Part 42

=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."

=484. Globe Makers.= H., manufacturer of school apparatus in Connecticut, writes: "From four to six women are employed by us, in the construction of globes and other articles. Some are paid by the piece, and some by the week, and earn from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Women receive less than one half the wages of men. They do not perform the same kind of labor. Women are employed at the lighter work, requiring less strength, but an even amount of skill. The abundance of the supply of labor prevents the increase of wages. Learners are paid, and it requires but a few weeks to succeed. A nicety of eye and readiness of hand are necessary for a worker. The prospect of employment is good, but limited. The winter is best for the work, but hands are occupied at all seasons. The employment is pleasant, and as well paid as any in this vicinity. Women are employed in all parts of the work suitable for them. The work is best adapted to the Eastern States. All our employés are Americans, and live at home. Board here, $2 a week."

=485. Hobby Horse Finishers.= In summer time, Mr. ---- has children's carriages trimmed by women. They are paid by the piece, and earn from $3 to $4 a week. At B.'s they are employed all the year. The horses and carriages could be painted by women, and the manes, tails, saddles and bridles could be put on by them. At C.'s, one lady is employed for trimming children's carriages--$5 a week--ten hours a day. She sews by machine. C.'s busy season for children's carriages, is from February to November, and he employs his hands the rest of the time at hobby horses. He says there is one factory in Columbus, two in Chicago. He thinks there are good openings (1860) in Richmond and Petersburg, Va., for they sell many there. He thinks wrong must succumb to right--that there is no justice in withholding from women their proper compensation for labor, and the time will come when the prejudice will be done away that now exists on that subject.

=486. Horse Coverings.= I was told, at a store in Philadelphia, they pay twenty-five cents a piece for ordinary blankets and linens, and a woman can make from three to four a day. One, on which was considerable chain stitching, the storekeeper paid $2 for making, and he thought a woman could make one in a day. A saddle and harness maker, New York, told me the prospect of getting such work is good. The wives of his workmen make his blankets, and can earn from $1 to $1.50 a day, as he pays thirty-seven cents a blanket. Another one told me his girls earn from $4 to $6 a week at such work; and another rated the payments still higher, from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. At a large store on Broadway, I was told all the work is given to one woman, who employs other women to help her. Her workers can earn $4 a week, if industrious. They make horse linens and blankets, and rosettes for head ornaments. Netting for horses is made by hand, in a large establishment near New York. L. L. & Co. pay for the coarsest blankets twenty cents apiece, and a woman can make two a day. For some they pay as high as from $4 to $5. A very swift sewer could make one such in little over two days--consequently her day's wages would be $2. So the prices vary according to style. The chain stitch, so much used for ornamenting, is done by hand, because in that way the edges of the cloth can be more neatly and securely turned under. L. L. & Co. employ ladies, who in their turn employ others. The coarse heavy blankets are generally lined, and the work is mostly done by Irish women. They are most busy on blankets from June to January, and on linen from February 1st to May 1st. Linen covers are used on horses in stables, as flies annoy horses much where they are standing quiet. Out of doors, nets answer, because they are kept in motion by the horse. When busy, L. & L. employ about one hundred girls. The business is growing. The blankets are mostly used in the country. The manufacture of them is confined principally to New York and Boston. Those in the cities are different in style; indeed, each city has its own style. Many are made in Chicago. The rosettes pay very well, but it requires a long time to become expert. One lady they employ earns occasionally $50 a week. Tassels are paid for by the piece, and girls can earn from $2 to $4. Tassel making requires some time to learn perfectly. Cloth goods are confined to seasons, and consequently occupations in which they are involved are confined to seasons. Styles of trimming are apt to change. A man who makes blankets for a large wholesale house, employs from one hundred to two hundred women. They earn from $3 to $7 a week. The stitching is done by machine, but the ornamental part by hand. Men do all the cutting. He has paid as high as $100 for one pattern of blankets and ornaments. There are no blankets made in the South or West, except here and there a saddler's wife will make a few. In Williamsburg, I saw a number of women in the basement of the employer's residence. They looked sad, and the rooms were small, damp, and filthy. The employer told me most of his stitching is done by machine. Anybody that can sew tolerably well, and has strength, can do it. Women seldom, if ever, cut them out; but I think they could. A manufacturer in Brooklyn writes: "We employ women for making horse clothing, who are paid by the piece, and earn from seventy-five cents to $1 per day. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. We have no difficulty in procuring hands."

