[Illustration:
HOW WOMEN
MAY EARN A
LIVING
CASSELL & COMP^Y LIM^D.
LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK
]
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HOW WOMEN MAY EARN
A LIVING.
BY
MERCY GROGAN.
"WHAT IS THAT WHICH I SHOULD TURN TO,
LIGHTING UPON DAYS LIKE THESE?"
_Locksley Hall._
Revised Edition.
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
_LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK_.
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
1883.
PREFACE.
The aim of the compiler of this work has simply been to point out
and give information respecting some of the ways by which women may
earn a living in the present day, especial regard being had to the
wants of the immense number of ladies who have to depend upon their
own exertions for their support. It is confidently believed that the
information given will be found substantially correct, as in most cases
it has been overlooked and corrected by the different authorities
from whom it was derived. Of course, in a book of this size it would
be manifestly impossible, even if it were desirable, to describe all
the different occupations which in various ranks of life are open to
women.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
PAGE
Society for the Employment of Women 13
Tapestry 14
CHAPTER II.
EDUCATION.
Teachers' Training Syndicate 16
Training College for Governesses 16
Home and Colonial School Society 21
West-Central Collegiate School 21
Girton College 21
Newnham Hall 23
Lady Margaret Hall 25
Somerville Hall 26
Froebel Examination 27
Kindergarten Classes. 28
Kindergarten Training College, Tavistock Place 29
Kindergarten Training College, Stockwell Road 30
Education by Correspondence 31
Calendar for Governesses 32
List of Endowed Schools 33
Girls' Public Day School Company 35
Elementary Schools 40
List of Training Colleges 44
Governesses' Benevolent Institution 46
CHAPTER III.
ARTISTIC EMPLOYMENT.
Schools of Art 47
Royal Academy of Arts 50
Designers 51
Wood Carving 52
Wood Engraving 55
Painting on China 58
Painting on Leather 60
Mosaic 60
Painting on Glass 61
Decorative Work 61
House Decoration 62
Plan Tracing 63
Photography 64
Art Needlework 65
Painting on Silk and Cards 67
Medical Drawings 67
CHAPTER IV.
MEDICAL WORK.
School of Medicine for Women 68
Chemists 70
Dispensers 71
Hospital Nurses 72
Nightingale Fund 76
Westminster Training School 80
CHAPTER V.
CLERKSHIPS.
Bookkeeping Classes 82
Shorthand Writing 85
Kelly's Directories 86
Junior Army and Navy Stores 86
Prudential Life Assurance 86
Coupon Sorters 87
Law Copyists 88
Telegraphy 89
Post Office Clerks 90
CHAPTER VI.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Assistants in Shops 91
School of Cookery 95
Music 99
National Training School 100
Royal Academy of Music 101
London Academy of Music 102
Printing 103
School of Technical Needlework and Dressmaking 104
Plain Needlework 105
Business Training 106
City Work-rooms 106
School Board Visitors 107
Minor Food Productions 107
Machine Knitters 109
Hairdressing 109
M. Eugene Rimmel's 110
Stationery Work 110
Superintendents in Laundries 110
Artificial Flower Making 111
Feather Making 111
Jewellery 112
Jewel Case Makers 112
Gold and Silver Burnishers 112
Dentistry 113
Map Mounting 113
Concertina Makers 113
Addresses 114
CHAPTER VII.
EMIGRATION.
Government Grant of Land 115
Free Passages 115
Female Middle Class Emigration Society 116
Women's Emigration Society 118
Australian Newspapers 114
Cost of Passage 114
HOW WOMEN MAY EARN A LIVING.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
One of the most pressing social problems of the day is how the immense
number of women--greatly outnumbering the men--in England at the
present time are to be supported. The obvious answer is, that they
must be taught and encouraged to support themselves. This little book
is written in the hope of directing their attention to some suitable
and remunerative employments that are not universally known, and it is
also hoped it may prove useful to parents who are anxious to arm their
daughters for the battle of life with a weapon no one can take from
them.
"When land is gone, and money spent,
Then learning is most excellent."
And a thorough knowledge of some remunerative employment would do
more to make them independent of "the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune" than the possession of any amount of money, especially in
these days of bank failures and general depression of trade.
The great difficulty ladies usually find in securing congenial and
sufficiently well-paid employment arises from the pressing necessity
they are generally under of earning money at once, which prevents
them giving the necessary time to learn whatever calling they may
wish to adopt. I have endeavoured to ascertain as exactly as possible
the time required to learn all the occupations I mention, as well
as the cost of tuition, and, in most cases, I subjoin the rules, or
give extracts from the prospectuses of the different schools and
classes where ladies may receive the necessary instruction, thinking
it may help many to decide upon what they are most fitted for, and
what they can best afford to undertake. I have also collected as much
information as I could for those whose circumstances make it essential
that they should at once receive remuneration for their work; but I
must remind them that generally what is worth having is worth waiting
and working for, and they must not expect to be as well paid as their
more fortunate sisters, who are able to give time and money to learn
a business thoroughly. The superficiality of girls' education is very
much against them when it becomes a question of how they are to earn
their living. If they were taught even one thing thoroughly they would
probably be able to turn it to account; or at least they would have
acquired the habit of learning accurately, which is all important,
and one which, I am sorry to say, most women are sadly deficient in.
