Druynackers, that take goods around in baskets to sell, and profess to
tell fortunes. This magic power gives them influence over many silly
girls, that are tempted to buy of them on that account. We cannot
believe that God would vouchsafe to a mortal the power to foretell
future events--to unite the present and future--time and eternity. The
constitution of all nature and the teachings of the Bible confute such a
belief. "The veil," says some one, "which covers futurity is woven by
the hand of mercy. Seek not to raise the veil therefore, for sadness
might be seen to shade the brow that fancy had arrayed in smiles of
gladness." Wherever there are people tempted to pry into the future,
there will be some to take advantage of it. Many a fortune teller sells
her soul to Satan for the power of imposing the belief that she reveals
future events. The prices charged by fortune tellers for their services
vary from 25 cents to $5.
=437. Guides and Door Attendants.= "In Paris, the box offices of all the
theatres are tended by women--not only those of the evening, but those
open during the day for the sale of reserved places. The box openers and
audience seaters are women." "The proprietor of the London Adelphi
advertised, at the opening of the last season, that his box openers,
check takers, and so on, would all be women." We have seen it stated
that in some of the Roman Catholic churches in Paris, ladies of the
congregation pass around the plates to take up a collection. Women in
some of the old countries are occupied as doorkeepers at museums and
galleries of paintings. In Great Britain, many of the door attendants
are females, where the houses are occupied by several families, as is
often the case. In England, some women are employed as pew openers. To
come nearer home. Those who have visited the Academy of Fine Arts, in
Philadelphia, will remember the pleasant face of the janitress who
receives the tickets of the visitors, and that an obliging young woman
checked the canes and parasols. In New York, most of the picture
galleries have female doorkeepers.
=438. Lodging and Boarding House Keepers.= Patience, a spirit of
forgiveness, and an ability to overlook faults, are very necessary for
gliding along smoothly in this difficult and often ungrateful calling. A
cheerful disposition, too, is almost indispensable, for everybody likes
smiles better than frowns. A love of society is desirable. It is a
principle that has been wisely implanted in the human heart, and one
that affords numerous and important advantages to mankind. It is one
that tends to produce a desire for the comfort and happiness of those
around. Yet too great a fondness for society may cause a neglect of duty
and a love of gossipping. It is sometimes the case that light, frivolous
talk and too great fondness for excitement characterize the keepers and
inmates of a boarding house. Yet such, of course, is not always the
case. Keeping a boarding house is an office that will give to one of a
kind and benevolent nature a good opportunity of exercising her native
qualities. Sympathy closely binds such to the unfortunate, and pleasures
are doubled by participating with others. Whether those who keep
boarding houses happen to have by nature more idle curiosity than
others, or whether the business is one calculated to create and foster
such a quality, I cannot say, but favor the latter opinion. The tempers
of those who keep boarding houses are apt to be very much tried. They
need great firmness and uniformity in deportment. The price paid for
boarding is usually proportioned to the comforts enjoyed, but not
always. In early times, houses of entertainment for travellers were kept
mostly by women. In a region of country where hunting and fishing are
good, or the scenery fine, and the roads pleasant, ladies often
accommodate, for the summer and autumn, families from the city. It is a
very general fashion for people in the cities to go during the warmest
weather to the country, seaside, or springs. Boarding house keepers
usually find it most profitable to keep a large house, as only one
kitchen and parlor are needed, and many other expenses attending a house
are proportionately diminished. Good boarding houses for workwomen are
scarce in all large cities, particularly New York. Most keepers of
boarding houses prefer men, because they are less about the house. I
have been told that it is very difficult for work girls to get board in
well kept houses. I think several respectable boarding houses should be
established in large cities by wealthy and influential ladies, or
religious societies, for working women. In New York are some houses
where none but merchants' clerks board. Why might not one or more be
established for shop girls? A list, as given by employers, of the prices
paid by work girls for their board, I will annex at the close of this
work; but I would add that comfortable rooms and wholesome food cannot
be furnished _in cities_ at these prices, and afford a reasonable profit
to the keepers of the houses. And I would further say, the prices paid
women for their labor does not enable them to pay higher rates for their
board.
=439. Makers of Artificial Eyes.= The science of supplying defects in
the physique is such that an artificial man can almost be manufactured.
