man often earning $10 a day. A superior landscape engraver calculates to
earn $2,500 a year. Mr. R. historical engraver, does the engraving for
the _Cosmopolitan Art Journal_. He says: "In England, better prices are
paid for historical engraving than here. Those who do the work receive
less, but the employer has a greater profit than in the United States.
More time is allowed the engraver in England to execute a piece of
work." Mr. R. pays his hands from $7 to $10 a week, and the best
historical engraver never gets in this country over $30 a week. In
England the work hours of an engraver are nine; here seven. He says the
art is dying out both here and in England. It is a something in which we
can always be improving. Seven years was formerly the length of
apprenticeship in England, and there an apprentice was paid nothing
while learning; on the contrary, the parent usually pays a premium of
£100. When an apprentice has finished, he will earn £1 a week, and
continue to receive more according to his skill and ability. Some people
send pictures from the United States to England to be engraved, saying
they cannot do such work in this country as in England; while, if they
would pay the same price, and allow the engravers as much time, it could
be done just as well. Such an engraving as you would pay $150 for here,
in England you would pay $200 for. In England it is customary for an
engraver to confine himself to one style; for instance, in "Falstaff
Mustering his Recruits," one engraver would do the wall, another the
figures, and another the drapery. Mr. R. was paid only $2,000 for
engraving "Falstaff Mustering his Recruits," and it took three men two
years. The business is not unhealthy, and not injurious to the eyesight,
although a glass must be used constantly. Mr. J., historical engraver,
used to have persons employed that did the different parts of a picture,
and he paid them each from $15 to $25 a week. He thinks, of those who
learn metal engraving in Europe, not more than fifty per cent. pursue it
as a vocation, and not above four per cent. attain perfection. Some
engraving, both picture and letter, is done by etching, but the best and
most expensive with a graver. Mr. J. M. Sartain writes in answer to a
circular: "I have no females in my employment, because I work alone. To
direct others or alter what they do wrong, takes longer than doing the
whole work myself. Neither do I know of females being employed by others
in my branch of business. But if I were willing to be troubled with the
teaching of any one at all, I should choose a female. This is from my
experience of the males I taught in times past. Women have the
requisites more than men--patience, neatness, delicacy; and the
occupation is as suitable for them as any other they are accustomed to
adopt. An unmarried daughter of mine is about to learn from me, with a
view to follow it as a profession. The chance of employment is however
very limited, for the reason that the cost of printing plates separately
necessitates, in an extensive class of pictorial embellishments, the use
of woodcuts. This wood engraving is equally suited for females, and to a
limited extent they are thus employed. The field in that branch is a
wide one already, with a constantly increasing demand. In my own branch
of engraving, the kind of skill required is that of _drawing_. The mere
mechanical skill required in _any_ kind of engraving is easily attained;
but the art of _drawing_ is the great thing, and positively demands
aptitude and taste--at all events, quite close application and
earnestness. _Skill in drawing_ is a key that admits to a wider range of
arts than I can readily enumerate, and successful and profitable
employment in any engraving depends on _that_. I am chairman of the
committee on instruction of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts, and in that capacity do all I can (as do also
the other directors) to encourage female talent. We have seven or eight
ladies among our students, and they _certainly_ are fully equal to the
males in capacity for acquiring art. Some model, others only draw. The
whole of our academy studies are gratuitous. For whatever branch of the
fine arts is to be followed, the first requisite is _drawing_, and the
next is _drawing_, and the third and last is _drawing_." Mr. B.,
heraldic chaser, says there are several processes in making heraldry
plates, sketching, engraving, embossing, chasing, and burnishing. He
used to employ girls to burnish. The making of patterns for heraldry is
never taught in this country to women, as it would cause the labor of
men so employed to depreciate. He pays a man from $15 to $20 a week for
chasing. He charges $1 for finding the coat of arms of an individual or
family.