=487. House Painters.= The tools of a painter cost but little. Women might be employed in glazing, and in painting the inside work of houses. Their ingenuity and taste might be successfully exercised in embellishing walls and ornamenting doors. The style for doors, called graining, would be particularly appropriate. The business could be best carried on by men and women in partnership, as the outdoor work is most suitable for men. An apprenticeship should be served of two or three years. The work would pay well. Most of it is done in spring. A woman would need to make some change in her style of dress. The Bloomer would probably be best--at any rate, hoops should be laid aside. The vocation presents a very good opening to women, who could best engage in it, at first, in towns and villages.

=488. Japanners.= Japanning is one of the few arts that had its origin in a heathen country. It is now practised in all civilized countries. Many metal articles are japanned--as tea trays, candlesticks, &c. Wood is also japanned. In a late report of one of the schools of design in England, we observed on the list of female students the names of two japanners. Care, and ability to stand, are all that are required for success, to those doing the plain painting; but some taste is required for ornamental japanning. There is a good prospect for employment, as the tin trade has been increasing rapidly in the last two years, and is likely to, as our country grows older, and depends less on other countries for a supply. California has created quite a demand in the last few years, and it is supplied mostly from New York. M., in New York, told us he and his partner employ some women to japan. They pay from $3 to $4 a week. They have one woman to do the ornamental work, painting flowers and gilding. To ornamental painters they pay from $10 to $15 a week. They had a man to whom they often paid $15 a week. Most of the men that have been employed in ornamental japanning have gone to painting clocks, which pays better. They sometimes find it difficult to get hands--so if some women could take it up, they would be likely to find employment. The painters design as they paint, not using a pattern. Japanning of the heavy kind could not be done by women. The pieces are too heavy to lift. B., an ornamental japanner, used to employ women to put on the pearl scraps, but now employs boys, because he can get them cheaper and take them as apprentices. He can send them on errands and make use of them in that way. He pays an apprentice $1.50 a week for one year, then increases at the rate of fifty cents a week the next year, and so on. B. thinks no women are employed at it. Women are employed at such work in Paris. Japanning, he thinks, is not unhealthy, although the ovens into which japanners must pass are often heated to 260°. The spirits of tar used in japanning renders it healthy, and consumptives go frequently into japanning furnaces, feeling that they are benefited by it. At a firm of japanners, the boy told me they employ an artist to come and paint for them. They once had a lady that painted landscapes and flowers on piano boards in oils. They were not baked in a furnace afterward, but the oil permitted to dry, as with a painting on canvas. S. used to employ women in making pearl piecework, but it is not much used now. For painting clocks, not more than six cents a piece is paid for many. Men are so rapid that they can make money, but women could not earn more than $2.50 a week. Some men earn $25 a week, and formerly even $35, at painting the finer clocks; but there are now so many in the business that wages have fallen, though the business is increasing. At a tin manufactory in Williamsburg, I saw two girls employed in tying up goods, and seven girls employed in putting the first coat of paint on tin ware--grounding, it is called. They are paid from $1.25 up. One woman they have earns $6 a week. She is an English woman, and has been at the business nearly all her life. She is quick and skilful. A boy who paints flowers on tin ware, after the first coat is put on by the girls, gets $1 a day for his work. Japanning is done in England by women. Many women are employed through the country, in the Eastern States, in making tin canisters, &c., and some in japanning; but japanners carry their work into ovens, which he thought would be too hard for women. Yet he thinks doing so is not unhealthy. If the employment is unhealthy, it arises from the evaporation of the turpentine in the paint. The unhealthiness of the common painter's business arises from the turpentine, in evaporating, carrying off with it white lead, but no white lead is employed on the tin ware. Girls are paid by the week. Men, for graining, a style resembling the graining of wood, and in fact being the same except on a different material, received $2.50 per day. Male labor is twice or three times as high in their establishment. Why women are not better paid the man could not answer, but, like many other men with whom I have talked, thought it unjust they were not paid at the same rate as men. Their girls are employed all the year. They work ten hours a day. They were mostly Americans, and miserably dressed. The work soils their clothes greatly. They wore old skirts over their dresses to work in. I think some men and boys work in the same room with them. The fine work could be well done by them, if they would take time to learn it efficiently, for it requires taste, ingenuity, and delicacy of touch. At an ornamental japanner's, I was told it requires three or four years to learn the business well. A good workman earns from $12 to $18 a week. It is piecework.

