100. Book Merchants.

In many of the new towns springing up in the West, there are openings for booksellers. Many colleges and seminaries are being built up, thereby offering a still better market for the sale of school books. It would be well for those going into the business to ascertain, before doing so, what books are used in the literary institutions of the place. Some booksellers are so mean as to sell old-fashioned, out-of-date school books to country merchants, thereby clearing their own stock, and imposing their unsalable goods on others. No doubt, many established book merchants would be willing to trust, to such as they have confidence in, a stock of books to be sold on commission. When a sufficient sum is acquired, the individual can purchase a stock of her own. Many dry-goods merchants keep a few books, but when there is a sufficient sale of books, a store, if expenses are only cleared for a while, may gradually become a revenue of profit, and is likely to prove a permanent business, where discretion and industry are used. In London and Paris, women sell stationery, almanacs, memorandum books, diaries, and pocket books, on the streets. Public auctions of books are held frequently in cities and towns. Agents do much to extend a circulation of books. In large cities, merchants confine their stock of books to two or three kinds—as those of medicine, law, theology, or school books; but, as a general thing, miscellaneous books are kept. The trade sales which occur in Boston once, and in Philadelphia and New York twice a year, are only attended by booksellers. These sales last but a few days. The prices at which books sell at these auctions are considered a pretty fair criterion of their future worth. Miss H. told me of a Miss P., niece of Horace Mann, now living in Concord, N. H., who kept a bookstore in Boston, and imported books to fill orders, but was crushed by other book importers, because she was a woman. In many towns and cities, women keep small stores for the sale of stationery, magazines, newspapers, &c. "In large stationery stores, women might be employed to stamp initials on paper," with small hand presses made for the purpose.

101. China Merchants.

This business is peculiarly appropriate to women. Who so well able to handle china as careful women? Who so well able to judge what will look well on a table? It comes so entirely within their province, that the mind readily suggests the appropriateness. In Paris, most, if not all the china stores are kept by women. A lady china-dealer, on one of the avenues, told me that she sells considerable at night to working women, who cannot spare the time to go shopping in the day; also, to ladies living in cross streets near, who go out walking in the evenings with their husbands, and call to buy articles in her line. It does not require as many attendants in a china as in any other kind of store. A girl is more careful and steady, and can dust china better than a boy; but a boy answers best to take china home. She sells most about the holidays. It takes time to learn the business well. In an Eastern city, two ladies stood in their father's store, and so learned the business. They married brothers, and each opened china stores, which they attended, while their husbands engaged in other business. They are both widows now, but have raised and educated their children. A son and son-in-law of one conduct the business. They employ saleswomen, paying from $5 to $8 a week. They are now in search of two intelligent young women, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, to grow up to the business. They require a little more readiness in arithmetic, tact, and general business qualifications than they can easily meet with. From their experience they judge the employment to be healthy. A lady in a large china store on Broadway, New York, receives $5 a week. A lady in another store told me that lifting crockery causes quite a strain on the back, and should be done by men. A person gets very dusty who attends china. It requires lifting and dusting, and now and then must be washed—always when first taken out of the crate. Mrs. L. and her husband are English, and have been brought up to the business. She sells most about Christmas. She is on her feet all the time. To learn the names of all the articles sold in a large store, and their prices, and to exercise care in handling, requires patience. A china merchant writes: "Women are generally paid less than men. There is a difference of from $10 to $40 per month in favor of men, because (with few exceptions) women are not so well qualified to do business as men. It would take from six to eight months to learn to sell china. A clear head, common sense, and activity are the qualifications needed. Women are not more likely to be thrown out of employment than men, if as well qualified." A lady told me, the china is a slow business and seldom pays more than twenty-five per cent., but is a sure business for the cheaper kind of goods. The profit is not so much as for fancy articles of ladies' wear; but less is lost from the change of style. China merchants, she thought, seldom employ women; why, she could not tell. Mr. H., who employs a girl, paid her $1.50 a week and board the first year, then raised her wages to $7 a month. He thinks if more girls would qualify themselves for china stores they would be likely to find employment. A girl should commence young, but should know how to read and write, on account of taking orders. He thinks it best to get homely girls, rather advanced in age, to attend store, because the young and handsome ones will get married. He prefers girls, because they are more quiet and steady. Small articles of china he sends the girl home with; heavy articles he takes himself. A lady, whose ware was partly out of doors and partly in the house, said she had dusted it at least a dozen times through the day, and then it was covered with dust. Her breakage is considerable. She sells most about Christmas. Another china dealer told me, she sells most in spring, when people go to housekeeping. E. L., in the Five Points, sells most in summer, because her patrons are poor people, and in summer the men have most work, and their expenses are lighter—consequently the women have more money. Her stand is a good one, but she does not much more than make a living. The business requires some experience in buying and selling. Ladies sometimes come into the store to purchase articles they would not like to ask a man for. A girl keeping a china stand told me she sells most in spring and fall. She pays $3 a month for ground rent, but owns the shelter. She locks it at night, and it is perfectly secure, for her lock is different from all others. It does not take long to learn to sell common ware. She expects to sell all winter at her stand, and has to be on her feet all the time. She sells on an average from $2 to $3 worth a day.

102. Clothiers.

In London there are shops confined to the sale of nautical clothes, and some to the sale of theatrical attire. B.'s sewers (New York) earn from $2 to $10 per week—piece work, of course. Most of it is done by machine. Meritorious girls need never be out of work, said Mr. B.; yet he can always get plenty of hands. He has much of his work done in New Jersey. Some men make a business of taking it from establishments, and hire women all through the country to do it. There are two kinds of tailoring—custom and slop work. The last is subdivided into the cheap slop work and that of the best quality, and there are two kinds of establishments for this common work—that which is not better done perhaps than the other, but for which a better price is paid and received, and done by houses of standing and reputation. The other is done by extortionists, Jews and Germans, and patronized by their own class. As tailoring is done now, it does not require a regular apprenticeship as in bygone years, particularly for those who work by machine. I met a girl on the steps, seeking for work, who told me she makes $4 a week as operator, when she can get steady work. One of the proprietors of L. & B.'s clothing establishment told me some of their workmen earn from $8 to $10 a week, working by the piece. Much of their work is for California. They employ hands most of the year, as they work both for the home and foreign market. The great trouble is that the majority of tailoresses are inefficient. Some are widows, striving to support their children. Some have dissipated husbands, and are subject to constant interruption. Some have not the time to properly learn the trade, and, consequently, such workers cannot have that labor which pays best, however much they need it. The character of work done by applicants is judged of by turning to the book of their former employer, and seeing what prices were paid. In hard times, like these, employers try to retain those that are dependent on their labor for their bread. The foreman said, in good times, there is work enough for all the tailoresses in New York. They pay good operators $5 a week—a day of ten hours. All the summer work is done by machines. The pressing and basting is done by men. The foreman of the S. Brothers' establishment says the best place for tailoresses is in the West, where there are openings, and they can make money. The only trouble is, the poor have not money to go West. All their work is done by machines, and all given out. They do not give work more than six months in the year, and that barely keeps the girls while they are at work. P. & C. have their machines worked by hot condensed air. The operators receive from $4.50 to $6. Basters are only small girls, and earn from $2 to $3 a week. B. & Co., clothiers, give work out, and, of course, pay by the piece. Their most busy times are from October to March, and from April to September. They do Southern work. Some of the workers only earn $2.50 if they are slow, even if they are industrious and constantly at work. Some of their best hands can earn $6 a week, but are likely to be at least two months out of employment. The prospect for tailoresses is poor. I have heard that some good hands are wanted in Chicago. A great deal of clothing is sold there to people from the surrounding country and towns. B. does not require any deposit, but a girl must show her book from her other employers. They have thousands of applications for work. The reason more clothing is not made up out of the city is the difficulty in procuring such tailors' trimmings as they need just at the time they are wanted. Most clothing establishments keep a list of those that do not return work taken out, and send them to each other. On persons applying to the foremen, he turns to his book to see if the names are among the delinquents. He thinks girls in service are more certain of making a living, for they are paid from $1 to $2 a week for their work, and have their board, which would be from $1 to $3 a week, and a competent servant need not be out of employment; while slop work is very uncertain, and everything that is made goes for board and clothes. Many of these shop girls sleep half a dozen in a garret, on straw beds, without sufficient covering. Many might go to the country and the West and get employment, but they have not the means; and, if they had the means to go, might not have enough to come back, if they found it necessary. F. D. & Co., clothiers. Their girls earn from $3 to $6 per week, paid by the piece, and done at home. They give most of their work to men who have machines and employ operatives. The prospect for this kind of work is poor. Not more than two thirds of the hands in the city, in this department of labor, will be retained. When business is good they are able to keep their hands employed all the year, except for a few weeks when changing from thin to thick work, and

