women. Covering and repairing fans, mending china, wax dolls, works of
virtu, &c., require care and taste. Connected with this might be the
mending of jewelry, card cases, work boxes, and other ornaments of the
toilet. A china mender told me he estimates his time at twenty-five
cents an hour. His prices vary, according to the quality of the article,
and the time and care required. He sells the composition for cementing
at twenty-five cents a bottle. His work was beautifully done. I talked
with another china mender and glass driller. After the fourth of July he
goes to the country and mends ware. Some learn his business in a short
time. He charges $10 to teach to make cement, drill, and mend articles.
He thinks, in Boston, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn, there are probably
openings. He says money can be made at the business by advertising, and
having some one to go for the articles and collect the money. He is
recommended by one customer to another, and so has enough to do; yet,
from the want of capital, barely makes a living. If he could get a place
in a china store, ladies could get their china mended there, and the
store would give him some. He makes between thirty and forty kinds of
cement. Some of them stand water. If a lady would learn, he would pay
her $3 a week for her services.
=471. Cigar Makers.= At F.'s, Philadelphia, we were told that girls who
make cigars are usually idle; but when we afterward saw the rapid motion
of their fingers, we felt disposed to doubt the charge. Habits of order,
temperance, industry, and the _reverse_, are said to run in some trades.
F. had heard some employer lamenting that there is no such thing as a
sober reed-cutter. May not the flavor of tobacco, in making cigars,
produce an excitement that craves some artificial stimulus? We think it
would not be strange if it did; but have no means of ascertaining, and
hope that it does not. Bending over was the only item mentioned by F. as
being uncomfortable or injurious in the work. "In Philadelphia, the
whole number of employés, journeymen and girls, engaged in making
cigars, is fully four thousand. The average labor expended upon each
thousand cigars costs $3.50, and the average cost of each thousand
cigars is $8." In Philadelphia, many Americans work at the business; but
in New York, almost all are Germans. In Germany, many women make cigars.
A cigar maker told me that some women find the odor too strong; and even
men with weak lungs are likely to have the consumption, if they work at
it long. He pays women the same price as men, and he pays according to
the quality and the workmanship--$2, $3, $4, $5, and $6 per thousand.
Quickness in the use of the fingers is necessary. He has never known
women to make the finest cigars. At K.'s, New York, I saw some bright,
pleasant-looking girls at work. They are paid six cents a hundred. One
girl told me she generally made thirteen hundred a day--seventy-eight
cents. Women receive the same rates of wages as men. The son of the
proprietor told me he had thought the work not altogether healthy; for
the men you see working at the business are pale and thin. His father's
girls are kept busy all the year. Girls generally make from $3 to $4 a
week. There are enough of girls at it in New York, though there are but
few places where girls are employed. The atmosphere almost stifled me,
the tobacco scent was so strong. I inquired of a girl if she thought it
unhealthy. She said no--that when she first came there, her head ached
all the time, and she had constant nausea of the stomach; but now she
never notices the smell of the tobacco, and does not feel any bad
effects. She said she had learned to make cigars in three weeks; another
girl said she learned it in one week. In summer, when the days are long,
a girl earns most. A bundler is paid the best price, as she receives six
cents a hundred. It is very dirty work. A cigar dealer told me he pays
from $2 up to $6 per thousand. A man can make two hundred per day, and
so earn from 40 cents to $1.20. He thinks it not unhealthy, where there
is a circulation of air. The rapidity in making cigars depends much on
the quality of the tobacco. Some leaves are not so well dried, nor so
fine and perfect, as others. Such, of course, require a longer time to
make. D., New York, says women mostly make the quality called sixes; and
he knows that, farther East, in making that kind they often earn $1 a
day. They can make the common ones more rapidly than men. He attributes
the inability of women to make fine cigars to the want of instruction.
