depends on the accessories. Without music, artificial light, and
paintings, they would be rather tame. The principal requisites for a
circus rider I take to be agility, grace, and fearlessness. Size and
form have not so much to do in making a successful rider and gymnast as
one would suppose. The athletic exercises require vigor and firmness of
muscle. One should be trained from the earliest childhood. Children
usually begin as early as three years old. In former times, these
children were, many of them, picked up in the streets, and there is no
doubt that these human waifs had a hard time of it; but now many of the
professionals bring up their own children to the business. All the
performers, in addition to their several "star" or "single" acts in the
ring, are required to appear in any capacity assigned them in the scenic
pieces and spectacles, and to attend the rehearsals of the same; also,
to appear and remain on the stage in proper dresses, for the purpose of
filling the scene, and giving a gay and animated appearance to the
stage. Mr. Nixon's establishment, New York, being the most complete in
the country, and being thoroughly systematized in every department, will
serve as the best source from which to derive information concerning the
routine duties required, and the weekly moneys paid there to circus
performers. "The principal performers in Mr. Nixon's company are paid as
follows: Ella Zoyara, equestrian, in addition to first-class passage
from England and back for self and two servants, medical attendance for
self and servants, carriage and horses whenever required, and a benefit
every two weeks, receives per week $500; Mr. William Cooke, equestrian,
manager, passages for self and wife from England and return, and per
week, $500; James Robinson, equestrian, for self and three horses, $305;
the Hanlon brothers, six persons, gymnasts, per week $300; Mr. Charlton,
stilt walker, passage, &c., $125; Mr. Duverey, contortionist, passage,
&c., $125; Mlle. Heloise, equestrienne, $100; Mlle. Clementine,
equestrienne, $100; M. and Mad. Du Boch, equestrians, $100; Master
Barclay, equestrian, ten years old, $75; Mr. Whitby, ringmaster and
equestrian, $100; Mr. S. Stikney, equestrian and general performer,
$100; Mr. J. Pentland, clown, $100; Mr. Ellingham, ringmaster and
general performer, $40; Mr. Armstrong, equestrian and general performer,
$40; W. Kincaid, do., $40; W. Pastor, do., $30; W. Bertine, do., $30;
Brennan, do., $25; Niel, do., $25; F. Sylvester, do., $20; A. Sylvester,
do., $20; W. Ward, slack rope and clown, $30; Prof. Yates, ballet
master, $25; Mr. Stark, general performer, $25; S. Ruggles, $20;
Davenport, $20; Foster, $20; Peterson, $20; four lady equestrians, per
week, each $20; and twenty ballet girls and twenty supernumeraries." We
extract from an English paper the following statement: "In Paris, no
less than 15,000 persons were admitted yesterday, although the prices
were doubled for the occasion, to witness the performance on the tight
rope of a woman--Madame Blanche Saqui--who is entering her eighty-fifth
year."
=53. Etchers and Stamp Cutters.= In England, in the seventeenth century,
Anna and Susannah Lister were regarded as having much skill in the noble
art of etching. They illustrated a work on natural history written by
their father. A century later, the Countess Lavinia Spencer and a Miss
Hartley became noted for their skill in etching. Rosa Elizabeth
Schwindel, of Leipsic, worked at the business of a stamp cutter in the
beginning of the eighteenth century; and two Frenchwomen during the same
century--M. A. de St. Urbin and E. Lesueur.
=54. Herbarium Makers.= Herbariums are collections of dried plants. They
are formed by gluing to sheets of paper the flowers and leaves of
plants, after they have been pressed and dried. To botanists, they are
useful; and a choice collection is a frail, but pretty ornament, for a
centre table. The largest public herbaria are at Berlin, Paris, and
London. It is supposed that some of them may contain as many as 60,000
species. There is not much of beauty or interest in such a collection,
but for scientific purposes they may be valuable. It is not unusual to
see them made of the plants and weeds of the sea; and a very pretty
collection do they make, if got up with taste. A book has been lately
printed containing plates, with explanations for making them into
pictures and other fanciful arrangements. The making of herbariums of
both earth and marine plants, would furnish a pleasant pastime to ladies
of leisure, and a source of revenue, perhaps, to those who might wish to
make it a matter of profit.
