of negro cloth in Connecticut writes: "The employment is very healthy. We pay weavers from $3.75 to $5 per week, and some make more by the piece. We pay men and women the same for their labor. Some parts are learned by women in two or three weeks. We generally pay women while learning. We sometimes stop a few days, in July and August, for water. They work eleven hours and a half, except Saturday; then from eight to ten hours. The time could be shortened by adding extra help and looms, equal to difference of time. We prefer women, because they weave more than men. All Americans. They are superior to men in tying knots. Good board, $1.25." A manufacturer of cotton cloths for calicoes writes: "Women and girls are employed in power-loom weaving. Weaving requires a little more labor and skill than the other departments. None under sixteen years are allowed to weave. Women are so employed over New England, much of New York, and Pennsylvania, but mostly in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. There is always a demand for girl weavers. It requires from one to three months to learn to weave. They will continue to grow more expert for three years. They weave by the cut from thirty to forty pounds. The wages of an expert weaver are from $4 to $6 per week; board, $1.50 per week. Men weavers are paid per cut the same. An expert weaver attends four looms, weaving from 150 to 160 yards per day. Seamers generally pay their way at the end of four weeks. The employment is not thought unhealthy. * * * * * =177. Linen Manufacture.= Very little flax has been raised in this country. The quantity grown was mostly for the seed and the fibre. Ireland grows and exports large quantities. The soil is not adapted to its growth. It is the result of the most severe labor and high culture. In France, almost every peasant woman has a flax plot. She tends its growth, reaps, dresses, spins, bleaches, and weaves it herself. Some women are there employed in rotting flax and hemp. Generally, the manufacturers of flax goods confine themselves to special departments. Some take the raw flax, and convert it into yarn, and then stop. Some take the yarn and weave it, and when woven, bleach it; and some only take the unbleached woven cloth, and bleach it. In D. & Co.'s establishment in Ireland, all the departments are combined. Eight thousand people are dependent on this firm for support. Of these, four hundred females are employed in spinning and weaving flax. Hand-loom linen weaving is carried on chiefly in the north of Ireland, and, for the most part, made subsidiary to other employments--therefore, not the sole dependence of families. Women are employed in flax mills, in this country, England, and Canada West. A manufacturer writes from a village in New York: "The business is healthy, and women can do any part of the work, as well as men. Here, men receive from $9 to $14 per month. While learning, I pay my men $11 per month, and board them. The work is done in cold weather, away from the fire, and requires strong, healthy persons, warmly clad. The business is increasing in this country. The best season for work is from October till May, and sometimes later. It is not heavy work. I would pay women $5 a month and board, while learning; but to men would pay $11 a month and board." (Justice!) The treasurer of the Boston flax mills writes: "Dear Madam, women are employed on the different machines in preparing the stock, and in spinning and weaving. They are employed largely in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but not much in the United States. They are paid from fifty to seventy-five cents a day, and from fifty cents to $1 for piecework. Ordinary female hands are paid about one half as much as men of the same stamp; best workwomen about two thirds of same grade of men. Men are employed where it would be too difficult and laborious for women. For most work, a very short time is needed to learn; for the higher grades, often many months or years, according to capacity of worker. Common hands can earn fifty cents at once, and we would pay about that, or more, while learning the better description of work; but should not continue it, if they did not improve. A quick eye and hand, and a desire to give satisfaction, are the best qualifications. The prospect for employment in this branch is good. All the year work is furnished. Average time through the year for work is ten hours forty minutes. It is probable that a mill, where all hands were interested to do their best, would turn off as much work in ten hours as a similar mill would in eleven or twelve hours, where the hands were indifferent or careless. There are but few linen mills in this country, and probably in none of them is there a superfluity of good hands. We employ one hundred and twenty women and children. The work is different from that of the men. Our workwomen are mostly foreigners--Scotch, English, and some Irish. There is as much comfort in this occupation as laboring people would expect. The women pursue different branches. We find a great difference in the capacity of different women, but cannot suggest any superiority or inferiority as regards sexes. The general intellect among our women is very fair for foreigners, but would not be considered remarkable for Americans. Their evenings are their own, although there have been times, occasionally, when we have worked till nine o'clock, paying, of course, for extra work. The mill has a good library, and there is usually evening school in winter for those who wish to attend." =178. Sewing Thread.= A manufacturer in Andover, Massachusetts, writes: "We employ about one hundred women, who receive about $3 per week, working eleven hours per day. Women are sometimes paid while learning. Morality, industry, and intelligence best fit them for their work. They work at all seasons. Very few are Americans. Women are inferior only in strength to men pursuing the same branch." The secretary of the American Linen Thread Company writes: "We employ about sixty women in spinning, twisting, reeling, rolling, skeining, &c. Those that work by the week receive $3; those by the piece, more or less. Women do the lightest work, and are paid about half as much as men. There is a prospect of this branch of labor increasing. They have work all the year. Those that are paid by the day work twelve hours. The time could not be shortened without serious loss. Most are foreigners. Board, $1.50 to $2." A member of a firm in Schenectady writes: "We have thirty women in our flax and tow factory, because they are best adapted to the work. The work is healthy. We pay from $3 to $4.50 per week, working twelve hours per day. The working time could not be shortened. A superintendent would require from two to three years to learn. A girl, say sixteen years old, would require about a year. Learners receive half wages. Summer is the best season, but they have work all the year. There is no surplus of female workers in the business. Two thirds of our women are American, one third English. Women could not perform that part of the work done by men, and _vice versa_. One third board, and pay $1.50 per week. The Americans have a common school education, and are intelligent. The larger ones are teachers in Sabbath schools; the smaller ones scholars. The best localities are in the Northern and Western States."--SHOE THREAD. A manufacturer told me, most or all the flax used for shoe thread in this country is imported. "The greater part of the shoe thread used in the United States is spun by machinery, at Leeds, in England, from Russian flax." The flax of this country is not fine enough; and, for bleaching, the climate of this country and Scotland is too changeable. If the bleachers succeed in getting it of a pure white, they extract the substance--the life of the plant--so that it will not retain its strength. Flax is not much attended to in this country, but it is because the tariff is so low that no encouragement is given to manufacturers. Pennsylvania makes more woven goods of coarse linen than any other State, and Philadelphia more than any other city. Labor is so cheap in Europe, that linen can be made there more cheaply than here. Mr. A. employs a number of small girls in his mills for winding the thread into balls, as it is imported in skeins, and pays them from $1.50 to $2 a week. They work only in daylight. He thinks the occupation is well filled. Most factories of the kind are in small towns where living is cheap. * * * * * =179. Woollen Manufacture.= Women and children are not so much employed in the woollen as in other manufactures, owing to the severe labor required in some of the processes. Wool growing is increasing in the United States, particularly in Texas. We doubt not but many woollen manufactures will spring up when business revives. We called on the widow of a wool puller, to ascertain what the business is, and learned that it consists in steeping sheep skins in lime water, then rinsing them in clean water, then removing the wool from the skin, and packing it in bales to send away. The daughter of a wool puller in Utica writes: "Part of the work of a wool puller could be performed by women--that of removing the wool from the skin, and sorting it according to the quality. In Gloucester, England, women were at one time employed as wool pullers. The business is healthy, owing to the presence of disinfectants employed in manufacturing. It could be made respectable and remunerative." A wool puller in Buffalo writes: "I employ some girls in sewing sheep skins. They are paid by the piece, and earn $4.50 a week. Board, $2. It requires a week for a woman to learn her part--a lifetime for a man to learn his. A steady hand and good eyesight are essential. There must be work of this kind as long as boots and shoes are fashionable. The most busy seasons are fall, winter, and spring. The best location is where sheep are raised and bark to be had." People employed in the making of cloth are wool sorters and pickers, scourers, carders, slubbers, spinners, warpers, sizers, weavers, burlers, boilers, millers, giggers or dressers, croppers, singers, fuzers, glossers, drawers, and packers. Some of these are women. I am sorry to say that carding--the most unhealthy process of all--is performed almost exclusively by women, and at low prices. =180. Blankets.= "Blankets were first made at Bristol, England, by a poor weaver named Thomas Blanket, who gave his name to this peculiar manufacture of woollen cloths." One hundred and twenty-two women are reported in the census of Great Britain for 1850, as blanket manufacturers. A blanket manufacturer in New Hampshire writes: "Women are employed in carding, weaving, and binding. The work is not unhealthy. Average wages are seventy cents per day of eleven hours, and they are paid by the piece. Women receive about two thirds of the wages of men, because they do less laborious work. It requires from one week to three months to learn. They are paid small wages while learning. The manufacture of blankets will increase. Business is the same at all seasons. There is a demand for hands in many of the manufacturing villages, and a surplus in country towns. We have twenty women, all American. They do light work faster than men. They pay for board twenty-one cents per day, in private families." =181. Carpets.= Mr. Lagrange writes: "The carpets of Smyrna and Caramania, so widely esteemed, are evidence of what woman's genius can produce. They are all woven by feminine hands." In 1858 there were 2,500 persons employed in the manufacture of carpets in and near Philadelphia. Ingrain and Venetian are the kinds mostly made there, but some of a very cheap quality are also manufactured. Those made at Hartford and Lowell are all worsted goods. The business, we believe, has been a successful and lucrative one. It is said that much carpeting is sold in this country, as English, that is in reality American. Our finest carpets are imported. I visited Mr. H.'s carpet factory, New York city, and saw the entire process, from putting the wool in to its coming out in various kinds of carpeting, ingrain, velvet, Brussels, tapestry, &c. From that manufactory we have the following report: "Females tend carding, spinning, spooling, weaving, and other machines, in the manufacture of carpeting. The employment is not unhealthy. The branch of manufacture and the capacities of females vary the wages from 50 cents to $1 per day of eleven hours. Three fourths work by the piece. Males and females are not employed at the same kind of work. The time required to learn any branch of the carpet trade depends on the natural talent and application of the learner. Many never become proficient enough to pursue the business profitably. The prices paid to learners depend on their success. Health, natural talent, and application are essential. The prospect of employment in the business is good. They have work the whole year, except during unusual depressions of the trade. Whether the work time of eleven hours could be shortened would depend on the profit on the quantity produced in ten hours, compared with that produced in eleven hours. There is no demand for female labor at the present time. We employ from 500 to 600 females, because their labor is cheaper. About one third are Americans. The comfort and remuneration is better than the average of other employments in this city. They are employed by us in all branches they can be. Females perform some branches better than men. They have free evening schools, libraries, lectures, and churches in abundance. About one half board. The majority board in private families, the comfort depending generally on the price paid." Carpet manufacturers in Wrentham, Massachusetts, write: "We employ women in winding yarn. It is unhealthy only because of sitting so steadily. Women average $14 per month, and are paid by the piece. They work ten hours a day. It requires but a few weeks to learn the business. Women are paid something while learning. They are employed all the year. We employ eight, because the work is better adapted to them. All the workwomen are foreigners. Men, as a general thing, do not want to be confined to indoor work, unless the wages are high. Good board can be had at $1.50 per week." A gentleman, who was once superintendent of the carpet factory at Lowell, informed me all the weavers were females, when he was there, and earned from $3.50 to $4.00 on an average. They had about thirty pickers (females), whose business it was to pick the knots and loose wool off the carpets. =182. Carpet Bags.= K. & M., carpet-bag makers, have a factory in Newark. The carpet bags are sewed up and the buttons put in by machines. The lining is put in by hand. It is piecework, and the girls earn from $3 to $6 a week. It requires but a short time to become sufficiently expert to make it pay. The busiest times are from February 1st to June, and from the middle of July to the 1st of November. One of the proprietors thinks the prospect to learners is good, for the business will extend. It has increased five hundredfold in the last five years. Their girls are mostly Americans. Making trunk covers is piecework. The linings could be put in trunks and valises and the varnish put on by girls. The linings could be better put in valises than trunks by women, as they are lighter and less difficult to handle. At H.'s carpet-bag factory, I was told they employ seventy girls, and make from ninety to one hundred dozen bags a day. They keep their hands all the year, with the exception of three weeks. Some work by machine and some by hand. They take learners when busy. A smart girl can learn in making two or three dozen bags--of course, is not paid while learning. They used to allow a few hands, accustomed to the work, to give instruction to learners, having the profits of their work for their time. Those that work by machine can earn from $3 to $4.50; hand sewers from $3 to $6. These work by the piece. Those paid by the week work ten hours, and earn from $2.50 to $5. The gentleman thinks the prospect for learners to enter the business is poor. I think differently, if the statement that he made is true, that there are no manufacturers West or South. A regulation that struck me as being very unjust was, that if a girl learns in their factory and goes elsewhere to seek work, she cannot be taken into their factory again, unless she makes eight or ten dozen bags for them without pay. A manufacturer of carpet and oil-cloth bags writes: "We pay by the piece, and women earn from $4 to $6 per week, working ten hours a day. Women can learn in one month, if skilful with the needle. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but we find work for our hands through the winter. They work at home." =183. Cassimere.= A manufacturer of cassimere in New Hampshire writes: "We pay mostly by the week, $3.50, working eleven hours a day. We pay the same to women as men. It requires from two to twelve weeks to learn. They are paid what they can earn while learning. There is no surplus of workwomen in this branch of labor. Our girls board in families, and pay $1.34 per week." A manufacturer in Vermont says: "Twenty women are employed by me. They are all American or English. They are paid according to the amount of work they do. Girls that weave make $3, besides board. Some are paid by the yard, and some by the week. They are paid as much as men for the same kind of work. It usually takes four weeks to learn to weave. Learners give their time. Work is performed ten hours a day all the year. Women prefer factory to housework. They pay $1.50 per week for board." A manufacturer in New Hampshire writes: "We pay from $2.50 to $4.50 per week. For the work that women can do in our establishment, they are worth more than men, as they can work quicker. Women soon learn to weave, but for the first six months they are not worth more than half pay. The prospect for future employment is good. The best seasons for work are spring, summer, and fall. They are usually employed ten hours a day. We employ none but American women. Some parts of our business are suitable for women, but we can get boys cheaper. Board $1.25 per week." B. Brothers, of Proctorsville, Vermont, write: "We employ from thirty to forty American women in preference to men, because the work is more suitable for them. Prospects for increase of employment in this line are very flattering. The women average $2.50 per week with board. They work twelve hours a day, and can be employed all the year. They are superior in all respects to men. If they were not, we should employ men. Their facilities for mental and moral culture are good. Women are paid less than men, on account of the work being light. Board $1.50 per week." The Globe Woollen Company (Utica, New York) write: "Our women, seventy-five in number, earn from $3 to $6 a week, and are paid both by the piece and week. Men and women work together in the weaving room. It requires but a few days to learn to weave, although experience is valuable, both on account of wages and excellence of production. Mental and physical ability ought to be combined to insure success. The prospect for future employment is good. Continual employment is given. Our hands work 12 hours each day, Saturdays 10½. One fourth are Americans, and they live and dress well. The demand for labor is good all through the country. There is no part of our business where women could be advantageously introduced, where not now employed. The women have all the facilities a city affords for mental and aesthetic culture." =184. Cloths.= A manufacturer of gray cloth in Vermont writes: "Women are employed at spinning, carding, burling, and weaving. We have ten, because they are more easily obtained than men. We pay women from $2 to $3.50 per week, and board them. They work twelve hours per day. The work done by men requires more than double the experience of that performed by women. Women can learn in four weeks, men in sixteen. Women are paid half wages while learning. They are busy except in the winter. All board with me." C. & Sons, of T., N. Y., write: "Experienced hands receive $3.75 per week--inexperienced $3--board included. Women are not employed at the same work as men. It requires two years to learn our business--six months for women. We adopt the ten-hour system. There is no difference in seasons as to work, except in case of low water. Our labor yields sufficient to keep them until they find an opportunity to marry. They have a good library--ten periodicals every week. They pay for board from $1.50 to $1.75 per week." A manufacturer in Derby, Conn., writes: "We employ about fifteen women, because they are cheaper and more easily obtained; but many are now using male weavers. They earn from $3 to $6 per week, and are paid both ways. They work eleven hours. To work ten instead of eleven hours, we would lose that amount of the product of those who work by the day. I think there is a demand for such labor all through New England, and I do not know where there is a surplus of such help. We have had but few whose parents were born in America. Women might be employed on shearing machines. They are not, because it is as easy getting boys. Women have less strength and endurance, and are less constant at work, but quicker in motion and less liable to bad habits. Board for females from $2.25 to $2.50 per week." A manufacturing company of satinets and printing cloths, Troy, N. Y., give the following information: "We pay from $2.50 to $6 per week, average $4.50. Men and women get the same wages for the same work. Women learn in from two to four weeks. At best it is but partially learned. Some are paid while learning, and some are not. There is now, and always will be full employment. We furnish steady work all the year. The hands work twelve hours per day. The time could be shortened, but the workers would lose by it. There is a demand for female labor of this kind in Cohoes, N. Y. We have sixty-nine women, and one half are Americans. They are well fed and dress better than any other class of working people. Women are more steady and neater than men. They are all Protestant, and their intelligence is about the average. They pay $1.50 per week for good board." The Monsoon Woollen Co., Mass., say: "We pay fourteen mills per yard for weaving. The women make just the same as the men, and perform the same kind of work. They earn on an average eighty-three cents per day of twelve hours. The work can be done without apprenticeship. The prospect is that our business will be on the increase for years. Our help are employed the year round: three quarters are Americans. They have their evenings after seven o'clock. They pay $2 per week for board." The agent of Shady Lee Mills, R. I., writes: "Women are employed in woollen mills in England, Germany, France, and this country. They are paid in our mill by the piece, and earn $5 per week on an average. Women weavers earn as much as men. It takes a lifetime to learn; some learn better than others. Learners are paid. The business is improving daily. Women work all the year round, unless broken down. They work twelve hours a day. The time could not be shortened. The supply of hands about equals the demand in this manufacture. We employ seventy-five women, because they are better for weavers. Nearly all our work people can read and write. Board $1.75." Mr. H., a manufacturer in Massachusetts, writes: He "pays from $14 to $18 a month, working by the piece. While learning they are paid for what they do. They can earn fair wages after two weeks' experience. They work thirteen hours a day, and are employed through the year. There is no surplus of weavers. He employs twenty-five, because they are better adapted to the work. Women are superior in hand work. Board $6 a month." A satinet manufacturer in Maine, writes: "Our women weave by the cut and earn about $6 per week. A person can get an insight of the business in a few years; but to get a thorough knowledge requires at least the English term of apprenticeship--seven years. Women are paid half price while learning. Summer is the best season, but our women are employed the year round. They work twelve hours--which is the usual time here, and less would be a loss. Women are handier than men, and can be boarded for less. We have churches in the village and a good moral influence. Board $1.50 per week; comforts quite equal to those of their homes." Manufacturers in Pittsfield, Mass., inform us "they have a number of women employed in weaving and sewing, mostly weaving. The employment is considered healthy, and the condition of weavers is entirely comfortable, as this is, of course, for the interest of the employers as well as the employées. The average time of work is thirteen hours. The wages paid them is from $4 per week to $6. They are paid by the yard, and their earnings depend upon their attention, activity, and capability. They are paid $3 a week while learning. Women weavers earn quite as much as men, and can stand the confinement as well, if not better. We have no difficulty in keeping our looms supplied, and frequently have applications which we are obliged to reject. We employ sixty women, nearly one half Americans. In this place they have every advantage for moral and mental culture. Those who have parents or friends working in the establishment usually live with them; and those who have not, live at our boarding house, which is as comfortable and well regulated as any house in the country. The price charged for board is from $1.25 to $1.50 per week." A company in North Berwick, Me., writes: "We pay both ways; when by the week, from $2.50 to $4. Males and females do not perform the same kind of work with us. The time of learning varies with the capacities of the women. Some of our hands have been with us more than ten years. Seasons alike. They work eleven hours. We employ twenty-five women, because it is more economical. Not one of our women will do housework. Our employées are Yankee girls--can all read and write; and, so far as we know, converse intelligently on general subjects. They have their evenings and a portion of each Saturday. Board $1.33 ¹/3 per week." We would add that every cotton and woollen manufacturer from whom we have heard, expresses the opinion that their occupation is healthy. All, we believe, pay some hands by the week and some by the piece, and most pay men and women at the same rate for the same kind of work. It will be observed that the rates paid for labor decrease the farther you go North, but that board is also something less. =185. Coverlets.= A manufacturer of woollen coverlets in Allentown, Penn., answers inquiries in regard to prices paid, &c., as follows: "I employ eight American girls for spooling wool and cotton yarn in my coverlet manufactory, and pay two cents per pound. They earn from $2 to $2.50 per week. I pay girls the same as boys. The prospect for increase of work is good. There is a surplus of hands here. I prefer girls, as they have more patience than boys." =186. Dry Goods Refinishers.= A. & Co. employ women when busy to put up dress goods, cravats, ribbons, &c. They pay $3 a week. I was told by a satinet printer and refinisher, that he employs one woman to sew the ends of the cloth together. She does it with a machine, and earns $5 a week, working ten hours a day. The coloring matter rubs off on the hands. S. employs some women, and pays $3 a week. He gives them about eight months' employment. During two months in summer and two in winter, there is not enough doing to employ them. He says some women, like some men, know nothing but how to eat. He finds it difficult to get women of intelligence and judgment to do his work. (I should think he would, for such wages.) The girls fold, label, and pack. There are but three large houses of the kind in New York. At another place we saw a girl who gets $3 a week for such work--ten hours a day. =187. Flannels.= Flannels differ much in color and quality. Employers are unanimous in pronouncing the work healthy. If the sum paid foreign countries for flannels and blankets were invested in manufactories in our country, it would give employment to many, and tend to encourage home industry. A flannel manufacturer in Stockport, New York, writes: "We employ women at weaving and spooling. Women and girls are paid mostly by the piece, and earn from $3 to $5 per week. No males are employed at the same work as females. It usually takes about a week to learn to weave. We do not pay learners. We will increase the number of women as we increase our product. All seasons are alike as respects employment. Our hands work twelve hours per day. The time could not be shortened without loss to both employer and employed. We have about forty females, and prefer them, as it gives the whole family work. Eight tenths are American. The work is as light and comfortable as any in the mill. There is no other work suitable than that in which they are now engaged. All our women can read and write, and are already quite intelligent, particularly the Americans. We do not employ many under sixteen years of age, and those younger are usually sent to school a part of the year. Board is $6 per month in good, respectable families." A manufacturer in Dover, Maine, replies to a circular asking information: "I employ women as weavers, carders, spoolers, and one as a warper-on to draw the web. Women earn from $2.75 to $5 per week, eleven hours per day. Weavers are paid by the piece. I pay men from 83 cents to $1.50 per day. Women do the lighter and easier work. Some parts are not adapted to women, that is one reason why we pay less, and perhaps custom has something to do with the prices of labor. Women learn their part in from one to six weeks, but it requires some years of experience to be a manufacturer. For some kinds of work we pay from the beginning; for others, after one or two weeks. The prospect is fair; work, constant. In large manufacturing places, there is a demand for labor of this kind. Women are employed because they work cheaper. Women do their kind of work better than men. Our women are Americans, and appear to enjoy life well. They have the early morning and evening, and the Sabbath for themselves. More than one half are church members. Those that have relations living near the factory, board with them, and pay $1.50 per week." A manufacturer in Conway, Massachusetts, writes: "We employ women in weaving, burling, sewing, and numbering flannels. They receive from 50 cents to $1 per day of twelve hours. Women doing the same kind of labor as men receive the same price. It requires from one to four weeks to learn. If our business does not pay better in future than the past, we had better stop. In the more difficult part of our work there is a demand for hands. Men make better work than women. One fourth are American. Board, $1.50, to $1.75." A manufacturer in Morgantown, New York, writes: "The employment is as healthy as any indoor work. The wages average about $5 per week, they being paid by the piece. It takes about four years to learn the business, so as to conduct it in its several branches. I pay their expenses while learning. The best season is the fall. Work lasts ten hours--if obliged to run longer, we pay extra. We think women more to be depended on than men. We have no department suitable for women but what is filled by them. Board, $2 a week--quite good. In the cities board is seldom over $2 per week for workwomen. The rent and price of provisions are too high to keep a boarding house as it should be on such terms. Our wages may be lower in the country, but expenses are much lower also, and consequently the laborer is able to save more money." Manufacturers in Keene, N. H., write: "We pay one half $3, the other, $3.80 per week, twelve hours a day. We pay the same to both sexes when the quantity and quality are the same. A carder will learn in one month, a weaver in three months. The qualities wanted are industry, sobriety, perseverance, constructiveness, and amiability. All seasons alike good. To shorten the time of thirteen hours would be a loss to both parties. All branches are well supplied with workers. Women have more patience, tact, neatness, and are more reliable than men. All our women are well fed, well clothed, well housed, and some possess the luxuries, and even elegancies of life. We have six places of worship, a public library, book stores, and newspapers in abundance. Board, $1.50." =188. Gloves.= Kid, silk, cotton, and woollen are the kinds of gloves most used. They differ much in quality. Kid and leather are most numerous. The price of labor, the difficulty in obtaining the best kid, and the want of experienced workmen, are such that the finest kid gloves have not been made in the United States. An immense number of kid gloves are annually imported. In Paris, women are paid from sixty cents to $1 a dozen for sewing gloves. The French excel in the manufacture of kid gloves. French workmen are very economical in cutting out the kid. In France 375,000 dozens of skins are cut into gloves every year. Nearly 3,500 female glove sewers are employed in Vienna. Immense quantities of buckskin gloves and mittens are made in Johnstown and Gloversville, New York. "Most American manufactures have been introduced by sending the goods into the country by peddlers, or the manufacturers themselves selling them in that way. This trade was commenced so." The manufacture of buckskin gloves and mittens is mostly confined to small towns and the country. The cutting is done by men. The sewing is given out to those who do the work at home, and receive for their labor from $1 to $6 per week. It requires but a few weeks to learn. A manufacturer of kid and buckskin gloves, in Philadelphia, has all his sewing done by hand. He will not use machines for cutting out and sewing, as it would throw many of his workwomen out of employment. Those who are neat and intelligent obtain a very good livelihood by it. They take the work home, and earn $6 a week or more; beginners only $1.50 or $2. The kid is imported from South America, and not so fine as French kid. A glove manufacturer, New York, who lived in Johnstown eighteen years, told me that "girls can earn at glove sewing from $3 to $6 a week. Those who board in the families of their employers receive less, because of their board. Many gloves are made up by farmers' daughters at home, both by hand and machine. A good sewer would not find it difficult to make gloves. Most of the gloves made in factories are stitched by machines. Singer's and Grover & Baker's are preferred. Handworkers do not receive quite so good wages. Women used to cut out gloves with scissors, but now men cut them by striking with a hammer a tool the shape of a glove. The plan is preferred, because of being cheaper. The knowledge of dressing kid seems to be lost to foreigners in coming over the ocean." A manufacturer in Springfield, Mass., writes: "We employ some women in making buckskin gloves and mittens. Some work by the piece, and some by the week, and earn from $3 to $5. Those who work by the week spend ten hours, sewing. It takes females from two hours to four weeks to learn. Patience, perseverance, and taste are needed by learners. The best season for work is from February to November. They are out of work about two months at times. Most are Americans. They can use a needle better than a man." A glover in Salem writes: "Our women sew by hand, and earn $3 per week. Men spend three years in learning--women six months. The prospect for work is poor, as importation is destroying the business." A manufacturer at Gloversville writes: "Women earn from $3 to $5 a week, ten hours a day. Males get as much again as women. A smart woman will learn in eight months. Prospect of work in the future is good." Manufacturers in Broadalbin, N. Y., write me they employ twelve American women at the shop, and about one hundred out of the shop, finishing up. When paid by the week, they receive from $2 to $4.50, and work ten hours a day. The comparison in prices in male and female labor is about $2 to $1, for the reason that it requires more strength, labor, and skill to perform the man's part. Men spend two or three years in learning--women, six months. Punctuality, sobriety, and a liberal education, together with a steady nerve, will insure success in our business. (Some one else suggests, mechanical talent.) As long as there are feet to wear moccasins, and hands to wear gloves, our kind of business must thrive. Board in neat and commodious houses, $2 for women." A glover in New Hampshire writes: "Women sew by the piece for me; most have families, do their own work, and sew when they can--so I cannot say how much they would earn, if they sewed constantly. A man would have to spend from two to four years qualifying himself to superintend; the part done by women can be learned in from two to six weeks. Summer is the best season, but good workers have constant employment. All are Americans. Any locality is good where water power may be had. Ladies pay for board from $1.50 to $1.70 per week." Another in Perth, N. Y., says: "Some of our workers use sewing machines; others fit and prepare the goods for them. They earn from $3 to $4.75. The male and female labor is different in our establishment. I think the business permanent. Best time for work is from 1st of March to 1st of November. They work all daylight, except at meal times. When a certain amount of work is required in a given time, the women are apt to overwork themselves and slight the work. The wives and daughters of mechanics and farmers do the piecework at their homes. All Americans. Board, from $1.75 to $2." "At Gloversville the men cut, and machines do the sewing. Five pair of mits and two pair of gloves are a heavy days work. Gloves are worth 75 cents per day to cut; and to make from 12½ cents for a light article, to 18 cents for heavy ones."--_Woollen Gloves._ I was told by a man who employed eight girls to crochet woollen gloves for him, that he pays fifty cents a dozen pairs. He makes over five cents profit on a pair when selling to the wholesale stores; and in retailing, nine cents a pair. He says a right expeditious girl can make one dozen pairs a day. He employs his girls all the year. Most that attempt to learn find their progress so slow that they get discouraged, and give it up. It is best to learn early in life. The Germans excel. =189. Linseys.= An agent for a manufacturing company of linseys and flannels in Rhode Island, writes: "I employ fifty-eight women in spooling yarn and weaving, and pay from $3 to $5 a week. Our men are paid $1 per day, because they are able to do more. Men run three looms; girls, two. The organs that manufacture vitality in women are not allowed, by lacing strings, to attain more than two thirds their natural size. If nature could have her way with them, especially when young, they would earn more in the weaving shop than men, because they are naturally quicker and smarter. They are paid something while learning, which requires three months. Good female workers have always been scarce since I have been in the business--twenty years. We might employ more, if we could get them. April, May, and June are the most busy seasons. They work twelve hours. To shorten the time two hours would make one sixth difference, which the work people would not be willing to lose. We have more families than single help. Those who board pay from $1.75 to $2.25 per week. The boarding houses have to be helped by us, to enable them to take boarders at these prices." Mr. T., writing from Rhode Island, mentions, in addition to the branches stated above as performed by women, that of warping. He informs us, the work is not more unhealthy than housework, but complains that his women are careless, in bad weather, going to and from the mill. "Wages, when running full time, average from $3.75 to $6 per week. Weavers are paid by the yard, spoolers by the bunch, warpers by the web, and extra hands by the week. Men's wages are from 75 cents to $1.25 per day, but men's board is from 50 to 75 cents per week more. The prospect for work in the future depends upon the state of the country. Spring and summer are the best seasons for work. From March 20th to October 20th, the hands work from seven to seven; from October to March, until 8 P. M. Their wages are according to the number of yards woven; so of course it is to their interest, as well as our own, to run full time. We find male labor scarcer than female. Most of our hands are Americans. Our mills are well ventilated and well warmed. The company have a boarding house under their own supervision, but the women are at liberty to board in private families, and some do. The majority of young ladies in our employ are farmers' daughters, not really compelled to work, but prefer to do it, and in most instances use the means for obtaining an education. Instrumental music is taught in a seminary near the mill, by a young lady, who obtained her education with the means gained by working in this mill. We have from one to three nights every week devoted to literary societies, reading circles, &c., in all of which, the ladies from this and neighboring mills take an active part. Some eight or ten who worked at the mill during the summer are now attending school. Board $2.25 for men; $1.75 for women." The proprietor of the Kenyon mills, R. I., writes: "Probably one half the operatives in mills, in this part of the world, are women. Weavers are paid by the yard, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Men are generally hired by the day. An intelligent woman will be able to run her loom after two or three weeks' practice. It is common to put learners on looms with experienced weavers for two or three weeks. From 20th March to 20th September, my working time is from sunrise to sunset, the remainder of the year, until eight o'clock in the evening. My weavers prefer to work full time as they are paid by the yard. There is generally a demand for good weavers in this part of the country all the year. Weavers make most money in summer. Large mills are being supplied with foreign help. Very few Americans are willing to work with them. Women are employed in mills on all kinds of work which they can do, and are preferred because they are more steady. Nearly all my mill girls are daughters of farmers in the neighborhood, and have had a fair common school education. Several of my weavers take newspapers or other periodicals, and carry them into the mill to read, when they can do so without interfering with their work. Some take sewing or knitting. Board $1.75 for women; $2.25 for men. If we did not keep comfortable boarding houses, our help would find employment in other places. Any smart, good girls, who want work, need have no hesitation in coming to Rhode Island to look for work in mills." =190. Woollen Shawls.= The secretary of the Waterloo Woollen Shawl Company writes: "Women are employed by us in weaving, carding, &c. The work is not unhealthy. It is paid for mostly by the piece, and hands earn from $2.50 to $3 per week. Most of them earn as much as males; and some, more. They are employed twelve hours. Skill, industry, and good character are necessary. The prospect of future employment is good. There is no difference in the seasons for work. In weaving there is no surplus. We employ two hundred and fifty women, because they do better work than men. We employ but very few young girls, and they generally work at home under the eyes of parents, and attend school at least four months in the year." =191. Shoddy.= At flock or shoddy manufactories, girls are employed to separate rags of different qualities and colors, and to cut the seams and buttons off. The rags are placed in machines and cut to pieces, then put in other machines that grind them to flocks. From them satinet is made. Women are paid so much one hundred pounds, and earn from $1.50 to $3 per week. They are busy all the year. It is dirty work, and, I think, unwholesome on account of the dust. Boys attend the machinery for cutting and grinding, and are paid about the same wages as the girls, and probably a little more. Girls could just as well attend the machines. Modern improvements have made wool shoddy susceptible of receiving a fine dye, and it is made into cloth for soldiers' and sailors' uniforms, and for pilot coats; into blanketing, drugget, stair and other carpeting, and into very beautiful table covers. A manufacturer of wool shoddy in Massachusetts writes: "I employ Irish women at $3 per week, of eleven hours a day in winter and twelve in summer. Men receive $6 per week. Women cannot perform their labor. It requires two weeks to learn. They receive small wages the first two or three weeks. The business is probably permanent. The work is hard. Women do best for picking and sorting stock and tending cards. They pay $1.50 a week for Irish fare." =192. Yarn.= A manufacturer of stocking yarn, in Spring Valley, New York, writes: "Girls are employed in twisting and reeling yarn. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay some by the piece, and some by the week; those by the week receive $2.50. The wages are the same for men and women. To learn the whole business requires from three to five years; that part done by girls, from one to two months. They are paid while learning. The prospect of employment is as good as that of business generally. Our girls work the year round; they work eleven hours. To shorten the time would be a disadvantage to us, and a loss in wages to the hands. Boys would do for us, but are not so easily governed. The work is easy and comfortable." A yarn manufacturer in Stoughton, Mass., writes me: "I pay $2 per week, and furnish board to those that twist and card. The labor of the women is much cleaner and easier than that of the men. Men receive from $1 to $1.75 per day, board included. I charge them $2.50 per week--women $1.75. Much of the men's labor requires strength, knowledge, and skill. It requires two or three months to learn it well. Women work, on an average, eleven hours and a half. I should like the ten-hour system, but cannot adopt it, unless others do the same. The supply of hands is adequate to the demand. Ladies have done some parts of our work, now performed by men, and have received equal wages; but the labor being hard, and women's dress being inconvenient, we have abandoned the plan." * * * * * =193. Silk Manufacture.= The duty on raw silk is so very great that it will not do to import it into the United States for manufacture. We suppose, if a duty in proportion to their value were levied on silk and linen goods, we would no longer be so dependent on other nations for these articles. Or if a reduction were made on the duty of the raw material, capitalists would establish silk manufactures in the United States. Individual failures here are attributed by some to ignorance and want of experience; by others, to the nature of the climate. The support afforded by our Government to the culture of silk has been very fickle--to-day encouraged, to-morrow neglected. The experiments that have been made prove the feasibility of growing the mulberry, and raising the silkworm in this climate. The silk produced was of good quality, and, but for imperfect implements and want of experience, might have done well. The cheapness of labor in older countries affords an advantage that we have not. Most of the raw silk manufactured in the United States comes from China. The women there rear silkworms; they also reel and weave the silk. Not many years back silk winding was done by men in England. "In the silk factories in France, there are two unwholesome processes entirely carried on by women: the first is the drawing of the cocoons, when the hands must be kept constantly in boiling water, and the odor of the putrefying insects constantly fills the lungs; the second is carding the floss, the fine lint of which affects the bronchial tubes. Six out of every eight women employed, die in a few months. Healthy young girls from the mountains soon develop tubercular consumption; and, to complete the dreadful tale, they are kept upon the lowest wages, being paid only twenty cents, where a man would earn sixty." "One silk manufacturer in Valencia, Spain, gives employment to 170 women and young girls." In Lyons, France, many women are employed in the silk manufacture, for particulars of which see _Revue des Deux Mondes_, Feb. 15th, 1860. Silk weavers mostly work in attics, where they can have the best light to distinguish shades of colors, and where the silk, which moisture would damage, can be kept perfectly dry. In Spitalfields, the silk manufacture is mostly carried on by the workmen at their homes, their families assisting. Each child has his own branch, and the wife hers. It is the same case in the making of lace, artificial flowers, embroidery, straw braiding, &c. The strength of silk is greater than that of cotton, flax, or wool. Machinery is now employed for winding the silk off of cocoons, but formerly it was done by hand. Mrs. O. told us her husband employs a few girls to spool silk, which he dyes for a large dress trimming manufactory next door. The girls earn from $2 to $3 a week. The pasting of patterns of floss silk upon cards was done by men a few years ago in England, but women, after great effort, have succeeded in gaining the work, so much more suitable for them. "A lady in Jefferson county, Ia., has made herself a handsome silk dress from cocoons of her own raising." A manufacturer of silk goods in Paterson, N. J., writes: "We mostly employ girls from twelve to eighteen. The work is not unhealthy. Average pay is $3 per week. To learn, a girl must be about twelve years of age; it takes about two months. Pay begins after two weeks. To learn, one should be smart with her hands, and careful with the material. There is a good prospect ahead for weavers. All seasons are good, except during a panic. They work twelve hours. The time could not be shortened conveniently. If other States worked less time, we could too. We employ a hundred girls and twenty-five boys. Seventy-five per cent. are American. Board, $1.75. Women could be employed more extensively in weaving. Men are employed upon the spinners, women in winding, &c." =194. Ribbons.= In England, formerly, a woman was not at all engaged in ribbon weaving, as the men thought it an encroachment on their sphere of labor; nor were they even allowed to wind silk preparatory to its use in weaving. Manufacturers of ribbon in West Newton, Massachusetts, write: "We employ from forty to eighty women, and prefer them to men in all departments they are fitted for. They are paid by the week, and earn from $2 to $6, according to the value of their work. It requires from six months to a year to learn the business. Women are paid something while learning. Good character and fair capacity are needed. Our women work eleven hours. If the time was reduced to ten, the loss would be the use of machinery. There is a surplus of hands in New York, by reason of immigration. Women are inferior in mechanical skill, superior in steadiness." =195. Sewing Silk.= The first factory for spinning silk in this country was established in Northampton, Massachusetts. There are 156 hands in Massachusetts, engaged in the manufacture of sewing silk. Two other factories have been established since then in Paterson, New Jersey; one for the manufacture of the raw silk, and the other the manufacture of sewing silks, fringes, gimps, and tassels. There is a manufactory in Mansfield, Connecticut, and one in Newport, Kentucky. Most of the sewing silk used in this country under the name of Italian silk is made by American manufacturers. An agent for the manufacture of twist in Paterson, New Jersey, told me their best hands do not earn over $3.50 a week and work eleven hours. They try girls, that wish to learn, two weeks, and if they find them fitted for the work, pay $1 a week. There is no danger from the machinery as in cotton factories, nor has it the unhealthy tendency of cotton, as there are no particles flying from the material like the lint that flies from cotton. It does not require an apt person long to learn. The girls stand all the time. They have to watch the machinery, and tie the threads that break. The agent said, in the Eastern States girls are paid better in silk factories, but they are more competent workers. There some earn from sixty to eighty cents per day. The work is neat and clean. Some manufacturers of sewing machine silk and twist write me from Boston: "We employ fifty women winding and twisting silk. They work eleven hours in winter and twelve in summer, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Some are paid by the piece and some by the week. Men are paid from $1 to $2.50 a day. Integrity and activity are wanted. The prospect for future employment is good. They work at all seasons. One fourth are Americans. No parts of our occupation are suitable for women but those in which they are engaged." A sewing silk manufacturer in Paterson, N. J., writes: "Our women are engaged in winding and doubling the raw silk and finishing, in skeins and on spools, the dyed material. The work is generally considered healthy. Many children, boys and girls, from ten years and upward, are employed--say forty per cent. of the whole force of help; children at $1 per week--women at $3 and $4. They work sixty-nine hours to the week. State rights prevent the shortening of the time. Each State makes its own laws on the subject, and no unanimity exists. Males and females are employed up to a certain age, say fifteen years, indiscriminately; girls always preferred. The time of learning depends upon the quickness of the hand; some learn in two or three days, some again can scarcely learn at all. The rule of the trade is not to pay learners. It depends on circumstances whether we pay. In brisk times we have about sixty (including children)--women about forty--perhaps less. About half are Americans. Crinoline is in the way to prevent women from performing other parts of the labor. Women are cheaper. Men could not be got, and could scarcely do the work, if they could. Yet no particular qualifications are required. The prospect for an increase of this manufacture depends upon congressmen and the tariff. The best seasons are immediately after the New Year's and Fourth of July holidays." In France, some girls are employed to wind the raw silk from cocoons, and some spin it into skeins of silk. In Dublin, many women are employed in the winding and picking of silk used in making poplin. Near Algiers is an orphan asylum, from which a large number of girls have been apprenticed to a gentleman who owns a silk winding mill in the vicinity. The girls work twelve hours a day. * * * * * =196. Lace Makers.= Large numbers of women are employed in lace making in Belgium, France, Ireland, and England. A normal lace school was established in Dublin in 1847. Lace makers are very closely confined, and in busy times many spend from twelve to twenty hours at their work. Lace making requires care, quickness, and dexterity. Rev. Mr. Hanson mentions the fact that, in Liverpool, there are three Roman Catholic institutions aided by the Privy Council for the industrial training of girls: one, attended by forty pupils, is a laundry; another is a lace school, attended by one hundred and sixty-six; the third, attended by twenty-six, trains domestic servants. Lace making is so injurious to the eyes that, at forty, very few can carry it on without spectacles. In England the process of winding is conducted by young women, while boys are mostly employed as lace threaders. Their condition is a wretched one. Women are mostly employed as lace runners or embroiderers. Mending, drawing, pearling, and joining are mostly done by young children. An interesting account of the business is given in Charlotte Elizabeth's story of the "Lace Runners": "It is proved by unquestionable evidence, that in lace making it is customary for children to work at the age of four or five and six years; and instances are found in which a child, only _two_ years old, was set to work by the side of its mother." The present condition of most of the laboring classes in England is far more depressing and exhausting than the slavery that exists among the colored population of the United States. "The powers of production of a machine for making laces are to hand labor nearly as 30,000 to 5." C. says he and his wife are the only makers of hand lace in the United States, and he has been nine years in the business here. He says, making the figures is most difficult; and he showed me one figure he asked but twenty-eight cents for, that he stated it would require a day and a half to make. I wish I had offered to buy it. He employs a number of girls to put the figures on some kind of a foundation for collars, sleeves, and capes. They also transfer, mend lace, and do other such work. He says, making figures does not pay as well as the other parts, and it would not pay for the salt you use on your potatoes. He does not have lace made, except now and then a figure that cannot be obtained, to fill out a piece that is being transferred or altered, and for which the lady is willing to pay a good price. He says laces are made so much cheaper in the old country, that when imported, paying even a duty of twenty or twenty-five per cent., they are sold as cheap as those he makes. He says he pays his girls nearly twice as much as they are paid in Europe. His report I thought contradictory, and supposed he feared competition. I was told by an English woman, who had been accustomed to making lace from six years of age until the last ten, that it takes seven or eight years to learn lace making in all its parts. She says there are twenty-one processes gone through with in making every kind but pillow lace, in which there are but five processes. When she was a child, none but common laces were made in France, and the making of their finest laces they learned from the English, who went over to France. =197. Lace Menders.= I called on M. W., a lace mender. "In New York, she has received from one store, Mme. G.'s, from $20 to $25 a week for work. She thinks in a few years very little work will be ordered from the stores; it will be done by those who make a business of it. The stores derive a handsome profit. She did a piece for one store for $3, that she knows the lady paid $5 for having done; and another piece at $3, that the lady paid $10 for--the storekeeper having such profits for nothing but merely sending it to the lace transferrer. She makes a comfortable living, but works at night as well as through the day. It has injured her eyes and made her nervous. She has had two little girls learning to mend, alter, and transfer lace; one received her board and clothing for her work for three years. One girl, that spent two years with her, is now obtaining a livelihood by her work. She thinks if a bright, steady girl of thirteen should spend two years at it, and then have friends to start her in business, she would be well able to support herself. Lace mending is a separate branch from lace making. In England, if a person can obtain the names of one or two wealthy families, it will at once establish them in business. In doing up lace, little girls can put the pins in the edges to keep it in place until dried. C. and Mme. G., she says, pay her as her customers would, but she prefers establishing herself, and does not so well like store work. Her customers recommend her to their friends, and so she will gradually become known. Lace mending is a nice, clean, respectable business, and can be done at home." * * * * * =198. Hair Cloth Manufacture.= "There is some competition in the sale of foreign and domestic hair cloth. The American is of a better quality, and on that ground only are manufacturers able to compete with foreigners, the duty on hair cloth being low. When the hair has been separated from the short hair used for curling, it goes into the more delicate fingers of the hair drawers, who sort it into lengths, each length corresponding to the width of the cloth to be woven. We have seldom seen any mechanical operation requiring more dexterity or constant attention than this. The girls engaged in this work make from $3 to $3.50, and sometimes $4 a week. The weaving is done by hand looms, each worked by two girls--one to handle the hook (answering the purpose of a shuttle), and the other to serve the hair. The prices paid for weaving vary from twenty to thirty-two cents per yard. The average, including plain and figured cloth, is twenty-four cents. A fair average day's work is four or five yards. But this requires two hands, you must remember; so that perhaps a fair estimate of the wages of hair cloth weavers would be from fifty to sixty-two and a half cents per day. The labor is severe, and we should think it impossible, without injury to the health, for young women to work at it more than two thirds of the time." At a hair-cloth manufactory in New York, I was told they employ one hundred girls. The proprietor says they have work all the year. He never knew a woman at the business that could not find employment. The first month they do not receive anything for their work, but after that can earn from $3 to $5 per week. It is paid for by the yard. The more practice a worker has, the better she succeeds. I think it must be dirty work. Another manufacturer told me it does not require long to learn to weave hair cloth, but some time to do it well. He pays $5 per week, but their time is not limited to ten hours. The girls, I saw, were pale and filthy. He thinks the business is likely to extend, and, consequently, the prospect of employment to women in that field of labor is good. He keeps his girls all the year. The Providence Hair Cloth Co. write: "Women are employed in weaving our hair cloth. Every hair has to be put in separately by the fingers of the girl. The only disadvantage to the health of the girl is the close application in sitting so long. We pay our girls thirteen cents per yard for weaving. It requires about two weeks or one month before a girl becomes sufficiently accustomed to the work to weave on full speed. We pay them while learning. No qualifications needed, only general neatness and upright moral character. All seasons are alike. We work only ten hours. Thirty girls have each one loom with which to work; one girl mends the cloth, and three shave and trim the same--making thirty-four in all. One half are American. Women are in all respects superior to men in weaving--same as in cotton looms." METAL MANUFACTURES. =199. Iron.= "The great heat to be endured and the severe muscular power required, preclude women from the manufacture of iron goods. They are not directly employed, and to a small extent indirectly. We think when women have to perform what is unquestionably man's work, it lowers the standard of female character instead of elevating, and nothing is more disagreeable than to be constantly employed at labor uncongenial to one's nature." From the United States census we learn that in 1850 there were engaged in the manufacture of pig iron 20,298 males, 150 females; in the manufacture of casting iron, 23,541 males, 48 females; in the manufacture of wrought iron, 16,110 males, 138 females. We do not know exactly how these women were employed. The work in rolling mills is very severe and the heat intense. The men have their limbs cased in tin sheaths above their knees. The vast capital required to develop the mineral resources of a country, and the comparative newness of our country, have hitherto prevented more than a partial development of its resources. Many women are employed in dressing and sorting ore in Great Britain. =200. Files.= The notches in files are made by a chisel acted on by a hammer held in the hand. The edge thrown up in making the notch assists the workman in putting the chisel in the right place, and keeping it there while he cuts the next notch. "It is peculiar that hitherto no machine has been constituted, capable of producing files which rival those cut by the human hand." From a manufacturer in Massachusetts, we learn that "he employs from four to six girls in cutting fine work files, cleaning, and wrapping up, &c. They are largely employed in England. The work is considered healthy. They receive from $3 to $4.50 per week of ten hours a day. Men and women are paid equal wages for the same kind of work. It requires from six months to two years to learn. The prospect for a small number in each factory is good. There is work every day in the year. It is quite a new business in this country. Women are neater and more particular with their work than men. They could do some other parts that are suitable for them, but they would soil their hands too much." A file manufacturer writes me: "Women are paid by the piece in cutlery--in other departments by the day; when by the piece, they receive as much as men; when by the day, one half. It would require three or four years to learn. Most women cannot cut any but small files as well as men, as they have not sufficient muscular power in the hands and fingers. Women are taught in Sheffield, England, by their fathers and brothers, and have what they earn. Good eyesight and stout nerves are the requisites for a learner. No prospect of employment in our business at present. The best localities for manufactures are where files are wanted, in New England and the middle States." =201. Guns.= One manufacturer writes: "I hardly know whether the work could be done by women. It is difficult to learn and hard to practise." A gunsmith told me, guns could be polished by women. They are polished by hand. A manufacturer of guns writes: "I have no women employed in my factory. It is not common for them to work at this business in America, although many of them are employed by gun makers in foreign countries." =202. Hinges.= A manufacturer of hinges writes: "We employ no women in our manufactory. There are portions of the work that might be done by females as well as male labor. Still we have not adopted the plan." A manufacturer writes from New Britain, Connecticut: "We employ women in packing goods, and making brass hinges, and pay from thirty-eight to sixty-five cents per day of ten hours. We formerly paid women $1.50 per day. We now get the same amount done by girls for sixty-five cents. We employ them because the work is light, and we can get it done at that price. The part done by women requires one month to learn. The prospect for this work in future is good. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but our hands are employed the year round. Other parts of the work could be done by women if they were willing, but the work is dirty. They are superior to men in the same branch, as they handle the work quicker, and are, as a general thing, more steady and reliable. The housework here is mostly done by Irish girls, while American girls prefer working in shops, even at less wages. There are many other branches of our work that might be done by females, for which we pay men $1 and $1.25 per day; but the work is rather dirty, and few here would do it, as they can have cleaner work, and we have never sought that kind of help on that account." =203. Locks.= "The Newark Lock Company" employ eight American girls in packing hardware. They are paid by the week, from $3 to $5, and average half the pay of men, who do more laborious work. Women spend six or eight months learning. Activity and neatness are desirable qualities. Women excel in both qualities. We expect to double our business in a year or two. The women work ten hours per day, and have steady employment. Two thirds of all the locks used in the United States are made in the five large lock manufactories of Connecticut. The best locality is near the great emporium, and on tide water, to save freight. Board $2.50." The secretary of the Eagle Lock Company writes: "We employ from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men, and only twenty girls. Our work is not suitable for females, except to pack our locks in paper ready for market. They work by the piece, and can earn from $10 to $25 per month, according to how they employ themselves. They are mostly daughters of men employed by us, and board at home. They are all Yankee girls. We only work ten hours, unless business is driving." "Hardware manufacturers in Cromwell, Connecticut, pay eight women from 50 to 62½ cents per day for packing. They work ten hours a day. The work can be learned in one month. The prospect of work in future is good. Board $1.62 per week." Manufacturers in N. Britain write: "We pay by the day from 50 to 60 cents, ten hours' work. Women are not generally better paid than they now are, because they compete with each other so much in the light, easy, and clean branches of labor, and meet competition in light work from boys. Their time of learning is from six months to a year, and half never learn. They are paid while learning. An eye for putting up work true to the square, and quick fingers, are the most essential qualifications. The business is constantly increasing. Work is the same, or nearly so, at all seasons. Girls employed by us have every personal comfort and convenience that is possible, and are paid as much as men for the same labor. Most of our work is more or less greasy and dirty from iron and brass filings. Girls usually have less natural _mechanical_ intelligence, we think. It may be, however, that the want is from their inexperience in mechanical branches. Our impressions are that New England is the place for manufacturing small wares, requiring great activity and industry. Our workers have the use of a public library and lectures free. Board, $7 to $8 per month--thirty to thirty-one days." A manufacturer of trunk castors, in Massachusetts, writes me that he once employed girls to paint castors, and put them in packages for the dealers. =204. Nails.= Making wrought nails is too hard work for women. A manufacturing company of nails, in Boston, write me there are no women employed in the nail factories of New England. The work is exceedingly heavy. Another manufacturing company write, they have never known of women being employed in making nails in any country. But we know that in France, women are employed in turning the wheel in making nails, and at Sedgley, E., and the neighboring villages, the number of girls employed in nail making considerably exceeds that of the boys. In England, the part done by girls is attending machinery that splits iron into the proper widths for nails. =205. Rivets.= A manufacturer writes: "We believe no manufacturer employs women in our particular branch of industry. The business requires great strength and exposure to furnaces." The writer suggests that in _iron moulding_, perhaps a new career might be opened for women. "Innumerable small castings are now being made, such as buckles, eyes, rings, &c., for harness making. As this work is exceedingly light, requiring skilful manipulation, it might be within the scope of women to undertake this branch of industry." The casting is dangerous. The mixture of gases in the hot metal sometimes produces a blowing--that is, the metal is thrown into the air, falling oftentimes on the workers, penetrating their clothes and burning them. A woman's clothes would be unsuitable for this work. The moulding is very light, easy work, and we think as suitable for women as most mechanical labor. =206. Screws.= The processes in making screws are forging, turning up, nicking, worming, and tipping. The cutting and polishing of screws, in Birmingham, are chiefly done by women. The machinery used requires care and delicacy. =207. Skates.= Skate manufacturers in Maine write: "We employ from ten to twelve ladies to stitch skate leathers, for about two months in the year, November and December. They are paid by the piece, and average 50 cents a day. All are Americans. Board, $1.50 per week. In the New England States, more American women are employed than foreigners, particularly in country towns." =208. Shovels.= A shovel manufacturer says he employs boys to clean the handles, by holding them as they run over emery belts. He pays the boys $3 a week. For varnishing the iron part of the shovel he pays 10 cents a dozen, and "yesterday a youth was able to do twenty-one dozen." This branch of work, we think, might be done by strong women. =209. Wire Workers.= I was told at a wire manufactory, New York, that women are never employed to draw wire. If it be true that wire drawers are a very rough, coarse set of men, it is well girls do not work in the establishments; as the work is such, we presume, that all must be employed in the same apartments. The labor of drawing is such that the hands of the men become almost like iron. Mr. S., Philadelphia, employs a woman to weave fine wire. She learned it in her native country, Scotland. She also sews pieces of fine wire cloth together. She receives $5 a week, and seldom works ten hours a day. Most men and women engaged in wire work are English or Irish, who learned the trade in their own country. I was told it requires some years to attain excellence. Weaving requires considerable strength in both upper and lower limbs. Men wire workers are paid from $1.50 to $2.50 a day. Mr. C., New York, employs a number of women weavers and seamers. They are paid $4 a week. Formerly their girls would want a day to go to a picnic, to get ready for a party, or help their mothers at home. The steam would have to be stopped unless they could get hands to fill their places during the time, which was very difficult and often could not be done. For a while their women gave them so much trouble, they had to stop the machinery altogether. It caused him such annoyance that some of the female members of his family learned, and are now employed. He employs women to cover steel for hoop skirts, and pays $3 a week. A few women are employed at wire weaving in Cincinnati. The wiring and making of bird cages seems to me a field of industry open to female hands. They can be made in any place, and the work is light. Wire could be woven in fenders by women, I think. Mr. C., maker of patent rat traps, employed a number of girls to lace the wires. Some he paid by the week, some by the piece. They mostly earned $3 a week. A small girl could learn it in two weeks. I saw a manufacturer of wire stands for cloaks, mantillas, &c. He employs a few ladies to dress them, paying 25 cents apiece. One of his hands is very expeditious and can cover six in a day. Those that know nothing of the work, he employs in making skirts only, and of course make less. February, March, August, September, and October are the busy months. There are only three places in New York where the work is done. A wire maker, in Lowell, writes: "I employed a girl four years ago in wire weaving, that gave unqualified satisfaction. She left, to obtain a college education. I paid by the piece when I employed her, and at the same rates as I paid men. She used to earn $1 a day, and even did so while attending school; but of course worked before and after school--probably seven or eight hours a day. Most of my work is too laborious for women; but some wire workers that make meal sieves, corn parchers, &c., can, and I believe do, employ them to advantage, by reason of the price of labor being much less for women than men. This kind of business is limited. There are not more than one hundred and fifty men and women, probably, working at the business in New England. A maker of sieves, and wire goods in general, writes from Worcester, Massachusetts: "The business is quite healthy compared with needle work. I employ six women, who earn from $4 to $5 per week of ten hours a day. Men earn from $7.50 to $12. Some goods we manufacture will not justify us in paying women higher prices. (The women should not do it. They would then have to employ men and pay better prices, when women could come in and claim equal wages.) Our kind of work they learn in a few weeks. There will be no falling off, in future, of this work. Most girls like the work. Board, $2 per week in families." A wire manufacturer in Belleville, New Jersey, writes: "We employ females in sewing and winding wire. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay from $2.50 to $4.50 per week. Learners receive $2.50 per week. Board, $2 to $2.50. Men in our establishment average $2 per day. I would say that in some branches of our business, women might take the place of men." * * * * * =Brass Manufacture.