Part 44

=334. Bonnets.= The making of silk, crape, velvet, and other fancy bonnets gives employment to many females. Connected with this is the bleaching of straw, Leghorn, and hair bonnets. In large cities this is a separate branch of business. The making and selling of bonnets has long been one of the few employments open to women in the United States. If a milliner gets a good run of fashionable custom, she can do well. Most proprietors of millinery establishments make a handsome profit on their goods, but some of the girls employed receive but a scanty pittance. I have been told that in Holland men milliners are common. From a newspaper we take this pithy article: "A stranger in Mexico is struck with the appearance of the milliners' shops, where twenty or thirty stout men with mustaches are employed in making muslin gowns, caps, and artificial flowers." The cruelty exercised by some milliners and dress makers toward those in their employ, by requiring of them too long and severe application, is very great. Many girls suffer, as the effects, diseases of the spine and the eyes. "In the case of the milliners and dress makers in the London Metropolitan Unions, during the year 1839, as shown by the mortuary register, out of fifty-two deceased, forty-two only had attained the age of twenty-five; and the average of thirty-three, who had died of disease of the lungs, was twenty-eight." But the length of time required of their employés by milliners and dress makers in London is longer than in the United States. A number of women are engaged in the sale of millinery on the streets of London. Girls usually spend from six months to a year learning the millinery business. Unless a girl has taste and talent, she is not likely to be benefited even by a year's apprenticeship, for it is rarely the case that they are instructed in any but the mechanical work. No pains are taken to instruct them in what is becoming or stylish, what shades are most harmonious, how to make a graceful bow, and turn a well-trimmed end, to arrange a face trimming, and render attractive the _tout-ensemble_. A hundred small minutiæ are essential to a first-class trimmer, among which is a nice discrimination of colors and shades. A knowledge of the languages is, in cities, desirable for milliners' saleswomen. A love of dress is said to be created by working at such articles. Many bad effects must result from the indulgence of such a taste by those who receive the small wages of most girls working at the millinery and dress-making business. Over four hundred women are employed in the large straw-goods and millinery establishments in Philadelphia. W. had, in 1854, three hundred girls making and trimming bonnets, and twenty-six in the store as saleswomen. They were paid from $2.50 to $6 per week. W. & L., his successors, employ about twenty-five women constantly all the year, and about one hundred and twenty-five on an average of six months in the year. Their best workers and saleswomen receive about $1 a day; some get a little more, and some rather less. The business has increased greatly during the last few years. The only kind made by that firm are silk and fancy bonnets. One of the firm told me that the largest establishments of fancy bonnets in Paris employ only about fifty women. They have girls spend three months learning, and pay nothing during the time. A girl does well to earn seventy-five cents a day. Six years ago a good worker could earn $8 or $9 a week. C., Philadelphia, employs twenty-six girls in the store and millinery department, and pays about $4 a week, according to their capacity and diligence. Learners spend six months with him. Some time ago I saw it stated that there are "450 millinery establishments in New York city, and 1,800 milliners working in shops, and 900 at home;--35,000 silk and velvet bonnets are turned out of the workshops of New York city, in the three months of the fall, and the five months of what is known as the spring trade." "Of straw bonnets, one million two hundred thousand are sold annually to the milliners of New York for their trade alone." A tasteful and dexterous trimmer can generally secure a good place and fair wages, but the majority of milliner girls are apt to be out of employment, except in the spring and fall. Most in the millinery business are Americans; yet French, German, and English are well represented. The prices paid for bonnets vary greatly in New York, according to the locality and establishment from which they are obtained. No one who has not priced them could believe the difference would be so great for bonnets of the same material and make, merely because purchased on such a street or at such a store. The milliner girls of New York are said to be good looking. The time milliners and dress makers spend at their work is such as to preclude (except in a few first-class establishments) any time for exercise and mental culture. Their wages are so low that they could not indulge in any recreation if they had the time. Those girls that live at home can afford to do work cheaper generally than others. Such girls are drawbacks to those who pay their board. Western merchants do not purchase as much as formerly in New York, because milliners have gone West. Southerners have purchased, until lately, nearly all their bonnets at the North. There are, or will be openings in the South for milliners. In 1845, "apprentices