vice versa

. They sometimes give a girl work to do as a sample. A woman told me of three girls occupying the room above her, that have a sewing machine. Two baste and finish off, and one operates. They work day and night, and one she knows is even now earning $8 a week. They make flannel shirts, receiving 75 cents a dozen, without putting in the sleeves, working the button holes, or putting on the buttons. I saw a girl that receives 87 cents a dozen for making flannel shirts. We have seen it stated that a persons possessed of machines, who make up large quantities of clothing at very low prices, are enabled, by the speed at which they can work the machines, to produce sufficient to remunerate all the parties employed, at an average of $4 a week." One clothier in Albany, New York, pays $3 a week to his hands working eleven hours a a day. He furnishes work steadily through the fall, and pays men better wages, because they can do more work. The proprietor of a mammoth establishment in New York, D., writes: "We employ women in making pants, vests, shirts, and summer coats, both by the week and by the piece. When the sewers take work out, it is by the piece; but when the work is done in the shop, it is paid for by the week. The wages by the week range from $3 to $7. Women thoroughly educated in the trade can make about $6 per week, men about $9—their work is heavier. The number of branches in this trade, and the time of preparation for each, varies. We never receive learners. As the articles are of general use, good hands usually find employment. The work is brisk from November till March 1st, and from May till September 1st. The time of work could be shortened, but at the expense of the laborers' wages. In a city like ours, there is always a full supply of hands. About two thirds of our women are American. Women could not be employed to sell clothing to men." This firm employed, in February, 1860, five hundred hands in the shop, and eight hundred outside. In B. Brothers' establishment, "indoor work is paid by the week. An agent pays for the outdoor work by the piece. Those in the house average $5 per week. Men do heavier work and receive $7. Women make vests and pantaloons; men, coats. They work in the same room. The men do the pressing." (I expect it is a rule that they shall not speak to each other, for not one word did I hear any of them speak in the half hour I spent in the room.) "It requires about six months to learn the business. They do not take learners. An ability to sew well, and neatness with the work, are necessary. They sell most when the country is in a peaceful and prosperous condition. They sell most clothing to Western customers about the 1st of January, and to city retail stores about the 1st of February. They work ten hours a day. There is a surplus of hands in New York. They employ seventy in the house, and between 2,000 and 3,000 outside. The number of Americans is about 20 per cent." Great injustice is done by women in the country, in comfortable circumstances, who do the work at a very low price, merely to obtain pocket money. An English tailor in New York hires girls for making pants and coats. He pays one $4, one $3.50, and another $3, and they work from 7

A. M.

to 7

P. M.

There is no difference in the prices paid, except when the man's work is heavier. Spring and fall are the best seasons for work. Men can press better, because they have more strength; but women can stitch as well, if they have the experience. He kept one operator at $6 a week in busy times, and $3 in slack times, and another at $5 the year round. Some of the poor tailors in New York rent a room, occupy a spot themselves, and rent out the rest of the room to others at the same kind of work, charging fifty cents for seat room for a man and a girl to assist him; thirty-seven cents for a man alone. It is not easy to get good hand tailoresses, for most are employed on machines. One firm, that employ about five hundred hands, write they pay from $3 to $5 per week of ten hours a day, and that it requires two years to learn the trade. S. & D., manufacturers and venders of boys' clothing, write: "Their work is done by the piece, so much a garment, and wages run from $2 to $6 a week, of ten hours a day—of course, depending on the skill and hours of the worker. The relative wages between men and women are, as sewers, say for men, one third more; that is, as four for the women and six for the men. The business of a tailoress is numbered among the regular trades for women, and requires somewhat more than the average trade time, say one year. They excel as vest makers—a branch almost exclusively confined to them. There is no uniform usage in regard to pay. The requisites are good eyesight, average strength, and if taste be superadded, the better. Winter is the best season for those who work for wholesale venders. Women are most apt to be out of employment in summer. The demand is, at present, less than the supply. There is a surplus of vest makers, and a deficiency, if anywhere, in children's suit making. It is an occupation less suited to women than trades that require more nicety of touch and eye, such as designing or wood engraving. The majority of tailoresses in New York city are German and Irish." A firm engaged in the merchant tailoring and ready-made clothing business write: "The occupation is unhealthy, because the workers are constantly sitting. They earn from $2 to $4.50 per week, ten hours a day. We pay men better, because they are stronger and more capable, and have more experience. Men receive from $9 to $12. It requires four years for men to learn the business, and two years for women to learn it so as to earn $4 per week. The qualifications needed are common sense, good taste, and strong eyes. From March to January is the busy season; but good hands have work all the year." B. O. & S. "give their work out. Their trade is Southern. Their spring work begins 1st October, and continues until the last of March; and fall work begins in May, and lasts until September. They do not require a deposit, but a recommendation from the last employer, and give some work to applicants to do as a sample. Some is done by hand, some by machinery, Wages run from $3 up. Much of their work is done by Germans, whose wives assist them. It is sometimes difficult for them to get good hands. The foreman dismissed the Jews he found at work when he went there, for he thinks they are not reliable. Some get work out, but intrust it to others to do, and so it is poorly done. The foreman said many women spend a day or two out of every week running from shop to shop to get work. He has never lost anything by girls not returning goods. If they should keep them, they would soon be known at the different establishments, and have no place to go for work." In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Ohio, during the year ending June 1st, 1860, 36,155 males and 52,515 females were employed in making clothing.

103. Curiosity Dealers.

In large cities, a few persons may find employment in this way. To the business of selling coins, medals, buckles, old-time jewelry, &c., is usually added the sale of shells and foreign birds. The same persons might engage in the sale of stuffed birds and animals, marine plants, minerals, and other such articles as are suitable for placing in a museum. Many women on the streets of London sell coins, medals, &c.