=94. Telegraph Operators.= A new source of employment has been opened by
the invention of the electric telegraph. Most of the telegraphing in
England is done by women, and in the United States a number of ladies
are employed as operators. To a quick and intelligent mind it requires
but a short time to learn. An English paper says: "Here women do the
business better than men, because of the more undivided attention they
pay to their duties; but considerable inconvenience is found to result
from their ignorance of business terms, which causes them to make
mistakes in the messages sent. However, a short course of previous
instruction easily overcomes this impediment." We have been told that,
in one telegraph office in London, several hundred women are employed. I
hope the application of steam to the operations of the electric
telegraph may not interfere with the entrance of women into the
occupation. In New Lisbon, Ohio, a young woman was employed, a few years
ago, as principal operator in a telegraph office, with the same salary
received by the man who preceded her in that office. "I was told by
her," writes my informant, "that several women were qualifying
themselves, in Cleveland, for the same occupation." The
ex-superintendent of a line writes: "I have long been persuaded that
ultimately a large proportion of the telegraphists, employed exclusively
for writing, would be females, both because of their usually reliable
habits, their ability to abstract and concentrate thought upon their
engagements, their greater patience and industry, and the economy of
their wages. In offices where there is a large amount of business, and,
consequently, much intercommunication with customers, I have supposed
the arrangement would be to have a clerk to receive and deliver
communications, and the corps of operators and writers, composed
exclusively of females, in an adjoining or upper room, apart from public
inspection. And to this arrangement, I think, there is at this time very
little to oppose, except the antagonism naturally felt by male
operators, who see in it a loss of employment to themselves, and a want
of proper facilities for teaching and obtaining a complement, in number,
of female telegraphists. Any female proficient in orthography, with an
inclination to useful employment, would make a good telegraphist, and
might readily command, under a system above indicated, a salary of from
$300 to $500, and be profitable to her employers beyond the ordinary
male telegraphists employed under the present arrangement of office. It
is in operating by the Morse system that ladies are mostly or entirely
employed. The Morse is the easiest. They telegraph in small towns, where
there is not much to do, and the compensation is small." The Electric
Telegraph Company in London suggests that women should be employed in
preference to men, as working more rapidly. All the lady telegraphists
we have heard of gave satisfaction to all parties concerned. To Mr. A.,
connected with the New York and Boston telegraph line, I am indebted for
the following information: "Women are employed in operating the Morse
instrument. They are paid from $6 to $25 per month, and are paid by the
month. For the class of offices in which females are employed, about the
same wages are paid both sexes. It requires from three to six weeks to
learn, and nothing is paid while learning. The qualifications needed are
a fair knowledge of orthography, arithmetic, geography, and ordinary
mechanical ability. We may want a few operatives, say six annually. The
employment is constant, and about ten hours a day are devoted to work.
We employ about fifty women, and they only at small offices. Nearly all
are American. The employment is comfortable. There are no parts of our
occupation suitable for women in which they are not engaged. They are
generally more attentive and trustworthy than men. The price they pay
for board depends on the locality, say from $1.50 to $2 per week."
=95. Vocalists.= This is an important and profitable employment--one
that has secured to many a poor foreigner visiting this country a snug
little fortune. We have only to cite the cases of Jenny Lind, Garcia,
Sontag, Parodi, and Catherine Hays. It was stated in the New York
_Tribune_ of December, 1853, that Catherine Hays had sent $50,000 to
purchase an estate in Ireland. American talent is in some cases very
highly cultivated; but we fear the Scripture verse applies to the
substantial encouragement of native vocalists amongst us: "A prophet is
not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house." Too
much money and attention, we think, are lavished upon foreign vocalists,
while home talent is depreciated. An American singer must often go to
other countries and acquire a name, before she is received with eclat in
her own. It may be that other countries have the same failing, but, we
think, not to the same extent. Let us love American talent, and
encourage it before every other. Adelaide Patti, Miss Hinckley, and Miss
Kellogg are at present the most noted singers of American birth. Mr. C.
told me, that in New York, lady singers receive from $100 to $400 per
annum for singing in churches. One lady choir-singer of whom we knew,
received $500 a year, singing twice on Sabbath. Not more than from
twelve to fifteen lady singers in New York receive over $350. One lady
in a fashionable church receives $1,000; but she is a widow, and
somewhat favored. Another lady, leading the choir in a Broadway church,
receives a salary of $1,000, I have been told.