at the millinery business in New York gave one year to learn, boarded themselves, and, in some of the most aristocratic establishments, had to pay a bonus." Now it is different. The time given is usually six months, and an apprentice receives her board for her work. Mrs. S., Broadway, employs about fifty hands in the busy season--all American girls, very genteel looking. It requires six months to learn. They are not paid during the time; and, after that, are paid according to abilities. I called in one establishment where there were two girls employed, American. They received each $6 a week. A milliner told me she wanted a first-class workwoman, and would pay from $6 to $7 a week, according to her swiftness and taste. I called in a small store of dry and fancy goods, with which was connected a millinery. The young lady waited on customers, and, in the intervals, trimmed bonnets for the store. She received $1 a day, and is at the store by half past seven, and leaves at nine at night. She lives near, so she goes home to her dinner and supper. A lady told me of a Miss M., on Canal street, who commenced the millinery business five years ago with twenty dollars, and is now worth $3,000. A milliner in New York told me she could, by piecework, sewing early and late, make $7 per week. Mrs. T. has learners spend six months, during which time they are not paid. After that she gives them from $3 to $7, according to competency. The number of hours spent in the store depends on the agreement of the parties. One can best learn where there are vacancies by inquiring at the millinery shops and of girls working at the business. At a fashionable millinery, on Broadway, the lady in the showroom told me the girls receive from $3 to $12, working ten hours a day. There is one that selects, arranges, and invents, who receives $12 per week. A surplus of indifferent hands can always be obtained. Sometimes good hands fail to get employment, because in busy times some indifferent hands are engaged, and it is difficult to get rid of them. She has had to turn away many nice-looking girls seeking for work. On back streets and avenues in New York, women work longer, and the stores are kept open later than on Broadway. On Division street, large cases of bonnets are exposed for sale in summer on the sidewalks. In the poorer portions of a city, people live much and sell mostly out of doors. Their crowded apartments and the high price of rent account for it. D., on Broadway, informs me that he knows of an invention connected with his business--the sale of straw goods--that will throw ten thousand people, mostly men, out of employment. He says his girls spend all they make on dress. He has two forewomen, to each of whom he pays $500 a year. They never save a cent. He had one to whom he paid $1,000, but she never laid by a dollar. Women, he thinks, have not as much originality of thought as men. They seldom invent. He would give $1,000 a year to a woman that would think for him, and originate styles, and combine and arrange the trimmings of his bonnets with taste. He walks on Broadway, and studies the fashion of bonnets; but none of his women ever do. (Perhaps they have no time.) Women, he thinks, never acquire such proficiency as men. They advance to a certain degree in the art, and ever after are stationary. He thinks it is partly because the majority look forward to marrying, and partly because they are so constituted that they are not susceptible of acquiring the highest degree of excellence. (I fear that D. does not consider that women have not had as much time nor so many opportunities for improving themselves as men, nor have they as much to stimulate them.) He pays women from $3 to $8 per week. His girls spend four months learning. B., another Broadway bonnet-dealer, told me "good workwomen could at any time find employment by going to the country towns around, but they do not like to go from the city. Milliners often come to the city, and spend two weeks trying to get hands, and then pay them more than they are worth to go. His forewoman directs some of the trimmings, but part are left to the taste of the girls. His is a wholesale business, and he trims many bonnets before sending them away. Some of his girls earn on an average $7--a forewoman more. The occupation is not entirely filled by good hands, and pays well. He employs his hands about eight months." One of the proprietors of a straw-goods warehouse told me "his women earn from $6 to $10 (average $7 a week), ten hours a day. The season commences December 1st, and runs to March 15th, and again from July 1st to September 1st. Taste, industry, and imitative powers are the qualities most needed. He employs about sixty in the busy season. When that is over, some go to millinery shops and work, some to the country, and some to towns in the surrounding States. The girls that work in cheap shops are mostly Germans, and earn from $2 to $4. Some women, while learning, receive their board for their work. By quilling ruches and such work, if not by their bonnet work, they can earn their board. He does not pay learners, because the waste of materials amounts to the worth of their work. Girls of Irish parentage often make good milliners, and display very good taste in trimming." A Boston milliner writes: "The wages of the women I employ vary from $3 to $15 per week, of ten hours a day, according to the