104. Druggists and Druggists' Clerks.

Some knowledge of medicines and their nature is requisite to an attendant in a drug store. The business is light, and, to some, a pleasant one. In a large drug store, one of the clerks might be a young man, to attend to night prescriptions. The day business could easily be carried on by ladies, if they were qualified. Many articles sold by druggists require a chemical or mechanical combination. Schools for giving instruction in the art of preparing medicines are established in New York and Philadelphia. If enough ladies would unite to form a class, we have no doubt that separate instruction would be given them by the professors of pharmacy. We hope these schools will tend to prevent abuses in the prosecution of the drug business, as those persons will be most patronized who are known as graduates of these schools. Dyestuffs, paint, hair oils, &c., are sold by most druggists, besides the materials directly used in their business. The apothecary's business is more confined to the mixing and putting up of medicines, as prescribed by physicians. Girls that put up drugs are paid by the package, and earn from $2 to $5 per week. Most country physicians prepare and sell their own medicines. Censors in Great Britain visit the stores of druggists, and are required by law to destroy any medicines they consider not fit for use. In France the regulations are equally strict. In some parts of France and Germany, sisters of charity are employed to compound medicines, and some to administer them. Mrs. Jameson, in her "Communion of Labor," describes her visits to several hospitals in Europe, in charge of sisters of charity, where some of their number were employed to fill prescriptions, both homœopathic and allopathic. I find that in most Roman Catholic institutions in this country, some sisters are set apart to perform the duties of druggists. In 1776, when Howard visited Lyons, he found "there were sisters who made up, as well as administered, all the medicines prescribed, for which purpose there were a laboratory and apothecary's shop, the neatest and most elegantly fitted up that can be conceived." Lord Brougham, in a speech at York, about two years ago, after eulogizing the Protestant sisters of charity as nurses, said: "They are the persons who make up, who distribute, who administer all the medicines; they are, as I can answer from my own knowledge practically in the matter, as well acquainted with the chemical preparations as the professional men themselves." In the preparation of fine chemicals in laboratories, women are sometimes employed. A druggist told me that a person in his business need never be idle. When not otherwise employed, he can be making tinctures, compounds, &c. It requires four or five years to become a competent druggist. The business is one on which hang the lives of its patrons. Some druggists put up their goods very neatly, and make them look beautiful; but often sacrifice, to do so, their medicinal properties. The standard of druggists is higher in Philadelphia than New York. In Philadelphia, many young men receive nothing for their services, while learning; but in New York, boys over fifteen are generally paid $100 the first year, and more afterward. Many of the best druggists will not make or sell patent medicines. In some new parts of the Western country, druggists unite their calling with something else; and are often but a poor excuse for druggists, deriving their profits mostly from nostrums. One in the business needs a retentive memory. In the census of Great Britain, three hundred and ten females are returned as druggists. Dr. Brandreth has his pills made at Sing Sing. He employs twelve females, and pays an average of $5 per week to each one. The widow of a deceased druggist and chemist told me that the receipts left by her husband she could easily dispose of for a thousand dollars. We have seen it stated that the average hours per day of a drug clerk are thirteen, and his wages $9. The neatness of women, their delicacy and attention to details, qualify them admirably for the drug business. At the Woman's Infirmary, New York, the apothecary's department is entirely in the hands of ladies. At St. Luke's, a lady of education and refinement (a sister of the Order of the Holy Communion) gives her services to the measuring out and dispensing of medicines. At Smith's homœopathic pharmacy, the lady in attendance told me nearly the whole in their department of business is in the hands of females. They employ men, to press the plants and make tinctures; but the distilling of water and alcohol, the pulverizing, triturating and diluting, cleaning vials, corking, labelling, and stamping, are done by women. It requires neatness, exactness, and quickness, to succeed in putting up medicines. The girls, while at work, wear clothes that will not suffer from their labor, which is not the cleanest in the world. The proprietor of the establishment wrote me: "We employ six ladies, and prefer them to men, as their work is neater. We pay them from $3 to $6 per week, and they work from nine to ten hours. There is no difference in the seasons, as regards our employment. We pay women from the first; and they may learn the part done by them in from three to six months. As their work is essentially different from men's, we cannot make a comparison in the prices paid." At another homœopathic pharmacy, I was told they employ a few girls to wash bottles, to put on labels, and place them in the boxes. They are paid from $3 to $3.50 a week. At a wholesale drug store, one of the proprietors told me they "employ a number of women, and pay by the piece, the workers earning from $3.50 to $6 per week. Different kinds of work have different prices. They pay from the first. Those who put up perfumery earn most. The greater part of the duties in a drug store can be performed by well qualified ladies as efficiently as by men." So few ladies are employed in that way, that they might feel timid about assuming the responsibilities of a drug store in a city. Yet, after they had spent two or three years in a store of others, where they were properly instructed, why need they feel any more responsibility in a drug store of their own? I was told that no drug broker and no retail druggist employs women. When employed, it is by those in the wholesale business. I called on a German widow keeping a retail drug store, but who employed a young man to attend the store. She regrets that she did not learn to compound of her husband. She can sell simple medicines, and buys all her own medicines. She had heard of one lady druggist, in Switzerland, that performed all the duties of a druggist, and one in Germany; but it is not common to see women in the business there. H. & R., druggists, employ women to put up patent medicines, and pay $4 or $5 per week. Mr. M., maker of patent medicines, employs some girls all the time. When busy, they pay from $6 to $8 a week, but at other times $3. It requires some experience to put up pills. The pills are mixed, rolled, and cut by men, as it is heavy work when done extensively. Their girls get $2.50 the first week of their work, and their wages are increased in proportion to their skill and abilities. Messrs. K. & K., wholesale druggists, employ a woman to put up Seidlitz powders, furnishing all the materials, and paying by the quantity. They pay her about $250 a year, but suppose she is assisted by some of her sisters at home. Mr. H. employs a woman to put up Seidlitz powders, paid for by the gross. A smart woman can earn from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. A measure is used, containing the right quantity for filling the papers. A house that makes extract of ginger, in Philadelphia, formerly employed women to put it up; but they now employ men and boys in preference, because of the work they can do at intervals, that women cannot do. I called at Mrs. S.'s drug store. The youth that stood behind the counter said drug stores kept by ladies, or where they are employed to dispense, would not be patronized by physicians. He said, if any trouble should occur, from want of knowledge or skill in putting up medicines, and the case was brought into court, the man that employed female dispensers would be punished. Many persons, he says, come to druggists for medical and surgical advice, that could not, and would not think of consulting a lady, even if she were competent to give advice. It would be as unsuitable as for women to shave men, as they do in Germany. I sent for the lady, though the clerk urged that she had a sick child, and could not leave it. I told her the object of my call. She very kindly talked with me, and gave me information, of which I will give a synopsis. She boarded for several years after she was married, and as she had nothing to occupy her time, she spent much of it in the drug store with her husband. Seven years ago he died, and she, by the advice of friends, continued the store. She has employed a young man only part of the time. She says it involves great responsibility, but she is, and feels just as responsible as a man, and would be held so in court; but is not any more liable to indictment, or prosecution, than a man. It is something that requires exactness. It will not do to trust entirely to the memory. She generally refers to the book for directions. A youth of good abilities can, in from six months to one year, put up prescriptions, and a boy, when taken into a drug store, is paid from $1.50 to $2 a week for six months. A druggist of New York writes: "There is but one college of pharmacy in the city of New York, where instruction would be given equally to ladies, if they desired it; although, as yet, none have ever presented themselves. Ladies have never been employed, to my knowledge, as druggists' clerks in this city, or elsewhere in the United States, nor, as I am of opinion, in Europe. In one instance, it was attempted in Philadelphia a few years since, by a leading druggist, with a view of economy, I believe; and although he professed to have engaged the ladies merely as saleswomen in the fancy goods department, they nevertheless were allowed to dispense medicines. It so happened that one of these made a mistake, in giving the wrong medicine, which resulted in the death of the patient, a lady of wealth and wide acquaintance, and the consequence was the ruin and destruction of the whole business of the druggist. This put an end to the experiment in Philadelphia." (This we extremely regret, but know that such accidents have occurred from the incompetency and carelessness of some young men and boys, with less disastrous results to the proprietor.) "The business," the writer adds, "is, in some respects, quite unsuited to females. It requires much real manual labor, its hours are long, and its constant, close confinement wears upon the strongest constitutions. I have myself lost my health at it, and I know of numerous others who have done the same." A lady physician writes: "I do not know whether women are anywhere employed as druggists' clerks. They are not either in France or England, where special education and license are required. I am not aware of any druggist here who would take a pupil, but I have no doubt one could be found."