Artificial teeth, hair, eyes, ears, noses, chins, palates, arms, hands,
and legs, are some of the missing parts of the frame that can be
supplied. In the census report of Great Britain for 1850, we find four
women under the head of artificial limb and eye makers. G., of New York,
knows two or three ladies in Paris, and one in London, that are engaged
in making the whites of glass eyes. G. may be able to give employment to
a lady in making the white of the eyes, in a few months. It is done by
blowing the glass, and requires but a short time to learn. He says he
would pay a woman well for the work. I called at D.'s, a manufacturer of
glass eyes, and saw D.'s son, a youth about eighteen years of age. He
says there are but two other makers of glass eyes in the United States,
and only two or three in London. D. spent fourteen years in London and
Dublin, manufacturing eyes at the infirmaries, and giving them away. He
did it to get in practice. He prefers to insert the eyes himself. They
move as a natural eye does, and certainly were very natural in color. He
sells them at from $10 to $20. Some physicians furnish their patients
with them, charging $60 or $70 for one, and so making a handsome profit.
When a person that does not understand the form of the glass eye and the
anatomy of the human eye inserts one, the inside of the eye is liable to
become inflamed, and proud flesh is formed. D. spent a fortune
experimenting. It requires an extensive knowledge of chemicals, and the
effect produced on them by heat. A small furnace is used for burning the
colors, in the glass. Some people would give thousands of dollars to
know the chemicals used, and their proportions. The young man says his
father has never even imparted to him the information. Some people that
wear glass eyes take them out at night. D. judges of the shape and size
required by merely looking at the remaining eye of the individual. We
think a competent person in this business might establish himself at the
South. I called on an Englishman who has been at the business twenty
years in New York. He is over sixty years of age, and has been in the
business fifty years; learned it with his father in London. He had a
number of certificates on his walls. He says a woman would go into a
decline directly, if exposed to the heat of a furnace in baking eyes. It
is necessary to stay in the oven while the change is taking place in the
chemicals. In summer it is intolerable. His son would not continue the
business on that account. He says the French eyes are made of glass,
covered with porcelain, and break easily; the white is made by being
blown. The English are not blown, and are made entirely of porcelain. He
says they will not break unless very cold water is applied in bathing
the eyes (a common fashion in the United States). He has had eyes worn
for a year without being taken out. He takes the dimensions of the eye
by fitting in different sized ones. If an eye is too small, it will slip
out, fall, and break. It requires long experience to become proficient
in making glass eyes; but it is a beautiful art, and not inappropriate
to competent women.
=440. Artificial Limbs.= We had thought, perhaps, a few women could be
employed in this vocation, and accordingly addressed a circular to a
gentleman so occupied. He thinks no women are engaged in this business
in the United States or any other country; but says they could be, and
the reason they are not is, there is not enough of the kind of work
connected with it, that could be done by women, to employ them. "It
requires some men one year to learn, some five years, and some never can
learn. It depends on natural ability and skill. The qualifications
required are skill, judgment, sobriety, morality, pleasing address,
dignity, imitation, industry, love of the beautiful, and anatomy. The
prospect of work is good; superior workmen will succeed. The best
seasons for work are from September 1st to July 1st. There is a demand
for the work in California. Large seaport towns are not good
localities--patients generally charity cases. Inland cities surrounded
by a populous country, the best localities--patients better able to
pay."
=441. Artificial Teeth.= It is said that 3,000,000 artificial teeth are
made in the United States annually. The materials are all found in the
United States. Each tooth passes through ten different processes. I
called at J. & W.'s, Philadelphia. They employ sixty-two girls, all
American. They pay a learner, after two or three weeks' practice,
according to the quality and quantity of her work. Their girls earn from
$1.50 to $7 per week; average $4.50. They have but one hand earning $7.
They would be glad to get more such at the same price, for it is
difficult to get good hands. They have to turn away a great many
applicants. The prospect is good to learners. They keep their hands all
the year. The business has advanced rapidly during the last few years,
and is likely to continue increasing. There are constant improvements in
the business. Consequently a hand may be always improving. They will not
receive a girl without reference, or credentials of moral character.
They do not want any but intelligent girls, for the hand is guided by
the mind. There are three or four processes carried on in different
rooms. They work at the establishment, and never carry work home, unless
a mother or sister is sick and requires their attention. It is a light,
genteel business; and one well adapted to women of some education and
intelligence. A lady in the cars told me she knew a lady who received $7
a week for making teeth in Baltimore. She came to Philadelphia, but
could not get as good wages; so she returned to Baltimore. The New York
Teeth Manufacturing Company pay from $3 to $5 a week. Learners are paid
$2.50 a week, from the first, for six months; and then, if competent,
paid more. The work is not unhealthy. Men average $10, but their branch
is different; the work is heavier. It requires about two months to
learn, in one department. Neither men nor women are often taught more
than one branch. All seasons are alike, and they are never out of work.
The supply of hands is greater than the demand everywhere. Small hands,
nimble fingers, and good eyesight are important to a worker. In the
establishment of R., New York, four processes in the making of
artificial teeth are performed by women. Some branches require a longer
time to learn than others. It takes six months to learn any one
perfectly. R. pays $3 a week to his learners, and $5 a week to
experienced workers. Careful manipulation is the most that is needed.
