bonnets gives employment to many females. Connected with this is the
bleaching of straw, Leghorn, and hair bonnets. In large cities this is a
separate branch of business. The making and selling of bonnets has long
been one of the few employments open to women in the United States. If a
milliner gets a good run of fashionable custom, she can do well. Most
proprietors of millinery establishments make a handsome profit on their
goods, but some of the girls employed receive but a scanty pittance. I
have been told that in Holland men milliners are common. From a
newspaper we take this pithy article: "A stranger in Mexico is struck
with the appearance of the milliners' shops, where twenty or thirty
stout men with mustaches are employed in making muslin gowns, caps, and
artificial flowers." The cruelty exercised by some milliners and dress
makers toward those in their employ, by requiring of them too long and
severe application, is very great. Many girls suffer, as the effects,
diseases of the spine and the eyes. "In the case of the milliners and
dress makers in the London Metropolitan Unions, during the year 1839, as
shown by the mortuary register, out of fifty-two deceased, forty-two
only had attained the age of twenty-five; and the average of
thirty-three, who had died of disease of the lungs, was twenty-eight."
But the length of time required of their employés by milliners and dress
makers in London is longer than in the United States. A number of women
are engaged in the sale of millinery on the streets of London. Girls
usually spend from six months to a year learning the millinery business.
Unless a girl has taste and talent, she is not likely to be benefited
even by a year's apprenticeship, for it is rarely the case that they are
instructed in any but the mechanical work. No pains are taken to
instruct them in what is becoming or stylish, what shades are most
harmonious, how to make a graceful bow, and turn a well-trimmed end, to
arrange a face trimming, and render attractive the _tout-ensemble_. A
hundred small minutiæ are essential to a first-class trimmer, among
which is a nice discrimination of colors and shades. A knowledge of the
languages is, in cities, desirable for milliners' saleswomen. A love of
dress is said to be created by working at such articles. Many bad
effects must result from the indulgence of such a taste by those who
receive the small wages of most girls working at the millinery and
dress-making business. Over four hundred women are employed in the large
straw-goods and millinery establishments in Philadelphia. W. had, in
1854, three hundred girls making and trimming bonnets, and twenty-six in
the store as saleswomen. They were paid from $2.50 to $6 per week. W. &
L., his successors, employ about twenty-five women constantly all the
year, and about one hundred and twenty-five on an average of six months
in the year. Their best workers and saleswomen receive about $1 a day;
some get a little more, and some rather less. The business has increased
greatly during the last few years. The only kind made by that firm are
silk and fancy bonnets. One of the firm told me that the largest
establishments of fancy bonnets in Paris employ only about fifty women.
They have girls spend three months learning, and pay nothing during the
time. A girl does well to earn seventy-five cents a day. Six years ago a
good worker could earn $8 or $9 a week. C., Philadelphia, employs
twenty-six girls in the store and millinery department, and pays about
$4 a week, according to their capacity and diligence. Learners spend six
months with him. Some time ago I saw it stated that there are "450
millinery establishments in New York city, and 1,800 milliners working
in shops, and 900 at home;--35,000 silk and velvet bonnets are turned
out of the workshops of New York city, in the three months of the fall,
and the five months of what is known as the spring trade." "Of straw
bonnets, one million two hundred thousand are sold annually to the
milliners of New York for their trade alone." A tasteful and dexterous
trimmer can generally secure a good place and fair wages, but the
majority of milliner girls are apt to be out of employment, except in
the spring and fall. Most in the millinery business are Americans; yet
French, German, and English are well represented. The prices paid for
bonnets vary greatly in New York, according to the locality and
establishment from which they are obtained. No one who has not priced
them could believe the difference would be so great for bonnets of the
same material and make, merely because purchased on such a street or at
such a store. The milliner girls of New York are said to be good
looking. The time milliners and dress makers spend at their work is such
as to preclude (except in a few first-class establishments) any time for
exercise and mental culture. Their wages are so low that they could not
indulge in any recreation if they had the time. Those girls that live at
home can afford to do work cheaper generally than others. Such girls are
drawbacks to those who pay their board. Western merchants do not
purchase as much as formerly in New York, because milliners have gone
West. Southerners have purchased, until lately, nearly all their bonnets
at the North. There are, or will be openings in the South for milliners.
