Part 20

=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.