105. Keepers of Fancy Stores.

A fancy store pays well when a good connection is established, but it takes time for that. Business is moving up street in New York, and of course fancy stores with it. Some unite millinery with the sale of fancy goods. The prices paid to those who stand in such stores, vary greatly. They are given under the head of Saleswomen.

106. Gentlemen's Furnishing Stores.

A great many women are employed in this business, and many more might be. The making of gentlemen's robes furnishes in itself quite a business in cities; also the making of cravats, collars, hemming handkerchiefs, and odd work to be done. Mrs. M. told me she has a girl that assists in the house, and stays in the store when not so occupied, and receives for her services $6 a month and her board. Madame P. pays $3 to each of her operators (ten hours a day), and to one superior operator $4. She pays $3.50 a week to a button-hole maker. That is made a separate branch of sewing. Fourteen is the usual number of button holes in a shirt, and some employers pay one cent apiece; some, one and a half; and for large ones, in which studs or sleeve buttons are worn, two cents apiece. Some men are very particular about the make and fit of their shirts. Madame P. gets $2.50 a dozen for shirts from a store down street, and $4.50 for shirts from a store up street. Ordered work pays best. Her great trouble is that she does not get constant employment. For awhile she sunk in her business from $4 to $5 a week. Mr. P. says, whenever business is dull in New York city, it is, of course, wherever work is done to supply the city. He takes learners in busy times. Mr. D., who employs 2,000 hands in his factory at New Haven, has discharged them all; also Mr. H., who employs 1,000; and Messrs. M. & H., who employ as many. He thinks, when business revives, there will be work enough for all in this line, and even more. Shirts are such an essential part of a man's wardrobe, that as long as men exist, shirts must be made. With the many improvements in sewing machines, Mr. P. has shirts, when cut out, given to the operator, and turned from the machine complete, with the exception of buttons and button holes. No basters are employed. All the felling is done by a feller, and all the hemming by a hemmer. He furnishes his operators with machines. He employs men to cut, because they do it faster than women. They cut with a knife twenty-four thicknesses of cloth. All factories furnish machines and needles. Troy is the great place for making shirt collars. The girls are paid by the piece in these factories, and the employers will not permit them to work more than eight hours a day, as they do not wish them to lose their health. A girl is not retained in these collar factories that cannot earn $7 a week—eight hours a day. The machines are moved by steam.

107. Furniture Sellers.

A French woman that keeps a new furniture store told me that her husband does most of the work, employing some men to help him. She only attends store in his absence. The lifting, repairing, and varnishing, she thought could not be done by women. Called in the store of a woman—a German Jew. Her husband is away most of the time. She has furniture made to fill orders, and, of course, employs several men to make the furniture. I think she sells on credit. I think women are better adapted to the keeping of house-furnishing than of house-furniture stores. I was told in a furniture store by a saleswoman, that she takes entire charge of the store, cuts and gives out damask for making furniture, orders the men, and keeps the books; for which she has a comfortable home with her employer, a widow lady, and $5 a week. She says it requires one to be amiable and obliging, to possess health and energy, and to be a good judge of human nature, to succeed in business; but thinks good conduct and sobriety will insure success in almost anything. The spring she finds best for selling furniture. Small profits and quick sales is her motto. She never credits. She regulates her prices according to circumstances, allowing herself what she considers a fair profit, and yet doing justice to the buyer. She goes into the store at seven in the morning, and remains until ten at night. Only a strong, well-built woman, can move furniture. A lady that keeps a furniture store told me she sold a great deal before the holidays, but will not sell much again until spring. On making inquiry of a lady that keeps a furniture store, about the business, she uttered these practical remarks: "Never credit in the furniture business, or your money and furniture are both gone. You may succeed, if you have an honest, reliable man to attend to the business for you. It is a money-paying business. You should have a man that can attend auction, and buy furniture, and repair and varnish it. Besides, you need a carman, to lift and move furniture in the store, and carry it home." We would state that a woman can just as well attend the sales of house furniture in New York, at residences, as men, and a carman can at any time be hired to move furniture.

108. Grocers.

The retail grocery business is one that many women can and do carry on. It is very common to see the wives of grocers in their stores. The store is generally connected with or beneath their dwelling—so that it is very convenient for the man, and the woman is saved from exposure to the weather, passing back and forth from the dwelling to the store. The business is light and generally profitable. Much depends upon selecting a stand. A good stand is not likely to be idle long. The fall, I was told, was a bad season for a retail grocery in New York. Many small groceries in New York are owned by men, whose wives attend the stores while they are at work. I saw a nice little grocer, whose husband is a tailor, and who works at his trade in a room back of the grocery. This seemed to be reversing the general order of things. The husbands of some grocer women keep stalls in the markets, and furnish the groceries of their wives with vegetables. I called in a neat grocery store and bought some apples. The lady in attendance says she never sells liquor, but all the groceries around there do. She goes to market at four in the morning to buy potatoes and apples for her grocery. The baker leaves her bread, and she goes every evening to a baker's and buys cakes. Bundles of kindling wood are sent her from the wood yard, and the milkman leaves her milk. She goes to Washington market for her meat, and to Vesey street for her tea. So she manages. She said, not a cent in the store had been gained dishonestly. A grocer woman told me that peddlers interfere seriously with her business. Besides, the baker next door had gone to selling milk and butter, from which she has always derived most profit. She has least sale after families have laid in their groceries in the fall. Rich people and those in moderate circumstances generally purchase their groceries in large quantities, it being more convenient and economical to do so; hence we find but few groceries in the best portions of a city. Of course a grocer woman must be much on her feet. Most groceries are open until ten o'clock at night. Mrs. A. says it is impossible for grocer women to make more than a living now, paying $6 and $7 a week for rent, and sometimes not clearing more than $3 a week. She opens at five in the morning, and closes at nine at night. She makes most in summer, because then she does not have to burn fuel, and can do with less candle light. What lifting is necessary, her son does when he comes to see her. There are too many small groceries in New York for any to thrive. I have been told that in the majority (even when attended by women) liquor is sold. What a crime, to make ferocious beasts of those who are stupid enough to buy ardent spirits!

109. Junk Dealers.

Junkmen go about New York with small wagons, across which is a rod. Over the rod are strung several cowbells of different sizes, and from it fly a number of various-colored strips. Junkmen are not the same as the rag gatherers, or dealers, but a blending of the two, as they buy on a very small scale, and sell again. Part of their rags they sell to shoddy manufacturers. A. B., a female junk-dealer, keeps a shop, where she buys and sells old metals and rags. The first she sells to a man who comes to the door and buys them; the others she sells at a store where rags are bought for making paper. She has no system in buying and selling—buying at the lowest prices she can, and selling at the highest. Another woman told me she buys white rags at three and a half cents per pound, and sells at four. She pays so much a pound for old metals, and sells at an advance. Other articles, as bottles, glass, bones, cold victuals, and grease, are disposed of by junkwomen. The damaged cotton picked up by old women is sold to junk dealers.