=96. Wax Work.= I called on two Italians that make wax fruit; their
baskets vary in price from twenty-five cents to $2. It would take a day
and a half to make a $2 basket. The Italian that could speak some
English told me that when he goes out to work, he charges $2.50 a day;
but to give lessons, he would charge $2 a day. He thought an individual
might learn in eight, ten, twelve, or fifteen lessons, according to
abilities and taste. Miss W., teacher of wax flowers, charges $1 a
lesson, and thinks eight or ten lessons sufficient. She thinks in
country places there would be openings for teachers. I think, where
there are large seminaries, a teacher would do better. She says there is
an opening in Troy. If a person has enough to do, it pays well. She
makes by hand; they are more natural than those made by moulds.
=97. Wood Engravers.= Much and long-continued toil is requisite for
success in wood engraving. A great deal depends, also, on the talent of
the individual. Wood engraving is a business adapted to women, as it
requires mostly patience and application, and but little physical
strength. Mechanical skill is the most that is requisite, yet, as in
everything else, it bespeaks the soul and taste of the originator.
"Women's nimble fingers, accustomed to wield the needle, lend themselves
quite easily to minute operations in the use of small instruments and
the almost imperceptible shades of manipulation that wood engraving
exacts." As more publishing is done in our country, of course there will
be a greater demand for wood engravers. A great many newspapers now
contain a large number of woodcuts, as _Harper's Weekly_, _Frank
Leslie's Illustrated News_, &c. Wood engraving has been called into use
for Government reports and scientific works, aside from its extensive
demands for periodical literature. A lady engaged in the business writes
of a class in wood engraving: "The pupils vary so much in ability,
application, perseverance, and in the number of hours devoted to it,
that it is impossible to judge what any one may do who has not made a
trial. My own experience is that the practice of wood engraving brings a
sure return for all the outlay of time and trouble spent in acquiring
the art. It would hardly be safe to rely entirely upon the proceeds of
the second year; the third may make up for it. The best wood engraving
is done in England and the United States. In classes of wood engraving
in the schools of design in England, the students are required to
produce the drawing as well as to engrave it." "For a quarter of a
century past, many hundreds of young women, we are assured, have
supported themselves by wood engraving, for which there is now a demand
which no jealousy in the stronger sex can intercept. The effort to
exclude women was made in this, as in other branches of art; but the
interests of publishers and the public were more than a match for it."
"In 1839, Charlotte Nesbit, Marianne Williams, Mary Byfield, Mary and
Elizabeth Clint, held honorable positions among English wood engravers."
Miss F., at Elmira, New York, carries on business for herself in wood
engraving. She learned it at the Cooper Institute, four years ago. The
pupils of that institute canvassed for work, some two and two, but she
went alone, and principally in the lower part of the city. They visited
publishers mostly--she went to manufacturers. She got an order for $500
worth of engraving at a gas-fixture manufactory. I have heard that
ladies in the school of design, New York, receive the same price for
wood engraving that men would receive. N. Orr, the wood engraver, thinks
the prospect very good for a woman to earn a livelihood at it. He knows
a lady who has not only supported herself but partially supported her
parents by her work. For wood engraving, women usually receive as good
prices as men. The business is increasing. There are none West, except a
few in Cincinnati, and I believe a still smaller number in St. Louis and
Chicago. A person that has any talent for it can earn a living at it in
less than two years' practice. A knowledge of drawing is not essential,
as the drawing is usually put on the wood by the designer. Mr. Orr takes
apprentices, but pays nothing the first year. They are bound to him for
five or six years. Some engravers require a premium. I have been told
that designing requires a very different and much higher order of talent
than wood engraving. One designer can do enough in a day to keep a man
busy a week. New York is the principal city for wood engraving. I think
most men, while engraving, stand; but all the ladies that I have seen at
work sat. "A wood-engraving office in Cleveland employed three girls in
1845, at wages varying from $3 to $7 per week, according to the
experience of each in the business, being the same that men receive in
the same office."
MERCANTILE PURSUITS.