Judging from the increase in the last five years, the prospect for
employment is excellent; yet the openings in New York are limited. Women
are the best workers, but some prefer men. The only manufacturers are in
New York, Philadelphia, Hartford, and Bridgeport. It is desirable to
have careful workers. B. had a girl ruin $500 worth of teeth for him.
The parts performed by women are cleaning the moulds, setting the pins,
filling the moulds with the tooth materials, and trimming, and putting
on the pink color answering the place of gums; also placing them on
slides preparatory to baking and carding.
=442. Nurses for the Sick.= Attention to this subject has been awakened
during the last few years, by the heroic conduct of Miss Florence
Nightingale and the ladies who went with her to the Crimea to wait on
the sick and wounded. When the people of England proposed making some
testimonial of regard to Florence Nightingale, she proposed that, with
the means expended in doing so, they should establish an institution for
the training of nurses. We would not fail to notice a fact that reflects
much credit on Miss Anne M. Andrews, of Syracuse, N. Y. While the yellow
fever raged in Norfolk, Va., she left her home and went alone to
Norfolk, devoting her time and services to the sick of all conditions.
She received the medal that is usually awarded to a physician on such
occasions, and the citizens talked of placing a statue in a conspicuous
part of their city, as a memorial of her goodness and their
indebtedness. In Berlin, Vienna, Turin, and Halle, hospitals have been
established for the education of nurses. In Germany, there has been one
for many years. A number of good ladies connected with that institution
are now in Pittsburg, where they form an order of deaconesses. Some take
care of the sick, and some have charge of an orphan asylum. St. Luke's
Hospital, New York, is under Episcopal supervision, and connected with
it is an order of Protestant deaconesses, who attend the sick. Most of
the hospitals in this country have been established by the Roman
Catholic Church, and are under its guidance. We think Protestant
hospitals for the sick are greatly needed, especially in the Western and
Southern cities--Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and New
Orleans. It may be that some exist in those cities; but, if so, we think
they must be quite limited in extent. Asylums for sick children are
established in some of our largest cities. A number exist in Europe. A
nurse should have a kind, sympathizing nature, good health, strong
nerves, great powers of endurance, ability to sit up all night, and bear
exposure to extremes of temperature. In addition, she needs a good
memory, that she may give the right medicine at the proper time. If she
has not, she should commit to paper such orders, and consult them
frequently. A long and thorough training is needed by an attendant on
the sick. Great self-control is necessary, for many persons are very
impatient in sickness. A bright, cheerful spirit should be cultivated. A
sweet voice is pleasant in a nurse, because a sick person is sensitively
alive to the smallest matters. It requires a woman of education,
consideration, and delicacy of feeling, to be an acceptable nurse to
people of refinement; and such a one must become attached to those she
serves, if treated kindly. To make a kind and sympathizing nurse, one
must have waited, in sickness, upon those she loved dearly. A nurse
should use the precaution of wearing camphor, or something of that
nature, on her person, particularly where there is contagious fever. The
room should be large and well ventilated, and preventives used to keep
the infectious air from spreading. A better class of women are employed
to wait on the sick than formerly. The infirmary for women, established
by Dr. Blackwell, in New York, is designed partly as a school for
nurses. There is also an institution in Philadelphia for training them.
Nurses earn from $4 to $10 a week. Some wait only on male patients, some
only on ladies; some attend incurables, but the most serve in general
sickness. Mrs. B. gets $7 and sometimes $8 a week and her board for
monthly nursing. She knows some that get $10 a week. She stays in the
room with the lady and her infant, and takes care of and waits on them.
When food is to be prepared, the child's clothes washed, or anything of
that kind done, she rings a bell and gives orders to a servant. Mrs. B.,
another ladies' nurse, charges from $8 to $10 a week, according to the
amount of rest she loses at night. She told me that most good physicians
keep a list of the best nurses. A nurse is expected to be able to make
all the nice dishes required by her patient. In most small places, she
is not expected to have the assistance of any one else, unless the
sickness is very protracted, or the patient is delirious. In some
places, a nurse is expected to close the eyes of the dying, and wash
them after death, and perform any other service of that nature. But it
is not uncommon for an undertaker's wife to be sent for to perform these
duties, and take a measure for a shroud. For these services she is paid
from $3 to $5. A nurse runs the risk of contracting a contagious
disease; but, if the system is in a good condition, there is not much
danger. As long as people are sick, which will be as long as there are
any, nurses will be employed. Of course, there is most to do in sickly
seasons. I called on Mrs. P., who charges $5 a week for her services.