In 1845, "apprentices at the millinery business in New York gave one
year to learn, boarded themselves, and, in some of the most aristocratic
establishments, had to pay a bonus." Now it is different. The time given
is usually six months, and an apprentice receives her board for her
work. Mrs. S., Broadway, employs about fifty hands in the busy
season--all American girls, very genteel looking. It requires six months
to learn. They are not paid during the time; and, after that, are paid
according to abilities. I called in one establishment where there were
two girls employed, American. They received each $6 a week. A milliner
told me she wanted a first-class workwoman, and would pay from $6 to $7
a week, according to her swiftness and taste. I called in a small store
of dry and fancy goods, with which was connected a millinery. The young
lady waited on customers, and, in the intervals, trimmed bonnets for the
store. She received $1 a day, and is at the store by half past seven,
and leaves at nine at night. She lives near, so she goes home to her
dinner and supper. A lady told me of a Miss M., on Canal street, who
commenced the millinery business five years ago with twenty dollars, and
is now worth $3,000. A milliner in New York told me she could, by
piecework, sewing early and late, make $7 per week. Mrs. T. has learners
spend six months, during which time they are not paid. After that she
gives them from $3 to $7, according to competency. The number of hours
spent in the store depends on the agreement of the parties. One can best
learn where there are vacancies by inquiring at the millinery shops and
of girls working at the business. At a fashionable millinery, on
Broadway, the lady in the showroom told me the girls receive from $3 to
$12, working ten hours a day. There is one that selects, arranges, and
invents, who receives $12 per week. A surplus of indifferent hands can
always be obtained. Sometimes good hands fail to get employment, because
in busy times some indifferent hands are engaged, and it is difficult to
get rid of them. She has had to turn away many nice-looking girls
seeking for work. On back streets and avenues in New York, women work
longer, and the stores are kept open later than on Broadway. On Division
street, large cases of bonnets are exposed for sale in summer on the
sidewalks. In the poorer portions of a city, people live much and sell
mostly out of doors. Their crowded apartments and the high price of rent
account for it. D., on Broadway, informs me that he knows of an
invention connected with his business--the sale of straw goods--that
will throw ten thousand people, mostly men, out of employment. He says
his girls spend all they make on dress. He has two forewomen, to each of
whom he pays $500 a year. They never save a cent. He had one to whom he
paid $1,000, but she never laid by a dollar. Women, he thinks, have not
as much originality of thought as men. They seldom invent. He would give
$1,000 a year to a woman that would think for him, and originate styles,
and combine and arrange the trimmings of his bonnets with taste. He
walks on Broadway, and studies the fashion of bonnets; but none of his
women ever do. (Perhaps they have no time.) Women, he thinks, never
acquire such proficiency as men. They advance to a certain degree in the
art, and ever after are stationary. He thinks it is partly because the
majority look forward to marrying, and partly because they are so
constituted that they are not susceptible of acquiring the highest
degree of excellence. (I fear that D. does not consider that women have
not had as much time nor so many opportunities for improving themselves
as men, nor have they as much to stimulate them.) He pays women from $3
to $8 per week. His girls spend four months learning. B., another
Broadway bonnet-dealer, told me "good workwomen could at any time find
employment by going to the country towns around, but they do not like to
go from the city. Milliners often come to the city, and spend two weeks
trying to get hands, and then pay them more than they are worth to go.
His forewoman directs some of the trimmings, but part are left to the
taste of the girls. His is a wholesale business, and he trims many
bonnets before sending them away. Some of his girls earn on an average
$7--a forewoman more. The occupation is not entirely filled by good
hands, and pays well. He employs his hands about eight months." One of
the proprietors of a straw-goods warehouse told me "his women earn from
$6 to $10 (average $7 a week), ten hours a day. The season commences
December 1st, and runs to March 15th, and again from July 1st to
September 1st. Taste, industry, and imitative powers are the qualities
most needed. He employs about sixty in the busy season. When that is
over, some go to millinery shops and work, some to the country, and some
to towns in the surrounding States. The girls that work in cheap shops
are mostly Germans, and earn from $2 to $4. Some women, while learning,
receive their board for their work. By quilling ruches and such work, if
not by their bonnet work, they can earn their board. He does not pay
learners, because the waste of materials amounts to the worth of their
work. Girls of Irish parentage often make good milliners, and display
very good taste in trimming." A Boston milliner writes: "The wages of
the women I employ vary from $3 to $15 per week, of ten hours a day,
according to the amount of custom they can bring, and their aptness for
the business. There are comparatively few persons that make good
milliners. As a milliner, one must have good taste and nimble fingers;
as a saleswoman, she needs to understand human nature, have activity, an
honest heart, and good disposition. The best seasons are from March to
July, and from September to January." A lady in Reading, Pa., who
employs girls, informs me "she pays $3 a week, ten hours a day, to some;
to others, $1.50, but the latter she boards. A knowledge of reading,
writing, and arithmetic is desirable." A milliner in Auburn, N. Y., pays
from $2.50 to $5 per week, of ten hours a day. A girl spends six months
learning, if she boards herself; one year, if boarded by her employer.
