Part 5

Accounts of Expenditure of a High School Mistress (No. 4) in Furnished Lodgings.

AMOUNT SPENT ON

+----------------+----------------+---------------+--------------+ | | During School |During Holidays| Total | | |Year (39 weeks).| (13 weeks). | during year. | | +----------------+---------------+--------------+ | | £ s. d.| £ s. d.| £ s. d.| | | { 13 7 6 | | | | | { 3 7 0 | | | |Lodgings | { to be | 0 8 6 | 17 13 0 | | | { reserved in | | | | | { holidays. | | | |Board | 34 11 3 | 2 5 0 | 36 16 3 | |Lunches, teas, | | | | | &c. | | 0 16 8 | 0 16 8 | |Furniture | 1 5 6 | | 1 5 6 | |Washing | 3 7 11³⁄₄ | 3 7 11³⁄₄| |Dress | 16 0 5¹⁄₂ | 16 0 5¹⁄₂| |Books | 2 15 4¹⁄₂ | 2 15 4¹⁄₂| |Fares | 3 16 6¹⁄₂| 8 3 11 | 12 0 5¹⁄₂| |Amusements | 2 18 6 | 0 12 11 | 3 11 5 | |Subscriptions, | | | | donations, &c.| 1 17 11 | 1 17 11 | |Presents | 5 18 3³⁄₄ | 5 18 3³⁄₄| |Postage and | | | | stationery | 4 15 1¹⁄₂ | 4 15 1¹⁄₂| |Miscellaneous | 1 9 9 | 1 9 9 | |Doctor and | | | | medicine | 0 19 5 | 0 19 5 | |Not spent | 20 12 4¹⁄₂ | 20 12 4¹⁄₂| | | +--------------+ | | Total |130 0 0 | +----------------+--------------------------------+--------------+

The social outlook of a working woman is very largely determined by the amount she can afford to spend on dress, and her view of life is perhaps most clearly indicated in the consideration of this item of expenditure. And no accounts of expenditure are of much value without some accompanying expression of the spender’s contentment or dissatisfaction with the results of her expenditure. In reply to my question on the subject of dress, No. 2 informs me that £16 a year was quite enough for her dress:--

“My dresses were always made by a dressmaker, not at home; as we lived in a country town, her charges for making were inexpensive as such things go; I don’t think that with linings and small etceteras (not of course trimmings) they ever exceeded 15s. I cannot say that I was well dressed, but I don’t think that I was exactly badly dressed. I am sure that any one with more judicious taste than I had could have done better on the same money; I myself could do better now, for I certainly several times made mistakes of the kind that writers on dress warn us against, that of buying things, say at sales, which were not really suitable for any likely purpose. I always made a plan of buying my winter dress at the summer sales, which in our country town came in early August, and my summer dress at their winter sale (things really were reduced). Though I did no dressmaking I made my own underclothing.

“I am afraid I don’t quite see the application of the words ‘prettily,’ and ‘admiration’ to the school dress of a high school teacher. I should rather consider neatness as one’s aim in school dressing, but then some people have a talent for dressing for which they very properly receive their reward: I am afraid I don’t possess it.”

No. 3 writes:

“I still keep to about £12 a year for my dress, and I think there are many teachers, if not most, who spend about that amount. Miss B----, who was for some years head mistress at C----, tells me that she never spent more than £12 a year while there, and she visited a good deal and certainly always looked very nice. Miss D----, head mistress at E----, tells me that before she came here she spent £10 a year for about ten years while teaching in London. As to being well dressed, that is always comparative. I have my clothes made at very good shops, not the most fashionable, and always of the best materials, as I think it is most economical in the end; but I spend very little on trimmings, and nothing on fripperies, such as beads and feathers. I generally have two new dresses a year. I make my own blouses because the ready-made ones are too cheap and poor. If I had time, I think I should enjoy making other things, but I have too much to do. I generally do my own mending, but sometimes lately I have had a woman in to do it. Children certainly prefer a well-dressed teacher; I do not think my dress is either so dowdy or so shabby as to displease their taste; to look fresh and clean is my aim for school clothes, and plainly made things seem to me most suitable for our work. As to evening dress, I generally have one dress that will do for a concert, and I very seldom go to any other evening entertainment. I think it distinctly an advantage to a teacher to have as many quiet evenings at home as possible, and I find so many occasions present themselves of attending meetings and lectures that if I were to go into society as well, I should have very little time to give to study and the quiet rest which is so refreshing after the day’s work.”

The details of No. 4’s expenditure are given later on.

No. 3 and No. 4 were both considerably older than No. 1 and No. 2, and had both learnt that the one absolutely necessary indulgence for a high school mistress is a good holiday in new scenes. No. 4 says in a note that the cost of her holidays during this year were lower than usual, as she did not go abroad. No. 2 strikes the usual note of warning on this point:--

“I spent very little in my holidays; for my father was much averse to his only daughter spending any of her free time away from home; but you will also notice that there is a distinctly large proportion of my salary unappropriated or reserved, and a certain proportion of this ought to have been spent in holidays. I enjoy excellent health usually, and my nerves seem the only vulnerable point, but after teaching more than three years at W----, a term in X---- brought me to the brink of a regular nervous breakdown: this I imagine might have been avoided if I had really had a good holiday every year.”