amount of custom they can bring, and their aptness for the business. There are comparatively few persons that make good milliners. As a milliner, one must have good taste and nimble fingers; as a saleswoman, she needs to understand human nature, have activity, an honest heart, and good disposition. The best seasons are from March to July, and from September to January." A lady in Reading, Pa., who employs girls, informs me "she pays $3 a week, ten hours a day, to some; to others, $1.50, but the latter she boards. A knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic is desirable." A milliner in Auburn, N. Y., pays from $2.50 to $5 per week, of ten hours a day. A girl spends six months learning, if she boards herself; one year, if boarded by her employer. The dull months are July, August, January, and February. A lady in Poughkeepsie writes "she gives from $2.50 to $3.50 and board to some, and from $4 to $4.50 and dinner to those who lodge and otherwise board themselves. It requires one year and a half to learn the business thoroughly, and during the time they receive only board. None should learn millinery except those who have homes, or design to carry on the business. Her girls work from 7 A. M. to 7 P. M. The business is easy and pleasant to the industrious and to those who can sit much. Out of work hours, they have time for study, attendance on lectures, meetings, &c. Board, $2." Millinery is often carried on in connection with some other business, in small towns. A lady who combines millinery and book selling, in Easton, Pa., furnishes board and pays from $1.50 to $2 per week, of twelve hours per day, to her girls. She pays about one half the price of male wages. If they spend six months learning, she pays their board. Two or three first-class milliners could find employment in Sacramento, California.

=335. Bonnet Frames.= Bonnets, of course, are worn in all civilized countries, and as long as bonnets are worn there must be bonnet frames. Several hundred women are employed in bonnet-frame making in New York. K. employs two hundred girls, and H. one hundred and fifty. The time of learning is from two weeks to two months, but some never learn. The more practice a worker has, the better she succeeds. Learners are paid nothing. Some women working at the trade, take learners for their labor. Workers earn from $2 to $12 a week, but it is a rare thing any earn the last-mentioned sum. Fast hands, to work constantly from 6 A. M. till 10 P. M., sometimes can. The usual price, in all respectable establishments, is fifty cents a dozen. In busy seasons there is sometimes a scarcity of hands. There are no factories South and West, consequently they present openings for the business. Apprentices generally commence in March. The busy seasons are from January to June, and from August to December. Some houses are not busy until in February, and their fall business lasts till January. The art of making the wire part of the frames is learned in six weeks. The crowns are made by machinery attended by women. Some manufacturers have all their women to work in the establishments, but the majority have the work taken home. H. says "the business is the same, so far as confinement is involved, as making up clothes at home. The girls come two or three times a week for their work; so they have that much walking. The prospect of work to competent hands is good. He has a great many to reply to his advertisements for learners, but for hands he has lately advertised seven times and got but five. Some leave the business for places as saleswomen in millinery establishments; but that is more uncertain, for it is more difficult to retain the same place long. It requires a year to learn thoroughly. It is necessary that the work be uniformly done; for instance, one hundred and twenty bonnet frames should be so uniform that one would not differ from another. Buckram frames are used to shape them on. The wages paid, he said, vary as much as the rainbow. They range from $2.50 to $8. He knows one woman that earns $10 a week now and then. He sends goods away to California, and other parts of the Union. He also manufactures for the city trade. The season for work to send away commences about the 20th of January, and ends about the middle of May; the fall season begins 20th July, and ends 15th December. The city trade gives work in the intervals. A girl of intelligence and ability can make enough to keep her when out of work. Some employers keep their hands all the time, for the sake of having them the next season. The girls employed in the business are mostly Irish and Americans. He boarded some of his girls, but they would associate with the servants. What was said before them was repeated to the servants, and _vice versa_. They got the impression that he was making money off their board, though he charged but $2 a week. He thinks the result of large numbers of girls congregating in the same house is bad. The influence of one depraved one may be exerted over every fourteen good ones, and discontent and rebellion be the consequence. Few persons are willing to board working girls, because the remuneration is small, and the girls are expected to be furnished with nearly the same advantages as higher-priced boarders. Those that work in their rooms are about the house nearly all the time, and all expect the privilege of using the laundry for doing their washing."