Men do not like to teach them, because they are afraid of the
competition that may be created, causing them to lose work or have to do
it at lower wages. Now and then a woman may be found who makes cigars
equal to any man. It requires a knowledge of tobacco, to select the
different kinds for the various grades. Some judgment and intelligence
are needed to cut the leaf economically, and to select tobacco of proper
strength for making various brands. It is usual for a boy to serve three
years, who is paid about $30 a year, and boarded. He has boys fifteen
years of age working for him as journeymen. He says cigar makers in New
York earn from $6 to $15 per week. Good hands can usually find
employment. It can easily be learned in one year. All seasons are
favorable for the work. From five hundred to fifteen hundred cigars are
made in a day, according to the expertness of the manipulator and the
kind of tobacco. Machines have not as yet been found to work well. The
machine cigars are finished at the end by hand. He remarked that
machines never can succeed so well as men, until they have the brains of
men. A very nice widow, who kept a cigar store in New York, told me that
many more women are employed in making cigars in Philadelphia than in
New York; but the cigars made and sold there are mostly of the cheap
kind, selling for two or three cents apiece. Six months' practice is
required by a learner, to become perfect. Careful and rapid movement of
the fingers, and ability to use the left hand, are desirable. I would
suggest that a few smart women learn of a competent workman to make the
best quality, and instruct several of their own sex. I find the making
of cigars is paid for, altogether, by the thousand, and cigar makers
earn from $3 to $18 a week. The usual price paid for a thousand cigars
is $5, and a fast worker can make fifteen hundred a day.
=472. Cigar-End Finders.= Mayhew says: "There are, strictly speaking,
none who make a living by picking up the ends of cigars thrown away as
useless by the smokers in the streets; but there are very many who
employ themselves, from time to time, in collecting them. How they are
disposed of, is unknown; but it is supposed that they are resold to some
of the large manufacturers of cigars, and go to form a component part of
a new stock of the best Havanas. There are five persons, residing in
different parts of London, who are known to purchase cigar ends. In
Naples, the sale of cigar ends is a regular street traffic. In Paris,
the ends thus collected are sold as cheap tobacco to the poor. In the
low lodging-houses of London, the ends, when dried, are cut up and sold
to such of their fellow lodgers as are anxious to enjoy their pipe at
the cheapest possible rate."
=473. Cinder Gatherers.= I saw some girls gathering cinders. They burn
them at home, after washing them. One pailful lasts from one and a half
to two days. The larger girls gather two pails a day, generally; the
smaller girls each gather one.
=474. Clear Starchers.= The doing up of muslin, in large cities, has
made for itself a separate calling. Where there is constant employment,
it pays well. Mrs. N. charges from sixteen to twenty-five cents for
doing up a set of muslin. She does most of the work herself, as she
feels responsible for the way in which it is done, and would be afraid a
stranger might tear or burn the muslin. When she has not enough to do,
she fills up her time crocheting for the stores. I think the best
locations must be in a part of the city where the best residences are.
=475. Clock Makers.= The amount and variety of wooden clocks
manufactured in this country are very great. The low price at which they
sell, puts it in the power of almost every one to purchase. Clock-case
and clock-movement making are two distinct branches. Connecticut is the
only State in which clock movements are made; but there are many shops
all over the North in which the cases are manufactured. In 1845, there
were twenty establishments in New York city, in which the cases were
made. "Wages of clock makers are poor. Women are occasionally employed
in painting the cases of clocks, painting the dials, and making part of
the movements." The New Haven Clock Company employ women to paint the
glass tablets, and in lettering, or putting the figures on the dial, at
which work they can earn from 90 cents to $1 per day, of ten hours. They
also use quite a number in making trimmings, and the lighter part of the
movements, at which they earn about seventy-five cents per day. All
their work is done by the piece. The time necessary to learn depends
much on the intelligence and aptness of the person. Manufacturers of
clock dials in Farmington, Conn., write: "We employ twelve American
women figuring clock dials. The spirit of turpentine used is unhealthy
to some. They are paid by the piece, and average $2.50, with board. Men
are not employed in the same department. It requires about four weeks to
learn, and learners are furnished with board. The amount of employment
in future is indefinite. Fall, winter, and spring are the best seasons
for work; but constant employment is given by us. Board, $2."
