state again that "I say the tale as 'twas said to me"--women
book-agents are apt to waste a great deal of time in the spring and
fall in getting their wardrobes ready for the coming season. "Who ever
knew of a man," remarked a cynical publisher, "stopping work for two
or three weeks because he was going to have a suit of clothes made? No
one. And yet you will find a female book-agent stop canvassing in the
busiest season in order to superintend the making of her dresses." Of
course, all lady book-agents do not adopt this practice, but it is
well to allude to the custom, because it is very unbusiness-like, and
furnishes a hint in the direction of how not to succeed.
Two classes of women, publishers find, seek the employment of
book-canvassing. A great many young ladies enter the business--it
might be said skip into it--with all the gayety and with all the
inexperience of youth. These young persons are about eighteen or
nineteen years of age; they are buoyant of nature, full of hope,
bursting with self-confidence. They work a few days or weeks, then
abandon the business, tearfully proclaiming that it wasn't any thing
like what they thought it would be.
The really successful female book-agent belongs to the second class.
She is of middle age, sometimes single, sometimes a widow, or, it may
be, she is married, and is bravely assisting a sick or unfortunate
husband in the support of the family. Such a woman enters the business
with the idea of making it her vocation. If she is a single lady or a
widow, she is not on the look-out for a husband, when she should be
carefully watching for customers. Having passed the youthful stage of
life, she is apt to be a pretty good judge of human nature, and, at
all events, she will be quick to learn the ways and weaknesses of men
when she is thus forced to daily come in contact with them.
The earnings of this latter class of women are sometimes very large.
Of course, the reader understands that book-agents almost invariably
work upon a commission.
That commission varies. On some books it is only ten per cent.; on
others it is sixty per cent. The better the book the less the per
centage of profit; but, let it be remembered also, the better the
book, the more ease in obtaining subscribers. Some women make $50 a
week for many weeks running; some earn $30 a week the year round.
One lady made enough money in two years' canvassing to send her
boy to college, and to purchase a home. In fact, the earnings of
book-agents, even the best of them, cannot even be approximately
stated. It is sufficient to say that a woman with the proper
qualifications, who strictly attends to her business, who is
persevering, full of courage, and who works diligently, is sure
to succeed. No, there is one thing more needed--a good book.
There are a great number of subscription books offered to agents every
year, but out of the whole lot very few of them are of real value. And
yet, it is not necessary that a book should be, intellectually
speaking, first-class, in order to meet with a sale. Some books issued
by subscription at the present time cost $20 and $30 apiece. There is
a cyclopedia for which the price is over $100. Such books as these, it
has been found, must be sold by male agents only. It has also been
discovered that women are most successful in the sale of books of a
religious or semi-religious character, issued at a reasonable price.
The reason for this is apparent. They are brought in contact with the
female members of families, and in thus meeting members of their own
sex they are at no loss for interesting topics of conversation. For
the successful book-agent, it is needless to say, does not, the moment
she enters a house, present her wares and cry boldly "Buy"; she "leads
up" to the business in hand.
In selecting a book a woman should go to a first-class publisher and
pick out a work which, according to her judgment (and without much
regard to what he may say, because he may very often be wrong), will
meet a popular household demand. Let her beware of all the small
catch-penny kind of publications; reproductions, from old and worn-out
stereotype plates, of books that no one, who really cares for books,
will be likely to buy. There are so many good subscription books
coming from the press in the present day that there is hardly any
excuse for a woman who will waste her time in canvassing for poor
ones. Of course, the hasty books outnumber the books of real merit,
but there are enough of the latter to furnish employment to all the
women who will be likely to engage in this occupation.
To give an example of the kind of publisher to be avoided, I may state
that in a large Eastern city there is a man who makes it his business,
at certain seasons of the year, to advertise for young lady agents. He
always wants "_young_ ladies," and he always wants them to be without
experience. He publishes but one book, of which he is the putative
author. The young ladies receive their board and a trifle for spending
money at the end of every week, all living under one roof. Accounts
are settled only semi-annually. At the end of the first six months it
is very generally found that the young lady agent is in debt to her
publisher for board, and, at all events, whatever the statement of
affairs may reveal, she is told that her services are no longer
required, and a fresh and inexperienced damsel is at once secured to
take her place.