=489. Knitters.= The knitting done by machinery is not so soft, so warm, or so durable as that done by hand. It is almost impossible to obtain ladies' hand-knit hose in cities. Gentlemen's are sometimes made by the Shakers, and bring a very high price. We have no doubt but some old ladies might even now find it profitable to knit to order, or supply some store where their goods would be brought forward and disposed of to those who can appreciate the difference between machine and hand knitting. The Germans are famous knitters. "The peasant women of the Channel Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, &c., knit a great deal. They are seldom, if ever, without the materials for this occupation. On the way to and from market, and at other times, knitting forms their almost constant employment." A knitting machine has been invented in Seneca, N. Y., that is said to knit a perfect stocking in less than five minutes. Aiken's knitting machines are very popular. We have thought ladies would do well to try them, and devote themselves to making up hosiery. We doubt not but it would pay very well. The cloth is knit in a straight piece, and another lady cuts it into shape and sews into the articles wanted. A machine has been invented by Mr. Aiken, also, for toeing and heeling socks. A manufacturer of knit goods writes: "We employ about twenty hands, one half of whom are girls. Their wages are from $3 to $5 per week, except when working by the piece. Those who run the knitting machines are paid by the piece, and earn from 75 cents to $1 per day. Males receive from $1 to $1.75 per day. The work done by them is generally harder, and such as females could not well do. To effectually superintend the knitting business would require at least five years. The part performed by females can be learned in six months. They are paid while learning, from $2.75 to $3 per week. The business is overdone at present; although there is always a demand in our section of country for girls. They work regularly throughout the year, twelve hours in summer, ten in winter. It would be better for all parties to run their mills only ten hours per day, and thus tend to keep down the production, and so keep up the prices to a fair profit. Those tending sewing machines are generally married, or widows with children, and in general support their families. Their machines are repaired by a foreman, but with a little practice they can learn to do it themselves. In other branches generally pursued by girls, they earn sufficient to dress well, but seldom accumulate. A location is preferred in some thickly settled place, on account of getting sewing done by hand, as all the goods are finished off by hand. After working twelve hours a day, they will be necessarily rather too much fatigued to go through any mental processes otherwise than reading a novel. If all the mills of all descriptions would work ten hours only, and establish evening schools, and request all to attend, it would greatly elevate them in the social scale. But selfishness rules, and where one manufacturer would agree to this arrangement, two would not. Board, $1.50 per week, including washing." A hose manufacturer in Holderness writes: "We employ about sixty females in the mill. Work is given out to three hundred. Almost all are American. Their wages are from $3 to $6 per week. The wages in the knitting department are not much less for women than men. Women learn the knitting so as to earn good pay in three months. Women are paid $2 per week for the first four weeks; after that, by the piece. A learner should be steady and quick with her fingers. The employment is healthy, as the knitters sit only about half the time. We run all the year eleven hours a day. There is not female help enough. We are trying women where men have been employed. I think women are in some respects superior workers to men." Manufacturers of seamless hosiery, in Connecticut, write they "pay from $3 to $5 per week, eleven hours a day--that it requires from six to eight weeks to learn--that their hands have access to libraries; and board is for men $3, for women $2." At Cohoes, N. Y., is a manufactory of shirts, drawers, &c. I have a letter from the company saying: "We employ two hundred and fifty women, and pay from 40 cents to $1 per day. Some are paid by the piece, and some by the week. Men receive from 75 cents to $2.50 per day, of twelve hours. The reason why they obtain better wages is that they do work which women cannot do. (Query: Do not the women perform work that men cannot do?) Men are continually learning. Women can learn to perform certain work in a few days. The best qualifications are soundness of mind and body, activity, steadiness, quick perception, and a desire to make money. The business is increasing yearly. Occasionally, in the winter, the mills stop for a month. There is at present (October, 1860) a surplus of labor. Board, $1.75 to $2." At L.'s knitting factory, in Brooklyn, the foreman told me there are six machines in operation, each of which cost between $5,000 and $6,000. The articles made by them are softer than any knitting done by machine I have seen; but it may be owing to the quality of the wool: I cannot say. Those working at machines stand, the others sit. The machine operators receive from $1.50 to $3.50: those in the finishing room are paid by the piece, and earn from $2 to $5. A foreman superintends the work and puts the machinery in order. A woman of good abilities can learn in three months, if the factory is in a position to put her forward. From May to December is the best time for work. Double price is paid the hands for night work in busy times. They prefer American girls, because they are neater. A manufacturer of factory supplies, in Massachusetts, writes: "We employ thirty women in knitting loom harnesses. The work is not more unhealthy than any employment that requires one to sit all the time. They are paid by the piece. The employment is sure so long as cotton manufacturing is good. The work is equally good all seasons. Board, $1.62 to $2.25 per week." The secretary of the Waterbury Knitting Company writes: "We employ one hundred hands, at from 50 cents to $1 per day, working twelve hours in summer, ten in winter. Women are paid as well or better than men of the same age; working by the piece, they are paid the same. The women are not thrown out of work at any season. Women are inferior in mechanical genius. We are obliged to keep a man to every fifteen women to overlook them. A woman will run a knitting machine for seven years, and never be able to straighten a needle, or knit the cloth slack or tight. A boy or man will learn to oversee a whole room in half that time. Women cannot be made to think or act for themselves in the least thing, or in any case to rely on their own judgment. This is equally true of the stupid Irish, German, and English, and of the more acute Yankee. Women are superior perhaps in good looks." S., of Enfield, N. H., has his daughter write: "I use three of Aikens's knitting machines, and other machinery for making yarn. The wool is first made into yarn and then knit into webbing, and marked for heeling and toeing. It is then divided into dozens, and distributed around the country to be heeled and toed, in which branch we employ usually five hundred American women. We pay $1 a dozen for heeling and toeing; for tending the machine, $2 per week, of eleven hours a day. Women are paid less, because they are not usually as strong as men, and therefore cannot do the same work, or, if the same kind, not so great an amount in a limited time. Men can be employed by paying them what they require, and as they are considered, or rather seem to consider themselves the 'lords of creation,' they demand higher wages than women. In four weeks the females can perform their part without trouble. Learners receive their board. The prospect is good for the same number employed as at present. The summer season is the best for work. If at any time there is a want of work, it is in January and February."