110. Music Sellers.

Mr. W. does not know of any ladies engaged in selling sheet music, but thinks there may be some in small towns. He thinks it would be a very suitable employment for them. I called in a music store, B—, where a lady was in attendance, and, in the course of conversation, learned she was the wife of the proprietor. According to her report, "it is an arduous business, and one that requires brains and musical talent. People will seldom purchase a piece of music until they hear it, and she must try the pianos before a person will purchase or hire. The business requires great patience. She and her husband keep their store open until ten o'clock at night. They do not sell so much when the weather is bad, nor in summer, when the people are out of the city. A lady so employed must be able to keep accounts, and, when she sells, must require good security, if she does not sell for cash. She must also be able to distinguish bad from good money." She says, "keepers of music stores will not employ women, however great their capabilities," but no reason could I obtain for it. I think it is something, where an opening offers, that would pay a woman well. I called at another music store in the same city, kept by a lady. She said: "She and her sister would not keep a music store, if they had not brothers in the business, for she did not consider it any more appropriate for a lady to keep pianos to sell than to keep a cabinet wareroom. The pianos sometimes need to be repaired and tuned, and no one can attend to that without knowing how a piano is constructed. (?) The mere selling of sheet music, she thought, might do well enough, but selling books would be better. She says it would not do well for a woman to tune pianos, as it requires considerable practice to make one competent." Why might not women acquire that practice? Her selfishness and fear of competition were very evident. It is desirable for a music seller to understand Italian, French, and German, as many of the songs used in our country are in those languages. Many pieces of music have two or three titles. It requires some time to learn to rightly perform the duties of a music seller. The selling of sheet music and the selling of pianos are separate branches, and a person in one may be totally ignorant of the other. The wholesale and retail departments are entirely distinct in large establishments. Clerks that attend in the piano department are expected to be able to play. A lady is now employed in a large piano store in New York to try the instruments for purchasers. A lady in New York stays in the store when her brother, Mr. D., is absent. He paid a boy $1.50 a week for some months while learning, then more. A person of ability could learn the business in six months' time, or less. Music is always arranged alphabetically on the shelves. A boy should be kept to climb the ladder. An extensive music seller in Boston writes: "In our direct employ is only one female—a cashier. Repeated losses of money, and cash continually over or above, induced us four years ago to adopt the plan of employing a female to receive the proceeds of sales. It has saved us a great deal of money, and lessened the temptation to the young men in the store. We would gladly employ more women, but the height of our shelves, and the unsuitableness of female apparel, prevent." Another music seller writes me: "Women are employed in our business, in Germany and France, and are there paid at the same rate as men. We do not employ ladies in our store, because those of their own sex will not buy from them."

111. Sellers of Artists' Materials.

The sale of paintings, engravings, and artists' materials, form of themselves a branch of business in large cities. I know of such a store in Philadelphia, kept by a lady. It must be a light and pleasant employment. In London there are seventy-nine print sellers.

112. Sellers of Seeds, Roots, and Herbs.

In agricultural and horticultural communities, there is always a demand for roots and seeds. A large number of seeds are raised and put in papers for sale by the Shakers. In stores for the sale of roots and seeds, growing plants in jars might be offered for sale, and evergreens, with their roots in dirt, enveloped by linen or sacking. Orders might be given, and filled, for forest and fruit trees. Bouquets, also, might be kept for sale. A man in New York hires a room about Christmas, and devotes himself exclusively to the sale of evergreens for Christmas trees. As field seeds are usually sold by the measure, and not put up in papers, women have no employment in that line. The proprietor of an agricultural warehouse and seed store writes: "Our seed and grain are put up by men and boys in the winter months. It is work that might be done by women." A lady botanic druggist told me, "there are families in the West that make a comfortable support by gathering herbs; but even the smallest children assist." Those plants that bear flowers she has gathered when they begin to bloom. Those engaged in gathering commence early in life, and gather those growing in their yards and the fields of the neighborhood. Another seller of botanic medicine says there are spring and fall herbs, and, of course, they must be gathered in their seasons. She has a man and his wife gathering herbs, who support their family of five children by it, and two girls of another family, who earn a livelihood by it. Ladies in the occupation of root, seed, and flower selling, would do well to keep garden tools for sale.

113. Sellers of Small Wares.

In England, the word "haberdasher" is applied to those who engage in the sale of cord, tape, pins, and such articles. In America there is no synonymous word—so we use the expression heading this article, which we have seen occasionally employed in the same way. The number of women in this business is legion. With many it is a suitable and successful employment. Those whose means will not permit them to engage in any more extensive business—who have a room well located in town, and not too much competition—can, with a small capital, commence a safe and light business. It requires but little effort, and, with enough customers, will well repay time and capital. Many a poor woman, unable to purchase the articles required, has obtained them to sell on commission, and, by industry and economy, earned sufficient, in the course of time, to purchase a stock of her own. I called on a lady that keeps a variety store. She sells gloves, handkerchiefs, suspenders, and such articles to gentlemen, and tape, buttons, &c., to ladies. She would rather sell to gentlemen. She has been keeping store thirty-five years. Her store is near the river, and she sells much to people coming from the ferry and off the boats. She thinks in the South and West there would be many good openings for such stores. Spring and fall, and during the holidays, are her best times for selling. I called in a small store: I was told by the lady that she did not much more than make a living. She depends much on her friends and acquaintances for custom. As they increase in number, which they do from year to year, her custom increases. She finds herself very closely confined at home by the business. She does not regulate her profits entirely by the value of the articles, for cheap goods sell best where she is, and she puts on a large profit.

114. Sellers of Snuff, Tobacco, and Cigars.

A lady, keeping a cigar store, said she makes only one third profit on her sales. Most people make one half, which, she says, is the usual profit on all goods. Snuff gives her the headache, when dealing it out, but she thinks she may get accustomed to it. She sells most from six o'clock in the morning until nine or ten; and then again in the evening. To know what manufactures of tobacco, snuff, and cigars are most popular, is important. Having acquaintances assists much, and they are the first patrons to one commencing business. A cigar store generally pays well in large cities, and, if well located, is sure to succeed. Fall and winter are the best seasons for selling cigars; in very warm weather no one cares to smoke.