=476. Clothes-Pin Makers.= A clothes-pin manufacturer in Vermont writes:
"Women are employed in packing clothes pins, and are paid from 25 to 50
cents per day, usually working ten hours. Our women are Americans. The
clothes-pin business should be carried on in a sparsely settled
community, where timber can be obtained at cheap rates."
=477. Clothes Repairers.= We have seen it suggested that shops for
repairing, remodelling, and remaking ladies' clothes, would, in large
cities, if conducted by competent persons, probably yield a support. The
mending of ladies' shoes, and mending second-hand ones to sell again,
could employ the time of a number.
=478. Cork Assorters and Sole Stitchers.= The principal use made of cork
in this country is for bottle stoppers. It is also used in making cork
soles for shoes. Cork is mostly imported from Spain, Portugal, and the
south of France, in large blocks, and cut in the shapes wanted. A member
of a large cork-cutting company at the East writes: "In France, Spain,
and Portugal, women are employed to a limited extent in cutting the
smaller description of corks, and a few are also employed in England,
but not to any extent." He thinks the employment not suitable for women,
and says none are employed in this country. But from the public reports
of the city of his residence, I find women are employed as cork cutters
in that city. At one establishment, we saw men at work cutting corks.
There did not appear any objection to women employing themselves in this
trade. A good deal of practice is required. S., of New York, cuts by
machine, and employs six girls to assort. He pays 50 cents a day, of ten
hours. At another cork store, I was told they employ boys and girls to
assort, who receive from $2 to $3 a week. The coverings of cork soles
are put on by women with sewing machines. A good hand, we were told, can
make eight dozen pairs a day, and is paid eighteen cents a dozen. I
suppose it requires at least a day to cut out and baste on the covering
of that number; so the compensation is not as great as one might at
first suppose. Some can baste five dozen a day, and could stitch from
twelve to twenty dozen a day. Girls are paid 10 cents a dozen for
basting, and 6 cents per dozen for stitching them on machines. A
cork-sole manufacturer in the upper part of the city, pays for basting
covers on, 10 cents a dozen. Some women baste five or six dozen a day.
It requires care and a little skill. If not properly done, it is almost
impossible to stitch them correctly. He pays 6 cents a dozen for
stitching, and an operator can stitch from twelve to twenty dozen a day.
He has often sold two hundred dozen in a year.
=479. Daguerreotype Apparatus.= In most large cities, daguerreotype
apparatus is manufactured. A maker of daguerreotype cases and materials
told me that his girls earn from 50 to 75 cents a day, the latter being
the highest price ever paid. S., whose factory is in New Haven, employs
about one hundred and fifty girls. It is piecework. The business is
increasing, but still is so limited that it cannot furnish employment
for a great many. No difficulty is found in getting hands, as there are
a great many girls in New Haven. No factory in the South or West. New
York is the depot for everything made in a limited quantity, and for
everything new in style. G. Brothers have given work all the year until
lately. It is piecework. Girls earn from $4 to $6 a week. It does not
take a smart girl more than eight days to learn. The busy time commences
in April. It is an increasing business. The foreman at A.'s factory said
a nice, steady, cleanly girl, that has sufficient dignity to command
respect, can always get work. One that is not very sensitive to
ridicule, and independent in the performance of duty, will be sure to
succeed in that establishment; for so many learners are taken in and
need supervision, that such a one is sure to be prized. He has
seventy-five girls. It requires but a week to learn, and the girl that
instructs gets the profit of that week's labor. In some branches they
stand, in some they sit. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $2 to
$6 a week. Some of their girls learn bookbinding; so, when there is much
to do in that line, they find it difficult to get hands. The manufacture
of daguerreotype apparatus is increasing; so the prospect for learners
is good. Most of his hands have work all the year. He has found many
work girls very trifling. (No wonder, with such training, and so little
encouragement to do right.) They have all their photograph pictures
colored by ladies in New York, except the glass ones. It pays well, and
is done at home. I think some lady would do well to learn to color the
glass ones. No manufactories West or South. A firm in Waterbury write:
"We employ twelve women making daguerreotype mattings, &c. We prefer
them, because men work better with a few women to work with them. We pay
by the piece. They earn $3 per week, ten hours a day. They are paid the
same as male labor in the same business. It requires one month to learn.
Activity and common sense are all that is necessary for a learner. The
majority are Americans, and pay for board $1.75 per week."
=480. Feather Dressers.= Those that purify the feathers of beds, also
renovate the hair and moss of mattresses. A gentleman told me he thought
the business of a feather dresser too hard for a woman. Carrying bags of
feathers, weighing them, assorting and filling other bags, he considered
too heavy. Feathers are cleaned by steam. Some people, to renovate
feathers, place them in the sun for a few days in summer, and then bake
them. There is never any need of renovating feathers, if they are
properly cured at first.
=481. Flag Makers.= At A.'s, New York, the young man said it requires
about a year to learn the business thoroughly. The hands employed in the
house are paid by the week, and receive $4. They work from half-past
seven to six o'clock, having an hour at noon. Those working out of the
house are paid by the piece. They do not always have enough of good
hands. They do not require the girls to invent designs, but like to have
them quick to understand and execute any particular device or new
pattern. To sew well and rapidly are the principal qualifications. He
thinks about two hundred women are employed in this way in summer, but
not more than fifty in winter. The sewing and embroidering are confined
exclusively to females. The cutting is mostly done by those who carry on
the business, whether men or women. Learners receive a compensation of
$2 per week while learning, after which they receive from $4 to $6 per
week. Some employers require their hands to spend six months at it as
learners; but any one that can sew neatly, and has taste, could as well
make a flag, after it is cut out and basted, as a bedquilt. The most
busy seasons are spring, summer, and fall. When employed by the week,
the hours are ten. The business is pretty well filled. Probably the most
flags are made for vessels, and the next most for military and other
processions. A flag maker told me he employs some girls and women,
paying from thirty-seven to fifty cents a day, of ten hours, to those
working in his rooms. Those that work at home, often earn seventy-five
cents, as they sew in the evening also, and are paid by the piece. He
does all his cutting. He has most work to do in summer and in political
campaigns. In winter, vessels are laid up, and consequently no flags are
wanted for them. Most work is done in seaports. More is probably done in
Boston than any other city. In Philadelphia, flag stitching is done by
machines. He will not have it done so, because it will throw women out
of employment, and their pay is small enough at best. He takes those
that can sew, and pays from the first. He complains that most women are
mere machines, and display no intelligence in their work. (Query: Whose
fault is it?) Mrs. McF. pays her girls $3 a week, of nine and a half
hours. She employs eight now (January, 1861), but sixteen in summer. In
summer she makes flags for vessels, but in winter she has made national
flags. When she wants any intricate pattern prepared, she employs a
regular designer, but cuts the goods herself. Ability to draw well is a
great assistance to a flag maker. She does all her own cutting, even to
the letters that are placed on her flags. Her forewoman sometimes
assists in cutting the figures. She works some for a house in Mobile
that sells flags. It requires taste and ingenuity to succeed, but a good
sewer can soon do the mechanical part. She has been in the business
nineteen years. We suppose there are some openings in the South for this
business.
=482. Furniture Painters.= F., who confines his business to the
ornamenting of furniture, says it requires taste and a knowledge of
colors. He thinks the Americans excel the Europeans in applying ornament
to works of utility. He has a man of twenty-five that he employed when a
boy in his store. He observed that he had such talents as would make him
a good ornamental painter, so he gave him instruction. The first year he
paid him $4 a week; the next, $6; and now he earns from $12 to $20. The
young man invents when F. has given him an idea of the style he wishes.