=490. Lace Bleachers.= Mrs. L. spent five years learning the business in Paris. A girl that spent two years learning with her, is now doing well in the business in St. Louis. She prefers to take learners a week on trial. She charges from $1 to $1.50 a pair for curtains. The French are the most successful in that line. She often has thirty or more pair from a hotel and other large houses. One can make a good living at it. L. says the work is unhealthy, particularly while the vapor of the chemicals is warm. The curtains are not wrung out, but the water pressed out with the hands. The dirt, of course, is first washed out. It requires strength to handle the goods. Curtains are put on frames to dry, and women, he says, are not strong enough. It requires strength to get the extra starch out, as it is done by squeezing. It is surprising how many objections, as regards health and physical strength required, can be presented by selfish men, who do not wish women to engage in their occupations. None but those who have had occasion to test the matter would believe it possible that the majority of men are so selfish and unjust in this respect. Another man told me he does all the washing and drying himself, because he is responsible for the goods, and is not willing to trust them to strangers. He charges $1 a pair, except for a very large size. Different kinds of laces require different methods of washing and ironing.

=491. Lacquerers.= Lacquering is warm work, and in summer is done in rooms the temperature of which is over 200°. M. thought women could be employed in burnishing, lacquering, polishing, and bronzing. Girls were at one time employed in lacquering gas fixtures on William street, New York; but they were dismissed, because they did not prove steady and efficient workers. The process previous to lacquering, called dipping, is dirty work. It requires but a short time to learn to lacquer. F. told me that in France women do all the fine lacquering, and they do it much better than men can. They take it home with them to do; and the same plan could be followed in this country, and probably will be before long. The finest lacquering, such as ormolu clocks, &c., is done with gold dust. The varnish must be put on evenly. It requires care and delicacy of touch. Most of the gas fixtures sold as brass are merely zinc gilded, and then lacquered--the bronzed part the same metal, bronzed. Zinc can be bought at six cents a pound--brass is thirty cents a pound. Mathematical instruments, daguerreotype cases, and gas fixtures are lacquered. A man earns from $8 to $10 a week, working ten hours a day. Lacquering, I was told, is not unhealthy, and a person can sit two or three feet from the fire while at work. A firm in New York, manufacturing gas fixtures, wrote to us as follows: "Lacquering is a suitable occupation for women; but we do not employ them, because men are considered more reliable as to regularity of hours, and are more easily managed. Women can be made equally good lacquerers with the men; but when employed by us, some years since, we found, with few exceptions, that they produced inferior work, owing, as we think, to want of application. Women are employed in similar establishments to ours in England and, we learn, in Boston. The employment is not unhealthy. They are paid by the week in England. It requires from three to five years to learn the business. Steady application and a good eye for colors will make a good lacquerer."