115. Saleswomen.

Women are quite as capable by nature to sell dry goods as men, but are not trained so thoroughly, nor from so early an age. Suavity of manner and perfect control of temper are very desirable qualifications for a clerk. Care, judgment, and taste are requisite for success. A flow of speech and ability to show goods to advantage are also desirable. Some people urge that if females are employed as attendants in stores, they will be exposed to dangerous and demoralizing influences, and something is said about the corruption of female shopkeepers in Paris, by way of warning. Now, it so happens that the corruption spoken of does not exist among the store attendants in Paris, but among sempstresses. Saleswomen and bookkeepers there enjoy as a class a good reputation, but the same cannot be said of sempstresses. Sempstresses, we know from the rates paid them, and the accounts of travellers, cannot make enough to support themselves; but shopkeepers can. "One fifth of all the female criminals in Paris are sempstresses," says Madame Mallet. Some employers complain that women are too sociably inclined, too much disposed to chat, where several are employed in the same establishment. It may be true; but are they more so than men of the same age? The languid appearance of saleswomen, we think, arises from their being on their feet so constantly. It is injurious to a woman; and employers should allow them to be seated, when not waiting on customers. The number of skirts they must wear, and the weight of hoop skirts, does much to bring this about. The kind of ladies that saleswomen mostly see in first-class stores is calculated to improve and refine their manners, and give them a command of language. Besides, it renders them more particular in their attire. They want to dress and look well. Those acquainted with the art, say there are at least a hundred ways of putting up new goods. Some Jews hire a girl to stay in their store, and require her to sew, make hoop skirts, &c., when not waiting on customers. In the United States, women are employed in a variety of stores: dry goods, lace, and fancy stores are the most common. In Philadelphia they attend in nearly all the largest stores—Levy's, Sharpless's, and Evans's; besides, several hundred earn a subsistence as saleswomen in smaller stores. Close observation and much experience are needed to fulfil the duties, but the natural quickness of most women gives them a tact seldom equalled by men. The variety afforded by the occupation is pleasing, and the labors are light. The handling of gloves, tape, ribbon, &c., is undoubtedly best suited to the finer and smaller hands of women. The reason there are so many young men performing the duties of clerks and salesmen, is, that they are lazy, and do not want to perform hard work. Another reason is that the majority want to dress well and make a good appearance, but have no capital. The price paid for a girl to attend store would depend on the size, location, and kind of store, how much they sell, and the abilities of the girl. Lady clerks usually receive from $3 to $8 per week. The best seldom receive more than $6; while men receive from $6 to $12. The ladies are obliged to dress well, and to do so must retrench in other expenses, living in crowded attics or damp cellars, or on unwholesome food. Mr. M., Philadelphia, pays his girls from $3 to $6 per week, it depending altogether on their qualifications. In Bangor and Belfast, Maine, most of those who attend stores are women. They have also been much employed in Buffalo, New York, during the last few years. It is a regulation of some of the stores in New York and Philadelphia, that a salesman or woman shall not sit down to rest; and in some, if they do, they are fined. If there is nothing to do, they must take down the boxes and pull out the articles, then arrange them carefully in the boxes, as if they were closely occupied, to give the impression that much business is transacted in the establishment. In fancy stores on the avenues, New York, girls get from $2.50 to $4 a week. The stores are mostly open from 7

A. M.

to 10

P. M.

In some localities, most goods are sold in the evening. At a small dry-goods store, where I called to make a purchase, the lady told me she used to employ a girl, paying her $3 a week, without board. She was in the store from 7

A. M.

till 9.30

P. M.

A girl in a store on Sixth avenue told me, she and her companions get from $2 to $5 a week. They are there at eight in the morning, and remain until ten at night, and on Saturday until eleven or twelve. They are not allowed to sit down. A girl in a lace and embroidery store on Sixth avenue, New York, told me that girls get in such stores from $3.50 to $10, but they must make up laces when not waiting on customers. Some receive a percentage. Women are not paid as well as men, even in such stores. Time of learning depends on the individual. They are seldom paid anything for a few weeks. They have most to do in spring and fall; are in the store from

8 A. M.

to 9 or 10

P. M.

A lady told me she used to get $7 a week in a fancy store. At M.'s dry-goods store, New York, the superintendent told me they do not pay learners for one month. They have girls who have been in the store but a few weeks, that can do as well as those who have been in it for years. Some again are stupid, and they will not retain such. When girls are qualified, they pay from $1 to $10 a week. They prefer having ladies in the store, thinking they know best a lady's wants. They often have occasion to change—some get broken down and go away, some get tired, some get discouraged, some cannot be on their feet so long, some cannot please customers, some are not satisfactory to employers, &c.; so, many changes take place. The ladies all looked to be Americans. They are allowed to sit when there is nothing to do, and no customers in; which, I suspect, is rarely, if ever the case. I have been told the openings for saleswomen are better farther East than in New York. A lady told me she used to get $1 a day in R.'s store on Broadway, and the other saleswomen got the same price. Then she was on her feet nearly all the time. She was there at eight and staid till seven: all were expected to take their dinner and eat in the store. Mrs. H. told me she knew a lady that stood in a store on Chestnut street, Philadelphia, who received a salary of $800 a year. When girls first go into a store, they usually get $1 a week during the season (three months), then $1.50, and so increase. A pretty good knowledge of store keeping is acquired by a smart person in six months, and now ladies are relieved in large stores from the responsibility of making change. Many of the ladies in New York stores are Irish. American ladies are more engaged in making artificial flowers, bookfolding, &c. I was told rather a novel feature in the life of shop girls, viz.: that many board from home, for the sake of having company; and in addition to this, men, earning good wages, but of disreputable character, will often board in low houses, and ingratiate themselves into the favor of the girls, until they work the ruin of one or more. Mr. D. employs five ladies, and pays them from $3 to $5. He prefers ladies. When he takes beginners, he pays $1.50 a week, and better wages as they become more capable. He has paid $8, and even $9 a week. The ladies are in the store from eight to half past eight. He allows them to sit when no customers are in and there is nothing doing. A lady with whom I talked, and who had stood in a store on Catherine street, New York, finds the occupation very injurious, because of having to be on her feet so constantly, and its lasting from 7

A. M.

until 9

P. M.

In some stores they are obliged to remain until eleven, and even twelve, in busy seasons. On Grand and Catherine streets, New York, they keep open very late. She says, when the weather is dull, and there are but few customers, employers are apt to be cross and vent their bad feelings on the girls. And in those stores the girls cannot sit down to take a stitch for themselves; but, when there are no customers to wait on, they must make up undersleeves, capes, and caps for the store. She now keeps a millinery and fancy store, and pays her girls $5 a week, and the girls are in the store from seven to nine. They make up bonnets, when not waiting on customers, and so have a change of posture without a loss of time. She has a friend in a Broadway store, that receives $1 a day. A saleswoman should know how to make out accounts. Ability to speak the French and German languages is a most valuable acquisition to a saleswoman in our cities. One discouraging feature in the history of saleswomen is, that their wages are not advanced like those of men. In Detroit, Michigan, girls receive from $3 to $5 for standing in a store. "In Cleveland, in 1854, there was one dry-goods store where four lady clerks were employed at salaries from $200 to $350 per annum. In one shoe store a lady received a salary of $250; and one, in another shoe, store, $200. In a millinery and fancy dry-goods store, kept by ladies, fifteen girls were employed at from $4 to $6 per week. In another, kept by a gentleman, ten girls were employed at from $4 to $6 per week." In the same city, gentlemen clerks usually receive from $250 to $600 per annum. At a store on Grand street, New York, where a number of saleswomen are employed, the owner told me he takes girls in the spring and fall. He tries them for one month, and such as he finds he can make anything of he retains. He then pays them something, and increases their wages in proportion to their advancement. Some never rise above $3; but those who are ambitious and desirous to excel and make proportionate effort, he will pay higher. He has paid as high as $12 a week. A merchant keeping a large trimming store on Canal street, pays his women from $1.50 to $8 per week, and they are in the store from seven in the morning till dark. To wait in a store requires experience; and a lady, in getting a situation, should endeavor to do so through the influence of a merchant. It is very desirable to have a good location for a store. Mr. M. pays his saleswomen from $2 to $6, according to their qualifications. At a confectionery the woman told me she gives $6 a month and board and washing; but as she does not keep open on Sunday, the girl would have to go home Saturday night and stay till Monday. She would be kept busy all the time, from seven in the morning till eleven at night, waiting on customers, cleaning tables, washing plates, sweeping floors, &c. On most of the avenues in New York, merchants do not sell as much, nor receive such a profit, as on Broadway, and employ women because they can get them cheaper. In a small variety store, a lady told me she had paid $4 a week and board to one who had never stood in a store; but the lady was a friend. She remarked: "If a person has the inclination, a memory, and common sense, she can soon learn. Few are willing to take learners. American ladies are not ambitious enough to keep store. For one month in summer and one in winter there is little doing." A lady confectioner says: "It requires a very honest person to be in a confectionery, because small sums are being constantly received and no note taken of them. Girls are paid according to their capabilities from $2 to $5, and are in the store from 7

