WORK FOR WOMEN

BY

GEORGE J. MANSON

NEW YORK

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET

1883

COPYRIGHT BY

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

1883

PREFACE.

When a woman, either from choice or through necessity, makes up her mind to work for a living, and has selected the employment that seems most suited to her, she probably asks herself such questions as these: "Is there a good chance to get work? How long will it take me to make myself competent? Are there many in the business? How much do they earn? How hard will I have to work? Are there any objections against entering this employment; if so, what are they?"

To answer, as far as it is possible, these and similar questions is the object of this little book. Some of the most important avocations, professions, trades, businesses, in which women are now engaged, have been selected, and the effort made to enlighten the would-be woman-worker as to the practical points of interest connected with each occupation. The information thus given has, in each case, been gained from the most reliable sources.

In the winter of 1882-3 I contributed to the columns of the New York Christian Union a series of articles under the title of "Work for Women." They were written with the aim of furnishing to women useful information in regard to various industries in which the gentler sex are successfully seeking employment, and met with considerable favor from the readers of that excellent journal. Through the courtesy of Rev. Lyman Abbott and Hamilton W. Mabie, editors of the Christian Union, the publishers of this book are allowed to use the title of that series. It should be stated, however, that the chapters in the present book are made up from new investigations, and that none of them are reproductions of any of the articles in the series alluded to. G. J. M.

CONTENTS.

•   PAGE
• Industrial Designing 1
• Short-hand Writing 10
• Telegraphy 20
• Feather Curling 29
• Photography 37
• Professional Nursing 47
• Proof-readers, Compositors, and Bookbinders 60
• The Drama.—Lecturers and Readers 73
• Book-agents 97
• Dress-making—Millinery 109
• Teaching 116
• Brief Notes:
  Market Gardening, Poultry-raising, Bee-keeping, House-keepers, Cashiers, Button-hole Making, Floriculture, Authorship, Type-writing, and Working in Brass 123

WORK FOR WOMEN.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNING.

A great many women have, or think they have, a taste for art. They can make a pretty sketch, or draw a landscape quite fairly, and so they think they will "take up" art as a profession. And nearly all of them fail of success. The trouble seems to be that they lack originality; they are mere copyists, and too often very poor reproducers of the things they copy.

One branch of art—that of industrial designing—offers golden opportunities to make an excellent living in a pleasant way, but, before deciding to enter it, a woman should be very sure indeed that she has the necessary qualifications to pursue the study successfully; otherwise her time will be wasted, and probably her heart will be so discouraged that she will be sadly unfitted for any kind of work for a long time to come.

It is industrial art of which I am speaking. A few introductory words may be necessary, for the benefit of some persons ignorant in the matter, to show what women are doing, or rather successfully attempting to do, in that line at the present time.

Industrial or technical designing means designing for wall-paper, lace, silk, chintz, calico, oil-cloth, linoleum, book-covers, embroidery, wood-carving, silver-ware, jewelry, silks, handkerchiefs, upholstery goods, and carpets of all grades, from ingrains to moquettes. Up to within a very short period all this work has been done by men, principally foreigners; but talented and enterprising women saw that they were able to do the work equally well, and it is only a question of time when women will entirely monopolize this field of industry.

It will be seen at once that the woman who is ambitious to become an industrial designer must have, first of all, originality. She must have good taste and an eye for color. Drawing must come natural to her. The mere ability to copy pictures, or make sketches from nature is not enough. She must be full of ideas, and for some of the work mentioned (notably carpet designing) she must have what might be called a combining mind—that is, the ability to get ideas from several designs, and by combining them together, make something new. It must be confessed