=55. Lapidaries.= A skilful manipulation is necessary to the business of
a lapidary. If woman has sufficient firmness of nerve to perform the
duties of surgeon, we see not why she would not have for the cutting of
precious stones. It is a business conducted on a limited scale and by
few persons in this country. Mr. R., of New York, told me that a lady in
Birmingham, England, had a large establishment, and employed women and
girls to work for her. He knew of no lady that worked at the business in
the United States, except one that used to be in an establishment on
Broadway. The employment, he thinks, is not unhealthy. After a lady has
learned, she would probably earn from $4 to $5 a week, working for
others. He received $12 a week when working as a journeyman. He spent
seven years as an apprentice in England, but he learned the manufacture
of jewelry in connection. The prospect of employment depends much on the
condition of the money market, but there is reason to think the business
will increase as the country grows older. All seasons of the year are
alike. Money matters only make a change. He says there are many books
written on the precious stones and the art of cutting and polishing
them. He mentioned a book by a lady of London on the subject. Mr. H., an
importer and manufacturer of cornelian and other fancy goods, told me
that grinding precious stones is very hard work. Men lie across wooden
benches to apply the agate, cornelian, or whatever it may be, to the
grindstone. There are eight grindstones, weighing twenty tons each, on
one axle. The polishing is done by boys, who sit at small wooden wheels,
some of which are covered with leather. Sometimes women do this work. As
this method of grinding stones is done by water power, it is done more
cheaply than by steam. In Germany, a man who works at precious stones or
makes up jewelry at home, has his wife and daughters to assist him, and
hires a peasant girl to do his housework. The women and girls make the
fastenings for earrings, and file and polish the rings. He pays seventy
cents a gross in Germany for them. He says, in the country and villages
of northern Germany daughters are considered treasures, for they remain
at home, and by their handiwork maintain themselves; but in the south of
Germany, where there are no manufactures, girls are a burden on their
parents. B., of Philadelphia, used to employ girls to set up jet,
garnet, and turquoise for grinding; but those stones are now out of
fashion, and so girls are not employed. He says an old lady, whose
daughter is connected with the Home Mission, wished them to give
instruction to her daughter in cutting stones, that she might, as a
pastime, cut those brought by members of the family from the seashore
and watering places. He thought it likely she would also teach the art
in the Mission School. Cutting facets he thought pretty work for women.
They can either sit or stand at the tables. There is nothing unhealthy
in the grinding, as the stones are kept wet all the time. But the dust
used in nipping glass and stones is injurious to the lungs. When a man
has been nipping all day, his nostrils are nearly closed. The amount of
work depends on fashion. There are seven establishments in Providence,
and the work is done by steam. Some stones cannot be cut by steam
machinery, as the wheel must every few seconds be graduated in motion.
In hard times, the jewelry business and employments connected therewith
are dull, as people dispense with superfluities. Southerners buy most
jewelry, but now they do not indulge in such purchases.
=56. Landscape Gardeners.= Mrs. R. often goes and looks at gardens,
directs how to lay them out, and what to buy for them. She then orders
the plants of others, and sells on commission, having them arranged
according to her own taste, influenced by that of the purchaser. Her
purchases are made of a German, living some distance from town, who can
raise them cheaper than she could in the city. Her compensation, of
course, varies greatly. A landscape gardener writes: "What a lady could
do as landscape gardener at the West, I do not know. I am rather
inclined to doubt her success at the East. It would require too much
time and space to enter here into the details of what are required to
constitute a landscape gardener: First, one must have a decided love for
it, and a willingness to sacrifice much to the pleasure of the
occupation. Nor can I say a great deal in favor of the profits. I have
never been able to make a living by the profession, although I have
often thought if I had gone to New York, or farther West, the case might
have been different. In pages 381 and 382 of 'Country Life,' and in many
other parts of the book, you will see what I consider essential to the
making up and preparation of a landscape gardener, and better expressed
than I can condense into a letter." Mr. C., of Massachusetts, writes: "I
have never known a lady to undertake the profession of landscape
gardening; and much of the labor which I find it necessary to perform,
would be impossible for a lady. Still, there is much in which female
taste would find abundant field for exertion, if the labor could be so
divided as to make it profitable. My first work on any estate is to make
an accurate topographical survey of the ground, and draw a plan of it in
its natural state, and then proceed to make my designs for its
arrangement; and when that is done, if required, I undertake the
superintendence of the work at the ground. A lady would have to employ a
surveyor, in the first place, and would labor under many disadvantages
in directing the operations upon grounds; and, to judge from my own
experience, the business could not be made profitable under such
circumstances. Loudon's 'Encyclopædia of Gardening' will give the best
directions I know of for the necessary operations of designing and
executing plans, and Downing's work, with Sargent's appendix, comprises
enough suggestions, on matters of taste, for the use of any person who
is possessed of innate natural taste, without which I would advise no
one to attempt to be a landscape gardener."