=98. Merchants.= Occasionally we hear such complaints as these: "Women
who keep stores of their own ask higher for their goods than men, and
saleswomen are less obliging than male clerks." Women, as a general
thing, do not understand their business as well as men, and that is the
reason they are not so well liked. Those inclined to be bold, may become
pert; and those in poor health, peevish. "If women were more employed in
stores," said Mr. P., "there would probably be less shopping, but as
many goods sold. Young girls that go shopping to whisper in the ears of
clerks, would then find something else to do." Woman has a power of
adaptedness that fits her admirably for the vocation of a merchant. A
friend remarked to me that Mr. Stewart, of New York, she thought, would
employ women in his store, if a large number of fashionable and
influential ladies would petition him to do so. If the retail merchants
of our large cities and towns would combine and employ only saleswomen,
how greatly would they promote the welfare of the nation! Young men
would no longer waste their health, strength, and talents selling
gloves, tape, and dress goods, but would cultivate the soil, or find
openings as traders, speculators, mechanics, and manufacturers, in
cities, towns, and villages of our Western country. They might do
something more creditable to their physical powers, while they gave
their half-starved sisters a chance to earn an honest livelihood. If
ladies would patronize those stores only in which there were saleswomen,
and influence their friends to do so, employers who now engage the
service of salesmen would soon learn what was to their interest, and
make a change. Promptness and regularity are desirable qualifications in
a shopkeeper. The business brings those engaged into intercourse with
all classes of people. Mrs. Dall makes this statement: "It is a singular
fact that there are a great many more women in England in business for
themselves than employed as tenders or clerks; while in America, the
fact, at the present day, is directly the reverse." A lady who has lived
in New York all her life said, if the merchants of the city would employ
women, they could find twenty thousand to-morrow, ready and willing to
enter their stores. In Paris large stores are owned and conducted by
women, and even the importing and exporting of goods is in the hands of
some. The tact and address of French women admirably fit them for
shopkeepers. Many of the smaller fancy and variety stores in our cities
are owned by women, that have by long-continued industry earned a
competency. Lady merchants can to some extent control the taste of the
community where they are; for such articles as they purchase and keep on
hand will be likely to find sale. The taste of the best keepers of
dry-goods and fancy stores, millinery establishments, and embroidery
shops will be displayed in the dress of their patrons. To merchandize
extensively, requires much experience and knowledge of business; but to
those that are qualified it presents an extensive opening for
enterprise. Barter, or the exchange of one kind of goods for another, is
very common in the villages and towns of our country. The Gothscheer
(Austrian) women often follow the trade of peddlers, and are absent from
their homes many months, travelling about the country with staff in hand
and a pack at their back. "Advertising and politeness are the main
levers to get customers. Advertising will draw them; ability to fill
their orders will satisfy them; and politeness will induce them to buy."
Quick perceptive powers and judgment are also essential to the success
of merchants. It is very desirable to have a good location for a store.
A lady keeping a small dry-goods store told me she sells $100 worth of
goods a week on an average. She has been nine years in the business, and
constantly gaining trade. She likes rainy Saturday evenings, as she then
sells most. She said one must use judgment in the amount of profit to be
made on various articles. A person must regulate her prices by others.
On some goods she can make but five per cent., and on some others fifty.
Many of the fortunes in Boston are said to have been founded by women
engaged in trade. And the ladies on Nantucket Island during the
Revolutionary war conducted the business of their husbands, fathers, and
brothers. A lady wrote, some years back, of some stores in one of our
large cities: "The proprietors say they give from twenty-five to fifty
per cent. more to the males than to the females of equal talent and
capacity, but can give no reason why they should do it, except that it
is the custom, and some parts of the business require more physical
strength, as some articles are too heavy to be handled by women." Yet
why not, we would ask, place women in the lighter departments, and pay
them exactly what would be paid a man for the same work? The average
wages of females in Philadelphia are $4.50 per week, though some get as
high as $7 or $8, but very few above $6. In a few of the stores of New
York and Philadelphia the business is conducted entirely by ladies.