Industry, determination, accuracy, and perseverance, would, I am
certain, be quite sufficient to overcome almost all the difficulties
women at present find in supporting themselves. For those who do not
possess or who will not earnestly endeavour to acquire these qualities,
I fear this book will be of little service. I have had to listen to
bitter complaints of the careless way in which ladies execute work
that is entrusted to them, of their want of punctuality and business
habits, and their ineradicable conviction that they are conferring a
favour upon their employers by working for them at all. All this sort
of thing naturally makes large employers of female labour reluctant to
try ladies, if they can get sufficient work-girls, who, whatever their
faults may be, are at least free from the affectation and conceit of
some of their superiors in the social scale. Why do not ladies make
up their minds to remove this reproach from their class by giving a
good day's work for a good day's wage? I heartily wish all women would
decide once and for ever to give up the notion that it is humiliating
or degrading to work for payment; to my mind the only shame in the
matter is in the cases where full value is not given for the money
received, when of course it becomes more or less an affair of charity.
It is a great pity that girls are brought up to think that the only way
in which they can dispose of themselves that will give satisfaction
to their friends is to get married, and if from various causes they
fail to achieve this end they will be looked upon more or less as
social failures. Although I am perfectly willing to admit that a happy
marriage is the best fate that can befall a woman, surely an unhappy
one is one of the worst; and how many of these would be prevented if
women only had something else to do and think about, some other means
of advancing themselves in life!
I wish parents could be induced to treat their daughters more in the
way they treat their sons--that is to say, when they leave school have
them thoroughly trained for some profession; it would be much better
for them, and many of the difficulties of the "woman question" would
disappear, as the untrained women of middle age who have suddenly
to depend upon their own exertions are those for whom it is almost
impossible to provide any suitable occupation, especially if they
object or are unfit to become hospital nurses, and have not sufficient
capacity for arithmetic to learn book-keeping. I must refer any of
my readers who want personal advice as to their qualifications for
different occupations to the Society for Promoting the Employment of
Women, 22, Berners Street, Oxford Street, W. Miss King, the Secretary,
or Miss Lewin, the Under Secretary, are both able and willing to give
advice and reliable information; no fee of any kind is charged. This
excellent society has been in existence twenty years; during the whole
time a free register has been kept, by means of which many hundreds of
women have obtained situations or temporary employment. Visits from
applicants average about ten daily, and the office has been a centre
for the collecting and diffusion of information on all subjects bearing
on the employment of women; while many whose names are never entered on
the register are put in the way of procuring training or employment,
and are warned against persons who, by alluring promises of easy
ladylike employment, tempt the unwary to spend their slender means in
lessons that are worthless.
With an income which, from all sources, including subscriptions and
donations for special purposes, has only averaged £319 7s. 6d. per
annum, it has trained yearly on an average, thirty young women,
obtained regular employment for sixty-three, and occasional employment
for one hundred and forty-two.
I must take this opportunity of acknowledging the great kindness I have
met with during my search for information while compiling the book.
With one exception, I have everywhere been treated with the greatest
courtesy; all my questions have been most fully answered, and every
facility given me for obtaining all the particulars I could possibly
desire.
I find that, after common sense and business habits, the qualification
most likely to be useful to a woman is a good knowledge of drawing;
so I advise any one who has any taste in that direction to sedulously
cultivate it.
I am much interested in a scheme for starting a School of Tapestry,
where ladies could be apprenticed, and after they had acquired the
art, work regularly, as they do at the Royal School of Art Needlework.
There is nothing in the nature of the work to prevent women doing it,
although it is an occupation that has long been monopolised by men. The
necessary apprenticeship would be at least two years.
A scheme has lately been set on foot for organising classes for
teaching girls who are anxious to obtain engagements in superior houses
of business, the regular routine of office work, book-keeping, &c.
Inquiries may be addressed to Miss Franks, 23, Mortimer Street.
I wish I could convince women of a truth they seem singularly slow
in comprehending--that is, that if they are to compete with men on
anything like equal terms, they must, at the very least, give the same
time to learn their business that men find necessary. There is always
a demand for really skilled labour, and this skill is worth almost any
present sacrifice to obtain; besides its pecuniary advantages, the
knowledge that one can do something really well (not in an amateur
fashion) confers a most gratifying sense of power and independence. I
do not agree with those people who think it a hardship for women to
have to work for their living; on the contrary, I believe if an average
of happiness could be ascertained, it would be found the toilers had a
far larger share than the idlers, and when trouble and disappointment
come, as come they will, they must remember that--
"Their fate is the common fate of all;
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary."