COMMUNICATING MEDIUMS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND OTHERS.

421. Assistants in Public and Benevolent Institutions.

There is a wide field of usefulness open to ladies, as matrons in charitable institutions. Blessed is the influence a woman exerts as a matron, if she is a kind, good woman. Her responsibilities are great, but a consciousness of the vast amount of good she may accomplish should reconcile her to them. The discharge of her duties will often cast her in the society of visitors, many of whom are refined and educated people. In

reformatory institutions for children

, a matron may do incalculable good.

The female department of almshouses, lunatic asylums, hospitals, prisons, workhouses, and all other public and charitable institutions

, should be in the hands of women. They can exert a better influence. They know better the wants of their sister women. They can enter into their feelings. They can check familiarities with the male inmates, and exert more influence when temptation is offered. In short, they are women, and know a woman's heart.

Orphan, and deaf and dumb asylums, houses of refuge, eye and ear infirmaries, schools for imbecile children, and all such places

, should be managed by women, as far as practicable. The managers of the home department of such institutions should be firm and efficient, yet kind hearted. Nor should merely the filling of these offices be given to women, but there should be a number of lady visitors to coöperate with the managers. They can often suggest many improvements for the comfort and health of the inmates, that would escape the notice of men. I was told by a friend, now deceased, who took an active part in establishing and advancing benevolent institutions, that she found it very difficult to obtain matrons, seamstresses, and tailoresses, willing and competent to instruct the inmates of the institutions in their various branches of labor. She thought it would be well to instruct women so thoroughly in their business that they might efficiently impart a knowledge of it to others. She thought there should be a house where women and girls could be properly prepared to perform the duties of cooks, nurses, and house servants. A lady friend suggested that many of the situations in the public institutions of New York might be filled by some of the women who are now keeping boarding houses, and so, the pressure in that quarter being removed, there would be fairer and fuller play to those that are left in the occupation. A principal reason of the order and cleanliness of the workhouses in Holland, is the attention and humanity of the governesses; for each house has four, who take charge of the inspection, and have their names painted in the room. For the moral management of convicts, men are systematically trained in some countries of Europe. In the hospitals, prisons, and reformatory institutions of England, supported by the government, women are employed. They are even eligible as overseers of the poor. The President of the Board of Public Institutions in New York city furnished me with answers to questions in regard to the women employed therein, as follows: "Women are employed as matrons, nurses, and laborers in this city, and on Blackwell's and Randall's islands. They receive from $5 per month to $430 per annum, and are paid by the month. The labor performed, properly belongs to women, although we employ some men for part of the same labor, but their pay is about the same. There is no need of an apprenticeship to become familiar with their employments, and the only special qualifications are health and strength. There is no difference as to seasons with us. They work only as many hours as are necessary. The demand for those occupying this position grows out of the number of the destitute and criminal thrown on our hands. About twenty-five per cent. employed are Americans. We employ women in all work for which they are suited. The more intelligent are selected for the most responsible positions. If so disposed, they have ample time for mental and moral culture. They live where they labor, and their places of residence are comfortable." Each of the janitresses of the public schools of New York receives a salary of from $100 to $400 per annum. At the Tombs of New York, a woman has charge of the department where the female convicts are. At a meeting of ladies in Dublin, for the employment of women, Mr. McFarlane said that "for the last twenty-five years, the Grangegorman Penitentiary had been under the management of a lady, and it had been most admirably conducted."

422. Commissioners of Deeds.

There are about two hundred in the city of New York, and, with a moderate run of custom, each can make several hundred dollars per annum. Their duties are very light, and, I have been told, could as well be performed by women as men.

423. Housekeepers.

A kind, yet decided manner, will more effectually govern a household than fretting and scolding. A portion of time should be regularly set aside for servants to feel as their own. It will often prove a matter of economy to those who exact work of them. Those of principle will work more diligently. Everybody needs some rest. Gain the good will and confidence of servants, and they will reward you in the labor of their stronger muscles. But avoid familiarity, by all means. Much of the long, wearing toil of servants might be avoided by consideration and management on the part of a housekeeper. Domestics labor hard, and much of the comfort of a family depends on them. Do not accuse on suspicion those in your employ of doing or having done wrong. Be careful of the reputation of others, particularly dependent females. A man of standing, to whom I expressed the desire that more occupations should be opened to women, expressed the wish that our domestics should be Americans, and of a more intelligent class. An effort should be made to elevate the standard of servants, he said, to induce more respectable and intelligent women to enter domestic service. Those engaged in it, he thought, should find something else to do, and will be pushed out as a more competent class enter. I would prefer to see our present class of servants fit themselves better for the discharge of their duties, and American girls enter occupations of a more refined and exalted nature. The same gentleman referred to, stated that his servants each receive $2 a week, dress handsomely, and lay by money. (?) They do better for themselves, he remarked, than the girls in his bookbindery. In some of the convents of France, the sisters go through a course of training to prepare them for the duties of housekeepers, and are then sent to take charge of religious and charitable institutions connected with their church. Why might not some such plan be pursued by Protestants? Says an English review: "In Germany, the employment of women in the offices of house-steward, maitre d'hotel, butler or lackey, sanctioned by universal custom, is not considered so incompatible as it would be with us, with the other branches of a first-rate establishment."