* * * * *
While writing on the subject of agents, it may be well to put down
a suggestion made to the author of this little book by a prominent
florist. He said that it was surprising to him that ladies were not
employed to solicit orders for trees, flowers, and seeds, etc. To his
knowledge, no women were engaged in this occupation, and yet it seemed
to be one for which they were especially fitted. Agents of this
character, it appears, carry with them large books containing highly
illuminated drawings of the trees or plants they are endeavoring to
sell. A lady could appeal with particular propriety to females who
would be likely to be purchasers. The competition in the nursery
business has been very great during the past few years, but the
profits of agents are said to be good. As this is a new field of
female labor, it might be worth while for a woman who has a fancy for
such work to endeavor to secure an agency.
DRESS-MAKING--MILLINERY.
From the modest appearance of the thousands of dwellings throughout
the country that bear the legend: "Fashionable Dress- and
Cloak-making," no one would suppose it was a very lucrative
employment. Indeed, from the dingy and broken-down aspect of some of
the establishments referred to, grave doubts might be entertained as
to whether the inmates were able to earn the most modest kind of a
living. The fact is that the great majority of dress-makers who set up
in business for themselves are not very successful, for the reason
that, in most cases, they have a very superficial knowledge of the
trade, and cannot meet the demand for good work.
A really first-class dress-maker is always sure of work, in either
city or country. In order to be first-class she must have served an
apprenticeship with, or learned the trade of, a woman who is actively
engaged in the business. A great many women think they can get a good
knowledge of dress-making by the use of charts and patterns. This is
not the fact. Undoubtedly charts and patterns are very useful for
women who cut and make their own dresses, and they are aids in cutting
and fitting generally; but so many changes have to be made, depending
on the size and style of the woman to be fitted, and so much judgment
is required to be used, that competent critics say that they are of no
value to the professional dress-maker. One lady remarked that if all
women were perfectly formed, charts and patterns would be a great
help; but as the modern Eves come very far short of physical
perfection, not much help could be got from them.
Some authorities say that dress-making as a trade is not so good a
business in New York as it was some ten years ago. The large
dress-makers who employ considerable help are obliged to select the
best locations in the city for their establishments, where the rent is
very high, and to furnish their places in a style very much more
expensive than in former years. As a consequence they do not pay as
good wages as they once did, on account of having to lay out money in
these ways.
Another change from the old methods is that the work of dress-making
is, at the present time, divided into various departments. One woman
will make the skirt, another will finish it, another will work on the
sleeves, another will work the button-holes, and the fitting and
draping are branches by themselves. The woman who would receive the
highest wages to be obtained in this industry should master the whole
business, and make herself competent to do all, or nearly all, the
kinds of work which have just been mentioned. If she does do that, she
need have no fear about obtaining employment. There are thousands of
dress-makers in the country, but very few good ones. It is a trade of
which it may be emphatically said that there is "room at the top."
The dress-making season lasts from October 1st to February 1st; then
there is very little to do until March 10th, when business becomes
brisk and remains so until about the 1st of August. The hours of work
are from 8 A.M. until 6 P.M. In the busy season it is often necessary
to work in the evening. The pay ranges from $6 to $8 per week for
ordinary hands, while competent women receive $10, $12, and $14 a
week. The forelady in a dress-making establishment will receive $15 or
$20 a week. It is her duty to superintend the girls, to see that they
arrive on time, to give out the work, and to see that it is done
promptly and properly.
