MERCANTILE PURSUITS.

98. Merchants.

Occasionally we hear such complaints as these: "Women who keep stores of their own ask higher for their goods than men, and saleswomen are less obliging than male clerks." Women, as a general thing, do not understand their business as well as men, and that is the reason they are not so well liked. Those inclined to be bold, may become pert; and those in poor health, peevish. "If women were more employed in stores," said Mr. P., "there would probably be less shopping, but as many goods sold. Young girls that go shopping to whisper in the ears of clerks, would then find something else to do." Woman has a power of adaptedness that fits her admirably for the vocation of a merchant. A friend remarked to me that Mr. Stewart, of New York, she thought, would employ women in his store, if a large number of fashionable and influential ladies would petition him to do so. If the retail merchants of our large cities and towns would combine and employ only saleswomen, how greatly would they promote the welfare of the nation! Young men would no longer waste their health, strength, and talents selling gloves, tape, and dress goods, but would cultivate the soil, or find openings as traders, speculators, mechanics, and manufacturers, in cities, towns, and villages of our Western country. They might do something more creditable to their physical powers, while they gave their half-starved sisters a chance to earn an honest livelihood. If ladies would patronize those stores only in which there were saleswomen, and influence their friends to do so, employers who now engage the service of salesmen would soon learn what was to their interest, and make a change. Promptness and regularity are desirable qualifications in a shopkeeper. The business brings those engaged into intercourse with all classes of people. Mrs. Dall makes this statement: "It is a singular fact that there are a great many more women in England in business for themselves than employed as tenders or clerks; while in America, the fact, at the present day, is directly the reverse." A lady who has lived in New York all her life said, if the merchants of the city would employ women, they could find twenty thousand to-morrow, ready and willing to enter their stores. In Paris large stores are owned and conducted by women, and even the importing and exporting of goods is in the hands of some. The tact and address of French women admirably fit them for shopkeepers. Many of the smaller fancy and variety stores in our cities are owned by women, that have by long-continued industry earned a competency. Lady merchants can to some extent control the taste of the community where they are; for such articles as they purchase and keep on hand will be likely to find sale. The taste of the best keepers of dry-goods and fancy stores, millinery establishments, and embroidery shops will be displayed in the dress of their patrons. To merchandize extensively, requires much experience and knowledge of business; but to those that are qualified it presents an extensive opening for enterprise. Barter, or the exchange of one kind of goods for another, is very common in the villages and towns of our country. The Gothscheer (Austrian) women often follow the trade of peddlers, and are absent from their homes many months, travelling about the country with staff in hand and a pack at their back. "Advertising and politeness are the main levers to get customers. Advertising will draw them; ability to fill their orders will satisfy them; and politeness will induce them to buy." Quick perceptive powers and judgment are also essential to the success of merchants. It is very desirable to have a good location for a store. A lady keeping a small dry-goods store told me she sells $100 worth of goods a week on an average. She has been nine years in the business, and constantly gaining trade. She likes rainy Saturday evenings, as she then sells most. She said one must use judgment in the amount of profit to be made on various articles. A person must regulate her prices by others. On some goods she can make but five per cent., and on some others fifty. Many of the fortunes in Boston are said to have been founded by women engaged in trade. And the ladies on Nantucket Island during the Revolutionary war conducted the business of their husbands, fathers, and brothers. A lady wrote, some years back, of some stores in one of our large cities: "The proprietors say they give from twenty-five to fifty per cent. more to the males than to the females of equal talent and capacity, but can give no reason why they should do it, except that it is the custom, and some parts of the business require more physical strength, as some articles are too heavy to be handled by women." Yet why not, we would ask, place women in the lighter departments, and pay them exactly what would be paid a man for the same work? The average wages of females in Philadelphia are $4.50 per week, though some get as high as $7 or $8, but very few above $6. In a few of the stores of New York and Philadelphia the business is conducted entirely by ladies. There is a school of commerce for women at Perth, France. We read an account some time ago of a colored woman on the Island of Hayti, who is a wholesale dealer in provisions, and worth from $15,000 to $20,000, that she has made by her own industry and business tact. She can neither read nor write, but trusts entirely to her memory. She sells on credit to retail dealers, and to girls whom she has trained. The merchants have such unlimited confidence in her, that they will trust her to any amount. Nearly all the commercial business of Hayti is done by women.