=492. Life Preservers.= R. employs two women to stitch his life preservers with a sewing machine, and pays the usual price of operatives. None are made South or West. (Would not New Orleans offer an opening?)

=493. Lucifer Matches.= This is a business that has been largely entered into in New York. The making and selling of matches have furnished employment for hundreds and thousands of boys and girls in all our large cities. The making of matches is a dangerous employment. Its unhealthy tendency (owing to the use of sulphur), and the long period of twelve, and even fourteen hours' confinement, no doubt serve to account for the sad and woe-begone faces of the poor little operators. At a match factory where I stopped, girls are paid three cents a gross for cutting matches and filling boxes. Some can do as many as forty gross a day; but very few can. It is best for girls to commence early in life, and most do so. Some girls earn as much as $5 to $6 per week, if we may believe the proprietor's statement. Girls are paid for filling the frames in which they are to be dipped, sixty-two cents 100 frames, each frame containing 1,500 double, or 3,000 single matches. The factory is open from seven in the morning to ten at night. The business for women and girls is not crowded. Most learners become discouraged and leave it, because it is so long before they can become expert enough to earn fair wages. It is not as healthy, he says, as some occupations. I should think not, judging from his sallow face, and the pale, spiritless faces of all I have seen in the match factories. He buys bundles of sticks, ready to cut for matches, of those who make it a business to prepare them. They are cut by hand. He pays twenty-five cents a bunch, and a man can cut a bunch in five minutes. They never stop work, except in December and January. A brisk hand can earn from $5 to $7 a week. They make from twenty to forty different kinds of matches, to suit all climates. At the store of this manufacturer, the bookkeeper told me that, if a person has a tooth extracted, the phosphorus will be absorbed by the jaw bone and cause it to decay, if the individual works in the factory before the gum is entirely well. A lady told me she knows a girl that earns $6 a week in a match factory. In H.'s factory, I saw small girls and boys putting matches in the frames to be dipped. They are paid sixty cents 100 frames, containing 1,500 double matches. They can seldom fill more than 85 frames a day. They commence work at 6½ in winter, and work until 8; in summer, they commence at 6, and work until 7½. They are not obliged to work all the time, as they are paid by the piece; but with the exception of an hour at noon, which all have the privilege of taking, they no doubt work the full time. They were poor, dirty-looking children. In the room where the boxes were filled, large girls worked. Most match makers are Germans and Irish. A manufacturer told me that he now employs boys only--that girls he found so wild he could not manage them. He says some of his girls used to earn $5 a week. He thinks none but strong, healthy persons should work at the business, as the fumes of sulphur are injurious. A manufacturer in Vermont writes: "Women are employed to pack matches. They are paid by the thousand, and their wages amount to fifty cents per day, of ten hours, after they get accustomed to it. Women's work in this department is lighter than men's--so will not yield as good wages. A learner will gain the trade in about six months. An increase of this business is not flattering. No difference in the seasons for work. Women are more nimble in the use of their fingers, and consequently succeed better in this kind of work."

=494. Mat Makers.= Door mats are made of sea grass, corn husks, worsted, manilla, hemp, and cocoa-nut fibre. At the largest manufactory in the United States, I saw the process of making several kinds. No girls or women were employed. The superintendent told us it was too heavy work for women. In one establishment in Philadelphia, girls are employed as tenders, which is merely picking the substance to be woven--jute, hemp, or wool--into bunches of the right thickness, and handing to the weaver. Some of their mat weavers earn $14 a week--boys, from $1.50 to $3. Mats are sometimes made by women of osier, rushes, and straw.