Some women who follow this calling prefer to go out to private
families and work by the day. For such service they receive $3 or
$3.50 a day. In many respects this is a pleasant method, but it has
its disadvantages. A woman is not always sure of how much she will
earn unless, after years of work, she has secured the custom of a
certain number of families, on whose patronage she can depend. There
is so much responsibility and worriment attached to this way of
working at the trade that the majority of dress-makers prefer to hire
themselves out by the week, and feel sure of receiving each Saturday
night a stated amount for their services.
The objection that applies to going out to private service is urged
against a woman going into the business on her own account. Besides,
in large cities it would require considerable capital to pursue such a
course. A dingy, insignificant little place could not hope to get much
custom, and to compete with the large establishments a woman would
have to be prepared to pay a high rent, lay out a large amount in
furniture, and then, probably, have to wait a long time before she
could be the owner of a good paying business. Still, if she has plenty
of capital, thoroughly understands the trade, and is enterprising in
her methods of securing business, there is no reason why she should
not succeed, provided she has a good location.
* * * * *
Only the rich and the utterly incompetent patronize the milliner
nowadays. It seems that women are very prompt to attend the "openings"
in the spring and fall seasons, but the great majority of them do so
only to see the styles. They go home and, unless they are very poor
hands with the needle, make their bonnets themselves. A hat that would
cost $5 in the store, a woman of taste could make for $1.50; and one
that would cost $15 she could duplicate for a five-dollar bill.
An idea can thus be formed of the profits of the business, and the
suggestion will probably occur to the reader that it is a good
business to follow. If a woman could secure a good store, at a
reasonable rent, in a nice neighborhood, she would have a fair chance
of doing well. Of course it is to be supposed that she understands the
milliner's trade, and that she has gained her knowledge in a practical
way. It is seldom, however, that women are successful as proprietors
of such stores. Either they have made a mistake in selecting a
location, or their means become exhausted while waiting for custom
during the early dull days of their venture. It would take at least
$2,000 or $3,000 to start a millinery store. A woman of unusually good
taste and sound business judgment might get along with $1,000. The
best location in New York City would be between Fourteenth and
Thirty-third streets, and Broadway and Sixth Avenue; or on Broadway or
Sixth Avenue.
TEACHING.
The profession of teaching would seem, at a first glance, to be
overcrowded. School committees who are charged with the duty of
selecting tutors are, it is said, overwhelmed with applicants for the
positions that are to be filled. Young women are constantly striving
to get places in academies, and the host of females who are seeking
situations in the public schools of New York is, indeed, mighty.
Notwithstanding this discouraging view, a thoroughly qualified teacher
need seldom be without employment. The women who have had a solid
systematic training in the English branches, and who, in addition to
mere mental qualifications, have the knack, or genius, it might be
called, of reaching the minds of the young, are very few. There are
plenty of superficially educated young women who "take up" teaching
as their profession. They are not thoroughly grounded in the very
rudiments of knowledge; they have no knowledge of, or sympathy with,
children; they go through their work in a purely mechanical spirit;
and they are utterly unfitted, in every way, for the profession they
have selected for themselves. The woman who makes teaching her
profession must have real ability, and feel herself thoroughly
_adapted_ for the calling.
No woman, unless she has great "influence," can hope to obtain a
position in the public schools of New York. The western part of our
country seems to be a good field for well-qualified teachers, who
must, however, be endowed with some courage.
The country is a good place for a young lady to begin work. Positions
are more easily secured, and the qualifications required are not so
great as in the city.
In the schools throughout the country the salaries of female teachers
range from $300 to $1,200 a year. The smaller salary would be given in
a country school; the higher salaries would be paid in the academies
in the large towns, and in cities.
* * * * *
Teaching young children by the Kindergarten method has become very
popular within the past few years, and there is quite a demand for the
establishment of Kindergarten schools. In New York young ladies can
learn this method of teaching in two schools; one a free school
connected with a society devoted to "ethical culture," and a private
school. The instruction given in the former is free, but the young
women are expected to devote part of the day to the free scholars.