99. Bookkeepers.

The employment of female accountants is gradually extending in our cities. In female institutions of learning, and in benevolent institutions, lady bookkeepers might be very well employed. Indeed, we think, they would find no difficulty in obtaining situations. We know that many merchants would employ them, if they were properly qualified. We know of some that now occupy lucrative situations in fancy dry goods and millinery stores. We have no doubt but the books of most mercantile men would be more accurately kept, if their wives and daughters had charge of them. In all European countries women keep the books of the majority of retail stores. The books of nine tenths of the retail stores in Paris are kept by women. They are fenced in, and separated from the saleswomen by a framework of glass. A number of women are employed as accountants at hotels in Europe. There is a large school for instruction in bookkeeping in Paris, where the pupils are practically trained. An exchange of articles of a trivial nature, and a cheap coin of some kind, are used as a medium of circulation. At one of the largest wholesale warehouses in Boston, the head corresponding clerk is a young woman, who writes a beautiful, rapid hand, and fulfils the duties of the situation to the complete satisfaction of her liberal employer. A practical knowledge of arithmetic is necessary for bookkeeping and selling goods—two of the most inviting openings now presented to women of ordinary intelligence. The lady who keeps the books of T——'s skirt factory, New York, receives a salary of $400. Mr. M. prefers lady bookkeepers, because they are more particular in keeping accounts, and they are more patient in their calculations. They are, as a general thing, more honest and conscientious. Women are just as capable of becoming good financiers as men. Industry, honesty, and promptness, with the ability to write a plain, correct business letter, ability to calculate rapidly and correctly, with a knowledge of bookkeeping, certainly should insure a situation to a lady, where there is a vacancy. It is well, however, for those who have qualified themselves for bookkeeping, to obtain a certificate: it is a passport that will aid them in securing a place. The salaries of bookkeepers in New York run from $250 to $2,500. At a large store, where saleswomen were employed, I was told they find lady bookkeepers more accurate in their accounts, and not so likely to appropriate money that don't belong to them. Where a gentleman bookkeeper receives $15, a lady usually receives but $8. I know of one lady in Cleveland, assistant cashier, who received a salary of $300. An accountant in Boston replies to a circular sent him: "I think the employment as favorable to bodily health as any sedentary occupation; but in my particular line of business it is rather trying to the head, as it often requires close application and intense thought. Those who employ women here as clerks, undoubtedly pay them by the day, week, month, or year, where they have permanent situations; but for transient work, by the piece. Women can always be hired cheaper than men, as it costs them less to live. I am fifty years old, and have been figuring ever since I was sixteen; still, I learn something new about accounts every day. A woman would have to serve a long apprenticeship in accounts and on books, before she could do much in adjusting accounts. For a first-class bookkeeper, practical experience in accounts and bookkeeping of business of all kinds are necessary qualifications. I always prefer the early part of the day for work. My business is as good at one season of the year as another. I attend to business as it suits my pleasure—sometimes four or five hours, and sometimes twelve or fifteen, according to the nature and importance of the task, and depending oftentimes upon the length of it, and the time when it is wanted. As a general thing, men and women everywhere in the United States keep as far apart in business affairs as possible—it is the custom. The counting house, office, and place of business are not suitable for a female. I would state that I charge for making out accounts and adjusting books, as a general rule here in Boston, $10 per day, and sometimes more—never less. I have had all prices, from $10 to $50 per day, for one, two, and three months in succession. Sometimes I take a job by contract, say for $500, or some other specific sum, as may be agreed upon, according to the nature and value of the service rendered."