424. Keepers of Intelligence Offices.

Intelligence offices are established for the purpose of giving information to or respecting persons seeking employment. They are individual enterprises. From fifty cents to $1 is paid by an applicant for information of persons desiring one of such capacity as they seek to fill. The same price is paid by the person seeking an assistant or domestic. Most offices are limited to supplying domestics; but one or more might be established for the supply of seamstresses, saleswomen, milliners, dress makers, &c. Girls often find it an advantage to apply at an office, if they have not friends to interest themselves and secure them situations. But they should be particular to know the character of the office they patronize. A lady remarked to me, if a girl was willing to spend a year in a family where she could be well instructed for her work, she could then be sure of a good home and fair wages. Servant girls are universally complained of at the North. Many of them are very exacting. Most are raw Irish girls, who think, when they come to this country, everybody is equal. Consequently, they do not know their places as they do in the old country, where there are distinct grades in society. Another thing that makes some so trifling is that such swarms come, and they are so ignorant, and many of them so corrupt, that they instigate each other. I was told, by the keeper of an intelligence office, that girls and women always ask more than they expect to get. Some cooks get as high as $20 a month. They are mostly French and German. Now and then he has a good American. He has a lady in attendance that can speak French and German. His terms are fifty cents a month from the employer, and the same from the employée. It gives the privileges of the office for one or two months. Few are willing to go to the country. Many girls come from the country that do not know where to board. The keeper of the office sends them to a cheap but respectable house. His office is open from eight to five. To employers he sends a blank certificate of character, to be filled when the servant leaves. There is a Protestant office in Philadelphia, and one or more in New York. At an intelligence office on Grand street, where girls pay fifty cents and the employer fifty cents, the girl has the privilege of being supplied with places for two months, if she remains on trial the time specified by agreement with her various employers. If not, she forfeits the privilege. This office had a servants' home connected with it, that is, a boarding house for servants out of employ. The girls paid $2 a week. A training school was connected with this, in which the servants received instructions in cooking and the various details of housekeeping. The cooking of the boarding house was done by some of the number. He failed in his enterprise, he said, from want of capital. One has been in operation in England for eight years very successfully, connected with which is a training school. They have few Americans to apply for places; for Americans like lighter work, as nursing, sewing, being lady's maid, &c. In summer there is a scarcity of girls, for they go to the country and watering places to cook and do housework. In the fall they flock to the city, and there are more applicants than situations. At some offices the privilege is accorded for three months, and at some only one month. A lady who keeps an office in Williamsburg told me, when the girls come to her, she takes their names and qualifications. She receives the calls of ladies wanting girls, and also records their wants. After five o'clock, and on Saturday after two o'clock, the office is closed, and she then compares the wants of employers and employées, and makes out a corresponding list. Next day she sends girls to their places. I could have got a lady's maid for $5 a month with board and lodging. I saw a lady securing a nurse for her child at the same price. Fifty cents is the fee for the privilege of her office for three months. She furnishes girls during that time until the mistress is satisfied; and the girl pays the same, and is furnished with places for three months until she is satisfied. She does not require references from her girls, but sends the lady to the last employer of the girl. I called at Mrs. Y.'s office, New York. Girls, she says, get different prices in different States. In wealthy States, as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Southern States, they get good prices. In Cincinnati, and the States of Wisconsin and New Jersey, poor prices. She sends many from the city to every part of the United States. People write to her, inclosing the money for the girl's passage. She then buys her a ticket and provisions, and sends her on; but the arrangement is always for a year or six months, as people are not willing to incur the expense of paying the passage of a girl for less time. She could get many more places for girls, if they would go to the country; but they do not wish to go, and, if dissatisfied, be at the expense of returning. The girl may be deceived, by finding there are twice as many in the family as represented, or the work is much harder. Mrs. Y. learns the character of a girl that applies to her, and then registers it in her book. So ladies applying for a girl have from her the true character. She has no difficulty in finding places for her girls. She is always busy but on a rainy day. People object to having an intelligence office near them, as the girls are inclined to stand about the door. It is said that the majority of the keepers of intelligence offices furnish the best places to those by whom they are bribed. A few years ago, the number of white female servants in New York city was estimated at 100,000, that of Boston 50,000, Philadelphia 30,000, and Baltimore 20,000. There is a lady in Boston who goes around among her friends and secures to them good domestics, receiving some compensation for her services—I think, fifty cents a domestic. When the influence of servants over children is considered, I think parents cannot be too careful in the selection of their servants; and to obtain good ones, they should be willing to pay a fair price. There is a waste of time to girls sitting in offices, and a risk run of being sent, by a person of whose moral character they know nothing, to a house that may prove the wreck of their virtue. At a boarding house and intelligence office for workwomen, the lady told me they charge $2 a week for board, allowing the privilege of the wash room, and of sitting in the parlor in the evening, which is warmed and contains a piano. To those who cannot pay as much as this, they charge from $1 to $1.25, giving them rooms in the attic. They have been applied to often for persons of a higher class than usually frequent intelligence offices, but only until since the times have been so hard have they had such applicants. I was told, at another office, they seldom have American girls apply for places, except as house girls, and they are mostly girls who have worked in factories. They send girls to California and all parts of the United States, and they have some who travel through Europe in the capacity of ladies' maids. Their office is open from nine to five o'clock. When a girl is sent for from another place, the money is sent by express and a receipt taken, or by mail, and a receipt taken at the post office. One of a high order for cultivated women, who desire places as bookkeepers, copyists, secretaries, &c., is quite necessary. We would suggest the establishment of such an office for furnishing female workers to different parts of the United States, where they are wanted in the higher branches of woman's labor. It would confer a blessing on virtuous and industrious women, and be an accommodation to employers. A paper devoted to the same interests might do much good also; but we think it doubtful whether it would pay its way.

