Part 33

=255. Marble Workers.= The rough parts of marble working are wet, dirty, and laborious, but not the finishing. Constant standing on the feet, and having the hands wet much of the time, would not do for very delicate females. A marble worker writes: "Sawing marble is heavy and wet work, and performed in the night as well as the day. I do not see that women could be employed at it to any advantage." Theodore Parker mentioned seeing a woman, in a marble yard in Paris, sawing marble. I have been told that in Italy whole families engage in chiselling the beautiful marble ornaments brought to this country. As a stone cutter, Charlotte Rebecca Schild, of Hanau, worked in Paris. Miss McD. told me that she got situations for two girls with a marble cutter in Hollidaysburg to do the fine part of marble chiselling.

=256. Mineral Door Knobs.= Manufacturers of mineral door knobs write: "We have women to make mineral door knobs, and to pack locks. They are paid by the piece, and average $5 per week. They work from nine to ten hours a day. It requires six months to learn. The prospect for further employment is small. Seasons make no difference in the work. We find men better adapted to the work. Our business affords little or no opportunity for the employment of women to advantage. We have about two hundred women in busy seasons. When men and women are employed in the same department, they talk too much."

=257. Paper Cutters.= We read in "Women Artists" of a Dutch lady, "Joanna Koertin Block, who produced from paper very beautiful cuttings. All that the engraver accomplishes with the burin, she was able to do with the scissors. Country scenes, marine views, animals, flowers, with portraits of perfect resemblance, she executed in a marvellous manner." "Mrs. Dards opened a new exhibition with flower paintings in the richest colors. They were exact imitations of nature, done with fish bones."

=258. Papier-Maché Finishers.= Papier-maché is made of paper ground into a pulp, and bleached if necessary. It is moulded into various forms. It has been cast into figures of life size. It is made into mouldings for the ornamental parts of bronzes. It is lighter, more lasting, and less brittle than plaster. It can be colored or gilt. Another article of the same name is made by gluing and pressing together, very powerfully, sheets of prepared paper until they acquire the thickness of pasteboard. They must be shaped while moist into the articles desired. When dry, they will be very hard and firm. They must be covered with japan, or other varnish, and may be beautifully painted with flowers, birds, landscapes, &c. Workboxes, portfolios, waiters, miniature cases, clock faces, and many other beautiful articles may be made of it. The varnishing, painting, and inlaying is done by women in the factories of England. Papier-maché manufacturers in Boston write: "We employ women in pressing and painting. The work is healthy. We pay $4 per week of ten hours a day. Men and women do not perform the same kind of work. We pay learners $2.50 the first month, $3 the second, $3.50 the third, and $4 afterward. The prospect of future employment is good. We find women have not a mechanical eye. Board, $2 per week."

=259. Pipes.= Meerschaum means "foam of the sea." The pipes are made from earth found in the island of Samos. They are light, porous, and not easily broken. Some pipes are sold as genuine that are made from the clay left after forming and cutting the real pipes, but are of an inferior quality. A manufacturer of meerschaum pipes told me he employs a woman to polish the pipes. It is done by hand. She is paid $1.25 a dozen, and can do two or three dozen a day, but they have not enough of work to give her more than a dozen a week. A maker of white clay pipes told me: "The clay is brought from England. Nimbleness of fingers is most that is required for success. There is not much of that kind of work done now in our country, because pipes are imported from Germany for what the labor costs here. They are retailed at one penny apiece. Women used to make them here, and do now in European countries. They can do all parts of the work. Putting them in the furnace and baking them is warm work, but not more so than any other baking. The work is paid for according to the number of pipes made. A woman can earn about fifty cents a day for moulding, yet a man can earn $5 a day, because he can mould faster, and also attend the furnace." Besides, the man owns the tools and furnace, which do not cost a great deal, and I suppose would last a lifetime. We have seen it stated that white clay smoking pipes are made in Philadelphia by one person, who recently sent to England to procure additional assistance.