=495. Manufacturers of Musical Instruments.= The manufacture of different musical instruments is engaged in as so many distinct branches of business. Musical instruments are usually classed as follows: 1. Wind instruments, of wood or metal. 2. Stringed instruments. 3. Keyed instruments. 4. Instruments of percussion. 5. Automatic instruments. 6. Miscellaneous articles in connection with musical instruments. On wind instruments made of wood and ornamented with metals, as flutes, clarionets, &c., women might be employed to polish the metal. Those that are all metal, as horns, trumpets, &c., are polished in making, and could not well be divided into a separate branch of work. Of stringed instruments, the ornamental part, as painting, inlaying of pearl, &c., would be very pretty work for women of taste. The smaller strings could be covered by women. Of keyed instruments, some of the smaller and finer work would be very suitable for women. In instruments of percussion, the drum and tambourine are probably the only instruments presenting a field for woman's work. Of automatic instruments, mechanical organs are the only ones, I think, at which women do work. I cannot learn that women are employed in making musical boxes, which are imported from Switzerland, Germany, and France. Women are employed to some extent, in other countries, in the manufacture of musical instruments. Z. thinks the reason women are not employed in the manufacture of musical instruments in this country is, that they do not understand the business.--1. Wind Instruments. Women might polish the metal on flutes, and even paint the woodwork. I was told by a manufacturer in New York, whose factory is in Connecticut, that he once employed women in that way, but they did not succeed, because they did not try.--2. Stringed Instruments. I called on L., engaged in the manufacture of harps. There are but two harp manufacturers in the United States. Ladies might do the gilding and ornamental painting on harps. Sizing is put on, and then gold leaf laid on, and smoothed down with a small brush. The varnishing could be very well done by women. The same kind of work is executed on guitar frames, of which a number are made in the United States. The painting is done as on enamelled furniture. L. employs an Englishman to do the gilding and ornamental painting. The other manufacturer, B., thinks there is no part of the work in making harps that could be done by a lady. The ornamental part is done by the varnisher, and varnishing requires much strength. It requires a regular apprenticeship, and some artistic taste. So few harps are made in this country, that it would not pay a woman to learn. He was evidently opposed to women having anything to do with the business.--3. Keyed Instruments. Accordions. In making accordions women could put on the keys and kid, and do so in Germany. Accordions are nearly all imported, because they can be made more cheaply in Europe than in this country. L., Philadelphia, says he is in partnership with his brother in Germany, who has musical instruments made there, and employs a number of women and girls.--Melodeons. C., New York, manufacturer, says he does not know of any women being employed in the making of melodeons; but much of the work, I am sure, could be done by women. Cutting the keys, polishing, gluing them on the board, and fastening the hammers on, are done by hand, and the work is as suitable for women as men. Men receive for such work, $2 a day. Women properly trained, and with a good ear for music could also tune the instruments. Men who do so, earn about $3 a day. A manufacturer of melodeons writes: "We do not employ women, but think larger firms might."--Organs. I was told by a manufacturer that in Germany some women assist their husbands in making the action, but there is lighter work and more of it in piano actions. J., another organ builder, told me that in England, in some organ factories, women are employed to gild the pipes. In making the organs turned by a crank, used in some churches in England, women, he said, are employed in putting the pins in the cylinders. They are made on the same principle as the music box. J. seldom makes more than one of these organs in a year, and I think he is the only one in the United States that does make them. Mrs. Dall says "there are women, who strain silk in fluting, across the old-fashioned workbag, or parlor organ front."