425. Lighthouse Keepers.

Miss H. told me of two young women whose father keeps a lighthouse, but he is very feeble and infirm. They attend the lights, and often row out, if they see a wreck, and do what they can to rescue the passengers. We observed this newspaper paragraph a few years back: "A Mrs. Lydia Smith has been appointed assistant keeper of the lighthouse at Manitou Island (Michigan) at $250 per annum." "They have a Grace Darling at Bridgeport, Conn. On the night of the 13th inst., Miss Moore, an accomplished young lady, the daughter of the keeper of the lighthouse on Fairweather Island, just below Bridgeport, heard cries for help at a distance from the shore, and determined that an effort should be made to rescue whom it might be. It was too dark to tell the direction or the distance, but, summoning two young men to her aid, she launched the boat belonging to the lighthouse, and ordered them to pull out in the direction of the cries, herself holding the tiller. About two miles out in the Sound, they found a sailboat capsized, and clinging to it were two men nearly exhausted. One of them was entirely helpless, and with great difficulty got in the boat; but both were finally rescued from death by the courage and efforts of this brave girl, and brought safely to shore. Mr. Moore, the keeper of the lighthouse, has been for some time afflicted with ill health, and when unable to see to the details of his office, this daughter assumes the entire management, and, through the lonely watches of the night, it is her fair hand that trims and tends the beacon that guides the mariner safely on his way."

426. Pawnbrokers.

I suppose this business requires a general knowledge of the value of goods. Some pawnbrokers profess to make liberal advances, but a very heavy percentage is usually charged. Indeed, some pawnbrokers extort an incredible interest on money loaned to the poor. S., an intelligent Irish pawnbroker, into whose office I went to ask something of the business, told me he never knew of but one woman in the business. She was nominally a widow, and employed a young man to stay in the shop. When women are employed in pawnbrokers' establishments, it is nearly always as auxiliaries, being the wife, sister, or daughter of the keeper. He thinks it not a suitable business for a woman, as the class of people that come require a strong man to deal with them, who can use their slang language, and drive them away if they become very rude. No doubt, many go to pawn what they have when under the influence of liquor, or to pawn their clothes to get liquor. The broker retains what is pawned for a year, if it is not redeemed in less time. It is then sold at auction. There is a law that permits it. His shelves were filled with bundles, on which were pinned numbered papers. Another pawnbroker told me that the fashion and quality of goods decide the price put on them, particularly wearing apparel. There may be a difference in the value estimation of pawnbrokers, just as there is in different establishments where the same kind of new goods are sold. I saw the name of a female pawnbroker in a business directory, and called. I did not see her, but the young man who was employed to assist her in attending the store said they have most business to do in summer, and that it is a business requiring experience. They pay on articles taken to them what they will be likely to sell for at auction. They must make some allowance for what they may lose on the article. They charge at the rate of twenty-five per cent. for a year's time, which is as long as anything pawned is kept. They lose more on clothes than other goods. They allow a depositor to draw any sum of less amount than the estimated value of an article; and when the article is redeemed, a percentage is paid on the amount of the money drawn, and not on the full value of the article.