=57. Lithographers.= The impression for chalk drawings is made by
delicate manipulations with crayon pencils; for ink drawings, with steel
pens and camel-hair brushes. It requires one skilled in the use of her
pencil, for every stroke of the pencil or pen on the stone remains, and
cannot be erased. Consequently, any defect on the stone is conveyed to
every copy of the paper. In answer to a letter of inquiry, respecting
the time necessary for preparation, the writer says: "A person who draws
well upon paper would, I should think, with six months' practice on
stone, become proficient. The process differs little from crayon drawing
on paper; and the progress of pupils depends entirely on their previous
attainments in drawing. The different kinds of lithography are black,
chromo, and gold illuminated; also, lithography combined, or uncombined,
with embossing. In a report of a British school of design, it is stated
that the chromo-lithographic class for females "exhibit the commencement
of a series of useful labors." An immense number of cheap lithographs
are colored by women; such as are hung in taverns, country houses,
sailors' homes, servants' rooms, &c. At Mr. C.'s establishment, I was
told that in France the females are quite as successful as the male
artists in lithography. He says lithographs require to be more highly
colored than the colors we see in nature. Mr. C. thinks of sending to
France for lithographers, as he cannot get enough in New York well
qualified. A correct eye, skilful manipulation, and an appreciation of
art are required to make one skilful in lithography. Germans excel,
because they have so much patience. An American would become nervous at
the slow work that they prosecute with the greatest pleasure. At Mr.
C.'s they have a forewoman, who superintends the girls, who are paid by
the quantity and kind of work they do. He finds that small girls are
usually the best workers. Their fingers are more nimble, and they enter
into it with more zeal. He thinks it best for them to commence at ten or
twelve years of age. Prospect good for employment in that branch. The
coloring of all the finest pictures is done by men. It requires some
time to become sufficiently expert to earn much. Their girls earn from
$3 to $7 a week. The work requires care, and is wearisome, because of
sitting long and steadily. Mrs. P., Brooklyn, an English lady, learned
to draw when eight years old, and studied lithography with a
distinguished artist of London, who executed entirely with his left
hand, having lost three fingers on his right when he was a child. She
has spent twenty-two years in lithographing--seventeen of them in this
country. She is probably the only lady professionally engaged in this
business in the United States. She has earned almost constantly, I was
told, from $12 to $30 a week. Lithographing is very lucrative to a
skilful artist. The remuneration is better than women often receive for
their handiwork. We believe some women could find employment in it, if
they were prepared. Mrs. P. excels in architectural drawing. She thinks
one must have the talent of an artist, and great practice with the
pencil, to succeed. She has given instruction to several youths, but
never to one of her own sex. One must be articled, and pass through a
regular course of advancement, to follow it advantageously. To an
apprentice, after two or three years' practice, a small premium is paid.