= In some branches of the brass manufacture women are not at all employed--in a few others, they are. At a brass bell foundery, we were told the work is not healthy, and is too heavy for women. =210. Candlesticks.= A manufacturer of candlesticks in Vermont "employs from three to four women, because they are better adapted to the work than men. He pays by the piece, from $13 to $15 per month, and employs them the year round. Women are paid as well as men or boys at the same kind of work. It requires from three to five years to learn the business--from one to two years, that part done by women. Women are paid small wages while learning. It is a clean, comfortable business. There are no parts of our work suitable for women in which they are not employed." =211. Hooks and Eyes.= The agent of the Waterbury Hook and Eye Company says: "The hooks and eyes are given out to families to put on cards, for which they are paid by the gross. It pays poorly--probably not more for a child than 50 cents a week. The country and villages around supply plenty of girls for the factories. In good times the hands in the factories are kept employed all the year. We employ three females to pack our finished light work, which is as neat and healthy work as can be in any pleasant factory--pay is $3.50 to $4.50 per week of sixty hours. No males are employed on similar work. Supply and demand regulate prices. Only a short time is required by a competent girl to learn to do our work properly; and pay commences when they commence. Every good qualification which 'flesh is heir to' is needed to make the _right_ sort of help. Prospect for employing more females than heretofore is not flattering. Girls are preferable for any light, neat, tasty work. Ours are Americans, and I believe as comfortable and happy as people are likely to be on this sinful globe. I doubt if much of our other work can be done by females. A place nearest to a large market, where good air and water prevail and means of living are reasonable, is the most desirable place to locate a factory, ordinarily. Churches, schools, libraries, lectures, &c., afford ample means and opportunity for mental and moral culture, for those who work ten hours a day, and can board for $2 a week, and are free from any special cares or anxieties." N. S. & Co., North Britain, write: "We employ nine women to make paper boxes, and pack hooks and eyes. They earn from 60 cents to $1 per day of ten hours, but are paid by the piece. The men earn from $1.15 to $3 per day; but their work is different from the women's. The women learn their part in two or three weeks. Industry and self-respect are the most desirable qualities. The prospect for future employment is good. They work all the year. Board, $2 per week." =212. Lamps.= Mr. J. "used to employ girls to cement the glass body on the marble stand, and the top of the body on the metal through which the wick passes. He also employed them in papering to send away. The prospect for workers is poor, because the business is limited. He paid his girls $3.50 a week. No manufactories in the West or South." In 1860 the manufacture of coal-oil lamps formed the principal business of sixteen companies, who employed 2,150 men and 400 women and boys." =213. Pins.= The pins made in the United States are not so high priced as English pins. They have not until lately been so well finished. In pin making in England, the drawing and cutting of the wire, the cutting of the heads from the coils, and the trimming are mostly performed by men; the other operations, by women and children. Sometimes, in trimming the pins, a man, his wife, and child work together. For pickling and trimming the pins the price usually paid is two cents a pound. A skilful and industrious worker can head 20,000 pins per day, for which in England they are paid about 30 cents of our money. Pin heading is very sedentary work, and children seven or eight years of age are often kept at it for twelve or thirteen hours, with merely time for hasty meals. Girls at Sedgley and Warrington begin as early as five years of age to work in the pin factories. It is said that at Wiltenhall they are treated with much cruelty, if at all refractory. In Sedgley more women are employed than men, and receive the same treatment. The secretary of the American Pin Company at Waterbury, Connecticut, writes: "Women are employed in tending machines, and in sticking and packing pins, and packing hooks and eyes, and making paper boxes. The work is not unhealthy. The lowest wages by the week is $3.25 while they are learning; afterward $3.50 and $3.75 per week, ten hours a day. Some work by the piece, and earn from $14 to $21 per month. The supply of woman's labor is equal to the demand, at the prices we pay. We work through the year, generally without stopping, except for the holidays. Our average number is fifty. Girls can do the work as well or better than boys, that could be hired at the same price. Most are Americans. They have their Sundays, holidays, and evenings--also a public library and institute lectures at a very small cost--besides religious privileges afforded by six churches. Board, $1.50 to $2 per week." The Albany Company, at Cohoes, sends the following information: "Women, and girls not younger than twelve years of age, are employed in sticking, folding, wrapping, &c. The same work is done in England and Germany. Wages from $6 to $20 per month, working twelve hours a day. Those having had the most practice can usually do the work faster and better, consequently obtain higher wages. They receive pay while learning. The qualifications most desirable are care, attention, and activity. The business is not likely to increase greatly, as the work is mostly done by machinery and the demand for the article is limited. We are busy at all seasons except in extremely hot or cold weather. The hands work twelve hours--by so doing they obtain higher wages. We have more applicants than we wish. We employ from twelve to fifteen, because they can do the work more readily than men. The work is light, and the condition of the women quite equal to that of women otherwise employed to obtain the necessities of life." The agent of the Howe Manufacturing Company, in Connecticut, reports: "Our work is all done by the piece. The earnings of the workwomen vary according to their skill, diligence, and the number of hours spent at work. Average in April last, $11.09--in four weeks. Highest earnings of one individual $22.09 (equal to $5.54 per week). Small girls earn from $1 to $1.50 per week, and work six or eight hours. Men and women do not perform the same kind of labor in our establishment. Why all persons are not paid equally for equal labor, I do not feel competent to explain. A knowledge of our work is soon acquired. Learners are paid for what they do. A good character and reputation, honesty, fidelity, common mechanical ability, and diligence are desirable qualifications. We generally find the hands we want in our own immediate neighborhood. Our work is considered desirable, and much sought for. In all seasons the hands are equally employed, except dry seasons, when we are short of water to drive our machinery. Our _stock_ hands generally stay with us till they get married or lay up so much money that they are able to get along with less labor, or become too old or infirm to work to advantage. Some have stayed with us over twenty years, many over ten years. The number of hours for work is discretionary. We seldom request industrious hands to work more hours than they choose. Our hands sometimes work twelve or fourteen hours, at their pleasure. Small girls, of whom we employ but five or six, seldom work ten hours. The number of women and girls employed in our establishment heretofore has been variable, averaging perhaps thirty. We are using improved machinery, which has already reduced the number, and will reduce it still more. Our work is peculiarly adapted to female labor. Nearly all our hands are American born. In twenty-two years' business, we have seldom, if ever, had an adult woman employed who was unable to sign her name to the pay roll. Our adult women have the churches and lyceum lectures, which I believe they generally attend. Their time for reading, for the most part, will be evenings and Sundays. Small girls can attend our district school free of cost." A manufacturer, in Seymour, Connecticut, writes: "We pay from $3 to $4 per week. We employ no men in sticking and packing, and, if we were not particular as to whom we employ, we could reduce the amount of our monthly pay roll a large per cent. It requires very little practice to learn the part of our business done by women, and in most cases we pay them full wages upon entering the mill. No special qualifications are needed. The kind of business we pursue will always be carried on, but of course can never become very common. No difference in the seasons, and the girls are never thrown out of employment. Under the present regulations they work eleven hours, and the time could not well be shortened, as that would tend to derange the other departments of our business. We have but ten employed at present, but in the course of a few days expect to have about twenty. They are employed because they are peculiarly qualified for the business, and on account of the lower rate of wages as compared with the labor of men. We employ women in all cases when the work is suitable for them. Women as employed by us are superior to men, being more expert and active. The New England States are doubtless the best locality for our business. The females employed by us are all intelligent and of good mental ability." =214. Rings.= The American Brass Ring Co. "employ twenty women at presses, in packing, &c. They are all foreigners. Board, $1.50 per week. The work is not unhealthy. Women are paid fifty cents a day of ten hours. Women are paid $2 a week for four weeks while learning. The prospect of future employment is no better than the business now offers." =215. Scales.= H. T., manufacturer of scales and weights, Philadelphia, Penn., writes: "We employ women in making metallic weights. The work is not unhealthy. They earn from $4 to $6 per week. No comparison in the price of labor. Women can make as much as men, if they are willing. It requires almost a lifetime to learn the business; but the part the women work at requires but a day or two. We pay learners. No extraordinary qualifications are needed. A good prospect for increase of employment. No difference in seasons. They work from four to ten hours. Women cannot be employed at our heaviest work, on account of the great physical strength required." I was told at F. & M.'s, New York, that the beams of the scales could be burnished by women. It is done with steel instruments. I suppose the pans could also be burnished by them. Burnishing the back of the plates could be done by women also, but it is somewhat dirty work. Women would have to work in the room with the men, for while the foreman was employed, he would like to keep an eye on the employees. The work is rather heavy for women, but not more so than some in which they are engaged. =216. Stair Rods.= A manufacturer of plated stair rods told me "he employs a woman to burnish the rods. She can make from $4 to $7 a week, not working more than ten hours a day, being paid from fifty cents to $1 a hundred. It is work hard on the chest, but he thinks not hard on the eyes. He had one lady who did it at home. In large establishments, rods are now burnished by machinery. The polishing of stair rods is very hard work, and requires strong, stout lads." Another stair-rod manufacturer told me "he has employed a boy to tie up stair rods, but would employ a girl and pay the same price, $1 per day." * * * * * =217. Steel Manufacture.= No women are employed in the conversion of iron into steel in this or any other country. It is rough, heavy work. It requires great physical strength, and is unsuitable for a woman. No women are employed in the manufacture of axes in this country. It is rough, coarse work, and done by stout, strong men. In one of the largest cutlery establishments in the United States they employ six hundred men, but no females; except six, for wrapping up goods. In the finishing of metals there are three branches: turning, filing, and setting up. In turning, jagged particles of metal fly off, and often enter the eyes of the workers, doing them great injury. Goggles of magnetized iron might be used to prevent this. The magnetized wash is used to prevent the filings from getting down the throats of grinders and polishers. For learning the two parts, turning and filing, four years of apprenticeship are served. The turning requires more skill than physical strength. It might be done by women that were willing to serve so long an apprenticeship. =218. Buckles.= G. Brothers, of Waterbury, employ six women in riveting and other light work on bell clasps. They write: "The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. The labor of women is paid twenty-five per cent. less than that of males, because they are not able to do as heavy work. It requires about three months to learn the part of males or females. Our branch of trade is not increasing. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the women are not thrown out of employment during the year. They are superior in light work. Board, $2 per week." A manufacturer in Attleboro' writes: "I employ from twelve to fifteen at packing, at light press work, &c. They are paid from four to six cents per hour. Women are not paid higher, because they are not worth more. I pay men from seven to twenty-five cents per hour. The time of learning depends on the ingenuity of the employed. They have steady work most of the time. They are full-blooded Yankees--have a good deal of fun when the boss is out, and work in a pleasant room. The labor is easy, and they are satisfied with the remuneration. (Perhaps because they can do no better!) A healthy climate, convenience to market and to places where the raw material is made, are advantages. All New-England girls have the advantages of a good education in the common branches." A manufacturer in Middletown, Conn., replies: "Girls are employed by me, springing in the tongues of buckles and packing them--also making paper boxes. They earn from forty cents to $1 per day, being paid by the piece. Their employment is not so heavy or laborious as that of males. It takes from six months to one year to earn full wages. Women will probably always be employed in these branches. Good box makers are always in demand. We employ thirty--all Americans. The balance of my work is rather objectionable for women, unless it be foreign or second-class girls. Women are usually more neat than men. Either water or railroad communication is desirable in seeking a locality. Board, about $2 per week. There was never so great a demand for female help in this part of the country as at the present time. They have started a shirt manufactory about nine miles from here, and are in want of girls; but the greatest trouble there is to find boarding places at reasonable rates." The West Haven Co. report "the employment to be very healthy by giving exercise to the limbs. The pay is from seventy-five cents to $1.50 per day--average $1. Some learn the business in two days, some in two weeks. The hands are paid from the first, and are seventeen in number, all Americans. Women are superior in this branch, because they are quicker with their fingers." =219. Edge Tools.= The Humphreysville Edge Tool Manufacturing Co. inform me they do not employ females. For polishing they hire strong, rough boys, that they can get cheap, who stand while at work, and stoop over the articles, which produces a strain on the back and compression of the chest. Many find it so injurious they have to give it up, and the majority of those who do keep at it do not last long. The majority of the metal workers in Birmingham do their work at home. Each member of the family has his particular part to perform. An English writer says: "In various branches of the hardware manufacture, both in Birmingham and Sheffield, women may be seen by hundreds in some places, comfortably secluded from the male workers; in others, working side by side with them at the same mechanical process. They are never given to intoxication, and rarely, if ever, to strikes; and it may be very much the absence of these propensities that has recommended them so largely to the notice of the employer. In London the practice is gaining ground." =220. Electrical Machines.= From the office of Davis & Kidder's magneto-electric machines we receive the following intelligence: "We employ women in covering wire, spools, sewing velvet, papering boxes, &c., &c. They earn from $12 to $24 per month, and are paid by the month. Women are paid nearly one half as much as men--can form no reason why women are not as well paid. It requires about three months for females to learn; they are paid while learning. All it requires is energy. There is no prospect at all for future employment in this branch. We employ our hands through the year; do not deduct from their wages when absent for a week. They work ten hours a day. We employ four, because the work is light and better suited for them than males. All Americans. Those in my employ are well educated. Board in respectable families, $2.50." C. Brothers, of New York, employ two girls for the same kind of work. They pay one $5 a week, ten hours a day--the small girl $3. They have had them but six months, but expect to keep them all the year. Mr. C. thinks the business is so limited that the prospect is poor for learners. =221. Fire Arms.= From the Arms Manufacturing Co., Chicopee, Mass., we receive the following information: "We employ women in burnishing plated ware. The employment is not unhealthy. We pay generally by the piece. Some are paid about eighty cents per day. There is a prospect for steady employment for the few we have, and for no more. They are in no season entirely out of work. Ten hours a day are devoted to work when paid for by the week. All Americans. Easy work and much sought after. Women are inferior in point of strength, superior in cheapness." Sharp's Rifle Co. write: "We employ from ten to thirty women in making cartridges and inspecting primers. We pay about $1 each day, as the business requires good skill and care, and is hazardous. It is generally piece work. Males do the heaviest part of the work, and are paid $1.25 to $1.50 per day. If an individual is skilful, it requires but a short time to learn. Hands are paid while learning. Prospect good of future employment. We have constant work for ten. They are usually employed nine hours. All Americans. They appear very comfortable, and are quite tidy. No other parts of our occupation are suitable for women. Women are superior in forming and folding. $2.50 per week is the price of board." =222. Knives and Forks.= The metals used for knives and forks are iron, steel, and silver, according to use or expense. The dust that arises from the grinding of steel knives, coats the lungs with stone. A German manufacturer of small cutlery told me that in large establishments in some European countries, women put the rivets in the handles of knives, and polish the handles of ivory and pearl. In the grinding of penknives and razors the inclination of the body forward is greater than in any other branch; hence, while less injurious in regard to the amount of dust than the fork and needle branches, they are fraught with greater evil from the position of the body alone. Articles of cutlery are glossed by holding them to a wooden wheel, on which is emery powder. They are polished by holding them to a wheel covered with leather, charged with crocus. Both of these processes are within the range of woman's toil. In a cutlery establishment, I was told the work was too hard for women. The polishing of their cutlery is done by machinery. The Hardware Manufacturing Company, Berlin, Conn., write: "We employ one hundred and forty men, making shelf hardware, and five or six girls to pack it up. They get from fifty to seventy-five cents a day, work ten hours, and all live at home. The work of papering up the goods is light, and requires little skill. The other part of the work about our factory is too severe for women." The Empire Knife Company, Conn., "employ four girls in packing and sharpening. They are paid by the day (ten hours), and earn from $3 to $4 per week. Women receive about the wages of men. It requires from six months to one year to learn. Women are paid while learning. The prospect of future employment is fair. The comparative comfort and remuneration of the work are good. Comfortable board, $3 a week." A company in Northfield, Conn., inform us: "It requires from three to five years to learn the men's part of the work. Some of the women work by the piece, and some by the day, receiving from $3 to $5 per week. The same price would be paid to men. The prospect of future employment is good. They work throughout the year. Women are superior in quickness. A locality should be fixed on where good water power may be had." =223. Needles.= Most of the needles used in Europe and America are manufactured at Redditch, fourteen miles from Birmingham, where there are about a dozen very large factories. The number manufactured in Redditch amounts to about seventy million per week. The process is a very long and painful one. The drilling is done by young women. The constrained posture and rigid gaze of the women on the eyes of the needles as they drill, is distressing. It requires a perfect steadiness of hand. In addition to this, the small channel observed on each side of the eye is made by women with a suitable file. The picking out of defective needles, and laying perfect ones with the heads one way and the points another, is performed by children. Dr. G. C. Holland writes: "We candidly admit that the physical evils produced by needle grinding exceed all that imagination has pictured." The needle grinders in England are said to be ignorant and dissipated. One half can neither read nor write. The dust which is evolved in the process of needle grinding, contains a much larger amount of steel than is produced by any other grinding. Mr. Aiken, inventor of the knitting machine, has the machines and needles both manufactured. He says "he supposes he could teach women to do most of the work on needles, if he would give the time and trouble. He pays $1 per day to hands in the needle room." In the manufacture of Bartlett's sewing-machine needles, but a few small girls are employed, at from $1 to $1.50 per week, for smoothing the eye by running an oiled thread through it. Formerly they employed girls to perforate the eye, but it is now done by machinery. A manufacturer of knitting needles writes us: "The winter season is the best for work, and the Eastern States furnish the best localities for manufactories." A maker of sewing-machine needles told me the tools are rather heavy, files and a lathe being used. They pay a boy of fourteen years $3 a week, and one of eighteen, $5.50. C. employs girls to envelop and label needles. They earn from $3 to $4 a week, and do it at home. It takes a long time to become expert. They are paid from the first, but not much. The business is limited. They could have it done for less in England, but prefer to put labels on for parties in this country, who want to be considered manufacturers. G. & B. employ some girls to label and paper needles they import. They pay two cents and a half for putting the labels on forty papers. The labelling is done in the latter part of winter and early spring. =224. Pens= (STEEL AND QUILL). A thousand million steel pens are said to be produced annually at Birmingham, England. We are indebted to some writer in an English paper for a description of the part taken by women in the manufacture of Gillott's pen in Birmingham. The number of women employed in his factory is four hundred. "If not altogether manufactured by woman, she has had, by far, more to do in its manufacture than men. He may have forged and rolled the metal, but she cut it from the sheet, gave it its semi-cylindrical form, stamped it, ground it on a wheel to make it flexible, split it, helped to polish it, and finally packed it in a box, or sewed it upon a card in readiness for the market. And whoever wishes to see her thus employed, may find her seated in an airy and comfortable chamber, with two hundred or three hundred companions similarly engaged--all healthy and merry, and singing at their work, while pens in all stages are clicking and glittering through their fingers at the rate of something like one hundred gross a day, each." An attempt has been made to manufacture steel pens in this country, but, I think, as yet without success. The makers of the Washington medallion pen had some girls to come from England to work for them, but found they could not keep up the factory, because of the prices they had to pay for labor. The duty on steel pens is thirty per cent., yet they can be imported for less than it would cost to make them here. Some one writes to the editor of the _Englishwoman's Journal_ as follows: "Madam, I have been told that quill pens made by hand are far superior to those made by machinery, and are therefore used in some of the principal offices of London. Besides which, very many persons are unable to write except with quill pens; rejecting the best and most expensive ones made of any kind of metal. Might not the making of them be a suitable occupation for some young women, who, from lameness or other infirmities, might be unable to follow a more active life?" In New York, some quills are made into pens by machinery, but women, we believe, are not employed. =225. Philosophical Apparatus.= K., in Brooklyn, told me that in the old country it is customary to spend seven years learning to make philosophical apparatus, but in this country boys do not like to be apprenticed so long. The business is not fast enough for Americans. It requires close and constant application. The burnishing is quite hard work. The occupation has a tendency to render one intellectual and scientific. Most young men leave it to become physicians and preachers. Dr. McG., of China, is one of the number. The work is mostly done by lathe, but the polishing by hand. I think women could do it, if they were brought up to it. Instruments are made in Europe, and imported for less than they could be made in the United States. Business is now very slack. K. used to have several apprentices, that he boarded and paid $1 a week during the first year. The next year he increased their wages to $1 a week more, the next year another $1, &c. In small establishments an instrument is carried through all its processes by the same workman. The business is done in the United States on so small a scale as not to afford a sufficient subdivision to furnish any part suitable for women. P. does not know of any women being employed in this country in this trade. He thinks there is much of it they could do, and in process of time it will be done in the United States. In France and England, there are many women who learn with their fathers and husbands, and work with them. Many women are employed in making small compasses, that require a nice adjustment and care in pasting, but a separate room would be necessary, and that he has not. A manufacturer of nautical instruments writes me, he does not know of women being employed in any part of his business in any portion of the world. The brass on philosophical instruments is polished by hand, but a manufacturer told me he would not have even the polishing done by inexperienced hands, as they are very particular with the finishing off of their work. =226. Saws.= A saw maker says, in England women are employed in lacquering the handles and polishing the blades of saws. An Englishman, who did a very extensive business in New York, employed girls in the same way, but he failed in business, and none have been employed since. W. pays boys for such work $2.50 a week. Another informant writes me that in England women are employed in the saw manufactories. =227. Scissors.= In France, women are employed in the manufacture of cutlery. The blades of scissors are polished by women on lathes supplied with emery powder and oil, and subsequently on lathes supplied with crocus. =228. Spectacles.= S. says there are women in England and France who make spectacle frames for them. He employs a woman to grind the glasses of spectacles. She can earn $15 a week, and has earned $23 a week by taking work home with her to do at night. On Nassau street, I saw a French lady who grinds glasses for spectacles on a lathe. She works from nine to five o'clock, and earns about $9 a week. There is not the danger some might apprehend of glass flying into the eyes while at work. Yet it requires great care and skill. I called at a manufactory of silver-plated spectacles and saw the whole process. Several parts are done by women. One was shaping the frames for the eyes, another setting them up, another preparing them to solder, another soldering, and three others were scouring. The soldering must be uncomfortable in warm weather. The employment, I suppose, is not more unhealthy than any other of a mechanical nature. One girl told me she earned seventy-five cents per day. They are paid by the quantity. She said the rest could earn as much, if they were industrious. One considerably older, at another branch, said she could earn $4 a week. It would not require more than a few weeks, I think, to learn any branch pursued by women--to learn all the parts performed by women, would require six months or more, even for an apt and skilful pupil. A spectacle maker, J., said a smart person could learn to make silver spectacles in a year, but it would require something longer to learn to make gold ones, as gold is a more difficult metal to melt and work than silver. An apprentice is not paid the first year, because of the metal he wastes. To learn it, one should at first look on and see how the work is done. A manufacturer of spectacles writes: "Women might make and repair spectacles. The heavier parts of the business require foot lathes to be worked, where skirts would be out of place, but the most could be done by hand in making spectacles." (We have seen several women at foot lathes, polishing watch cases--so the use of foot lathes need not be an objection with women.) A spectacle importer writes: "We use a great many spectacle glasses, and in their manufacture in England females are generally employed. In France and Germany the women do the same kind of work." P., in Meriden, Conn., writes: "We employ women in making spectacles. The work is not more unhealthy than any other labor in shops. Most are paid by the piece--those who work by the week usually receive $4, and work ten hours a day. They receive about three fourths the price of male labor, because they perform the lighter work. They earn their board in one week--get good wages in eight. They usually do about the same amount of work through the year. We employ about fifty, because they are more active on light work, and can be had for less wages. Most are Americans. Girls prefer this to housework, and make better wages. The nearer New York, the lower are freights; the farther from New York, the more permanent our help. Good sense and religious principle prevail among them. Those who board pay $2.25 per week." A manufacturer in Brooklyn, of fine gilt, silver, plated, and German silver spectacles, writes: "The employment is healthy. Young girls earn $2 per week, older ones from $3 to $6. They are generally paid by the piece. Girls and boys earn about the same wages, but those who have spent years to acquire the trade are entitled to better prices. A smart girl or boy will learn in the course of six months to do a specific part. Wages are usually paid from the time they commence. A fair share of common sense and willingness to labor are the principal requisites. As long as people grow old, and need spectacles, they will be manufactured. Our work continues about the same through the season. They work ten hours a day. In burnishing, the demand is pretty good. We employ ten women, because they can do the parts of work required better than boys or men. Half are American. We find women rather more ready and apt than men. It is advantageous to be in or near the great markets. Board, $2." I was told by an English maker of spectacle frames, that most spectacles are made in France and Germany. Men and women are paid in England 37½ cents a dozen for grinding the best quality of glasses. The makers of frames should know how to make figures, to put them on the frames. Women would be most likely to find employment as grinders of glasses in New York, and no doubt a small number could get work of that kind. Gold and silver frames are polished on a lathe with leather and rouge. Common frames are burnished with agate and steel. It is done more quickly, and is cheaper than polishing. Most spectacle frames of a common quality are made in the country, because it can be done by water power, and more cheaply. =229. Surgical Instruments.= T., manufacturer, told me that some steel surgical instruments are burnished by hand. He thinks there is not enough in that line of business to do, to justify women in learning. He said the polishing of surgical instruments could be done by women. It requires judgment and experience, but is simple, requiring the worker merely to hold the instrument on lathes and turn every few seconds; but burnishing requires more strength. I was told that perhaps women are employed in polishing silver surgical instruments. =230. Telescopes.= G., an optician, says much of the light work in making telescopes might be done by women. They could French-polish the wooden frames, lacquer the brass work, and grind the glasses, if properly instructed. He thinks making microscopes is more suitable for them. =231. Thermometers.= The construction of the thermometer is quite simple. Women, if taught, could put the parts together, and mark the scales. I have been told that some girls are employed in Rochester, New York, in marking the scales. The same remarks will apply to the barometer. * * * * * =232. Copper and Zinc Manufacture.= So far as we can learn, no women are employed in copper and zinc mines, or in the making of copperas. Twenty-five women are employed in packing copper powder flasks, by the Waterbury Manufacturing Company, and making percussion caps. One fourth of them are American. They earn from $3 to $4 per week, and the work is reported not unhealthy. The women are paid about one half as much as men. It does not require long to learn, and learners are paid something during their apprenticeship. Ten hours are devoted to work. All seasons are alike. The agent says the women do better for light work than men, but require more watching. =233. Tin Manufacture.= A youth, that was working in a tin shop for a widow, whose husband had been a tinner, told me that a female relative of his, who lived about one hundred years ago in Ireland, could do all the various parts of work as well as a man. She learned the trade regularly. Women are paid nearly as well as men for such labor in the old countries, but cannot work so fast. He says, even now in Europe a few women learn the trade of a tinner. It requires four years to learn it thoroughly in all its branches, because there is such a variety. One or two branches may be learned perfectly in a short time; so may several be learned indifferently in the same period; just as a violinist may know how to play a few tunes very well, but cannot play any others; or may know how to play a great many indifferently, but none perfectly. In England, where women are employed in tin shops to solder, they receive for this work their board and thirty-seven cents a day. =234. Lanterns.= I visited a large tin establishment in Brooklyn, and saw the girls at work; some soldering the corners of the lanterns, some assorting the pieces, some putting glass in the sides, some fastening conductors' lamps in the framework, with plaster of Paris, and some enveloping them to send away. There is nothing unhealthy in the work. The smoke of the charcoal stoves used in soldering is carried off by pipes. Girls putting glass in the tin frames, sometimes get their fingers cut. The girls all wear aprons. The plaster of Paris part of the work is very dirty. The girls earn from $2.50 to $4.50. They are all employed at first in papering, as it is termed--that is, putting the articles in papers ready to be packed; and receive, for a few weeks, $2.50 a week, then more, according to ability and industry. Some are paid by the week and some by the piece; they work ten hours. Girls prefer mechanical labor to domestic service, because they have the evenings to themselves. It requires but a few weeks for a girl of ordinary abilities to learn the part she is to perform. The proprietor said he could have a hundred times as many girls as he has, if he had employment for them. But few American women will work in factories with men. Most women are neater with their work than men. At a lantern manufactory in New York, I was told they employ eight or ten girls to cement the metal parts on the glass, to varnish, to wash and wipe and paper them. They are paid $3.50 a week. =235. Britannia Ware.= Some Britannia is burnished by hand, and some by lathe. Women occasionally do the first kind. * * * * * =236. Silver.= "The artisan who forms certain articles of gold and silver is called, indifferently, a goldsmith or silversmith. The former denomination is most commonly employed in England, and the latter in the United States." A manufacturer of silver ware in Providence, Rhode Island, writes: "We do not employ women, and for the same reason that females are not employed in machine shops." Chinese women do filagree work. A lady told me she had seen it done in a factory near Paris, by women. =237. Burnishers.= At M.'s, Philadelphia, they employ from thirty to fifty women on plated ware; would employ more if they had room for them to work. They spend three months learning, and receive no wages during that time. They then earn from $3 to $6 per week, according to skill and industry. They work by the piece. Another set of women are employed in scouring the ware. It is wet, dirty work, and the women receive somewhat higher wages. The burnishers work in a light, comfortable room. The scourers work in a cellar. The business of burnishing is not hard on the eyes; nor would it be on the chest, M. thinks, if the burnishers sat upright, which they could do if they chose. We were told by some one else, that the demand for laborers in that field is very limited in Philadelphia. I was told by a silversmith in New York, that a good burnisher can earn from $5 to $7 a week, and he thought it took about a year to learn to become a good worker. Burnishing is a laborious and perfectly mechanical process. With some, the stooping posture is found trying to the breast, and constantly poring over the bright surface is injurious to the eyes. The business is poorly paid, and a silversmith can employ but a very small number of burnishers, but manufacturers of plated ware employ more. F. employs two girls for burnishing silver ware, who can earn from $5 to $9 per week. It is piece work, and does not require long to learn. C. L. pays burnishers from $3 to $6 a week. At a manufactory of silver service for Roman Catholic churches, I was told they are most busy just before Christmas and Easter. They pay by the week, because it is less trouble, and to them cheapest, as many of the articles they make are small. They pay from $2 to $5 a week. Y., in New York, who employs a number in burnishing silver ware, told me he pays learners nothing for a month, then by the piece. A good burnisher could earn from $5 to $7 a week. The prices are better than are generally paid to women for mechanical work. A lady burnisher told me she likes the work because it can be done at home. She thinks the work not injurious to the eyes. To learners she pays nothing for two months, then $1 a week, and so increases as the learner advances. At the end of a year, the learner is considered proficient. Silver platers mostly employ their operatives in factories. Silver ware requires more taste and neatness than plated ware, and pays better. It is like vest making. One that can make good ones, gets a good compensation; but those who slight their work are paid proportionately. A good burnisher can earn $6 and upward. Mrs. ---- thinks after a while there will be manufactories of plated ware in the South and West. I saw a man making silver and brass faucets. The burnishing is first done with steel, then with agate. It requires some strength, but a woman of muscular force could do it. The majority of burnishers work upon plated ware, as less silver is used since plated ware has been brought to its present state of perfection. M. pays by the piece. A woman receives from $4 to $7 per week, according to competency and industry. It requires from two to four months to learn. The large cities, or places where the goods are manufactured, are the best for burnishers. The work soils clothes, so girls generally change their dresses or wear large aprons. Spring and fall are busy seasons. Hollow ware is generally burnished by men, as it requires more strength. At H.'s, I saw a few women scouring the ware with sand, and nineteen burnishing. They earn from $3 to $6 a week. A man in B., that does hand plating, employs girls to burnish, and pays them by the piece. They can earn from 75 cents to $1.50 per day; they work at home. In New York there are some ladies who teach burnishing, and at some establishments a premium is paid for learning. In some large factories, girls are paid by the week from $3 to $5. C. pays by the piece, and from the first, but a girl cannot earn more than $1 a week for two or three months. It requires from four to six months to become a burnisher. The prospect for learners is good, because girls will get married, and so leave vacancies. The business is increasing. Good burnishers earn from $4 to $12 a week. He employed a girl to stay in his office and burnish, paying her according to what she did, from $1 to $1.25 a day. Women, he remarked, receive the same price for burnishing that men do. (He may pay them so, but I know all do not.) About the holidays are the most busy times. There are not two months in the year a good burnisher cannot get employment. Merchants are slack longer than manufacturers. C. is a practical plater, and not so much at the mercy of his employés as those that are not. His burnishers begin on knives and forks, as they are most simple. A burnisher told me it is not customary to pay a learner during the first two months. Most burnishers wear a shield. He thinks it is not bad on the eyes unless done at night. A northern light is best for judging of the work, just as a northern light is best for seeing the imperfections of a painting. About four months of the year, January, February, July, and August, burnishers find it difficult to get work, except in very large establishments, where they are kept busy all the time. A man working at coach lamps told me girls used to be employed in the factory to burnish plates, and received $3 per week. The Porter Britannia and Plate Co., Conn., "employ women in burnishing, washing and packing. They earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men and women have the same price for their work, but men earn from 50 to 75 per cent. more, because they accomplish more. Men and women spend three months learning. Women could not endure more than ten hours such work. The supply rather exceeds the demand generally. On many accounts, women are preferable. They are superior in care and nicety of execution. The labor is too exhausting for tropical climates. There are some parts of the occupation suitable for women in which they are not now employed." Information from three other establishments corresponds with that given. Silversmiths in New Orleans write me, February, 1861: "Women are much employed in Europe as well as in this country, burnishing silver ware. It is not in the least unhealthy. Most are paid by the piece, and here some receive as high as $50 a month. For silver burnishing, women are paid the same as men. The time of learning depends greatly upon capacity--usually about six months. There is a very slight prospect, at present, of employment. The best season for work is winter; there is none in the summer. In the higher branches of such work, women acquire superior skill." =238. Thimbles.= P. was kind enough to make an entire silver thimble, that I might see the process. The whole of the work could be done by women, but no women in any country are employed at it, so far as he knows. I was told by one or two other thimble makers, that no women are ever employed in that branch of business. It is usual for a boy to serve an apprenticeship of four years. While doing some parts of the labor the workers sit, and while doing other parts they stand. The polishing is done on a lathe, and there is not enough of it to furnish work for a separate person, except in very large establishments, and even then it is so connected with the other processes that it could not be well divided. There are not so many thimbles sold now as formerly, because of the sewing machines that are used. There are not more than from eight to twelve thimble makers in the United States. There are none South or West of Philadelphia. * * * * * =239. Silver Plating.= Women cannot well do the close or hand plating. It is done by soldering and ironing. Door plates are made in this way. Electro-plating is done with a battery. The business includes a variety of work, and requires some knowledge of chemicals, but could be learned by an intelligent person in a short time. The Americans are noted for excellence in this department. H. knew a lady plater in Connecticut, and a very good one she was. I have been told women are employed in silvering metals in France. * * * * * =240. Bronze.= Some statuettes are made of the finer metals, gold and silver, while busts are made of other simple metals, as copper, iron, zinc, lead, &c. They are generally made, however, of the mixed metals. It requires some years' experience to make bronze statuettes. Women are employed in France, in ornamental bronze work. Mlle. de Faveau has succeeded in having a bronze statue of St. Michael cast entirely whole, instead of in portions. It is the resuscitation of a lost art. * * * * * =241. Gold and Jewelry Manufactures.= Those that manufacture jewelry in the United States form a small body. The articles sold by different houses vary as much in price and quality as any other kind of goods. Jewellers often have connected with their business persons who work in ivory, jet, hair, and such materials. "Felicie de Faveau, as a worker in jewels, bronze, gold, and silver, as a designer of monuments and mediæval furniture, stands without approach." Much common jewelry is made in Rhode Island, and women are employed to some extent in its manufacture. The New England Jewelry Company in Providence employ women to solder, and pay $4 a week, ten hours a day. It does not take long to learn. They have work usually all the year. In the Eastern manufactories, women suffer some from dust, on account of their working in the same rooms where the men are employed at the machinery. In the manufacture of jewelry, the fumes of charcoal are usually permitted to fill the workshop; and the fusion of saltpetre, alum, and salt, used in dry coloring, induces general nervousness and pain in the head and chest. This has been to some extent remedied, by having pipes that carry off the fumes partially, or it may be, in whole. There are many departments in the jewelry line that might be successfully filled by women: the sale of jewelry is one. It requires several years for one to become well acquainted with the jewelry business, and that is longer than many women are willing to spend in fitting themselves for business. Mr. B. said: "One to set jewels should be able to mount them. But few people make setting a separate business. When he learned, a woman was not at all employed by jewellers in this country. He pays some of his workers $10 a week, ten hours a day." A jewelry manufacturer in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, writes: "Women are employed in the manufacture of jewelry--also in casing and packing the same for market. The work is not more injurious than weaving or sewing. They are paid about the same as men. Some pay by the piece, some by the hour. Women are not paid as well as men, because they cannot do all parts. The time of learning depends upon their ingenuity. Some may learn in one week, others in four. They are paid while learning. Women are employed in the lighter branches because they are quicker. The advantage of a locality is in having natural water power, in a community where there is plenty of capital, and the capitalists are willing to invest in the business." Some manufacturing jewellers told me "they pay from $3 to $8 per week to their women. They work ten hours a day. The time of learning is six months, but, as in every thing else, much depends on the capacity, aptitude, and particular genius of the learner. More women could be employed in this business, if properly qualified. All their women are Germans. New York is the best place for selling jewelry, but other places are as good for manufacturing." =242. Gold Assayers.= Assaying by acids and other reagents could be done by women. Tests are now imported, but most assayers prefer to make their own tests. Assaying requires patience, a knowledge of metals, and endurance of heat. It also requires instruction and considerable experience. Some assayers move from place to place wherever new mines are discovered, and reap the benefit of their skill and knowledge. A gold refiner informs me "that his business is mostly heavy fire work, requiring the most able men. None of it is sufficiently light for females." I find, however, that women are reported in the census of Great Britain as gold and silver refiners, cutters, and workers. =243. Enamellers.= The experience, taste, delicacy of touch, and fineness of finish required, make the art of enamelling one very suitable for women. The richness of coloring and exquisite workmanship render some specimens very beautiful. Simple metals are mostly used as a base. I saw a man enamelling jewelry, who told me he employs small girls to enamel, paying from $2 to $3 a week. It requires but two weeks to learn. I saw some jewelry that had been enamelled in Germany by women. In France, women are employed as enamellers, at from 8 to 16 cents a day. "Gold of the standard quality is the best metal to enamel on, as it imparts something of its own glow to the ground, and assists materially the richness and delicacy of the coloring, particularly in the flesh tints. Copper gives a cold greenish hue to the enamel ground, but it is more commonly used than gold on account of its cheapness. For large enamels it is necessary to use copper, as they require a heat which would melt plates of gold." A highly polished enamel is passed through the fire a number of times in the process of painting; otherwise it would be impossible to imitate any great delicacy of tint--as the colors are considerably changed by burning. "As the plates are every time subjected to a high red heat, it is obvious that enamels must be the most durable of all kinds of paintings." At an enamel factory for lining metal vessels with a porcelain coating, I saw a woman who has been employed for four years to mix enamel in the consistency of buckwheat dough, and pour it into vessels to form an enamel lining. The articles are then baked in a furnace that the enamel may harden. She stands while employed. She goes at half past seven in the morning, has half an hour at noon, and returns and works until four, for which she is paid $4 a week. She has a sister-in-law in Williamsburg that does the same kind of work. It is not at all unhealthy. =244. Gold and Silver Leaf.= The iron hammers used for beating gold leaf are very heavy. For the first beating, hammers weighing twelve pounds are used; for the second beating, hammers weighing six or eight pounds. Strong women could perform the second beating of gold leaf, but I do not know that they ever do--I think never in the United States. Lads serving as apprentices receive $1.50 a week for six weeks, then $2 a week for a time, and then more, according to ability and industry. A goldbeater told me a youth could get a pretty good insight into the business in a year or two, but the usual time of apprenticeship is either three or four years. Goldbeaters earn from $1.50 to $2 a day. We visited several gold-leaf manufactories, and found more uniformity in the time of learning and the prices paid than in any other branch of business. It requires from two to twelve weeks to learn to book gold leaf, depending on the abilities of the learner and the requirements of the establishment. Six weeks is the length of time usually given. It can be learned in two days, but requires practice to become expert. The girls are not paid while learning, as the materials are costly, and the quantity wasted comes to as much or more than the learner's services are worth. The standard price for laying gold leaf is one cent and a half a book. Bookers can earn from $2.50 to $5 a week, according to skill and expedition. The tools of a worker are very simple. I think, most of the women employed in the gold leaf factories of New York are Americans. Gold leaf is so light that even a breath of air will move it. In some factories, the booking is done in a room with the doors and windows closed--consequently the room is very warm in summer. The seasons of the year do not affect this business like most others. The demand for gold leaf regulates the supply. Where business is not systematically conducted, the beaters will sometimes not have the leaf ready to book, and so the girls must lose their time waiting; and in some cases the men's work is retarded by the absence of the bookers. All the manufacturers I talked with thought the prospect good of employment to learners. K. & Co. take learners in the spring, but will not take them unless they can insure them work when the six weeks of learning have expired. Neatness is required. No talking is allowed in the work room, as merely a drop of water falling from the lips might spoil from $3 to $4 worth of leaf. The leaf is weighed when given to the booker and when returned, so there is no opening for dishonesty. W. employs his hands all the year. The girls always sit while at work. Lightness and delicacy of hand are required. The prospect of employment is tolerable, but most prefer to retain those they teach, as there is much difference in the style and expedition. In some shops great care is taken with learners, and they acquire proportionate proficiency. We think this a very neat and genteel employment. It requires honest workers with nimble fingers. There are but very few manufactories South and West. =245. Jewellers' Findings.= D. & Co. manufacture tags for all kinds of goods. They employ girls and women in the country to string their tags, because they can do it in their spare moments, and consequently work cheaply. It pretty much takes the place of knitting, and a person could not earn more than twenty-five cents a day at it. They so employ thirty or forty persons. They also engage a number in box making. It requires care and neatness to make small boxes for jewelry. Workers are paid by the piece, and can earn from twenty-five cents to $1.25 a day, but those who earn the latter amount work from five in the morning until ten at night. This work is mostly done in families. D. & Co. are very strict in their regulations, and particular in the kind of work people they employ. =246. Pencils.= In Williamsburg, Mass., two women are employed in making gold and silver pencil cases. H., of New York, employs one girl for engine turning--an ornamental dotted work common on pencil and watch cases. He employs her by the week, and pays $3. She works ten hours a day. It requires but a few days for one of ordinary intelligence to learn. It is sedentary, but not unhealthy. He has employed nine women: they cannot do the work as well as men, but cheaper. He would employ boys, but they are so fond of changing their employment, and so anxious to engage in one that will advance them, that it is difficult to keep them at that work. It is very clean work. There is no prospect of future employment, as one woman can keep up with twelve other workers, and so very few are needed. Women have to work in the same room with the men, on account of the foreman having to regulate the machinery if it gets out of order. =247. Pens.= I saw a gold-pen manufacturer in Brooklyn. He will take ten or twelve learners shortly, and pay them from the commencement. He must have honest girls, for a dishonest girl will take $5 or $10 worth of gold at a time, frequently without its being missed. He will have a separate apartment for his girls. The best hands can earn from $5 to $6 a week, working ten hours a day. It requires only about a month to learn, but practice greatly improves and expedites work. He thought the prospect rather poor for learners. The part done by men could be done by women, but it is dirty work. That done by women is rather neat work. W., of Brooklyn, employs a number of girls in watch-case polishing and in finishing off pens. The majority are Americans. Some are paid by the piece, and some by the week. They work ten hours a day, and have employment all the year. Some girls learn the art in a short time, and some never. Some girls are paid while learning as much as $2.50 a week. W. thinks the prospect good of employment in that branch. He wanted several girls more. From the nimbleness of their fingers they can do their work better than men. More gold pens are made in this country than steel ones. A jeweller said learners should be paid from the first, and you may know he is not much of a man who would be willing to receive a woman's work for nothing. On Nassau street, N. Y., I saw a manufacturer who employs girls for stoning, frosting, and polishing pens. They are paid by the quantity, and can earn from $3 to $5 a week. They stand at a lathe while polishing. The only trouble is that their dress is likely to catch on the wheel. That might be remedied by wearing Turkish costume without hoops. It requires care and some judgment to do the frosting. They are paid something while learning, and in two or three months receive full wages. When business is good, the factory is going all the year. To make a good finisher requires that the individual have some mechanical talent and be a good penman. Some never succeed. In stoning and frosting, girls sit. The finishers are men, and the stooping required sometimes produces consumption. So many gold pen cases are not used now as formerly--probably not more than one tenth as many. Gutta percha has become a substitute. N. employed women seven or eight years ago in polishing, stoning, and pointing pens, and paid $5 a week of ten hours a day. Manufacturers in Williamsburg, Mass., write: "We employ women to make gold pens, pen holders, and jewelry, and pay from $3 to $4 per week--some by the piece and some by the week. It requires from one to three years to learn, according to the part they do. They are paid small wages while learning. We wish honesty and ingenuity in our workers. The business is permanent. Work is given at all seasons of the year. The hands work eleven and a quarter hours per day. We employ from ten to twelve women, because they can do the work equally as well as men, at about one third the price. Half are Americans. No other parts of the occupation are suitable for women than those in which we employ them. Help once settled in the country, if married, are likely to be permanent--in cities, _vice versa_, changing about. Our workmen have a fine reading room. Board, $1.50 for women, $2.50 for men." =248. Watches.= A watch is said to consist of 992 pieces. We have seen it stated that two hundred persons are employed in the entire process of making a watch, and that, with the exception of the watch finishers (who put the parts together), not one of the workmen could perform any but his own specific part. In Switzerland, families, for generation after generation, devote themselves to making particular parts of watches. Women have proved their ability to execute the most delicate parts. Twenty thousand Swiss women earn a comfortable livelihood by watch making. They make the movements, but men mostly put them together. I think a few women work as finishers. We quote from the _Englishwoman's Review_: "Geneva has always refused to employ women, and has now totally lost the watch trade. None of the Geneva watches, so called, come from that part of Switzerland, but are manufactured elsewhere, and principally in the canton of Neufchatel, where women have been employed from the first." Mr. Bennett, of London, "states facts relative to the mental culture of both sexes, which is deemed requisite in Switzerland to prepare the intellect, the eye, and the hand for watch manufacture, and he refers to the salubrious dwellings of the operatives." A traveller states: "We see women at the head of some of the heaviest manufactories of Switzerland and France, particularly in the watch and jewelry line." In England, women have been until lately excluded from watch making by men, but some are now employed in one establishment in London and in several of the provincial towns. "There is a manufactory at Christchurch, England, where five hundred women are employed in making the interior chains for chronometers. They are preferred to men, on account of their being naturally more dexterous with their fingers, and therefore being found to require less training." From the November number of the _Knickerbocker_ we quote: "All imported watches are made by hand, the American watches being the only ones made by machinery in a single establishment by connected and uniform processes. The Waltham watches have fewer parts and are more easily kept in order than any others; and are warranted for ten years by the manufacturers. They have over one hundred artisans employed, more than half of whom are women." The manufactory occupies a space more than half an acre in extent. Hand labor is cheaper in Europe than this country, but American watches are cheaper, because made by machinery. Making the cases is a distinct branch from the interior work, and furnishes employment to some women. Cleaning watches would form a pretty and suitable employment for women. I was told of some Swiss women living in Camden, New Jersey, that make the inside work of watches very prettily and very accurately. A manufacturer of chronometers in Boston writes: "We employ women in cutting the teeth of watch and chronometer wheels, polishing, &c. They are generally employed by the week or year, and work nine or ten hours a day. Women might be employed in large establishments in merely cleaning or polishing the parts of watches repaired, without putting them together; and they might learn to do it in a short time, a few months perhaps. We pay our women for such work from $4 to $6 a week, according to their capacity. The qualifications needed are delicacy of touch, patience, and great carefulness. The employment will be very limited. Work is steady the year round. The principal objection to employing women is that they are very apt to marry just as they become skilful enough to be reliable; therefore, what does not require long apprenticeship or a great expense to learn, is most desirable for them. A good degree of intelligence is indispensable. The more, of course, the better." We would add to the requisites for a watchmaker, patience and ingenuity. The secretary of the American Watch Company at Waltham writes: "Women are employed at our factory. The employment is entirely healthy. We pay from $4 to $7 per week for intelligent girls, and women's average pay is $5. About half are paid by the piece. Men earn about double the wages of women, because, first, they do more difficult work, are more ingenious, more thoughtful and contriving, more reliant on themselves in matters of mechanics, are stronger, and therefore worth more, though not perhaps double, as an average; second, because it is the custom to pay women less than men for the same labor. Women and girls are paid from $2.50 to $4 per week during the first four months, while they are learning the particular part of our business we set them at. The requisites are a good common-school education, general intelligence, and quickness; light, small hands are best. The business is new to the country. We work every working day in the year, without detriment to the health of women, who seem to endure their labor as well as men. We work ten hours a day. There is little demand for labor in the watch-making business generally in this country, but we think women could be taught successfully the art of watch making, so as to be able at least to earn a living as watch repairers. We employ seventy-five women out of two hundred hands, and because there are many parts of our work they can do _equally_ well with men; but it is generally light and simple work, for which no high degree of mechanical skill is requisite. Nine tenths are American born. Our hands are all made perfectly comfortable in their labor. We employ female labor, where we can, as being cheaper; but we find women do not reach the posts where a high degree of skill is needed, as of course they do not those for which their strength is insufficient. They have abundant facilities for mental culture in the evenings. About half live with parents or relatives; the rest board, and pay from $2 to $3 a week, according to quality." =249. Watch Case and Jewelry Polishers.= Quite a number of women are employed in polishing watch cases, and a few in polishing jewelry. It requires some time to learn to do the finest work, and some can never learn. The polishing of good gold is done by hand and the lathe--common jewelry, by the lathe alone. A good polisher can earn $1 a day of ten hours' work. C. & Co. employ girls, because they do not have to pay them so high, and they do it as well. B. & H., who have a factory in Jersey City, employ a number of lady polishers. The rouge renders it dirty work, but not unhealthy. Very good hands can earn $7 or $8 a week. They employ four sisters, French girls, who have bought a farm for their parents. They have generally paid $23 a week to the four sisters. The prospect for learners is good. They generally pay by the week, and have their hands work ten hours a day. They take learners, and pay something from the first. It requires two years' practice to become very good polishers. They prefer to make an agreement with the learner to retain her some time, as the material is costly, and considerable is wasted by a learner. In good times they have work steadily all the year. Polishers can either sit or stand while at work. Burnishing and polishing are different. Burnishing is done with steel, polishing with buffs. Plated ware is burnished, silver and gold are polished. S. thinks several girls might, in busy times, find employment in polishing jewelry. He often advertises for workers, but receives few answers. It requires two or three years to learn, and four or five to become perfect workers. In Germany and France, girls have polished jewelry for many years. In the Southern and Western U. States, there are no manufactories of any extent. They have not the machinery for such work. What little is made and repaired is done in the jeweller's shop, or above his store. F. & P. employ small girls about thirteen years old to polish, paying $1.50 per week, while learning. It requires about a year for young girls to become expert. We were told women are the best polishers of jewelry. A maker of gold buttons, who has employed girls to polish, paid $2 a week to small girls, and $3 to older and more experienced hands. The girls are also employed in putting them up. Care is needed in polishing, that the work be evenly done. A watch-case polisher told me a woman cannot earn more than $2 or $3 a week at polishing. (It may be all he pays.) Mrs. C. is teaching a girl to polish watch cases. She boards her, and pays her $30 the first year, and furnishes her with a certain number of dresses. A good polisher may earn from $6 to $8 a week. She told me a lady in Philadelphia, that she taught, is making $27 a week. C. has most of his polishing done by a lady. He pays boys he takes as apprentices, $2.25 a week, from the first. He says a good lady polisher can earn $1 a day. He pays his men from $10 to $15 a week, because they do more, and do it better than women. In good seasons there is so much polishing to do that experienced hands are very much hurried. The work is not confined to seasons. It does not require long to learn to polish. Such work is mostly done in New York, but considerable is done in the small towns around. At S.'s we saw a girl polishing, who told us she received $1 a day. She says there a girl spends six months learning. For three months she receives nothing, after that $3 a week. At B.'s, the lathes are moved by steam, but have treadles also, that the work may not cease when the engine or machinery is out of order. Less and less watch work is done by hand in the United States every year, owing no doubt to the large number imported and the increased use of machinery. The work in the business has fallen to European rates. A good polisher has been earning $6 or $7 a week, but very few can do so now, and the prospect of employment is poor for a learner. Some years ago he employed a lady at $15 a week, for fitting movements to the case. The sister of a watch-case maker and importer, in Brooklyn, told me that she worked at the business some years ago, and received seventy-five cents apiece for polishing watch cases--now but fifty cents is paid. The lady often polished four cases in a day of ten hours, and so earned $3. In the European countries, some years back, a man was paid $1 for making a watch case; in the United States, $5. Prices have fallen greatly in the United States for this kind of work, because the duty on imported goods is so low. She says the work is not very clean, because the oil and rouge get on your clothes and person. Everybody should wear working clothes, if their labor is such as to soil them. The motion of the foot in moving the lathe tries the back greatly. When the polishing is done by steam, it is not so. As men and women are paid by the piece, women receive as good wages. A smart person can learn to polish in a few days, but to learn it thoroughly would require three months. Women are paid in this country while learning, but in Europe they are not. In prosperous times, work is good all the year. In summer, work is done for the North; in winter, for the South. A locality in or near a large city is preferable. Prices vary in different establishments. Usually, where the best quality of work is done, the best prices are paid the work people--where cheaper work is done, lower wages are paid. The usual price paid to girls as polishers, when they are employed by the week, is $6--a better remuneration for mechanical labor than most women receive. =250. Watch Chains.= In Birmingham, several hundred women are employed in making chains, and we suppose fifty or more in this country. The gold wire is prepared and drawn out by men, as it requires too much strength for women. All the work after that is performed by women. The wire is cut into pieces of the right length, then bent into the proper form by means of a die worked by a hand press; each link is then soldered together by means of a jet of gas, a blowpipe, and a tiny piece of solder, when it is finished by polishing. D. & S., Philadelphia, employ three girls in soldering. The wages of the girls vary from $3.50 to $8 a week. They work ten hours a day. It is not an unhealthy business, D. and S. think, and can be learned in two months. M. F. & Co., New York, employ girls in soldering and polishing chains. Those that solder earn from $3 to $8 a week. Some of the girls are paid by the week, and some by the inch. It can be pretty well learned in three months. After two or three weeks they are able to earn about $2 a week. To those girls who instruct learners they give the profits of the learners. Polishing is not clean work, but the women can generally earn more at it. They earn from $3 to $9 a week. They work ten hours a day, when paid by the week, in summer; but in winter, not so long. The building is never lighted. The women have a separate apartment to work in, and change their clothes on entering and leaving the work room; and the polishers tie up their heads, to prevent their hair being covered with rouge. The girls wear the same clothes every day while at work, that they may not carry away any gold. The proprietors sell their waste scraps for $8,000 a year. They require boys to spend five years learning the business, taking them at the age of 16, and retaining them until 21. Men that learn a trade expect to follow it until death. M. thinks women will not spend long learning a trade, for nearly all women look forward to something else than working all their lives at a trade. The heat and fumes of gas used in chain making are said to render the occupation unhealthy, but an extensive manufacturer assured me that the fumes are not inhaled, as the flame is blown from the worker, and that it is not more unhealthy than any other sedentary occupation. I would have thought the minuteness of the particles composing some chains would be trying on the eyes, but the girls said not. The chain makers sit while at work. In summer they cannot sit near an open window, lest any of the gold be blown away. Chain making looked to be very nice, delicate work, requiring care, judgment, and some skill. The Europeans have not got to using steam in any part of the process, and are astonished at the superiority of the American chains. There are no manufactories West or South. I was told at Tiffany's, the making of some kinds of chains can be learned in two or three years, while other kinds require five years. S., at Tiffany's, told me he was the first person that introduced women into the manufacture of jewelry in New York. The hands at chain making receive $1.50 a week at first--as they become more skilful, they receive more. The average payment is $5 a week. They have one woman who has been at the business six years, and earns $8 a week. Another manufacturer told me chain making is not unhealthy. It requires a year to learn to do polishing well, and during that time a learner can earn only from $1.75 to $2 a week. While polishing at a lathe, workers stand. Men do most polishing now. They do it by machinery propelled by steam, and one man can accomplish as much in a day as a woman by a treadle lathe can do in two weeks. Manufacturers in Providence write me, "their girls, from six to fifteen in number, work at home, and are paid by the piece. They earn $1 a day of ten hours on an average. They do not employ men in that department of the business. It requires men five years to learn the business--females to solder, thirty days. Good eyesight is necessary. The business will probably increase with growth of country and increase of wealth. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. They are all American." Some manufacturer in New York writes: "The work is not more unhealthy than any other so sedentary. It is generally paid for by the piece, the workers earning from $2 to $8 per week. The men average from $10 to $12. Men spend seven years learning--girls, one. Quickness of motion, perseverance, and attention are desirable qualities. The prospect for work in future is moderate. The busy seasons are spring and fall. In July, August, January, and February, the women are employed. We have from thirty to forty females, because the work is light." =251. Watch Jewels.