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.