She had one youth to learn of her, who, after four years' time, received
$7 a week from her for his work. She thinks there will be employment to
a few well qualified. She has always been kept busy. The employment is
not more unhealthy than any other of a sedentary kind. Mr. M. says they
have no difficulty in finding enough of crayon lithographers, but that
there is more lithographic engraving done than crayon lithographing. It
is done on stone with instruments, very much as engraving is done on
copper. We have read "that an improved method of transferring copies of
delicate copper and steel plate engravings to the surface of
lithographic stone has been invented. One copy taken from the steel or
copper plate, after being transferred to the stone, is capable of
producing 3,000 prints." "Lithography, engraving, and especially
engraving on wood, would gain in quality by passing from men's hands to
the hands of women." "Lithographic works are produced which rival the
finest engravings, and even surpass them, in the expression of certain
subjects." The first lithography executed in the United States was in
Boston, 1826. W. & S. used to employ girls to color lithographs, but
found it did not pay. They paid from $4 to $5 a week to women, who did
the common part of the work. Men did the finer parts, and earned from
$12 to $25 a week; but only those who are expert, have artistic taste,
and understand the business, can earn so much. French lithographs are
prepared and the coloring done so much cheaper in Europe, they have
ceased to have it done in New York. B., lithographer, Philadelphia,
employs many ladies--about twenty--in the house. Some associate in
companies, and take their work to the house of one of their number; but
the greater part are educated women, who do not wish it known that they
earn money by their labor: these carry the plates to their own homes
(and even have them sent to the fashionable places of resort in summer),
so that many a fair damsel trips along Chestnut street with a roll of
something, which seems to be music, but is, in fact, work. The coarse
handed take no part in this employment. Very few have ever attained the
highest degree of proficiency in it. The most delicate work is done by
men. Americans have most aptness for coloring, although the Germans
excel in drawing on stone. Women seldom attempt the latter art. It
requires long practice for girls to excel in coloring. Many grades of
skill are required to color lithographs, and there is much difficulty in
making all the copies exactly like the first. Some need a treatment so
nearly approaching the artistic, that scarcely any one who has the skill
can be found to give his labor for the price, which is necessarily
limited. We gained no information as to the amount of wages paid to the
colorists, but, judging from the price of a very beautiful specimen (29
cents), it must be sadly inadequate. The scientific societies are the
main support of this business. The Government, indeed, gives very
extensive orders, but there is always so much competition to obtain
them, that the profit is small. Audubon was the greatest encourager of
this branch of industry. This employment is very desirable in every
respect for educated women; and although machinery for printing in
colors is fast encroaching on it, yet it will long offer a field for
female enterprise. Our informant employs from 100 to 300 hands,
according to the prosperity of the times. A commercial crisis affects
this as well as all other trades. One of the firm of the best
lithographic establishment in New York, told me they pay their men for
drawing on stone from $25 to $30 a week. The time required to learn
lithography, he thought, would depend much on natural talent. A good
knowledge of drawing is necessary. He thought men would soon get over
the opposition of women entering the business; but they did not like the
restraint of working where women are. They would soon become accustomed
to it; and if they were women of the right kind, it might be a very
beneficial restraint. But, as to that, women could do the work at home.
Many Germans, well acquainted with the art, are engaged in crayoning.
When they first come to this country, they work for lower wages than
Americans, but after a while learn their value, and ask as much as any
one else. On account of the low wages for which foreigners can usually
be had, but few Americans have prepared themselves for this occupation.
But when work is plenty, and the individual industrious and skilful, he
can earn good wages. Seven eighths of the work done for this country is
executed in New York. The agent of a lithographic company writes:
"Drawing on stone could be done by women as well as men; and would open
to them a very genteel and remunerative branch of business. The drawing
is now done mostly by Germans and Frenchmen; but ladies who have a taste
for drawing could soon learn this art. The usual price for such artists
now is from $12 to $35 per week." Prof. P., of New York, gives
instruction in lithography, charging $12 per quarter of eleven
weeks--two lessons per week. Special arrangements are made with pupils
who intend to devote themselves to the profession as artists or
teachers. A gentleman remarked to me that Mr. S., a certain
distinguished lithographer of this city (New York), would make an
excellent teacher in that art. His forte is heads. A few strokes from
his pencil always give a beautiful finish to a piece of work.
=58. Map Makers.= Women could not well travel about to obtain
information of localities for the making of maps, but nearly all the
manual labor connected with the business would be very suitable for
them. Lithographing maps is said to be a profitable branch of the art,
and opens a field to competent women. Attending the machines for making
impressions from the stones might very well be performed by women. "In
Philadelphia, map coloring gives employment to about 175 females, some
of whom display exquisite taste in this delicate art." There used to be
150 girls in New York painting maps, but there are very few now.