A. M.

to 9, 10, 11, and even 12

P. M.

, in busy seasons, which are about the holidays. It requires some weeks to know the prices, where to place the articles, and how to make them appear to advantage." A merchant, who employs saleswomen, told me he thought women have a better sense of propriety and are more particular than men, but they lack judgment and promptness. He thinks women do very well as far as they go, but there is a boundary line in ability, beyond which women cannot pass. The gentleman referred to was indebted to his mother, who had kept the store he then owned, for his education and position in business. Mr. P., seller of ladies' trimmings, employs from twenty to twenty-five saleswomen, who knit and embroider for the store when not waiting on customers. A lady who waited in the store told me they change their position frequently, seldom sitting more than ten minutes at a time. Women are paid from $4 to $10 per week, and are in the store from half past 8

A. M.

to half past 6

P. M.

They pay from $2.50 to $3.50 for board. The business can be learned in from three to six months. While learning, they receive enough to pay their board. Industry and ambition are necessary for success. The prosperity of the business in the future depends on the fashion and the amount of money in circulation. Winter is the best season for the sale of goods. The women are mostly German; they succeed best in knitting, because they are brought up to it. There are openings in the business, West and South. A saleswoman told me her business is hard on the back, because of the standing, reaching up, and bending. She is paid $6 per week, her store companions $3, spending eleven hours in the store. A person of business qualifications requires only practice to make a saleswoman. She has often heard ladies complain of having to purchase small or fancy articles of men. She thought heavy dress goods could be better handled by men. She says dissatisfaction is likely to arise when an employer boards his work hands. Mrs. D., who keeps a fancy store, told me that fifteen or twenty years ago, it was a rare thing to see a saleswoman in a store in New York. She says nearly all of her saleswomen have relations dependent on them for support, and if they are thrown out of employment for a week it is a serious matter. She pays $5 a week to experienced saleswomen, and gives something to learners; all stay in the store ten hours. She thinks honesty, truthfulness, intelligence, good address, and a knowledge of human nature are the best qualifications. Spring and fall she finds the best seasons for selling goods, and thinks the occupation for a lady next best to teaching. A merchant in New Haven writes: "We employ from two to five women (all American) as clerks, paying from $3 to $6 per week. To learners we pay $2 per week. The employment of women is on the increase. My clerks are employed through the year, and work from ten to eleven hours per day. We employ women to save expense, and because we believe them most honest." A firm in Providence, who sell gloves, hosiery, &c., write: "We employ ten saleswomen on an average, and pay from $2 to $7 per week, ten hours a day. We pay $2 per week to learners. To learn thoroughly requires about six months' practice. We consider the prospect good of the occupation being opened to more women. One third of our hands we send off in summer and winter. We find women neater and more steady than men, but not so energetic." The proprietor of a large establishment in Philadelphia writes: "About thirty women are employed by us in selling dry goods. Their health generally improves by their active occupation, the proper ventilation of our warehouse, and the regular habits to which they become accustomed. Wages are from $1 to $10 per week; they are paid less than men because their time of work is shorter, their expenses are less, and their channels of usefulness more circumscribed. A lifetime is needed to learn the business thoroughly, although in five years much may be learned. Women are paid while learning. Quickness of intellect and of body, good temper, and pleasant manners are very essential. Women well instructed are generally permanent in an establishment. Our most busy seasons are from February to June, and September to December. In no season are saleswomen thrown out of employment. In winter they spend eight and a half hours in the store; in summer, nine hours. Seventy-five per cent. are of American parents. The work is fatiguing at times, but not wearing on the system. Another part of our occupation, in which women might be employed, if properly instructed, is bookkeeping. Women are deficient in generalizing, excellent in concentrativeness. Many of our saleswomen have been teachers, and some return to it. They have their evenings as their own from 6

P. M.

; they have good moral boarding places, and a public library open gratuitously. About one half live with parents; the remainder board at from $2 to $2.50 per week, perhaps two persons occupying the same room." In Paris, France, young women in stores receive for their services their lodging, washing, and board, with from $40 to $80 per annum.

116. Street Sellers.

The number of women alone, in London, according to Mr. Mayhew's estimate, engaged in street sales, wives, widows, and single persons, is from 25,000 to 30,000. Girls and women form a large proportion of the street sellers, and earn from sixty-two cents to $1 a week. The comparative newness of our country, the smaller size of the cities, and the greater demand for manual labor have presented fewer calls for street sellers. We hope the time may never come when our streets will be thronged, as those of London are, with street venders, for we consider it not by any means an index of general prosperity. More especially do we hope the scanty pittance obtained by their labor, and the consequent privation and suffering, may never be the portion of any of our population willing to work for a support. All the wants of a great city can be supplied by the London street sellers. They are patronized mostly by those in the middle and lower walks of life. All the varieties imaginable are represented in their sale of articles. Both dressed and undressed food can be obtained of them. Home and foreign fruits and vegetables of all kinds have each their separate sales. Of the eatables and drinkables offered by them for sale, the solids consist of hot eels, pickled whelks, oysters, sheep's trotters, pea soup, fried fish, ham sandwiches, hot green peas, kidney puddings, boiled meat puddings, beef, mutton, kidney and eel pies, and baked potatoes. In each of these provisions the street poor find a midday or midnight meal. The pastry and confectionery which tempt the street eaters are tarts of rhubarb, currant, gooseberry, cherry, apple, damson, cranberry, and (so called) mince pies; plum dough and plum cake; lard, currant, almond, and many other kinds of cakes, as well as of tarts; gingerbread nuts and heart cakes; Chelsea buns, muffins, and crumpets; sweet stuff includes the second kind, of rocks, sticks, lozenges, candies, and hard cakes; the medicinal confectionery, of cough drops and horehound; and, lastly, the more novel and aristocratic luxury of street ices and strawberry cream, at two cents a glass (in Greenwich Park). The drinkables are tea, coffee, and cocoa; ginger beer, lemonade, Persian sherbet, and some highly colored beverages which have no specific name, but are introduced to the public as cooling drinks; hot elder cordial or wine; peppermint water; curds and whey; water; ice milk, and milk (just from the cow), in the parks. In addition to this information, most of which is derived from Mr. Mayhew's "London Labor and London Poor," we will devote the remainder of the article to information from the same author; and would do so in his words, were it not that we would like to condense as much as possible. For the substance, we acknowledge, therefore, our indebtedness to Mr. Mayhew. In the suburbs of London, some people spend their time collecting snails, worms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, toads, snakes, and lizards, which they sell in the city as food for birds. Some, in collecting frogs, which they sell to French families, at hotels and at hospitals. Some devote their time to the sale of coffee, beer, and baked potatoes. Some engage in the sale of coke, some of salt, and some of sand. Nor is literature forgotten by the street sellers. "There are," says Mr. M., "five houses in London that publish street literature, and six authors and poets that prepare such literature in prose or rhyme." Some streetsellers devote themselves to the hawking of dog collars, and some to the sale of rat poisons. Some collect the nests of wild birds and the eggs, and sell them. Some sell whips; and some, walking sticks; but these last articles, we believe, are sold only by men. In London, some women sell refuse fruits; some, water-colored pictures and cheap engravings; some, coins commemorating public events. Some engage in the sale of children's watches. Some sell implements belonging to a trade; for instance, tailors' implements. Some sell washerwomen's clothes lines, pegs, and props; or kitchen utensils, as tin ware, vegetable nets, kettle holders, &c. Some of the street sellers are blind, with having taxed their eyes too greatly in sewing for slop shops. Some women are co-workers with the men in the sale of crockery and glass ware. They go in pairs (generally husband and wife); some with a large basket between them, others with separate baskets. Some sell spar ornaments, and some, china ornaments; some, lace, and some, millinery; some, thread, tape, needles, &c. Quite a number sell women's second-hand apparel. Some sell umbrellas; some, men's suspenders, belts, and trouser straps. Others again will sell embroidery, stockings, gaiters, shoe laces, blacking, pipes, quack medicines, snuff, tobacco boxes, and cigar cases; and in winter some are seen carrying even kindling wood to sell. Some women sell dolls, spectacles, wash leather, china cement, razor paste, matches, or japanned ware. Some women carry sponge in baskets; they either sell it for money or exchange it for old clothes. A few sell musical instruments. Some offer guide books, play bills, newspapers, stationery, and jewelry. Rabbits, squirrels, parrots, and other kinds of birds are sold by them; and some dispose of dead game. Seeds, flowers, roots, and, about Christmas, evergreens, are sold in large numbers. In shops, some try to resell slops from kitchens, old glass, metal, or worn clothes, &c.; some, exhausted tea leaves, which they dispose of to those that dye and redye them to sell again.—We give this chapter, because it comprises all and many more than the sellers on our streets. The few engaged in street sales in our cities are mostly confined to old women, who sit at the corners, with stands on which rest store articles, tin ware, sweetmeats, and fruits, or a small lot of fancy articles. There are several stands of second-hand books and newspapers, or shelves of candy, kept by men, but the variety in the business is quite limited, compared with the cities of Europe. Mr. Mayhew thinks the majority of street sellers in London have been servants and mechanics that could not get employment. Some street sellers go on foot through the country during the summer, to sell at fairs and races. Many others get employment from the farmers in gathering vegetables and fruits for market, weeding gardens, picking hops, and assisting in haymaking and harvesting. In Paris, some women carry bread to sell, in baskets strapped to their backs. In New York, I saw two women with baskets of vegetables and fruit to sell. I spoke to one, who told me she earns sometimes as much as $1 a day, and sometimes but a few cents. In winter, it is not unusual to see girls with baskets of dried thyme, parsley, and sage, who sell it for culinary purposes. I talked with a woman who carried tin ware in a basket. She often does not earn fifty cents a day, and will be walking all day, not even going home at noon. She buys by the dozen, and so gets the articles a little cheaper. I inquired of a girl selling radishes how many she usually disposed of in a day. She takes them around only in the afternoon, and sometimes sells to the amount of $1.25.