= I called on a Swiss lady who sets jewels in watches. She supports her family by it, but complains of a scarcity of work, because watchmakers can import their jewels at four shillings a dozen from Switzerland, and set them themselves. MISCELLANEOUS WORK. =252. Indian Goods.= Any one that has ever visited Niagara, knows something of the immense quantity of Indian goods offered for sale. Moccasins and reticules (made of buckskin, and ornamented with beads), pincushions, baskets, &c. (made of birch-wood, and ornamented with figures and flowers of party-colored porcupine quills), can be had. Fans of feathers and a thousand little fancy articles may be bought in a dozen different shapes at Niagara. The Indians make most of them, but quite a number are made by fairer hands. The duty on goods purchased in Her Majesty's realm, and brought into the States, is ten per cent. So, if a person is careful of his purse, or disposed to encourage home manufactures, he had as well purchase on the American side. On most of the steamboats and cars of the Western waters, while in port or at the depot, genuine Indian women may be seen, with (we suppose) genuine Indian articles for sale. =253. Inkstands.= Manufacturers of inkstands in Connecticut write: "We employ from twelve to fifteen American women in painting, varnishing, and bronzing inkstands, and pay from fifty to sixty cents per day of ten hours. Females do not perform the same kind of labor that the males do. The wages of women are less, because there is a surplus in consequence of there being so little diversity in female employment. The occupation is learned in from one to two years. That part done by females may be learned in one month. They are paid while learning. Some mechanical ingenuity is required. The business will depend on general commercial prosperity. Summer and fall are the most busy seasons. No cessation of employment during the year. The other parts of the work are too laborious for women. Our location is preferable, as we have water power and are convenient to market. Board, $1.75 per week." =254. Lithoconia=, or artificial stone, is being used as a substitute for terra cotta, papier-maché, &c. It is composed of mineral substances, and is insoluble in water. It is used for making photograph frames, busts, and statuary, and for architectural purposes. It is made in Roxbury, Mass. The proprietor and inventor writes: "I employ fourteen women in manufacturing and finishing lithoconia photograph frames. Their wages average $5 a week, ten hours a day. Some are paid by the piece, and some by the day. Men earn from $1 to $2 per day. Women learn in from one to four weeks. Cultivation of the eye and finger, and great neatness are desirable in a learner. Girls accustomed to drawing or fine needle work answer well. The prospect of more work is good. My women work the year round. Women, I think, are more reliable than men; that is, if told to do a work in a certain way, they will do it. Men are more apt to experiment in a new business. Women might be employed in gilding the frames. We have twelve men in New York doing that for us now. My girls pay from $1.75 to $2 per week for board. I hear no complaint of their houses; but, judging from my Scotch experience, the accommodations in Scotland are far superior in an intellectual point of view; but so far as pies and doughnuts go, American boarding houses have the advantage." =255. Marble Workers.= The rough parts of marble working are wet, dirty, and laborious, but not the finishing. Constant standing on the feet, and having the hands wet much of the time, would not do for very delicate females. A marble worker writes: "Sawing marble is heavy and wet work, and performed in the night as well as the day. I do not see that women could be employed at it to any advantage." Theodore Parker mentioned seeing a woman, in a marble yard in Paris, sawing marble. I have been told that in Italy whole families engage in chiselling the beautiful marble ornaments brought to this country. As a stone cutter, Charlotte Rebecca Schild, of Hanau, worked in Paris. Miss McD. told me that she got situations for two girls with a marble cutter in Hollidaysburg to do the fine part of marble chiselling. =256. Mineral Door Knobs.= Manufacturers of mineral door knobs write: "We have women to make mineral door knobs, and to pack locks. They are paid by the piece, and average $5 per week. They work from nine to ten hours a day. It requires six months to learn. The prospect for further employment is small. Seasons make no difference in the work. We find men better adapted to the work. Our business affords little or no opportunity for the employment of women to advantage. We have about two hundred women in busy seasons. When men and women are employed in the same department, they talk too much." =257. Paper Cutters.= We read in "Women Artists" of a Dutch lady, "Joanna Koertin Block, who produced from paper very beautiful cuttings. All that the engraver accomplishes with the burin, she was able to do with the scissors. Country scenes, marine views, animals, flowers, with portraits of perfect resemblance, she executed in a marvellous manner." "Mrs. Dards opened a new exhibition with flower paintings in the richest colors. They were exact imitations of nature, done with fish bones." =258. Papier-Maché Finishers.= Papier-maché is made of paper ground into a pulp, and bleached if necessary. It is moulded into various forms. It has been cast into figures of life size. It is made into mouldings for the ornamental parts of bronzes. It is lighter, more lasting, and less brittle than plaster. It can be colored or gilt. Another article of the same name is made by gluing and pressing together, very powerfully, sheets of prepared paper until they acquire the thickness of pasteboard. They must be shaped while moist into the articles desired. When dry, they will be very hard and firm. They must be covered with japan, or other varnish, and may be beautifully painted with flowers, birds, landscapes, &c. Workboxes, portfolios, waiters, miniature cases, clock faces, and many other beautiful articles may be made of it. The varnishing, painting, and inlaying is done by women in the factories of England. Papier-maché manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ women in pressing and painting. The work is healthy. We pay $4 per week of ten hours a day. Men and women do not perform the same kind of work. We pay learners $2.50 the first month, $3 the second, $3.50 the third, and $4 afterward. The prospect of future employment is good. We find women have not a mechanical eye. Board, $2 per week." =259. Pipes.= Meerschaum means "foam of the sea." The pipes are made from earth found in the island of Samos. They are light, porous, and not easily broken. Some pipes are sold as genuine that are made from the clay left after forming and cutting the real pipes, but are of an inferior quality. A manufacturer of meerschaum pipes told me he employs a woman to polish the pipes. It is done by hand. She is paid $1.25 a dozen, and can do two or three dozen a day, but they have not enough of work to give her more than a dozen a week. A maker of white clay pipes told me: "The clay is brought from England. Nimbleness of fingers is most that is required for success. There is not much of that kind of work done now in our country, because pipes are imported from Germany for what the labor costs here. They are retailed at one penny apiece. Women used to make them here, and do now in European countries. They can do all parts of the work. Putting them in the furnace and baking them is warm work, but not more so than any other baking. The work is paid for according to the number of pipes made. A woman can earn about fifty cents a day for moulding, yet a man can earn $5 a day, because he can mould faster, and also attend the furnace." Besides, the man owns the tools and furnace, which do not cost a great deal, and I suppose would last a lifetime. We have seen it stated that white clay smoking pipes are made in Philadelphia by one person, who recently sent to England to procure additional assistance. =260. Porcelain.= Porcelain partakes of the nature of both earthenware and glass. It is a connecting link between the two. Few men are willing to run the risk of establishing porcelain and china-ware manufactories in this country, for they have nearly all proved failures. The porcelain of China and Japan is harder and more durable than that manufactured in Europe, but in beauty of form and elegance of design the European excels. Our best articles of household ware are mostly from England, those of an ornamental kind from France. Much of the work in a porcelain factory could be done by women, such as cutting the porcelain with wires, moulding the articles with a press, and washing them over with dissolved porcelain to produce a gloss. They could also bake them. Some do decorate and burnish them. (See China Decorators.) Women and children are employed in Cornwall, England, in preparing clay from china stone to be used by porcelain manufacturers, paper makers, and calico dressers. Miss B. told me that, much of the fine lacework seen on Dresden china is executed by women. It is very beautiful and delicate. At Greenpoint, L. I., the proprietor once employed girls, but now employs boys in preference. The men earn about $10 a week on an average for their work, being paid by the piece. The best of materials for making porcelain are found in this country, particularly in New Hampshire, where porcelain, parian, and enamel flint are manufactured. Porcelain earths are also found at Wilmington, Del., near Philadelphia, and in Alabama and Texas. =261. Pottery and Earthenware.= "In Africa, in the manufacture of common earthen vessels for domestic use, the women are as skilful as the men." In the making of stone and earthenware, women could, if properly instructed, perform most of the processes: those of throwing, turning, attaching handles, &c. Pressing might perhaps tax their strength, and burning prove rather warm work. In Germany, where the finer clay is used, women tramp the clay with their feet, and cut it with wires to remove any small stones it may contain. One of the disagreeable parts that fall to women in the potteries of Great Britain is that of washing and straining the clay. For turning large articles it requires men of a peculiar make. They must be tall and have long arms, to enable them to reach to the bottom of the vessels as they are being turned. Small articles made by the hand are stronger than those formed by pressing. The construction and management of wheels differ in Germany, England, and the United States. The materials for making earthenware are obtained in almost every part of the globe. At an earthenware factory I was told they pay $2.50 a week to a boy the first year he is learning, and increase that according to ability and industry. Flower pots are paid for by the piece, and a man can earn from $1.50 to $5 a day. At C. & M.'s factory I saw girls and women at work. Some were treading the lathe. It was done with the right foot only, and must be very fatiguing. I noticed the hoops of the girls were very much in the way. The girls receive one third as much as the men working at the wheels, which is generally $3 a week for the girls. A woman cutting claws of the clay with a hand press, told me she is paid by the piece, and can earn about $4 a week. She can sit while at work. It requires strength of hand. In another room girls were cutting clay with a wire, kneading with the hand, and giving it to the potter, and, when the vessel is turned, taking it off the wheel and placing it on a board to be baked. They are paid fifty cents a day. In another room a woman was employed dressing the ware, that is, selecting any that is imperfect and removing any surplus clay that may have been accidentally left on, and setting aside any too defective for sale. She receives about $3 a week. The proprietors have been thinking of getting girls in place of some of the boys who are wild and difficult to manage. A firm in East Boston write: "We employ four girls, paying $3.50 a week. Girls are more generally employed in the old countries at potteries than in this, but women will eventually be more employed here in that way. Pottery is now in its infancy in this country. My girls work ten hours. The employment is not unhealthy. My girls are all English. We employ them to do light work only, that boys would do, if we had no women. Board, $2.50. We employ them all the year. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. We hope to live to see the time when we shall have twenty women and four men, instead of _vice versa_, as they are more steady and less expensive." =262. Stucco Work.= "Women are not employed at this trade in this country; in England there are some instances, but rarely. It is not unhealthy. The time spent in learning depends altogether on the taste and natural talent of the learner. Boys generally serve from three to five years. For ordinary work the qualifications need not be of a very high order; but for moulding, &c., a knowledge of drawing is essentially necessary. Summer and fall are the best seasons for this work. Ten hours a day are the usual number. Women may be employed at trimming and cleaning ornaments--also at making moulds for casting the same." Rosina Pflauder, in Salzburg, assisted her husband in stucco work. =263. Terra Cotta.= The list of articles made of this substance is comprised under two heads, vases and garden pots, and ornaments for architecture. A Gothic church was built of it in 1842 at Lever Bridge, England. The pulpit, reading desk, benches, organ screen, and the whole of the decorations were made of terra cotta. In the making of figures, women could do all except moulding. The finishing up would be suitable and pretty work for them. "Mlle. de Faveau has been peculiarly successful in her adaptation of terra cotta to artistic purposes." =264. Transferrers on Wood.= We do not know whether a distinct class of people engage in this business, or whether it is considered a branch of cabinet work. It is a light, pleasant business, and if there is sufficient demand for it, women would do well to engage in it. GLASS MANUFACTURERS. =265. Glass Manufacture.= All the materials for making good glass exist in the United States, and a great deal of glassware is made from them. The largest manufactures are in different parts of Massachusetts and in Pittsburg. The best glass for windows and mirrors is imported. I think glass making is not altogether suitable for women on account of the great heat, and necessity there would be for mixing with men, and men there must be. Yet it need not be so in all departments. Of the different kinds of ornamental window glass are enamelled, embossed, etched, painted, white, and colored. At a glass factory in Greenpoint, I saw some girls employed in breaking off the rough edges of mustard cruets, cementing the metal tops on, wiping them clean, and wrapping them up. They also cemented the tops on glass lamps. Occasionally they are employed to tramp with their feet and knead with their hands the English clay of which the vessels are made for holding the materials that are fused to form glass. In a factory I saw a girl washing glass, for which she is paid $3 a week--a day of ten hours. Two others were tying up glass, and were paid $4 a week of ten hours a day. At one factory in the East, they employ some girls to do the rough grinding, making stoppers for bottles, &c. People who silver mirrors are very seriously affected by the fumes of mercury, and more by the touch of the substance. A trembling disease is produced, which carries off its victims early in life. In France, some women are employed in this work. In blowing, moulding, and pressing glass, women of strong lungs and ability to sustain great heat could be employed. Casting glass requires greater physical strength than generally falls to the lot of women. A glass-bottle manufacturer in Stoddard, N. H., writes: "I employ twelve women willowing demijohns. They are paid by the piece, and can make about $3 per week, and board themselves. Men and women are paid the same. The work can be learned in from four to five weeks. They are paid at the same rate while learning. Half are Americans. Price of board here, $1.25." The Bay State Glass Co. "employ seventeen women for selecting and papering ware. They are paid by the week, from $3 to $5. It requires from one week to one month to learn. The prospect for employment depends somewhat upon the secession movement. The women are employed the year round, and work ten hours a day. Board, $1.50 to $2 a week." The Suffolk Glass Co. inform us they "employ one girl in capping lamps, &c. The work affords plenty of air and exercise. Their girl is paid by the day, and earns $4 a week, working ten hours a day. The work done by women could not be given to men. The reason they employ a woman is that women are employed by others for the same work. Men could accomplish much more in their work, but not enough to pay the difference in their wages. Boys are sometimes employed for such work. Women receive $2 while learning. Spring and fall are the busy seasons, but work is furnished all the year. Board, $2 to $2.50." The Union Glass Co., Boston, write: "We employ women in assorting the different qualities of ware, in cementing glass and brass parts together, and in cleaning glass. Their average pay is $3.50 per week, ten hours a day. There is no comparison in the prices of male and female labor, as they do not perform the same kind. The laws of supply and demand regulate pay, excepting that very valuable women get twenty-five to fifty per cent. extra pay. Men spend from seven years to a lifetime learning the business--women a year or so to learn the best paid kind of labor. There is little chance of women rising above $5 per week, as they perform only a certain department of labor. There is generally constant employment to good hands all the year. We employ fifteen, because it is customary and found expedient. Men can be employed at a better profit in other departments. Remuneration twenty-five to fifty per cent. less than men would require. The glass manufacture is carried on chiefly in the New England and Middle States." =266. Blowers.= I called in a factory where men were blowing glass bells to color and gild for Christmas trees. The man, a German, said in Germany women make them. The women there earn fifty cents a week at it, while men earn $2, though they do the work no better, and no more of it. There a person can live as well on $3 a week as on $10 here. =267. Beads.= Beads are made to a limited extent in this country, but nearly all are of French or German manufacture. Some cheap beads are made of potato and colored, and some made in imitation of coral. E. employs girls to make baskets, headdresses, &c., of beads. They cannot earn more than $2.50 a week of ten hours a day. He has most of it done in winter. Another gentleman, who has beads made into bracelets, necklaces, &c., gives the work mostly to married ladies, who do it in their leisure hours, and to school girls. They do so, because they can get it done more cheaply than if they employed those who do it to earn a living. They pay for such work by the gross, and a person could not earn over $3 a week at it. Putting the necklaces on cards is done by some ladies they employ by the week. Spring and winter are the busy seasons. The importation and selling of beads have formed quite a business in New York for some years. G. judges from the appearance of the applicants whether they are to be trusted with materials, takes an account of the kind and quantity given, and the address of the applicant, requiring them to be returned in a week's time. B. has children's coral bracelets and armlets made up, for which he employs two English girls, who each earn $1 a day at their work. =268. Cutters or Grinders.= It requires strength, firmness of nerve, and cultivation of eye to grind glass. One man told me he spent seven years learning the business in England. In this country, apprentices seldom spend more than three or four years at it, but do not of course learn it so thoroughly. A glass cutter told me that two girls, daughters of his boss in Jersey City, made drops for chandeliers. They were ground on a lapidary's wheel. As drops are no longer fashionable, they are not made. They also cut stones for breastpins. Glass cutters in New York earn from $9 to $10 per week. Glass cutting could be done by women. No women in this country have yet engaged in it. It is not very neat work, as the wet sand will of course get over the clothes. The number of straps and wheels is very numerous, and if any women desire to engage in it, we would advise them to lay aside hoops and don the Bloomer costume. Grinding is tiresome to the lower limbs, which are kept in motion, like a person operating on a sewing machine. It requires taste and ingenuity, as the figures of an experienced workman must be made by the eye, no pattern being used. Apprentices usually receive $2 a week the first year, $3 the next, $4 the next, and so on. =269. Embossers.= In preparing gas and lamp globes to emboss, they are first covered with a dark-colored substance. Girls then trace figures on them with a chemical which corrodes the glass. The tracing is learned in a few hours, and could be done without much practice. At a glass factory, I saw a girl who received $2 a week for tracing. Those who have worked at it for some time become very expeditious, and do piece work. They receive fifty cents a dozen, and a fast hand can do two dozen a day. The operatives work nine hours. =270. Enamellers.= A glass stainer and enameller in Utica writes: "In reply to your circular, I give what information I can. My daughters assist me in staining and enamelling glass. Their wages are worth from $5 to $8 each. Learners are paid from $2 to $4. To learn the work requires from three to five years. Spring and fall are the most busy times. The business will increase. I consider eight hours a day long enough for women to spend at this kind of work, as they have to be on their feet most of the time, but men can work ten hours. All parts are suitable for women except drawing (?) and the heavy parts of the work." A large manufacturer of enamelled glass told me that in England hundreds of women are employed in enamelling glass. He employs a number in Newark, N. J., paying by the week from $4 to $5. He thinks it not more unhealthy than working in any other paint. He thinks the opinion existing that the business is prejudicial to health, arises mostly from the girls being so very careless of themselves. One should be as careful in that work as in any other. He said he knew girls working at it in England for eighteen years, who never suffered any bad effects from it. It requires but a short time to learn to put the enamel on, but some time to acquire proficiency. He and his partner expect to increase the manufacture of it, but think of using a machine that will do away with women's work in applying the enamel. He complained that their girls lacked promptness. They keep them employed all the year. They work nine hours in summer, and eight in winter. He thinks a few women with artistic taste might learn etching, and execute their own designs. He would be willing to pay a good lady designer $8 or $10 a week--yet he pays his men for that work from $12 to $15. (!!!) He thinks, in a factory, a lady so employed would find it most pleasant to have a separate apartment. My opinion is that one or two lady designers and a few enamellers might find employment in this line. M. says enamelling is very deleterious. The enamel is made of three fourths lead and a fine sand, with a small quantity of tin. It is of a softer nature than glass, and is applied with stencil plates and brushes. As the enamel dries a dust arises, which is inhaled, and is more or less injurious to the lungs, producing something like the painter's colic. It also affects the eyes some. A glass stainer in Boston, who employs some women to enamel, writes "he pays them by the day, and they earn from $4 to $6 per week. They receive as much as men would for the same class of work. It requires but a few days to learn enamelling; eight or nine years for glass staining. He sometimes pays part or two thirds wages to learners. The prospect for future employment is uncertain, as little of the above work is done in this country. To get near the materials is an item in selecting a location." =271. Engravers.= An engraver on glass told me there are only from ten to thirteen glass engravers in New York. In Bohemia, whole families engrave glass; and women do so in other parts of Europe also. A good glass engraver is paid $3 a day. =272. Painters.= Painting on glass was practised by nuns and monks some ages back. H. said he used to employ ladies to paint on glass. His wife would give instruction in painting and transferring on glass, for $20--$10 to be paid on entering, the other $10 when the learner feels that she is thorough. To paint on glass, one must understand colors, as opaque paints would not answer. One must have some knowledge of shades to attain excellency in decorative painting. Embellished glass is cheaper than stained glass, and does not require a furnace; yet if burned, has the pigment rendered more durable. In England, many wealthy ladies buy traced glass and paints, and color and shade it. Pictures transferred on glass can be finely finished up and burnt. Painted glass is more brilliant than stained. H. thinks to learn the art is a safe investment. He thought a few ladies might learn painting and transferring on glass, Grecian painting, and wax flowers, and turn it to account by travelling through the country, stopping in small towns, exhibiting and selling specimens and giving instruction. Painting glass need not be merely a source of amusement, but prove an art of utility. H. spoke of some people as speculators--not practitioners in the art (such I would say he would make of ladies). He thinks, among connections and at fairs a lady might meet with ready sale for painted glass. The pieces could be framed to hang at a window or place on a table. Painted glass is less costly than stained glass. A glass gilder can easily earn $2 a day. Women can do the filling in with very little instruction. It would probably take several months' practice to learn to form the letters perfectly. =273. Stainers.= Stained glass is now generally used for churches, and to some extent for dwellings. The Germans are the most successful in staining glass. There are two kinds of stained glass--the pot metal, the coloring substances of which are fused in the glass and then burnt. The pictures of the other kind are formed of small pieces, each one painted separately, burnt, and united with blacklead. Frequently a window is formed of hundreds of these pieces. A picture of stained glass looks on the right side like a rich oil painting on canvas. I have been told there are 18,000 shades of stained glass. G. charges $6 a square foot for stained glass of a fine kind. There is a lady in England, that fills large orders for the stained glass windows of churches and cathedrals. Madame Bodichon writes as follows of a convent of Carmelite nuns she visited at Mans, France: "By the direction of the sisters, glass windows of all sorts, and in every stage of progress, were shown to us by an intelligent young man--one of the artists in the employ of the convent. He told us there were twenty-seven employés, two of them German artists; but the sisters arrange everything, carry on all the immense correspondence, and execute orders not only for France, but for America, Rome, and England, and other countries. Three of the nuns are occupied in painting upon glass themselves, but the principal part of the work is done by the artists, under the direction of the ladies." It requires a person of artistic skill and taste to excel in staining glass, and the work is best appreciated by people acquainted with art. It would require at least three or four years to learn the art well. A knowledge of other styles of painting is not of much assistance. The paint must be put on very thickly, but very evenly. There seems to be a combination of arts in the business to one who performs all the parts. A man must be enough of a glazier to cut glass, enough of a chemist to understand the colors to be used and the length of time the glass should be exposed to heat, enough of a designer to prepare his own patterns, and enough of an artist to color with taste. A man can earn at least $18 or $20 a week, who is proficient in the art. The business has increased greatly during the last few years in the United States, and is continuing to increase. Much of the stained glass used in the United States is of home manufacture. The designs for stained glass are usually made by the proprietor of an establishment. Skill in drawing is very desirable for any one working at the business. The art is one that affords exercise for inventive talent, artistic skill, and good taste. In a few glass-staining establishments, girls do the tracing. It requires an apprenticeship of four years to learn the grinding, enamelling, and staining of glass. A boy is usually paid $1.50 a week the first year, but he is expected to grind colors, clean brushes, go errands, &c. An employer informed me he pays from $1 to $3 a day to men for staining glass. S. spent about seven years in England learning the business. He painted a window not long ago for $5,000. He does his own designing. He says it would not pay to have separate designers. He is acquainted with some secret in coloring, that he would not impart for a great deal. Great progress has been made in the art in this country during the last few years. It requires more skill than painting on canvas. =274. Watch Crystals.= M. told us there are two kinds of watch crystals made in this country: the English and Dutch. The English are the best. The Dutch make them in a cheaper way. Men bend, cut out, and clip them. Females grind the edges. The Dutch can be known from the English by a more sudden rounding near the edges, while the English round from the centre equally. In Williamsburg, German women can be seen at work in watch crystal factories. B. told me he used to "employ girls to grind and polish glasses. They were paid $3 a week--ten hours a day. It requires but two or three weeks to learn, and during that time they are not paid, because of the time lost in giving instruction and the material wasted. Now it is all done by Germans, and Americans need not expect to get in." V. confirmed the statement. He says it is mostly done by German families, and the women that are hired are never paid over $3 a week. It is light and steady work, and they are employed all the year, and do not work in the same apartment as men. In some of the factories of Europe, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty women are employed. CHINA DECORATORS. =275. China Decorators.= We find that in France, some years back, many females earned a livelihood by painting on porcelain. During the last century, a Madame Gerard, "who possessed a large fortune, had a hotel furnished with facilities for painting Sevres. Her splendid cupboards of polished mahogany were gilded and bronzed, and their contents looked like a rich collection for the gratification of taste rather than for sale. She purchased some pieces for sixty and eighty louis d'ors. A pair of vases, not very large, painted with sacred subjects, sold for 26,000 livres." "There are two distinct methods of painting in use for china and earthenware: one is transferred to the bisque, and is the method by which the ordinary painted ware is produced; and the other transferred on the glaze." In the former process, women called transferrers and cutters are employed. The cutter trims away the superfluous paper around the pattern, which the transferrer applies to the ware, and rubs with flannel to produce an impression. She then washes the paper off, and the ware is ready for the hardening kiln. Women are excluded from that department termed ground laying, though, from the care and lightness of touch required, it is very suitable. In Staffordshire, E., great opposition was made some years back to women becoming decorators, and even now they are not permitted to use a hand rest. In France, and to a limited extent in England, decorating, gilding, and burnishing are done by women. This is probably one reason that imported China is cheaper. Most of those in France and England who attain respectable skill in decorating, are the wives or daughters of working manufacturers. Besides the mechanical skill, it requires a very exact knowledge of the effects of the coloring matters employed, as they are much changed by being burnt. Decorating is certainly a beautiful employment for women, but few in this country have the opportunity and are willing to apply themselves long enough to learn the art. At K.'s china warerooms, Philadelphia, I was told, no establishments of any size in the United States are engaged in the decoration of china, because they can get it done more cheaply in England and France. K. employs Englishmen to do what decorating he wishes to have done. He employs women to burnish. The following contradictory statement I found in the "Manufactures of Philadelphia:" "Decorating porcelain and china ware, which had been imported plain, is done in one establishment in Philadelphia to an amount exceeding $75,000 per annum." At H.'s, New York, I saw women burnishing china. It is merely a mechanical operation, consisting in rubbing the gilding with agate, after being burnt. The girls earn from $3.50 to $4.00 a week. It requires care and physical strength. One girl was cleaning superfluous paint off the china. Women might learn to make impressions for letters, flowers, and other patterns. I saw an English lady in New York decorating china. A lady took lessons of either her or her husband, to teach in the school of design. S. employs one woman for painting, and fifteen for burnishing china. China decorating is usually paid for by the piece. Mixing the colors for china painting is not more unhealthy than mixing them for canvas, and putting them on not more so than any other sedentary occupation. A French decorator told me that in Paris he gave private instruction to some ladies who learned it for a pastime, and a few who made a business of it. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans are the only places where china is painted in the United States. L. thinks a person of taste and abilities could learn in one year, earning nothing during the time, and after that earn from $5 to $10 a week. He pays his burnishers $3 a week. Another decorator told me he pays his burnishers (girls) from $2 to $2.50 a week. The foreman of a large establishment in New York told me that it requires several years to learn to decorate perfectly. Most decorators design their own patterns, and usually earn $12 a week. He says, in busy seasons it is difficult to get enough of good burnishers. His girls work only in daylight, and earn from $3 to $5 a week. They are busy all the year--most so three months before New Year. It requires three months' practice to become a good burnisher. A learner receives $1 a week from the time she commences to learn burnishing: he thinks it is not hard on the eyes. The work is paid for by the piece. If there was a higher protective duty, more decorating would be done in the United States. LEATHER. =276. Leather.= A leather dresser, somewhere in New York State, writes: "Leather dressing is a disagreeable, wet business, fit only for men. After leather is dressed, all the other work can be done by women. We cut by measure and by pattern. A person cutting and making should earn one hundred per cent. Women can cut, make, and sell as well as men, I suppose even better." =277. Currying.= The currying of skins might be done by women. Cutting it of the desired thickness, soaking it in water, and working it with a small stone, cleaning it with a brush, and, in the drying shed, applying oil and tallow, would not require very long practice for one of any mechanical talent. The skin is softened by being doubled and washed with a grooved board. It is then carefully shaved, and worked again, after which it is blackened and grained. The work would require some strength, but not more than the ordinary process of washing clothes. All the work must be performed standing. The process of converting the skins of sheep, lambs, and kids into soft leather, is called tawing, and is somewhat lighter work than currying; yet the leather requires much stretching and rubbing. I am sure the work would not be more, if so offensive, as morocco sewing. =278. Harness.= A harness maker told me that a lady who stitches harness of the best quality, can earn from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. He pays $1 a set for stitching the blinds. The perforations are made by a man, and they are stitched by hand. Not a great many are engaged in it, and he thinks the prospect good of learners obtaining employment. Many earn $6 or $7 a week. He employs two women all the year. A person that can sew well, can learn in two or three weeks. It requires some instruction. A maker of horse collars told me his women stitch collars by machine; formerly by hand. He pays six cents a pair. The wife of one of his workmen stitches twelve an hour, with one of Howe's machines. B. employs from fifty to seventy-five girls to make fancy harness, horse blankets, and coach tassels. Fancy bridles he has stitched by Singer's machine. Good operators can earn from $5 to $7 a week, and for leather work are paid by the week. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. The fashions of fancy leather work change. One gentleman, who employs many girls in making harness trimmings, says the cloth pieces are made by hand, the leather by machinery. In Newark, Bridgeport, and New Haven, much of the stitching for the South is done by machines, and women are employed. The English harness is considered the best, and is done by hand. In England, men called "bridle cutters" get large quantities of bridles to make up, and employ from one hundred to two hundred girls to do the stitching. A lady who has quite an establishment in New York, and employs a number of work people, told me that she pays them each from $2 to $6 a week. She thinks machine operating is trying on the health, but not so bad as sewing with a needle. She pays by the week. Women do as well as men, except for heavy work. The trade can be learned in a few weeks. She pays learners something. Her hands have work all the year, but are most busy from October till the end of December. They work ten hours. She prefers men for most of the work. She would like American women, but cannot get them. She says girls think more of having a beau than laying up a few dollars in a bank, and consequently spend all they make on dress. A manufacturer writes: "Working on leather is considered very healthy. I employ thirteen women in the manufacture of fancy bridles, riding and driving reins, riding martingales, &c. They average $1 per day. Three of them run stitching machines. All are paid by the piece, except one, who does the overseeing and writing. We think the girls receive as good pay as the men. Considerable practice is necessary to do the work well. Learners are paid for all work that is sufficiently well done to be salable. Good judgment, accurate eye, and nimble fingers, best fit one for the occupation. As our business is wholesale, it depends upon orders. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Sometimes the women are entirely out of work for a short time in winter. They never work over ten hours. We will not employ foreigners." =279. Jewel and Instrument Cases.= At a manufactory, I was told they employ some girls, paying by the piece. The girls can earn $4.50 to $5 a week, of ten hours a day. It does not require long to learn. In busy seasons it is difficult to get good hands, and they have to advertise frequently. At another place, the proprietor told me he used to employ girls who earned $4 or $5 a week, but he prefers boys, because they can do all parts of the work. At a manufactory of morocco and velvet jewel cases, the man told me he pays girls $4.50 and $5 a week, of ten hours a day. In busy seasons it is difficult to get good hands. =280. Morocco Sewers.= At a morocco manufactory, I was told by the proprietor, a German, that he employs girls, paying twelve cents a dozen, and they can sew from five to twelve dozen a day. He wants hands, and of course would speak favorably of the occupation. He says they can have work all the year except one or two weeks. At an American manufacturer's, I was told it is wet, dirty work, and requires considerable time and practice to learn to do it quickly. After working at it constantly four or five years, a good hand may be able to earn from $5 to $7 a week. Most of it is done in the families of tanners. Some women undertake it, but give it up because they do it so slowly it will not pay. The man said nearly or quite all who work at it are Germans, and the wives and daughters of those in the business. They are paid twelve cents a dozen. The occupation he thinks is full in New York, for women. Beginners are apt to hurt their fingers, as needles are used, the sides of which are triangular. Sewing five skins a day is considered very good work. Dr. Wynne says: "Exhalations from animal substances, which are very offensive to the senses, more especially to that of smell, not only appear to be in most instances innoxious, but often of absolute advantage in affording a protection from disease." Most morocco is made in Philadelphia, none South or West. S. employs sixteen women, and pays good hands from $4 to $5 per week. He thinks there are at least two hundred morocco sewers in Philadelphia. It does not take long to learn. He pays from the first. They have work all the year, but the prospect for learners is poor. At A.'s, Philadelphia, I saw some women sewing up goat skins, which were to be tanned. It is extremely disagreeable work, as the skins are wet and smell offensively. The women are paid twelve cents a dozen, and find their own thread. A steady hand can earn from $3.50 to $6 a week, and can always find work. They are most busy in spring and fall. A morocco dresser writes: "He pays by the piece, and his women each earn about seventy-five cents a day. A woman can learn in two or three weeks. The prospect for future employment is very poor, as skins are mostly tanned now without sewing. A location must always be had where pure water is abundant." =281. Pocket Books.= One man told me he employs a woman to make portemonaies, paying $5 a week. On Broadway a firm employs four or five women, paying from $3 to $6 a week. It requires but two or three months to learn the business. The women sew with a machine, paste morocco on, and varnish some parts. C. pays his girls from $3.50 to $4 a week. At another place one of the firm told me their girls earn $3, $4, and $5 a week. It is piece work, and requires but three or four weeks to learn. A smart girl can earn $2 the first week. The busy seasons are spring and fall. They find it difficult to get enough good hands in those seasons. The business is mostly confined to New York and Philadelphia. A manufacturer in New York told me, about two hundred women are employed in making pocket books, &c., in that city. He pays $4.50 a week, but they have a certain quantity to do in that time. It requires but a short time to learn to do the stitching only (which he has done by hand), but about a year to learn to do all parts. He pays $2 a week while they are learning, and then he increases at the rate of twenty-five cents a week after a few months, and at the end of the year some are earning $3; some $3.25. Neatness in cutting and fitting the parts together is desirable. He keeps his hands employed all the year. There is a scarcity of good hands, but an abundance of indifferent ones. A manufacturer in Maine writes: "We employ from eight to twelve American girls. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $12 to $16 per month. Boys earn about the same as girls. They are paid while learning, if the work is well done. It requires about a year to become proficient." =282. Saddle Seats.= In Philadelphia, I was told at a large saddle store that they employ women to stitch saddles, paying from fifty cents apiece for common ones to $1.25 for those of a better quality. At a large saddle and harness manufactory in New York, I was told they employ women to stitch by the machine and by hand. They are paid by the day, as there is a variety of work, and their girls are not confined to exclusive branches. In prosperous times their hands are employed most of the year. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. There are small factories in most of the Southern and Western cities. The hand sewers earn but $3 and $5 a week; a few operators can make $6. At S. & M.'s they employ about twenty women in the different branches, and, when business is good, have work all the year. It does not require long to learn. They are paid by the week, from $3 to $4. Prospect dull. This kind of work is mostly done in Newark. =283. Tanning.= Leather can now be tanned by a chemical process in a few days. Leather has been made so thin, and received so high a polish, that it has been used for making bonnets in Paris. Buckskin is used for making many articles in this country. Shoulder braces, drawers, shirts and gloves, are made of it. A tanner writes: "I know of no country where this business exists in which females are employed, unless perhaps in some of the smaller German States, where female service is not deemed incompatible with the services of the ox and the horse. The tanning business in all its departments is laborious and offensive, and although not unhealthy, is dirty and disagreeable, requiring a great amount of muscular power. I know of no employment less congenial to the taste of women, or less suited to their elevation. Morocco is polished by hand, and in some places is done by women. A tanner writes: "It requires strong and healthy men to perform _any part_ of a tanner's trade, and they do not get very highly paid at that. The business is decidedly dirty, and oftentimes very disagreeable, not fit for women in any particular. In order to conduct the business successfully, one needs to be located by a good stream of water, or where it can be easily obtained, plenty of bark, and not far from market." Among the Cossacks, some women are employed in tanning. =284. Trunks.= A trunk maker said he thought women could not well put the tacks in trunks, because the trunks are first put together, and are heavy lifting; but I think it could be done by them. Putting the linings in trunks could certainly be done by women. The man referred to said he thought some women are employed in a large trunk factory in Newark, because the proprietors thought they could get their work done cheaper, and he hoped they failed, because of their motive. The employment of women, he urged, cuts down men's labor, and so all labor is reduced below its worth, just as it is now in England. There a woman must neglect her home duties, to help make a living. If women, he added, were paid at the same rate as men, and so there was a fair competition, he would not object to women being employed. =285. Whips.= V., of New York, says he and his partner have whips manufactured in Westfield, Mass., and some in the House of Refuge, Charlestown. Westfield is the principal manufacturing place for whips in the United States. The daughters of farmers for miles around the town braid lashes. The covers are put on the handles by machines attended by girls. That part is usually done in factories. The part called buttons is also made by girls, and done by hand. Girls can earn from $3 to $5 a week. They receive about three fourths the price paid men, because the work is not so laborious. It requires from three to nine months to learn, according to the skill of the person. They are paid what they can earn while learning. They have been able to keep their hands employed all the year, but fear they cannot this winter (1860). In 1857, there were probably but one half the working class able to obtain employment. The prospect for work in this line is better than in most others, for the whip market has increased twofold in the last ten years, and is likely to extend. The work done at home is piece work, and that done in shops is usually so. The business suffers in hard times, for people then think they can dispense with whips. V. said the Philadelphians and Yankees have different views in regard to woman's labor. The Yankees know they can get it done cheaper by women, and the Philadelphians think they cannot get it so well done by women. The American Whip Company write "they employ eighty females; about one half are American, and one half Irish. Women are employed in any department where they can labor with propriety and advantage. The prospect is that the business will always continue as good as now. All seasons answer equally well for the work. During working hours, one of the women often reads aloud for the benefit of the others in the room. Board, $2 per week." "The reason why women are employed at making whips is, the work being light, they can do as much as a man, and competition compels the employer to get his work done for the lowest wages." P. & S., in Philadelphia, employ some girls to braid lashes. It requires about six weeks to learn. Some earn $3, and some $4 a week, working from nine to ten hours, but are paid by the dozen. All their girls are Americans, as are the generality of females in this business. "In London," says Mayhew, "the cane sellers are sometimes about two hundred in number, on a fine Sunday, in the summer, and on no day are there fewer than thirty sellers of whips in the streets, and sometimes--not often--one hundred." The branch of finishing in whip making has been entered by women in Birmingham, England, and created some opposition. Sellers of large, coarse whips usually frequent market houses--those with fancy whips stand on the sidewalks. WHALEBONE WORKERS. =286. Whalebone Workers.= The natural color of whalebone is nearly the same as gray limestone rock. The black ones we buy are colored. Whalebone is exported from New York. About four hundred American vessels are employed in whaling, and about ten thousand men. Enough whalebone can be prepared in one factory to supply the whole United States, I was told by one of the proprietors of a whalebone factory. He paid a boy $2 a week for tying up whalebone for parasols and umbrellas (which work could be done by a girl). Small holes are punched by machinery in the ends of bones to be used for stays. A woman runs a thread through, and ties them in bunches. She is paid one cent a bunch, and, as she ties up five hundred or six hundred a week, earns $5 or $6. At another factory, I was told they employ girls and women in tying up some whalebones and stringing others. They sit while at work, and are paid by the week, working ten hours a day. They keep their hands all the year, but are most busy in the fall. Tying up whalebones looks simple, but it requires practice to become expert, and requires discrimination to select the indifferent from the salable. The woman we saw earns $4.50, but she has been at it several years, and is very expert. Women seldom earn more than $3. Girls might polish the bones--a something I saw a boy doing. BRUSH MANUFACTURERS. =287. Brush Manufacturers.= Women have from the earliest period been employed in making brushes. In France, women are employed in preparing bristles for brushes, bleaching, washing, straightening, and assorting them. If they are so employed in this country it is at Lansingburg, N. Y. Indeed the finer bristles are all imported. The process of preparing bristles is simple, merely washing them and placing them in a preparation of sulphur to bleach them. "The great art in making brushes for artists is so to arrange the hairs that their ends may be made to converge to a fine point when moistened and drawn between the lips; and it is said that females are more successful than men in preparing the small and delicate pencils." In shaving brushes the bristles must be so arranged as to form a cone. This requires skill, and commands handsome wages. A large number of bristles are imported from Germany, Russia, and a considerable quantity from France; yet the United States furnish some. We think the owners of pork houses, and farmers in the Southern and Western States, would find the saving of bristles to justify the trouble of doing so, as they bring a good price. In this country, the process in making finer brushes, called drawing, is mostly done by women. The heavier kind of brushes is seldom made by women. Persons working in horn, wood, whalebone, ivory, gutta percha, pearl, &c., prepare the handles. Few if any brush makers have them prepared in their own establishments. I called on a brush maker whose manufactory is in Boston. The clerk says they never have any difficulty in getting plenty of good hands. They work by the piece. He says, if you advertise there, you are sure to have hundreds of applicants, many of whom are already in business, but hope to get better wages for the same amount of work, or less work for the same wages. A manufacturer told me that he employs boys, who do piecework and earn from $5 to $10 a week, but thinks he will employ girls, as he could get drawers for from $3 to $4 per week. The girls sit while at this work. H., a maker of tooth, nail, and hair brushes, told me his is the only tooth brush manufactory in the United States. His girls looked clean and orderly, and had intelligent faces. Those working in the house were of Irish extraction--those who worked at home, Americans. Most of them attend night school. H. finds his girls more careless about their work Monday morning than at any other time. He attributes it to their talking and thinking of what they saw and heard the day before. Those that sew well he finds work best for him. (I expect that principle generally holds good--those that work well in one business are likely to in another, because they are industrious and give their attention to it.) If the work is not well done, he takes it out and makes them do it over. As it is done by the piece, it of course is their own loss. They engage in trepanning, wiring, and trimming brushes. The trepanning and wiring are done altogether by women in England. They are paid by the piece, those wiring and trepanning earn from $3 to $4. The lady that trims earns $6 a week. The work is very neat and well adapted to women. It requires about three months to learn. Women are paid something while learning. Care and nicety must be used to fill the little cavities in the brush with bristles closely and firmly. The business is not good, on account of competition in the manufacture with European countries, where labor is cheaper. Women cannot polish the ivory well, as it is done by hand and is very hard work. Women are superior in the branches pursued by them. $2.50 is the usually price paid by workwomen for board in New York. A brush maker in Philadelphia writes: "I pay from eighteen to twenty cents per thousand holes. No men employed by us in this branch. Boys spend four or five years at this trade. Girls spend six months learning one branch. The prospect for more work of this kind is poor. Our women are all Americans, and work the year round. Women are superior in their branch." P. & M. employ girls to make ostrich feather dusters, and they earn from $4 to $6 per week. They have had employment all the year. While at work the girls can sit or stand, as they please. Their girls also paint the handles. A manufacturer of ostrich feather dusters told me, he pays girls from $2 to $3 a week for coloring and putting the feathers in handles. They can always get enough of hands. The girls work in daylight only. IVORY CUTTERS AND WORKERS. =288. Ivory Workers.= Ivory is generally turned in a lathe--a machine that differs some in size and shape, according to the material worked. Ivory, wood, and metal can be cut by it into almost any shape. The ivory nut is now much used as a substitute for animal ivory. In a store for the sale of ivory goods, the lady in attendance told me some of their articles are imported from Germany, and some they have made. In Germany, some women are employed in ivory carving. The lady thought it could not be done to any extent in this country, because labor is so high. (But if men can afford to do it, pray, why cannot women?) The carving is done with steel instruments, and requires considerable strength. "Barbara Helena Lange, of Germany, earned celebrity in the seventeenth century, by engraving on copper, and carving figures in ivory and alabaster." "Barbara Julia Preisler was skilled in various branches of art; could model in wax, and work in ivory and alabaster, and added painting and copper engraving to the list of her accomplishments." H. & F. have four or five girls to count and pack their ivory goods, but none to polish. An ivory worker in Providence writes: "Women are employed in carving and turning in Russia, and carving in England. I can say for myself, that I have known many women to transact the business equal to the smartest in the trade in England, when the husband is deceased, and the widow has been left to support a large family, and they have never failed to do so creditably. I know of but two in this country, one in Providence, R. I.; the other in Westfield, Mass. They earn from $4 to $6 a week. The labor is light for women, and they could earn the same as men. Carving could be learned in six months, turning in one year. To be able to superintend, two years' practice is required. The prospect for employment is not flattering. In this country, women work eight hours; men, ten. In England, France, and Scotland, they work eleven hours. In New York, principals could employ twenty-five carvers and one hundred turners, and I can see no objection to employing women. Women excel in the business, if to their taste. Large cities or manufacturing districts are the best localities. They must have cultivated minds, or they are not suitable for the business, as it is necessary to invent and execute new styles and patterns." In Connecticut, some hundreds of families labor in the ivory comb manufactories, and are paid per week $4.50, and by the piece earn from $5 to $6 a week. An ivory turner in Essex, Conn., writes: "I usually employ two girls; one packing goods, the other on fancy turning. They earn from $10 to $20 per month. My help consists mostly of men. The work is very healthy. It is piece work. The girls earn $1 per day of ten hours. They are paid by the piece, the same price as men, and earn as much. A learner receives $1 per week and board. A woman can do nearly as much as a man after working one year or more. The work is very clean and easy. A girl to succeed should be active, intelligent, and ingenious." A gentleman who has ornaments made of vegetable ivory, told me he could hire Germans to turn them for him at from seventy-five cents to $1 a day. =289. Combs.= The comb is an article of primitive date, and has been frequently found in use among nations when first visited by civilized men. Madame de B. told me she had frequently seen women in Europe, making, mending, and polishing combs of tortoise shell, bone, and ivory. In Leominster, in 1853, 264 men were employed in the comb factory, at an average of $7 per week, board $2.50--women at an average of $3 a week, board $1.50. A firm in Lancaster, Penn., write: "We employ seven women, because they are better adapted to the work. They are paid by the week, from $2 to $3.50, and work ten hours a day. They do not perform the same kind of work as men. Boys are apprentices until twenty-one years of age--females spend but a few weeks learning. All seasons are alike. Women do the light work best. Board, $1.25." Some manufacturers of ivory combs write: "Our establishment, which has been in operation over thirty years, formerly gave employment to a large number of female operatives; but of late years, so many labor-saving machines have been introduced, that the number employed is very small. At present, less than a dozen women are engaged in our factory, while we employ some forty men. We expect all who are employed by us to work eleven hours each day, except Saturdays during the winter, when we close before sundown. Most of our girls work by the piece, and earn from 70 cents to $1 per day. To the others we pay $4 per week. The time required to learn the business varies with the character of the work--in some cases two months, in others not more than one week. The only qualifications needed are carefulness, activity, and common sense. The work is light, and not particularly unhealthy. The only reason why it should be unhealthy at all, is its sedentary nature. Board, from $1.75 to $2 per week. We have uniformly, since the commencement of our business, refused to employ any but American girls of known good moral character. There have been few or none of them that have not possessed a good common-school education, and some of them have enjoyed and well improved the advantages of such schools as those at South Hadley, Pittsfield, and New Haven. It is a source of gratification and pride to us, that we are able at present to call to mind no less than seven of our operatives who have married clergymen; one is now a missionary at the Sandwich Islands, and numbers of them are respected and useful members of society." A manufacturer of horn or bone combs writes: "The part assigned to women is the staining and the bending or shaping of the comb. The business is healthy." =290. Piano Keys.= I cannot learn of any women being employed in sawing piano keys, but I think they could do it, if they were properly instructed, and they certainly could polish them. The turning of the ivory in the sun to bleach is usually performed by a boy, and occupies several hours a day. The assorting of piano keys and putting them in small paper boxes could certainly be performed by women, but I was told it requires considerable experience and judgment. The sharps are made of ebony, sawed by circular wheels moved by steam. When large blocks have been sawed into smaller pieces, women could then saw them into keys. It would only require care. The noise of the machinery and the black dust flying might be disagreeable at first. A manufacturer of piano keys writes: "No women are employed in the piano key department of our business, and none are employed by other manufacturers, to our knowledge. We suppose the reason is, that most of the labor in this department is either quite severe or dirty, wet, and unpleasant. Assorting and matching the ivory requires so long a time to learn, that we cannot afford to hire any person for less than two years. Girls are generally unwilling to engage to remain so long, especially if they are at an age when their judgment and discretion make their services really valuable." A Massachusetts manufacturer of piano forte, melodeon, and organ keys writes: "I employ a lady bookkeeper, but my business in the manufacture of keys for musical instruments is such that it requires men alone, although the work is very light and clean." =291. Rules.= The materials for rules are ivory and wood. The prices of rules have fallen during the last few years--so the profits are less. A rule manufacturer in Vermont writes: "We employ women graduating rules by machinery and stamping on the figures. We pay 7 cents per hour. Women are paid proportionately while learning. Common sense and a slight knowledge of arithmetic are the only qualifications needed. They work all the year, ten hours a day. All are American. Women are quite as rapid as men, and, in application, better." A manufacturer in Connecticut writes: "I employ but one woman, and she takes the work home. It is paid for by the piece. There are many parts suitable for women, but it is more profitable to employ men. The great demand for female labor in the domestic employments in this section of the country is becoming intolerable, on account of the general desire to obtain employment in the factories." The machines are small and easily worked, for making lines and figures on rules. The rivets of rules might, I think, be inserted by women. I was told, men employed in working at rule manufacture are paid $8, and some $9 a week. The ruler stands while at work. PEARL WORKERS. =292. Pearl Workers.= At S.'s, we saw a man grinding the outer and rougher coat off of pearl shells. It requires some strength, as it is done on a stone wheel moved by steam, the shell being kept in its place by a wooden rod held on it. It is wet and dirty work. The water is cold, too, even in winter, for warm water would soon become cold on account of the rapid motion of the wheel; and it would not do to heat the pearl, as it would cause it to split. The polishing was done on a wheel covered with leather, and could as well be done by a girl as a boy. S. had never known women to work in pearl, except to make paper cutters, and then only in Germany. The inlaying of pearl is in some places done by women. A worker in pearl writes me: "The pearl button branch is separate from the pearl shell work. In the first, females are employed; in the latter, they are not, as it is unhealthy and laborious. In Birmingham, England, where pearl buttons are almost exclusively manufactured, upward of two thousand hands are employed. Pearl buttons are made in Newark and Philadelphia." A manufacturer of pearl buttons in Philadelphia writes: "I employ women in finishing, and pay from $2 to $3 a week. It requires from one to three weeks to learn. The prospect of the business increasing is good. The work is regular, and the hours ten a day. I employ women because they are cheaper." To polish pearl buttons is very simple--merely placing the button in a pair of tongs, and holding it against three revolving wheels successively. The carving of pearl is wrist work, and S. thought women have not sufficient strength in their wrists to do it; but I think many have. TORTOISE-SHELL WORKERS. =293. Tortoise-Shell Workers.= Shell is made into clock cases, cigar cases, card cases, writing desks, and other such articles, but is most used for combs. In Brooklyn, a manufacturer of shell combs told me they had several times thought of employing women, Gutta percha and vulcanized india rubber have become, to some extent, a substitute for tortoise shell. On tortoise-shell combs the light carving might be done by women; the heavy cutting requires more strength. The sawing out of the figures is suitable for women. The finishing could also be done by them. To learn the finishing would not require a person of ordinary talent more than a week, and either of the other processes probably not more than six or eight weeks. Workers could earn from $6 to $7 a week, if they could have constant employment. The business is very dependent on fashion. P. & B. used to employ girls in rounding the teeth of shell side-combs, and paid each $4; but gutta-percha combs have done away with shell ones. A worker of shell combs told me he had employed girls, paying some by the piece and some by the week. They earned from $3 to $6 per week. It requires about six months to learn carving and sawing--polishing, not so long. Care, judgment, and a good idea of form and proportion, are necessary. The business is now very dull. The style of carving on combs is very different from that worn a few years back. It is now of a heavier kind, and the work not so suitable for women. GUM ELASTIC MANUFACTURE. =294. Gum Elastic Manufacture.= "In nearly all the manufacturing branches of this business, females are employed. After the articles are moulded, females join them; also paint the toys, pack the combs in boxes, &c. In most establishments they are employed the whole year, while some only retain a small proportion during the dull season, which is in the winter. All are paid by the piece, varying from $4 to $7 per week. They learn very quickly, and are paid for what they do as soon as they commence, although it takes six months or one year's practice to equal the best workers. The manufacturing is almost exclusively confined to the country, and, as a class, the women are in no way exceptionable, many of them being considerably cultivated. There are plenty found to learn the business, and it gives employment to several thousand." In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, 1,825 males and 1,058 females were employed, in the year ending June 1st, 1860, in making india rubber goods. I talked with one of the most extensive gum elastic manufacturers in the United States, for the purpose of gaining some idea of the number of female operatives in that department, their wages, if the occupation is unhealthy, &c. This manufacturer has realized millions from his business; and, after repeated efforts to learn how his women were paid, I succeeded in learning that those who work out of the house are paid by the piece, and earn only from $2 to $3 a week, working from dawn until midnight. Some worked in the establishment, going at 7.30 A. M., and working until 6 P. M., receiving about the same wages. They were employed in making suspenders. More women are employed in the shoe department than any other. The hard india rubber goods are labelled and packed by women in some manufactories; but most of the making is done by men. At a city in Western Massachusetts, ten girls were employed by one man, at an average of $2.50 each per week, to mend imperfections in india rubber goods. I went to Harlem, and was permitted with my attendant to go through the manufactory and see the process of making up a variety of india rubber goods. Some of the girls are paid by the piece, and some by the week. They earn from $4 to $6 a week. It does not require a girl of good sense more than from one to four weeks to learn. I inquired of one of the proprietors and three of the foremen, if they thought it unhealthy. The proprietor said, not; but the foremen were not very positive in their assertions. I inquired of a girl in the sewing room. She said she found it so in the cementing room, and had secured work in the sewing room on that account. She attributed it to the evaporation of the camphene, and the flying of the powder, made of pulverized soapstone and flour. The odor, no doubt, is very disagreeable at first to most workers. One foreman said he thought it would not be well for a consumptive person to confine him or herself to that kind of work. One of the proprietors said, if a nice, genteel-looking girl comes along, they will take her as a learner, even if they do not wish a learner, that they may have good hands when they need them. They have a great many applications. They used to take learners, and permit old hands to instruct them, paying them for the time spent in doing so. They are most busy in the spring and fall, but have something to do all the year. Those in the first cementing room were working at large tables, and stood. They were paid fifteen cents for cementing the seams of a gentleman's coat, and some at that work make $1 a day of ten hours' labor. Most of the girls prefer to stand while at work. They were very neat, quiet, and good looking. In the second room we saw women making rubber cushions, small tubes, &c. One of the girls making tubes said she was paid by the hundred, and could not earn $1 a day. All in the second and third room sat. In the third room the ladies were finishing off coats, sewing in the sleeves, binding, and putting on buttons. Most india rubber factories are in New Jersey. There are none in the West or South. =295. Men's Clothing.= The Rubber Clothing Company at Beverly, Mass., "employ from seventy-five to one hundred women. They report the work as being light, and therefore requiring nimble fingers. Their girls are paid both by the piece and week, and earn from $3 to $6 per week, usually working ten hours a day. One half are American. Women are paid as well as men in this branch. It requires four weeks to learn. Prospect of future work is good. Activity and intelligence are needed. The work is very easy, and is given at all seasons. Girls are usually not so steady at work as men. Board, $2 per week." The superintendent of the American Hard Rubber Company writes: "We employ ten women in making hard india rubber goods. We prefer them on account of their small fingers. It is piece work, and women are paid from $4 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. Our women could not do the work of men, who have to be mechanics, having learned a trade. Men receive about thirty-three cents more per day than women. The time required for men to learn our business it is impossible to answer. Women can learn sufficient in four weeks to earn seventy-five cents per day. Carefulness and nimble fingers are necessary. The business is new, but the prospects for the future good as could be counted upon in any ordinary business. The business is not sufficiently extended to furnish a particular set of people depending upon it with labor. Some of our women are quite intelligent and refined. There is a good library connected with the factory, and on Sunday they have ready access to church." =296. Shoes.= The application of india rubber to the making of boots and shoes originated in the United States. B. & S. "employ seventy-five girls, who earn from $3 to $6 a week. They are employed all the year, and it is not unhealthy." The business has been on the decrease for two years. The treasurer of the Boston Shoe Co. informs me: "The company employ about seventy-five women, who work by the piece. The employment is not unhealthy. Average wages from seventy five cents to $1.25 per day, of eight or ten hours. Our women earn full as much as men, in comparison with the work done. Three fourths are American. A smart girl will learn in a couple of weeks to make from fifty to seventy-five cents per day; in two or three months, she can earn full wages. The prospect of future employment is fair. The fall of the year is the most busy season. Good board, $2 per week." =297. Toys.= The New York Rubber Co. write: "We employ women in making and ornamenting toys. Little of the work is done in other countries. The girls earn from $3 to $8 per week, but are paid by the piece. Men and women do not perform the same kind of work. In a few weeks learners earn $3; in a few months, $5 or $6. They have work at all seasons. The work is pleasant. Board, $2." GUTTA PERCHA MANUFACTURE. =298. Gutta Percha Manufacture.= A manufacturer of gutta-percha goods told me that the firm to which he belongs employ twenty-five girls. One of their girls earns $1 a day, making handles. The others close the seams of coats, and other articles of dress, with cement. Some work by the piece, and some by the week. When by the week, they are paid $3.50 and $4; and those by the piece earn about the same. He thinks, if it is unhealthy, it is because the sulphur used opens the pores and renders the person liable to take cold. I visited a gutta-percha comb manufactory. The girls receive $2 a week, while learning. They can learn in a few days. They polish and pack the combs. They work ten hours a day, and receive $4. Few of them get $4.50. The employer thinks there may be more work in that line hereafter. A woman acquainted with machinery could superintend the machine that cuts the teeth of the comb. Rounding the teeth is done by men, but could be performed by women. I was told there is a manufactory at Stratton, L. I., where seventy women are employed. HAIR WORKERS. =299. Artists.= The making of hair ornaments is a distinct branch of labor. Some very beautiful and ingenious pieces of workmanship have been executed. Bracelets, earrings, breastpins, and guards are the most common articles. The work is nicely adapted to the nimble fingers of women, whether engaged in it for pastime or profit. A foreign lady, that does ornamental hair work, told me that it is a right profitable business to one that can do it well, but American women have not patience to learn to do it in a superior manner. A hair jeweller in Philadelphia told me he employs six girls--all Americans, and he thinks they do better than foreigners. He pays a girl seventy-five cents a week, for three or four weeks. By that time she has learned enough to earn $3 or $4 a week. Formerly he required a girl to spend two years learning, and paid her nothing during the time. He mentioned one firm that required three years' apprenticeship. But the girls often became discouraged, and went at something else. Now the business is not so much of a secret. He has now and then paid as high as $12 a week, for a hand that was very ingenious and successful. They pay high for their designs. The gentleman had paid $50, the week previous, for a design. His girls all work in the establishment, and spend about nine hours at their work. It is done altogether by hand. The only disadvantage attending it is the confinement that pertains to it, or any other employment of that kind. An artist on Fifth street gives work out of the house. The average rate of wages he pays is $4 a week. Hair artists, when employed by the week, receive from $4 to $5. At S.'s, New York, they pay a good hand from $4 to $5 a week, ten hours a day. A person of good abilities can learn most of the patterns in three weeks. An ornamental hair worker told me she charges fifty cents a lesson of an hour. A lady was taking lessons who had recently married a jeweller, and was going to Louisiana to live. A good price can be got for such work in the South, for Southerners have had all such work done in the North. A German, who made very pretty ornamental hair work in New York, told me he charges from $25 to $50 for teaching the art--those that wish to learn in a short time, and so require much of his attention, pay $100. It can be very well learned in six months. He pays $10 a week to good hands. The work is the same at all seasons. Strong eyes, nimble fingers, and a clear head are the essentials for a learner. =300. Dressers.= The business of a barber was performed by females among the Romans, about the time of the Christian era. I have read that there are now women barbers in Paris, Normandy, England, and Western Africa. In the reign of Louis XIV. it was not unusual for ladies of rank and wealth to dress the whiskers of their favorite friends. Both men and women are engaged in the United States in the business of dressing ladies' hair. We think women most suitable for it, and should be patronized to the exclusion of men. The business requires practice and taste. Some ladies of wealth have their dressing maids to learn the art and perform that office of the toilet. Most hair dressers charge 50 cents to $1.50 for dressing the hair. The price is regulated by the style in which it is done and the reputation of the dresser. The demands for a hair dresser are sometimes such, in a fashionable season, that a lady must have her hair dressed as early as noon, to wear to the opera at 8, or to a party at 10 P. M. Mrs. W., New York, charges 50 cents for dressing hair, 75 for shampooing and dressing, and $1 if she sends out. She never sends any one out to dress hair where she is not acquainted. She thinks there are about 200 hair dressers in New York. At an establishment in Broadway they give instruction in hair dressing--price, $1 a lesson. A person of ordinary abilities can learn to dress hair plainly in three or four lessons. C. says he thinks more women could find employment as hair dressers in New York; but I think, from the number of signs I saw, no demand can exist. He thinks it strange that they do not make engagements by the week, as they do in the cities of the old countries, where there are 200 or 300 in every large city that go out daily to the houses of their customers. I have since learned that there are some in New York that do. Mrs. G. goes out by the week, and receives $3 per week. She makes such engagements for the morning only, as she is likely to be called in the afternoon to prepare ladies for parties. From the middle of June until September she is at Saratoga. C. had a woman four years learning the styles of dressing and making up hair. The third year he paid her $4 a week, and the fourth year $5 a week. He says it requires so long to learn it that women generally get discouraged and go at something else. Women employed by the week to dress hair receive from $4 to $5. A lady told me she charges 50 cents a lesson, and a person can learn in from fourteen to twenty lessons. Two years' time is generally given to learn hair work in all its branches, weaving, mounting, &c. It takes time and capital to establish a business for one's self, as hair is a costly article. I saw one lady who teaches hair dressing for $10. A young woman told me it requires two weeks of constant practice to become a hair dresser. Nearly everything at it is done in winter. Practice makes perfect. The best plan is to get regular customers, and go to their houses every day, including Sunday, for which it is usual to charge from $1.50 a week up, for one head. She charges 50 cents a lesson. Some chambermaids at hotels take a few lessons, to enable them to dress hair plainly. For shampooing, most of which is done in summer, she charges 50 cents; for braiding front hair, 50 cents; and with the back hair, 75 cents. Miss S. told me many female hair dressers board with the family of the employer, because of being up late at night, and receive their board and $10 a month and up. For weaving hair her mother pays 6 cents per yard; for the finer kind, 12 cents per yard. Her mother earns from $1.75 to $2 per day. A person that can weave and make front pieces can get work at any time. There are only three months dull time in a city--June, July, and August. Some ladies pay a hair dresser $10 a month for dressing the hair every day but Sunday, when a separate and higher charge is made. For dressing a bride entirely, $5 is charged. One needs taste and ability to please; at any rate, one must be civil and obliging. Fashionable watering places present the best openings. Saratoga and Newport present favorable ones, at the first of which there is but one permanent hair dresser. D., hair dresser and wig maker, requires learners to be bound for four years. The first year he gives a girl her board, lodging, washing, and $4 a month. The next year he gives the same, with an increase of $1 a month; and so continues that increase each succeeding year until the apprenticeship expires. He gives to journeywomen their dinner, supper, and $4 a week. The business is not confined to regular hours, on account of hair dressing, which is done mostly in the evening. He charges 50 cents for dressing a lady's hair at his rooms, and $1 at her house. A Frenchman, under Fifth Avenue Hotel, pays $5 a week to a girl who receives the pay of his customers. She is there at 8, and can leave at dark. He charges 75 cents a head at the saloon, and at the ladies' residences the same. He has rooms fitted up, and has many customers from the hotel. He employs three girls, paying them one half of what they earn. He keeps but one there constantly. The other two live near, and when he needs their services he sends for them. He is going to teach hair dressing, and charge $1 a lesson; forty or fifty (?) lessons are usually taken, according to the extent it is learned. Mrs. B. told me men teach ladies wig making, but ladies give instruction mostly in hair dressing to those of their own sex. It is usual to pay learners something after a few months' or a year's practice. Those that work for others get most to do in winter. Those that have establishments of their own can of course work all the time. Most employers pay by the week. Mrs. Dall has the following sentence in her "Woman's Right to Labor:" "I think there is room in Boston for an establishment from which a woman could come to a sickroom, to shave the heated head or cut the beard of the dying; a place where women's and children's wants could be attended to, without necessary contact with men." =301. Dyers.= B. will want some nice women to dye ladies' hair. Now he has it done by men. He wants but one at first--one who has worked with hair--for instance, a lady's maid would be most suitable. She must not be afraid to color her hands, or to work. When not working at that, she will spend her time making wigs. He will teach her how to do both, and, if she proves herself competent, he will give her fair wages. For two or three weeks he will board her and pay all her expenses. Then he will pay her $5 a week. He will take another when needed, and so increase the number as he has occasion. He employs some women to put up hair dye and perfumery, and pays $3 a week. =302. Growers.= Dr. Gardner says: "At Caen, in France, there is a market, whither young girls resort, and stand hour after hour, with their flowing hair, rich and glossy, deriving additional lustre from the contrast with their naked shoulders. This is the resort of the merchant barbers, some of whom come even from England. The merchants pass along among them, examine the color, texture, evenness, and other qualities of the beautiful fleece, haggle for a sou, and finally buy. The hair then, after being cut as closely as possible to the head, is weighed and paid for, and the girl goes home to let another suit grow out for shearing time." =303. Manufacturers.= The woman at S.'s says they have constant application to receive hands, and have to turn a great many away. They have trouble to get good workers. The girls will not take time to learn to do their work perfectly. They ought to spend some years learning. At C.'s, they employ a number of women in making wigs, scalps, and toupees, who can earn from $4 to $5 a week. It requires six months to learn that branch. At another place I was told it requires but a few weeks to learn to make wigs only. Workers at it earn from $3 to $5. This branch of work is profitable. Mrs. R. told me that those who make wigs can be at work all the year, but hair dressing is mostly confined to seasons. In different stores, the wages of employées vary. It is well for a person to learn all the branches, if she has time, so that if one fails her, she can take up another. Her work is mostly done in the country--no doubt because she can get it done more cheaply. Weaving hair pays best. It is paid for by the yard, and generally done at the home of the worker. If done in the house, it is most likely to be paid for by the week, and ten--the usual number of working hours--spent at it. American women form a majority in the business. It is a good business, for a small capital, when living near the importers. It is extending West and South. A hair manufacturer in Rochester writes: "The occupation is permanent, and my employées have work at all seasons. There is a demand in many places for workers in this line." A hair manufacturer in Newburyport, Massachusetts, who has three women braiding hair for jewelry, and making wigs, pays by the day, of ten hours. They receive from $3 to $8 per week, and work the same at all seasons. =304. Merchants.= Most of the hair made up in this country is bought in France and Italy. The price paid for each head of hair ranges from one to five francs, according to its weight and beauty. From one of the cyclopædias we learn, that 200,000 pounds of women's hair is annually sold in France; that the price paid for it is usually six cents an ounce." "Whether dark or light, the hair purchased by the dealer is so closely scrutinized, that he can discriminate between the German and French article by the smell alone; nay, he even claims the power, 'when his nose is in,' of distinguishing accurately between the English, the Welsh, the Irish, and the Scotch commodities." WILLOW WARE. =305. Willow Ware.= Great quantities of willow ware have been imported from France, but of late years some attention has been paid to the growing of it near Philadelphia. Our climate is said to be well adapted to its growth, and the willow raised to be of a superior quality. Willow grows in damp places. Most basket makers buy the willow, and split it themselves. All the most tasteful and elegant baskets used in this country are imported from France. Basket making is one of the principal employments engaged in by the blind. It requires some strength, but more skill and practice. A basket maker's tools can be bought for $5, and last a lifetime. On looking for women basket makers in Philadelphia, we found a German widow, who could not make herself understood in English, but my companion conversed with her in German, and learned that she had supported herself and son for six years, by making baskets for the trade. She buys the willow ready for use at seven cents a pound. She sells small round baskets, with covers and handles, at $2.25 a dozen. She looked very poor, but clean, and had evidently a room to sleep in besides the one we saw, where she works and cooks. A German woman, in New York, making small fancy baskets on blocks, told me she could earn from fifty cents to $1 per day. Her husband dyes the willow. A German woman asked me $1.50 for a basket she had paid fifty cents for making--at that rate her profits were considerable. I met a German boy with baskets, who said he could make from seventy-five cents to $1 a day by his work. His father, mother, and sisters also work at the trade. I saw a woman who merely colors willow. She could make a comfortable living at it, if she could give all her time to it; but she cannot, as she has two small children, and must give part of her time to them. In Williamsburg, I had a long talk with a basket maker. He says it is best for an apprentice to learn basket making of a practical worker who has not many hands, and who will give instruction himself. He can give the more time to his learners. He spent seven years learning the trade in England. It requires knowledge of form to make the baskets of a handsome shape. He showed me a book giving directions how to proportion baskets. He thinks a right smart person might learn the business in two years, when they could earn from $10 to $15 a week. The basket makers have a society in New York that discourages the work of women in that line, by not allowing its members to sell to any store for which a woman works. The excuse is, it throws men out of work. Yet the man told me that there are probably not more than two hundred basket makers in the United States, and that it is a good business. He has more work than he can do. (Oh, what injustice to woman!) The Dutch, he says, make baskets at a lower price than the members of the society, and consequently they are discountenanced by the members. Inexperienced or careless workers are apt to cut their hands with the willow while at work. A woman who sells baskets told me that basket making is a poor business now. A man that worked for her during the summer said that, working from early in the morning till late at night, he could not make more than $4.50 a week, and if his wife had not worked out, they could not have made a living. She says the duty on willow is high, and transporters ask any price they please, as it occupies considerable room, and does not pay very well as freight. When American supplies are brought in, it is cheaper. The women that supply her do the lighter parts of the work; and their husbands, the heavier. A willow ware manufacturer in Waterbury, Vermont, writes: "The work is light and healthy. It is paid for by the piece. Women are paid less, because they are not so strong, and can live cheaper. It requires about one year to learn the business. Learners are paid by the week, about $2. Ingenuity and some taste are needed for a basket maker. A great many women might advantageously learn the trade, if they would. They can work at it all the year. We should like to employ a few girls to learn the trade and make baskets, but have been unable to do so yet, as it is very difficult finding help enough to do housework in this vicinity." A German, who learned his trade with the basket maker of his Majesty, in Dresden, replies to a circular asking information on willow work: "Women are employed at this trade at several places in Germany. They are paid by the piece. In this country, if they are able to finish the work as well as men, they are usually paid the same wages. Coarse work can be learned in much less time than fine. It is in some places the custom to have five persons to make a basket, each doing a separate part. I think the prospects for work good. Women can make the finer work quicker than men, but men succeed best in making coarse work." WOOD WORK. =306. Carvers.= The word "carver" is rather extensive in its application, being applied alike to one who cuts stone, wood, or metal. Carvers of stone and metal we treat of elsewhere. The art of carving is quite ancient. There are five kinds of wood carving: house, ship, toy, furniture, and pattern making; to these we may add the cutting of wooden letters for ornamental signs. Pattern making is the reverse of architectural carving: the first being in bas relief; the other, alto. Architectural carving is mostly done in pine, occasionally in oak. Ship carvers cut figure heads for vessels; some of this carving is done in oak, some in pine. For some kinds of carving the design is drawn on paper and cut out; then it is placed on the block, which is prepared of a proper thickness, and the outline drawn with a pencil. The portions of wood outside the design are then cut off with carving implements. The plan of marking the wood is not practised by all carvers. It may be that it is used for beginners only. Ingenuity in planning and skilful drawing are desirable qualifications for a carver. The tools used by carvers are very simple, being merely a hammer, and gouges of different sizes. When the wood is carved, it is smoothed with sand paper, then gilded or painted and varnished. During an apprenticeship, the usual sum paid a boy is $2.50 a week the first year, and more afterward. A journeyman can usually earn $1.50 or $1.75 a day of ten hours. It requires three years to learn the trade. "In wood sculpture, all that belongs to its simple ornament might receive a special grace from the inspiration of women." We have seen architectural and ship carving done by women; and it is our belief that almost any and every kind of carving could be done by them, if the wood were properly prepared, and they were carefully instructed. Some kinds of carving require considerable muscular strength. An architectural carver writes: "Our employment is healthy. Part of our business is suitable for women, but there is not enough in our establishment to keep one constantly employed." A carver told me that furniture carving is sometimes done by women. Though it is done in harder wood than most other kinds, it does not involve the lifting of heavy blocks, like architectural carving. The widow of a ship carver carries on the business in New York. Her son told me that eight persons could do all the work necessary for that city. There are a few ship carvers in Boston and Philadelphia, but none in the South or West. (Would not New Orleans present a good opening?) A. told me, a boy in learning ship carving is apprenticed for five or six years. He receives $1.50 a week for the first year, then $2, and after that $2.50, but no more. A carver told me that he had an Englishman working for him, that showed him some work done by his daughter, which was superior. He knows the wives of some carvers who finish the work of their husbands by rubbing it with sand paper. "Louisa Raldan, of Seville, was known as an excellent sculptor in wood." "Anna Maria Schurmann, of Sweden, carved busts in wood." "Anna Tessala, an artist of the Dutch school, was eminent as a skilful carver in wood." "Properzia di Rossi, an Italian sculptress, carved on a peachstone the crucifixion of our Saviour." Many toys are made in Germany by women and children. They are purchased very cheaply, we know, from their low prices in this country. Mrs. Dall says: "I would direct the attention of young women to the Swiss carving of paper knives, bread plates, salad spoons, ornamental figures, jewel boxes, and so on. On account of the care required in the transportation, these articles bring large prices; and I feel quite sure that many an idle girl might win a pleasant fame through such trifles." Articles might be cut of wood, as mementos of some great event or pleasant association. The small wooden cages, in which we see canaries for sale, were made by women in Germany. There labor is cheaper, and they probably receive only two or three cents for a cage, while in this country they could not be made for less than a shilling. I saw some pretty wooden toys, made in Switzerland by the shepherds while watching their flocks, and some which were made by women. It is a favorite pastime with them in the evening, when the family is gathered around the hearthstone. The small carved boards, used for the support of music in pianos, are carved by a delicate saw, moving perpendicularly and driven by steam. The carver has the pattern marked on the board, and moves it under the saw, as the workman does the back of shell combs. One species of carving common in Europe is that of saints and virgins for small churches. =307. Kindling Wood.= Some little boys putting kindling wood into bundles told me they are paid fifteen cents a hundred bundles, and can do from two hundred and fifty to three hundred in a day of ten hours. Most of them take the strings home at night and tie them, to save time in the day. Girls could do it, but they would be liable to accident from the carelessness of those at work. =308. Pattern Makers.= The wife of a pattern maker told me it requires ingenuity, patience, and a knowledge of drawing to become a pattern maker. C. thought general pattern making would not do for a woman, as it would require planing, cutting, and turning wood. He said some of the finer parts of pattern making, as forming models on a small scale for the patent office, could be done by a woman who is qualified. It would require a knowledge of arithmetical proportions, ability to turn a lathe properly, and aptness at catching the ideas of others. A gentleman who makes models for the patent office, patterns for machinery, steam and gas fittings, &c., writes: "The varnishing might be done by women, but in most shops there would not be enough to keep one at work all the time." S. told me that a part of the work of pattern making could be done by women, but it would be advisable they should have a separate apartment in founderies. The variety of ornamental iron work is so great that it affords scope for inventive talent. We suppose the business of pattern making is not more laborious and is very similar to block cutting. If women were prepared for some branches of this business, we doubt not it would prove remunerative and furnish steady employment. A pattern maker writes from Hartford: "We do our own draughting, but there is considerable done independent of a shop. For such work we pay $2 a day. A knowledge of geometry and mathematics is a prerequisite." =309. Rattan Splitters.= Formerly, rattan was thrown from the ships that landed in New York, as something useless; now it sells at from four to nine cents a pound. The centre of the rattan is used for hoop skirts. The outside is split off by a strange-looking machine. The strips are then shaved thin by another machine, for making chair seats and ornamenting buggies. They are bleached in a close room with ignited sulphur. The refuse is used in some way in the manufacture of gas--also for making coarse mats and filling beds. At N.'s factory, I saw girls shaving rattan. The work was dusty--one sat, but the others stood. The girls had merely to attend to the strips as they ran through small machines moved by steam. Each girl received fifty cents a day of ten hours, for her services. In Fitchburg, Mass., fifty girls are so employed. =310. Segar Boxes.= I called in a segar-box factory where the man had four boys at work. The trade requires care, and some ability to calculate proportions. The work consists in driving small nails, gluing on tape, planing the edges, and similar labor. Women could do it, and I expect do in Germany. If boys from ten to fifteen years of age can, why cannot girls? After two months, a boy earns something. Two of the boys had been working at the trade two years, and were earning each $3 a week. The wood is cedar, and so easily managed. =311. Turners.= I saw the process of wood turning. The flying of the chips I thought disagreeable. The trade can be learned in three years very well. A boy learning is paid $2.50 a week, the first year; the next year, $3; the next, increased fifty cents more, and so on. A good hand can earn from $1.75 to $2 a day. Some women do the turning of small wooden articles in France, and quite a number are employed in bone and horn turning in the old country, which is not so hard. Turning is more nearly perfect than most mechanical operations, and consequently is employed in all those branches susceptible of its use. In most work of this nature the article operated on is stationary, and the machinery in motion; but in turning, the article is kept in motion, the tool merely pressed upon it by the hand. "There is said to be but little difference in the management of turning different substances. The principal thing to be attended to is to adapt the velocity of the motion to the nature of the material." Rosa Bonheur, when a girl, was apprenticed to a dress maker, whose husband was a turner. His lathe stood in an adjoining room. Rosa delighted to slip away from her work and employ herself at the turner's lathe. The making of bone and wooden handles for canes and umbrellas could be done by women. Removing the surface of the bone is dirty work, and requires some strength. The polishing could be done by a girl. The bones are bought at glue factories, slaughter houses, &c. In New York, for a small new bone, two and a half cents is paid; for a large one, five cents. AGENTS. =312. Express and other Conveyances.= We saw a description, a short time ago, by some traveller in Scotland, of ladies acting in the capacity of railroad officials; that is, one sold tickets, another collected them, and a third was telegraphing at a station. I have been told that some of the ticket agents in Boston are women. Women are also employed at some of the railway stations in France and Germany, not only to sell tickets, but to guard the stations and crossings. I have heard that on those roads where women are switch tenders no accident has ever occurred. "In Paris, omnibus conductors submit their way bills at the transfer offices to women for inspection and ratification. Women book you for a seat in the diligence. Women let donkeys for rides at Montmorency, and saddle them too." The St. Louis _Republican_ mentions that there is one feature about the steamer _Illinois Belle_, of peculiar attractiveness--a lady clerk. "Look at her bills of lading, and 'Mary J. Patterson, Clerk,' will be seen traced in a delicate and very neat style of chirography. A lady clerk on a Western steamer! It speaks strongly of our moral progress." =313. General Agents.= "The walks of business become more manifold and extended as the luxuries of civilization and the skill of human inventions become more multiplied and more widely displayed. Every description of commercial, mechanical, and executive business excited and created by the new wants and new imaginations of advancing society, will call for the creation and extension of new agencies to accomplish the labor which they must demand. Thus the variety and number of business agencies of every kind must spread out in a constant increase." We think there is great imposition practised by some people who secure lady agents, and we would advise ladies who can undertake an agency to learn something of the parties who would employ, and the character of the article, before they engage in any undertaking of the kind. A conscientious agent is likely to have her interests suffer by a want of honor in those whom she represents. With a liberal discount on the retail price of most goods, agents might be enabled to make a handsome return for their services. I saw a man that manufactures indelible ink, and employs agents to sell it and stencil plates. He allows them half they receive. One lady in Boston, he said, made $20 one day. I think it probable it was in a large school. Ladies, he says, will not stay long at it, because it tires them very much to go up stairs a great deal. An agent should be one that can talk well and has tact and judgment. She should select those parts of a city where she will be most likely to meet with success. If her article is something for ladies' use, let her go where the best dwellings are. If it is something for universal use, if she selects but part of a city, the largest quantity will probably be sold in those parts most densely populated. A manufacturer of fancy soaps and perfumery told me he has employed ladies as agents to go around selling those articles. Some have cleared $2 a day. He allows one hundred percentage. C., of Boston, manufacturer of needle threaders, wick pullers, and pencil sharpeners, offers a liberal discount to agents; but we presume it would require some Yankee tact to make the sales amount to much. He states that some of their agents make from $200 to $300 a month. A stencil cutter in New Haven writes: "I have made tools for ladies to do the work of making embroidery stencils. It is necessary to travel to sell them. One lady may make the work at home, and another sell it. One young man, whom I furnished with tools, told me that he sold $14 worth of plates in five hours." Dr. B. employs twenty ladies making shoulder braces, and pays them from $3 to $4 a week. The sewing is done by hand. He allows lady agents to have the braces at $1 a pair, which can be retailed at $2 a pair. Boarding agencies have become common in some of the large cities. Some agents charge the keepers of boarding houses a percentage for every boarder sent them, but do not charge the applicant. In some offices a person records his name and pays $2, for which he has the privileges of the office one year. The boarding-house keeper pays a percentage to the agent in proportion to the rate of board, without regard to the length of time the boarders remain. One agency charges $2 for registering a name, and fifty cents for each boarder it secures. Some agents in New York have purchased articles of every kind on commission for Southerners, receiving a commission from both parties. Southern ladies have always preferred New York goods, but we suppose they will now wish to patronize their own people. =314. Literary, Book, and Newspaper Agents.= By literary agents we mean those that are willing to take the compositions of others, review, correct, prune, polish, mend, and present them for publication. We suppose there are not a great many ladies, in our country, of sufficient experience in this way to be prepared for the business, and probably a smaller number that would wish to undertake it. Yet, we think, to a competent and reliable lady, it might yield a handsome profit. We know there are a few gentlemen so engaged. Proof readers are sometimes employed by authors for this purpose, or some literary friend of ability does it as an accommodation. Ladies have been agents more for magazines than standard works. Indeed, only new books claim the privilege of having their merits set forth by agents. In towns and cities, ladies could act as agents without any difficulty. The business, of course, requires one to be on her feet a great deal. In sparsely settled portions of the country, it could not be so easily done. Yet we were told in New York of an educated lady that wished to earn a livelihood, and, not seeing any other way open, she became a book agent. She got a horse and buggy, and rode through the country, and was very successful. She met with a young lady who was very anxious to join her. They made a great deal of money, and wrote a book of their travels. There are said to be many book and paper agents in New York city--both men and women--and they are paid the same percentage. The time of work is confined to daylight. If newspaper advertisements for book agents can be relied on, we suppose the business would pay well. We can scarcely glance over the columns of a newspaper without finding a call for agents to present the merits of some new work, with the promise that, if active and diligent, the individual will clear from $30 to $100 per month. It requires judgment, taste, and a knowledge of what is popular in the book market. I was told by the editor of a ladies' magazine, that he pays his agents fifty cents on the dollar, and would be glad to secure the services of more lady agents. He stated that one of his lady agents in Brooklyn obtained in two weeks twenty subscribers, so making $12.50. Some sell books on subscription, but if the books are printed, the surest and most speedy way is to deliver the book and receive the money, when the individual decides to buy. A lady who earns her living as a book and newspaper agent, told me that she gets a percentage for the agency of books and papers. She has been an agent eight years in New York. Her health is poor, and she thinks it is from being out in all kinds of weather. She does not go to every house, but calls on one friend, who recommends her to another--so that she has as many to visit as she can. She says the qualifications needed are health, tact, judgment, courage, pleasing address, perseverance, with faith in the work, and in God. Ladies are more likely to be well received than men, but cannot walk as much. She prefers the agency of books, because she then gets the money, gives the book, and that is the last of it. But there is a responsibility attending the agency of papers. The editor may require pre-payment for his magazine. If he is not an honorable man, he may discontinue his magazine during the year, and not refund what is due to his subscribers. The agent is then blamed, as well as the editor, when it may be totally out of her power to remedy the matter, or to have prevented it. A lady news agent, that has a good location and a small circulating library, told me she has occupied the place for several years, and so has regular customers. She does it to aid her husband in supporting and educating their children, but thinks an individual could earn for self alone a comfortable living by keeping a news depot. In the large cities of the North are newspaper agents (men) who solicit advertisements, for which they receive a commission from editors. There is a Miss S. in New York, who makes a very good living by obtaining advertisements for the principal city papers. She goes to stores and offices, and solicits advertisements of business men, for which she receives a percentage from the conductors of the papers. =315. Mercantile Agents.= At the office of a mercantile agency on Broadway, New York, one hundred young men are employed in writing. Why could not women do it? An agent who travels for C.'s paper-hanging manufactory, exhibiting specimens and getting orders, and has a commission also from another house for another kind of business, makes $4,000 a year. Ladies were employed writing for one mercantile agency in Boston one winter. =316. Pens.= The inventor of Prince's Protean pen thinks a lady would do well to act as agent for the sale of his pens. A man who was agent made $3,000 a year, but he could not stand such exertion over a year. His pen is so constructed as to furnish a flow of ink for ten consecutive hours. It is very convenient in travelling, on account of the ink being in the case. Physicians would find it very convenient. An agent would receive a very good allowance; for instance, a $5 pen she would receive for $3; one style of $4 pen for $2.50, and another style for $2.25. Mr. Snow, of Hartford, an importer of steel pens, offers to pay $2 a day to all agents who sell five gross of pens per day, at the list of prices furnished, and at the same rate for any larger quantity. =317. Sewing Machines.= H., manufacturer of low-priced sewing machines in Newburyport, Massachusetts, desires to secure some local and travelling agents. In his circular he says: "In order to ascertain who would prove an efficient and reliable agent, we have concluded that each applicant shall sell thirty days on commission; and after that time, if he proves as before stated, and prefers it to a commission, we will pay him a salary of from $30 to $80 a month, according to capabilities, and travelling expenses. The commission allowed will be thirty-three and one third per cent, on the machines sold." We know nothing of the merits or demerits of the machine, but give it as a criterion by which to judge what sewing-machine agents may expect in the way of remuneration. The manufacturer of the universal hemmer, which can be attached to any sewing machine, retails them at $2.50, but to agents a deduction is made of seventy-five cents. (It probably costs ten cents apiece to make them.) They require agents to buy what they wish to sell. It being a cash business, they have few lady agents. Their agents confine themselves to towns, on account of the time that would be consumed in travelling through the country. At a manufactory of children's spring horses, I saw a lady employed to sell the horses and make saddles for them. Some she stitched by hand, and some quilted and stitched by machine. She got $6 a week. =318. School Agents.= A lady properly qualified might, we think, conduct a school agency. As there are few school agencies in New York, we suppose it must be a business that pays. The prejudice that will probably be created by the difficulties in our country, will no doubt open the way for the preparation and employment of slave State ladies as teachers in their own States, and consequently one or more agencies in the South will be needed. The terms of one of the best agencies we know of, are as follows: "To principals who have their schools registered for the purpose of obtaining scholars by making known the terms, locality, and advantages of their schools, a fee of $5 is charged; and for each yearly renewal, $2; and for the introduction of each pupil into a registered school, where the board and tuition does not amount to $120 per annum, the fee is $5. When over that amount and under $160, $7, &c. For the registration of a teacher, in advance, $2. When the situation is obtained, and the remuneration is under $1,000, three per cent. If $1,000 and over, five per cent. When desired to examine and personally assume the responsibility of selecting teachers for important positions, an additional fee of from $3 to $5 will be charged." =319. Telegraph Instruments.= A manufacturer of telegraphic instruments in Boston writes: "We do not employ women in the mechanical part of our business, but we employ them as agents to sell our instruments for medical use. They fit themselves as lecturers by studying the science, and travel about lecturing, giving instruction, selling machines, &c. A very handsome income is derived therefrom." =320. Washing Machines.= At a washing machine establishment, I was told they make a deduction of twenty per cent. to agents who sell for them; but to agents who sell for themselves and buy six or more, they make a deduction of thirty per cent. MANUFACTURERS AND COLORERS OF LADIES' APPAREL. =321. Artificial Flowers.= As in everything else, the price for making artificial flowers is very much regulated by the quality and taste displayed. Many flowers made in the United States are equal in beauty and delicacy of finish to genuine Paris flowers, but they are mostly made by French women, and so are in reality French flowers. In France, the preparation of the materials used in the manufacture, forms several distinct branches of trade, and the quality of the flowers depends in a great measure upon the care used in the getting up of these materials. The modes of coloring flowers are exceedingly various. The materials used in the United States are mostly imported from Paris. Some stores in New York are confined to the sale of materials for artificial florists. There are said to be between sixty and seventy flower manufacturers in New York, and about a dozen in Philadelphia. I have been told there are probably 10,000 women and children employed in making flowers in New York: I know there is great competition in the business. The work is mostly done by women and children, who receive as wages from $1 to $6 per week. It requires care and patience, united with good taste and much experience, to succeed in this pretty art. There are said to be about twenty processes in the making of artificial flowers. The employment is one easily affected, consequently fluctuating. The New York manufacturers have sold large quantities of American flowers to Southern merchants, but have had no orders lately. In New York, flower peps are made by men and boys. A man at the work said it requires some time to learn to do all the parts. Boys, he said, do some parts that girls cannot well do; but from my observation, girls and women could as well do it all as workers of the other sex. One maker of flower peps told me that at one time he employed girls, but found they had not strength enough to cut the wires. To cut the wires might be hard, but they could get accustomed to it; at any rate, they could dip the pistils and stamens into the coloring matter and place them in the frames to dry. H. told me he employs about 600 women and 400 men in his business, that of making flowers and dressing ornamental feathers. The women earn from $4 to $12 a week; the average is from $6 to $7. They only work eight hours in winter. There are several distinct branches, and it requires longer to learn some than others. The washing and dyeing of feathers is done by men, the curling and dressing by women. A few of his women are French. He thinks it a business that must increase as the country grows older. T. imports all his flowers, but employs one girl to mount them, that is, make them into clusters, wreaths, &c. Not more than one in eight or ten of those employed in the city in making artificial flowers devotes herself to mounting them. It requires excellent taste and some ingenuity. He pays by the week, from $8 to $10. I called on a German lady who makes artificial flowers of paper and coarse muslin. She arranges them in wreaths, and sells them to decorate small stores, particularly German book stores. She and her daughter make a comfortable living at it. It requires long practice in the artificial flower business to earn good wages, and very good wages are earned at only a small number of establishments. The trickery of mean people in every occupation, it is desirable to avoid. In this business much is said to be practised. One of the unprincipled acts referred to is this: Learners are told they must spend six months acquiring the trade, and during that time will receive nothing, but after that get fair wages. One branch is learned in a week or ten days, but the apprentices remain, according to agreement, six months doing the same kind of work, when they are dismissed on the plea there is no work to give them, and new apprentices are taken. Some will keep their apprentices at but one branch of work for a year or two, so reaping the benefit of their work, without giving the instruction they promise. Girls who have served several years at artificial flower making can seldom earn over $3.50 or $4 a week. G. & K., one of the oldest and most extensive firms in New York, prefer to take girls from thirteen to fifteen years of age. Older girls are not satisfied with such wages as learners receive. While learning, for the first month, they are paid $2; after that, by the week, according to what they can do. They teach their girls all the different parts, and they make the finest French flowers. They give their girls work all the year, and they earn from $1 to $6 a week. In summer, they work ten hours; in winter, nine and a half. In this, as in every business, the best hands are most sure to obtain employment. Mrs. P. thinks only little girls should learn it, as it takes a great while to acquire proficiency. She and her partner pay fifty cents a week for two months to a learner, then $1 a week for a time, and then increase according to what is done. They usually give employment all the year. They pay altogether by the week, wages running from $2 to $5. At another manufactory, I found the arrangements the same, the girls working nine and a half hours in winter, and ten hours in summer. At another place I was told that it was best for a learner to begin at ten years of age. By the time she is eighteen, she will be able to make $4 or $5 a week. In some of the first-class houses for the sale of fine French flowers, a few superior hands may earn $6 and $7 per week; but for common flowers, particularly in the cheap establishments, the prices paid are very low. It is said to be common among some manufacturers of flowers to mix in a few imported ones with their own, and sell them all as foreign flowers. At another place, I found the same arrangement, fifty cents a week for a learner; $4 a week is the price paid for a very good hand. At an importer and manufacturer of flower materials, I was told their season commences about the first of February. It requires but two or three weeks' practice to earn something--then learners are paid by the piece. Their girls make centres. They manufacture stamps and veins. At a clean-looking place, where the flowers were of a superior quality, I was told their girls earn from $2 to $7. At a Frenchman's, I was told, in two months a smart girl could begin to make fine French flowers. He pays nothing for two months; after that, seventy-five cents a week, and increases that as the worker acquires speed and proficiency. A good worker, he said, can earn $9 (?) a week. His girls work nine hours a day. They make all parts and different kinds of flowers. Some girls never learn to make flowers. At another place, the girls, I was told, are paid nothing for three months, but at the end of that time are paid $5. They learn all the branches. Workers are paid by the piece, earning from seventy-five cents to $6 a week. It requires taste and a peculiar aptitude. =322. Belts.= B. & H. have ladies' and children's belts made, dolls dressed, fans trimmed, &c. Their business is wholesale. They manufacture for houses here that sell to the Southern trade. They have employed at some seasons from twenty-five to fifty girls. The belt trade is merely making the goods into belts. A person that can sew neatly can learn belt making in a day. The girls earn from $3 to $4 per week, and are paid by the piece. The belt room is superintended by a man. The busiest time for belt making and for trimming in the wholesale business, is in July and August, January, February and March. Spring work begins in January and ends the first of June, and fall work the first of August and ends the first of December. Their hands have work most of the year. They have a variety of work done; so if there is not enough of one kind for their hands, they put them to doing something else. They pay by the gross. The sewing must be done by hand. The business is confined mostly to New York. When business is good, the foreman will allow those he knows to take work home, and get their mothers and sisters to help them. The factory is in Newark. It is difficult to get girls to go there from New York. =323. Bonnet Ruches.= At some factories, ruches are made entirely by machinery. They are not as well nor as neatly put together, and do not sell as high as those made by hand. It does not require long for a girl with any brains to learn, but she should commence when young, and gradually rise to the more difficult processes. A manufacturer told me girls must be at it a year before they are good pressers. For making ruches he pays by the week, from $1 to $4.50. Ruche makers are not apt to be out of employment more than from two to four weeks. P., New York, told us his workers are of all nations. Some work by the week, sewing ten hours a day. Girls sit in his factory while at work, but stand in most places. Standing is thought to be the easiest position, as it allows of change. He told us that some girls earn as high as $6 a week. It is piece work. Joining, sewing, and pressing are done by females, fluting by men and boys. It is best for females that wish to learn the business to commence quite early, say when twelve or fourteen years of age. P. thinks it would not be advisable to introduce more workers into the occupation but I would advise any one desiring to learn the trade to make further inquiries into the condition of the business. T., of Philadelphia, who has been in the business a great many years, employs over one hundred females. =324. Dress Trimmings.= In London, many women and children are employed in making dress trimmings. The children wind the quills, and the women wind the silk on reels, and weave it, knit covers for fancy buttons, make fringes, tassels, buttons, and other trimmings. In this country most of such work is done by women and girls, the majority of whom are Germans, as are also the proprietors. They are the best for hand work, but English trimming makers are best for power looms. All large cities contain more or less manufacturers of dress trimmings, but the business is mostly confined to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Many who manufacture, also keep for sale the different varieties of sewing and embroidery silk, zephyr wool, patterns, and canvas, braid, and such articles. It is only within the last twenty-five years that fringes and tassels have been manufactured in this country, but quite a number of houses are now engaged in it. The goods are said to equal those of Europe. "There are over 1,000 hands employed in this branch in New York, at least three fourths of whom are females. Girls at reeling earn $2.50; at braiding, $3.30; and at weaving, from $4 to $6." I called at a factory where eighty girls are employed. They earn from $1 to $6 per week, doing both day and night work. No girl, the foreman said, can earn $1 a day of ten hours at that work. When the snow is on the ground, the girls can take work home with them to do at night, instead of remaining at the factory. He says there are different seasons for different kinds of trimmings, as buttons, fringes, gimps, &c., and the styles of these trimmings change. Work is slack in the early part of the winter for a few weeks. It would take three or four years to learn all the branches perfectly. Some sit and some stand while at work. At a manufactory in New York, I was told the season begins in September and lasts through the winter. Their hands earn from $3 to $5 per week. There is an over supply of hands in New York. At another place I was told the work is nearly always paid for by the piece. Their hands earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men receive from $7 to $10. Women's part can be learned in from four to six weeks, and learners are paid if they do not spoil too much material. June, July, December, and January are dull months. In busy seasons good hands are very scarce. The clerk of Messrs. B.'s factory told us the wages vary greatly. We glanced over the account book, with his permission, and observed that the lowest wages were about $1 a week, and the highest $4. It is piece work, and they will not promise employment all the year. He says, if a girl that learns cannot earn something in a year, she is not worth having. Their work is for wholesale houses. At one place I was told the girls work nine hours a day, and receive $4 a week--six months learning. After the first week they were paid $1.50 a week for six months. They make up a stock when not doing ordered work. N. employs from fifty to one hundred women, and sometimes more. They can learn in fourteen days. He pays from the first, and pays by the week, they working from six to six, having an hour at noon. It requires but a few weeks to learn one branch. One girl told me she works by the piece, and sometimes earns from $3 to $6 a week. She works from seven in the morning till gaslight. Girls, when reeling and braiding, stand. To those engaged in this kind of work, there is employment all the year to twenty-five out of every hundred; the rest are occupied from July to January. When paid by the week they seldom receive more than $4, though by taking it home and working more hours they sometimes make $5. Prices in this kind of work have fallen considerably in the last few years. I have been told by a manufacturer that the class so employed is usually of not so elevated a character as some others. The prices paid and work given for so short a time, prevent the best class of workers from entering the business. M--s, Philadelphia, employ about seventy females, including bookkeepers, saleswomen, and trimming makers. In the dull seasons their operatives are not likely to be thrown out of work, as the wholesale dealers will always require them. The workers are paid by the piece, according to the degree of perfection they have attained. When a girl presents herself for employment, the foreman immediately sets her to work on some easy kind of trimming, but she receives no wages until her work is fit for sale. The loss of time on her part and the risk of materials on the part of the employer constitute the apprenticeship. A smart girl will of course soon be able to earn something, and has always the stimulus of increasing her gains. The class of girls in the store seemed to be superior to those in the workroom, more intelligent and refined. The workrooms were large and airy. The weavers, button makers, &c., work from eight to ten hours a day. Another proprietor said a person to learn the business should go to a small place, where only a few are employed--not to a factory, as they will not be troubled with learners in a factory. Some of his hands work slowly, but execute in a superior manner; others work rapidly, but make the article in an inferior manner. At another manufacturer's, one of the firm told me a good hand can earn from $5 to $6 a week, ten hours a day, when times are good. They pay, after a learner has spent a week at it, according to what she can accomplish. The prospect for work is good, but he would not advise a lady to learn it; he thinks millinery better. In a town not far from New York, where he lived, a milliner could earn $20 a month and her board. Crocheting pays better. For crocheting the heads of silk fringes, a girl may earn $5 a week. I saw the agent of a lady who has trimmings manufactured. He says girls spend about two weeks learning, and are then paid by the week, from $1 to $4. He thinks the prospect for work very poor at present, for their work has been for the South almost exclusively, and now the Southerners will not purchase, particularly as such articles can be dispensed with. They have employed hands all the year, but are most busy spring and fall. The busy season commences in February. A manufacturer told me he pays his learners $2 a week for a time. His girls have work most of the year. Good hands can earn $5 a week. Some of his hands take work home with them to do in the evening. From the arrangement of the conveniences in the room, I think the air must be not only offensive but unwholesome. I observed this in two or three other workrooms. At another factory, I was told it takes but four weeks to learn, and girls during that time are paid fifty cents a week. Girls earn from $3 to $5. One man told me he pays as soon as the work is done well enough to sell. The largest manufactory in the world of dress trimmings, curtain trimmings, carriage laces, and military goods, is that of W. H. Horstman & Sons, Philadelphia. They employ four hundred hands, the majority of whom are females. In R.'s dress-trimming manufactory, Philadelphia, seventy females are employed, at an average of $2.75 a week. =325. Embroideries.= Embroidery was a favorite employment of the ladies of ancient times. In the days of Grecian prosperity it was a pastime among all ranks of ladies, and in the middle ages it was no less popular. The French excel in embroidery. Much of the embroidery sold in New York is done in Ireland. "A French manufacturer has invented a process of applying the electric spark to piercing designs on paper for embroidery." There now exists a machine by which one lady can accomplish as much as fifteen hand embroiderers. There are one hundred and fifty needles attached, all of which can be in use at the same time. By it the most difficult patterns can be executed. Many of the machines are now in operation in Germany, France, Switzerland, and England. "The canton of Neufchatel employs more than 3,500 females in hand embroidery, but this branch of the trade is principally carried on in the eastern parts of Switzerland, where manual labor is extremely cheap." In 1851, 250,000 females were employed in Great Britain in muslin embroidery, and the larger number of the women did the work at their own homes. About a million and a half of dollars then passed out of the United States in payment for a portion of this embroidery. We would be pleased to see a greater demand for these articles from a home, and less from a foreign market. The increased facilities for stamping impressions on the muslin, and the consequent cheapness of doing so, tends to render the business more lucrative to those employed. The prices earned depend on the skill and experience of the worker. Embroidery may be divided into two kinds, cloth and muslin. The first is used for thick goods, furniture covers, ottomans, chair seats, tapestry, &c. The other kind consists in the embroidery of ladies' caps, collars, handkerchiefs, and other light articles of apparel. The materials used are cotton, linen, silk, and silver and gold thread. Embroidery is paid for by the piece, according to the quality of the material and the amount of work. For stamping muslin to embroider, four, six, and eight cents a yard are paid, according to the width and style of pattern. Some stamping is done with wooden plates, some with copper plates, and some by a paper impression. The wooden plates cost from fifty cents to $2.50. Metal tools for stamping cost more. It would be well, in establishments where embroidery is kept for sale, to keep patterns on hand for braiding, needlework, and embroidery. Such patterns have met with a ready sale, and always will, when such a pastime is fashionable. I find fifty cents a lesson is the usual price paid for instruction in embroidery, and a person accustomed to using the needle can learn in a few lessons. One lady told me she charged twenty-five cents a lesson. An embroiderer told us but little of such work is done now. A good deal of money was made at it, when fashionable for outer garments and for children's flannel skirts. A gentleman that has such work done told me that good medallion workers would find employment. B., who employs some embroiderers, thinks there is not a surplus of such labor. He could employ more hands. He pays by the piece, from $3 to $7 a week. Taste and skill with the needle are required. Embroidery pays poorly--one could not make a living at it now, unless they had constant work, and were rapid with the needle: very few in New York depend on it for a livelihood. D., a gold and silver embroiderer, thinks a person of ordinary abilities could not get to embroidering well in less than one year's practice. He pays something after a few weeks--as soon as the work is done well enough to sell. Many Germans and French have taken the custom. The Germans do it for less, and consequently root out other embroiderers. So there is not much prospect for work in New York. He has considerable done for cap makers and flag makers, who send South and West. He pays his girls from $4 to $5 a week, and they work from eight to six o'clock. I was told at another place that gold and silver embroidery pays well. The lady that works for W. earns $25 a week. A man writes: "You are aware that women are unable to make the very finest kind of needle embroidery, and that wherever the highest skill is required, men are needed?" We are aware there are some womanish men in France that embroider, but we must have facts before we are convinced that women cannot equal men in embroidering. A young lady, keeping an embroidery store in New York, told me her father cuts stencil plates with chemicals for embroiderers. In some establishments they are cut by steam power. Her father made wooden plates, but it would not pay. It takes but a short time to learn stamping, which pays better than embroidering. Those that do embroidery cheapest, get most to do. The greater part of it is done in winter evenings, as a pastime by ladies. Many ladies have stamping done before they go to the country in the summer, and embroider while they are in the country, putting out their plain sewing. Ladies that embroider, generally do their own stamping. M. knows one lady that embroiders for two or three stores, and makes a very good living. But she thinks very few have enough embroidering to do to occupy all their time. The Broadway stores have considerable embroidery ordered, and get very good prices; but their embroiderers, I have been told, are not better paid than those of other people. Some stores give it to ladies who do it for pocket money. Some of these ladies talk about embroidering for their friends, but, lo and behold! they expect their friends to pay them. It requires considerable practice in embroidery to keep the stitches even, and properly shape the leaves and flowers. A French woman told me she used to get $1.20 a day for embroidering fine collars in Paris. =326. Feathers.= Mrs. M., Philadelphia, has served an apprenticeship of five years at dressing and dyeing feathers, and is now (and has been for fifty years) able to perform every part of it herself, including the preparation of the dyes. She employs women, but they do not give themselves the time or trouble to learn enough of it to carry it on on their own account, but are satisfied to acquire enough of it to enable them to earn a day's wages. From the information obtained from this veteran, we concluded that this trade can be very well carried on by women alone; and farther, that there will always be considerable demand for feathers and plumes, at least in large cities. Ladies' plumes pay best. She prepares plumes for the military. At a feather store in New York, the lady said the season commences in May. Learners are paid $1.50 the first week, and, if they become good workers, may in a few months earn as much as $6 a week. Mrs. D. says she would like to teach some one the business, and establish them where she is. She would turn over her custom to them. She would do so for $200. Her location is a good one. She would instruct how to curl, mend, sew, and color the lighter shades, for $5. She says it is not unhealthy, but requires one to be much on her feet. Taste, both native and cultivated, are required for success. I saw turkey feathers made into a light, delicate plume, and those of geese into flowers. Some feathers from the tails of roosters formed large, dark, rich-looking plumes for children's hats. This I mention to show what the poultry of our own barnyards can produce. Mrs. D.'s work was not confined to the feathers of domestic poultry. In dull seasons she prepares feathers for busy seasons. Connected with her business might be the making and selling of artificial flowers and head dresses. She says a superior feather worker can earn $6 a week, and a few even $8. Mrs. N. told me she takes learners, paying $1 a week for one month, then more if the worker is worth it, and so on. She will not teach to dye. All the American feathers used in the United States are sent from New York. A colorer and curler of fancy feathers told me it does not require more than a few weeks to learn, if you can see the process constantly during that time. It is easier to learn to curl than dye. To dye feathers on a small scale is troublesome, for if you have a feather to be dyed one color, another of a different shade, &c., you must mix up just enough coloring matter for each one. A lady, that would learn the business well, might make a living at it in the South or West. =327. Hoop Skirts.= There are now hundreds of women employed in the manufacture of hoop skirts, that will, when the fashion ceases, be thrown out of employment. What resource will they have? It may be that some other fashion will spring up requiring their services, but we doubt it. D. & S., New York, employ from 600 to 1,000, and once had 1,500 girls working for them. They have large well-aired rooms. We passed through and saw their girls at work. They were neat, well dressed, and cheerful looking. Nine tenths are Americans. Most of the girls have homes. D. & S. have established a free library of two thousand volumes for the girls, but owing to the negligence in not returning books taken out, they lost so many that the library is no longer accessible to them. The trade of D. & S. is Southern. Their girls earn from $4 to $8 per week, and work 9½ hours a day in winter. The girls can change their position frequently. Women are superior to men for this kind of work. While learning, girls receive enough to pay their board. The continuance of this occupation depends entirely on fashion. S. thinks the fashion as likely to last as the wearing of bonnets. Most of the small establishments in this business have been absorbed by the large ones. From December to April are the best seasons for work; from June to September the most slack. T., a large manufacturer, says the average pay is from $4 to $4.50. His forewoman earns $400 a year. Some girls are dull, and some are smart--so the time of learning depends much on that. They pay the girls something from the time they begin to learn. They work ten hours a day. As a general thing the girls and women spend all the money they can spare for dress. The firm have thought of establishing a savings bank in connection with their manufactory, for the benefit of their workwomen, but have never yet found time. Some they pay by the piece; some, by the day; and others, by the week, or year. Some seasons they employ about one thousand work people, of whom nine hundred and fifty are women and girls. I saw, at a factory, some girls covering wire for hoops. The machinery was very ingenious. They are paid $3, and a few $3.50. They have to stand all the time, and watch their work constantly. They work ten hours. The man can always get enough of hands. It requires but a short time to learn. They have work all the year. The spooling, respooling, and covering, are all done by women. Girls can earn from $2 to $6 a week, working ten hours. I saw an old woman who spools cotton for covering hoop skirts. She receives five cents a score, and cords six scores a day, earning thirty cents. At a factory I was told the girls work by the piece, and get from $4 to $5 per week. Owing to the want of proper management on the part of the proprietor, I found the girls do not have work steadily. Sometimes they get out of clasps, or tape, or hoops, and cannot get them immediately, because of their distance from the stores. At B.'s hoop-skirt factory, he told me he pays from $2 to $7 a week to his girls, and he employs between two hundred and three hundred. It takes but a few days to learn. The season commences about the middle of November. The twelve o'clock bell rang, and I heard one girl say: "Let's swallow our dinner, and, when we have time, chew it." I called at A.'s factory. He has about two hundred girls, and they receive from $2 to $5 a week--working ten hours a day. They were nice, bright-looking girls. More hoop skirts are manufactured in New York than in any other city. I was in a factory where hoop skirts were woven by hand. The weaver girl we spoke to, said she did not get tired now, but did when she commenced. The girls are paid by the piece, and a good weaver, when industrious, can earn $1 a day. They do not sell so many as formerly. At O.'s, they have employed two hundred girls, but discharged one hundred the day before, and the girls earn from $3 to $4. Last year they sold more than ever before. They pay from the time a learner enters, but of course the pay is small for a time. They begin at the lowest branches and gradually rise. Those at machines sit, and those at frames stand. Some skirts excel in elegance of shape, some in durability, and some in elasticity. Many improvements have been made since their introduction into this country. The prices paid were better at first than since there has been so much competition. At S.'s factory, I was told the girls are paid every Saturday night. They are not paid while learning, but, when they have learned, can earn from $3 to $5 per week. Some of their girls take their work home. The amount of work depends on the market. So they cannot tell what amount will be done next spring. They are making up to send to New Orleans. Prices have fallen for this work, and so a smaller number are employed than formerly. Spring and fall are, of course, the best seasons for work. The bindings are sewed on by machines, and operatives get about $5 per week. A. writes from Massachusetts: "Women are employed in Europe in making hoop skirts, principally in London and Paris. In our country they earn from $4 to $6 a week. I pay my men higher wages, on account of the labor they perform, requiring more exercise both of body and mind. The work of a woman can be learned in a week or ten days, but constant practice for months gives greater skill and success. The employment is very neat and clean, and gives exercise to the whole system. Women are quicker in motion than men, and their powers of endurance greater. A sound mind in a sound body, and ambition to excel, together with a tolerable love of money, are qualifications necessary to render a girl desirable in this business." This branch of business has given employment to upward of twenty thousand women in the city of New York, and States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The business is usually suspended for the winter months. In New York city there is always a surplus of girls seeking labor; they are daughters of the poorer classes, and live in tenement houses, in close quarters--are shabbily clad, and their wages go to support perhaps a drunken father, or a widowed mother and fatherless children. This class of girls contrast sadly in looks and health with country girls, accustomed to breathe the free air of heaven. Their flattened chests, pale faces, and scanty wardrobe tell too plainly of the competition of labor among girls in that great city. I am told by manufacturers, in New York, that the daily applications of girls for employment, at their counting houses, is a source of annoyance, and that they are obliged to paste placards on their doors to avoid them. This business can be best prosecuted in localities where the materials can be purchased, and near markets where they are sold. The fact that workwomen are not paid as well as men, is owing to competition. In New England, men laborers are scarce, but women compete with each other. "Board, $2 for ladies, $3 for men." A manufacturer in Connecticut, employing from fifty to one hundred, writes he "pays from $3 to $4 per week. The best seasons for work are from Jan. 1st to April 1st, and from June 1st to Nov. 1st. They work eleven hours per day. Women are superior to men, in the more ready use of their fingers. Board, $1.50 to $2. Quickness and dexterity are qualities most needed." O. & C., Connecticut, write, their girls, "above one hundred and twenty, work by the piece, and earn from fifty cents to $1.12 per day, in proportion to their skill and industry. A very few in one branch earn more. Living on fashion, is of course uncertain. Business months, May, June, October, November, and December. Women are generally inferior in construction and skill. Board, $1.75 to $2.50." Manufacturers in Ashfield, Mass., write: "We employ about one hundred and twenty women. The greater part of them do the work at their own homes. Some baste the work together, some work the sewing machines, some draw the bastings, and others sew on the buttons and finish the work. Our work is all done by the piece. Those who work the machines can easily earn eighty-three cents a day of ten hours--the others earn from thirty-three to fifty cents, according to age, activity, and capacity. We pay men $1 a day for cutting the work and packing the goods. Neatness and despatch are desirable for workers; and for operatives, sufficient ingenuity to keep the machines in good order and condition. The work is as comfortable and pleasant, perhaps, as any employment whatever. Board, $1.50." I find some firms work ten hours, some eleven. =328. Muslin Sets.= Many girls are employed in large cities in making up lace goods, as collars, undersleeves, &c. S. employs two women to make up undersleeves, caps, &c., and pays from $3 to $5 per week to each. They stay from 8 to 6 o'clock. There are too many in that business who are not well qualified. Very few are Americans. Miss A. used to make up sets, and earned $10 a week often (piecework), before the Southern trade became so poor. Girls earn from $3 to $5 a week for this kind of work. It is cut and prepared by a forewoman. Some women sell lace goods on the streets of London. I called on a man who employs a number of girls to make crape collars. He says experienced hands can earn from $20 to $26 a month. They work by the piece. It does not require long to learn. Mrs. H. called on a Frenchman who advertised for hands for that purpose. He offered her $1.50 a dozen for making ornamented ones. =329. Parasols and Umbrellas.