Part 4

=3. Authors.= Many superior works of fiction have been written by ladies of America, some of which have been translated into the languages of Europe and introduced into those countries. Many of our fair countrywomen have distinguished themselves by their poetical effusions, and quite a number have published their poems in book form. Mrs. Everett Green, author of the "Lives of the Princesses of England," is now employed by the English Government upon state papers. Research into historical data, and the nice, careful arrangement of details, are well fitted to the patience of woman. Several years ago, Queen Victoria granted to Mrs. Gore and Mrs. Jamieson each $1,000 a year as pensions. These are not by any means the only instances of her liberality to literary women. During the year ending January, 1860, she granted pensions to thirteen ladies, either for literary merit of their own or that of some relative. The French Academy awarded to Madame Louisa Collet, in 1851, the prize of $1,000 for poetry; also one to Mlle. Ernestine Druet, a governess in a school at Paris. Mlle. Royer received the prize, a short time ago, from the University of Lausanne, for a philosophical essay. The labor of authors is not rewarded as well as other kinds of intellectual labor of the same extent: for instance, a physician or lawyer, with the same abilities, amount of learning, and application, would derive a greater reward pecuniarily. In the United States an author can retain the profits of his work a certain number of years, being at liberty to make any arrangement with his publisher he sees proper. In France and Russia he possesses the profits arising from the sale of his work during his life, and his heirs receive them during twenty years. The following is an extract from H. C. Carey's article on the Rewards of Authorship: "Mr. Irving stands, I imagine, at the head of living authors for the amount received for his books. The sums paid to the renowned Peter Parley must have been enormously great; but what has been their extent, I have no means of ascertaining. Mr. Mitchell, the geographer, has realized a handsome fortune from his school books. Professor Davies is understood to have received more than $50,000 from the series published by him. The Abbotts, Emerson, and numerous other authors engaged in the preparation of books for young persons and schools, are largely paid. Professor Anthon, we are informed, has received more than $60,000 for his series of classics. The French series of Mr. Bolmar has yielded him upward of $20,000. The school geography of Mr. Morse is stated to have yielded more than $20,000 to its author. A single medical book, of one octavo volume, is understood to have produced its authors $60,000, and a series of medical books has given its author probably $30,000. Mr. Downing's receipts from his books must have been very large. The two works of Miss Warner must have already yielded her from $12,000 to $15,000, and perhaps as much more. Mr. Headley is stated to have received about $40,000; and the few books of Ik Marvel have yielded him about $20,000. A single one, 'The Reveries of a Bachelor,' produced $4,000 in the first six months. Mrs. Stowe has been very largely paid. Miss Leslie's cookery and recipe books have paid her $12,000. Dr. Barnes is stated to have received more than $30,000 for the copyright of his religious works. Fanny Fern has probably received not less than $6,000 for the duodecimo volume published but six months since. Mr. Prescott was stated, several years since, to have received $90,000 from his books, and I have never seen it contradicted. According to the rate of compensation generally understood to be received by Mr. Bancroft, the present sale of each volume yields him more than $15,000, and he has the long period of forty-two years for future sale. Judge Story died, as has been stated, in the annual receipt of more than $8,000, and the amount has not, as it is understood, diminished. Mr. Webster's works in three years can scarcely have paid less than $25,000. Kent's 'Commentaries' are understood to have yielded to their author and his heirs more than $120,000; and if we add to this, for the remainder of the period, only one half of this sum, we shall obtain $180,000, or $45,000 as the compensation for a single octavo volume--a reward for literary labor unexampled in history." It is necessary that the reader, in considering the figures given, remember that the reputation of an author has much to do with the price paid by a publisher for manuscripts. The number of women authors is much greater than one unacquainted with the statistics in regard to the subject would suppose. "In 1847 Count Leopold Feni died at Padua, leaving a library entirely composed of works written by women in various languages, the number of volumes amounting to nearly thirty-two thousand. Whether the English and American lady writers were included in his list we do not know, but we wish some woman of taste and fortune, in our country, would make a similar collection." It is said that two thirds of the writers in _Chambers' Edinburgh Journal_ are women. Some of the writers of our best periodicals are women. The success of women in works of fiction is unquestioned. This class of books requires less time, less study, and less money, and rewards the authors pecuniarily better than any other kind of work, considering, of course, the comparatively small amount of application required. As the females of our land become more generally educated, and have more leisure for the cultivation of their minds, no doubt more attention will be devoted to literary effort. The easy, natural manner of female authors is a marked feature. Different motives prompt to authorship--love of fame, wealth, influence, and a desire to do good. Persons are generally