117. Toy Merchants.

This is a business better suited to the natural nurses of children than to men. A handsome profit is derived from the sale of toys. The busy seasons with toy merchants and confectioners are about Christmas and New Year. Toys might be more extensively made in our country, thereby giving employment to many now without it. Women mostly stand in toy shops in New York. Even so small an item as the eyes of children's dolls produces a circulation of several thousand pounds in England. Several establishments in London are devoted exclusively to the manufacture of dolls.

118. Wall Paper Dealers.

Selling wall paper is a light, pretty business. In cities it affords a remunerative return; in towns and villages it is sold mostly by dry-goods merchants and druggists. The only objection I see to it is, that a step ladder must be used to get the paper down from the higher shelves; but a small boy might be used for that, and also for carrying paper home to purchasers.

119. Worn Clothes and Second-hand Furniture.

Mr. Mayhew tells us that in London thirty persons are engaged in the exclusive sale of second-hand boots and shoes. He mentions one man that, in 1855, was thought to take over £100 ($500) a day. Boots and shoes, too far gone to be repaired, are sold to Prussian-blue manufacturers—so nothing is lost. In Philadelphia, near Penn Square, may be seen ranged, on an open space, a large quantity of second-hand clothes, shoes, dresses, &c., for sale. The business, in this country, of buying and selling again worn clothes is mostly in the hands of the Jews—perhaps altogether. In all countries it is more or less a favorite business with them. The time is past when the Jew was prohibited in other countries from holding real estate; yet the Jews in all countries, so far as I know, generally retain their property in money, or invest it in something movable. Old clothes in our country are generally given in exchange for new china, glass ware, &c.; yet a number in the large cities pay money. In London all kinds of articles are given for them, and then they are taken to the old-clothes exchanges, where they are disposed of for money, principally to shopkeepers who deal in the sale of worn clothes. Some of these articles are made over, some made smaller, some turned, some changed in form; in fact, the greatest ingenuity is exercised to employ to advantage the articles used. Second-hand articles are not so much sold in this country as in older countries, where money is more difficult to get, and poverty greater. Boys' cloth caps and roundabouts, and women's shoes, are made of old coats and pants, so worn in parts as to be unsalable. Coats are also made of cloaks, bonnets of aprons, &c. Men's and women's apparel of all sorts is bought and sold by them. Old umbrellas and parasols are bought, repaired, and sold. Silk dresses, if unfit to be sold, are used for making children's hoods, facing coats, &c. The scraps are used for making quilts. Old woollen dresses, whose waists are much worn, are used for making wadded skirts. Tailors' and dress-makers' trimmings are sometimes purchased for a small sum, and used in making up girls' hoods, boys' caps, &c. In London, most of women's second-hand apparel is (as it should be) sold by women. It is customary for buyers to cry down every article offered them for sale or barter, but those they offer for sale are magnified into ten times their value. Many of the men who go through the streets of our cities buying old clothes or giving china ware in exchange for them, take them home and their wives repair them. I called at a second-hand variety store in Brooklyn. The woman says most people engaged in the business are foreigners. The business is not unhealthy. Clothes brought in are washed and done over, and their domestics are always healthy. Their business is very dull. Ten years ago it was quite brisk, but many stores of the kind have been opened in Brooklyn lately. She and her daughter go and look at any articles for sale; and if they think the person honest and the price suits, they will buy; so that, if any one should come and claim the clothes as being stolen, they could immediately take a policeman to the place where they got them. If articles are bought, they examine and put a price on them, and get the address of the individual. If they find they are not stolen, they then purchase. The poorest season for the business is midwinter. They keep their store open till ten o'clock at night. I was told at another store they sell most clothes in the evening to laborers' wives. In a store in New York, the lady says she buys her clothes of Jews that go about exchanging china for old clothes. It is very necessary that a good locality be fixed on, near a river or bay, on a thoroughfare, or in a neighborhood where many poor people live. One woman told me she employs two girls and three men to make over and do up worn clothes for her store. She pays her girls, each, thirty-one cents a day, and they work twelve hours. She sells most in the evening. At one place I was told that Mondays and Saturdays are their busiest days for selling. They sell most to the French, Irish, and negroes. Germans do not like to buy second-hand clothes. She regretted that in her present store she had not glass cases to keep the dust off her clothes. Her purchasing is mostly done among the rich, she says, and so it brings her a good class of customers. The keeper of a second-hand furniture store told me that she goes to auction herself and purchases. It is two or three years before the business pays. She will go to a dwelling and look at furniture before purchasing. It requires a man to do the lifting. She has old furniture repaired, chairs reseated, &c., before she attempts to sell them.

120. Variety Shops.

Variety shops, for the sale of coal, wood, kindling, candles, matches, and water, are frequently seen in the poor districts of cities. They are a great convenience to those whose means will not admit of their buying in large quantities. It costs them more to buy it in that way, yet the keeping of shops affords a subsistence to those who do.