There is a school of commerce for women at Perth, France. We read an
account some time ago of a colored woman on the Island of Hayti, who is
a wholesale dealer in provisions, and worth from $15,000 to $20,000,
that she has made by her own industry and business tact. She can neither
read nor write, but trusts entirely to her memory. She sells on credit
to retail dealers, and to girls whom she has trained. The merchants have
such unlimited confidence in her, that they will trust her to any
amount. Nearly all the commercial business of Hayti is done by women.
=99. Bookkeepers.= The employment of female accountants is gradually
extending in our cities. In female institutions of learning, and in
benevolent institutions, lady bookkeepers might be very well employed.
Indeed, we think, they would find no difficulty in obtaining situations.
We know that many merchants would employ them, if they were properly
qualified. We know of some that now occupy lucrative situations in fancy
dry goods and millinery stores. We have no doubt but the books of most
mercantile men would be more accurately kept, if their wives and
daughters had charge of them. In all European countries women keep the
books of the majority of retail stores. The books of nine tenths of the
retail stores in Paris are kept by women. They are fenced in, and
separated from the saleswomen by a framework of glass. A number of women
are employed as accountants at hotels in Europe. There is a large school
for instruction in bookkeeping in Paris, where the pupils are
practically trained. An exchange of articles of a trivial nature, and a
cheap coin of some kind, are used as a medium of circulation. At one of
the largest wholesale warehouses in Boston, the head corresponding clerk
is a young woman, who writes a beautiful, rapid hand, and fulfils the
duties of the situation to the complete satisfaction of her liberal
employer. A practical knowledge of arithmetic is necessary for
bookkeeping and selling goods--two of the most inviting openings now
presented to women of ordinary intelligence. The lady who keeps the
books of T----'s skirt factory, New York, receives a salary of $400. Mr.
M. prefers lady bookkeepers, because they are more particular in keeping
accounts, and they are more patient in their calculations. They are, as
a general thing, more honest and conscientious. Women are just as
capable of becoming good financiers as men. Industry, honesty, and
promptness, with the ability to write a plain, correct business letter,
ability to calculate rapidly and correctly, with a knowledge of
bookkeeping, certainly should insure a situation to a lady, where there
is a vacancy. It is well, however, for those who have qualified
themselves for bookkeeping, to obtain a certificate: it is a passport
that will aid them in securing a place. The salaries of bookkeepers in
New York run from $250 to $2,500. At a large store, where saleswomen
were employed, I was told they find lady bookkeepers more accurate in
their accounts, and not so likely to appropriate money that don't belong
to them. Where a gentleman bookkeeper receives $15, a lady usually
receives but $8. I know of one lady in Cleveland, assistant cashier, who
received a salary of $300. An accountant in Boston replies to a circular
sent him: "I think the employment as favorable to bodily health as any
sedentary occupation; but in my particular line of business it is rather
trying to the head, as it often requires close application and intense
thought. Those who employ women here as clerks, undoubtedly pay them by
the day, week, month, or year, where they have permanent situations; but
for transient work, by the piece. Women can always be hired cheaper than
men, as it costs them less to live. I am fifty years old, and have been
figuring ever since I was sixteen; still, I learn something new about
accounts every day. A woman would have to serve a long apprenticeship in
accounts and on books, before she could do much in adjusting accounts.
For a first-class bookkeeper, practical experience in accounts and
bookkeeping of business of all kinds are necessary qualifications. I
always prefer the early part of the day for work. My business is as good
at one season of the year as another. I attend to business as it suits
my pleasure--sometimes four or five hours, and sometimes twelve or
fifteen, according to the nature and importance of the task, and
depending oftentimes upon the length of it, and the time when it is
wanted. As a general thing, men and women everywhere in the United
States keep as far apart in business affairs as possible--it is the
custom. The counting house, office, and place of business are not
suitable for a female. I would state that I charge for making out
accounts and adjusting books, as a general rule here in Boston, $10 per
day, and sometimes more--never less. I have had all prices, from $10 to
$50 per day, for one, two, and three months in succession. Sometimes I
take a job by contract, say for $500, or some other specific sum, as may
be agreed upon, according to the nature and value of the service
rendered."