This is an advantage, for it gives them a practical knowledge of the
method. During the week there are three theoretical lessons, each
lasting about two hours. So many are desirous of entering this
institution, that it has been found necessary to have a competitive
examination for the admission of candidates. In the private school the
price of tuition is $200. In Boston there are twenty kindergartens,
all carried on by a lady. The salary of the teachers there is $600. In
private families teachers are paid from $400 to $600; there is a good
demand for instructors in that quarter. The price obtained from
scholars taught in a kindergarten school depends solely on how much
they can afford to pay; probably $50 for the school year of nine
months would be the average price.
* * * * *
The educational market is overstocked with teachers of languages.
There are so many poor, broken-down foreigners in America who are
perfectly competent to teach their respective languages, that there is
a very small chance for home talent. A good teacher, in the city of
New York, will receive $1 an hour; but there are some who will teach
as low as 25 cents an hour, and there are others who, through their
good address and social qualifications, will secure an entrance into
fashionable society, and receive as high as $5 an hour for doing no
better service than their poorer-paid sisters. In academies and
schools a lady teaching French and German will receive her board
and from $300 to $800 a year. She must have learned these languages
abroad, and have the real foreign accent, or she cannot obtain
employment at these rates. If she has obtained her knowledge in this
country, the salary will be from $300 to $500.
* * * * *
Music is now so generally taught to children, that there is a good
chance for competent female teachers of the art to obtain scholars.
There is a wide range in the prices paid for tuition; some teachers
receive only 50 cents a lesson, and some as high as $8. Those who
receive the latter sum are women of very great ability, who train
young ladies to become public performers. The terms depend almost
altogether on the wealth of the teacher's patrons; among people in
moderate circumstances she will receive moderate pay, while the rich
will very often give twice the amount for the same service. The
ability and reputation of the teacher will have much to do with her
earnings.
To become a thoroughly competent music teacher will take three or four
years' instruction. It is said that a good musical education can be
obtained as well on this as on the other side of the water. Many of
the foreign music teachers in this country are as good as can be
obtained abroad, and the European instructors, some critics say, do
not give as much time and attention to pupils as the American tutors.
* * * * *
If a woman has a thorough knowledge of short-hand, she can do well, as
a teacher of the art, in almost any community. Many persons, even in
remote and small places, would learn phonography if the subject were
brought to their attention by an instructor. Clergymen, lawyers,
doctors, many women of leisure, young women who would study with a
view to being amanuenses--all such people could be obtained as pupils.
The teacher could give from fifteen to thirty or forty lessons, at a
charge of from fifty cents to a dollar a lesson. A great many learners
of this art prefer to have a teacher's help, though phonography can be
mastered without such aid.
* * * * *
Teachers of the art of decoration--the ornamentation of China screens,
plaques, panels, etc.--and drawing, receive from $400 to $2,000 a
year. A course of two or three years' study will fit a properly
talented woman to be an art teacher. There is a fair demand for such
teachers in the large schools and academies throughout the country.
BRIEF NOTES
ON MARKET GARDENING, POULTRY-RAISING, BEE-KEEPING, HOUSE-KEEPERS,
CASHIERS, BUTTON-HOLE MAKING, FLORICULTURE, AUTHORSHIP,
TYPE-WRITING, AND WORKING IN BRASS.
It would be impossible, within the limits of this little book, to go
into the details of all the employments suitable for women; only the
most important and best paying kinds of work have been mentioned in
detail. Some brief notes are here given of various occupations in
which females are now engaged, and in which they are meeting with more
or less success.
=Market Gardening.=--Some women make money by raising vegetables for
the city markets. The produce is sometimes sent by rail, but, as a
rule, it is brought in by trucks. This industry is not, as many might
suppose, confined entirely to foreigners. There are thousands of
American-born women throughout the country who are engaged in it, and
who are doing well. Mention is made of a woman who, starting with a
capital of $25, made a good living in this way, cultivating only an
acre of ground. Her husband plowed and prepared the ground, and in her
part of the work she had the assistance of the younger boys and the
older girls. During the past year she made more money than her husband
did from his farm. A woman could not expect to be successful in this
occupation unless she was unusually strong and healthy, and had the
taste for agricultural work very largely developed. Those who are born
and brought up in the country do the best.