=Pianos.= In England, the men engaged in making piano actions used to do much of the work at home, and their wives and daughters would assist them. In the United States, each branch in the making of pianos is now done separately, except in very large establishments, and consequently most of the work is done at home by the workmen. At a factory in New York, an apprentice, nearly out of his time, told me that an individual to learn the business is bound, and must remain until of age. Otherwise he could not get a certificate, and is not likely to find employment without one. An apprentice receives $3 a week the first year, $4 the second year, and more afterward if he is bright and quick to learn. A journeyman receives from $10 to $12 a week for his work. At W.'s piano manufactory, New York, we were kindly permitted to pass through and see the entire process of making. Among other parts that I thought could be done by women, were those of varnishing and polishing. This work forms a separate branch of itself, and requires an apprenticeship of three or four years. It looked to be very simple. The pianos are first rubbed with pumice stone, to render them smooth and susceptible of a polish, then with rotten stone. Rubbing with pumice stone all day might be too laborious, except for a very strong woman; but the other process is feasible for any woman of moderate health. Indeed, the finest polish could be better given by women than men, because it is done by the naked hand, and the softer the hand the better. The ornamenting of the sounding boards could be done by women that know anything of painting, and also the gilding on the inside top and outside front. I asked an old Frenchman, doing that kind of work, how long it would require to learn. He said he had been at it fifty years, and had not learned it perfectly yet. It is pretty work, and very suitable for a woman of taste. The delicacy of woman's touch, with some knowledge of drawing and painting, would enable her to succeed. Covering wire, and putting it in, is another branch that might be done by women. Bleaching ivory for the keys, cutting them, and gluing them on, are also within woman's range. Cutting leather and buckskin, and gluing it on the hammers, are very light and simple work. Another branch suitable for women is regulating the tone of pianos. Men, said W., would oppose women working at the piano business in large establishments, but a man would not be likely to suffer inconvenience from employing women in his own house to do the part he carries on. If he were independent of his business it would be better. At ----'s, New York, a manufacturer of pianoforte actions, I saw two girls at work. It is very nice, clean work. Part of the time they stand, and the remainder they sit. One is paid $3 a week, and the other less. The young man who showed us through the factory, said much of the work in making pianoforte action that is now done by men could be done by women. D----'s girls looked to be Americans. They have work all the year. It mostly consists in covering hammers. A manufacturer of pianofortes writes: "Our men are paid both by the piece and by the week, according to the departments in which they are engaged. The time of learning is from five to seven years for men. Apprentices (boys) are paid from 25 cents to $1 per day, beginning with the first amount, and increasing from year to year. In some departments, physical strength is required, in others, aptness and ready tact--in others, a cultivated musical ear. The prospect for future employment is very fine in all branches for men--in some, equally good for women. The majority of workmen are below mediocrity, as compared with most all others in manufacturing." A manufacturer in Meredith, N. H., writes: "We once employed a lady in our key and action department. She was the wife of one of our workmen. She earned as much as her husband, and in every respect did her work as well. She learned her trade in half the time it took her husband to learn the same. Theirs was jobwork; the two earned about $3 per day. She did her housework besides. I think there might be many ladies employed in our business, to the advantage of all concerned. We expect to test the matter further by employing some in our varnish rooms soon."

=Seraphines.= A manufacturer writes: "I think women might be employed to advantage in some parts of the work, and in any part of it, if they could adopt a different style of dress, something like the Bloomer. The long dress with hoops, as now worn, must be an insurmountable barrier against their entering many employments. It is injurious to health, and prevents a proper development of form."

=496. Musical String Makers.= The manufacture of strings for musical instruments is carried on as a separate branch. A German violin maker told me that women are employed in Germany in winding wire for guitar strings. I find they are also in a factory in Connecticut, and the manufacturer said they could earn as high as $9 a week. It is rather severe on the fingers, but that can be avoided to some extent by wearing a glove finger. In New York, it is mostly done by Germans and French, who have taken the trade from Americans. The preparing of catgut from the intestines of sheep and goats, and making it into strings, is carried on mostly in Germany, and some women are employed at that. Most metal strings are of steel, and covered with fine wire of other metals. Mrs. Z., whose husband, when living, manufactured covered strings for musical instruments, told me, she and her daughters had often assisted in covering guitar strings and the lighter piano strings. She thinks a person of good abilities could learn it in from two to four weeks, with an attentive instructor. She usually rested against a bench while employed. A good worker will earn from $3 to $5 per week. She has never heard of any but English and German women being engaged in it. In some of the up town shops the machinery is moved by steam, but it does not answer so well, because it is not so easily slackened or checked. Harp strings and the larger piano strings cannot be made by women, because of the strength and firmness required.

=497. Netters.= Netting is now generally done by machinery. Seines are mostly made in that way. When by hand, it is done by old people, who receive a very inadequate compensation for their labor. The nets so much used for horses are mostly made in a large factory near the city of New York. In England, woollen netting is used by some gardeners for the protection of the bloom of fruit trees from frost. They are also used to prevent birds destroying currants, cherries, raspberries, and other small fruit. The making of purses of different kinds, and of hammocks, have employed a small number of people. Net and seine manufacturers in Gloucester write me: "We employ one hundred women who work at their homes, and are paid by the piece. It requires a year to learn. From October to June are the best seasons for our trade. A few that we employ to work by the week spend ten hours a day at it. The comfort of the occupation is good, but the pay poor. We think women better company than men. Health and strength are the best qualifications for our work." A net and twine company in Boston write: "We employ women for converting twine into netting. It is mostly job work, and they have cash for what they earn. The comparative prices of men and women are the same as those of factories in general. It requires about as long to learn as it takes a woman to learn to knit stockings. The business is good as long as the sea furnishes fish and mankind eat them. The employment of women in the work is a providential necessity. Nearly all ours are American. Women are quicker in their work--men stronger. Our women have the leisure that belongs to nearly all manual occupations."