Freedley tells of a map-manufacturing establishment in Philadelphia that
"turns out 1,200 maps weekly. Connected with it are two lithographic
printing offices, having twenty presses, and coloring rooms, in which 35
females are employed." I was told by a lady who had colored maps, that
it is trying on the eyes and poorly compensated. A map maker said he was
always most busy in the fall, and then employed from 12 to 16 women. In
winter he employed about half that number, and they principally married
women, who have worked for them several years. Mr. W. pays two of his
best and most experienced lady workers a certain sum by the week, and
they hire girls and women to work for them. The profits of these
forewomen, aside from their own work, amount to $1.50 to $2 a week the
year round. Girls receive $1.50 a week while learning. It requires from
six months to one year to become proficient. Neatness, a steady hand,
knowledge of colors, and fineness of touch, are the principal requisites
for a good map colorist. It requires no artistic knowledge. An
expeditious and experienced hand can earn $1 a day. There is at present
a need of hands in New York, and a surplus in Philadelphia. All seasons
are alike in this business, except as monetary affairs are concerned.
All Mr. W.'s hands work in the house. They work about nine hours a day
all the year, and never take maps home with them, as they are mostly
large and heavy maps. Map making is mostly confined to Philadelphia and
New York. None are made in the South and West. There is one map
publisher reported in Richmond, but he has his maps made in New York.
Mr. C. gives his maps to a map mounter, who employs a girl to sew the
bindings on with a sewing machine. She is paid at the same rate as any
other operator. The paper bindings are of course pasted on. Mr. C.
employs one girl to paint the outlines, but all the other painting is
done by stencil plates. Map coloring formerly gave employment to many
females, but now it is very rare that a map is colored by hand. The
stencilling process introduced by the Germans has superseded it, as they
are thereby rendered cheaper. Girls used to earn 75 cents to $1 a day
for painting maps. If girls would learn stencilling and work on their
own responsibility, they might compete with the Germans. The process is
very simple and soon learned. At Mr. H.'s, I saw a large room full of
Germans stencilling. Men earn $8 or $9 a week, and do it faster and
better than girls, as they have more strength. I saw one girl shading,
who earned $1 a day. A map manufacturer writes me: "In map coloring I am
compelled to employ men to a large extent. A curious fact is, that
respectable middle-aged women, who have been coloring for years on
piecework, make from $4 to $5 per week; while young men, comparatively
unpractised, earn at the same prices, say from $9 to $10." A
manufacturer who employs about 80 females, writes: "I employ women in
pasting and putting down maps, who receive from $3 to $4 a week, being
paid by the week, and working ten hours a day. The difference in prices
of male and female labor is about one half. One can learn the business
in a few weeks; the only qualifications requisite are sobriety and
strength. The prospect for work in this branch is good. There is no
difference in the seasons. Some parts of the work can be done more
cheaply by women. A supply of hands can always be had. The women do
their work less carefully than men." A map publisher in New Hampshire
writes: "I employ 28 women and girls in binding, mounting, stitching,
and coloring maps, and pay from $3 to $6 per week, working eight hours a
day. The engraving is done by men, who receive from $6 to $20 per week.
Women's labor can be learned in a few weeks, and is not so hard or
difficult as men's. Engravers spend three years learning. I employ women
to color, because they have better taste than men. Draughting surveys,
engraving, and lithographing have never been attempted by women. New
York is preferable as a locality." A gentleman in Boston writes: "We
employ from four to eight women in our map-mounting department. They
could not be employed in any other branch, which is varnishing and
polishing all kinds of hard wood. There are a large number employed in
New York, Philadelphia, and Buffalo. Pay varies from $3 to $5 per
week--ten hours a day. We employ no men in this branch. There is
something new to learn every day. Business is the same all the year. We
pay our girls nothing while learning." A lithographer in Boston writes:
"I employ women to color maps and pictures, paying by the piece, the
workers earning from $3 to $6 per week. The employment is not
unhealthy."
=59. Medallists.= "Beatrice Hamerani worked at medallions, and in 1700
elaborated a large medallion of Pope Innocent XII., highly praised by
Goethe." "Toward the end of the seventeenth century we hear of Madame
Ravemann, who executed a beautiful medal, an exquisite specimen of
cutting." In the school of design in New York, we saw two very
creditable medallions, executed by one of the members of the school.