The dull months are July, August, January, and February. A lady in
Poughkeepsie writes "she gives from $2.50 to $3.50 and board to some,
and from $4 to $4.50 and dinner to those who lodge and otherwise board
themselves. It requires one year and a half to learn the business
thoroughly, and during the time they receive only board. None should
learn millinery except those who have homes, or design to carry on the
business. Her girls work from 7 A. M. to 7 P. M. The business is easy
and pleasant to the industrious and to those who can sit much. Out of
work hours, they have time for study, attendance on lectures, meetings,
&c. Board, $2." Millinery is often carried on in connection with some
other business, in small towns. A lady who combines millinery and book
selling, in Easton, Pa., furnishes board and pays from $1.50 to $2 per
week, of twelve hours per day, to her girls. She pays about one half the
price of male wages. If they spend six months learning, she pays their
board. Two or three first-class milliners could find employment in
Sacramento, California.
=335. Bonnet Frames.= Bonnets, of course, are worn in all civilized
countries, and as long as bonnets are worn there must be bonnet frames.
Several hundred women are employed in bonnet-frame making in New York.
K. employs two hundred girls, and H. one hundred and fifty. The time of
learning is from two weeks to two months, but some never learn. The more
practice a worker has, the better she succeeds. Learners are paid
nothing. Some women working at the trade, take learners for their labor.
Workers earn from $2 to $12 a week, but it is a rare thing any earn the
last-mentioned sum. Fast hands, to work constantly from 6 A. M. till 10
P. M., sometimes can. The usual price, in all respectable
establishments, is fifty cents a dozen. In busy seasons there is
sometimes a scarcity of hands. There are no factories South and West,
consequently they present openings for the business. Apprentices
generally commence in March. The busy seasons are from January to June,
and from August to December. Some houses are not busy until in February,
and their fall business lasts till January. The art of making the wire
part of the frames is learned in six weeks. The crowns are made by
machinery attended by women. Some manufacturers have all their women to
work in the establishments, but the majority have the work taken home.
H. says "the business is the same, so far as confinement is involved, as
making up clothes at home. The girls come two or three times a week for
their work; so they have that much walking. The prospect of work to
competent hands is good. He has a great many to reply to his
advertisements for learners, but for hands he has lately advertised
seven times and got but five. Some leave the business for places as
saleswomen in millinery establishments; but that is more uncertain, for
it is more difficult to retain the same place long. It requires a year
to learn thoroughly. It is necessary that the work be uniformly done;
for instance, one hundred and twenty bonnet frames should be so uniform
that one would not differ from another. Buckram frames are used to shape
them on. The wages paid, he said, vary as much as the rainbow. They
range from $2.50 to $8. He knows one woman that earns $10 a week now and
then. He sends goods away to California, and other parts of the Union.
He also manufactures for the city trade. The season for work to send
away commences about the 20th of January, and ends about the middle of
May; the fall season begins 20th July, and ends 15th December. The city
trade gives work in the intervals. A girl of intelligence and ability
can make enough to keep her when out of work. Some employers keep their
hands all the time, for the sake of having them the next season. The
girls employed in the business are mostly Irish and Americans. He
boarded some of his girls, but they would associate with the servants.
What was said before them was repeated to the servants, and _vice
versa_. They got the impression that he was making money off their
board, though he charged but $2 a week. He thinks the result of large
numbers of girls congregating in the same house is bad. The influence of
one depraved one may be exerted over every fourteen good ones, and
discontent and rebellion be the consequence. Few persons are willing to
board working girls, because the remuneration is small, and the girls
are expected to be furnished with nearly the same advantages as
higher-priced boarders. Those that work in their rooms are about the
house nearly all the time, and all expect the privilege of using the
laundry for doing their washing."