She does all that is required for the patient, except give medical
advice. She would rather wait on men than women, as they are sure either
to pay better wages or make presents. As she has had children of her
own, and raised them all, she feels competent to take care of children
in sickness. It is well for a woman to have a home to go to, when
relieved from the labor and anxiety of nursing.
=443. Steamboat and Railroad News Venders.= Boys and men are much more
frequently engaged in the sale of newspapers, than women and girls. They
are more disposed to sell edibles. We have seen some little girls
selling papers on the streets of New York and Philadelphia; but we do
not remember ever to have seen women selling papers at railroad depots
or on steamboats, though many are seen with baskets of sweetmeats. Many,
perhaps, cannot read, and do not wish to sell papers with whose contents
they are unacquainted. Others may think they will be less likely to make
any profit by their sale. Some women sell papers at stands on the
streets of New York, and about the hotel doors. I saw a newspaper boy
with an armful of _Ledgers_. He had sixty that he had bought at three
and a half cents apiece, and was selling at four cents apiece. A girl
that sells newspapers at the door of a hotel on Broadway, told me that
she and her mother take turns about in being at the stand, and the
profits of their joint sales are from 50 cents to $1 a day. She has
several Sunday customers, to whose houses she takes ordered papers.
=444. Street Musicians.= Organ grinders and street harpers have ever
found a fair representation in the softer sex. Such representation is,
however, among our foreign population--German and Italian, mostly. Last
summer, in the streets of Philadelphia, might be seen, from day to day,
a German woman with an organ on her back, and a baby in a hand-wagon,
going from street to street, stopping now and then under a window to
play. And in New York was another, whose organ was placed in a small
barrow, which she wheeled through the streets of the city. We have seen
two old women going through the streets of New York, one playing an
organ, the other a tambourine; and a few days since, we observed one
drawing very creditable music from a violin. Girls in the Swiss costume
are sometimes seen walking from place to place, with a harp and
tambourine. Some people say that, by the encouragement of street
musicians, we encourage idleness. Most such people would treat a
musician with scorn, and close the door in their faces, but step out
where they could enjoy the music and save their pennies; or they would
stand behind closed shutters, that their neighbors might not think them
capable of having such vulgar taste as listening to a street musician.
Now, we may encourage a disposition to roam, but scarcely idleness. This
propensity to roam may be unfavorable to the cultivation of business
habits; but the class of listless Italians who engage in it could never
become business people. In the first place, harpers, violinists, and
flutists must depend on their own skill and knowledge of music, to
perform. They must prepare for their particular vocation, as others do.
Those who play on organs, harmonias, and similar instruments, where no
knowledge of music is necessary, we must admit, require no training; but
walking, as most musicians do, from eight to twenty miles a day, is in
itself laborious. We have been told that in New York most street
musicians are employed by two or three individuals, who furnish the
instruments, and allow the carriers to have so much of the proceeds. In
older countries, there is a greater variety in the instruments used by
street musicians. "There are sometimes fifty persons engaged in the sale
of second-hand musical instruments on the streets of London."
=445. Tavern Keepers.= The keeping of taverns in small villages, or on
the roadside in the country, furnishes some with the means of gaining a
livelihood. Women engaged in this business should be wives whose
husbands can attend to receiving travellers, settling bills, ordering
horses, and such duties, or widows with sons old enough to do so. It is
laborious enough for a woman to superintend the table and bed rooms, and
the man must be in wretched health, or good for nothing, that cannot
attend to the outdoor duties. Much money has been accumulated by some
people keeping taverns in the Western country, where fifty cents is the
usual price for a meal. Indeed, the accommodations are often such that a
person cannot be rendered comfortable, and yet the price paid would
command all the comforts of a good boarding house in a large town. It is
the same case with the hotels, or saloons, at some railroad depots. At
others an abundance of life's good things is furnished. The tavern
keepers of London have a pension society.
=446. Travelling Companions.= Travelling alone, is most favorable to
thought, but not to pleasure. How much more we enjoy a lovely scene in
nature, or the novel and brilliant sentiments of an author, when in
company with one to whom we can talk freely! Good conversational powers,
and an ability to appreciate the beautiful, are desirable in a
travelling companion. Conversation should flow in a free, easy,
unrestrained current. Will it not promote the entertainment and
edification of rational, responsible, and immortal beings, to engage in
wholesome conversation--to exchange sentiments in regard to books and
the improvements of the age--to learn of the heavens above and the earth
beneath? In talking with strangers, might not much be learned of their
various countries, and a thousand things pertaining to them?
Conversation exercises the imagination, gives play to a talent of
invention, and strengthens the reasoning faculty. It sharpens thought as
fermentation does wine. It tends, also, to restore the diseased
imagination of the secluded and morbidly sensitive.
MISTRESSES AND DOMESTICS.