427. Postmistresses.

There are (1854) 128 postmistresses in the United States. They receive the same salaries that postmasters do. The clerks in post offices sometimes count at the rate of sixty letters a minute. There are 29,000 post offices in the United States, ninety clerks in Chicago, and, I think, nearly three hundred in New York. Might not a large number of these be women? I have read that it is in contemplation to place in the general post office in London a number of lady clerks. I called on Mrs. W., who was for nearly two years at the ladies' window in the general post office, New York. Very few approved of a lady being there. She found some advantages, but many disadvantages, arising from her position. In the first place, it yielded her and her child a support, the salary being $600. She was treated with respect by all the attachés of the office except two—one of whom was immediately dismissed, and the other removed. But the class of women who go to the general post office constantly for letters, are of a kind a respectable woman would not like to come in contact with. The majority receive letters under fictitious names. Some of them were very impudent to her. And sometimes men would come to the window and insist on her getting the letters of their lady friends for them. Besides, there were about fifty clerks immediately around her, and altogether in the office between two hundred and three hundred. They were men of all classes and nations. The office is one influenced by political motives, and a man has the advantage as candidate by gaining the votes of his friends. She says she was kind and courteous, but found it necessary to be very decided, and keep at a distance from every one. The men in the office did not like it, because they had to guard their tongues. She remained there from 8.30

A. M.

to 4.30

P. M.

, and was on her feet all the time, with the exception of a few minutes. There were no conveniences or comforts for a woman. So she suffered severely from the effects. She thinks the plan of employing ladies in the post offices of towns and villages might be done more easily. Even here it might be done more advantageously, if the office was situated farther up street, the regulations were different, and a number of ladies were employed instead of but one. A lady could not well use a ladder to reach down letters from the upper boxes. A young man did that for her. For a postmistress we might enumerate the qualifications of quickness of eye, strict integrity, a retentive memory, and patient industry. "Unmarried females only can hold the office of postmistress. They are appointed, give bonds, and are commissioned in the same manner as postmasters, and receive the same compensation. There is, however, a larger number of females, generally the wives and daughters of postmasters, employed as assistants; but as the latter are appointed and paid by the postmasters themselves, to whom alone they are responsible, their names are not recorded on the government books."

428. Sewing-Machine Instructors.

In many of the stores of New York, where sewing machines are sold, we notice that many of those who give instructions to buyers of machines are men. Shame on the men that teach women to sew! When such is the case, to what may not a woman resort for earning a livelihood? Shame on the man that engages in such an effeminate employment, save he who is deformed and cannot engage in harder work! Shame, I say, on the man seen at a sewing machine, or with a needle in his hand! Surely the muscles and bones and sinews of men were never given for such a purpose. W. & W. employ five young ladies as instructors on machines, paying each of them over $6 a week. They have one to sell thread, and two to go about the city adjusting machines. It is something difficult to do, as it requires almost the mechanical talent of a machinist. They have no applications for instructors on sewing machines out of the city, but have for some in the city. They employ females because the purchasers of machines are generally ladies. G. & B. employ a lady for adjusting machines, as they find ladies prefer one of their own sex for the purpose. I was told at S.'s, by the bookkeeper, they do not employ female instructors. They used to employ both young men and young ladies, but they spent so much time talking to each other, that they found it necessary to dispense with either the one or the other. So they gave up the girls eighteen months ago, and have not employed any since. They paid girls $4 a week from the time they took them, and increased their wages to $5 or $6. Many of the women earned $6. They worked, on an average, ten hours a day. Ladies are employed in Boston to sell machines. The ladies of New York (said a young man selling machines) prefer to buy of a gentleman. (?) Yet, he thinks the crying sin of civilization is, not furnishing remunerative employment to women. Simply learning to sew with a machine is by no means difficult, though the time required depends very much upon the abilities of the learner. Some become proficient in all its accomplishments of hemming, tucking, gathering, preparing work for the machine, &c., in from three to six months, while others do not become efficient workers in less than a year. The time required to learn depends very much on the machine used, as some are more complicated than others; and a thorough knowledge of the machine is desirable for every good worker. It is more difficult to learn to operate on one kind of machine after learning on some other kind. By paying $1.50, a person can receive six lessons on sewing machines at S.'s. At W. & W.'s, and at G. & B.'s, purchasers and those who cannot pay are taught free of charge. Some people charge $3 for teaching to operate. L. & W. will teach any one to operate who buys a machine, but they charge others $2.

429. Shepherdesses.

Boys who keep sheep in Scotland, knit while so employed. Girls and women who tend sheep, might perhaps do the same. Sheep are being raised to considerable extent in Texas, and the raising of them is on the increase in the Western States, but we do not know that females have ever been employed in this country to tend sheep.

430. Toll Collectors.

It is not unusual to see women receiving toll at the gates, but they are mostly foreigners, or poor widows, or the wives of the gatekeepers.