=336. Bonnet Wire.= At a bonnet-wire factory, I was told but little of
the work could be done by women; but, if my eyesight did not deceive me,
it could all be done by women. Covering the wire was done on a
steam-power machine, which only required attention. The spooling is done
by females, and also tying it up, when covered, into bunches of twenty
yards each. A manufacturer of bonnet wire writes: "We employ some girls,
and pay from $3 to $3.50 per week, of twelve hours a day. Females cannot
do all parts of the work. It requires from one to four weeks to learn,
and they receive while learning enough to pay their board. The business
is best nine months of the year, during fall, winter, and spring. We
prefer girls to boys, for such work as they can do. Board, from $1.50 to
$2."
=337. Children's Clothes.= Quite a number of stores are devoted to the
sale of children's clothes in large cities. A handsome profit is
generally made by the merchant. At Mrs. C.'s, between three hundred and
four hundred females find employment in making up children's clothing of
all kinds (mostly infants'); also under-garments for ladies. A large
assortment is constantly kept on hand, and they are ever busy filling
orders; giving employment about nine months in the year to all, and to
some the year round. The work is mostly done by hand, and to sew neatly
is the only requirement. The work is all cut in the establishment and
given out, being piecework. The sewers earn from $3 to $6 per week;
cutters, the last-mentioned sum. Aside from these, a few girls are
employed in the establishment, who wait upon customers, and sew when
they have leisure.
=338. Cloaks and Mantillas.= Mayhew says: "In London, the workwomen for
good shops, that get fair or tolerably fair wages, and execute good
work, can make _six_ average-sized mantles in a week, _working from ten
to twelve hours a day_; but the slop workers, by toiling from thirteen
to sixteen hours, will make _nine_ such mantles in a week." At a
wholesale store, Philadelphia, where sixty women are employed, I was
told they earn from $3 to $6 per week. The head cutter has $6, the
assistant, $5. When the work is finished at the wholesale houses, the
good hands can find work at the retail houses. The best and most steady
hands are kept in work all the year. Miss S., New York, has her
stitching and seaming done by machines. She pays $5 a week to a good
operator. She does her own cutting. The prospect of employment to
learners is good, even in the city, in prosperous times. She has sold a
great deal to Southern ladies stopping at the hotels. She estimates one
machine to do as much as seven sewers. M. pays his girls $5 a week, and
they work in daylight only. A cutter designs, and consequently should
have taste, judgment, and experience. A good cutter can earn from $7 to
$10 a week, and usually has one assistant, who superintends the girls
while at work. Several mantilla manufacturers have failed, and he could
get fifty thousand mantilla makers to-day. G. & Co. make for wholesale
houses. They pay by the piece, and a girl can earn $4 a week, taking
work home with her at night. It requires from six weeks to three months
to learn. Nothing is paid during that time. Mrs. M., who makes mantillas
for S., Broadway, says she takes learners, but they do not learn
anything, for most they do is to pick out basting threads, run errands,
&c. Good sewers can make from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day.
Cutters can earn from $6 to $7. She thinks the prospect for a few, that
would properly qualify themselves, would be good in the South or West,
provided they find openings, take hands from New York, and be willing to
incur some expense for a short time. In Richmond, Savannah, and
Charleston, it has been almost impossible to get good hands. S. wanted a
woman cutter, and would pay from $8 to $10 for a competent one. His work
is done mostly in the house, and continues all the year. It is almost
entirely done by machine. B--s (German Jews) employ German girls mostly.
They prefer to keep old hands that have been with them several years.
They think German girls most industrious, and love best to make money.
American girls, B. charged (I think unjustly) with working just enough
to get along, and spending all their spare time promenading. According
to his account, cutters earn from $15 to $20 a week. He employs his
girls most of the year. The occupation of mantilla making, he says, is
more than filled in New York. Board, $2.50 to $3. At H.'s wholesale
mantilla depot, I was told it is best to learn to make mantillas with
those who sew for the mantilla merchants. Some of their girls sew in the
building, some take their work home. If they do not know applicants for
work, they require some one as security, who has property or is in
business for himself. A gentleman told me that, not long since, he saw
an advertisement by a mantilla manufacturer for men to make mantillas
and cloaks. A manufacturer in Boston writes me he "employs seventy-five
women, and pays them mostly by the piece; some receive as high as $12
per week, average $6. They are paid by the piece from the first; but
until they acquire dexterity, they can earn but $3 or less per week.
Cloak and mantilla making is constantly increasing, like the ready-made
clothing business. The busy seasons are from February to July, and from
September to December. Many are out of employment about three months in
the year. As sellers of goods, he finds men better qualified, because of
having been educated from children with views to business. The New
England States are the best for manufacturing, as in other localities it
is more difficult to obtain female help. Board, from $2 to $3." Another
cloak maker in Boston writes: "I employ from twenty to thirty women
(mostly American), and pay by the day. They work nine hours a day, and
receive from $4 to $10 a week. A good sewer, with taste, will learn in
six months. Some learners I pay, some I do not. Spring and autumn are
the most busy seasons. The girls are not out of employment two months. I
employ three ladies as saleswomen. Board, from $2 to $5 a week." A cloak
and mantilla maker in New Haven writes me "he employs twenty-five
American girls, and pays by the week, from $4 to $8. He pays learners
when they have spent six months at the trade. His girls are principally
farmers' daughters, who are rapidly taking the place of men in stores.
Board, $2.25 to $3.50." A manufacturer in Providence writes: "I employ
women in making and trimming bonnets, making cloaks and mantillas, and
as saleswomen in my store. I pay by the week, from $3 to $8--average,
$4.75--ten hours a day. Six months is the time usually spent in learning
either trade. In January, February, July, and August, some of my workers
are out of employment. All are Americans, and pay for board from $2 to
$2.50." P., of Providence, "employs about twenty girls making dresses
and cloaks, whose wages depend upon their ability as sewers; average
price per week, about $4."
=339. Costumes.= P. pays his girls (five in number), each, $3 a week.
They work from eight to five o'clock. He has no difficulty in getting
hands. Anybody that can sew can make costumes, but it requires taste for
the design and arrangement of such as his--theatrical. B.'s girls sew at
the house, 9½ hours in winter, and the best earn from $3 to $4 a week.
Their costumes are theatrical, and are very slightly put together. A
slow, careful sewer would not answer for them. They want their work done
so that it will rip up easily. They have many costumes on hand for sale.
They have a lady cutter. They give employment but four months, and they
are in winter. W., employed in both flag and costume making, has been in
the business since 1822, and employs six girls all the year. Flags,
costumes, &c., used in the South, have always been ordered in New York,
so there will be some openings in the South for such work. W. pays $3
and $4 a week to his best hands, and has his sewing done in the house.
His work is of a superior quality, and, consequently, commands a good
price. He employs only correct and fast sewers. He thinks there are
openings for girls of good moral character, properly qualified. A lady
cutting out costumes told me that it requires judgment to make the two
halves alike--sleeves, for instance; also to know in how short a time an
article can be made up, where and how to get workers, &c. It is
difficult to get good hands, and some of the materials are costly--so
they do not like to give work to any one they do not know. A spangler
receives from them 62½ cents a day. Mrs. T. employs a number of hands,
paying $3 a week to those that work in the house--ten hours a day. Those
that take their work home are, of course, paid by the piece. She does
all her own cutting out. It requires ability to fit, ingenuity to
design, and taste to execute. Spangling pays best. She had a lady
tinselling and spangling for her, that made a good living at it. She
does opera and theatrical work, mostly. She makes some ball costumes
also. Equestrian work she does not like, as it is pretty much made up of
horse trappings. The prospect for those who would learn it well, she
thinks very good. She finds it difficult to get superior workers. The
girls that sew for costumers are mostly those who prefer that to going
out to do housework, because they can have their evenings as their own.
It is usual to have a costumer travel with an opera troupe, who directs
and superintends the making up of costumes, and dresses the prima donna
before she makes her appearance on the stage. Mrs. S. takes learners,
paying them half price for two or three months, while learning. She
makes up most after Thanksgiving, for the Christmas festivities; but in
summer she makes up some ball costumes, and apparel and drapery for
tableaux, and operas at watering places. She has from one to two hundred
women and girls sewing for her at different times. Frequently she is
very much hurried, and must employ a great many to assist, for bills
announcing operas are often out before the costume is brought to her. At
W.'s, they pay $3 a week--ten hours a day--and are most busy about
Christmas.