= The parasol was used by the ancients more in religious ceremonies than as a protection from the sun. In some of the warmest countries, they are as much used by men as women. The manufacture of parasols and umbrellas is quite extensively carried on in this country, and is one that pays pretty well. At S.'s umbrella manufactory, Philadelphia, great numbers of women are employed--one hundred and seventy-five in his principal establishment, and nearly as many in its branches, and some at their homes. They make and sew on the covers, and are paid by the piece, according to the material and workmanship. It requires about six weeks to learn umbrella making. The girls we saw leaving the premises looked tidy and cheerful. S. remarked that those who live at a distance from the workshop, generally arrive earlier than those who live near. He thinks, if they would abstain from excessive use of tea and coffee, they would enjoy better health. They used to employ Americans principally, but now have foreigners, mostly Irish. They can come and go during work hours as they please. Last summer there were twelve hundred females, in Philadelphia, engaged in making umbrellas and parasols. In most umbrella factories in New York, girls are paid eight, nine, and ten cents an umbrella. For silk umbrellas, they receive only two cents more than for cotton ones. Parasols range in price from four to twenty-four cents, according to size, style, and quality of material. Old hands, in some houses, take apprentices for two or three weeks, and receive the proceeds of their work for the time given in instructing them. March, April, and May are the busiest months for making city parasols; and August, September, and October for umbrellas. Where I purchased an umbrella in New York, the man said he employed two women in spring and one in winter to work. The parasol work pays best. His girls earn, when making parasols, from $5 to $6 per week; but umbrellas seldom pay more than half that. The wholesale parasol work commences about the middle of December, but his, being retail for the city, does not begin until May. A girl in the trade told me that umbrella sewers can earn from $2 to $6 per week. Of course they have not work all the year steadily. She is paid to stay in the store, and is expected to spend any unoccupied moments in sewing for the shop. An umbrella maker told me his girls earn from $2 to $6, according to the kind and quantity of work they do. He thinks the occupation well filled. In New York city, in 1853, there was one parasol and umbrella firm that employed two hundred and fifty girls, and their average wages were $4 a week. In the umbrella business the work is invariably paid for by the piece. A gentleman told me that girls in that branch of work become very immoral from association with men while at work; but in large establishments the females have a separate workroom, and there is no need of their ever seeing any man while at work, except the foreman. (Why might they not have a forewoman?) S. Brothers say their girls earn from $2 to $8 a week. They keep them employed most of the year--their best hands all the year. Most of the work is done at the factories, but some girls run up the covers at home, and come to the factory to put them on the frames. I was told that in Philadelphia, work can be done as well for lower prices, because living is cheaper. My experience as to the price of living was to the contrary. I talked with one girl who had been making umbrellas seven years, but thinks she will die of consumption in less than two years, from the long and close confinement; but I think the detriment to health arises more from the dust and coloring matter that rubs off the umbrella muslin, particularly in summer, when the coloring matter is absorbed freely by the openness of the pores. A manufacturer told me his hands could earn from $4 to $6 a week. A learner must spend three weeks without remuneration; then she is paid according to the quality and amount of work done. About one fourth of his girls are Americans, that have worked out, but desire to do something they think more respectable. His hands have work all the year, with the exception of six weeks. The busy time commences in January. Most of his girls run them up at home, but put them on the frames at the factory. S., New York, says the business is bad in July, and part of August--also in February. In his factory, some tailoresses, and girls that sew for milliners and dress makers, get employment until the busy seasons of their trades come round. His women get for sewing from $2 to $3 a week; those that cut get from $5 to $8. It requires about two weeks to learn the business. A good use of the needle is necessary in a sewer, and economy in the use of the cloth for a cutter. The business is likely to increase. In busy seasons there is often a demand for good hands. In Paterson, Newark, and other towns where the Irish prevail, they usurp the labor even in umbrella making. In New York city a foreign influence predominates, and many Irish have come into the business there within the last year. The importation from England of umbrellas (like almost everything else) is less and less every year. Some manufacturers have the hemming done by machines. S. will not, because it throws many women out of employment. A Broadway manufacturer informs me he pays the ladies who attend his store, each $5 per week--those who sew are paid by the piece, and average $4.50 per week. He pays while learning, the time of which is one month. A good maker will always find employment. The best season is from January to June. Those who attend store are there from 8½ until 7 P. M. A manufacturer in New York, who employs eighty girls, informs me "he pays by the piece, and each earns about $4 per week. Spring is the most busy season. Men and women pursue different branches. Board, $1.50 to $2." An extensive manufacturer, a Jew, in New York, complained to me that women do not stick to one trade. He has often had women who have been sempstresses, cap makers, &c. Some, too, will not remain long at this work--they want to go at something else. Now, I would ask what a woman is to do, when her trade gives her work but part of the year, and her wages for that are merely enough to keep her alive during that time? Is she to be blamed for going to another trade in the interval? No--she is to be commended for her prudence and good sense. Do men confine themselves to one trade, if they find they can do better in another? The proprietor said he would not receive any applicants but those that are of good families and bring certificates of character. He pays by the dozen, and his women earn from $3 to $4 per week. Some parts of the work, he says, is done by machinery that women cannot manage. They receive enough to pay their board while learning. A woman that has been a milliner has acquired a skill with her needle, a smoothness and softness of touch, that enables her to become a very good umbrella maker. Such a one is best fitted for sewing on silk umbrellas. One that has been a tailoress and accustomed to sewing on heavy cloths is deficient in fineness of touch, and cannot succeed so well. The secretary of the Waterloo Company writes: "The girls of the factory are all paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $5 per week. Men receive $1.25 per day, and are practical mechanics. The work of the females is easy, and requires little or no experience. Work hours average ten, the year through. The women are all American. Men's board, $3; girls', $2.50." A manufacturer in Concord, New Hampshire, "pays his girls from $10 to $12 a month. Women can learn their part in from one to three months. The best seasons for work are spring and summer--the poorest, winter. Board, $6 a month." Manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ one woman the whole year in cutting out covers of umbrellas and parasols, and pay her $6.50 a week the year round--to another, who performs the same kind of work, in busy times, say from November 1st to July 1st, we pay $5.50. A superintendent, who gives out and receives back the work and keeps the pay roll, receives $5.50 part of the year, and $4.50 the other part. From March 1st to July 1st we employ thirty girls to sew up covers and put on frames, and pay by the piece. They average $4 per week. We keep ten girls, for this kind of work, through the winter. It takes four or five years for men to learn the business; women well versed in the use of the needle, two or three years. From December 1st to March 1st, some of our women work on furs, or upholstery, and some are unable to obtain any kind of work. The supply is more than the demand, particularly this year. As a location for this business, the advantages are in favor of New York, because of the large market, and on account of the principal part of the material being made there. Most of our hands board with relations or friends, because they find it difficult to get boarding places at such prices as they are able to pay. Board, from $1.75 to $3.00." Umbrella stitchers in New Britain, Connecticut, "have some girls tending machines, to whom they pay from 50 to 75 cents per day of ten hours. They have some to sort and pack goods. Women can do the light work somewhat cheaper than men, and are somewhat quicker. No other parts of the work are suited to their strength and dress." =330. Sempstresses.= In 1845, there were in New York ten thousand sempstresses, and now there are probably many more. "The following are the prices for which a majority of these females are compelled to work--they being such as are paid by the large depots for shirts and clothing, on Chatham street and elsewhere:--For making common white and checked shirts, six cents each; common flannel undershirts the same. These are cut in such a manner as to make ten seams in two pairs of sleeves. A common fast sempstress can make two of these shirts per day. Sometimes, very swift hands, working from sunrise till midnight, can make three. This is equal to seventy-five cents a week (allowing nothing for holidays, sickness, accidents, being out of work, &c.) for the first class, and $1.12½ for the others. Good cotton shirts, with linen bosoms, neatly stitched, are made for twenty-five cents. A good sempstress will thus earn $1.50 a week by constant labor. Fine linen shirts, with plaited bosoms, which cannot be made by the very best hand in less than fifteen or eighteen hours' steady work, are paid fifty cents each. Ordinary hands can make one shirt of this kind in two days. Duck trousers, overalls, &c., eight or ten cents each; drawers and undershirts, both flannel and cotton, from six to eight cents at the ordinary shops, and 12½ cents at the best. One garment is a day's work for some, others can make two. Satinet, cassimere, and broadcloth, sometimes with gaiter bottoms and lined, from eighteen to thirty cents--the latter price paid only for work of the very best quality. Good hands make one a day. Their coats are made for from 25 to 37½ cents apiece. Heavy pilot-cloth coats, with three pockets, $1 each. A coat of this kind cannot be made under three days. Cloth roundabouts and pea jackets, twenty-five to fifty cents. These can be made in two days." In a large town, in Massachusetts, we read, not many months past, of overalls being made at thirty-seven cents per dozen, or three cents a pair, and shirts at forty-eight cents per dozen, or four cents apiece. When the times are hard, prices fall from their usually low standard. Our hearts sicken within us as we read the prices paid needlewomen. The trifling remuneration and wasted health of most needlewomen is a bitter reflection on those who employ them. Some clothing merchants and cap and shirt makers pay their women such prices as enable them to live--better than those mentioned above. They are houses of a more respectable class, that have a position, and deal with a more liberal class of people. The occupation of sempstress is crowded to overflowing in New York. In business times it is impossible to get a working person to leave New York, but in hard times they are very willing to go. One firm told me that they often have applications for operators and sempstresses in busy seasons, but then they will not leave; and when the times are dull there is no demand, and they cannot. The supply of labor has been greater than the demand, and hence the competition that has arisen among clothing merchants, and the low price of made clothing as sold in slop shops. The use of sewing machines has to some extent done away with sewing by hand. Many a woman has been thrown out of employment by it, to which many of our newspapers can testify, and have borne witness during the past two years. We have heard of some slop shops in large cities offering to pay the highest wages to good shirt makers, each applicant to take a shirt and make it for nothing, as a sample of her sewing. From one hundred to two hundred, perhaps, apply, and, of course, that many shirts are made. It meets the demand of the unprincipled shopkeeper, and he has, perhaps, employment for a dozen or more. A man that has a ladies' furnishing store, told me he pays girls that sew neatly by hand 37½ cents a day. Many clothing merchants have their work done in the country, because they can have it done more cheaply. The sewing done by French linen makers is very beautiful. The majority of sempstresses have no time they can call their own. Those that sew twelve or fourteen out of the twenty-four hours, without any relatives or friends even to be protectors for them, and often in bad health, have no time for mental improvement or social intercourse. "The habits of the sempstress are indicated by the neck suddenly bending forward, and the arms being, even in walking, considerably bent forward, or folded more or less upward from the elbows." =331. Sewing Machine Operatives.= There has probably been no invention in which so large a number of persons have realized fortunes as the sewing machine. All the first manufacturers of them have amassed money. In the United States 150,000 sewing machines are in use. Miss P. says, a sewing machine and baster do the work of ten hand sewers and five basters. We hear of some sewing machines in London, each of which can accomplish as much as fifteen pairs of human hands. At several highly respectable establishments we were told their operatives earn from $4 to $7 a week, according to the abilities of the operative, the kind of machine, and the style of work. In houses of lower standing, operatives earn from $3 to $5. I was told of one man who hires a number of girls to work on machines at $2.20 a week. At Y. & Co.'s, operatives earn from $2.50 to $4. Machine stitchers of leather generally get $6 a week. The usual number of hours for operatives is ten. I have been told that the secret of its being so difficult to get basters is, they are paid poor wages. A clothing merchant in the Bowery says he has a family working for him that earn $28, and sometimes $30 per week. They use two machines. The machine-made clothing for men sells at about the same price as hand-made, and is generally liked as well by purchasers. We think, the sewing of ladies done by machine does not pay quite so well as hand sewing; but if we sewed for a living, we would give the machine the preference, because of its rapid execution. C., who employs about four hundred hands, says their dull season begins the 4th of July. L., who sells sewing machines, told me he frequently has applications for operatives to go into clothing manufactories. G. & B. occasionally have applications from other places, but always give the choice to those who have learned with them. L. thinks the employment of operatives will not amount to anything as a permanent reliance out of cities. He thinks in one or two years the sewing machine will be used in almost every family--as much domesticated as the wash tub. In cities where clothing, bagging, &c., are made in large quantities, of course, there will be a demand for some. L., superintendent of E. S.'s machines, employs from three to twelve ladies, and pays from $5 to $10 a week. They stay from eight to ten hours. A lady, who hires sewing machines, and sends out operatives, told me she charges $2 a day for a machine and operative, sending both, and giving twelve hours' time, or from $1.25 to $1.50 for an operator only, according to the number of hours given. If they are hired for a week or more, the prices are still lower. I think the usual hire of a machine only is $2 a day. A man that hires machines told me that he rents for from $3 to $5 per month, keeping the machine in repair during the time, if it is not badly used. Singer's principal machine is a strong, heavy one, most suitable for cloth, and requires much strength to work long at a time. According to D., a clothing merchant, a woman with one of Singer's machines can do all the stitching of twelve pairs of cloth pantaloons in a day; and a coat that formerly required two days to make by hand, can now be made in one sixth of a day. W., agent of W. & W.'s machine, says the lady that has charge of L. & S.'s sewing department, told him ladies prefer to have their sewing done by machines, and that B. will not have his mantillas made by hand. He told me of a woman that takes in $30 a week with the aid of two girls, to whom she pays $6 a week each, leaving the profit of $18 a week; and of another who makes $8 a week with her machine. Now that machines are more plentiful, work done by them is not so well paid. The sellers of machines say it is not unhealthy. Some people suppose the machine to be much more injurious than the needle, if worked as long and constantly. The tax on the muscles of the lower limbs and the weaker parts of the system is certainly very great; yet those with treadles are thought by some to be less injurious than those moved by steam. I talked with a lady keeping a depository connected with an influential church for the supplying of poor women with work. She thinks sewing machines are very injurious--says a girl of seventeen will give out in three or five years at most. It produces a pain first in the hips, and the jar affects the nerves; and the sameness of the stitch on white or black goods produces a constant strain of the eye. She mentioned a young woman who came a few days before to get sewing, who had worked at B.'s five years on a machine, and her sight had so failed her that she cannot see to work now by gaslight. She was but twenty-three, but looked to be thirty years of age. Sewing by machine, I have been told, injures some kinds of goods. The needle being large, threads of the cloth are liable to be broken. Changing the kind and quality of goods in operating injures a machine. The utility and profit of sewing machines have to a great extent been usurped by Jew men, that are tailors and cap makers. I have heard that many respectable men in New York, after coming home from business, spend nearly or quite all the evening in operating on machines, doing the family sewing that has been cut and basted ready to stitch. What can we say of such effeminacy and meanness, when done by those that are able to give such work to poor women? A lady remarked to me: "When sewing machines were invented, it was said new occupations would be opened to women as the machine came in use, and deprived some of a livelihood; but it is eight years since, and I have not heard of one." The sewing machine has certainly thrown many women out of employment. Those who are able to purchase one may get along. It is in this as in every other branch of labor--a capital, however small, is an assistance in business. One advantage always gained by machinery is that it enables the poor to purchase more cheaply the materials used by them. Freemasons often buy machines for the widows they help to support. In some of the large manufactories of Dublin, where sewing machines are used, from fifty to two hundred women are employed. FUR WORKERS. =332. Dyers.= Dyeing furs is wet and dirty work, and the odor is very disagreeable. I was told by a lady that girls at such work can earn $4 a week, or if by the piece, from $5 to $6. There are very few indeed at it. She thinks it not unhealthy. She sometimes cleans furs, mostly ermine, with a powder of some kind. In the fur business, people must sell enough in three months to keep them the other nine months of the year. In the summer they take time to examine, purchase, and make up furs. C., a fur dyer and dresser, told me he once employed an Englishwoman to flesh fine skins--_i. e._, take off the flesh that adheres to a skin when removed from an animal. It is done with a sharp knife. She earned as much as a man, $1.50 a day. But men object to working with women in that business; and no American women, to his knowledge, know how to do it. =333. Sewers.= From conversations with a number of fur dealers in Philadelphia and New York, I find the rate of wages for sewers runs from $2.25 a week to $8. Forewomen get good wages. Some sewers and liners are paid by the piece, and some by the week. Those who work by the week are paid for extra hours. A small number of the women employed in New York are English, but the majority are Germans, who have learned the business in their own country. In Germany most of the men learn to sew, and most of the men engaged in the fur business know how. Quite a number in New York are married women, whose husbands are connected with the business. Furs are sold only in the fall and winter, but made up in the summer. In a few places they give work all the year to a small number of workers, but the majority do not give work more than six months, from May to December. Some fur sewers have another trade for the other six months, as hat binding, &c. It does not require long for a good sewer to learn--from one week to six. There are some kinds of fancy fur sewing that require rather longer. No women are employed in preparing the skins: that is done at different establishments, generally in the suburbs, and exclusively by male hands. The usual number of hours of sewers employed by the day is ten; but many of those who sew by the piece take work home with them to do at night, and so are enabled to earn considerably more. Men working in the fur business in New York earn from $8 to $12 per week. The quilting for linings is done by machines, but the linings are sewed in by hand. Liners are generally better paid than sewers, and earn from $6 to $10. In extensive establishments, a cutter and a certain number of sewers and liners confine themselves to one kind of fur. Some furriers pay their learners enough to board them; some do not pay anything. I think the supply of hands in New York is equal to the demand. The best workers, of course, are most sure of employment. New York is the great fur depot of the United States, but some business is also done in Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Furs are sent from St. Louis and Chicago to be made up in New York, and part of them returned to be sold in those cities. Those that sew furs at home can most conveniently take learners. There are a number of middlemen in the fur business, who get work from the stores and make a profit by employing women to do it at lower wages. Mrs. G., an importer and manufacturer, cuts her own furs, particularly ermine and sable. She says furs are sometimes cut in Germany by women, but people in this country think a woman cannot properly cut them. Work at the fur business in England is said to pay better than any other. G--s, the largest firm in New York, write: "We pay women from $2.50 to $6 per week. Some work by the week, some by the piece. Men get about double wages, but their work requires more physical strength. Men do the cutting and matching, and it requires several years to be a good workman. Sewers receive about half price while learning. Some women can learn all that is necessary in a few months. The prospect of employment is not so good as heretofore. The women work the year around. Work hours are 9½. Board, $2 to $2.50 per week." Most furriers report the employment healthy, but it is not, on account of the dust and loose hairs flying, for persons predisposed to consumption. A furrier in New York writes: "I pay mostly by the piece. It takes about one year and a half for women to learn the parts they do. The amount of work hereafter depends some upon fashion and the weather. The best seasons for work are from May until February. We could not shorten the hours of work unless the business had a longer season. Board, from $1.50 to $2." A furrier in Boston writes: "Women are employed for sewing and lining furs here, in England and France, and partially in Germany, Russia, &c. Week hands get from $4 to $4.50, ten hours a day; others, from $2 to $6. Business in future is uncertain. I am busy from July to Christmas. The best location for the business is where furs are fashionable." A fur dealer in New York, who employs from 10 to 15 women, gives the following answers to questions concerning the fur business: "The work is very easy, and not unhealthy. I pay women from $3 to $6 per week, ten hours a day. They are as well paid as males, in proportion to the amount of work done. Any apt female can learn in three months, and is always paid by me $2.50 per week while learning. The business is better and there is more of it every year. Work is steady from May to December; very little at other times. The comfort and remuneration of the employment is satisfactory among working classes. Women are more capable of handling a needle for light, fine work than men. The colder the climate, the better the location for business, provided people have money to buy furs." In some establishments where men and women work in the same departments, they are allowed to talk while at work; but the practice, some complain, is not conducive to good morals. The character of the people and conversation, however, would decide that. FITTERS, CUTTERS, AND SEWERS OF LADIES' AND CHILDREN'S WEAR. =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." =336. Bonnet Wire.= At a bonnet-wire factory, I was told but little of the work could be done by women; but, if my eyesight did not deceive me, it could all be done by women. Covering the wire was done on a steam-power machine, which only required attention. The spooling is done by females, and also tying it up, when covered, into bunches of twenty yards each. A manufacturer of bonnet wire writes: "We employ some girls, and pay from $3 to $3.50 per week, of twelve hours a day. Females cannot do all parts of the work. It requires from one to four weeks to learn, and they receive while learning enough to pay their board. The business is best nine months of the year, during fall, winter, and spring. We prefer girls to boys, for such work as they can do. Board, from $1.50 to $2." =337. Children's Clothes.= Quite a number of stores are devoted to the sale of children's clothes in large cities. A handsome profit is generally made by the merchant. At Mrs. C.'s, between three hundred and four hundred females find employment in making up children's clothing of all kinds (mostly infants'); also under-garments for ladies. A large assortment is constantly kept on hand, and they are ever busy filling orders; giving employment about nine months in the year to all, and to some the year round. The work is mostly done by hand, and to sew neatly is the only requirement. The work is all cut in the establishment and given out, being piecework. The sewers earn from $3 to $6 per week; cutters, the last-mentioned sum. Aside from these, a few girls are employed in the establishment, who wait upon customers, and sew when they have leisure. =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." =342. Fans.= In most ages, and in most countries, the fan has been used as much by gentlemen as ladies. In Japan, everybody carries a fan. "In M. Duveleroy's fan establishment--the largest in Paris--each fan, from the commonest to the most costly, passes through fifteen hands before it is ready for use and the retailer." The palm-leaf fans, which have been so much in vogue for years past, are made to some extent in the Eastern States. Fans are sometimes made of feathers. Peacock, duck, turkey, and those of small birds are employed. As in other manufactures, the capital required, the risk run, the want of operatives acquainted with the business, and the comparative highness of wages have hitherto debarred any one from undertaking the manufacture of fans extensively in the United States. Taste is necessary for a fan maker. A man that has been making fans for two years in New York, told me he took it up from repairing fans. He cannot keep materials enough on hand, because suitable feathers are high and difficult to get. He is raising some peacocks and white turkeys, that he may have the feathers for making fans. The women he employed last year he paid by the piece, and they earned from $5 to $6 per week. He will employ more women in the course of a year or two. =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. =344. Over Gaiters.= R., Philadelphia, employs fifty girls. Some of the gaiters are made by sewing machines, and some are stitched by hand. Makers earn from $3 to $5 a week. Most of the work is done in the establishment--some is taken out. =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. =347. Stays and Corsets.= At Mrs. B.'s, Philadelphia, I was told women are paid by the dozen for making corsets, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. They mostly take their work home. At a place in New York, I was told they have sewing machines, and they pay operators $4 a week, working from 7½ A. M. to 7½ P. M. Those that sew for them by hand do not earn so much. It is difficult to get enough of good hands; so the lady thought there must be openings for competent workers. Girls get $4 a week for basting. Their girls are of all nations. Every store, she remarked, has its own way of doing business. It takes some time to learn to do all parts, as a girl usually works at some special part. A man does the cutting. One corset maker thinks it a valuable gift to be able to fit well. She considers corsets necessary to the preservation of health. American children, by their restlessness, counteract the effects of their rapid growth. Miss C. told me those that work for wholesale houses can, if good hands, find work all the year. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $3 to $6. It requires three or four years to learn all parts. Her girls cannot take their work home. Few are willing to take learners. At another place, I was told a good operator can get $6 a week. They sell most women corsets of French and German make. The French fit American ladies nearly as well as those made to order, but the German do not. At another place, I was told it requires but a short time to learn. There are but few manufactories in this country. The imported corsets are mostly sold, because cheapest. The basters get $3 a week, ten hours a day, and operators $4, and $4.50, according to abilities. Mrs. B. thinks it difficult to become a good fitter. She employs men to cut, put bones and eyelets in, and press. Anybody that can sew well can soon take up corset making. All her sewing is done by hand. She sends her work to the country, because she can get it done more cheaply. The work pays poorly. She says the form is retained much longer by wearing corsets. A lady who employs women to stitch corsets for her by hand, pays from $2.50 to $3.50 a week--ten working hours a day. It requires six months to learn, and a just eye, a knowledge of figure, and an ability to sew by hand and stitch by machine, to succeed. She says most corset employers in New York are French, and employés Irish. She thought, if a lady has good apartments in a genteel part of the city, she may do well. Mrs. B., who has been twenty-three years carrying on the business on Broadway, says she has applications constantly, but finds it difficult to obtain competent workmen. Men are practical corset makers, and do the cutting. They are better able to cut the goods, so as to make a handsome fit. They receive better wages than women. It is a business as much to be learned as cutting gentlemen's coats. She pays both by the piece and week, and her hands receive from $3 to $8. Some of the stitching is done by machinery--some by hand. It requires about the same time to learn corset as dress making. Learners receive from her from $1.50 to $2 per week. She thinks the supply of hands just equal to the demand. She employs from 100 to 150 hands. They are mostly from Great Britain. The business is dependent on fashion. Spring and fall are the busy seasons. In summer, she does not sell so much, because ladies are then out of town; but the employés can work all the year, and do so, as she keeps a stock on hand. Corsets are more worn now than a few years back. A manufacturer in Boston writes: "I employ ten American women in sewing on corsets. They work by the piece, and average sixty cents per day. The prospect of future employment is not flattering. Board, $2.25." Another manufacturer in Boston "pays from $3 to $4.50, and says it is all he can afford to pay. His hands work ten hours a day. The prospect for this work is good. July and August are the dullest months. He has found women equal to men in all branches of business they conduct. Board, $2.50." STRAW WORKERS. =348. Bleachers and Pressers.= I called in a place where I saw the pressing of bonnets and children's hats. The rims of the hats were pressed by a woman with a large iron, the crowns by a man with an iron attached to a lever fastened in a frame. It is all piecework, and some can earn from $4 to $5 a week. I have been told that Mrs. K., New York, employs women pressers. The iron is not so heavy for bonnet pressing as for hats, but requires too much strength for a woman. Shaping straw bonnets is done by women--that is, placing them on blocks and pinning them around the edge, after they have been bleached, until they acquire shape. A man pressing straw hats, told me he is paid 5 cents a hat, and can press sixty in ten hours. The time for learning either to sew or bleach, I find, is usually six weeks. Mrs. M. pays learners nothing for six weeks. Her busy seasons are from October to last of November, and from December to spring. It is all piecework, and her girls earn from $3 to $4. A bleacher of straw hats employs a lady at $5 per week to alter and wire bonnets, after they have been bleached, which is done by her own family. She works ten hours a day. The work is mostly confined to spring and fall. The bleaching process is very deleterious, owing to the sulphur used. It produces a loss of vitality and shortens life. A stout, healthy man, in the course of a year, becomes quite pale and thin. The bleaching does not require all the time of any one. The bonnets and hats are put into the bleaching room, and, when they have become white, are taken out. =349. Braiders.= The following is from the New York _Tribune_, of 1845: "The Amazonia braid weavers--a large and ill-paid class of working females--begin work at seven in the morning, and continue until seven in the evening, with no intermission save to swallow a hasty morsel. They earn, when in full employment, $2 and $2.50 a week. Out of this, they must pay their board and washing (for they have no time to wash their own clothes), medical and other incidental expenses, and purchase their clothes--to say nothing of the total absence of all healthy recreation, and of all mental and moral culture, which such a condition necessarily implies. They have, many of them, no rooms of their own, but board with some poor family, sleeping anyhow, and anywhere. For these accommodations they pay $1.50 per week, some of the lowest and filthiest boarding houses charging as low as $1 per week. The living here must be imagined." At Foxboro', Franklin, Middleboro', and Nantucket, Mass., are straw manufactories. "In 1855, 6,000,000 straw hats and bonnets were made in Massachusetts, giving employment to ten thousand of her people." Rye straw is raised in all the New England States. It is cut, soaked in water (I think split), and then dried. It is sold by the pound--then braided by women and children for 10 or 12 cents a day. It is mostly done in farmers' families, who are at but little expense for living. In this state, it is mostly sold to merchants or agents, who sell it at manufactories, where it is trimmed by machinery, and then sewed. It is then shaped into bonnets, wired, pressed, and bleached, the crowns are lined with paper, and they are packed ready for exportation. The women earn on an average $5 a week. In England, wheat straw is raised, which is inferior to rye straw. N. says the largest straw-bonnet establishments of England are not as large as those of the United States. For making straw hats in Philadelphia, men receive $7.50 a week, and women $4.50. Philadelphia is said to spend $6,000,000 annually in the manufacture of straw goods. At H.'s, New York, they employ from fifty to one hundred hands. It is usual to have learners six weeks for nothing, and then pay full wages, if they prove competent. Work is given about ten months. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $4 to $6 per week. In December, they begin to make up hats and bonnets for spring. A milliner told me she pays her braiders by the yard. Some earn $4 a week, and some even $5. They work at home. The summer season is over by September. H. writes: "In my opinion the best arranged industrial establishment is the Union Straw Works at Foxboro', Mass. High wages, cushioned arm-chairs, a literary society which carries on the lyceum lectures of the town, are all far above any of our factories. The proprietor would not call it a factory, to make it more attractive. Out of three hundred operatives, sometimes, seventy-five have been teachers." =350. Sewers.= Mrs. K. employs about seventy-five girls for bleaching and sewing braid and straw bonnets. She pays some $3, some $3.50, and some $4 a week. They work ten hours. All live at home, but bring their dinners. She bleaches by the old-fashioned process with sulphur, and has men to do the pressing. N. & Co. employ about one hundred and twenty-five on an average six months, and about twenty-five all the year. The bonnet business has increased very much during the last few years. At B.'s, I was told the wholesale work for the South begins in November; but the city work, the last of March, and continues to July. It is light work, and does not require close application of the eyes. Machinery can never be used for sewing straw, because long stitches answer, and straw is too brittle. Persons of a nervous temperament are often the most intellectual. Such females make good straw sewers. It requires a peculiar adaptability, as every other occupation does. Everybody cannot learn to sing or to paint--just so some cannot make good straw sewers. He thinks most young workpeople in New York do not live at home, and considers obedience to parents and observance of the Sabbath the foundation of success in life. B--s, of Connecticut, write: "Women are employed in this country, and in Italy, France, and England, in sewing straw. Our girls (150) are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $7 per week. They also trim straw hats. They spend four weeks as learners, and are paid $2 a week while learning. To be a fast sewer is the most important requisite. The prospect of a continuance of this work is good. The busy season is from September to June. The best locations are near New York and Boston." "About 200 persons are employed in the straw factory at Nantucket. Some of the operatives are daughters of the leading men of the town, and make $5 a week at the business." A firm at Middleboro', Mass., write: "We employ 850 women, and have them in preference to men, because they are more dexterous with the needle. They receive from 30 cents to $1.62 per day, and are paid mostly by the piece. Women are paid five eighths what the men receive, but could not perform their labor even at the same price. Learners make enough to pay their board the first three weeks. Good mechanical talent is needed in a learner. They have work about nine months in the year--generally stop July, August, and November. Nine tenths are Americans; seven eighths live at home. A large number of them are not dependent upon labor for a living. Board, $2 to $2.25." From a factory in Wrentham, Mass., we have the following report: "We employ during the winter season, in the factory, from seventy-five to one hundred females, and in families who work at home about six hundred, whose pay is not so good by about one third. Some of our workers are paid by the piece--some by the hour. Most of them can earn $1 a day, twelve hours being a day for females. Men are paid 15 cents an hour; good help extra, and poor, less. They work ten hours. For the part done by women, we pay the same price from the first, but their work is not received until it is well done. A person is employed to give them instruction; five or six weeks' practice mostly makes a good sewer of one who can learn at all. During this time most girls earn half wages. To good help we usually give work nine months in the year. Busy seasons from December 1st till June 1st, and from July 15th to October 1st. The rest of the year, work is given out at reduced prices--sufficient to earn about half wages. All American women. It is desirable for manufacturers to be near New York city, so as to keep posted on styles. Many ladies choose this business after teaching school for years. Most of our hands come from Maine, and board in houses provided for them, paying $2 a week." Another straw manufacturer informs me "the girls in straw shops earn more than in most other kinds of business, they being, as a general thing, smarter girls, and such as would not work in cotton and other large mills. Their work varies much, as the styles and materials change." A firm employing about eighty American girls write: "They are paid according to their skill and smartness, from $2.50 to $10 per week. Two thirds work by the piece--half will earn $5 to $6.50--average about $4.50 per week. Male labor will average double. It cannot be done by females--they are not strong enough. The reason of women's being paid low wages is the surplus of female labor. They cannot be hired to do housework--it is too confining. It requires one month, more or less, according to taste and genius, to learn the work. Good references as to character are required, and some skill with the needle, and an idea of form. Busy from December to June, and from August to November. We do nothing for about three months. Hands hired by the week are paid extra for overwork. If we could not give them the amount of work they have, the _best_ help would go elsewhere. There is always plenty of help in this branch in New York, and they get work done for much less, but by a different caste of girls. In the New England States, girls are generally brought up to work, whether rich or poor, and we can get help from the best families, well educated and intelligent--while in some States we could not find them. Board, $2.25 to $2.50." A straw firm in Franklin, Mass., write: "We employ about 400 females--60 of them in our manufactory--the remainder work at their homes. The former have the privilege of working from 6 A. M. to 9 P. M.; but as they work by the piece, they are not confined to any particular time. The latter accommodate themselves. Few get less than 80 cents per diem, and many can earn over $1--some over $1.50. All are paid by the piece, except overseers. Males and females are never employed in the same kind of labor. Females make and trim bonnets and hats--males bleach, block, and press them, which is too laborious work for females. Some years would be required to learn to conduct the straw business successfully. Some females will make a very good bonnet or hat after a few weeks' practice. Others take a longer time, and a few will never make a good bonnet. Our practice is to pay all while learning. The qualifications required by us are a good character, good health, skill in the use of the needle, and a desire to acquire proficiency. The supply of hands is always greater than the demand. All the females employed in straw factories are American. Our girls have access to a good library, lectures, &c. Those employed in manufacturing board at $2.25 per week, including washing. Boarding houses attached to the different straw manufactories in this town are of good character and comfortable." RENOVATORS. =351. Gentlemen's Wear.= A dyer and scourer of gentlemen's clothing told me she charges 37 cents for scouring and pressing a pair of pantaloons; 75 cents for a coat, and $1 for an overcoat. A woman could make a comfortable living at it if she had constant employment. =352. Ladies' Wear.= The cleaning of kid gloves saves quite an item in the purses of the wearers. Wooden frames, the shape and size of gloves, are used for drying them on. The renovating of silk shawls, dresses, and other goods is best done by the French. They are sometimes made to look almost as bright and clean as if they were new. Woollen goods, too, that will not bear washing, are beautifully cleaned by those that rightly understand the business. All that profess to, by the way, do not. Prices vary, of course, according to goods, places, and renovators. Women are mostly engaged in this business. A cleaner of kid gloves writes: "I employ some women with pens and needles at $3 per week, working from four to six hours per day. Cool weather is the best for work, but they are employed all the year." Mrs. C. told me that her husband and his men clean most gloves in winter; they can clean them in two days. I noticed they are free from any offensive odor. They pass through the hands several times. She charges individuals 12½ cents a pair--storekeepers less. She has been many years at it. They used to send a wagon and collect them from the stores, but their business does not warrant it now--so they send a messenger. As many have attempted that do not thoroughly understand it, the business has been injured. GENTLEMEN'S CLOTHING. =353. Army and Navy Uniform.= Our Government might do something toward bringing about a reform in the prices paid women. If those who have clothing made for the men of the army and navy would pay good prices to men of standing, that pay their workwomen well, we think some good might be done. At any rate, they would set a good example. =354. Buttons.= The making of buttons is chiefly done by women, and affords employment for a great many. The proportion of women to men in this branch of industry is six to one. Some kinds of buttons are made by hand, but most by machinery, moved by steam. The manufacture of cloth for buttons is a distinct branch of business. It was estimated in 1851 that five thousand persons were employed in Birmingham in the manufacture of buttons of different kinds, more than half of whom were women and children. In the manufacture of buttons a variety of hands are employed--piercers, cutters, stampers, gilders, and varnishers. "In a factory employing five men and thirty females, from six to seven hundred gross of buttons can be turned out daily." I called in a factory where buttons were made of vegetable ivory. I think all the work could be done by women, but it is a trade, and requires three years to learn all the parts. One man might be needed to put the machinery in order when it would get out of repair. Boys that polish buttons are paid from $2 to $3 a week. Polishing looks simple, but, no doubt, requires practice. A little girl, whose father makes common horn buttons, says he employs some small girls who, by presses, cut out the buttons and make the perforations. They are paid seven cents for a thousand. Her parents assort them. H. & C., manufacturers of cloth and gilt buttons, say it requires some weeks to learn to chase the gilt buttons, which are done with small metal tools and a hammer. Chasers are paid by the piece, working ten hours a day, and some can earn $1 a day. Those that make cloth buttons work by the week, eleven hours a day. They pay nothing while the person is learning. They think the prospect of employment in that branch is good. (I think it must be, for it is a manufacture likely to extend.) They employ their hands all the year. The girls sit while at work. S. has girls to do most of the work in making men's coat buttons. They cut out the iron and cloth with machines, and also cover the buttons with machines. The girls require but a few weeks to learn. They are paid from $1.75 to $3 a week. Some of the girls are not more than twelve years of age. The average of the oldest girls is $2.75. They work ten hours. Learners are paid half wages. Good eyesight and smart fingers are needed. The gilding of brass buttons is called water gilding, though no water is used. The mercury and nitric acid used in gilding metal buttons renders the business pernicious to the health, the fumes of the nitric acid affecting the lungs, and the mercury producing its peculiar disease. A manufacturer of tin buttons writes: "Our women earn from 75 cents to $1 per day, and are paid by the piece. It requires but little practice to learn. All are American girls from neighboring families." A manufacturer in Middlefield, Conn., writes: "We employ from twenty-five to thirty girls in cutting, drilling, sorting, and packing buttons. They work by the piece, and average $15 per month. While learning they are paid $1 per week, and their board. They have regular work, and pay for board $1.50 per week. The prospect for an increase of the manufacture is fair." A button company in Waterbury write: "Our hands receive $3 and upward, as they are worth. The business is good when times are good. The majority are Americans. Spring and fall are the best seasons." A buttonmaker in Morrisville, Pa., writes: "We pay our girls by the gross, and they earn from $1 to $4 per week. Men earn from $3 to $9. The women's work is lighter. Beginners are paid small wages. The prospect of future work is poor. Seasons make no difference in the work." =355. Canes.= Walking canes could be painted and varnished by women. I have been told that, in France, women are employed in making ivory, gold, whalebone, and wire heads for canes. Mrs. F. makes whalebone heads for canes. She offered to teach me how for $20. P. says he pays from $6 to $100 a dozen for the heads of canes--ivory, silver, and gold. The work is mostly done by Germans. The business will not pay except in large cities. There are only six in the business in New York, which is the main depot. He sells most to Southerners and Canadians. The business requires a regular apprenticeship. Making and putting on the heads could be done by women, if they were instructed, but there would not be enough of it to justify more than a few in learning. The South offers the best opening. =356. Caps.= Cap makers receive very different prices for their work, depending on the quality of the material and work, and the house for which the work is done. There are between eight hundred and one thousand cap makers in Philadelphia. They are said to average $3 a week. Freedley says: "In Philadelphia, there are a large number of concerns occupied exclusively in making caps; those of cloth constituting the chief part of the business, though plush, silk, glazed, and other caps are also made. The cap manufacture employs a large number of females, whose wages in the business will average about $4 per week. Sewing machines are largely employed; being, in fact, indispensable in consequence of the expansion of the trade. The annual production is about $400,000." A few years ago there were five thousand cap makers in New York city. Many of the cheap caps in New York are furnished by Jews, who get them done very cheaply. They not only do much to supply the home demand for caps, but export large quantities. They sell some caps for from $1 to $1.50 a dozen. B. pays his cap makers, some $5, some $6 a week. When business is dull the work is divided, so that all hands are retained, and have something to do. Caps are mostly made by German men on sewing machines. Some Germans take fifty or sixty dozen a week from a store, and employ girls to make them up. They are middlemen, and cut out the goods. In New York, almost every branch of business seems to have its own locality--that of the hat and cap manufacturers is on the lower part of Broadway. A good hand can earn about $3.50 a week of 10 hours a day, or by working fifteen or sixteen hours, which many of them do, can earn $8 or $9. Working girls generally receive about $3 a week. They pay $2 for board. The remaining $1 is almost consumed in shoes. Nearly all are at times out of employment. In New York, by constant labor, fifteen or sixteen hours a day, some cap makers can earn only from fourteen to twenty-five cents. "We were told by an old lady who has lived by this kind of work a long time, that when she begins at sunrise, and works till midnight, she can earn fourteen cents a day. A large majority of these women are American born, from the great middle class of life, many of whom have once been in comfortable, and even affluent circumstances, and have been reduced by the death or bankruptcy of husbands and relatives, and other causes, to such straits. Many of them are the wives of shipmasters, and other officers of vessels. Others are the widows of mechanics and poor men, and have children, and mothers and fathers, &c., to support by their needle. Many have drunken husbands to add to their burdens and afflictions, and to darken every faint gleam of sunshine that domestic affection throws even into the humblest abode. Others have sick and bedridden husbands or children, or perhaps have to endure the agony of receiving home a fallen daughter, or an outlawed son, suddenly checked in his career of vice." S., of S. & Co., told me they take learners when they can make good use of them. The business, some time back, in New York, was over done, but for the last three or four years the supply has not more than met the demand. It is piecework. A first-class hand can, in busy seasons, make $10, but many are not swift with the needle, and cannot earn more than $3 a week. They give out some of their work. All that can be, he has done by machines. R. & H. have their caps made by machines. It is piecework, and a good hand can earn from $6 to $9 a week. In a cloth and fancy cap store, I was told the girls earn $4, $5, and $6 a week. Few people are willing to take learners, as the season, six weeks, is nearly consumed by the time the trade is learned, and the instructor gets nothing for his time and trouble. Children's fancy caps cannot be made by machine. They are usually piecework. To make them requires taste. Six weeks is the length of time usually given to learning the trade. A.'s caps are made by machines. Good hands earn $5, $6, and $7. His hands are busy only in spring. He takes learners at that time, and pays from the first, $2 or $3 a week. D., formerly a cap maker, told me that P--s have some of their caps made on Blackwell's Island, by the convicts. B. told me the greater part of the cap is made by sewing machines tended by men, but the finishing, lining, &c., is done by women, either at home or on the premises. They are paid by the dozen, and can earn from $5 to $6 a week. Some have received even more, but as the work was taken home, it cannot be known with certainty that one person did it all. The first year they work at caps of an inferior quality, for which they receive fifty cents a dozen; girls of average ability, can then take the better kind of cap, and of course the wages increase according to the degree of proficiency. A cap maker told me, good hands can have steady work all the year. The best season for work is when manufacturing for the fall trade, which is generally in the months of June, July, August, September, and part of October, and, for the spring trade, in March and April. Another told me he pays by the dozen, and his hands earn from $4 to $7 a week. A maker of cap fronts, New York, told me he pays his girls from $3 to $7, working ten hours a day. From July to November are the best seasons--May and June the poorest months. Cutting out is done by hand, and requires too much strength for women. Some men cut out fifty dozen caps a day. It is done with a knife of a peculiar shape, and several thicknesses of the cloth are out at once. Women are not so employed where the business is done on a large scale. Some cutters earn $24 a week. A cutter should have taste and skill, as he is also expected to design patterns. The English style for caps is sometimes adopted, and the most of gentlemen's clothing is of the English style, in New York; but the ladies prefer French fashions for themselves. An extensive manufacturer of cap fronts and other trimmings, in New York, writes: "I have about twenty-five females employed, the majority of whom sew at home. The occupation is perfectly healthy, easy, and comfortable. I pay by the piece, and the workers earn from $3 to $6 per week. Any woman that can sew and has ordinary intelligence can learn it in three hours. There is no prospect for increase, but constant employment for those already engaged. Spring and fall are the busy seasons, but employment is given all the year. I can always get ten times the help I require in this branch: four or five years ago we paid much better wages, but competition regulates (unfortunately) the scale of wages. Experience tells me women are inferior to men employées, in regard to promptness in coming to the shop, and in having the articles completed at stated times, when required for shipment. But I find them superior to men in refinement, temperance, decorum, attachment to the interest of their employers, &c., when unmixed with the male sex. I formerly employed women on sewing machines, and when first started in that branch, they made from $8 to $10 per week, although, since the last three years, goods are sold so much cheaper, as to reduce the wages from $5 to $8." In Detroit, Mich., cap makers get from five to twenty-three cents a cap for making, and can earn from $2 to $4 per week. =357. Coats.= We were told by one that ought to know, that many of the gentlemen's coats seen on Broadway are made by women. We believe that women of intelligence and judgment, if properly instructed, could make the greater part, if not the whole of gentlemen's coats. Much of the tailors' work of New York is distributed through the country, because it can be made cheaper. Many men make it a business, as agents, to distribute, collect, and pay for such work. Men press seams and sew the heaviest cloth, because they have more strength. What magnificent buildings there are in New York devoted to the sale of gentlemen's wear! But to think they are made of the sinews and muscles and tears and sighs of hard-working women, and to see the clerks in the stores, with nothing to do but receive and wait on customers, while those poor girls on the fifth floor are toiling from early morn to dark to earn less than one half of those clerks! What a hard life most women lead! =358. Cravats.= W. & D. usually employ fifty hands. Part of the work is done in the store, on the fourth and fifth floors. Cravats pay well, and a good hand can earn from $6 to $18 a week, piecework. Most of their work is done by machine and finished by hand. Those of their hands who take work home, do it when not occupied with home duties. The gentleman with whom I talked, thought a person would not be able to support herself by that kind of work alone. They have been able to keep their hands all the year. Another cravat maker told me he has employed hands all the year, and had most of his cravats made by machines. A great many have been made in Baltimore. M. & Co. give some work out and have some done at the store. They are most busy in spring and fall, but keep some hands all the year. They can always get plenty of hands. They take learners, and pay from the first, but not so much, of course. Week workers earn from $4 to $5--ten hours a day in summer, rather less in winter. Those that work by the piece can earn from $8 to $9, for they work faster at home and sew in the evenings. Part of their work is done by machine and part by hand. They usually import the material. Most of this work is confined to New York, and has been a separate branch but a few years. In Detroit, girls earn from $2.50 to $3.50 a week making cravats. =359. Hats.= We will give an extract from "The Art and Industry of the Crystal Palace": "In the manufacture of hats in the United States, there are twenty-four thousand persons employed: one half of them are men, and the remainder women. The consumption of straw hats amounts to about $1,500,000, about half of which are imported. The capital invested in the hatting trade in this country is little short of $8,000,000. The number of trimmers in New York are four hundred. There is no branch of industry in which the rate of wages is so fluctuating; no trade reflecting so faithfully the depressed or prosperous condition of the country. There are between fifty and sixty finishing shops in New York. There is no general understanding between the shops as to a fixed rate of payment. It is a peculiarity of the trade, that a person seeking employment never addresses himself to the principal; he goes direct to the foreman." Silk and felt hats are most worn in the United States. We find there is great objection by the workmen to the use of machinery. Some factories confine their work exclusively to the making of hat bodies. The manufacture of hatters' trimmings forms, in large cities, a distinct branch of business. "In C.'s hat manufactory, in London, fifteen hundred hands are employed, two hundred of whom are females. Among the processes by which a beaver hat is produced, women and girls are there employed in the following: Plucking the beaver skins; cropping off the fur; sorting various kinds of wool; plucking and cutting rabbits' wool; shearing the nap of the blocked hat (in some instances); picking out defective fibres of fur; and trimming." Women in our country could be employed in bowing the fur, pressing it with a hatter's basket, folding it in a damp cloth, rolling, rubbing, working it with the hands, and dipping it in hot water. The last operation is a very warm one. As it is, we know of no department in which they are employed, except that of carding, binding, lining, trimming, and tip gilding. Binding and lining are much done by them. The work is light, genteel, and rather profitable, and can be done at home. When done in factories, the workers cannot be so neat, on account of the dust, the large number of operatives in a room, and the coloring matter that rubs off the hats. All employers have reported it healthy, and I suppose it is as much so as any sedentary occupation, unless from causes mentioned in the preceding sentence. A hatter in Philadelphia told us he employs girls to line and bind men's hats. They are paid 75 cents a dozen for felt hats, and $1.25 for silk hats. Girls can earn as much as $6 a week at it. It requires a couple of months' apprenticeship. There is work for steady hands all the year. We have seen it stated that "hat trimmers in Philadelphia average $3.50 per week. They number from eight hundred to one thousand females. Hat binders usually spend six weeks learning their trade." The war department, about two years ago, closed a contract with S., of Philadelphia, to furnish sixteen thousand felt hats for the army, at $2.75 each. They make all qualities of hats at P.'s, Brooklyn, from those at 75 cents a dozen to those at $50 a dozen. The linings of the cheapest felt hats are put in by machines operated on by steam, the others by hand. I saw girls also laying gold leaf on muslin, which was stamped by a machine, forming the ornamental work and figures seen in the crown lining of cheap hats. These workers were called tip gilders. All except the box makers and tip gilders sit while at work. Girls at lining and binding can earn from $2.50 to $7. (I think he set his last mark high.) It is piecework, as everything, I believe, in that line is. Some girls have worked in P.'s factory eight years or more. The business is learned in a short time. Operators are paid at the same rate as hand sewers; but if any difference is made, it is in favor of operators. For hand workers, care and ability to sew well are the principal requisites. The hands have work all the year, but in midsummer and midwinter may do only three fourths of the usual quantity for a week or two. Hatters who manufacture in Brooklyn and sell in New York, told me they employ five hundred women, who are paid by the piece. Those that sew receive from $5 to $6, machine operatives from $8 to $9. A knowledge of sewing and taste, in finishing hats, is desirable. The business will extend. Three times as many hats are sold as fifteen years ago. Some parts of hat making are performed by machinery that could not be managed by women. The West and Northwest of the United States present good openings for this business. Manufactories, of course, must be where there is plenty of water. At a hatter's in New York, I was told that they pay 14 cents for trimming a hat of any kind, coarse or fine, silk or felt; but sometimes pay only 10 cents. Their binder often makes $7 a week. At B.'s, New York, the girls earn from $5 to $7, and are paid by the piece. They sew in the establishment. Sewing the crowns in and wires on of plush hats is a distinct business from trimming, yet one in which they employ some women. It pays rather better than the other part of women's work, but requires great care and neatness. Sewing the leather linings in hats is the least profitable part. More women might find employment in hat work. A lady said to me she has an acquaintance that sometimes earns $2.50 a day at trimming hats. (?) L. employs some girls for trimming in the spring and fall. It is piecework, and some earn $9 a week. It is sometimes difficult to get very good hands. There are some factories in the West, but none in the South. Another hatter told me he pays 12½ cents for trimming a hat. He has noticed that the swiftest are the best workers. A hatter told me a smart trimmer could earn from $8 to $10 a week, six months of the year; but not more than $3 the other six months, because work is slack. A salesman in D.'s store told me a brisk hand can trim a dozen hats a day. The children's hats they have trimmed for the wholesale trade are not so neatly and carefully done as those for the retail trade. In selling a single hat, a purchaser examines closely, and if there is any defect, condemns it. The occupation is well filled in New York, and the work requires care, taste, and expedition. D. has constant employment for his hands; but for four months they have not as much as the hands wish, yet enough to yield most about $4. The women work above the store, because the blocks are there. They are allowed to take home and sew in the evening the linings of those hats that have the rims faced with leather. The plan is, generally, for a learner to spend six weeks' apprenticeship with an experienced hand, giving her work for instruction received. At Sing Sing prison, New York, of the one hundred and fifty female convicts, a majority are employed in binding hats, at 15 cents a dozen, made by the male convicts. The usual price in St. Louis is 14½ cents a hat. At this rate, a lady can bind and line in a day a number amounting to from $1 to $1.25. There are two hat factories in St. Louis, but they are not enough to supply the demand. A firm in Danbury write us, they "employ from seventy-five to one hundred women trimming hats. They pay by the piece, and their hands average $5 per week. Males average $9 a week. By the rules of trade, males spend four years learning; females, five weeks. Women are not paid while learning. The prospect for a continuance of the business is good. The busy seasons are from July 1st to April 1st. Time of work does not exceed ten hours. The majority are Americans. There are advantages in being near the great centre of trade in this country, New York. Board, $2." A firm manufacturing wool hats in the same place--Danbury--write they "employ ten Irish women in a card room, and sixty Yankee girls in trimming hats. The first receive $3 per week, the others $5.50. Women in the card room work ten hours. The American girls are intelligent and pretty." Another wool-hat manufacturer in Connecticut writes: "My women earn $1 each per day, on an average. It takes male operatives two years to learn. Work, on an average, ten months in the year. Board, $2." A firm in Milford, Conn., write: "Women earn from $3 to $7 per week. The reason why women are not better paid, is because the supply is greater than the demand. The employment will last as long as people wear hats. Fall and winter are the best seasons for work. The nearer you get to the market, the better the location." In reply to a letter, a firm employing from sixty to eighty women give the following intelligence: "The females employed by us are generally from fourteen to twenty-one years of age. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $4 to $9 per week. The labor of women is entirely distinct from that of men. It takes a good needlewoman about two months to become proficient. Women give their labor to the person who instructs them, from two to eight weeks. The business is good six or eight months. The rest of the year, they average about one half of what they can do. Busy times are from January 1st to May 1st, and from July 1st to November 1st. The demand is about equal to the supply, except in very busy times, when we could employ more; but I think there are plenty, as an increased supply would tend to lower prices. Most of our women are foreigners. The proximity to large cities is advantageous to this business, as the goods are mostly sold in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, &c. I should say there is little difference between the women employed in hat manufactories and others who have to earn a livelihood, such as dress makers, tailoresses, &c. Board, from $1.75 to $2. There is an objection amongst boarding-house keepers to females generally, and strangers frequently have great difficulty in obtaining good board. This is certainly the fault of their own sex." A wool-hat firm in Yonkers, N. Y., write they pay by the piece, and workers earn from $5 to $7. Male and female labor do not compete. A gentleman and his son, in New York, who import and manufacture children's fancy hats, write me they pay from $5 to $12 a week, according to ability. Women are paid while learning, the time for which depends upon capacity and taste. There is regular employment with them in all months but June and December. Good operatives are always in demand. Large cities are the best localities. HAT BRAIDERS, &c. Most hats called "palm leaf" are made of straw grown in the Northern States. P. & Co., of Boston, write me: "The occupation of braiding hats is one that employs the odd moments and hours of almost every Yankee farmer's sons and daughters, throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from one year's end to the other. We employ women, but not exclusively, and pay by the piece, from $1 to $1.50 per dozen. A wide-a-wake Yankee girl or boy, with nimble fingers, will learn in a few hours." A manufacturer in New Hampshire, employing "from 300 to 400, pays by the piece, and his workers earn from $6 to $8 per month. They learn generally when children, by seeing others braid. The future prospect is not flattering, as the demand for palm-leaf hats is decreasing. The braiders work at home." $60,000 worth of palm-leaf hats were annually manufactured at Nashua, N. H., a few years ago. C. told me they never employ women, except, in winter, to bind and put the oil-silk lining in gentlemen's straw hats, for the spring trade of the South. For the work they pay 12½ cents a dozen. A woman can do from six to ten dozen a day. The best workers find employment. The prospect of obtaining work to those who may learn is good. B. thinks but few American girls are employed in trimming straw hats. He pays by the piece, and some earn as much as $5 per week. They should spend about one month learning, and they do well to earn their board during that time. =360. Oil Clothing.= I was told at L. & Co.'s oil clothing depot, that they have their sewing done by women at their homes. It is done by machines. They do not require any deposit. Since the panic, a number of girls and women have come in and offered to do their work at under prices. The oiling is done after the goods are made up. The garments are laid on tables, and the oil applied with brushes. The clothes are then hung on frames to dry, and it requires six months. Oiling the goods is greasy, dirty work, but might be done by strong women. The work is not at all unhealthy. L. & Co. sell $150,000 suits a year. Their best sewers can make up six or eight dozen shirts a week, for some of which they are paid $1 a dozen, and for others, $1.25. The manufacture of oiled goods is confined to New York. =361. Pantaloons.= In making pantaloons, as in most other tailor's work, what is most neatly done commands the best prices. Custom work pays best. Making pantaloons is not quite so remunerative as making vests. The prices paid in cities by good-class tailors for making summer pantaloons, runs from 75 cents to $1.25. For winter goods the prices are higher, ranging from $1 a pair to $1.50. Some tailors have their pantaloons made by men, and some even employ men to make their vests. =362. Regalias.= "Five American women are employed at Chicopee, Mass., in stitching military goods. They are paid by the piece. They never get their work perfect. Learners are paid something. Men are preferable, because it takes too much time to wait on women. There will be work as long as there are wars." A regalia maker, in New York, told me her girls earn from $3 to $5 a week. The sewing is done by hand. Those who embroider in silk receive about the same; those with gold and silver thread, something more. =363. Shirts.= "Women who make shirts by hand, are paid for fine shirts from eighteen cents apiece to $1. Those who make at the lowest prices appear to have no other mission on earth but to sew up bleached muslin into shirts. The only time which they economize is their sleeping time; and their food is economized for them by circumstances over which it would appear they have but little control. In some instances we have been informed, that where there are two or three or more women or girls engaged in this enterprise of making shirts to enable gentlemen to appear respectable in society, they absolutely divide the night season into watches, so that the claims of sleep may not snatch from the grasp of the shirt manufacturers an iota of their rights. In this way, by working about twenty hours a day, the amazing sum of $2.50, and sometimes $3, is earned per week. Sewing machines have so reduced the amount of labor required for shirts, as well as the price, that they can in some places only earn twenty-five cents by working twelve hours; and they cannot get steady employment even at these prices." Between 2,000 and 3,000 women are supposed to be engaged in shirt making in Philadelphia. Competition has depressed prices fearfully low. A shirt maker in that city told me he pays by the week. He gives the bodies out, and they are done by hand; the collars and bosoms by machines. They are cut out by men with knives, and the cloth is from twenty-four to thirty-six thicknesses. They pay basters now mostly by the piece. B., of the same city, who carries on general shirt making, puts the plain parts out in the country to be done. It, of course, costs less than the finishing off. Good workers can earn from $3 to $4 a week for plain sewing--more for fine. At a shirt-bosom manufactory in Philadelphia, P., the proprietor, told me he has the bosoms and collars made by machinery, employing seventeen girls all the year. Some establishments employ them only in the busy season, spring and fall. His women earn from $3 to $5 a week. To one machine are employed three girls: one to cut out, one to baste, and one to stitch. The fine plaits of bosoms are laid by machinery. Cutters and button-hole makers are better paid than basters and stitchers. A shirt maker told me in New York (December, 1860), that the only houses there supplying the article were those that made up for the California market. Operators, good ones, he said, usually earn $1 a day, of nine hours in winter, and ten in summer. Those that work at home can earn more, because they do more. On Dey street, I was told by a gentleman that he has shirts made in Connecticut, and he often finds it difficult to get good hands. He has shirts cut out with scissors. He used to employ a forewoman to cut and superintend. Most shirts sold in the South, West, and California, have been made at the North. New York, Troy, and New Haven are the principal places. Operators usually earn $1 a day, of eleven hours; but as the work is generally paid for by the piece, they may earn only from fifty cents to $1. Making button holes is a distinct branch. He pays half a cent apiece for those of ordinary size, and one cent for the larger ones of the wrists. In good times he employs girls all the year. The spring sale commences in January, the fall sale in July. S., another manufacturer, has common drawers and shirts made by machine. A brisk hand can make two dozen pair of drawers a day, and are paid fifty cents a dozen (?) He keeps workers in prosperous times all the year. A lady who makes shirts by hand told me she could barely make a living, though her work is done for customers. She does most in spring and summer. The trimmings she makes by machine. Madame P. pays eighty cents for making a shirt, except the bosom, which is imported. She does her own cutting by hand. A shirt maker says girls that can finish a shirt neatly get $3 a week of ten or eleven hours a day. Work of that kind is not confined to seasons. J. has most work to do in summer. The girls are paid by the piece, and can earn from $3 to $4. His are made by machine, but finished off by hand. He has girls of all kinds; idle and industrious, easy of temper and obstinate; in short, the variety always to be met with in help. A lady told me she cuts shirts by measure, and has a variety of styles. She pays an old lady fifty cents a day for basting, and from $5 to $6 a week to an operator. The neatness of machine sewing depends much on the way in which the basting is done. W. told me his basters earn from $3 to $4; operators from $5 to $6; button-hole makers from $4 to $6. He gives employment all the year. No demand, except in busy seasons for good operators, and they can be obtained by advertising. The owner of a shirt-collar manufactory and laundry said his collars were stitched by machines, and the operators earn from $3 to $9 per week. It is piece work. The washers are paid by the hundred dozen. Six weeks, I believe, is the time usually given by one that can sew neatly, to learn the trade. At L. & G.'s, I was told the best seasons in the wholesale trade are spring and fall; but in the retail trade there is little difference. Men and boys cut out with a knife, and are able to cut through seventy-two thicknesses of cloth. Women have not the strength to cut such quantities. The prospect is fair for good hands. There is a superabundance of indifferent hands. Their best sewers are English. Many of them are married women. They used to employ young girls, but they wasted material and were not steady at work. They have lost much by women that would come and take out a dozen shirts to make, and never return them. On inquiring at the place where the women said they lived, they would find they had never been there. Few, except the Jews, require a deposit. It is difficult to obtain one from sewers of the value of the material taken out. They could obtain one hundred and fifty hands any day by advertising. Button-hole makers earn $5 a week; some operators, $9. A factory in New Haven employs eight hundred women; two hundred work in the establishment, the others work out. The indoor work is done by machines. The other is finishing off, and is sent through the country. It consists in gathering and sewing in the sleeves, felling down the facing around them, stitching on wristbands, sewing in the bosoms, putting on the collar, and working the button-holes, for which they receive ten cents a shirt. A firm of shirt manufacturers in Troy, N. Y., write: "We employ from three hundred to four hundred women; some with sewing machines, some with needles, and others in various kinds of labor connected with our manufacturing. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $10 a week. While learning they are paid according to what they do. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but they have some employment all the year. The supply is fully equal to the demand in this locality. About half are Americans; board, $2 to $2.50." Another firm in the same place writes: "We employ four hundred, and pay from $5 to $10 per week to about one hundred hands, and from $3 to $7 to those who do not depend upon it for a livelihood. Women spend a few months learning; men, years. Midwinter and summer are the best seasons for work." A shirt-collar firm in Troy write: "In reply to yours we would state, we are employing in and outside of our manufactory, from six to eight hundred women, in running, turning, stitching, banding, marking, and boxing gentlemen's collars. Most of our workwomen are Americans, and live with parents or relatives. Those boarding pay from $1.75 to $3 per week. Many of our workwomen are very intelligent. All are required to be steady and industrious. Some parts of our business can be learned in two or three weeks, while other parts will take as many months; but each one is paid while learning. Our work is all done by the piece, and women earn from $5 to $8 per week during business seasons, which are summer and winter. They are usually thrown out of employment one month during the fall, and one in spring. The employment requires from eight to nine hours per day, in our manufactory. The making of gentlemen's collars must increase in proportion to the increase of the male population of our country; and, as styles are becoming more and more varied, this also must tend to increase the manufacture. There is, however, no demand for help in any department of the business, yet. We have but five or six women in all our establishment who are required to stand upon their feet while at work. All others can make their positions quite comfortable. We employ but few men (from five to eight), and they are in departments which women could not fill; nor could men well fill the women's department." Manufacturers in Boston write: "The prospect of future employment is good. Our women (fifty in number) are nearly all Americans. There is no competition between male and female labor in this branch, which, probably, is the cause of women receiving less wages. The work is healthy, only as it involves want of fresh air and exercise. Girls in the shop are paid from $4 to $7 per week, and work from nine to ten hours. Good sewers are getting scarcer every year. We are always ready to employ a really good hand--one who can do nice work. There is a growing demand for articles of all kinds. There are a great many women unable to sew well, who compete with each other for the work given out by the slop shops." Shirt makers in Ithaca, New York, write: "The work is very healthy in well ventilated establishments. What we employ men for, women cannot do as well. There is a demand for collar finishers, a surplus of machine operatives." Shirt manufacturers in Watertown, Conn., write: "We employ in our establishment from twelve to twenty girls and women, all Americans. They work in winter about nine hours; in summer, ten. Most of them work on sewing machines, and can earn from $4 to $5 per week. For board they pay $2 per week. There is no season of the year when our work is entirely stopped." L., in Lynn, Mass., engaged in custom-shirt manufacturing, writes: "I pay fifty cents apiece for making shirts, and $4.50 per week for a machine girl. My workwomen are widows and married women, and they average five shirts or $2.50 per week, besides their house work. But a woman that makes five shirts a week cannot have much spare time." A lady in Massachusetts, who has shirts made to order, informs me she pays by the piece, and her girls earn from fifty to seventy-five cents a day. She employs the most skilful. She says the nature of the employment is such that no woman could enjoy health long, who did nothing else, and the wages are so small that anyone must work all the time to make a living; hence the work does not suit any, except those who have homes and have recourse to this as a secondary employment. The demand for the articles in the market is limited, and she has never been able to carry it on in a wholesale manner except by the aid of friends whose sympathy has created a demand for the work. =364. Suspenders.= J., New York, says his girls can earn from $4 to $5, and are paid by the piece. There are but four suspender factories in the United States, of any size. The factories at the east are mostly supplied by the daughters of farmers from the vicinity. The one in Easthampton is of the best standing. The girls are intelligent and well behaved. Board too is lower. They like to employ families, father, mother, sons, and daughters. A suspender maker, in New York, told me he buys the woven goods, then cuts it the right length, and shapes the leather for the ends, which his wife sews on. I expect, from the appearance of their room, they earn but a meagre subsistence. The agent of the American Suspender Co., at Waterbury, told me "they employ a large number of girls to spool, weave, and pack. The straps are sewed on by farmers' daughters, who take them home. They are paid for by the gross. They earn less than weavers, who can make from $4 to $6 a week. They have had constant work until this fall (1860). The bindings are sewed on by hand. It requires some time to become a good weaver. A man serves a regular apprenticeship--women will learn for ten years, if they continue. Ingenuity and mechanical talent are desirable. A learner is not paid while in with another weaver. The amount of employment in future depends on European competition. The hands work ten hours a day, and they employ about fifty women, one fourth of whom are American. Women are superior to men in activity, and will handle thread much better than men. Board, $1.75." =365. Tailoresses.= The tailors of London have a pension society. All the tailors' work of this country might be performed by women. It is most suitable for them. Some say women cannot do the nice sewing of a coat. Give them the same training, and pay them the same wages as men, and we are confident they can. All of the clothes sold in the slop shops of cities are made by women. Many can sew beautifully, but have not learned the art of cutting out. This they will find an important part of their trade. It will greatly assist those who make boys' clothes. It is ascertained that at least 4,800 females are supplied with work by the ready-made clothing establishments of Philadelphia, which enables each industrious sewer to earn from $1.25 to $5 per week. A large number of women are now engaged in making clothes for the soldiers. At most large clothing establishments, work is done both by hand and machine. Some is done in the house, but most is given out. At O.'s, New York, they employ a large number. The majority are Americans, but some are Germans, and a few Irish. The foreman finds those that are dependent on their work for a living, do their work better than those that merely do it for pocket money. The best work is always best paid. A good hand can earn $3 per week. They work by the piece. Some women hire a room and employ girls to work for them. S. says the principal reason that women do not get as good prices as men, is that they do not learn to do their work so well. He spent five years learning, but a girl expects to learn it in so many weeks, or months, at most; but many women that sew for a support are very poor, and cannot afford to spend much time learning. T. pays his women from $5 to $10 a week, according to the work they do. R. says girls do not feel the interest in their work they should. They forget that three minutes lost by twenty girls amounts to an hour. If a procession is passing, they think it very hard if they cannot have ten or fifteen minutes to look out of the windows. The girls that sew earn from $3 to $4.50, except those who fasten the ends of threads and take out basting threads, who receive $2.50. They all work ten hours. They have some who take their work home, and are paid by the piece. Those that do their work best have the highest prices, and are most sure of having constant employment. Some of their women become mere machines, and that in his opinion was a recommendation. They have no life or spirit, but plod on day after day in the same way. Such, when they do their work neatly and thoroughly, he thinks most reliable. They find it difficult to get their work well done. It is computed by Dr. L. that one thousand needlewomen fall victims annually to overwork at the needle. A city missionary told me that he knew of many sempstresses that spent sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, stitching. I was told in D. & B.'s clothing store, that the women who sew by hand, earn from $3 to $4 per week. P. measures and cuts, and he employs women to operate on machines, paying from $3 to $4 per week, working from 8 to 7 o'clock. It is done under Mrs. P.'s supervision. The work is mostly for boys. They 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. L. & Co. make boys' clothing, and pay by the piece. They require a deposit from those that are doubtful. If business is good, they give work all the year. He thinks there is enough of work, in busy times, for all the tailoresses in the city. The best way to learn is to receive instruction from journeymen who employ hands and take learners. Some require an apprenticeship of three months, and some of six months, in children's clothing. The busy season commences November 1st and runs to March 1st, and from March to September 1st. =366. Vests.= First class vest makers receive better prices than women in the other departments of tailoring, and are more sure of work. Superior hands can earn from $4 to $5 a week. Clothing, cap makers and shoe binders are often crowded together from forty to fifty in a room, where it is stitch, stitch, stitch from daylight to sundown. Some slop shops in New York pay only fifteen cents for making a vest, and only ten cents for pantaloons!!! There are over nine thousand tailoresses doing custom work in New York, and of these 7,400 are vestmakers. UPHOLSTERERS. =367. Upholsterers.= Some branches of upholstery are hard work in consequence of the heaviness of the materials. At some upholsterers in Philadelphia, when a girl applies for work, she is taught during a fortnight, and receives enough to pay her board--usually $1.50 per week. At the end of this time, if found faithful and diligent, she is put upon full wages, $3.50 a week. In this trade there is the serious drawback of remaining a great part of the year unemployed, as it is only in the spring and fall that the business is brisk. Men usually put up tapestry, and lay down heavy carpets. The price to girls by upholsterers is about on a par with other work done by females. H., Philadelphia, employs several women. The forewoman receives $5.50 per week; the next best hand, $5; the less proficient, from $2 to $5. The business requires a good amount of intelligence, and about a year's application to acquire it. H. is not exacting as to the number of hours his operatives work. When business is slack they have easy times. He employs his good hands all the year. In one of the principal importing and manufacturing upholsteries and carpet establishments in New York about seventy females are employed. They make up a great many lace and damask curtains, and are under the supervision of a forewoman. Seventeen sewing machines are kept, though most of the sewing is done by hand. Any person that can sew well can do all the work, as it is cut out and prepared. With a very few exceptions all are paid by the week, receiving from $3 to $4, working ten hours a day. The piece workers can sometimes earn $5. They are employed the whole year. An upholsterer told me that his work is done to order, and consequently the measure for beds, mattresses, curtains, &c., is always taken. There are many women in Boston, I have been informed, working in sofa, chair, and lounge manufactories that earn from $1 to $1.50 a day. A firm in Boston writes: "I employ women to sew and attend sales, and pay from $3 to $4 a week. Men are paid two thirds more than women, because it is the fashion. It requires three months to learn. A knowledge of the needle and figures is desirable. Learners are paid. Females work nine hours and a half. Some parts of our work are in wood, and too heavy for women; the rest they can do better than men. Board, $2 to $4. A firm in Boston, "employing two women to make sofa cushions, pay them $4 each per week, working from eight to ten hours a day. They pay women less than men, because female help is generally cheaper. Men spend three years learning; women, one month. Learners have their board paid. The prospect for work is good. Spring and autumn are the most busy seasons, but they have work all the year." Another firm in the same place write they "employ fifteen women, pay by the piece, and their hands earn $5 per week. The prospect for work is good, but there are plenty of hands there." =368. Beds.= At a feather store I was told feathers for stuffing beds are bought from merchants, who employ agents to travel through the country, and buy them up. They get their feathers from the West. Live geese feathers are the best. All imported are from Russia. It requires great experience to buy feathers. At another store I was told feathers must be baked to render them light--otherwise they are flat and heavy. The salesman never knew of a woman being employed in baking--thinks it not suitable, for the down gets in the mouth and nostrils, as the feathers must be constantly stirred. In the spring and fall, when most people go to housekeeping, most beds are sold. =369. Carpets.= Two thirds of the inhabitants of Saxony are employed in weaving. It requires from two to three years to become a good carpet weaver. To prepare warp and rags for rag carpets is very suitable, but the weaving is rather hard for women. Mrs. W. says it does not require a great deal of strength to weave rag carpets, when the loom is a good one and in proper order. In weaving, both the arms and lower limbs are exercised, particularly the latter. She wove when she was only thirteen years old. The exercise tends to develop the chest. The price for weaving in small places is from 12½ to 18 cents a yard. She knew one lady that often wove fourteen yards a day, amounting to $1.75; but her health failed, and she changed her occupation. I called in a weaver's, in Brooklyn. He charges 18¾ cents per yard for weaving, and can weave from eighteen to twenty yards a day. Some rags are much more difficult to manage than others. The dust from the rags in spooling and weaving must be disagreeable. When not working for customers he makes carpets to keep on hand for sale. He buys the rags of old women, who get the scraps at tailors' shops every Monday morning, and cut them into strips, then wind and sell them at $7.50 a hundred pounds. The women are mostly Germans, and make a scanty living at it. In the Old Ladies' Home, Brooklyn, some of the inmates pass part of their time in preparing rags for weaving. Some old women buy of junk dealers the rags they sell to weavers. A woman whose husband was a carpet weaver in New York, continues the business since his death, employing two old men to weave. She charges eighteen cents a yard for weaving. She says that kind of weaving could never be done by machinery, as it would pull the rags all to pieces. She buys listing and cloth of old women who get it from the tailors and bring it around to sell. She pays twelve cents a pound for listing, six for cloth. She cuts them herself. A weaver told me he charges eighteen cents a yard. He buys pieces of cloth from the tailors for making up a stock to keep on hand. A pile of listing lay on the floor, for which he had paid nine cents a pound. He can weave from eight to sixteen yards a day. I have seen the average price of weaving carpets stated at nine cents a yard. The dust that flies in preparing carpet rags is disagreeable, and injurious to the eyes and lungs. =370. Curled Hair Pullers.= Hair pullers are mostly Irish women, the wives of foreigners and laboring men. A few are women of a better class reduced in circumstances. In Philadelphia, at the shop of a kind old man, I saw women picking hair for mattresses. He pays two cents a pound for picking. The women earn from forty to sixty cents a day. The dust that flies from the hair is injurious to the lungs, and the constant watching is trying to the eyes. At one curled hair factory in New York I saw women employed at one cent a pound, at another two cents. A smart woman can pick twenty-five or thirty a day. An upholsterer in Boston writes: "We have women to sew, pick hair, &c. We pay by the piece. Men receive one third better pay than women. Women receive less, because they have not brass enough to ask more. Any woman can do our work. The prospect of work in our line is very fair. We have twenty women who work all the time. The demand for hands is small, surplus large. Large cities are best for our trade. Board, $2.50." =371. Curtain Trimmings.= I saw two girls, in New York, who work at the trade. Their employer does not pay learners for two weeks, then according to what they do. Some are paid by the week, and some by the piece. The last plan pays best. The girls earn from $3 to $5 per week, some even as much as $7. Plenty of hands can always be had. They have most work in summer. At another place I was told it takes three or four months to learn. Good hands can earn then from $4 to $5. Mrs. B., in New York, told me her girls work by the piece, making curtain trimmings, and earn from $5 to $6 a week. They work from 6 A. M. until 7 P. M. They can learn it in a few weeks. At Y.'s, in New York, I saw a plain, genteel-looking woman engaged in making tassels. She pays $2 a week for board--washing extra. She spoke very well of her employer, for whom she had worked twelve years. She mentioned an old lady upstairs who had been in his employ twenty years. He has fifteen women in the tassel department, and fifteen making gimps and fringes. Some of the hands are paid by the piece, and some by the week--ten hours a day. They are paid every two weeks on Saturday afternoon. In the old country women make twisted cord, but not in this. Cordmakers are on their feet all the time. Y.'s women get from $2 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get from $6 to $9. It requires six months to learn, and learners receive $1.50 per week. In winter, just before the holidays, is the best time for work; but Y.'s hands have employment all the time. When not filling orders, they make stock work. They have a great many applications for work. =372. Furniture Goods.= "At Seymour, Conn., are manufactured brocatelles and cotalines, a fabric composed of silk and linen, or cotton, and used for furniture draperies and carriage linings. Each loom is worked by a girl, who requires very little previous experience to manage it perfectly. There are about 60 persons employed at present in the work, two thirds of whom are females from the age of fourteen upward. The rate of wages paid by the company is higher than that given by the neighboring factories, the nature of the work requiring a superior degree of skill and intelligence." =373. Mattresses.= A girl engaged in making mattresses told us they are mostly sewed up by machines, and operators earn from $3 to $6, working ten hours a day. In some factories women sew the mattresses, and boys and men prepare the hair and fill them. A mattress seller told me he employs girls to make mattresses in the spring and fall, paying $3 a week, of ten hours a day. One bed furnisher told me her work is mostly done by old ladies. She says some girls down street earn $6 a week, making mattresses. One large manufacturer told me that his is piecework, and some of his girls earn from $8 to $12 a week. He furnishes the sewing machines. In April and May, he finds it difficult to get enough of hands. At another large store, I was told they pay from $6 to $7 a week to good operators, and have their work done in the building. At another large bed and mattress store, I was told they pay women for making ticks with machines from $4 to $5 a week. It is not very steady work. At another place they occupied a room back of the store, and earned from $4 to $6 a week. A firm in Nashua, N. H., write me "they employ fourteen American women in making mattresses, cushions, &c., and pay from $3 to $3.50 a week, including board, and work ten hours a day. Men are paid about $5 a week, and do different work from the women. Some of the hands are employed all the year. There is no great demand for mattress makers at present anywhere. Board, $2." =374. Venetian Blinds.= At W.'s Venetian blind manufactory, in Philadelphia, I was told they generally employ several women. They earn about $3 a week, and take their sewing home. The work is sewing tapes on the main pieces to support the slats. The business is best in the spring, from January to May, and is good in the fall, but they endeavor to furnish some employment all the year to their girls, who are American. A manufacturer of Venetian blinds in Boston employs some women in writing, sewing, laying out work, &c. They are mostly paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $6 per week. Male and female labor is not of the same kind in his establishment. Men spend two years learning; women, one month. The last part of spring and the first part of summer are best for work. He could easily find more sewers, if he had employment for them. He finds them cheaper and more suitable for the work than men. The means of mental and moral culture are those common to the residents of Boston. =375. Window Shades.= At an establishment in Philadelphia, a few women are employed in the busy seasons, spring and fall, in laying the gilding on the borders of linen shades. They earn from $1.50 to $3.00 per week. The painted linen window shades (landscapes, buildings, &c.) are executed entirely by men, who receive $12 a week wages. Our informant said these men could paint (I think) 6 pair a day. I am sure there is no reason why a lady could not paint landscapes and other ornamental work on shades, if they would only qualify themselves. It would probably require two or three years' practice to acquire proficiency, for a person unaccustomed to painting of any kind. The design of common ones is invented as the painter proceeds, as he has no pattern to work from. It requires a knowledge of colors, and some taste and ingenuity. A man is paid from $1.50 to $2 a day. K., New York, has a number of women stencilling shades. The women earn about $4 a week. B., New York, usually employs two girls in putting elastic over the bands of pulleys and tying them up, for which they each receive $4 a week. I saw a girl in New York, engaged in stencilling. She is paid by the piece, and can earn $6 or $7 a week, when she has constant employment. It does not take long to learn. I called at a factory where they pay three cents a piece for painting the centres of common shades. It is done with cloths. They pay $2 a piece for fine ones. The fine ones have the principal parts drawn before being painted. A smart man can earn $20 a week at that work, but shades are not much used now. At a store on Broadway, they used to employ girls for painting shades and putting on the gilding. They had American girls mostly. German men are mostly employed at that work. If American men learn this business, they have so much energy and ambition they are soon able to get an establishment of their own, and then employ foreigners, many of whom work for less, to obtain employment, and then cannot raise their prices, and so are apt ever to retain a subordinate position. Their girls worked in the room with the men, but it was a large room, and they worked at the far end. Part of the work ought to be done by men. They had one woman that put on the flowing colors and earned $9 a week. But they found it necessary to have the girls wear Bloomer costume, to prevent their dresses touching the shade while painting; but they would not even then consent to lay down their hoops, and as their skirts would touch the painting and injure it, they altogether abandoned the employment of females. L., New York, told me he met with great opposition when he first employed women to gild window curtains, and he could not have held out if his house had not been established and he very firm. He lost one or more of his customers by doing so. The work is very suitable for women. L.'s men and women work in the same apartment, but the men are required to be very respectful. The women have a dressing room attached to their workroom. They move about on their feet all the time, while at work. Men put size on, but women could do it. The women receive $5 a week, and never work over ten hours. The work can be learned in a day. The Southerners are doing without fancy goods now, so the trade is very poor. L. has saved about $1,000 the past year by employing women. Men are in such haste to get through their work, that they are careless and waste the gold leaf. A window-shade manufacturer in Boston, who employs some girls in stencilling, informs me by letter that "he pays by the piece from $3 to $6 per week. A smart, active girl can earn more than a man of medium abilities. Cleanliness and endurance are the most essential qualifications. The prospect for continuance is as good as that of any other fancy business. Best seasons for work are from March to July, and October to January, but at other times hands can make enough to pay their board. They work from seven to twelve hours; for over hours, are paid extra. Board, $2.50; (washing extra) but they have not a room alone." One shade manufacturer writes: "There are parts of my work that could be done by girls as well as men, but their style of dress is not adapted to it." Another in Boston writes: "I would employ women, if my shop was convenient, as I could get them for less price than men. Men are paid thirty-three per cent. more than women: one reason is they are capable of more endurance. We work ten hours in summer, eight in winter." Another firm in the same city employs from four to eight women, paying from $3 to $6 per week, working from nine to ten hours a day. Six months is the average time given by a learner. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons." _Wire Window Shades._ Mrs. C. said a lady used to paint wire shades for her husband. He also employed men. He has most work done in summer. It requires care to keep from filling the niches with paint. Miss ---- acquired boldness and freedom of execution in oil painting by the practice. Rapidity and lightness of touch were also acquired. Her hand had got a stiff, cramped feeling, from painting on canvas constantly. The price paid for shades depends on the fineness of the cloth, the size, and design. Miss S. says her father has the landscape painting done by Germans, and pays good prices. It is paid for by the square foot. He charges $2 a square foot, for a shade in the frame, ready to put in the window. The artists take them to their studios. Germans are preferred because they work most rapidly. One makes a great deal of money, but he works late at night and on Sundays. Several coats of paint are put on before the landscape is painted. Some copy engravings, but enlarge the scale. They make to order. The business is increasing. He sends a great many to the South, particularly Havana and Baltimore. MANUFACTURERS OF BOOKS, INK, PAPER, AND PENCILS. =376. Bookfolders.= I know of no work in a bookbindery that could not be performed by intelligent women that were properly instructed. Forwarding, marbling, gilding, stamping, and finishing could be done by them, in addition to presswork, folding, gathering, and sewing. The female bookfolders of New York number several thousand. The women in Philadelphia binderies are between 1,000 and 2,000. The most bookfolding and sewing, out of New York, are done in Washington and Philadelphia, and some in Cincinnati. The busy seasons for book makers are from September to January, and from March to July. In this business there is a union among the men regulating prices, hours, &c. There is a great difference in the character of the binderies in New York--every shade and grade is to be found. In seeing the size and comfort of the workrooms, and the manners and conversation of the employer, it would not be very difficult to judge of the pay and condition of the workgirls. The trade is well filled, and, no doubt, with quite as many women of worth, self-respect, and education, as any other. At the Bible House, Tract House, Methodist Book Concern, and Harper's, New York, the faces of the workers are bright and cheerful. Every precaution is taken to secure only those who are respectable, and the associations surrounding them are calculated to elevate, rather than degrade. Most of them are able to pay enough for their board to secure the right kind of home associations. These establishments, except in emergencies like the present, retain their hands all the year; while those in a majority of other houses fluctuate with their business and are unoccupied three or four months in the year. Bookfolding is paid for by the 1,000 sheets, depending on the size of the sheet and the number of times it is folded. A good, fast folder can earn from 50 cents to 65 cents a day, whether folding with a machine or by hand. A few can earn as much as $6 per week. Folding and collating pay the best of woman's work. Collating is usually paid for at 20 cents an hour. Men in bookbinderies get from $8 to $20 per week. Some employers are much more kind and intelligent than others. Some bookbinders in New York impose on girls by taking them to learn the business, requiring that they stay from six weeks to six months to do so, and paying nothing during that time. During the most of the time their work is efficient, and they earn money for their employers. When the time has expired they are turned off, and others taken on. Some bookbinders employ those who will do their work at a very cheap rate, often thus exposing them to influences that are pernicious. Favoritism is often shown by employers and foremen. At H.'s, 200 women and girls are employed in folding, sewing, and gilding. Either of the branches is light and pleasant, and soon learned, after which the remuneration depends upon the abilities of the learner. Their hours are from 7-½ to 6, but it is piece work. All of his workpeople are temperance people. The work of bookbinders is not more unhealthy than any other indoor work. At the Tract House they take a few girls to learn to fold, and have them work until they earn $6 before they pay anything. An English woman told me that she used to earn $7 a week, as forewoman, but they never allowed her to be absent a day. A publisher in Philadelphia employs about fifty girls in his bindery, but complains that as soon as they make a few dollars they will take a holiday to spend it. He says the better he pays the girls in his bindery, the more they are absent from their work and the more difficult are they to manage. That, I think, arises from defective moral training. We know that people of right principle (both men and women), whose wages enable them to dress comfortably, and provide wholesome food and well ventilated, healthy apartments, are not only better able to work well and constantly, but do so. It stands to reason they should. If the poor cannot make a proper use of their scanty compensation, they are more to be pitied than blamed, for we know well they have nothing to spare. The manufacture of blank-books is an important branch of business. A blank-book manufacturer in Troy writes: "I pay both ways, and the wages are from $3 to $4.50 per week. Men's wages are from $6 to $12, but their work is different and heavier. Women's part of the work is learned in from six weeks to one year. A ready hand and quick eye are wanted by a learner. Busiest time from December to July. There is a surplus of hands, so far as I know. When men work at the women's branches (which is very seldom), they do it more substantially." In France women do much of the work in blank-book binderies. In M. Maitre's book bindery, Dijon, France, "No apprentice, boy or girl, is received until after they have made their premier communion, and received a certificate that they can both read and write, and also a medical certificate of vaccination. The workpeople are thus of a respectable class. The young children of most of the married women are either sent out to nurse in the country, according to the very common custom of France, or else the married pair form one household with the grand parents." =377. Book Sewers.= "Trades in general require a large share of mechanical ingenuity, in combination with strength, mathematical skill, and other qualifications. Strength is requisite to the success of a bookbinder." Women employed in sewing are paid by the piece, and as soon as they are competent, which requires but a few days, are paid according to their application from $3.50 to $7 per week. The work of women in binderies is clean, and about as comfortable and remunerative as any other of a mechanical nature. At the Methodist Book Concern we saw girls folding, gathering, sewing, putting plates in books, gilding the covers, and feeding the presses. They were well dressed and intelligent looking, and evidently felt an interest in the welfare of the establishment. The majority were Americans. The superintendent told us, "girls earn, in the sewing department, from $3 to $9 per week. A good sewer can earn, without difficulty, from $5 to $5.50 per week. They have about thirty, most of whom work by the piece. They have one strong woman who sometimes earns $10 a week. They never work over ten hours, as the house is only open for work that long. The folding and enveloping of tracts and papers admit of a change of posture. There is no similarity in the male and female labor. The comparison in prices is about one-half to one-third. It requires a lifetime to learn a man's branch; an intelligent woman can learn hers in a week. The result of a bookbinder's work is not for a day, but for all time. Bookbinders have more constant employment than those in most other trades. The work is most dull in summer. There is constant employment in New York for first-class hands, and always a surplus of second-class. Large cities offer the best localities--those in the South and West will probably furnish many openings to publishers." A. & S. employ girls to fold, stitch, and sew. They are paid by the piece (customary), and earn from $3 to $5 per week. Sewers can earn more than folders and stitchers--say from $5 to $7. They work until six o'clock and commence when they please, as they are paid by the quantity. A bookbinder told me his girls work from seven to six o'clock. He gives work all the year. They are paid by the piece, and can earn from $5 to $6 a week. I have been told folders and sewers are taken as learners only where the cheapest work is done. At some binderies three cents 100 is paid for folding, three cents for sewing, and six cents for stitching. At some places five cents 100 is paid for folding 12mo. sheets. The proportion of hands employed in the different branches of bookbinding is somewhat as follows: About two thirds are folders, one sixth gatherers, and one sixth sewers. A process has been invented by which books can be strongly bound without sewing. I fear it may be the means of throwing many sewers out of employment. At W.'s bookbindery I was told they sometimes take learners. They expect them to stay six months, and pay them half that they can earn during that time. They pay workers by the piece, and they can earn from $4 to $6 a week. Some of the girls are employed to remove the covers from old books and magazines that are to be rebound. M., who does the printing of the A.'s, informs me that his girls work by the piece, and average over $4 per week. His learners receive one half their earnings--the teacher the other half. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons, but the women are never entirely out of employment. There is no surplus of good hands, but many imperfect ones. He employs from 125 to 150. The superintendent at H.'s told me that the girls in the sewing-room earn from $3.50 to $8. He says their women are intelligent and lady-like, and would adorn the best society. They change their dresses when they come to work, and then before leaving. If they are at all hurried in their work, their hands, both men and women, come early and stay late of their own free will. Males average $10, females over $4. The reason of the difference is, that men serve an apprenticeship of five or seven years--women five or seven weeks. The former are the mechanics; the latter merely assistants. The latter cheapen the labor of the former, without having the strength or physical ability to perform their work. (I cannot see how it should be so when the branches performed are entirely distinct.) The foreman at B.'s told me a very brisk worker can earn $6 a week, but few do. They do not average over eight hours a day. They never light their building. S.'s girls, in good times, are employed all the year. He pays by the piece, and his girls earn from $3 to $5. In most small book binderies in New York men and girls work in the same room. A girl at the Tract House told me they pay better for sewing there than in most other places, and have work all the year, in ordinary times. A printer boy told me his sister earns, in a bindery, from $8 to $10 a week. D. has newspapers printed and folded, and pays his women for folding from $4 to $5 a week. A manufacturer in New York, having a bindery in New Jersey, pays his girls mostly $3.50 a week, besides their board and washing. He boards them, and he is very particular in having them attend church on the Sabbath, and keeping an oversight of their morals and habits. Most of the binding done South and West is that of blank books. There is not so much machinery at the South and West as at the North. F. says the binding of blank books pays best. A good folder may earn $6 a week, but a sewer not so much. The majority of both do not earn more than $4. They pay from the first. One woman can stitch enough to keep three men employed. So there are not as many women employed in factories where blank books are made, as where printed books are. I was told on Fulton street, at a blank-book manufactory, that their girls earn from $5 to $7. They give steady work all the year. The binding of blank books pays best. They have one girl that sometimes earns $9 a week. At jobbing houses girls generally earn $6 a week, when paid by the week for binding. =378. Card Makers.= For about eleven hundred years women have been more or less employed in the manufacture of cards. At N.'s, New York, I saw two girls who each earn $6 a week, and work only in daylight, and have work all the year. I went through D. & Co.'s work rooms, and saw the process of making playing cards. A large number of girls were at work, who receive average wages of $4 per week. It requires six months to learn well. They do not like to take any learners with whose character they are unacquainted; for many, when they have learned, will go off where they can get better pay. Six girls that learned with him last summer were drawn off by an employer who offered them twenty-five cents a week more; but when his busy time was over, they came back crying to be taken in again. So he made a rule that none should be taken back that once leave. (Do not men go where they get the best prices?) They keep all their hands at work, because many of them represent three or four others, who are dependent on their labor for bread. They give work all the year, and pay a learner according to what she accomplishes. They sometimes find it difficult to get good hands. They will not take hands from another employer unless they bring a note saying they have been honorably discharged. It is to avoid getting bad and dishonest workers. (If employers in that line of business, or any other, should agree never to receive hands from each other's places of business, it would cast workers entirely at the mercy of employers.) D. says their regulations are strict. I thought the girls looked to be comfortably situated. Some were cutting cards, some assorting, some counting, and some enveloping. Nearly all sat. He thinks the business so limited that it is not likely to furnish employment to many more. He says girls working at bookbinding and hoop skirts are out of employment a great deal; two thirds of the hoop-skirt makers are now out of employment. S. & P. make fancy and business cards. S. told me he pays his most experienced girls $3.50 a week. Learners receive $2.50 a week for four weeks--after that, according to activity and capability. He has hundreds of applicants, and always selects those who seem most destitute. They work ten hours a day. He has had some girls several years. To the small girls he pays less. He often has two or three girls from the same family. Foreign goods are so much preferred by Americans that they put French labels on some. _Visiting Cards._ A., New York, employs two girls to put up visiting cards, and pays $3 and $3.50 per week. It does not require any time to learn. He now uses a machine for cutting that does the work of several girls. I was told by a very obliging girl, working in a visiting-card manufactory in New York, that to some the occupation is unhealthy, because of the lead inhaled, which injures the lungs. In that factory learners are paid $2 a week. It requires but a week to learn to cut the cards, which is done with a small hand press. The girl knew of two places in the city where the work was paid for by the piece; but in that factory they were mostly paid by the week, receiving $3.50 and $4, working ten hours a day. It requires from four to six weeks to learn. Nimbleness of fingers and ability to count are the most desirable qualifications. They have work all the year, except in November and December. They sit while cutting, assorting, and packing. This work is confined to women, as they are best adapted to it. Those in the brushing room stand. Several hundred girls are employed in New York in the card business. =379. Card Stencillers and Painters.= A stencil engraver told me he cannot use acids in his work, because his lungs are weak, and it is very injurious. The business is dull in winter, but good in spring and fall. It pays very well when there is enough to do. His work has to be done hurriedly, as it is generally for merchants who are going to ship goods, and frequently do not order the plates until the barrels are headed and the boxes are nailed. The making of embroidery stencil plates, he thinks, would do better for a woman, and that could be done without any regard to seasons. A visiting-card writer told me he charges $1 a package of fifty-two for plain marking. Mrs. H. saw the advertisement of one who writes one hundred cards for $1. I. G., who makes show cards, says a boy for filling the letters is paid six cents a sheet. For designing, a person could get twenty-four cents a sheet. He could both design and fill thirty a day, so earning $1.87½. He knows that the merchants of the South used to purchase their cards in New York, and so there must be openings in the South for writers of show cards, and probably in the West. It requires about one year to learn to design well, and two weeks to learn to fill in neatly. Employees are paid by the piece. I was told that card painting must be done by women, judging from the prices paid--some cards costing but twelve cents a piece. I am sure women could do all the work. Making the letters is very simple, and filling them up is a mere mechanical operation. They can earn, I am confident, over $2 a day, if they have enough of work. It is peculiarly adapted to women, and some of them should learn it. I saw the wife of a German stencil engraver, who assists her husband by cutting out with scissors the parts that form the letters. He is paid three cents a letter. He can cut forty letters in two or three hours. A coat of wax is laid on the plate, and an instrument used for working out the letters, figures, or design, then an acid poured on, and when it has stood for a time removed with the wax. It can then be cut out with scissors, or into large letters and figures with other tools. Writing plates are cut by hand, as they can be most neatly and delicately done in that way. They are twice as high in price as stencil plates. S., who manufactures show cards, has several times thought of employing women. They could with a brush fill the outlines, which is now done by men, who earn from $2.50 to $18 a week. It would require about a year to acquire proficiency in drawing the outlines of the letters and using the brush to fill them. He thinks it a very suitable business for women, and will probably employ some before long. =380. Cover and Edge Gilders.= I think burnishing the edges of books could be done by women after they are put in the frames, but considerable strength is required in the preparatory processes of shaving and screwing up. The burnishing is done with agates. I doubt whether it requires more strength than many other things women do. Laying gold leaf on the edges could certainly be done by them. Men that gild the edges of books receive from $7 to $9 a week. Men will not fold or stitch, because it does not pay well enough. G. says gilding the covers of books requires a longer apprenticeship than either folding or sewing; and at H.'s, workers are paid at first eight cents an hour, afterward ten cents an hour. It being piecework, the girls are not strictly confined to hours. Book and card edge-gilding is done both in England and France by women. =381. Electrotypers.= Electrotyping is now more used than stereotyping by those who expect to have many editions of a work published. It costs but little more than stereotyping, and is either four or six times as durable, I forget which. 2,000,000 impressions can be taken from an electrotype plate, but only 800,000 from a stereotype plate. A boy learning the business receives $4 a week the first year, and after that more. A journeyman receives $2 a day, and some $2.50. A journeyman told us he had spent seven years at it, and he felt that he had yet much to learn; in fact, a person could be always learning. Electrotyping would be a useful and profitable occupation for women. An apprenticeship of three or four years is given to it. =382. Envelope Makers.= At B. & G.'s, New York, girls work by the piece all the year in busy times, and can earn from $3 to $6. Most of those who get in factories, do so through the influence of friends or acquaintances in or connected with the establishment. Their business is increasing. They keep their girls all the year. They give lessons in the busy months, August and September, February and March, and pay from the first. A good hand can earn from $3 to $5. P. & Co. usually employ sixty girls. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $4 to $4.50 a week. The envelopes are made by machines, attended by women. They employ five or six girls making envelopes by hand, as they have not machines of some sizes. P. thinks the occupation is full. They have employed their girls all the year. They used to take learners, and give the teachers their profits. My companion, Mrs. F., inquired if envelopes could not be more easily made where the paper is manufactured. He replied, they could not, because paper (and, I believe, all other goods) are delivered free of freight in New York, and he can make more by being here in the centre of trade, than if he had to send his goods here to be sold, and employ some one to sell them. He prefers the girls that can be obtained in the villages and country, for he thinks them more honest and truthful. He thinks the grade of morals altogether superior in the country to that of the city. He spoke of the want of moral obligation in the lower classes, arising from the want of proper instruction, and the lower you descend the worse you find it. The makers of boxes for containing envelopes they got were such a common set, that they instructed some nice American girls how to make them, and now employ them. He says the box makers are a common set. So I have heard bookbinders, umbrella makers, and hoop-skirt workers spoken of. But I frequently hear one trade speak disparagingly of another. W. told me their girls are paid so much a thousand. The envelopes are cut by a machine attended by a man. They are folded by a machine managed by two women, who of course stand. They are pasted and enveloped by girls who sit. The girls earn from $3 to $5 a week. It requires but two or three weeks to acquire the trade. A learner is paid nothing. The envelopes are tipped or gummed by a girl, who stands. This is the most difficult part of the work done by women, and pays best. There are eight factories in New York, one in Philadelphia, and one in Connecticut. Nine tenths of the business is done in New York. There are probably between two hundred and three hundred girls employed in the business in that city. W. requires references. Some employers are particular in their selection of hands--others advertise, and take them as they come. 2,700 envelopes have been made in an hour by machinery. A manufacturer in Massachusetts writes: "The work is considered particularly healthy. Girls from 12 years up are employed, and earn from thirty-three to seventy-five cents a day of ten hours. Men are paid from $1 to $2.75 per day. Two are machinists, two overseers, and two cutters of envelopes. Women are not strong enough for this kind of work. Some parts can be learned in a month, some in six months, and in others it requires a year to excel. We give the same employment and pay through the year, whether our profits are larger or smaller. I employ about sixty, one sixth of whom are American. The work is light, and we have constant applications from girls, who prefer this to any other manufacturing business in town. Board, $1.50." =383. Folders and Directors of Newspapers.= The lady at F. & W.'s who directs the papers for them, says the business has been followed by women in New York for fifteen years. I called at the office of the _Independent_, and saw one of the editors, who, on learning my business, kindly invited me into the room where the young ladies were employed in directing strips of paper to envelop newspapers. It is a pretty business, and well adapted to women. Some learn it easily, and some never learn it. Dr. C. remarked: "A person may have a willing mind, but not an obedient hand." They had one young lady who spent five months at it, and then gave it up, because she could not succeed. It requires a peculiar aptitude, aside from an expeditious movement of the pen. It was followed more by women eight or nine years ago than now. Many ladies would like to get employment of the kind, but cannot. I think all the young ladies in the _Independent_ office were American, and were certainly very pretty and lady-like. They have a separate room to write in. They spend about eight hours directing envelopes for papers to send away. One earns $6 a week, another $5, and another $4. The one that first came is permitted to have as much work as she can do. The next has what she leaves, and the third the remainder. The objections made by some men to employing ladies are that they do not like to have women work in the same room where they are. They feel under more restraint, and not so free to say what they please. Such a restraint may be a wholesome one. Many women make the same objection in regard to working with men. Again, if a lady does not work as they wish, or is idle, they do not like to correct her, because women are more quick to resent. The last excuse is a poor one. They also waste much time by having their beaux call on them. Some urge they find a boy more useful, because they can put him to doing something else, when he is not busy writing. In the _Tribune_ office, men are employed because they can do it more rapidly. It is said some direct eight hundred envelopes in an hour. In some offices the girls are expected to seal the papers, but not in all. At the Cosmopolitan Art Association, I saw a lady that is employed in directing the _Art Journals_ that are sent by mail. The covers are put on by a boy. She receives $9 a week, and spends about eight hours writing. At the rooms of the A. C. Association, we saw three ladies directing envelopes for the report of the society. The Association issues a monthly magazine, and at the time of its issue employs the same ladies for the purpose of enveloping and directing them. At other times they employ but one. She has been there ten years, and is very efficient. She attends to the books containing the names of subscribers, assists the treasurer sometimes, writes letters for the secretary, and makes herself generally useful in that way. All the ladies complained of women being so poorly paid. The one who has been there ten years says, for the $350 a year she gets, they could not secure a young man's services for less than $700 or $800. The others are paid 63 cents per thousand for directing, and ten cents per hundred for sealing and directing. =384. Ink.= A large quantity of writing and printing ink is used in this country. There are factories for making each kind. Making printing ink is hard and dirty work, unsuitable for women. Some persons cut stencil plates and make indelible ink, and employ agents to sell the ink and plates. Indelible, and all writing inks, could be made and bottled by women. Care should be taken that the acids used do not touch the flesh. Common clothes should be worn while at work, as both the ingredients and compound are of a kind to injure clothes. A maker of writing ink in New York, employs three girls in summer for bottling and labelling, and pays $3.50, working from seven till dark. He never employed any in winter, but if his business extends, he will employ his girls all the year, paying the same price in winter. He has found it difficult to get good hands. The prospect for learners is poor. A manufacturer of ink writes: "I have never yet employed female help, though I am satisfied that most of the work in my laboratory might be as well done by women as men. The employment is not unhealthy. My men work ten hours a day, and are paid by the month." =385. Label Cutters.= At P. Brothers', I was told some of their labels are cut by hand, and some by machinery. The first are square or oblong, the others are of different shapes. Those cut with shears are most neatly done. For cutting by hand the price is one cent per hundred. They take them home. A lady and her two daughters, who work for them, often receive $50 a month. Those cut by machinery could not well be cut by women. It requires practice to make one expert. B. pays a girl by the hundred to cut labels at home. He would employ a girl to cut and attend his store, paying $3 a week from the first, but she must not be absent a day. If her health is such that she cannot always be there, he does not want her. He had one three and a half years, who was absent only ten days during that time. S. says cutting labels is always piecework, and a good worker can earn from $4 to $6 a week. He gives them out, and they are cut by hand. Common ones, for spices, mustard, &c., are cut by machinery. It does not require long to become expert. The business is always dull in December and January. =386. Lead Pencils.= The young man at the agency for the sale of Faber's pencils, says they are made at Steinway, Germany, and he thinks women there are employed in varnishing the wood of the pencils and tying them up. The pencils are either painted or the simple wood varnished. "A man in New York is reported to have made $60,000 by selling lead pencils about the streets at a penny a piece, and safely investing his profits." Some large pencils, such as are used by carpenters, were some time back made in Massachusetts. The writing part of lead pencils is made of lead and clay, mixed, pressed, and burnt. The wooden part is in two pieces that are united when the lead is put in. In Germany each man has his own part to do. Children do some parts of it, such as joining the wood. =387. Operatives in Paper Factories.= Paper is of various qualities and colors, and is adapted to different purposes. At least one half of the operatives in paper factories in the United States are females, amounting to several thousand. Water power is used in some paper mills, but in most large mills steam is used. Women are employed in paper mills to sift, sort, and cut up rags. It is dusty, disagreeable work, and we presume not particularly healthy, as much of the dust is no doubt inhaled. In some factories, women attend the picking and cutting machines and calenders. They are also employed for hanging, laying off, reeling, folding, assorting, counting, enveloping, and labelling the paper. The inability to meet fully the demand for rags in the manufacture of paper has led to experimenting with a variety of articles. One agent for the sale of paper made in New Jersey, and the foreman of the same establishment, told me their girls get from $2.50 to $3 a week. The majority receive $2.50. Part work six consecutive hours, have a rest of one hour, then six consecutive hours more, that is from six at night till seven in the MORNING, HAVING ONE HOUR AT MIDNIGHT; THE OTHER HALF FROM 7 A. M. till 6 P. M., having an hour at noon. The day and night workers take week about. They board for $1.50 a week. In Lee, Mass., women get $3.50 and $4, and the men twice as much. Women are paid best in the ruling department. In the paper factories in New York, women receive from $3 to $5 per week. Paper maker's girls, $1.50 to $2.50 per week. S. says, in some paper factories girls are able to earn $6 a week. All the labor in paper mills, except attending to the fires and machinery, could be done by women. All manufacturers report the occupation as healthy, except one in South Adams, who states that small pox is sometimes taken from the rags--_not often_. A paper manufacturer in Lee, Mass., writes: "Women are employed in all countries where paper is made. The time of learning depends upon their skill and developments in certain directions in the business. They are usually paid by the piece. Men are paid more because their labor is greater. Boys learn the business in about five years, girls in about one year. In learning they generally receive enough to pay their board. They work at all seasons--sometimes have nothing to do in July. There is a demand for hands in the loft, a surplus in the rag room." The New England Roofing Co. manufacture a felt, which is similar to sheathing paper, but made of a fine stock. They employ six females in sorting rags and other materials for the felt, and pay from $3 to $5 per week, one half the price of males. They work eleven hours, and pay $2 per week for board. A manufacturer of wrapping and wall paper, in Connecticut, writes "he employs a few females, and pays fifty cents per day of from eight to ten hours. He prefers them because most economical. Those working by the piece can earn from fifty to seventy-five cents per day. He pays men $1 per day for doing like work. They require less attention, and can perform other work when wanted, that is not suitable for females to perform. He usually pays beginners the same as others when they work by the day. His most busy time is when there is most water for power. An active person can usually earn as much in from six to eight hours as a house girl is paid for a full day's work." A manufacturer at Niagara Falls "employs between forty and fifty women, paying each from $2.50 to $4 per week, without board. They are paid about one half less than men, because boys would do. The prospect of employment is good. They are most busy in summer, although they run the whole year, day and night (except Sunday). They are twelve hours on, and twelve hours off. Board, $1.25 to $1.75. A firm in South Adams, Mass., write me: "We pay by the piece and the day. The prices for female labor, we think, compared with work done, better than for male. It requires no time to learn to cut rags, but experienced hands can earn more wages. For finishing, from four to six months are given. Women are paid while learning. We employ women always, when they can do the labor. Women are superior in the neatness with which they do their work. New England, and such States as have abundance of clear _spring water_, are the best. Board, from $1.25 to $2 per week. We think, perhaps, that at present the business of paper making is pretty fully supplied with laborers, male and female, in this section of the country, yet _good_ help finds ready employment, at fair wages." Manufacturers of bank-note paper, in Lee, Mass., inform me by mail, they "pay by the piece, to women, from $3 to $4.50 per week. It would require five years for a man to learn the business, so as to properly superintend it. That portion done by women can be learned in one month." A newspaper manufacturer in Taunton, Mass., writes: "Fifty or sixty women are employed by me, in manufacturing cotton goods and newspaper. I pay by the piece and the week, from $2.50 to $6 per week, depending on the age. I give equal pay to both sexes for the same work. They are employed the year round, and work eleven hours on the average. The climate of New England is best adapted to indoor labor." Paper manufacturers in Dalton write: "We pay women by the piece, from $12 to $16 per month, and they have work all the year. No men are employed for the same kind of work. For other branches of the business, men are paid from $25 to $35 per month. Women are paid while learning for what they accomplish. The prospect for work is good. We employ women because they are cheaper. They pay for board $1.25." A firm in Russell, Mass., write: "We employ from forty to fifty; one tenth are Americans. They can all live comfortably and earn good wages. New England is the best part of this country for fine paper mills, on account of the purity of the water. Board, $1.50 to $1.75." =388. Paper-Bag Makers.= At a paper-bag factory in Brooklyn, the man pays from $1.50 to $2 a week to his girls. They work ten hours. The work is all done by hand. The bags are considered better than those made by machinery. He has twenty-six girls at work. Some he pays by the quantity; for some kinds, twenty cents a hundred; for some, thirty-seven cents. Those that work by the piece have a forewoman, with whom he makes a contract. She cleared $14 one week. It takes but a week to learn. Work is furnished all the year. Some have worked for him five years. Paper-bag manufacturers in Watertown, Mass., write: "We employ six women in tending bag machines, and pay seventy cents per day of ten and a half hours. To males we pay one third more. It requires about one month to learn, and all that is necessary are care and application. Summer and fall are the best seasons, but they can have work the year round. We will not have any but American girls. Women are more accustomed to sitting, but cannot keep the machine in order. Their dress is objectionable, particularly their hoops, which take up much room, and are in danger of getting in the machinery." =389. Paper-Box Makers.= Though this may seem a trivial business, it is one very extensively carried on. Every size and shape is called for. The most are made, we suppose, in New York and Philadelphia, as greater demands exist there, owing to the variety and quantity of goods manufactured and offered for sale. Boxes are almost entirely made by women. I think most of the men in this trade in New York are Germans. The occupation for women is pretty well filled. The bandbox manufacture is a distinct branch. Some women, who make small match boxes, receive but one cent for thirty boxes. At a place in New York where seventeen girls are employed, I was told they are paid by the piece, and some can earn as much as $5 a week. The calling can be learned in three or four weeks. At one place, where they make bandboxes also, the girls earn from $2 to $5. At another, they earn from $2.50 to $5. Some seasons of the year are better than others. They have mostly American girls. It is sometimes difficult to get good hands. They keep their hands all the year. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Very little sewing is ever done--mostly cutting and pasting. In some large factories, machinery is used for much of the work. K. employs a number of hands all the year. They work by the piece (customary plan), and earn from $1.50 to $6. They are paid $1.50 per week from the time they begin to learn. He thinks there are not more than from five hundred to six hundred females in New York employed in his branch. There were three hundred in Philadelphia about fifteen months ago. One paper-box maker told me he pays fifty cents a hundred, and a smart girl can make one hundred and fifty in a day. He gives employment all the year; his brother, in the spring and fall. The work is always, I think, cut out by a man. B.'s girls are paid by the piece, and earn about $4 a week. While learning, his girls are paid $2 a week. It requires but two or three months to become skilful. I noticed the girls in some work rooms sat, and some stood. I was told those making small boxes sit, but those making large boxes stand, because of the time consumed in rising to reach the parts needed to be joined. Learners work with F. fourteen days for nothing, and then are paid by the hundred. Some can accomplish more than others in the same time, because they are quicker with their fingers and apply themselves more closely. In putting on labels, it is best to stand, as it can be done more expeditiously. It is best for girls to learn where the cheap kind of boxes are to be made. Those that make fine boxes are seldom willing to take learners, because of the materials that are wasted in learning. Good hands can get work all the year; indifferent hands are likely to get out of employment for one or two months. The girls in the trade are mostly Irish and German. For three months, the past year, F. was out of hands. He deserved to be all the time, for his factory was on the fifth floor, and the steps of the open wood kind. So girls must have been very much exposed in going up and down stairs, as every flight of stairs led to a floor on which men were at work. At C.'s, I was told his best workers earn from $4 to $6 a week, and are paid by the gross. They never work over ten hours, as his work is of a large kind. In some factories, where the boxes made are small, the girls are allowed to take work home with them to do in the evening. He keeps his best hands all the year. He requires two weeks of learners, and then pays them according to the amount of work done. Another box maker gives his work to three or four families in an adjoining city. His workers earn from $3 to $4 per week. A girl sewing small bandboxes told me she is paid six cents a dozen, and can usually sew ten dozen a day. It takes but a week to learn. They are most busy in spring and fall. In pasting, girls can earn from $4 to $5 a week. The girls sewing, sat; those pasting, stood. At another factory I was told April and September are their most busy months, and then they take learners. Most box makers have steady work. If they are not making boxes for one branch of trade, they are for another--confectioners, candle makers, &c. The business is increasing. Girls can earn from $3 to $7. There are openings in New Orleans. It is difficult to get good hands in busy times. It takes some time to become expert. A boy remarked to me that paper-box makers are a hard set; but I find there is considerable jealousy and envy existing between some members of the different trades, and consequently always make some allowance for what I hear. A firm of paper-box manufacturers in Connecticut write: "Women are employed by us to run machinery, making paper boxes, &c. It is healthy, clean, neat work. Average wages are seventy-eight cents per day, including board. Our male help are employed at some laborious work, which females could not perform. Average price paid men is $1.25 per day, of eleven hours. No time is required to learn the paper-box business, but practice makes it more remunerative. There are advantages in being in large cities; but, having no market near, we prefer the country, on the ground of better advantages for our help, and its being easier to procure trusty, intelligent girls to labor. Our women have constant employment, and are superior to men in their work. Most of them are well suited for making good wives, being from eighteen to twenty-five years of age. Board, $1.75." B., of Philadelphia, writes: "We pay women from $2.50 to $5 per week, working by the piece. Men's wages are double, as they generally have families. Neatness and to be good sewers are desirable. They generally have work the year round. The demand is greatest in Philadelphia, New York, and the Eastern States. We employ them because of their ability to use the needle. Women are superior in their own branch." A manufacturer of hook-and-eye and button boxes writes: "We employ twelve women, and pay by the piece, from $4 to $6 a week. Women's wages are low, because of the competition in the article manufactured. Time of learning depends upon the natural skill of the learner--one can learn for years. The prospect for a continuance of this work is good. The price, and fittedness for the work, recommend women to us." =390. Paper Marblers.= I saw the process of marbling--something very suitable for women, if they would properly qualify themselves for it. The young man said a paper marbler in Philadelphia used to employ some women to assist him, but he had to mix their paints. A paper marbler in Boston writes: "I do not know of any females being employed as marblers of book edges in the United States. Some are employed in marbling paper for the covers and linings of books." =391. Paper Rulers.= In ruling paper for blank books and ledgers, females are employed in some establishments to feed the machine. It is not difficult to learn, though there are not many willing to take learners, as considerable paper must be wasted before they can become proficient. Only a few weeks are required, and they are seldom paid while learning. $4 a week is a fair average for female workers. Very closely connected with this branch is that of paging blank books. It may be learned in from ten to twelve days. This is a limited business, and would not justify many in learning. K. thinks thirty girls would supply the demand for the whole United States. The most busy season is from the first of July to the last of October, and they seldom refuse any applicants during this season. March and April are also busy months. About half the hands are retained through the dull season. The girls earn from $5 to $6 a week; the forewoman something more. All are required to be orderly and respectable, and there are no associations that would have an immoral tendency. A journeyman paper ruler in Boston writes: "There are a few girls employed in this city at ruling, _i. e._, where they feed on the paper, watch the work, fixing it when it requires attention, &c. The paper is trimmed for them, it being hard work, and requiring a man's strength to do it. The wages are from $3 to $4.50 per week--$3.75 about the average--and when they board away from home, pay $2 to $2.25 per week. I work by the piece, and make sometimes $10, sometimes $16 per week; can make $12 and $13 per week well enough, nine hours to the day. One disadvantage females have, is, that some of them are inclined to marry when a good opportunity is offered. I wish to be understood that this is a disadvantage only as keeping down the price of female labor. The young man learns his trade, then he marries. He does not quit the shop, but still improves in skill in his trade. The female, when she marries, bids farewell to the shop and her trade. Nine or ten hours a day is as long as girls work at our trade here. One great objection girls have to our trade is, they do not like to soil their hands with the ruling ink, and one cannot get through much ruling without soiling their hands more or less." =392. Press Feeders.= "The number of women who feed power presses in printing offices in Philadelphia may number one hundred and fifty. They can earn, upon an average, $4 per week." At the Methodist Book Concern, New York, they pay to press feeders the usual price, $4 per week. It requires about six months to become a good press feeder. When work is scarce, they retain all their hands, if possible, but work a less number of hours, and pay in proportion. At a blank-book manufactory I was told their girls are paid $6 a week for feeding. Their girls think they make poor wages when they earn but ten cents an hour. Some embossers, in Boston, who employ thirty women in binding and press feeding, write: "They pay both by the week and by the piece. Their women, on an average, earn $5 per week. Female labor is thirty-three per cent. cheaper than men's, and the part done by women is too effeminate for men. Women spend from one to two months learning. Prospect of employment in this branch is good. The women work ten hours. They are out of employment in summer. Board, $1.50 to $2.50." At a printing office where from forty to fifty women were employed, I was told the girls were mostly German, because the foreman was a German. It requires four weeks to learn. They work ten hours a day, and are never thrown out of employment. The demand seems to be fully met in New York. =393. Printers.