A manufacturer of enamelled furniture said no women are employed in
enamelling, to his knowledge; that lifting and turning the furniture
about would be too heavy for women. So it would; but they might have a
man to do that. Another one told us he did not know of any women
employed in enamelling furniture; but with a knowledge of painting, they
might be. Men often earn $20 a week at it. A manufacturer of chairs told
me that he pays ornamenters (men) from $9 to $18 a week, of ten hours a
day. The men sit while painting them. A girl must have a natural taste
for such work to succeed. The coloring requires experience. The French
and Germans do most of it. It is piecework. A girl, no doubt, could get
work, if she were competent. The Heywood Chair Company write: "We employ
women to some extent in ornamenting chairs. The work is not considered
especially unhealthy. We pay by the piece, and our women earn from $5 to
$6 per week, averaging ten hours a day, the year round. There is no
difference in the prices between the two sexes. Six months'
apprenticeship is required, at $3 per week. Nimbleness, neatness, taste,
and a true eye are needed in a worker. In ordinary times, there is no
difference in the amount of work. We employ women, because they will do
the same work better, faster, and cheaper than men. We would employ
more, if they could perform other parts of the work. Women are inferior
in strength to men, superior in manual dexterity, neatness, and taste.
All are Americans. We can hardly speak with confidence of any
considerable opening for female labor in our business. Most of our work
requires skilled mechanics, or hard, rough bone and muscle. We have for
five or six years employed all the females we could find room or work
for, and can see no chance for any increase." According to the census of
1860, the number of hands employed in the New England, Middle, and
Western States, in _making_ furniture, were 21,953 males and 1,880
females.
=483. Gilders of Mirror Frames.= About the same arrangements are made
with apprentices in this as in other trades. In the old country, women
do as much of the work in all its branches as men; but in this country,
the custom of women working in shops with men is not so common, and
consequently some females that learned it in the old country will not
engage in it, because of having to work with the men. I have been
informed that in Dublin there are at least forty women employed in
gilding--some in business for themselves. A good male worker earns $12 a
week. Gilders calculate to make twenty cents an hour, the most usual
price for good hands in all trades. In some trades men are paid
twenty-five, some twenty, some eighteen, and in some but fifteen cents
an hour. Gilders that manufacture frames for mirrors and artists, are
most likely to have work all the year. In most shops there is a slack
time just after New Year, and after the Fourth of July. It is a very
close, confining business, in summer, while laying the gold leaf on, as
it is so light it is apt to fly, and should be done in a close room. It
is not at all unhealthy. Most of the work is done standing; but, I
think, in gilding, women are permitted to sit. A German that sells
ornamental furniture, thinks women might do the gilding on furniture. G.
employs a number of girls in gilding oval frames. They earn, on an
average, from $4 to $4.50. It requires but a short time to learn the
business. B. used to employ some for the same purpose, paying $4, $5,
and $6 a week. I think this work preferable for women to most mechanical
employments, and, no doubt, in a few years many will be so occupied. I
was told by a gilder that women are employed, because they can be had
cheaper than men, seldom, if ever, receiving over $5 a week, of ten
hours a day; and they have no knowledge of the business, except the one
department in which they work. The frames are sold cheaply for
photographs. There are no extensive gilders in the South or West, except
one in Cincinnati, and one in Chicago. In the mirror and picture frame
departments, there are now a great many stores that cut up the business
of the large establishments, and the times are hard--so the business is
dull. Not more than forty women in New York city are employed in gilding
frames, and twenty of them are at G.'s. A gilder in New Hampshire
writes: "It depends upon how much painted work there is in the same room
whether the occupation is unhealthy. As far as my observation goes,
women are as good workers at this business as men." One in Massachusetts
writes: "My wife sometimes does my gilding, which is no harder than
sewing. The carver's daughter in Essex, near here, did all his gilding
for ten years." Gilders in Boston write: "We employ a girl to burnish,
and pay from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Men get from $9 to $12.
Fall and spring are the most busy seasons. Most of the cities northeast
of Baltimore are good for this work. Board, $2 to $3."