prompted to write by feeling that they know more of some particular subject than most people, or something entirely unknown or unthought of by any one save themselves. Some collect and arrange information obtained from books, observation, or experience, or all combined. E. Hazen says: "The indispensable qualifications to make a writer are--a talent for literary composition, an accurate knowledge of language, and an acquaintance with the subject to be treated." Good health and freedom from care are necessary for one who would give him or herself up to the severities of mental labor. Dr. Wynne says: "With him whose occupation is either intellectual or sedentary, or both, the nervous energy necessary to digest food is already abstracted by the operations of the mind; and the meal taken under the circumstances is but partially digested and appropriated to the use of the body. The remainder acts as an irritant, and, if the practice be persevered in, terminates in dyspepsia, followed by that Protean train of nervous diseases which destroys the equanimity of mind, and finally terminates the life of so many of our most efficient and worthy business men, at the very time when their services are most valuable to their families and the community. The cares of business should be dismissed with the termination of the hours devoted to their pursuits, and their place supplied by those exercises or amusements which bring with them cheerfulness and exhilaration." Of all studies, the quiet and contemplative kind are most favorable to long life. Those of an exciting nature produce a reaction, sometimes, of the physical as well as intellectual powers.

=5. Bible Readers.= An incalculable amount of good has been accomplished by this class of persons. The originator is Mrs. Raynard, the L. N. R. of the "Missing Link," "The Book and its Story," &c., who lived in London. "One hundred ladies have joined her as managers and superintendents. The ladies each select from among the uneducated class the best women they can find, and send them out to read Bibles and sell them to their own class. They have now two hundred such Bible women in England, Ireland, Scotland, and France, and they are meeting with unheard-of success. Mrs. Raynard told me they made soup for the poor in winter, and sold it to them very low, and in such a way that the poorest could have his bowlful for some trifling service; and while one is serving the soup, others serve them with portions of God's word. Then the lady superintendents have tea meetings without number, and sewing meetings, and clothing meetings. Beside, the ladies must first instruct their readers every week or day in the Scriptures, in teaching, in meekness, in manner, in helping the sick, and sympathizing with all suffering, and, above all, teach them to lean only on God. They must also pay the Bible women, who give up their time to this work, and keep an account with each one. These lady readers or superintendents in England publish a monthly of their own, conducted by dear Mrs. Raynard, so that they can all communicate with one another; and God sends them funds to the amount of $35,000 the year." A lady of Baltimore writes me: "The Maryland Bible Society employs three paid Bible readers--all women--at eight dollars per month each. These are purposely selected from the poorest class of pious women, because it is thought that persons of that class have readier access to the homes and hearts of the poor, beside the aid it affords to honest poverty. Independently of this Bible effort, another has originated from the London charity, unfolded in the 'Missing Link.'" The lady of Baltimore (Miss W.) wrote from the Maryland Bible, &c., through the _Word Witness_: "Just one year ago, I engaged a pious poor woman, at two dollars per week, to labor among the destitute, vicious poor--a class that could not be reached by ordinary methods of voluntary effort, dwelling in localities that ladies might not safely visit. The work was to humanize these people; to wash and clothe the children, and put them in Sabbath and public schools; to read and pray, and teach their mothers; and to relieve personal suffering. She has done a good work. Another woman has been employed in South Baltimore, in the same calling. Recently, the ladies of the First Presbyterian Church have formed a union, and raised the salary of one of these female colportors, and thus the experiment promises to expand itself into a permanent benevolent organization. I may say that the plan adopted, if vigorously and efficiently carried out, would rid our crowded alleys of half the suffering and nearly all the vices and impositions that now render them intolerable to the refined. On Christmas, I assisted to serve up a supper, provided by a good lady for the poorest of the poor. It was given in the district, and at the house of a widow, and under the care of our colportors. There were forty-eight women and children present, not ragged and hopeless, as they were one year ago, but tidy and bright, looking hopefully to the future, as though they felt there is kindness in the world. It was a pleasant sight to witness." The New York Female Auxiliary Bible Society now employs thirteen Bible readers. A brief but interesting account is given of them in the last report of that society, from which we copy: "From the reports of the Bible readers for only a part of the year, we find that they have paid more than seven thousand visits, gathered more than two hundred children into the Sunday school, sold and distributed Bibles, induced many to attend church, ministered to the wants of the destitute, established sewing schools, and, in more ways than we can enumerate, have gone about doing good." A Bible reader is now employed in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Bible Society.