=260. Porcelain.= Porcelain partakes of the nature of both earthenware and glass. It is a connecting link between the two. Few men are willing to run the risk of establishing porcelain and china-ware manufactories in this country, for they have nearly all proved failures. The porcelain of China and Japan is harder and more durable than that manufactured in Europe, but in beauty of form and elegance of design the European excels. Our best articles of household ware are mostly from England, those of an ornamental kind from France. Much of the work in a porcelain factory could be done by women, such as cutting the porcelain with wires, moulding the articles with a press, and washing them over with dissolved porcelain to produce a gloss. They could also bake them. Some do decorate and burnish them. (See China Decorators.) Women and children are employed in Cornwall, England, in preparing clay from china stone to be used by porcelain manufacturers, paper makers, and calico dressers. Miss B. told me that, much of the fine lacework seen on Dresden china is executed by women. It is very beautiful and delicate. At Greenpoint, L. I., the proprietor once employed girls, but now employs boys in preference. The men earn about $10 a week on an average for their work, being paid by the piece. The best of materials for making porcelain are found in this country, particularly in New Hampshire, where porcelain, parian, and enamel flint are manufactured. Porcelain earths are also found at Wilmington, Del., near Philadelphia, and in Alabama and Texas.

=261. Pottery and Earthenware.= "In Africa, in the manufacture of common 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.

=275. China Decorators.= We find that in France, some years back, many females earned a livelihood by painting on porcelain. During the last century, a Madame Gerard, "who possessed a large fortune, had a hotel furnished with facilities for painting Sevres. Her splendid cupboards of polished mahogany were gilded and bronzed, and their contents looked like a rich collection for the gratification of taste rather than for sale. She purchased some pieces for sixty and eighty louis d'ors. A pair of vases, not very large, painted with sacred subjects, sold for 26,000 livres." "There are two distinct methods of painting in use for china and earthenware: one is transferred to the bisque, and is the method by which the ordinary painted ware is produced; and the other transferred on the glaze." In the former process, women called transferrers and cutters are employed. The cutter trims away the superfluous paper around the pattern, which the transferrer applies to the ware, and rubs with flannel to produce an impression. She then washes the paper off, and the ware is ready for the hardening kiln. Women are excluded from that department termed ground laying, though, from the care and lightness of touch required, it is very suitable. In Staffordshire, E., great opposition was made some years back to women becoming decorators, and even now they are not permitted to use a hand rest. In France, and to a limited extent in England, decorating, gilding, and burnishing are done by women. This is probably one reason that imported China is cheaper. Most of those in France and England who attain respectable skill in decorating, are the wives or daughters of working manufacturers. Besides the mechanical skill, it requires a very exact knowledge of the effects of the coloring matters employed, as they are much changed by being burnt. Decorating is certainly a beautiful employment for women, but few in this country have the opportunity and are willing to apply themselves long enough to learn the art. At K.'s china warerooms, Philadelphia, I was told, no establishments of any size in the United States are engaged in the decoration of china, because they can get it done more cheaply in England and France. K. employs Englishmen to do what decorating he wishes to have done. He employs women to burnish. The following contradictory statement I found in the "Manufactures of Philadelphia:" "Decorating porcelain and china ware, which had been imported plain, is done in one establishment in Philadelphia to an amount exceeding $75,000 per annum." At H.'s, New York, I saw women burnishing china. It is merely a mechanical operation, consisting in rubbing the gilding with agate, after being burnt. The girls earn from $3.50 to $4.00 a week. It requires care and physical strength. One girl was cleaning superfluous paint off the china. Women might learn to make impressions for letters, flowers, and other patterns. I saw an English lady in New York decorating china. A lady took lessons of either her or her husband, to teach in the school of design. S. employs one woman for painting, and fifteen for burnishing china. China decorating is usually paid for by the piece. Mixing the colors for china painting is not more unhealthy than mixing them for canvas, and putting them on not more so than any other sedentary occupation. A French decorator told me that in Paris he gave private instruction to some ladies who learned it for a pastime, and a few who made a business of it. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans are the only places where china is painted in the United States. L. thinks a person of taste and abilities could learn in one year, earning nothing during the time, and after that earn from $5 to $10 a week. He pays his burnishers $3 a week. Another decorator told me he pays his burnishers (girls) from $2 to $2.50 a week. The foreman of a large establishment in New York told me that it requires several years to learn to decorate perfectly. Most decorators design their own patterns, and usually earn $12 a week. He says, in busy seasons it is difficult to get enough of good burnishers. His girls work only in daylight, and earn from $3 to $5 a week. They are busy all the year--most so three months before New Year. It requires three months' practice to become a good burnisher. A learner receives $1 a week from the time she commences to learn burnishing: he thinks it is not hard on the eyes. The work is paid for by the piece. If there was a higher protective duty, more decorating would be done in the United States.

