WOOD WORK.

306. Carvers.

The word "carver" is rather extensive in its application, being applied alike to one who cuts stone, wood, or metal. Carvers of stone and metal we treat of elsewhere. The art of carving is quite ancient. There are five kinds of wood carving: house, ship, toy, furniture, and pattern making; to these we may add the cutting of wooden letters for ornamental signs. Pattern making is the reverse of architectural carving: the first being in bas relief; the other, alto. Architectural carving is mostly done in pine, occasionally in oak. Ship carvers cut figure heads for vessels; some of this carving is done in oak, some in pine. For some kinds of carving the design is drawn on paper and cut out; then it is placed on the block, which is prepared of a proper thickness, and the outline drawn with a pencil. The portions of wood outside the design are then cut off with carving implements. The plan of marking the wood is not practised by all carvers. It may be that it is used for beginners only. Ingenuity in planning and skilful drawing are desirable qualifications for a carver. The tools used by carvers are very simple, being merely a hammer, and gouges of different sizes. When the wood is carved, it is smoothed with sand paper, then gilded or painted and varnished. During an apprenticeship, the usual sum paid a boy is $2.50 a week the first year, and more afterward. A journeyman can usually earn $1.50 or $1.75 a day of ten hours. It requires three years to learn the trade. "In wood sculpture, all that belongs to its simple ornament might receive a special grace from the inspiration of women." We have seen architectural and ship carving done by women; and it is our belief that almost any and every kind of carving could be done by them, if the wood were properly prepared, and they were carefully instructed. Some kinds of carving require considerable muscular strength. An architectural carver writes: "Our employment is healthy. Part of our business is suitable for women, but there is not enough in our establishment to keep one constantly employed." A carver told me that furniture carving is sometimes done by women. Though it is done in harder wood than most other kinds, it does not involve the lifting of heavy blocks, like architectural carving. The widow of a ship carver carries on the business in New York. Her son told me that eight persons could do all the work necessary for that city. There are a few ship carvers in Boston and Philadelphia, but none in the South or West. (Would not New Orleans present a good opening?) A. told me, a boy in learning ship carving is apprenticed for five or six years. He receives $1.50 a week for the first year, then $2, and after that $2.50, but no more. A carver told me that he had an Englishman working for him, that showed him some work done by his daughter, which was superior. He knows the wives of some carvers who finish the work of their husbands by rubbing it with sand paper. "Louisa Raldan, of Seville, was known as an excellent sculptor in wood." "Anna Maria Schurmann, of Sweden, carved busts in wood." "Anna Tessala, an artist of the Dutch school, was eminent as a skilful carver in wood." "Properzia di Rossi, an Italian sculptress, carved on a peachstone the crucifixion of our Saviour." Many toys are made in Germany by women and children. They are purchased very cheaply, we know, from their low prices in this country. Mrs. Dall says: "I would direct the attention of young women to the Swiss carving of paper knives, bread plates, salad spoons, ornamental figures, jewel boxes, and so on. On account of the care required in the transportation, these articles bring large prices; and I feel quite sure that many an idle girl might win a pleasant fame through such trifles." Articles might be cut of wood, as mementos of some great event or pleasant association. The small wooden cages, in which we see canaries for sale, were made by women in Germany. There labor is cheaper, and they probably receive only two or three cents for a cage, while in this country they could not be made for less than a shilling. I saw some pretty wooden toys, made in Switzerland by the shepherds while watching their flocks, and some which were made by women. It is a favorite pastime with them in the evening, when the family is gathered around the hearthstone. The small carved boards, used for the support of music in pianos, are carved by a delicate saw, moving perpendicularly and driven by steam. The carver has the pattern marked on the board, and moves it under the saw, as the workman does the back of shell combs. One species of carving common in Europe is that of saints and virgins for small churches.

307. Kindling Wood.

Some little boys putting kindling wood into bundles told me they are paid fifteen cents a hundred bundles, and can do from two hundred and fifty to three hundred in a day of ten hours. Most of them take the strings home at night and tie them, to save time in the day. Girls could do it, but they would be liable to accident from the carelessness of those at work.

308. Pattern Makers.

The wife of a pattern maker told me it requires ingenuity, patience, and a knowledge of drawing to become a pattern maker. C. thought general pattern making would not do for a woman, as it would require planing, cutting, and turning wood. He said some of the finer parts of pattern making, as forming models on a small scale for the patent office, could be done by a woman who is qualified. It would require a knowledge of arithmetical proportions, ability to turn a lathe properly, and aptness at catching the ideas of others. A gentleman who makes models for the patent office, patterns for machinery, steam and gas fittings, &c., writes: "The varnishing might be done by women, but in most shops there would not be enough to keep one at work all the time." S. told me that a part of the work of pattern making could be done by women, but it would be advisable they should have a separate apartment in founderies. The variety of ornamental iron work is so great that it affords scope for inventive talent. We suppose the business of pattern making is not more laborious and is very similar to block cutting. If women were prepared for some branches of this business, we doubt not it would prove remunerative and furnish steady employment. A pattern maker writes from Hartford: "We do our own draughting, but there is considerable done independent of a shop. For such work we pay $2 a day. A knowledge of geometry and mathematics is a prerequisite."

309. Rattan Splitters.

Formerly, rattan was thrown from the ships that landed in New York, as something useless; now it sells at from four to nine cents a pound. The centre of the rattan is used for hoop skirts. The outside is split off by a strange-looking machine. The strips are then shaved thin by another machine, for making chair seats and ornamenting buggies. They are bleached in a close room with ignited sulphur. The refuse is used in some way in the manufacture of gas—also for making coarse mats and filling beds. At N.'s factory, I saw girls shaving rattan. The work was dusty—one sat, but the others stood. The girls had merely to attend to the strips as they ran through small machines moved by steam. Each girl received fifty cents a day of ten hours, for her services. In Fitchburg, Mass., fifty girls are so employed.

310. Segar Boxes.

I called in a segar-box factory where the man had four boys at work. The trade requires care, and some ability to calculate proportions. The work consists in driving small nails, gluing on tape, planing the edges, and similar labor. Women could do it, and I expect do in Germany. If boys from ten to fifteen years of age can, why cannot girls? After two months, a boy earns something. Two of the boys had been working at the trade two years, and were earning each $3 a week. The wood is cedar, and so easily managed.

311. Turners.

I saw the process of wood turning. The flying of the chips I thought disagreeable. The trade can be learned in three years very well. A boy learning is paid $2.50 a week, the first year; the next year, $3; the next, increased fifty cents more, and so on. A good hand can earn from $1.75 to $2 a day. Some women do the turning of small wooden articles in France, and quite a number are employed in bone and horn turning in the old country, which is not so hard. Turning is more nearly perfect than most mechanical operations, and consequently is employed in all those branches susceptible of its use. In most work of this nature the article operated on is stationary, and the machinery in motion; but in turning, the article is kept in motion, the tool merely pressed upon it by the hand. "There is said to be but little difference in the management of turning different substances. The principal thing to be attended to is to adapt the velocity of the motion to the nature of the material." Rosa Bonheur, when a girl, was apprenticed to a dress maker, whose husband was a turner. His lathe stood in an adjoining room. Rosa delighted to slip away from her work and employ herself at the turner's lathe. The making of bone and wooden handles for canes and umbrellas could be done by women. Removing the surface of the bone is dirty work, and requires some strength. The polishing could be done by a girl. The bones are bought at glue factories, slaughter houses, &c. In New York, for a small new bone, two and a half cents is paid; for a large one, five cents.