The raising of =poultry= for the large city markets is a lucrative
occupation, or rather it can be made so, after a time, if the
poultry-raiser gradually increases her stock of fowls. Even if she
does not care to do this she can be pretty sure of a fair living.
About $300 would be required to start in this business--$100 for the
fowls, and the balance for the erection of appropriate buildings for
the animals.
=Bee-keeping.=--There is always a good market for honey, and those who
understand the art of raising bees can be sure of making a fair
living. Women can do just as well as men, and many ladies are very
successful. It would be necessary to start with not less than thirty
swarms of bees, at a cost of from $5 to $15 a swarm, or hive. If the
business is properly followed, it will increase in a very short time,
as the colonies multiply rapidly. There are excellent books showing
how this business can be carried on, but the theoretical knowledge
gained from them must be supplemented by practical knowledge gained
from experience.
=House-keepers.=--The demand for house-keepers is very small; that is
to say, there is very little chance for a strange woman to obtain a
position of that kind. There are plenty of house-keepers, but when one
is wanted she is generally found in the person of a poor relation or
struggling friend within the immediate social precinct of the family
who desire her services. Such positions, however, when they can be
obtained in the large cities, are looked upon as unusually good.
House-keepers are employed by widowers to take entire charge of a
house and look after the children, if there are any; by husbands with
sick and delicate wives; or by couples who are wealthy enough to
engage such service. They are paid from $30 to $100 per month, the
salary depending on the duties they are expected to perform, and the
wealth of the parties who employ them.
A house-keeper in a large hotel occupies a responsible position. She
must possess that rare feminine virtue--the ability to "get along"
with servants. The occupation is very confining, and such workers can
very seldom get, at one time, many hours' recess from their work.
Their wages run from $20 to $60 a month and their board; the larger
the hotel, the more responsible the position and the greater the pay.
=Cashiers in Hotels.=--It requires a great deal of "influence" to get
the position of cashier in a hotel; it is a situation that is very
much coveted. As the cashier is employed in the restaurant, it is only
in hotels that are conducted on "the European plan" where such
services are required. In such hotels the guests pay so much for their
room, and get their meals where they please, paying at the time for
what they get. As a rule, they patronize the restaurant connected with
the hotel. The cashier has to work long hours. For instance: one day
she will be on duty from 8 A.M. until 8 P.M. The next day from 7 A.M.
until 10 A.M.; then a recess until 5 P.M., then on duty until 12,
midnight. She receives her board and a salary of from $12 to $25 a
month. The board is always good. In the best hotels the cashier is
allowed to order what she pleases from the regular bill of fare; other
hotels have a special bill for the "officers" (as the better class of
help are called), and from this the selection of food has to be made.
=Button-holes.=--Ladies do not need to be told that the button-holes
in fine dresses are made by hand. This kind of work has become a
separate business, although there are some seamstresses who combine
the making of button-holes with their regular sewing. Dress-makers who
employ twenty-five or thirty needlewomen usually keep one button-hole
maker, paying her from $9 to $12 a week; very few pay the latter
price. Some women who work at this trade prefer to be paid by the
piece. In this case they are paid at the rate of two cents and a half
per button-hole. A good worker can make fifty button-holes in a day,
and earn $1.25. It would be a very smart woman who could make eighty,
and earn $2 a day. One trouble about working by the piece is that the
woman very often has to wait until the work is got ready for her. As
she is obliged to attend on several customers during the day she often
suffers from this loss of time, sometimes losing a customer through
the failure to keep an appointment, or being obliged to do a part of
her work at night.
The button-holes in white vests are done by hand. The pay is one cent
a button-hole, and a woman can make $1 or $1.25 a day. The work is
always done during the winter months, there is plenty of it to do, and
never any time lost in waiting.