= "In 1476, Fra Domenico da Pistoya and Fra Pietro da Pisa, the spiritual directors of a Dominican convent, established a printing press within its walls; the nuns served as compositors, and many works of considerable value issued from this press between 1476 and 1484, when, Bartolomeo da Pistoya dying, the nuns ceased their labors." In the Victoria Printing Office, of London, all the compositors' work is done by women. The Printers' Unions in the United States have done all they could to prevent women from entering the occupation and obtaining employment. Men's employments in the cities, they say, are now filled, and if women enter, men's wages will fall. They do fall, at any rate, because women will work for less than men. To obviate this difficulty, I would suggest that more men engage in agricultural and other occupations that will take them out of the cities. At present, the war demands large numbers. A printer told me that type setting could be carried on more easily by women in towns and villages than in cities, where men are slaves to the Unions. In the latest rules of the Printers' Union, New York, a printer is not prohibited from working in the office with a woman. Yet few publishers are willing to employ them, because it is supposed they are employed for less wages. At a printers' convention, held recently in Springfield, Ill., the following resolutions were adopted: "Whereas, the employment of females in printing offices, as compositors, has, wherever adopted, been found a decided benefit, both as regards the moral tendencies inculcated and the dependence to be placed in their constant presence and attendance upon the duties required of them, and as a means of opening a wider field of remunerative labor to a deserving class of society; therefore, be it resolved, That the Association recommend to its members the employment of females in their offices, wherever and whenever practicable." Printing is mostly paid for by the thousand ems. More is paid for printing from manuscript than for reprint. Newspaper is paid rather higher than book printing, and morning papers more than evening. Much has been said of the unhealthiness of a printer's work. The majority of causes that render it so are not confined to the occupation itself. Some printers must work during the night. Their habits become irregular, and many run into dissipation. The rooms occupied by some are poorly ventilated, and so poorly lighted as even in the day to require artificial light, which helps to absorb the oxygen of the atmosphere. When type are heated they emit an odor that affects respiration, and will in the course of time paralyze the hand. But there is no necessity for using them when heated. The standing position of compositors weakens the organs of digestion; but compositors can as well sit as stand. Stools may occasionally be seen in the offices of men. Bending over the stone to correct is not more tiresome than bending over cloth when sewing. A good education and general intelligence are necessary for a printer. A gentleman connected with a printing office remarked to me that printers generally possess much desultory information, but have not their faculties more fully developed than people in most other trades. Women's fineness of touch and quickness of motion will fit them for type setting. "They might be instructed, not merely to compose and distribute, but to correct, make up, impose forms, and prepare the type completely for the press or stereotype foundery." A man should be employed to carry the chases to the press room. When the pressman has had the type inked and used them, he should have the form washed and returned to the compositors' room. When women have had as much experience as men in the printing business, they will be fair competitors. In most large cities, and even towns, many are now employed in type setting; but they are much scattered, and consequently not much is known of them. In Boston, women have been engaged in type setting for nearly thirty years, in New York eight years, and in Philadelphia five years. More girls are employed as type setters in Boston than any other city of the United States. They set type for nearly all the large periodicals. They are paid less than men; but some earn $8 a week. F., of Boston, who employs some women as type setters, writes: "I pay twenty cents per thousand ems, which averages to a good hand about $6 or $7 per week. It requires about six months to learn type setting. I pay my learners, because I consider it to my advantage in the long run to do so. Type setters with an ordinary education will improve as they progress. In a few years, women will work in many branches that to-day would be termed innovation. I consider winter the best season for printing books and periodicals. On account of neatness and taste, women are well suited for the ornamental branches of printing." The proprietors of a printing house in Boston, who have some thought of employing females, write me: "The printing business is considered rather unhealthy, on account of its being both mental and physical. It requires from two to three years to become good workmen at our business for males, and would take about the same time for females, although our business is now classed composition room and press room, and females are sometimes employed in other offices in both rooms. Our business does not vary much, except in the month of August, when it is generally dull. Our number of hours for work are ten, the year through. Our business is not considered very laborious, and females make from $4 to $8 per week. Men are generally superior to women in education and judgment. The printing business is almost a school for learning. Board, from $1.50 to $2.50." The largest number of printers in New York are employed on books and periodicals. I think it likely there are more Americans employed in the book-making trade in New York than any other trade. From an article on "Printers," in the New York _Tribune_ of April, 1853, we extract the following: "We estimate the services of a competent young woman at type setting as worth in this city $2 per week, after a fortnight--$4 per week, after three months--$6 per week, after a year--$8, after two years. Every compositor on the _Tribune_ at work at the case has thirty-seven cents per thousand ems, and thirty cents per hour for steady time." The present price required by members of the New York Typographical Union for newspaper work, when employed by the week, is $12--ten hours constituting a day's work. For book and job work $11 is required. At the _Day Book_ office I saw one of the editors, who thinks women do not correct so well as men, and they want self-reliance. Besides, they cannot lift the forms. Men are paid better for these reasons. He thinks more women might very advantageously be employed in setting type for papers. Job printing he thinks not so well adapted to them, because of the variety in the work, and the judgment and self-reliance required. Two of the girls in the _Day Book_ office have with their earnings bought their mother a home in the country. Their girls are more intelligent, have more pride, and dress better than most working girls. To set type requires more intelligence than most shop girls possess. The foreman of the same paper writes: "We employ ten women, whose exclusive business is type setting. Seven are American women. I deem the employment of type setting unhealthy, but not more injurious to women than it is to men. We pay women twenty cents per thousand ems. Men receive thirty-one cents per thousand ems in our office. Women are not as competent to do all kinds of work as men, particularly in a newspaper office; hence the difference in wages. The time of learning depends almost wholly on the aptitude of the new beginner. Some persons (men as well as women) would or could not learn the business in a lifetime. Women have been paid while learning in this office. A knowledge of the English language, and a disposition to improve that knowledge on all suitable occasions, are the principal requisites. The general order of intellect did not amount to much, when we first tried the experiment; those who have worked steady have improved wonderfully. They work ten hours per day. Average wages $6.50 per week in this office. With proper training and instruction, they would be competent to do any portion of the work not requiring too much physical exertion. The best seasons for a printer's work depend almost wholly on circumstances. Large cities are the best places for the printer who wishes to have steady employment." T., of New York, told me "he employed girls for a while, and would have retained them if he could have had time to attend to the composition department. He paid his girls the same price he did his men. He thinks it strange that more broken-down ministers and worn-out school teachers do not turn to type setting, as it is learned in a very short time, requires intelligence, and demands no outlay of muscle. On the principle that a stout muscular man should be a blacksmith, and a small delicate one a watchmaker, a woman should be a type setter. A girl should begin when young. Women are no more thrown with men in type setting than in feeding presses. In all large establishments, type setting and press work are done in separate rooms." I think if some lady teachers would learn the art of printing and get places as forewomen, they could from girls obtain as much work as a foreman does from boys; but he thinks it difficult for a foreman to be exacting with women, particularly with those who are old enough to be sensitive and self-willed. He thinks, "in New York, women are not so much employed in intelligent occupations as in Boston. In the cities printers make most all their profits off two-thirders, as they are called--boys who have not attained their majority, and do their work as well for much less than journeymen. His son, a boy of sixteen, earns from $5 to $6 a week as type setter." H., in New York, employs three girls. They get $6 a week of ten hours a day. They can sit if they choose. They have a room to work in, separate from the men. At W.'s, opposite, a youth told me a fast worker could earn $8 a week. The girls there were working in the same room with the men. J., of Philadelphia, said he used to employ women to print his labels, but they demanded $6 a week, and men he could get for $9. He told the women they were cutting their throats in asking so much. He said women should not expect as high wages as men, even if they did their work as well, and as much of it, for they would thereby displace men; and besides, you could not order women about as you could men. B., editor of the Pittsburg _Commercial Journal_, employs six girls as compositors. Connected with his office are two journeymen, who set type after 6 P. M., reporting telegraphic and local news. All type setting should be done by women in the day, unless they board very near, or in the house of the printing office, because of the exposure of going home late at night. Three fourths of the work of a printing office could be done by women. Afternoon and weekly papers could be very well printed by ladies, as they are printed in the day. One of B.'s lady compositors receives $7 a week, another $6, and the others $4 and $3.50. They work eight or nine hours a day; and to a learner they pay $1.50 a week, until she can set type correctly--then more; and in two years she will be very nearly or quite perfect in the art. It requires quickness of eye and finger to succeed. At the office of the Detroit _Daily Democrat_, girls as apprentices are paid from $3 to $4 per week, and those advanced twenty-five cents per thousand ems. "The compositors' office of the _Ohio Farmer_, at Cleveland, has four apprentice girls. Compensation light at present, but after the first year they will have the same that journeymen are receiving in this place, _i. e._, twenty-five cents per thousand ems." A lady learning to set type in Indiana writes: "I think the reason of the printers objecting to my learning was that I was not required to run of errands, or, in other words, be the 'devil' of the office, as boys are who learn the printing business. Besides, my compensation is better than theirs, in consequence of my ability to do more than they. I receive my board and $50 a year while learning; after that, journeyman's wages by the week or by the thousand ems, as I prefer. In this time I can learn to do all, except the press work, making up, &c. The girls employed as type setters in the office receive $3 per week while learning." I have been told that in Rochester, Buffalo, and New Haven, printing is done more cheaply than in New York, and some publishers send their printing to those towns to have it done. A great deal of raised printing is done for the blind in the United States, but women do not work at that. Printers were wanted some time back in Charleston, S. C., and when affairs become settled in the South, we doubt not there will be many openings for printers. An institution has been founded in Edinburg for teaching girls the art of printing. Monsieur P. says in many of the villages of France it is difficult to get printers. He proposes that a certain number of girls be qualified for the work, as women are well suited to such work, and it is of a kind that pleases those who have tried it. =394. Sealing-Wax Makers.= D., sealing-wax, ink, and mucilage manufacturer, employs two girls in putting up carmine ink and gum mucilage, also in rolling, stamping, and boxing sealing wax. To one he pays $5 a week, to the other $4. He employs his girls all the year. Making sealing wax is too heavy work for women, D. thought, and there is not much demand for the kind used in sealing letters. Self-sealing envelopes and mucilage have done away with both wafers and wax. In the United States, one pound is sold where formerly one ton was sold. Had the use of wafers increased with correspondence, it would have been an extensive business; but the making and baking of wafers, D. thought, was too heavy work for women. I expect it is not more so than making and baking bread. But little ink is made in the South and West. C. said women could not make sealing wax, because of the danger of being about the fire. I suggested there is not more than in cooking. He said lifting the vessels is very heavy. =395. Stereotypers.= All the first plates in this country were moulded by a Mrs. Watts, the wife of an Englishman, who introduced the art from London. Stereotyping could be learned by women. It is an interesting employment, but requires intelligence and judgment. In stereotyping, one department of labor is that of correcting metal plates. If a letter is wanting, a type is soldered in the plate. If any of the letters or spaces are filled with superfluous metal, it is removed. I think stereotyping an occupation well adapted to skilful and educated women. It requires an apprenticeship of three or four years. =396. Type Rubbers and Setters.= At P. & Co.'s, I saw the whole process of type making. They employ some women to rub type, and some to set them up. The setters earn from $1.50 to $2 a week. It is very simple, but there is much difference in the quantity done by different individuals. A careful and rapid manipulation is desirable for the worker, as it is paid for by the number of types set up. The rubbers are paid by the pound, and earn from $8 to $9 a week. Some people can rub 2,000 types in an hour. The fingers become hardened. P. & Co. do not employ many American girls, for American girls do not like such dirty work, and most of them dislike to work where men are. Breaking off the jets is in some places done by women. It is a mechanical operation for removing the inequalities of the metal, caused by the imperfect chasing of the moulds. It requires a very rapid movement of the hand, but is not a laborious operation. It is said that some fast workers can break off 5,000 in an hour. Girls are employed at type rubbing and setting, in the same room with men. Type are cut of a soft metal, from which copper moulds are taken for forming printers' type. It requires a steady hand, a correct eye, and some practice to cut them, but not much strength. It could be done by women. B. thinks the work is not unhealthy. I suppose the same objection as regards health might be made to breaking off the jets, type rubbing, and type setting, that is often made to the business of a compositor--that the lead in the metal has a tendency to paralyze the arm; but I have never heard the objection offered. B. does not pay learners. Prospect for employment tolerable. When times are good, he keeps girls all the year. They are paid by the quantity. The little girls can earn $2.50 each, and some of the larger girls, who are very expert, can earn $4.50. Girls always sit in rubbing type. In setting up, I think they can sit or stand, as they please. There will be a demand for type so long as books and papers are printed. I suppose there will now be an opening in the South for type founderies. W. takes learners, and pays by the quantity from the first. All his women sit while at work. It is not healthy work, because of the lead floating in the atmosphere being inhaled. He can always get hands by advertising. Setters get about $2.50 a week, and rubbers $3, and $3.50. C. says, if type rubbers are industrious and attentive, they can earn from $3 to $7 a week. Rubbing pays better than setting, but is quite laborious. Setters earn from $2 to $3.50, and are generally small girls. They are always paid by the quantity. It does not require long to learn. The prospect is good for employment. In ordinary times they are employed all the year. At H.'s, I was told that girls are never taught rubbing until they have learned setting, as rubbing pays best, and it is not fair to give a learner the advantage of an old hand. Setters cannot earn more than $2.50 a week; rubbers, from $4 to $6. He gives work all the year. Some of his girls are always absent on Monday. He thinks there are from 700 to 800 girls in founderies in New York. His girls earn from $3 to $6 a week. Printers, he says, are always first to suffer in a panic. A type founder in Buffalo, writes: "I employ fifteen American girls in finishing type, and pay by the piece. They earn from $3 to $5 per week. One day is sufficient to learn, and nimble fingers greatly assist. Seasons make no difference with the work. The work is easy in a warm room in winter." The proprietors of the Boston Type Foundery sent me the following intelligence by mail: "We employ about twenty women in breaking, rubbing, and setting type. The metallic dust from the type is considered unwholesome. We pay by the piece. The girls are from ten to twenty years of age, and average from $1 to $6 per week, working from six to nine hours. But a short time is required to learn the parts, except rubbing, which occupies some months. They are paid while learning. All other parts of our business, except those mentioned, are too severe for women. The prospect for a continuance of work is tolerable." =397. Wall Paper Gilders.= Most of the wall paper used in the United States for many years past has been made in Philadelphia, and I believe it is still thought to produce the best qualities. There are three modes of impressing wall paper: one by printing, another by stencilling, and the third by painting with a brush. In the cheapest paper, the outlines are printed and the colors put on by stencil plates. For printing, large blocks are used that are cut by hand, and for each color a separate block must be used. This work forms a separate occupation, that of a block cutter. For the finest papers, the outlines are printed, and then filled by the use of the brush. The ailments of colorers of wall paper arise principally from the coloring matter, much of which is very poisonous. "By laboring upon arsenical paper in the finishing department, small tumors are produced, and some have to change their occupation in consequence." At H.'s store, Philadelphia, the young man told me they employ girls from twelve to sixteen years of age, for putting gilding on paper. They work ten hours, and earn from $3.50 to $4.50 a week. They merely lay gilding on, which is fastened by the pressure of machinery. Some manufacturers have the gilding put on with a size. At C.'s, New York, the foreman told me they employ two girls, at $3 a week each. A powder is sprinkled on by boys, which, by the way, could be done by girls. The girls then lay the gold leaf on the powder. A machine then passes over the gold leaf, making an impression by a die, of the pattern desired. Another branch of labor in which they employed girls for a time, was the rolling of paper for the store. It requires a peculiar tact acquired by practice only. They are paid seven cents for 100 rolls, each roll containing eight yards. It would take a brisk and careful hand to become at all expert three months, at which time she could earn about sixty cents a day, of ten hours' work. At the end of three months more she would, perhaps, be able to earn an additional twenty cents a day. It makes the fingers very sore, as considerable force is thrown into the tips of the fingers. Some fingers cannot become hardened to it, and the individual has to give it up. C----'s have work all the year, except a week in summer, and one in winter, and when the machinery is out of repair. They have most to do in winter, getting their paper ready for spring sale, and to send away to the West and South. It is not unhealthy labor. Many girls might be employed in departments now occupied by boys. At N. C. & Co.'s, I was told by a young German that from one hundred to one hundred and fifty boys are employed in that building, but no women or girls. There are several parts that could be done by women. The common paper is rolled by machinery, the fine by hand. In one factory in Boston, girls are employed to roll, and in one in some other part of Massachusetts. Paper stainers in Nashua, New Hampshire, write: "Women are employed in coloring and finishing papers. The work is healthy, though all cannot use green. We pay some by the week and some by the day: $3 per week for day hands. It requires two or three months to learn. A light hand, quick motions, &c., are desirable qualifications. The prospect of employment is the same as all other branches of manufacture. Warm weather is our most busy season. The hands spend a few weeks in the country in midsummer. We employ from twenty to twenty-five women, and they work ten hours a day. They have the advantages of libraries, religious services, &c., and pay for board $1.50 per week." A wall-paper manufacturer, in Boston, writes: "The different kinds of work and a fair knowledge of the manufacture of paper hangings must be seen to be appreciated. For one to be capable of taking charge of a manufactory in my line, he must devote many years of close application, and must be a man of fine taste, in order to get up a _taking_ style of goods, as the success of the business, in a great measure, depends upon that, coupled with a fine finish. The perfection of the manufacture may be all that could be desired, but if the arrangement of the shadings of the colors were faulty, there would be a very limited sale of them. A woman might perhaps make a color mixer (as we call them), if the work was not too hard and too dirty. We employ three girls to roll paper. It is light work, and they are paid from $2 to $4 per week--day hands, ten hours. The time to learn depends upon the capacity of the learner--say a month. The women are not out of employment long. The women are mostly foreign, and can make a comfortable living if they choose. Women have not sufficient strength for some parts of our work." CHEMICALS. =398. Chemicals.= One chemist wrote me that some part of the work in the manufacture of chemicals is wet and disagreeable. Another writes that "women are not employed in that branch in this country, but may possibly be employed in England, Germany, and France; but if at all, only to a small extent. The employment is not generally unhealthy. To learn it in all its details, a pretty thorough knowledge of chemistry ought to be acquired. But a short time is required to learn the ordinary part of the business. The prospect of the employment of women is slight, but your inquiries have, however, suggested the idea and possibility of employing women to a small extent. Men in chemical works are employed at all seasons, and constantly for eleven hours per day. No particular locality has advantage over another, except its proximity to market. Uneducated persons, of ordinary intellect, can be employed to some extent in the labor." Another informant writes: "The manufacture of those chemicals most largely used in the arts, requires laborious work. It is, besides, rather severe on the clothes and hands, and is entirely unsuitable for women. There is, perhaps, room for the employment of women in the manufacture of the finer chemicals, but rather in the way of putting up than in the manufacture itself. We are not engaged in this branch. The demand for pure chemicals is so very limited, that only regularly educated chemists engage in the business, and they do most of the nice work themselves. There is nothing to hinder women from studying practical chemistry, but there are few chances for educated chemists; and there are more than men enough to take all the places that are to be filled." A manufacturer of acids writes: "We employ no female labor in our establishment, it being heavy work, not suitable for them." The present style of female dress would be inconvenient, if not dangerous, in the preparation of such chemicals as require the operator to be near the fire. This difficulty, however, could be obviated. =399. Baking Powders.= D. employs girls to put up baking powders, spices, &c. It is piecework. A very brisk hand can earn $5 a week, but few can do so. They work longest in summer days. They like to close early enough to give their girls time to get home before it is very late. Mechanical talent only is necessary. =400. Bar and Soft Soap.= Large quantities of soap are made in the United States. That sold in groceries is made mostly in towns or the country. It is hardened by muriate of soda, and called bar soap. That used by people in the country is generally of their own make, and called soft soap. In New York, we observed in some groceries barrels of soft soap of a very light color, almost white. Vegetable substances were used previous to the invention of soap, for washing the person and garments. A plant growing in California is said to yield a very good substitute. Some kinds of earth, mixed with lye ashes, have been used. Making soap in large quantities would be very heavy work for women. A machine has been invented for cutting soap into bars, which will doubtless in time do away with the primitive plan of cutting it with wires. At a soap factory, a man told us that women are never employed in factories in making coarse soap. Attending the kettles could not be well done by them. The only part that could be done would be cutting it in bars, but that is rather too hard, on account of the strain and change of position. It is cut with wire after it has become hard. =401. Blacking.= In London, in 1852, there were, by Mayhew's estimate, one hundred and fifty women and girls selling cake blacking. M., manufacturer, Philadelphia, occupies a four-story granite-fronted building. He employs about fifty women in making tin boxes, filling them with blacking in paste, and labelling them. It requires but a few weeks for a smart girl to acquire dexterity. We saw the women at work in two large rooms (each being the whole floor of the house). They looked cheerful, though somewhat grimy. They work ten hours, and earn about $3 a week. The steady hands are kept in work the year round. The tin boxes pass, almost with the swiftness of thought, through eight hands, three of these operations being performed by steam machinery, tended by women. The boxes are soldered by men, who receive $6 per week. It was once done by women, but is right warm work, particularly in summer. All stood while at work, except the women sorting bands. The premises had been rendered as healthy as possible. All the small pipes of the soldering stoves led into one large pipe, which carries off the fumes of the coal; and a cylinder has been made to confine a white powder which is used in the business, and which formerly floated through the atmosphere of the work rooms. The women are sometimes employed in bottling ink, and earn from $2 to $3 a week, working about the usual time--ten hours. =402. Candles.= Candles are made of different materials, of which wax, tallow, and spermaceti are most common. Some candle makers employ women to prepare the wax for candles. Candle manufacturers write us: "Women are never employed in our business, and we never heard of their being so employed. We consider the work too heavy, and too cold. The principal part of the work is done in winter, and the manufacturing rooms must be kept cold. Women were at one time employed in cutting and preparing the wick for candles; but since the introduction of machinery, that part is dispensed with." A manufacturer writes from another city: "Men sometimes work all night, at the season when the nights are long. The only place, I think, where there can be a demand for female labor in my branch, is where there are no men." Another informant writes: "I think women could not be to any considerable extent employed in making soap and candles, for several reasons: 1st. It is for the most part a heavy business, requiring more than female strength. 2d. It is objectionable on account of the dirt, which is the result of coming in contact with tallow, &c." Another says: "Our plan for moulding is too heavy for women to work at." At an oil and candle manufactory, New York, I was told they used to employ some women in putting wicks into moulds, drawing candles, and packing them. Machinery is so much used now, that women cannot do as much of it as they did. Besides, candles are not used so much as they were, owing to the introduction of gas and various oils. They paid their girls $4 a week. They now employ one woman in putting the wicks in moulds for wax candles, and drawing and packing them. J. employs two women in making sperm candles, but they have been at it twenty years. They each get $4 a week. M--s, New York, write: "We employ six women in making and packing candles. They are so employed in France and England, and very likely in Germany. The work is not unhealthy. Our women are paid from $2.50 to $4 per week, of ten hours a day. They are generally paid by the week, though sometimes by the piece. Men's wages are from $9 to $12. We know of no reason why women are paid less, except that it is the general custom. It requires from two to three weeks to learn. Women are paid while learning. Dexterity of the hands is the best qualification for a worker. The occupation is gradually decreasing. There is no material difference in the seasons for work. Women are sometimes thrown out of employment in the summer months. We employ women because they are more nimble fingered than men, and female labor is cheaper. Workwomen are more apt to get in trouble among themselves, where many are employed, and are more difficult to control. We have generally found them more careless and less uniform in their work than men; so much so, that their employment is constantly diminishing in our work, being replaced by machinery. We find them in no way superior to men, except their nimble fingers." We place against this the preliminary report to the United States Census of 1860, where one hundred and forty-two women are returned as being employed in soap and candle manufactures. =403. Chalk.= I saw a man making prepared chalk. He sometimes employs small girls to put it in boxes, and pays from seventy-five cents to $2 per week. They work ten hours a day. There is nothing unhealthy in it. He thinks there are but few manufacturers of it, and consequently there is not much prospect for employment. =404. Emery Paper.= G. would be willing to employ girls to pack and tie up emery paper, paying $3.50 a week. It is dirty work, on account of the glue that is used, and is very severe on the fingers, causing the blood to flow often, and unfortunately does not harden the fingers by practice. =405. Fancy Soaps.= Some of the fancy soaps of American manufacture are equal to any in the world. Those of Bazin, Philadelphia, are considered best. Those of Jules Hauel and Harrison are nearly equal. There are other manufacturers of fancy soap in the United States. On Spruce street, Philadelphia, is a place where they employ girls to put up fancy soaps, and pay by the piece, from $2 to $5 per week. L., New York, employs girls by the week, for from $2 to $3.50. It requires practice to put up either soap or perfumery. They are most busy in spring and fall. None made South or West. L. has lost the custom of shop girls by the hard times. They have no money now to spend for fancy soap and hair oil. =406. Fire Works.= Two hundred and eleven females are reported in the census of Great Britain as being employed in making fire works. S. & Co., New York, employ ten or twelve women for pasting the paper covers on fire works, but not for filling with powder. All the work is done in daylight. They are paid something while learning, and then from $3 to $5 a week. For overwork, they are paid by the hour. Their factory is in Greenville, N. J. There is one in Cincinnati, one in Boston, and one in Philadelphia. Girls sit while at work. The prospect for learners is good. S. & Co. are most busy in spring and summer but able to keep their hands employed all the year. They have a great many children employed on Long Island, in making torpedoes, who cannot earn more than $1.50 a week. =407. Flavoring Extracts.= Manufacturers in Rochester write: "We have about twenty women engaged in putting up and packing perfumery, &c., and pay from $2 to $3 per week. A smart girl will learn in a week. Quickness of movement and steadiness of habit are the best qualifications. The prospect of work in this line is good. They are employed all the year, and work ten hours a day." C., of Boston, employs a number, "because they can work cheaper than men. They are paid by the day or week, according to their experience. Good workers earn 50 cents a day, of nine hours. To thoroughly understand the business requires a lifetime. Women's part of the work is learned in six months. Women are paid while learning. All seasons are alike. The work is easy, and the pay good. Board, $1.50." H. C. & Co., of Boston say: "In compliance with your wishes, we give below answers to your inquiries. We manufacture perfumery, cooking extracts, hair oils, &c. We employ females to bottle and label them. We pay by the amount of labor done, and the average earnings are about $4 per week. Why women are not generally better paid is a difficult question to answer. We think, however, the argument is good that they do not as a general thing have family expenses to bear. If they were taxed (are not those that own property?) and also bore a proportionate share of family expenses, there is no good reason why they should not have the same pay for the same labor as males. (Have not the majority of workwomen some one dependent upon them, even with their scanty wages?) The work may be learned in a few weeks. An aptness and tact to handle small bottles, to tie ribbons, and cut corks quickly, best fit one for this work. There is a constant demand for the kind of goods we manufacture. Our females work ten hours a day, and their employment is steady. The work is clean and comfortable; the remuneration, we think, just. Women are superior to men, from being quicker in their movements and displaying better taste. Board, $2.50." Other manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ ten American women, because they do the work cheaper than men could. We pay by the piece. They earn $6 a week, and receive three fourths of the wages of men. They are paid $3 per week while learning. Women are inferior in business capacity, superior in details. Board, $3 per week." =408. Glue.= Glue is made from the parings of hides, and refuse leather. First they are put in alkaline water to be cleaned, and then boiled in large vessels. The liquid is poured off from the gelatine which coats the vessel and forms in sheets. I think women might spread the substance on nets in drying rooms, and, when dry, cut it and pack it. It is cut by wires having handles, which are held in the hand, to assist in pressing the wire with more force across the glue. S. employs several girls, who earn from $3 to $6 per week. He pays by the gross. Most of the girls have been with him ever since he commenced manufacturing, eight years ago. =409. Gunpowder.= The agent of the Hazard Gunpowder Company told me they employ at the manufacture as many of the widows and children of those killed by explosions as they can, in making linen covers for kegs, and putting gunpowder in envelopes, and cutting labels, and putting on them. D. writes to an acquaintance for us: "We employ women at times in labelling canisters, and then only two." =410. Oils.= A manufacturer of machine oil says a lady that understands the business could give men orders, and keep the office, and so carry on the business; but the work is too warm for women, and too laborious. It is certainly greasy work, and therefore hard on clothes. A manufacturer of oil writes me "he thinks the business not at all suitable for women: the only part that could be done by them is such as pertains to the office, which would be the same as that of other merchants." The manufacture of hair oils forms an extensive business. A manufacturer of linseed oil told me he could employ a woman to remove the seed from the bags, after the oil has been pressed out, but it would be greasy work. Some oil manufacturers told me they would employ girls to put oil in bottles for sewing machines. They would also be willing to employ female agents to sell oil for sewing machines. If a lady could sell twelve bottles a day, at 25 cents a bottle, she could make $1.75. =411. Paints.= Oil paint is so disagreeable to handle and put up in such large quantities that it is unsuitable work for women. An English workman in B. & I.'s factory told us that women are employed in the paint factories in London and Hull as extensively as men. What they do we could not exactly learn, except that they put the powder for paint in cans, and label them. The man said the business is pernicious to the health. Ex-Mayor T. employed some women in his color factory at Manhattanville to label. At O.'s Philadelphia, a few women are employed in moulding the cakes of water paints, and stamping them, and in tubing and packing fine oil paints. A paint manufacturer in Brooklyn writes: "The only way we can employ females is at putting up paint dry in six-pound boxes or in cans. This last is ground in oil. We have generally employed boys for this purpose, but I think females would suit better, provided they were kept by themselves. If this could be done, we might be able to employ from four to five hands. The work is rather unhealthy, as it affects the lungs. We pay one woman $4 per week, working ten hours a day. It requires a week to learn. We do not work for four months in winter. Cleanliness and tact are necessary for putting up goods. Women would attend to their work better than boys." =412. Patent Medicines.= Women are very extensively employed in putting up patent medicines. At H.'s, Philadelphia, where extract of ginger is made, they once employed women in the summer. They prefer boys and men, because in intervals men and boys can do other work that women cannot. Women were only employed by them to put up, seal, and label. Where H.'s bitters are made, women are employed to envelop, seal, and label, and paid according to the industry and skill of the workers. They receive from $3 to $4 a week. Dr. Ayres, I have been told, has his medicine put up by females in Canada, because he can have it done there more cheaply, although a duty of 15 per cent. is paid for importing. =413. Pearlash.= Women could make pearlash in the country, where large quantities of wood are burned in clearing off land, and would no doubt find it pay very well for the trouble. =414. Perfumery.= Perfumeries have been used in oriental countries from the most remote ages. The finest and most costly perfumes are still brought from the East. They were much used in England about the time of Queen Elizabeth. The essential oil of plants confers their odors. This oil may be obtained by expression, infusion, or distillation. In some cases, it may be pressed out of the cellular structure that contains it. Roses and such plants are mostly steeped in water, but some plants are steeped in wine and similar substances. There is a difference in oils obtained from different parts of the same plant; for instance, the leaves, flowers, and fruit of the orange tree yield distinct oils. The perfumeries of France have the best reputation of any others. Considerable perfumery is manufactured in this country, that meets with a ready sale at a good profit. At J. H.'s, Philadelphia, the woman who superintends others employed in putting up perfumery, told me that the hands work three months before they are paid. They then receive from $1.50 to $5 a week. It would require two years, she thinks, to acquire proficiency. J. H. finds employment for his hands all the year round. The girls cut kid for the tops, tie them on, label the bottles, lay them in cotton in small boxes, and then put them in large boxes ready for nailing and sending away. The girls each perform the entire process. It is not divided into separate branches. Sometimes they are employed in putting up fine soaps. The labels are all imported from France. They sit while employed, and spend from ten to twelve hours at it, according to the work on hand. R. says some perfumery is made by machinery and some by hand. He thinks a woman should spend from six months to one year learning to put up perfumery, as it must be done very neatly. He pays his girls, while learning, $2.50 a week, and after that according to ability and industry. The business is now dull, for people cannot afford to indulge in luxuries. At P.'s perfumery manufactory, I learned that the girls work from 7½ to 6, and earn from $2 to $8 per week--the average, $3.50. They are mostly Americans. Spring and fall are the best seasons, but they keep them all the year. They have many applications, but are often puzzled to get enough of good hands. Girls do better than men for putting up perfumery. It requires some taste. Poor workers are very destructive, for the articles of which some perfumeries are made are very costly. There are employed in packing fancy soap and preparing perfumery, between six hundred and seven hundred girls, in New York; average wages, $4. A manufacturer of hair oil pays his men from $10 to $15 per week. Good taste and a quick hand are the requisites. Near a city is the best location. At H.'s perfumery and fancy soap manufactory, one of the firm told me they "import" Frenchmen to make the perfumery, who impart to them the secret, and they furnish the materials. Their busy season commences in January. They pay their girls from the first, but not much until they get to working well. It requires some time to become expert and tasteful in putting up perfumery. They are paid by the piece (customary plan), but do not work over ten hours, as it is all done at the factory. They can earn from $3 to $9 a week. They keep their hands all the year, but in busy times employ extra hands. They employ a number of girls in making boxes, who earn about $3 a week. P. & F. employ one woman, paying $3.50 a week. P. told me such work is usually paid for by the gross, and workers earn about $4.50. The business is likely to increase. No manufactures West or South. It requires six months to become expert. Vacancies are often occurring among the hands. Some are employed in label cutting some in filling bottles, corking, tying, labelling, and boxing, while others envelop and seal the soap. They sit most of the time, but change their position every little while. There is but one establishment of the kind west of Philadelphia, and that is in Cincinnati. =415. Quinine.= At P. & W.'s laboratory, Philadelphia, they employ a number of girls in weighing and putting up quinine, calomel, &c., to send away. The girls work eight hours in winter and nine in summer, and receive from $3 to $9 a week. The employment is thought not to be healthy. It changes the fairest complexion to a sallow, just as the taking of the medicine would. The air of the room where we sat, and where the girls were corking, sealing, enveloping, and labelling, was strongly impregnated with the quinine. It was so offensive that I could not rid myself of the taste for several hours after I left the room. In one apartment a man and woman were weighing the article. The woman wore a bandage over her mouth and a muslin cap on her head, and spectacles with large, dark, convex frames, to prevent the quinine from getting in her eyes, as it turns the white of the eye yellow. The women had each their own apartment of labor. They looked as healthy as you generally see, but I do not know how they may have looked when they commenced working there. The lady who accompanied me, said her friend had fallen off very much and lost the beauty of her complexion while working there during the last two years. =416. Salt.= "In certain cities, especially at Dieppe, France, women have the business of carrying salt; it is a monopoly which has belonged to them from time immemorial. They form a corporation, have a syndic, and salt in the sack cannot, in this city, be transported from the vessel to the depots or warehouses by any but them." According to the statistics of the salt manufacture in 1850, there were 2,699 males employed and 87 females in the United States. Water from the ocean, lakes, and salt springs, I suppose, could be boiled by women. A rock-salt manufacturer writes: "Women might do some of our work better than a man; but one man can tend the hopper and tie as fast as another can fill. The best salt for dairy purposes is imported, and therefore a seaport is the best place for our business." A manufacturer in Barnstable, Mass., writes: "Women are not employed in my branch of industry, as far as my knowledge extends, _in making salt_; but, when it is ground for table use, women are sometimes employed _in making the bags_ to put the salt in. They formerly made good wages in this business; but, since sewing machines have come into almost general use, the price of labor has fallen, and I am not posted as to the price now paid, as most of the ground salt and the bags are manufactured in Boston. Working with salt is very healthy. We manufacture our salt between the 1st of April and the last of October, by solar evaporation; but very little if any salt can be made in this way after the latter month, as the sun runs too low for salt making. Our works are provided with covers, which require too hard labor for women to shove on as rain approaches, and to be opened every fair day. Women can, and occasionally do lend a hand in this business; but it is too laborious. Then, the salt has to be taken out by men with shovels, and this is too hard labor for women. They might assist in drawing the water from one room to another, by simply taking out and putting in plugs; but under a hot summer's sun, we think our business entirely unsuitable for them. In the winter, we manufacture epsom salts; but even this work we consider too laborious for women." A salt manufacturer in South Yarmouth, Maine, writes: "I believe women are employed in the mills in Boston for grinding salt, in making the bags, putting it up, &c., for table use. Otherwise, the service is too hard." Manufacturers in Syracuse, N. Y., say "they have but a limited number of women employed in making sacks. The most of their sacks are furnished by the manufacturing establishments." Salt clarifiers in Burlington, Vt., write: "We employ one woman, because it is cheaper to do so. We pay her $4 per week--a man we would have to pay $6. The work is healthy, and women's part soon learned. Spring and summer are the best seasons. The prospect for work in this line is good. Board, $1.70 per week." A gentleman in the salt business at Geddes, N. Y., writes: "There used to be employed far more women than now in making bags to hold dairy or bag salt. Now, sewing machines have entirely superseded them in this branch of our business. During the summer season, formerly, there were from one hundred to three hundred women at bag making. There are now, say one hundred or more women engaged in packing and filling the barrels with salt. They are all foreigners. It is dirty, heavy, and laborious work, and not suitable for women, but is extremely healthy. No difference is made in the price paid men and women, all being paid by the piece, and earning from 75 cents to $1 per day. A strong woman can learn very soon. The amount of work, probably, will not change much in future. The work is done only in the summer season. A large proportion of all the salt made in this country is made here. The annual product of our salt springs is about seven million bushels salt, produced at an expense for _labor_ of not less than ten cents per bushel. Nearly all is paid to men, Irish and Dutch getting the most of it. A very small part of the work, if any, is adapted to women. Most of our women workers are the wives or mothers of men and boys who fasten hoops on barrels. Most of the salt at Syracuse, N. Y., is made by boiling down the water that springs from artesian wells. At Turk's Island, salt is made by simply digging vats in the meadow and throwing the water into them. As it rarely rains there for a number of months, they require no covering to their works, and have only to take out the salt and stack it up when it is made." =417. Soda.= I find that in factories of this kind, girls are not employed in this country, except for putting the article in papers. They are paid from twelve to sixteen cents per hundred, according to the size. At a factory I saw many at work. They looked very neat. All wore clean calico dresses, and snow-white handkerchiefs over their heads, to prevent the soda from lodging in their hair. They must inhale considerable of it, as the atmosphere was strongly impregnated. One of the workers told me they are paid eighteen cents per hundred packages, which were rather large. A box contained sixty packages. Some are able to put up as many as seven hundred packages a day. The proprietor and one of the girls said it was not unhealthy work; but it is my impression that it is, if worked at constantly. It requires but a week to get in the way of doing it, and expertness is gained by practice. They work all the year, but sometimes there is not much to do. They are most busy in spring and fall. Some of the hands live near; so, in slack times, if the proprietor receives an order to be filled, he sends immediately for his girls. At another factory, I was told September and October are the most busy months for their hands. They cannot send much away in winter, because the rivers are closed and railroad freight is high. Soda, I was told, is more used in the South than saleratus. Some of their girls are paid by the week, and some by the box. They earn from $3 to $4. The gentleman said the dust was disagreeable, but not unhealthy. Their girls stand while at work. =418. Starch.= A large number of plants and vegetable substances contain starch. Wheat, potatoes, rice, and maize are the principal. It is also found in the seeds and stems of plants. It is not soluble in cold water, consequently may be easily washed out of any vegetable substance. For those from which it cannot be so removed chemical decomposition may be employed. Manufacturers write us: "The making of starch is hard and unsuitable work for females; but girls are employed to put up the starch in papers and label it, receiving from thirty-seven to seventy-five cents a day, according to what the worker accomplishes." The following intelligence we received from the Oswego factory: "We employ from fifteen to twenty women, because we find them more attentive than boys. They paste labels on packages of starch, and receive thirty-seven and a half cents per day, of from eight to ten hours. A smart girl can learn in a few hours. The prospect of employment in future is good. They are paid the same that boys would be, and have work the year round. There are no parts suitable for women, in which they are not engaged. Board, $1.25 to $1.50." =419. White Lead.= At the store of a white lead manufacturer, I was told they employ a number of girls, when busy, to label the tin cans. The making of white lead is unhealthy, and, I suppose, very disagreeable work. Women are employed in England in the manufacture of white lead. =420. Whiting.= This article is used for cleaning silver, and one preparation of it for the face. There are not more than from twelve to twenty women at the work in the United States. B. used to employ women, and paid by the pound. The women earned about $3 a week, of ten hours. They were employed merely in putting up the article. COMMUNICATING MEDIUMS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND OTHERS. =421. Assistants in Public and Benevolent Institutions.= There is a wide field of usefulness open to ladies, as matrons in charitable institutions. Blessed is the influence a woman exerts as a matron, if she is a kind, good woman. Her responsibilities are great, but a consciousness of the vast amount of good she may accomplish should reconcile her to them. The discharge of her duties will often cast her in the society of visitors, many of whom are refined and educated people. In _reformatory institutions for children_, a matron may do incalculable good. _The female department of almshouses, lunatic asylums, hospitals, prisons, workhouses, and all other public and charitable institutions_, should be in the hands of women. They can exert a better influence. They know better the wants of their sister women. They can enter into their feelings. They can check familiarities with the male inmates, and exert more influence when temptation is offered. In short, they are women, and know a woman's heart. _Orphan, and deaf and dumb asylums, houses of refuge, eye and ear infirmaries, schools for imbecile children, and all such places_, should be managed by women, as far as practicable. The managers of the home department of such institutions should be firm and efficient, yet kind hearted. Nor should merely the filling of these offices be given to women, but there should be a number of lady visitors to coöperate with the managers. They can often suggest many improvements for the comfort and health of the inmates, that would escape the notice of men. I was told by a friend, now deceased, who took an active part in establishing and advancing benevolent institutions, that she found it very difficult to obtain matrons, seamstresses, and tailoresses, willing and competent to instruct the inmates of the institutions in their various branches of labor. She thought it would be well to instruct women so thoroughly in their business that they might efficiently impart a knowledge of it to others. She thought there should be a house where women and girls could be properly prepared to perform the duties of cooks, nurses, and house servants. A lady friend suggested that many of the situations in the public institutions of New York might be filled by some of the women who are now keeping boarding houses, and so, the pressure in that quarter being removed, there would be fairer and fuller play to those that are left in the occupation. A principal reason of the order and cleanliness of the workhouses in Holland, is the attention and humanity of the governesses; for each house has four, who take charge of the inspection, and have their names painted in the room. For the moral management of convicts, men are systematically trained in some countries of Europe. In the hospitals, prisons, and reformatory institutions of England, supported by the government, women are employed. They are even eligible as overseers of the poor. The President of the Board of Public Institutions in New York city furnished me with answers to questions in regard to the women employed therein, as follows: "Women are employed as matrons, nurses, and laborers in this city, and on Blackwell's and Randall's islands. They receive from $5 per month to $430 per annum, and are paid by the month. The labor performed, properly belongs to women, although we employ some men for part of the same labor, but their pay is about the same. There is no need of an apprenticeship to become familiar with their employments, and the only special qualifications are health and strength. There is no difference as to seasons with us. They work only as many hours as are necessary. The demand for those occupying this position grows out of the number of the destitute and criminal thrown on our hands. About twenty-five per cent. employed are Americans. We employ women in all work for which they are suited. The more intelligent are selected for the most responsible positions. If so disposed, they have ample time for mental and moral culture. They live where they labor, and their places of residence are comfortable." Each of the janitresses of the public schools of New York receives a salary of from $100 to $400 per annum. At the Tombs of New York, a woman has charge of the department where the female convicts are. At a meeting of ladies in Dublin, for the employment of women, Mr. McFarlane said that "for the last twenty-five years, the Grangegorman Penitentiary had been under the management of a lady, and it had been most admirably conducted." =422. Commissioners of Deeds.= There are about two hundred in the city of New York, and, with a moderate run of custom, each can make several hundred dollars per annum. Their duties are very light, and, I have been told, could as well be performed by women as men. =423. Housekeepers.= A kind, yet decided manner, will more effectually govern a household than fretting and scolding. A portion of time should be regularly set aside for servants to feel as their own. It will often prove a matter of economy to those who exact work of them. Those of principle will work more diligently. Everybody needs some rest. Gain the good will and confidence of servants, and they will reward you in the labor of their stronger muscles. But avoid familiarity, by all means. Much of the long, wearing toil of servants might be avoided by consideration and management on the part of a housekeeper. Domestics labor hard, and much of the comfort of a family depends on them. Do not accuse on suspicion those in your employ of doing or having done wrong. Be careful of the reputation of others, particularly dependent females. A man of standing, to whom I expressed the desire that more occupations should be opened to women, expressed the wish that our domestics should be Americans, and of a more intelligent class. An effort should be made to elevate the standard of servants, he said, to induce more respectable and intelligent women to enter domestic service. Those engaged in it, he thought, should find something else to do, and will be pushed out as a more competent class enter. I would prefer to see our present class of servants fit themselves better for the discharge of their duties, and American girls enter occupations of a more refined and exalted nature. The same gentleman referred to, stated that his servants each receive $2 a week, dress handsomely, and lay by money. (?) They do better for themselves, he remarked, than the girls in his bookbindery. In some of the convents of France, the sisters go through a course of training to prepare them for the duties of housekeepers, and are then sent to take charge of religious and charitable institutions connected with their church. Why might not some such plan be pursued by Protestants? Says an English review: "In Germany, the employment of women in the offices of house-steward, maitre d'hotel, butler or lackey, sanctioned by universal custom, is not considered so incompatible as it would be with us, with the other branches of a first-rate establishment." =424. Keepers of Intelligence Offices.= Intelligence offices are established for the purpose of giving information to or respecting persons seeking employment. They are individual enterprises. From fifty cents to $1 is paid by an applicant for information of persons desiring one of such capacity as they seek to fill. The same price is paid by the person seeking an assistant or domestic. Most offices are limited to supplying domestics; but one or more might be established for the supply of seamstresses, saleswomen, milliners, dress makers, &c. Girls often find it an advantage to apply at an office, if they have not friends to interest themselves and secure them situations. But they should be particular to know the character of the office they patronize. A lady remarked to me, if a girl was willing to spend a year in a family where she could be well instructed for her work, she could then be sure of a good home and fair wages. Servant girls are universally complained of at the North. Many of them are very exacting. Most are raw Irish girls, who think, when they come to this country, everybody is equal. Consequently, they do not know their places as they do in the old country, where there are distinct grades in society. Another thing that makes some so trifling is that such swarms come, and they are so ignorant, and many of them so corrupt, that they instigate each other. I was told, by the keeper of an intelligence office, that girls and women always ask more than they expect to get. Some cooks get as high as $20 a month. They are mostly French and German. Now and then he has a good American. He has a lady in attendance that can speak French and German. His terms are fifty cents a month from the employer, and the same from the employée. It gives the privileges of the office for one or two months. Few are willing to go to the country. Many girls come from the country that do not know where to board. The keeper of the office sends them to a cheap but respectable house. His office is open from eight to five. To employers he sends a blank certificate of character, to be filled when the servant leaves. There is a Protestant office in Philadelphia, and one or more in New York. At an intelligence office on Grand street, where girls pay fifty cents and the employer fifty cents, the girl has the privilege of being supplied with places for two months, if she remains on trial the time specified by agreement with her various employers. If not, she forfeits the privilege. This office had a servants' home connected with it, that is, a boarding house for servants out of employ. The girls paid $2 a week. A training school was connected with this, in which the servants received instructions in cooking and the various details of housekeeping. The cooking of the boarding house was done by some of the number. He failed in his enterprise, he said, from want of capital. One has been in operation in England for eight years very successfully, connected with which is a training school. They have few Americans to apply for places; for Americans like lighter work, as nursing, sewing, being lady's maid, &c. In summer there is a scarcity of girls, for they go to the country and watering places to cook and do housework. In the fall they flock to the city, and there are more applicants than situations. At some offices the privilege is accorded for three months, and at some only one month. A lady who keeps an office in Williamsburg told me, when the girls come to her, she takes their names and qualifications. She receives the calls of ladies wanting girls, and also records their wants. After five o'clock, and on Saturday after two o'clock, the office is closed, and she then compares the wants of employers and employées, and makes out a corresponding list. Next day she sends girls to their places. I could have got a lady's maid for $5 a month with board and lodging. I saw a lady securing a nurse for her child at the same price. Fifty cents is the fee for the privilege of her office for three months. She furnishes girls during that time until the mistress is satisfied; and the girl pays the same, and is furnished with places for three months until she is satisfied. She does not require references from her girls, but sends the lady to the last employer of the girl. I called at Mrs. Y.'s office, New York. Girls, she says, get different prices in different States. In wealthy States, as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Southern States, they get good prices. In Cincinnati, and the States of Wisconsin and New Jersey, poor prices. She sends many from the city to every part of the United States. People write to her, inclosing the money for the girl's passage. She then buys her a ticket and provisions, and sends her on; but the arrangement is always for a year or six months, as people are not willing to incur the expense of paying the passage of a girl for less time. She could get many more places for girls, if they would go to the country; but they do not wish to go, and, if dissatisfied, be at the expense of returning. The girl may be deceived, by finding there are twice as many in the family as represented, or the work is much harder. Mrs. Y. learns the character of a girl that applies to her, and then registers it in her book. So ladies applying for a girl have from her the true character. She has no difficulty in finding places for her girls. She is always busy but on a rainy day. People object to having an intelligence office near them, as the girls are inclined to stand about the door. It is said that the majority of the keepers of intelligence offices furnish the best places to those by whom they are bribed. A few years ago, the number of white female servants in New York city was estimated at 100,000, that of Boston 50,000, Philadelphia 30,000, and Baltimore 20,000. There is a lady in Boston who goes around among her friends and secures to them good domestics, receiving some compensation for her services--I think, fifty cents a domestic. When the influence of servants over children is considered, I think parents cannot be too careful in the selection of their servants; and to obtain good ones, they should be willing to pay a fair price. There is a waste of time to girls sitting in offices, and a risk run of being sent, by a person of whose moral character they know nothing, to a house that may prove the wreck of their virtue. At a boarding house and intelligence office for workwomen, the lady told me they charge $2 a week for board, allowing the privilege of the wash room, and of sitting in the parlor in the evening, which is warmed and contains a piano. To those who cannot pay as much as this, they charge from $1 to $1.25, giving them rooms in the attic. They have been applied to often for persons of a higher class than usually frequent intelligence offices, but only until since the times have been so hard have they had such applicants. I was told, at another office, they seldom have American girls apply for places, except as house girls, and they are mostly girls who have worked in factories. They send girls to California and all parts of the United States, and they have some who travel through Europe in the capacity of ladies' maids. Their office is open from nine to five o'clock. When a girl is sent for from another place, the money is sent by express and a receipt taken, or by mail, and a receipt taken at the post office. One of a high order for cultivated women, who desire places as bookkeepers, copyists, secretaries, &c., is quite necessary. We would suggest the establishment of such an office for furnishing female workers to different parts of the United States, where they are wanted in the higher branches of woman's labor. It would confer a blessing on virtuous and industrious women, and be an accommodation to employers. A paper devoted to the same interests might do much good also; but we think it doubtful whether it would pay its way. =425. Lighthouse Keepers.= Miss H. told me of two young women whose father keeps a lighthouse, but he is very feeble and infirm. They attend the lights, and often row out, if they see a wreck, and do what they can to rescue the passengers. We observed this newspaper paragraph a few years back: "A Mrs. Lydia Smith has been appointed assistant keeper of the lighthouse at Manitou Island (Michigan) at $250 per annum." "They have a Grace Darling at Bridgeport, Conn. On the night of the 13th inst., Miss Moore, an accomplished young lady, the daughter of the keeper of the lighthouse on Fairweather Island, just below Bridgeport, heard cries for help at a distance from the shore, and determined that an effort should be made to rescue whom it might be. It was too dark to tell the direction or the distance, but, summoning two young men to her aid, she launched the boat belonging to the lighthouse, and ordered them to pull out in the direction of the cries, herself holding the tiller. About two miles out in the Sound, they found a sailboat capsized, and clinging to it were two men nearly exhausted. One of them was entirely helpless, and with great difficulty got in the boat; but both were finally rescued from death by the courage and efforts of this brave girl, and brought safely to shore. Mr. Moore, the keeper of the lighthouse, has been for some time afflicted with ill health, and when unable to see to the details of his office, this daughter assumes the entire management, and, through the lonely watches of the night, it is her fair hand that trims and tends the beacon that guides the mariner safely on his way." =426. Pawnbrokers.= I suppose this business requires a general knowledge of the value of goods. Some pawnbrokers profess to make liberal advances, but a very heavy percentage is usually charged. Indeed, some pawnbrokers extort an incredible interest on money loaned to the poor. S., an intelligent Irish pawnbroker, into whose office I went to ask something of the business, told me he never knew of but one woman in the business. She was nominally a widow, and employed a young man to stay in the shop. When women are employed in pawnbrokers' establishments, it is nearly always as auxiliaries, being the wife, sister, or daughter of the keeper. He thinks it not a suitable business for a woman, as the class of people that come require a strong man to deal with them, who can use their slang language, and drive them away if they become very rude. No doubt, many go to pawn what they have when under the influence of liquor, or to pawn their clothes to get liquor. The broker retains what is pawned for a year, if it is not redeemed in less time. It is then sold at auction. There is a law that permits it. His shelves were filled with bundles, on which were pinned numbered papers. Another pawnbroker told me that the fashion and quality of goods decide the price put on them, particularly wearing apparel. There may be a difference in the value estimation of pawnbrokers, just as there is in different establishments where the same kind of new goods are sold. I saw the name of a female pawnbroker in a business directory, and called. I did not see her, but the young man who was employed to assist her in attending the store said they have most business to do in summer, and that it is a business requiring experience. They pay on articles taken to them what they will be likely to sell for at auction. They must make some allowance for what they may lose on the article. They charge at the rate of twenty-five per cent. for a year's time, which is as long as anything pawned is kept. They lose more on clothes than other goods. They allow a depositor to draw any sum of less amount than the estimated value of an article; and when the article is redeemed, a percentage is paid on the amount of the money drawn, and not on the full value of the article. =427. Postmistresses.= There are (1854) 128 postmistresses in the United States. They receive the same salaries that postmasters do. The clerks in post offices sometimes count at the rate of sixty letters a minute. There are 29,000 post offices in the United States, ninety clerks in Chicago, and, I think, nearly three hundred in New York. Might not a large number of these be women? I have read that it is in contemplation to place in the general post office in London a number of lady clerks. I called on Mrs. W., who was for nearly two years at the ladies' window in the general post office, New York. Very few approved of a lady being there. She found some advantages, but many disadvantages, arising from her position. In the first place, it yielded her and her child a support, the salary being $600. She was treated with respect by all the attachés of the office except two--one of whom was immediately dismissed, and the other removed. But the class of women who go to the general post office constantly for letters, are of a kind a respectable woman would not like to come in contact with. The majority receive letters under fictitious names. Some of them were very impudent to her. And sometimes men would come to the window and insist on her getting the letters of their lady friends for them. Besides, there were about fifty clerks immediately around her, and altogether in the office between two hundred and three hundred. They were men of all classes and nations. The office is one influenced by political motives, and a man has the advantage as candidate by gaining the votes of his friends. She says she was kind and courteous, but found it necessary to be very decided, and keep at a distance from every one. The men in the office did not like it, because they had to guard their tongues. She remained there from 8.30 A. M. to 4.30 P. M., and was on her feet all the time, with the exception of a few minutes. There were no conveniences or comforts for a woman. So she suffered severely from the effects. She thinks the plan of employing ladies in the post offices of towns and villages might be done more easily. Even here it might be done more advantageously, if the office was situated farther up street, the regulations were different, and a number of ladies were employed instead of but one. A lady could not well use a ladder to reach down letters from the upper boxes. A young man did that for her. For a postmistress we might enumerate the qualifications of quickness of eye, strict integrity, a retentive memory, and patient industry. "Unmarried females only can hold the office of postmistress. They are appointed, give bonds, and are commissioned in the same manner as postmasters, and receive the same compensation. There is, however, a larger number of females, generally the wives and daughters of postmasters, employed as assistants; but as the latter are appointed and paid by the postmasters themselves, to whom alone they are responsible, their names are not recorded on the government books." =428. Sewing-Machine Instructors.= In many of the stores of New York, where sewing machines are sold, we notice that many of those who give instructions to buyers of machines are men. Shame on the men that teach women to sew! When such is the case, to what may not a woman resort for earning a livelihood? Shame on the man that engages in such an effeminate employment, save he who is deformed and cannot engage in harder work! Shame, I say, on the man seen at a sewing machine, or with a needle in his hand! Surely the muscles and bones and sinews of men were never given for such a purpose. W. & W. employ five young ladies as instructors on machines, paying each of them over $6 a week. They have one to sell thread, and two to go about the city adjusting machines. It is something difficult to do, as it requires almost the mechanical talent of a machinist. They have no applications for instructors on sewing machines out of the city, but have for some in the city. They employ females because the purchasers of machines are generally ladies. G. & B. employ a lady for adjusting machines, as they find ladies prefer one of their own sex for the purpose. I was told at S.'s, by the bookkeeper, they do not employ female instructors. They used to employ both young men and young ladies, but they spent so much time talking to each other, that they found it necessary to dispense with either the one or the other. So they gave up the girls eighteen months ago, and have not employed any since. They paid girls $4 a week from the time they took them, and increased their wages to $5 or $6. Many of the women earned $6. They worked, on an average, ten hours a day. Ladies are employed in Boston to sell machines. The ladies of New York (said a young man selling machines) prefer to buy of a gentleman. (?) Yet, he thinks the crying sin of civilization is, not furnishing remunerative employment to women. Simply learning to sew with a machine is by no means difficult, though the time required depends very much upon the abilities of the learner. Some become proficient in all its accomplishments of hemming, tucking, gathering, preparing work for the machine, &c., in from three to six months, while others do not become efficient workers in less than a year. The time required to learn depends very much on the machine used, as some are more complicated than others; and a thorough knowledge of the machine is desirable for every good worker. It is more difficult to learn to operate on one kind of machine after learning on some other kind. By paying $1.50, a person can receive six lessons on sewing machines at S.'s. At W. & W.'s, and at G. & B.'s, purchasers and those who cannot pay are taught free of charge. Some people charge $3 for teaching to operate. L. & W. will teach any one to operate who buys a machine, but they charge others $2. =429. Shepherdesses.