=4. Bankers and Bankers' Clerks.= Before the existence of savings banks, the poor had no safe place of deposit, where they could receive interest, and whence they could withdraw their deposits at pleasure. If they loaned their money, there was no certainty of recovering it. If they tried to accumulate by saving what they had, it was not always secure from depredation. Consequently they were tempted to spend any surplus money they had, and often no forethought of the future could save them from anxiety and misery. Now, by industry and perseverance, they are enabled to accumulate something for contingencies--to provide against want, sickness, old age, and slackness of employment. The idea of a savings bank was originated by a woman--Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield. It is a most worthy institution, and deserving of support and patronage. Holding office in a bank is a very responsible situation. The numerous men defaulters that have disgraced themselves in the last few years, are sufficient proof that the temptation to appropriate unjustly is very great. It requires men and women of fixed principle, whose honor is dearer to them than life itself. We think women could very well manage savings banks. They could at any rate attend in the female department, and in some parts of Europe do. We find in the census of Great Britain two female bankers reported. In the _Englishwoman's Journal_ we read: "At St. Malo, a few years ago, the wife of a rich banker, during his absence, took her place at his desk amid the numerous clerks, received checks, and gave to the writer of this article French money in return. They are frequently found in offices, and often mainly conduct a husband's or a father's business." One of the Mrs. Rothschild, I have been told, even now spends two or three hours every day in her husband's banking house. Mrs. Mary Somerville says: "Three of the most beneficial systems of modern times are due to the benevolence of English ladies--the improvement of prison discipline, savings banks, and banks for lending small sums to the poor." Not many years ago a banking house was conducted by a lady in Nashville, Tenn. She was a widow, but had during her first husband's life attended to some of the duties of the bank, and accompanied her husband when he visited New York on business. She is now the wife of one of the late candidates for the highest office in this nation--that of chief magistrate. A lady was employed in a savings bank in Boston a few years back. A gentleman who has been cashier in a bank for many years writes me: "I have no doubt that women might be qualified for bank and brokers' clerks as well as men. In the offices of cashier and teller, they would have to come in contact with so many rough characters, I doubt whether it would do. I do not know the salaries paid in Europe, either in stores, shops, banks, or brokers' offices, but suppose it varies as it does in this country, according to the size of the city, the bank or broker's capital, the qualifications and character, and the situations the persons occupy. The cashier receives more than the teller; the teller often more than the clerk, and the clerks are graded. In large banks in the city of New York, the cashiers get from $4,000 to $6,000 per annum, while in the country banks they scarcely get half that amount. In the city their situations are very laborious, and very responsible, and many of them have been twenty-five or thirty years in the business before they got to be cashiers. Tellers receive in large cities from $2,500 to $3,000, and in small places from $1,200 to $2,000. Clerks get in New York banks from $600 to $3,000, taking the whole range from boys of seventeen to men of sixty with families and great experience. In smaller towns they receive from $300 to $2,500, taking the same range, many of them getting not more than $1,500 at any time during their lives. In stores and shops the salaries are much less, say not much over one half in very many instances; but persons in stores and shops have this advantage over bank clerks: when they learn the business, they are often taken into partnership with the proprietor, or they may set up in a similar business for themselves. But bank clerks have no such prospects before them. There may be salaries, in a few instances, over those mentioned, but very seldom; and on the other hand, some young men are placed in business sometimes without any remuneration for the first year. I would also state that the situation of bank clerk, although very much sought for, is certainly not desirable, as $1,200 or $1,500 will not support a family in any city of the United States, without the most rigid economy; and then they have little or nothing to lay up for a rainy day. Many bank clerks in this city are no better off now than they were twenty years ago, though they have lived poorly and economized all the time. So, in some respects, the store clerk or salesman has the advantage. One reason why young men prefer becoming bank clerks to mercantile clerks is, that they have more time for themselves. Say, they commence by seven o'clock in a store, and nine at bank; they get through by two or three o'clock in bank, and they have to work until night in a store.'