The moral of this to young teachers would seem to be: Do not try to save out of £100 a year at the expense of your health. Better keep fresh and strong without saving and rise to £120 as quickly as possible, than break down and exhaust your savings in a long illness which may reduce your salary to £90.

The conditions and cost of living of women clerks vary in many and important respects from those of women teachers. Their work is less exhausting on the whole and less trying to the nerves. But, on the other hand, their holidays are generally very short; except for a few brief months in the year, they must work while it is day, and seek for their amusements when the night comes; they are doing sedentary work in office hours, and yet only by a strong determination can they find any recreation except in the further sedentary occupations of reading and sewing, or in poisonous lecture halls, concert rooms, or theatres. They cannot easily do their shopping, and have no opportunity of wearing out their shabby dresses in private; they must feed themselves unwholesomely at tea-rooms, or extravagantly and monotonously at restaurants. Above all, whereas teaching may be regarded as a life work well worth the doing for its own sake, clerical work can hardly be soul-satisfying to any intelligent human being. It is not living, but merely a means of living.

Dress is necessarily much more expensive in the case of the clerk than in the case of the high school mistress. Circumstances and temperament work together in producing this result. Were it possible--as I hope it may be--to secure accounts of clerks and typists living at home and working for about £40 to £60 a year, it would, I believe, frequently be found that their expenditure on this item was double that of the high school mistress earning £130 a year. On the other hand, the high school teacher knows that she must preserve physical health, and that she cannot afford to economise in food. The clerk too often lives on tea and roll until the evening, and for want of physical exercise, has little appetite even then.

The clerk’s budget (No. 5) that I present here gives a year’s expenditure of an income of £227. It has to be noted that, apart from the food and rent, most of the items were largely supplemented in kind. The expenditure does not at all represent the standard of living in things not strictly necessaries. The sum put down for holiday expenditure includes the expense of five days’ holiday only, the remainder being for railway fares, no other expense whatever being incurred during the remainder of the holidays.

TABLE III.

Accounts of Expenditure of a Clerk (No. 5) renting Unfurnished Lodgings.

AMOUNT SPENT ON

£ s. d. Rent of two unfurnished rooms, kitchen fire, and attendance 40 0 0 Coals, wood, and lights 5 0 0 Miscellaneous housekeeping expenses (including additions to furniture) 4 0 0 Food 43 0 0 Washing (household and personal) 4 10 0 Dress 41 0 0 Library subscription, books, newspapers, etc. 3 0 0 Travelling and holiday 8 0 0 Amusements 2 0 0 Clubs and societies 2 10 0 Presents and charities 12 10 0 Doctor 2 10 0 Small expenses 19 0 0 Not spent 40 0 0 ------------ Total £227 0 0 ============

Notes.--About £14 included under “Food” was spent on lunch and tea, which had to be taken out every day. The amount under “Washing” does not represent the true expense; many things were sent regularly to a country laundry, and were not paid for by their owner. The expenditure on “Dress” is £10 in excess of what produced a better effect when living at home as a “lady of leisure.” Practically, all mending (except stockings) and renovating were paid for. The amount spent in books by no means represents the value received. The heading “Small Expenses” includes cabs, omnibuses, and incidental travelling expenses, stationery, postage, extra newspapers, and oddments not amounting to more than a few pence each.

The last complete budget placed at my disposal is that of a journalist (No. 6), a joint occupier of a house, spending £338 in the year, for which the accounts are given. The income tax and total income are not stated. No. 6 writes:--

“My work is mainly office work, and I have nothing to do with society journalism, so that I do not have to be well dressed. In giving my travelling expenses I have of course omitted all travelling expenses refunded to me by my employers, but I have included fares spent in taking my bicycle out of London, although they should perhaps come under the head of holiday expenses. Then, of course, as, except the theatre, my amusements are nearly all outdoor, the expenses are really divided between food and dress and lodging, and it looks as though I spent very little on recreation.”

TABLE IV.

Accounts of a Journalist (No. 6), Joint Occupier of a House.

AMOUNT SPENT ON

£ s. d. Rent (share of) 22 10 0 Rates ” 7 4 3 Water ” 1 6 0 Gas ” 3 13 0¹⁄₂ Coal ” 4 1 0 Service ” 6 17 6 “Housekeeping” 44 3 4¹⁄₄ Luncheons, teas, and dinners away from home 31 1 10¹⁄₂ Furniture 2 13 3 Flowers 1 2 3 Dress 42 1 4³⁄₄ Books 14 1 2 Newspapers 2 3 9¹⁄₂ Fares 13 8 5 Holiday 7 18 8 Amusements 4 19 6 Clubs 3 1 0 Subscriptions, donations 27 15 4 Presents 18 17 0 Postage and stationery 3 2 10¹⁄₂ Miscellaneous 5 0 10 Doctor and medicine 0 0 0 Insurance 31 2 10 Savings 40 0 0 --------------- Total expenditure £338 5 4 =============== Income tax Not stated Balance Not stated

The housekeeping done by the other occupier, and separate account of each item not kept. Under this head are included half the cost of food for household of three people and servant, and of laundry, garden, kitchen requisites, house repairs, &c.

This includes daily lunches and teas, and lunches and dinners to guests at clubs, restaurants, &c.