= Boys who keep sheep in Scotland, knit while so employed. Girls and women who tend sheep, might perhaps do the same. Sheep are being raised to considerable extent in Texas, and the raising of them is on the increase in the Western States, but we do not know that females have ever been employed in this country to tend sheep. =430. Toll Collectors.= It is not unusual to see women receiving toll at the gates, but they are mostly foreigners, or poor widows, or the wives of the gatekeepers. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE COMFORT OR AMUSEMENT OF OTHERS. =431. Bathhouse Attendants.= There are some people that cannot afford to have bathhouses in their dwellings, and for such it is well there are houses where, for twenty-five cents, they may enjoy the luxury of a bath. Particularly is it well for hard-working people, on whom the dust and perspiration collect, and who are refreshed and rendered more healthy by frequent baths. Where a bathhouse is used for women alone--there being no department for men--we think it might be owned and superintended by a lady, just like any other branch of business. Females, of course, would be in attendance to wait on those that frequent the bath rooms. Quite a number are employed at water-cure establishments, which are open for patients at all seasons of the year. Not only does cleanliness promote comfort, but it is conducive to health. Many of the diseases of the poor arise from a want of cleanliness. Even the morals are improved, and the mind freed as it were from its cobwebs. Most medicinal baths should be superintended by some one that has a knowledge of medicine and the human system. And those employed, if unacquainted with the business, should be particular in observing directions given. For baths, a person should have means to fit up rooms neatly, and enough to live on until their establishment becomes known. I called on the wife of a gentleman who has electro-magnetic baths administered. He is a physician, and gives medical advice as to the kind of bath required. He does not give much medicine, thinking the article that would be prescribed had better be administered externally in the form of a bath. The baths are $3 for a single one; $10 for four. More people take the baths in summer than winter. After a vapor bath the system is stimulated, not relaxed; it is then better prepared for the reception of medicine. The charge at one establishment I know to be 50 cents a bath, or $5 for twelve. In New York, I saw the People's Washing and Bathing Establishment, which was put up by some philanthropic citizens, for the benefit of the poor. A man is employed to take charge of it; and in summer, several women attend to bathers, and some wash and iron towels. They pay $3 a week to a bath attendant, and from $3 to $3.50 to washers and ironers. They have had 1,500 bathers a day, in summer. For a bath in a small room and one towel, six cents are charged; for better accommodations, twelve cents. A swimming bath for boys is attached, and a charge made of three cents a swim of half an hour. =432. Brace and Truss Makers.= I went to M. & Co.'s, New York, who are surgical and anatomical mechanicians, inventors, and manufacturers. They want to employ several good female workers. They will not take any to learn, because it requires time to teach them; yet a person of moderate abilities, that can sew neatly, can learn in a few days, or weeks at most, to do the cutting out and stitching. Part of the stitching is done by hand, and part by machinery. The workwomen are paid $3 a week, and work ten hours. At L.'s truss and bandage institute, I learned that he employs a number at $3 a week. He cannot get as many good hands as he wants. He drew several hands from his former employer by paying them a little more. His wife does the fitting for ladies. A truss maker in Middletown, Conn., pays his women by the piece, and they earn from $3 to $4 per week. A., Brooklyn, pays a girl that sews neatly, but has never worked at the business, $3 a week. Any one that can sew well or operate on a machine, can do the mechanical work. He pays experienced hands over $3, according to what they do. His girls work but nine hours a day. Manufacturers of surgical apparatus in Boston write: "We employ women in sewing exclusively, generally about twenty, and all American. The work is not more unhealthy than any sewing. We consider any steady sewing, and the consequent confinement, more or less injurious. Average wages, perhaps $4 per week--something depends upon capabilities, however. Some have earned $6 per week, though such cases are exceptions. All our work is done by the piece. Females are paid about half the price of males. There appears to be an ample supply of female labor. On this basis, prices, details, &c., are governed accordingly. That portion of the work done by males, it takes three years to learn; that done by women, three months, presuming they were good sewers at the start. Learners are paid the same as old hands. Of course, they are slower, and accumulate less until well learned. To be a neat sewer and possess some mechanical skill will prepare one for this employment. We are seldom idle more than two weeks in the year. The male portion of our work would be no more adapted to women than horse shoeing. Our hands work from eight to twelve hours each day, and have none too much time for the improvement of their minds, considering they must be occupied more or less upon their own private sewing in addition to their business." A truss maker in Boston writes: "I pay by the week, from $4 to$6 to women; to men, from $7 to $12, because they can do more. They work from nine to ten hours. All are Americans. It requires from three to six months to learn. Some portions of the steel work would not be suitable for women. Board, $2 per week." "W. & F. employ eight women for making braces, bandages, &c. They pay $3 a week to those who are employed by the week. Those that work by the piece can earn from $4 to $6, and sometimes by overwork $7 a week. Their work is steady in good times, and they are able to employ their girls all the year. All sew by hand but one, and she receives but $4 as an operator. The business is mostly confined to cities." =433. Chiropodists.= W., of the firm of L. & W., was quite a gentlemanly man in his manners, conversation, and dress. He mentioned three women, each in different cities, engaged in this occupation. He thinks his pursuit preferable to dentistry. Both depend on the class of patients. To follow the calling professionally requires a knowledge of anatomy and surgery. There is a great deal of charlatanism practised by some in the calling. A knowledge of how to extract corns is not sufficient. Bunions, inverted nails, &c., require scientific treatment. He charges $1 for removing one corn, fifty cents apiece for two, and proportionately less for three or more. There are a great many itinerant doctors. If any individual fits himself properly for the calling, he may, after three or four years, in a large city, living from hand to mouth during the time, succeed in establishing a name and gaining respectable practice. The number of ladies suffering from corns has not decreased, judging from his experience. Men are more liable to have corns than women, because of more severe and constant exercise. He thinks it would not do for women to work at men's feet. I think it would not be more agreeable to a woman to have a man work at her feet; and as far as propriety goes, one is no better than the other. He would discourage any lady friend of his from undertaking the business. I called on Mme. K., a French lady. Her father is a chiropodist in Paris, and what she knows of the business she learned from seeing him. She found it unpleasant at first, but now she does not mind it. She goes to the house of the patient for the same price as she operates at her own room, namely, fifty cents a corn. She has as much to do as she wants. She thinks, in other places there are openings, and a woman that thoroughly understands the business is in every way as fit and capable as a man. She knows of but one other lady in the business in this country, and she is quite aged. She thinks, by three months' study and practice with a skilful operator, one might do very well to commence for herself. She would as soon operate on a gentleman's as a lady's foot. It might be well for one commencing to practice to travel, or get custom in several towns and villages in the same vicinity. I think she would instruct any one for a satisfactory compensation. A chiropodist says, as long as people are fools enough to abuse their feet, the prospect for his employment is good. L. is the oldest practitioner in the United States, and has practised in New York for twenty years. He would be willing to instruct pupils, charging $100 for each student. He would give thorough and systematic instruction, and teach to make the material used. People have not had much confidence in ladies, because of their deficiency in surgical skill. Incompetent persons have injured the business. Times do not affect the amount of practice. There are openings in Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago. Many ladies come to L. to have their finger nails trimmed, polished, and tinted. They would no doubt be as willing to have a competent lady. =434. Cuppers and Leechers.= This business is sometimes connected with that of a barber. But in cities, some women engage in it, and, no doubt, are as competent as men. Indeed, for their own sex and children they are better fitted. Mrs. A., a cupper and leecher, told me the best way to obtain custom is to form the acquaintance of some of the best physicians, as they will then recommend you but you must always be ready to attend their patients, or they forget you. Her father was a physician, and in that way she learned the treatment of leeches. It is well to get into the favor of persons that serve as leechers at the infirmaries--they may be willing to instruct you. The Germans have killed the business in New York. Some charge but twenty-five cents for cupping, and proportionately low for leeching. Leeching is sooner learned than cupping, but there is much less of both done than formerly. Homoeopathy has interfered with their use. She used to be out all day and up all night, but now she seldom has a call; and yet she must be always at home, and ready for a call. She never goes to take a cup of tea with a friend, and is frequently called out of church. Leeching and cupping require a steady hand, and ability to use the scarificator. A person in the business must go into all kinds of sickness, without even asking what it is. Accidents give considerable custom, and in the sickly season there is most. It has become common for lads in apothecary shops to be sent out to apply leeches. When they are to be applied to any hidden part of a lady, a female leecher, of course, is preferable. Mrs. A. charges twenty-five cents a leech, if more than one is applied--if not, thirty-seven cents. For cupping she charges $1. One lady in New York charges not less than $1 apiece for applying leeches, and in some cases more. Mrs. L. thinks a lady could not make a living at the business in New York, because the Germans have killed the trade by working at half price, and, as might be supposed, do not properly understand it. A good location should be fixed upon for an office. A cupper and leecher is expected to go in all weather, and in all hours of the day and night, and in any kind of sickness. Most of it is done in fall and winter, because there is then most inflammation. Judgment must be used in the quantity of blood to be drawn. A leecher should be a good judge of the quality of leeches, and the proper treatment of them. Particular attention should be paid to the directions of the doctor in applying leeches. Mrs. L. says there is an opening for a cupper and leecher in Albany, N. Y. A friend of hers there had to pay exorbitantly for the services of a leecher. =435. Fishing-Tackle Preparers.= In Philadelphia, I was told at the store where most fishing tackle is sold, that one woman is employed by them in fastening small hooks, with silk thread, on the end of worm gut. Large hooks are prepared in the same way for other kinds of fishing. It would seem that few women know of the existence of that kind of work in Philadelphia, for when the proprietor advertises for a female hand, he never has any applicants. It is clean, healthy work, and the materials can be easily carried home. Fifty cents a day a woman earns at it, but a man $1. There is but a small demand for fishing tackle in Philadelphia, but in New York the trade is much more important. C., of New York, says most engaged in this work are English women. A fast and correct worker can earn $6 a week at it. They are paid for by the dozen. He finds women more honest than men, and therefore prefers them. Men will steal some of the line or some of the hooks. For making flies, a superior hand may earn $8 a week. Something of a mechanical turn is all that is necessary to make a good workman. They have more work of that kind done than any house in New York, and pay a better price to have it well done. Nets pay very poorly, because all the large nets are now made by machinery, and the smaller ones are made by infirm people, who do it to keep employed as much as for the compensation. When the coarse netting is done by machinery, it can be obtained at 12½ cents a fathom, and a fathom of the same kind done by hand would require a day. The peculiar system of the business is that the work is all done in winter, and the goods sold in summer. It is a luxury, and consequently dispensed with when times are hard. C. pays for putting hooks on the lines by the gross. The silk lines are manufactured in England. G. & B. employ four women who work at home in making fishing tackle and artificial flies. They are made in winter. An experienced hand can obtain $15 a week, working from six in the morning till ten at night. He thinks, there are so few in the business, workers would not give instruction without good pay. A woman may possibly earn $4 a week making nets. They employ Irishmen to weave the silk worm gut on the hooks. The three or four large fishing-tackle establishments in New York could furnish all that is needed for the United States. Mrs. R., who makes artificial flies and fishing tackle, says she has now and then earned $9 a week--a difference of $6 in the report of the clerk. But there is considerable difference in the amount of work of the different kinds; and as they are paid for by the gross, some kinds of work pay better than others. There is now considerable competition in this work, because of the many that are out of employment. Girls apply at the store, offering to do the work at forty-two cents a gross. None are prepared South or West--so there may be openings before long in St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, &c. Making artificial flies is mostly in the hands of Irishmen. =436. Fortune Tellers.= In London is a class of men and women called Druynackers, that take goods around in baskets to sell, and profess to tell fortunes. This magic power gives them influence over many silly girls, that are tempted to buy of them on that account. We cannot believe that God would vouchsafe to a mortal the power to foretell future events--to unite the present and future--time and eternity. The constitution of all nature and the teachings of the Bible confute such a belief. "The veil," says some one, "which covers futurity is woven by the hand of mercy. Seek not to raise the veil therefore, for sadness might be seen to shade the brow that fancy had arrayed in smiles of gladness." Wherever there are people tempted to pry into the future, there will be some to take advantage of it. Many a fortune teller sells her soul to Satan for the power of imposing the belief that she reveals future events. The prices charged by fortune tellers for their services vary from 25 cents to $5. =437. Guides and Door Attendants.= "In Paris, the box offices of all the theatres are tended by women--not only those of the evening, but those open during the day for the sale of reserved places. The box openers and audience seaters are women." "The proprietor of the London Adelphi advertised, at the opening of the last season, that his box openers, check takers, and so on, would all be women." We have seen it stated that in some of the Roman Catholic churches in Paris, ladies of the congregation pass around the plates to take up a collection. Women in some of the old countries are occupied as doorkeepers at museums and galleries of paintings. In Great Britain, many of the door attendants are females, where the houses are occupied by several families, as is often the case. In England, some women are employed as pew openers. To come nearer home. Those who have visited the Academy of Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, will remember the pleasant face of the janitress who receives the tickets of the visitors, and that an obliging young woman checked the canes and parasols. In New York, most of the picture galleries have female doorkeepers. =438. Lodging and Boarding House Keepers.= Patience, a spirit of forgiveness, and an ability to overlook faults, are very necessary for gliding along smoothly in this difficult and often ungrateful calling. A cheerful disposition, too, is almost indispensable, for everybody likes smiles better than frowns. A love of society is desirable. It is a principle that has been wisely implanted in the human heart, and one that affords numerous and important advantages to mankind. It is one that tends to produce a desire for the comfort and happiness of those around. Yet too great a fondness for society may cause a neglect of duty and a love of gossipping. It is sometimes the case that light, frivolous talk and too great fondness for excitement characterize the keepers and inmates of a boarding house. Yet such, of course, is not always the case. Keeping a boarding house is an office that will give to one of a kind and benevolent nature a good opportunity of exercising her native qualities. Sympathy closely binds such to the unfortunate, and pleasures are doubled by participating with others. Whether those who keep boarding houses happen to have by nature more idle curiosity than others, or whether the business is one calculated to create and foster such a quality, I cannot say, but favor the latter opinion. The tempers of those who keep boarding houses are apt to be very much tried. They need great firmness and uniformity in deportment. The price paid for boarding is usually proportioned to the comforts enjoyed, but not always. In early times, houses of entertainment for travellers were kept mostly by women. In a region of country where hunting and fishing are good, or the scenery fine, and the roads pleasant, ladies often accommodate, for the summer and autumn, families from the city. It is a very general fashion for people in the cities to go during the warmest weather to the country, seaside, or springs. Boarding house keepers usually find it most profitable to keep a large house, as only one kitchen and parlor are needed, and many other expenses attending a house are proportionately diminished. Good boarding houses for workwomen are scarce in all large cities, particularly New York. Most keepers of boarding houses prefer men, because they are less about the house. I have been told that it is very difficult for work girls to get board in well kept houses. I think several respectable boarding houses should be established in large cities by wealthy and influential ladies, or religious societies, for working women. In New York are some houses where none but merchants' clerks board. Why might not one or more be established for shop girls? A list, as given by employers, of the prices paid by work girls for their board, I will annex at the close of this work; but I would add that comfortable rooms and wholesome food cannot be furnished _in cities_ at these prices, and afford a reasonable profit to the keepers of the houses. And I would further say, the prices paid women for their labor does not enable them to pay higher rates for their board. =439. Makers of Artificial Eyes.= The science of supplying defects in the physique is such that an artificial man can almost be manufactured. Artificial teeth, hair, eyes, ears, noses, chins, palates, arms, hands, and legs, are some of the missing parts of the frame that can be supplied. In the census report of Great Britain for 1850, we find four women under the head of artificial limb and eye makers. G., of New York, knows two or three ladies in Paris, and one in London, that are engaged in making the whites of glass eyes. G. may be able to give employment to a lady in making the white of the eyes, in a few months. It is done by blowing the glass, and requires but a short time to learn. He says he would pay a woman well for the work. I called at D.'s, a manufacturer of glass eyes, and saw D.'s son, a youth about eighteen years of age. He says there are but two other makers of glass eyes in the United States, and only two or three in London. D. spent fourteen years in London and Dublin, manufacturing eyes at the infirmaries, and giving them away. He did it to get in practice. He prefers to insert the eyes himself. They move as a natural eye does, and certainly were very natural in color. He sells them at from $10 to $20. Some physicians furnish their patients with them, charging $60 or $70 for one, and so making a handsome profit. When a person that does not understand the form of the glass eye and the anatomy of the human eye inserts one, the inside of the eye is liable to become inflamed, and proud flesh is formed. D. spent a fortune experimenting. It requires an extensive knowledge of chemicals, and the effect produced on them by heat. A small furnace is used for burning the colors, in the glass. Some people would give thousands of dollars to know the chemicals used, and their proportions. The young man says his father has never even imparted to him the information. Some people that wear glass eyes take them out at night. D. judges of the shape and size required by merely looking at the remaining eye of the individual. We think a competent person in this business might establish himself at the South. I called on an Englishman who has been at the business twenty years in New York. He is over sixty years of age, and has been in the business fifty years; learned it with his father in London. He had a number of certificates on his walls. He says a woman would go into a decline directly, if exposed to the heat of a furnace in baking eyes. It is necessary to stay in the oven while the change is taking place in the chemicals. In summer it is intolerable. His son would not continue the business on that account. He says the French eyes are made of glass, covered with porcelain, and break easily; the white is made by being blown. The English are not blown, and are made entirely of porcelain. He says they will not break unless very cold water is applied in bathing the eyes (a common fashion in the United States). He has had eyes worn for a year without being taken out. He takes the dimensions of the eye by fitting in different sized ones. If an eye is too small, it will slip out, fall, and break. It requires long experience to become proficient in making glass eyes; but it is a beautiful art, and not inappropriate to competent women. =440. Artificial Limbs.= We had thought, perhaps, a few women could be employed in this vocation, and accordingly addressed a circular to a gentleman so occupied. He thinks no women are engaged in this business in the United States or any other country; but says they could be, and the reason they are not is, there is not enough of the kind of work connected with it, that could be done by women, to employ them. "It requires some men one year to learn, some five years, and some never can learn. It depends on natural ability and skill. The qualifications required are skill, judgment, sobriety, morality, pleasing address, dignity, imitation, industry, love of the beautiful, and anatomy. The prospect of work is good; superior workmen will succeed. The best seasons for work are from September 1st to July 1st. There is a demand for the work in California. Large seaport towns are not good localities--patients generally charity cases. Inland cities surrounded by a populous country, the best localities--patients better able to pay." =441. Artificial Teeth.= It is said that 3,000,000 artificial teeth are made in the United States annually. The materials are all found in the United States. Each tooth passes through ten different processes. I called at J. & W.'s, Philadelphia. They employ sixty-two girls, all American. They pay a learner, after two or three weeks' practice, according to the quality and quantity of her work. Their girls earn from $1.50 to $7 per week; average $4.50. They have but one hand earning $7. They would be glad to get more such at the same price, for it is difficult to get good hands. They have to turn away a great many applicants. The prospect is good to learners. They keep their hands all the year. The business has advanced rapidly during the last few years, and is likely to continue increasing. There are constant improvements in the business. Consequently a hand may be always improving. They will not receive a girl without reference, or credentials of moral character. They do not want any but intelligent girls, for the hand is guided by the mind. There are three or four processes carried on in different rooms. They work at the establishment, and never carry work home, unless a mother or sister is sick and requires their attention. It is a light, genteel business; and one well adapted to women of some education and intelligence. A lady in the cars told me she knew a lady who received $7 a week for making teeth in Baltimore. She came to Philadelphia, but could not get as good wages; so she returned to Baltimore. The New York Teeth Manufacturing Company pay from $3 to $5 a week. Learners are paid $2.50 a week, from the first, for six months; and then, if competent, paid more. The work is not unhealthy. Men average $10, but their branch is different; the work is heavier. It requires about two months to learn, in one department. Neither men nor women are often taught more than one branch. All seasons are alike, and they are never out of work. The supply of hands is greater than the demand everywhere. Small hands, nimble fingers, and good eyesight are important to a worker. In the establishment of R., New York, four processes in the making of artificial teeth are performed by women. Some branches require a longer time to learn than others. It takes six months to learn any one perfectly. R. pays $3 a week to his learners, and $5 a week to experienced workers. Careful manipulation is the most that is needed. Judging from the increase in the last five years, the prospect for employment is excellent; yet the openings in New York are limited. Women are the best workers, but some prefer men. The only manufacturers are in New York, Philadelphia, Hartford, and Bridgeport. It is desirable to have careful workers. B. had a girl ruin $500 worth of teeth for him. The parts performed by women are cleaning the moulds, setting the pins, filling the moulds with the tooth materials, and trimming, and putting on the pink color answering the place of gums; also placing them on slides preparatory to baking and carding. =442. Nurses for the Sick.= Attention to this subject has been awakened during the last few years, by the heroic conduct of Miss Florence Nightingale and the ladies who went with her to the Crimea to wait on the sick and wounded. When the people of England proposed making some testimonial of regard to Florence Nightingale, she proposed that, with the means expended in doing so, they should establish an institution for the training of nurses. We would not fail to notice a fact that reflects much credit on Miss Anne M. Andrews, of Syracuse, N. Y. While the yellow fever raged in Norfolk, Va., she left her home and went alone to Norfolk, devoting her time and services to the sick of all conditions. She received the medal that is usually awarded to a physician on such occasions, and the citizens talked of placing a statue in a conspicuous part of their city, as a memorial of her goodness and their indebtedness. In Berlin, Vienna, Turin, and Halle, hospitals have been established for the education of nurses. In Germany, there has been one for many years. A number of good ladies connected with that institution are now in Pittsburg, where they form an order of deaconesses. Some take care of the sick, and some have charge of an orphan asylum. St. Luke's Hospital, New York, is under Episcopal supervision, and connected with it is an order of Protestant deaconesses, who attend the sick. Most of the hospitals in this country have been established by the Roman Catholic Church, and are under its guidance. We think Protestant hospitals for the sick are greatly needed, especially in the Western and Southern cities--Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and New Orleans. It may be that some exist in those cities; but, if so, we think they must be quite limited in extent. Asylums for sick children are established in some of our largest cities. A number exist in Europe. A nurse should have a kind, sympathizing nature, good health, strong nerves, great powers of endurance, ability to sit up all night, and bear exposure to extremes of temperature. In addition, she needs a good memory, that she may give the right medicine at the proper time. If she has not, she should commit to paper such orders, and consult them frequently. A long and thorough training is needed by an attendant on the sick. Great self-control is necessary, for many persons are very impatient in sickness. A bright, cheerful spirit should be cultivated. A sweet voice is pleasant in a nurse, because a sick person is sensitively alive to the smallest matters. It requires a woman of education, consideration, and delicacy of feeling, to be an acceptable nurse to people of refinement; and such a one must become attached to those she serves, if treated kindly. To make a kind and sympathizing nurse, one must have waited, in sickness, upon those she loved dearly. A nurse should use the precaution of wearing camphor, or something of that nature, on her person, particularly where there is contagious fever. The room should be large and well ventilated, and preventives used to keep the infectious air from spreading. A better class of women are employed to wait on the sick than formerly. The infirmary for women, established by Dr. Blackwell, in New York, is designed partly as a school for nurses. There is also an institution in Philadelphia for training them. Nurses earn from $4 to $10 a week. Some wait only on male patients, some only on ladies; some attend incurables, but the most serve in general sickness. Mrs. B. gets $7 and sometimes $8 a week and her board for monthly nursing. She knows some that get $10 a week. She stays in the room with the lady and her infant, and takes care of and waits on them. When food is to be prepared, the child's clothes washed, or anything of that kind done, she rings a bell and gives orders to a servant. Mrs. B., another ladies' nurse, charges from $8 to $10 a week, according to the amount of rest she loses at night. She told me that most good physicians keep a list of the best nurses. A nurse is expected to be able to make all the nice dishes required by her patient. In most small places, she is not expected to have the assistance of any one else, unless the sickness is very protracted, or the patient is delirious. In some places, a nurse is expected to close the eyes of the dying, and wash them after death, and perform any other service of that nature. But it is not uncommon for an undertaker's wife to be sent for to perform these duties, and take a measure for a shroud. For these services she is paid from $3 to $5. A nurse runs the risk of contracting a contagious disease; but, if the system is in a good condition, there is not much danger. As long as people are sick, which will be as long as there are any, nurses will be employed. Of course, there is most to do in sickly seasons. I called on Mrs. P., who charges $5 a week for her services. She does all that is required for the patient, except give medical advice. She would rather wait on men than women, as they are sure either to pay better wages or make presents. As she has had children of her own, and raised them all, she feels competent to take care of children in sickness. It is well for a woman to have a home to go to, when relieved from the labor and anxiety of nursing. =443. Steamboat and Railroad News Venders.= Boys and men are much more frequently engaged in the sale of newspapers, than women and girls. They are more disposed to sell edibles. We have seen some little girls selling papers on the streets of New York and Philadelphia; but we do not remember ever to have seen women selling papers at railroad depots or on steamboats, though many are seen with baskets of sweetmeats. Many, perhaps, cannot read, and do not wish to sell papers with whose contents they are unacquainted. Others may think they will be less likely to make any profit by their sale. Some women sell papers at stands on the streets of New York, and about the hotel doors. I saw a newspaper boy with an armful of _Ledgers_. He had sixty that he had bought at three and a half cents apiece, and was selling at four cents apiece. A girl that sells newspapers at the door of a hotel on Broadway, told me that she and her mother take turns about in being at the stand, and the profits of their joint sales are from 50 cents to $1 a day. She has several Sunday customers, to whose houses she takes ordered papers. =444. Street Musicians.= Organ grinders and street harpers have ever found a fair representation in the softer sex. Such representation is, however, among our foreign population--German and Italian, mostly. Last summer, in the streets of Philadelphia, might be seen, from day to day, a German woman with an organ on her back, and a baby in a hand-wagon, going from street to street, stopping now and then under a window to play. And in New York was another, whose organ was placed in a small barrow, which she wheeled through the streets of the city. We have seen two old women going through the streets of New York, one playing an organ, the other a tambourine; and a few days since, we observed one drawing very creditable music from a violin. Girls in the Swiss costume are sometimes seen walking from place to place, with a harp and tambourine. Some people say that, by the encouragement of street musicians, we encourage idleness. Most such people would treat a musician with scorn, and close the door in their faces, but step out where they could enjoy the music and save their pennies; or they would stand behind closed shutters, that their neighbors might not think them capable of having such vulgar taste as listening to a street musician. Now, we may encourage a disposition to roam, but scarcely idleness. This propensity to roam may be unfavorable to the cultivation of business habits; but the class of listless Italians who engage in it could never become business people. In the first place, harpers, violinists, and flutists must depend on their own skill and knowledge of music, to perform. They must prepare for their particular vocation, as others do. Those who play on organs, harmonias, and similar instruments, where no knowledge of music is necessary, we must admit, require no training; but walking, as most musicians do, from eight to twenty miles a day, is in itself laborious. We have been told that in New York most street musicians are employed by two or three individuals, who furnish the instruments, and allow the carriers to have so much of the proceeds. In older countries, there is a greater variety in the instruments used by street musicians. "There are sometimes fifty persons engaged in the sale of second-hand musical instruments on the streets of London." =445. Tavern Keepers.= The keeping of taverns in small villages, or on the roadside in the country, furnishes some with the means of gaining a livelihood. Women engaged in this business should be wives whose husbands can attend to receiving travellers, settling bills, ordering horses, and such duties, or widows with sons old enough to do so. It is laborious enough for a woman to superintend the table and bed rooms, and the man must be in wretched health, or good for nothing, that cannot attend to the outdoor duties. Much money has been accumulated by some people keeping taverns in the Western country, where fifty cents is the usual price for a meal. Indeed, the accommodations are often such that a person cannot be rendered comfortable, and yet the price paid would command all the comforts of a good boarding house in a large town. It is the same case with the hotels, or saloons, at some railroad depots. At others an abundance of life's good things is furnished. The tavern keepers of London have a pension society. =446. Travelling Companions.= Travelling alone, is most favorable to thought, but not to pleasure. How much more we enjoy a lovely scene in nature, or the novel and brilliant sentiments of an author, when in company with one to whom we can talk freely! Good conversational powers, and an ability to appreciate the beautiful, are desirable in a travelling companion. Conversation should flow in a free, easy, unrestrained current. Will it not promote the entertainment and edification of rational, responsible, and immortal beings, to engage in wholesome conversation--to exchange sentiments in regard to books and the improvements of the age--to learn of the heavens above and the earth beneath? In talking with strangers, might not much be learned of their various countries, and a thousand things pertaining to them? Conversation exercises the imagination, gives play to a talent of invention, and strengthens the reasoning faculty. It sharpens thought as fermentation does wine. It tends, also, to restore the diseased imagination of the secluded and morbidly sensitive. MISTRESSES AND DOMESTICS. =447. Mistresses.= We scarcely know that it is in place to say anything to this large and influential class of ladies. Yet, as we treat of servants, and endeavor to impress their duty upon them, we hope we may be excused for saying a few words to those who have charge of them. From the relation existing between a mistress and her servants, the mistress is supposed to have had superior mental and moral advantages. Then let that strongest of all incentives, a good example, be given. In some cases, the only good influence likely to be exerted over the servant, is by the mistress. No woman of right feelings can look upon her servants as mere beasts of burden. She knows and feels that they have souls, and are accountable beings; that each one is capable of extremes of misery and happiness. Should they not therefore receive kind and careful instruction in what is right? If the same regular system of domestic service were employed in this country that exists in Europe, housekeepers would be saved much labor. There, each department, even of kitchen labor, is distinct, and a servant is promoted according to her industry and improvement. But the expense of a large number of servants is one that most people in our country feel unable to support. Difficulties often arise from labor being required of servants that they have not stipulated to perform; and no definite understanding as to the extent of the privilege of receiving visitors is likely to prove a source of trouble. The thousand petty annoyances to which a mistress is subject, renders it necessary that she have a perfect command of her temper. A mistress must make great allowance for ignorance of what is right and wrong, for untamed passions, strong appetites, unimproved reason, and want of self-control. Many domestics are foreigners--ignorant, dull, and unacquainted with our language. We are sorry to say some mistresses expect their servants to be faultless, when they themselves, with their superior advantages, ar e not so. Mistresses are responsible, to some extent, for the spiritual, as well as the mental and physical good of their servants. They are in charge of immortal souls. The tendency of their influence and example must be either elevating or depressing. The quiet of the Sabbath, we think, might be granted to those in most departments of domestic labor. Cooks, we think, might prepare a dinner on Saturday, to be served cold on Sunday, with tea, if the weather be cold, or the habits of the people require it. Sabbaths have been called "milestones in the journey of life," and has not the poor cook, steaming over the fire day after day, need to count the milestones in the journey of her toilsome life? Says Mrs. Graves, in her "Woman in America:" "Is it not strange, that, among all the societies of the day, not one should have been formed for the intellectual and moral improvement of domestic servants, and for instructing them in household employments?" At the House of Protection, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, girls and women of good character, out of employment, or strangers in the city, are received on application. The girls are taught to wash, iron, do housework, sew, and embroider. Would that the Protestants would imitate this noble charity more fully! I am happy to add that in connection with the Child's Nursery (a Protestant institution), Fifty-first street, New York, has been commenced a servants' school. Young girls taken into the institution receive a year's instruction in washing, ironing, house cleaning, and sewing. =448. Domestics.= We think an important work of benevolence presents itself in Free States. It is providing homes for servant girls, when they are out of employment or sick. Many of them are in a strange land, unacquainted with the language and the ways of the people. When sick, some of them are immediately sent off by their mistresses to save the trouble of waiting on them. The negroes of the Slave States, when sick, are (if they have kind masters and mistresses) as tenderly cared for as any member of the family, and are never without a home in health or in sickness. That lonely and wretched feeling of having no place to consider home, is not their experience. Connected with this subject, arises one to which we have never yet given much attention, but which forces itself on our mind as one calling for attention from the benevolent: it is the establishment of institutions for the afflicted portion of the colored population, both in Slave and Free States. We refer to the blind, the deaf and dumb, and the insane. We know of no separate institution for such, and no arrangement whatever, with the exception of limited arrangements for the insane, in connection with institutions for white people. Now and then we hear people advocate the old plan of binding orphans and destitute children. Whether that would be advantageous, would depend altogether on the kind of people to whom they were bound. Some servants soon fail, and are not fit for service more than a few years. It arises mostly from their exposure to cold and dampness without being properly clothed and fed, and sometimes from a too free indulgence in the pleasures of the palate, particularly that of the consuming liquid which burns out life and sense. The hard work that most Irish women can perform, and the large number in this country, have made them the most numerous domestics in the Free States. They are generally employed as maids of all work. I think the number of American girls going into service is increasing. The majority of white female domestics in this country are single women, from sixteen to thirty-five years of age. In Providence, R. I., a census was taken in 1855, stating, among other particulars, the number of American families having servants, the number in foreign families, and the aggregate; but the number of white domestics has never been fully taken in the United States, even when collecting statistics for the census. A short time ago, we counted in the New York _Herald_ eight columns of situations wanted, three fourths of which were by female domestics. It shows what a surplus there is of domestics in the cities, that no doubt could find situations through the country, and in the villages. The majority of female domestics would rather starve in New York than go to the country, or even little towns around for fair wages. I think it arises from the fear that they will not find associates. A social feeling is natural, but should be controlled by circumstances. With many, the great drawback is the fear that they may not be able to have the privileges of their own particular church; and still another is that they may not find the place to which they go, or are sent, exactly what it is represented to be, and the expense that would be incurred by a return. Domestics are more respected in the country, and treated more as members of the family, than domestics in towns. The preference is usually given, in towns and cities, to domestics from the country, because of their superior strength and better health. "For a person to be a good servant, there are three requisites: first, she must have professional skill in her calling; secondly, she must be a good woman; thirdly, she must have feelings of kindliness and regard to her master and mistress." In 1853, domestics were receiving wages in San Francisco proportioned to the prices paid for everything else. Cooks got $100 a month, and board; house servants, from $35 to $70, and board. Chambermaids $40 to $70, and board. Prices have fallen since 1853 in California, but good female domestics can now earn there from $25 to $30 a month besides board. "In most towns through our country domestics get from $1.25 to $2.50 a week, and board. We give the rates of wages of domestics in New York (1857) at the intelligence offices. Maids of all work, very raw, $4 per month; average, $5; good, $6 to $7. Chambermaids--good, $6. Cooks--good, $7 to $8--extra $12 to $16. Laundresses $8 to $10. The cooks who obtain the highest rates, sometimes reaching $20, are employed mostly in hotels or private families, in New York. Five or six years' education in a restaurant, during which period the pupil is supporting herself, will thus often add seventy-five per cent. to the market value." I have had numberless statements from different parts of Free States that it was almost impossible to obtain good domestics. I have just taken up a paper in which I read: "Female domestics are scarce in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and obtain employment readily at good prices in almost all the river towns." More particularly are female domestics scarce, where there are factories. Girls, especially American girls, prefer to work in factories to being servants, as they think it more honorable, and it secures to them more time--in short, they are more their own mistresses. =449. Chambermaids.= "Of the 200,000 female servants in England, the largest in number, the shortest in life, and of course the worst paid are the general housemaids, or unhappy servants of all work." Chambermaids in the United States may be classed under three heads: those in hotels, those in private families, and those on steamboats. The business of a chambermaid in a hotel, or on a steamboat, is an occupation affording variety in frequent change of faces. Of course, prices and conditions are stipulated for. Many get $20 a month, and do the washing of the boat, that is, the table and bed linen. Others get $25, $30, and $35 a month. On small boats, they are expected to do the washing of the boat, but in some cases have a woman hired while in port to assist them. On large boats, or small packet boats, there are generally two chambermaids. The first chambermaid attends to receiving lady passengers, seeing that they are furnished with berths, and giving them such attention as they need. She cleans the state rooms, and wakes any lady passengers that are to land in the night. The second chambermaid does the washing and ironing. In some cases, the washing is sent up from the boats, while in port, to laundries. But clothes are thought to be injured in that way, and the plan is not so popular as while the novelty lasted. Most of the rivers of the United States are either too low to be navigable, or are frozen over, part of the year; so, constant employment in that way cannot be found. The first chambermaid on the steamboat E. received $20 a month. Her business was to wait on the ladies. She had several hours' time that she could devote to sewing for herself. The second chambermaid did the washing of the boat, and received $15 per month. A steamboat chambermaid told me she averages $20 a month (and board, of course); but, in addition to her services as chambermaid, is required to do the washing for the boat; that is, the sheets, table linen, and towels. In families, the prices for chambermaids are about the same as at hotels, and of course the duties are pretty much the same, except that in families all of a chambermaid's time is expected. In a hotel, a chambermaid is often through her work in the early part of the afternoon, and has several hours as her own. We think it advisable for a servant to keep a place with good people, even if her wages are less, rather than with more selfish and more remunerative people. The first mentioned would feel an interest in, and be more ready and willing to do for a servant in sickness or distress. Besides, they would be more apt to keep a watch over her welfare, should circumstances intervene to bring about a separation. It does not answer well for servants to move about much from place to place; it is likely to create suspicion of unfaithfulness or want of qualification. Yet, if they are not comfortable and satisfied, I would advise them to move, if confident they have a prospect of bettering their condition. The usual wages of chambermaids in cities are from $1.50 to $2.50 per week. In the Northern cities, white chambermaids are rather better paid than in Southern, as colored servants are preferred in the South. For doing housework by the day women receive in New York, fifty, seventy-five cents, and $1; for cleaning stores, they often receive $1.25 per day. Tidy, honest American girls will not find much difficulty in getting situations. If every family in New York city would take a girl, and either instruct her thoroughly or have her instructed in one branch of domestic service, there would not be such universal complaint of bad servants. In Paris, men are employed in some hotels as chambermaids. In a newspaper, we met with the following paragraph some time ago; "Females are so scarce in some of the interior towns of California, that men have to be employed to do the chamberwork." =450. Cooks.= I know of several benevolent institutions in Philadelphia and New York where poor women are furnished with employment. From most of them sewing is given out; but, in a few, housework is given to those who cannot sew. A school of cookery is now in operation in London. The object is to give instruction, gratis, to the lower classes, in preparing the most common articles of food in general use. It was established by Miss Burdett Coutts. To acquire the higher branches of the art requires much time and practice. Much of the nutriment of food is lost in cooking. Health depends much on the kind of food eaten, and the way in which it is prepared. Simple diet is most healthy; yet what contributes to the nourishment of one person may not to another. Persons can better learn what is nutritious and beneficial to them in health than it were possible for an Æsculapius to prescribe. Eating too hastily and too hurriedly, when the mind is excited and agitated, is one cause of bad health. The modes of preparing food, in the most wholesome way, should be a matter of study and interest to all engaged in a matter where health is so much at stake. Articles of food that contribute to the nourishment of every part of the body should be used. Children should have not only wholesome food, but as much as nature craves, when the system is in a state of health. A morbid appetite, of course, should be regulated. Some cooks devote themselves exclusively to the making and baking of pastry. At hotels they command a good price. In New York and Philadelphia, cooks receive from $1.50 to $5 a week, but in the small towns adjoining do not get more than from $1 to $1.50. Much of the success of servants will depend upon themselves. They may rest assured they will be able to please most families if they are good-natured, honest, truthful, active, and willing to do what they can. They will need patience. They should consider there are many trials, cares, and griefs attendant on those occupying a more responsible station. Punctuality is a desirable item in a cook. A skilful cook, of taste and experience, can, at any time, for reasonable wages, obtain a situation in one of the Northern cities. Hotel cooks are most frequently in demand, and receive from $12 to $25. A woman who cooks for a saloon frequented by gentlemen only, in a business part of New York, told me that she goes at 8 in the morning and remains, generally, until 2 o'clock next morning, when she goes home. She is paid $12 a month for her work, having her meals besides. A colored man, a public cook, told me he employs two or three women to assist him in getting up parties. He pays them from $6 to $7 a week. He loans plate for parties, charging for plated knives twenty-five cents a dozen, and the same price for forks, and thirty-seven or fifty cents for a basket. He keeps some articles, but hires most from another party. Sometimes he will receive three or four orders a day; then again he may not have one for two weeks. It is a very irregular business. He prepares lunches for bankers and political men, mostly; but finds it inconvenient, as these lunches are often given in their offices, and he prepares the dishes at home, and must have them warm when served up. In some offices, he can have an apartment for that purpose; in others, he cannot. A colored woman, who goes on a propeller in summer, and does the cooking for ten men, told me she receives $19 a month. The boats at New York seldom stop running longer than three months in the year. She thinks the trouble in New York is, you cannot have one kind of work regularly. In Germany, most of the women, in every class of society, learn to cook. In Stuttgart, a wealthy man died, leaving a certain sum, the interest of which goes to a given number of the best hotel cooks, to teach a limited number of young women the art. In some cities in Germany, ladies pay something to pastry cooks at hotels and restaurants for instruction in cooking. =451. Dining-Room Waiters.= It would be well, had we such laws as England, for the protection and rights of servants. There, a servant cannot have her character scandalized, her good name maligned, or her faithfulness as a servant belied. Neither may a servant say aught that is false against her mistress. Scandalizing becomes, oftentimes, a curse in our Free States, and consequently self-respect, with servants, becomes, to a great extent, a defunct virtue. Nor is the fault confined to one party. Both are often culpable--mistress and servant. A good character is the best capital a servant can possess. Servants have an opportunity of improving themselves, and gaining much practical information from intercourse with their mistresses while in the discharge of their duties. If worthy American girls would get situations as domestics in respectable families, they would be likely to fare better than by working in shops; for they would lay by more money, secure the interests and good wishes of their employers, and be more certain of lasting employment. A servant should be active and quick in motion, to perform well the duties of a waiter. In 1854, from seventeen to twenty-four white girls were employed as dining-room waiters at the Delavan House, Albany, N. Y. Their wages were from $5 to $7, in one or two cases $8, a calendar month. The wages of men for similar service were from $14 to $20. The ages of the women were from seventeen to twenty-four. They dressed uniformly in calico, and were under a head waiter--a man. At that time, women had been employed at the establishment about two years and a half. The result was entirely satisfactory in every respect. A gentleman inquired of the proprietor, after he had employed them two years, if there was any inferiority to men's service, and was informed there was not any. They were more quiet than men, and less troublesome. In this time, only four had left the house of their own accord, and then to be married. When more hands were needed, there was no difficulty in getting them. It was apprehended that improprieties might occur, from the gallantries of the gentlemen. No difficulty of the kind had been experienced. It was suggested that it might be otherwise in a liquor house. In April, 1860, we had a few lines from the proprietor of the Delavan House, saying he found women would not answer for first-class hotels, where the crowd is very great, as the work is too severe. He changed the plan of having them in 1858. =452. Ladies' Maids.= Some of the most wealthy or self-indulgent ladies have a female attendant to dress and wait on them, but it is not so common in the United States as in older and more wealthy countries. In Slave States, a colored woman, graceful and good natured, is often set apart from the family servants for this purpose. The difficulty that attends the taking of a colored servant in travelling, sometimes calls for a white attendant to act in this capacity. The business is light, and brings good wages. A maid should endeavor to secure a place with a lady that is amiable and patient. She will find ability to perform the services of a lady's hair dresser a valuable acquisition. =453. Nurses for Children.= None should enter this occupation unless they have a love for children. It requires affection and patience. Added to this, is needed a degree of mild firmness that children find it difficult to resist. It requires strength too, and a lady had better, if possible, furnish a grown nurse for her child. Nurses receive as wages from $1 to $1.25 per week. Wet nurses receive higher wages. Being able to speak the French and German languages correctly, is in some places a desirable qualification. Fashionable and educated people, who desire to have their children early instructed in the languages, are willing to pay a better price for such a nurse. The habit of nursing children is indicated, in both mothers and nursery maids, by the right shoulder being larger and more elevated than the left. C. thinks it would be well for young American girls to devote themselves to domestic service--thinks it a misplaced pride which prevents their doing so. Many would certainly be much better off in every respect than they now are, and, if their affairs were well conducted, would save money. =454. Saloon Attendants.= "This class of labor is performed by young men and girls. Although the girls are preferred in some places, and do make most excellent waitresses, their remuneration is not as high as that paid to men. In some cases the men get as high as $14 a month; in most cases, however, they do not receive more than $12 a month. The girls get paid from $8 to $10 a month, varying according to experience. The hours employed do not exceed, in most cases, ten per day. These rates are exclusive of board and lodging. Where lodgings are not provided, an allowance is made for the purpose." The ladies that T. employs in his saloon, board in the International--a hotel connected with the saloon and confectionery. He pays them $6 a month, besides their board. M., Broadway, pays those that stay in his confectionery $12 a month, and their board. In the northern part of France, women are employed on some of the packet boats as table waiters. They are young and pretty, and misconduct among them is very rare. =455. Washers, Ironers, and Manglers.= The plan of washing by steam is said to have been practised many years back in France. There were, some years ago, over 300 different models of washing machines at the Patent Office in Washington. Some families have their washing done by hand, some by machinery, and some at laundries. Where washing, ironing, and mangling are carried on extensively, it is mostly by men, but _women are employed to do the labor_. It is thought by some that clothes are injured when washed at laundries. We do not know whether it originates from the plan of washing, or the carelessness of those employed. In New York is a public washing house, where, for four cents an hour, steam, water, and troughs can be used for washing clothes. At the same price, the privileges of the wringing machine, the drying room, and the ironing room are granted. A mangler costs from $50 to $100. Those that are operated on by steam cost more, and are often used in laundries. A woman told me that she is paid fifteen cents a dozen for mangling sheets and table cloths. She can mangle eight or nine dozen pieces a day, and so earn from $1.20 to $1.25. It takes but a very short time to become expert. Strong arms and a strong back are more necessary than anything else. She could work her mangle all day, but it would be a hard day's work. She has much work in summer, before people go to the country. The prices given for family washing and ironing by the dozen, range from fifty cents to $1. Others make arrangements by the parcel, at so much a week or month. Those employed in ironing receive good wages. Where new shirts are done up for stores, the best prices are given. A woman employed in an establishment of the kind in Cincinnati, told me that she received for her work, which was ironing the bosoms of new shirts for stores, $7 a week. She ironed thirty or forty a day, averaging one, I think, every twelve minutes. I called on Mrs. S., who has a laundry. Women in that branch are well paid, both principals and employées. Some of the laundry keepers in New York go down to Castle Garden and get fresh emigrant girls. They give them their board until they can wash right well (for about four weeks), then pay them by the week or the piece. If by the week, $6 a month and their board, or allow them $1.50 a week to pay their board. They instruct some hands in ironing, if they need hands in that department. When qualified, they pay three cents a shirt for ironing; or, if by the week, 4.75. It is most satisfactory generally to both parties to pay by the piece. The best doers up of muslin and cotton goods are the French. New shirts are sent from Boston, Philadelphia, &c., to New York, to be done up. The openings for ironers are good, and the work pays well. A right active, skilful hand can iron fifty shirts a day, and so earn $1.50. When women are employed by the week, they are required to iron twenty-five shirts a day, and, if brisk, may get through by one or two o'clock. Mrs. S. charges $1.50 a dozen for store shirts, and $1 for others. Washers earn $12 a month; ironers, $21; and starchers, $14. The girls employed in laundries are mostly Irish, with strong muscular power. A shirt manufacturer told me that ironers of new shirts are much needed. He cannot obtain enough. Ironers can learn the business in three months. Ironers earn from $5 to $8 per week. I called on A. G., who charges from $1 to $1.50 a dozen for doing up new shirts, according to the quality and the work on them. She pays her ironers from $10 to $12 a month. I called at B.'s laundry. The proprietor and his family are Americans. They do only store shirts. They employ more than one hundred hands, who are boarded and paid by the month. Learners receive their board. Ironers are paid best. Those that work fast get through earliest in the day, each one having a certain number to do. I called at another laundry, where I was told all the girls receive $1.75 per week for board money. While learning, they are paid their board money, and more, if their services are worth it. The washers are paid $12 a month, and ironers from $10 to $25, boarding themselves. Some are fast, and some are slow; some smart, and some stupid. The ironers are paid 2¼ cents a piece for common shirts, 2½ for fine ones. The proprietor says experienced ironers are so scarce, you never find a good one in an intelligence office. If a laundryman fails, a good ironer can go to another laundry and get a place at once. At another place, I was told their washers receive $5 a month and their board. Ironers are paid by the month, and required to do so many in that time. She corroborated the statement of the other that a good ironer need never want a place. I heard a washerwoman say that, as the system is very much relaxed by washing, the vapor from the suds and soiled clothes renders it unhealthy. H. pays ironers $10 a month and board; $1.75 a week. Some he boards in his own house. An ironer is expected to iron from twenty to thirty a day, according to the contract. It requires a long time to iron well. Almost all washers and ironers are Irish girls--they are stronger and quicker in their motions. He has washing done only for the New York stores, because the time and trouble of going to steamboats for those from other places and returning them, are more than he wishes. MISCELLANEOUS OCCUPATIONS, AND WORKERS THEREIN. =456. Backgammon-Board Finishers.= We called at L.'s backgammon-board manufactory, and saw a girl about thirteen years old, who has worked at the business for one year. She pastes the morocco on the back of the boards, and lays the gold leaf on, which is passed under a press, and receives, from a man who has charge of it, the ornamental gilding. They used to employ girls, and paid $4 a week, working from 7 to 6 o'clock--eleven hours. L. does not take learners--it is too much trouble. K. used to employ girls in finishing boards, but those he had were not steady and reliable. =457. Balloon Makers.= Large balloons are stitched up by sewing machines. Prof. L.'s required several days' work. Prof. W.'s sister and niece make both cotton and silk balloons. They have the substance put on the silk by men with a brush. They think that part of the work would be rather hard on women, because of the stooping and bending. =458. Billiard-Table Finishers.= I saw G., who employs one woman to make and put on the billiard bags at the corners and sides. He pays her such wages for her work that she can by industry earn $1.50 a day. He does not know of any woman that makes it a regular business, but thinks, if a woman could engage all that kind of work to be had at the billiard manufactories in New York city, it would be a good business, and probably pay about $3 a day. It is very easy work, and would require but a few weeks' practice. Besides, it would not require any capital, as the manufacturers furnish the materials. They pay twenty-five cents for making a cover of unbleached domestic, when two seams are sewed and it is hemmed at the ends. The cloth that is fastened on the table could not be put on by a woman, as it requires too much strength. Netting the bags is done by hand. I was told by a manufacturer that two women could do all the work for New York. =459. Bill Posters.= This is a business confined to cities. W. heard of one woman that went through New York distributing circulars for some benevolent institution. I do not see why a woman might not be so employed. An immense quantity of waste paper is sold in London to grocers, butchers, fishmongers, poulterers, and others that need paper for wrapping up the articles they sell to purchasers. =460. Block Cutters.= Block cutters prepare blocks of wood for the coloring of wall paper. A block about eighteen inches square and two inches thick is made perfectly smooth. The pattern is then traced on it with a lead pencil. It is then cut with chisels, which are of all sizes and many shapes. Each one, as required, is driven into the wood with a mallet. It requires considerable physical strength, but is remunerative when sufficient orders are given to keep one constantly employed. Each color, and even shade, in wall paper, requires a separate block. It is the same case where wooden blocks are used for printing calicoes. The wall-paper establishments in Philadelphia are the most extensive in the United States. A lady in Philadelphia, engaged in the business, told me that she got about $10 a week, working ten hours a day, but that she had not orders enough to keep her constantly employed. At N. & C.'s paper-hanging factory, New York, they employ six male block cutters, who earn from $2 to $2.25 a day. A boy, when apprenticed to a block cutter, receives $2.50 a week the first year, $3 the next, $4 the next, and $5 the last. There are probably from sixty to one hundred block cutters in New York city. Block letters, we were told, are made by machinery. A gentleman in Maine writes: "There are but very few females in this section who work at block cutting (blocks for printing oil carpets); but three or four in this State, I think. I have none with me excepting my wife. It is a branch of business that females cannot carry on alone, as the most of it requires considerable labor that women are not able to perform." In the census returns of Great Britain for 1850, we find four women under the head of block cutters. =461. Boatwomen.= In the countries of Europe, it is not unusual to see women employed as rowers of boats, on the lakes and rivers. On the lakes of Scotland, made famous by the poetry and fiction of Sir Walter Scott, women are seen waiting in their little boats to take passengers out on the lakes. In the sealochs of Scotland, fisherwomen manage their own boats. In Germany, women also ply the oar. In the United States, it is seldom done; but I think Miss Murray, in her Travels, mentions being rowed upon a lake in New York State by a woman. Some of the Indian women, of the Arctic regions, are noted for their skill in the management of a boat; and some of the women of the Polynesian Islands are distinguished in the same way. In the census of Great Britain for 1850, in class eight, and third division (Carriers on Canals), are reported 1,708 bargewomen over twenty years of age, and 525 under that age. =462. Bone Collectors.= Some collectors of bones sell them to people who make soup of them, and sell it to the poor at a penny a bowl. Some sell their bones to soap manufacturers, who boil them to obtain the marrow and oily substance, and then sell them to button makers, or makers of cane and whip handles. Some sell them to glue manufacturers, who boil them to obtain the gelatine for making glue. Some have establishments where they are ground and sold as a fertilizer for the soil. Some bone gatherers give toys to children for collecting bones. I saw a girl gathering some, who told me she sold them at fifteen cents a half bushel. She gathers sometimes half a bushel a day, and sometimes more. A boy told me he got thirty cents a bushel for bones; and another, that he got one cent a pound. The profit must be great of those who sell them again, judging from the price paid by the makers of cane handles. Yet it may be, so much is not paid by manufacturers for those taken from the street as for new ones. =463. Bottlers and Labellers.= In large establishments where wine, porter, ale, or beer is corked, women could, and in some places do, have the job. When it is done from day to day, it affords a reliable resource. The payment is generally, I believe, by the dozen or hundred bottles. "In one house or more, in London, are seen from one hundred to one hundred and fifty women bottling pickles all day long, at the charge of sixpence a score of bottles, at which an industrious woman, without any extra exertion, will earn her two shillings a day." In establishments for the sale of patent medicines and other articles of a similar nature, women are employed. I saw a man bottling lager beer by hand. He is paid $15 a month, and full board. For labelling, another received $6 a month, and full board. In Europe, where women do such work, they wear wooden shoes to keep their feet dry. A woman could as well cork as a man, when it is done by hand, and, no doubt, could use the machines employed for corking. A large manufacturer of hair restorative employs two girls to put it up, and pays from $3 to $4 a week. A brewer writes that "women might be employed in the bottling department, cleaning, filling, corking, &c., but the proportion would be small in comparison with the number of men at work." A woman that buys and sells empty bottles says she and her husband made a comfortable living at it. If they make three cents profit on a dozen they do well. They send a wagon to hotels, groceries, and private houses, if the number is sufficient to justify it. They find a ready sale for their bottles. The bottles must be washed clean before they will buy them. I was told at the office of Mrs. W.'s S. Syrup, that girls are paid by the week, from $5 to $6. R., in putting up his Ready Relief, employs several girls to fill bottles, cork and label them. They earn from $3 to $6 a week. They are paid by the quantity, and the work is all done in daylight. Until the last few days they have had work all the year round. S. employs from five to ten girls, and pays from $4 to $5 a week for bottling medicines and putting up Seidlitz powders. He keeps his hands all the year. They can either sit or stand. He does not know of any women being so employed South or West. L. employs three, and pays $5 a week, ten hours a day. One is employed in putting up Seidlitz powders--the others in bottling. All three work at the store. K. employs three girls to put up Seidlitz powders, perfumery, &c. He pays from $3 to $3.50 a week. B. & M., stove-polish manufacturers, employ girls to put up the polish in papers. The paper is folded on a wooden block and pasted, then withdrawn, and the polish put in and sealed. =464. Broom Makers.= C. employs a girl to paint the handles of brooms, paying $4 a week, of ten hours a day. After New Year is the most busy season. It requires but a short time to learn. A man can earn at broom making $1.25 to $1.75 a day. At some of the broom factories girls are employed to assort the broom by laying perfect pieces of a certain length in one pile, and those shorter in another, &c. Only strong, robust women could perform the entire process of broom making. =465. Bronzes.= When a bronze appearance is desired for some metals, bronze powders are used. I have been told that a patent has been granted for the making of them. Parties that we think competent to know tell us that "bronze powders are made in very few establishments in this country, and they think women and boys, much more than men, are both here and in Europe engaged in the making and working of bronze. They suggest that manufacturers, printers, japanners, and all who have operatives engaged in handling bronze powders should, in _all cases_, see that their people are protected, by gauze, sponge, or some sort of screen over the mouth and nostrils, from inhaling the fine particles that arise and impregnate the atmosphere where the powders are handled, and which are liable to cause serious injury to those who inhale them. The same might also be said of Dutch metal or gold leaf used in gilding house paper and other things." Magnetic masks are used by some grinders and polishers to prevent iron filings from passing down their throats. We suppose they would answer also for bronzers. Men oppose the