=6. Brokers.= This is a business in which very few, if any, women engage without the aid of the other sex. We are not aware that any women are stock brokers, exchange brokers, or insurance brokers. We suppose women could not very well conduct the business without having to mix promiscuously with men on the street, and stop and talk with them in the most public places; and the delicacy of woman would forbid that. But the wife, the sister, or daughter of a broker might perhaps conduct the indoor business of the house, or keep the books at least. In Paris, where women are extensively employed in various departments of business, it would, perhaps, be more practicable for a woman to carry on the business than in this country. There are respects in which women of well-disciplined minds would be well suited for the vocation: they are their observance of order and method, and their close attention to details.

=7. Colonizationists.= This is a business that would never have entered our minds for women to engage in, had it not been for the course pursued by Caroline Chisholm. Says the author of "Women and Work:" "Ask the emigrants who went out to Australia year after year, under the careful and wise system of Caroline Chisholm's colonization, how women can organize, and what professions they should fill. I think they would answer: As organizers of colonies, promoters of emigration, secretaries to colonies, &c." Many a husband and wife may thank her for the comforts of home life. Some years ago, Mrs. Farnum proposed taking from New York a shipload of women to California. The matter was laughed at and passed by; but if we may believe the reports that came from California of miners wanting wives, perhaps it would not have been a bad plan to have taken out a supply (in case they could have been had). In the early history of Virginia, women were brought over from England as wives for the men. "A society exists in England for the promotion of female emigration to Australia. Under the auspices of this society, about eleven hundred women, mostly distressed needlewomen, of respectable character, have been sent to Australia, where they find employment, and, we presume, the most of them, husbands."

=8. Colportors.= "This is an important field of missionary labor in our own land, where women might be employed to great advantage--namely, as colportors, or distributors of tracts and books. The Boards of Publication now employ men only, whose services must be paid at a much higher rate than women would require. There are widows who need this employment for support, and single women who need employment for health, and many women would like this way of doing good. In every place, women would be found suitable and willing to undertake this profession. It is one exactly suited to them. It enters into their domestic circle of feelings and pursuits; and honorable women, not a few, would be found ready to engage in the work. A number of men would be needed to penetrate the wild places of our land; but throughout all the settled portions, women would be found the most effective agents. By this arrangement, a double gain would be secured. The talents of pious women, now allowed to be wasted on trifles, would be employed in the cause of moral improvement; and those men who now give up their time, often at a great pecuniary sacrifice, to the colportor's duty, would be at liberty to enter into other pursuits more beneficial to themselves and to society." Are there none among the gentler sex consecrated to the work of promoting the glory of God and the good of their fellow beings? Are none of those that owe all their privileges and blessings to the Bible, willing to make a sacrifice for its extension? Are all so selfish, that the desire of personal gratification is the ruling, the only object for which they live? a display in dress and style of living, the acquisition of property, or notoriety? Are these the only objects of woman's exertions? No: most women are too conscientious and unselfish to live for such a purpose. There are many that would gladly do what they could, but they have no definite plan in view. They know not exactly how to shape their course. If they were once started, they would neither lag nor faint in the race. Let such become colportors, deaconesses, physicians, painters, engravers, whatever best accords with their inclinations and abilities. Let them go forward. The mist will gradually disappear, the way be made clear, and they followed by others. It is best for one of strength and vigor to engage in the labors of a colportor. Walking from house to house all day is very fatiguing to persons not accustomed to being much on their feet. It requires a person that has at heart the good of her fellow beings, and is willing to converse with all classes and ages. It calls for a person of piety, and one of tact and judgment.