Part 19

=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 homoeopathic 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 homoeopathic 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 homoeopathic 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.