LEATHER.

=276. Leather.= A leather dresser, somewhere in New York State, writes: "Leather dressing is a disagreeable, wet business, fit only for men. After leather is dressed, all the other work can be done by women. We cut by measure and by pattern. A person cutting and making should earn one hundred per cent. Women can cut, make, and sell as well as men, I suppose even better."

=277. Currying.= The currying of skins might be done by women. Cutting it of the desired thickness, soaking it in water, and working it with a small stone, cleaning it with a brush, and, in the drying shed, applying oil and tallow, would not require very long practice for one of any mechanical talent. The skin is softened by being doubled and washed with a grooved board. It is then carefully shaved, and worked again, after which it is blackened and grained. The work would require some strength, but not more than the ordinary process of washing clothes. All the work must be performed standing. The process of converting the skins of sheep, lambs, and kids into soft leather, is called tawing, and is somewhat lighter work than currying; yet the leather requires much stretching and rubbing. I am sure the work would not be more, if so offensive, as morocco sewing.

=278. Harness.= A harness maker told me that a lady who stitches harness of the best quality, can earn from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. He pays $1 a set for stitching the blinds. The perforations are made by a man, and they are stitched by hand. Not a great many are engaged in it, and he thinks the prospect good of learners obtaining employment. Many earn $6 or $7 a week. He employs two women all the year. A person that can sew well, can learn in two or three weeks. It requires some instruction. A maker of horse collars told me his women stitch collars by machine; formerly by hand. He pays six cents a pair. The wife of one of his workmen stitches twelve an hour, with one of Howe's machines. B. employs from fifty to seventy-five girls to make fancy harness, horse blankets, and coach tassels. Fancy bridles he has stitched by Singer's machine. Good operators can earn from $5 to $7 a week, and for leather work are paid by the week. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. The fashions of fancy leather work change. One gentleman, who employs many girls in making harness trimmings, says the cloth pieces are made by hand, the leather by machinery. In Newark, Bridgeport, and New Haven, much of the stitching for the South is done by machines, and women are employed. The English harness is considered the best, and is done by hand. In England, men called "bridle cutters" get large quantities of bridles to make up, and employ from one hundred to two hundred girls to do the stitching. A lady who has quite an establishment in New York, and employs a number of work people, told me that she pays them each from $2 to $6 a week. She thinks machine operating is trying on the health, but not so bad as sewing with a needle. She pays by the week. Women do as well as men, except for heavy work. The trade can be learned in a few weeks. She pays learners something. Her hands have work all the year, but are most busy from October till the end of December. They work ten hours. She prefers men for most of the work. She would like American women, but cannot get them. She says girls think more of having a beau than laying up a few dollars in a bank, and consequently spend all they make on dress. A manufacturer writes: "Working on leather is considered very healthy. I employ thirteen women in the manufacture of fancy bridles, riding and driving reins, riding martingales, &c. They average $1 per day. Three of them run stitching machines. All are paid by the piece, except one, who does the overseeing and writing. We think the girls receive as good pay as the men. Considerable practice is necessary to do the work well. Learners are paid for all work that is sufficiently well done to be salable. Good judgment, accurate eye, and nimble fingers, best fit one for the occupation. As our business is wholesale, it depends upon orders. Spring and fall are the most busy seasons. Sometimes the women are entirely out of work for a short time in winter. They never work over ten hours. We will not employ foreigners."

=279. Jewel and Instrument Cases.= At a manufactory, I was told they employ some girls, paying by the piece. The girls can earn $4.50 to $5 a week, of ten hours a day. It does not require long to learn. In busy seasons it is difficult to get good hands, and they have to advertise frequently. At another place, the proprietor told me he used to employ girls who earned $4 or $5 a week, but he prefers boys, because they can do all parts of the work. At a manufactory of morocco and velvet jewel cases, the man told me he pays girls $4.50 and $5 a week, of ten hours a day. In busy seasons it is difficult to get good hands.