=498. Oakum Pickers.= Perhaps some one reading this book may not know what oakum is. It is old rope, pulled to pieces until it is soft and pliable, like the original material, and used for the purpose of corking vessels. Ten years ago, the picking was done by hand, and many women employed. Now, this work is mostly done by machinery in this country, and very few women are employed. In some factories, women are employed in teazing, that is, untwisting the pieces of rope that are not pulled to pieces by passing through the machinery the first time. They are paid so much per hundred pounds, and do not earn more than $2 a week. It is dirty, disagreeable work. A firm in Maine write: "We have seen females, both young and old, at work in oakum mills in the State of New Jersey. In England (we believe) all oakum is made in their almshouses, consequently a part by females. The business is healthy. We use many boys that do work which might be done by females; but we prefer the boys."

=499. Paper Hangers.= An English lady, who has spent much time in various parts of Europe, told me she had known of women being engaged in paper hanging in small towns. I believe it is customary, when papering a room, to have one person put the paste on, and another put it up. We are confident women could do the first-mentioned part of the work.

=500. Polishers.= Women are employed in France in polishing furniture. They are mostly the wives of cabinet makers. It requires art to do it that some can never learn. A person must be able to put the gum shellac on evenly. A woman in London earned a very good living by applying French polish to the furniture of cabinet makers. A French woman that polished furniture in Paris, told me that the work is hard on the fingers, and one could not learn it in less than a year. A piano manufacturer told me that women could be profitably employed in polishing pianos. It is better learned by women than men, he thought. It is tedious, however, and requires patience. I have been told that the finest polish is imparted to furniture by the naked hand, and the softer and finer the hand the better. For that reason, women are employed in France to polish piano cases with the palms of their hands, and, when not employed, wear kid gloves to keep their hands soft and smooth.

=501. Pure Finders.= The finders of dog pure constitute a small class in this country; but Mr. Mayhew thinks in the city of London there are between two hundred and three hundred constantly employed. It is used for dressing leather and kid, and sold at from sixteen to twenty cents a bucketful. In our country, it is probably carried on with bone grubbing and rag gathering.

=502. Rag Cutters.= I find nearly all rag cutters are Irish, and they are mostly old women or young girls. The girls usually earn about 75 cents or $1 a week. I called at a rag dealer's, and was told by a woman that one cent a pound is paid for cutting the seams off, taking the linings out, and removing the buttons. A woman can earn, she says, from $2 to $2.50 a week. It is not unhealthy. They grow fat on it. Theirs are mostly old women, and all are Irish. For assorting they are paid by the week, and receive $2.75. They work from seven to five in winter; in summer, ten hours. The keeper of the wareroom sells his rags for making paper, and sends many to Europe. The women work all the year. No other kind of work could be done by women in that business, as the only other is packing in bales, and that, of course, must be done by men. The warerooms close at six; so the women have the evenings for themselves. P., a rag dealer, says he buys and sells according to the quality of the rags. It is customary to pay by the week for sorting rags. Some get $2, and some $2.50. Cutting the seams off is paid for by the pound. The odor was extremely offensive (it was a damp day); but the man said it was not unhealthy, unless the rags are worked with in a close room; then the dust is apt to affect the eyes. Occasionally the small pox is taken from rags. I called at a rag dealer's, and was told by a filthy, squalid, barefooted girl at work, that for cutting up rags a penny a pound is paid. She was assorting. For that work, hands are paid twenty-five cents a day, and their board. It is very dirty work. The dust and sand must affect the eyes and lungs. Some men can cut as many as thirty-five pounds a day. Men are paid twice as much as women for assorting. I inquired why. I was told by a young junk dealer, standing by, that they could pick twice as much in the same time, the truth of which the reader can decide as well as I. Some men earn at it, he said, $6 a week. A woman, who seemed to have some interest in the place, remarked the girls have work all the year. Called at the door of a large wareroom, where I saw men assorting waste paper to be sold for the purpose of being made into new paper.