=336. Bonnet Wire.= At a bonnet-wire factory, I was told but little of the work could be done by women; but, if my eyesight did not deceive me, it could all be done by women. Covering the wire was done on a steam-power machine, which only required attention. The spooling is done by females, and also tying it up, when covered, into bunches of twenty yards each. A manufacturer of bonnet wire writes: "We employ some girls, and pay from $3 to $3.50 per week, of twelve hours a day. Females cannot do all parts of the work. It requires from one to four weeks to learn, and they receive while learning enough to pay their board. The business is best nine months of the year, during fall, winter, and spring. We prefer girls to boys, for such work as they can do. Board, from $1.50 to $2."

=337. Children's Clothes.= Quite a number of stores are devoted to the sale of children's clothes in large cities. A handsome profit is generally made by the merchant. At Mrs. C.'s, between three hundred and four hundred females find employment in making up children's clothing of all kinds (mostly infants'); also under-garments for ladies. A large assortment is constantly kept on hand, and they are ever busy filling orders; giving employment about nine months in the year to all, and to some the year round. The work is mostly done by hand, and to sew neatly is the only requirement. The work is all cut in the establishment and given out, being piecework. The sewers earn from $3 to $6 per week; cutters, the last-mentioned sum. Aside from these, a few girls are employed in the establishment, who wait upon customers, and sew when they have leisure.

=338. Cloaks and Mantillas.= Mayhew says: "In London, the workwomen for good shops, that get fair or tolerably fair wages, and execute good work, can make _six_ average-sized mantles in a week, _working from ten to twelve hours a day_; but the slop workers, by toiling from thirteen to sixteen hours, will make _nine_ such mantles in a week." At a wholesale store, Philadelphia, where sixty women are employed, I was told they earn from $3 to $6 per week. The head cutter has $6, the assistant, $5. When the work is finished at the wholesale houses, the good hands can find work at the retail houses. The best and most steady hands are kept in work all the year. Miss S., New York, has her stitching and seaming done by machines. She pays $5 a week to a good operator. She does her own cutting. The prospect of employment to learners is good, even in the city, in prosperous times. She has sold a great deal to Southern ladies stopping at the hotels. She estimates one machine to do as much as seven sewers. M. pays his girls $5 a week, and they work in daylight only. A cutter designs, and consequently should have taste, judgment, and experience. A good cutter can earn from $7 to $10 a week, and usually has one assistant, who superintends the girls while at work. Several mantilla manufacturers have failed, and he could get fifty thousand mantilla makers to-day. G. & Co. make for wholesale houses. They pay by the piece, and a girl can earn $4 a week, taking work home with her at night. It requires from six weeks to three months to learn. Nothing is paid during that time. Mrs. M., who makes mantillas for S., Broadway, says she takes learners, but they do not learn anything, for most they do is to pick out basting threads, run errands, &c. Good sewers can make from $3 to $5 per week, ten hours a day. Cutters can earn from $6 to $7. She thinks the prospect for a few, that would properly qualify themselves, would be good in the South or West, provided they find openings, take hands from New York, and be willing to incur some expense for a short time. In Richmond, Savannah, and Charleston, it has been almost impossible to get good hands. S. wanted a woman cutter, and would pay from $8 to $10 for a competent one. His work is done mostly in the house, and continues all the year. It is almost entirely done by machine. B--s (German Jews) employ German girls mostly. They prefer to keep old hands that have been with them several years. They think German girls most industrious, and love best to make money. American girls, B. charged (I think unjustly) with working just enough to get along, and spending all their spare time promenading. According to his account, cutters earn from $15 to $20 a week. He employs his girls most of the year. The occupation of mantilla making, he says, is more than filled in New York. Board, $2.50 to $3. At H.'s wholesale mantilla depot, I was told it is best to learn to make mantillas with those who sew for the mantilla merchants. Some of their girls sew in the building, some take their work home. If they do not know applicants for work, they require some one as security, who has property or is in business for himself. A gentleman told me that, not long since, he saw an advertisement by a mantilla manufacturer for men to make mantillas and cloaks. A manufacturer in Boston writes me he "employs seventy-five women, and pays them mostly by the piece; some receive as high as $12 per week, average $6. They are paid by the piece from the first; but until they acquire dexterity, they can earn but $3 or less per week. Cloak and mantilla making is constantly increasing, like the ready-made clothing business. The busy seasons are from February to July, and from September to December. Many are out of employment about three months in the year. As sellers of goods, he finds men better qualified, because of having been educated from children with views to business. The New England States are the best for manufacturing, as in other localities it is more difficult to obtain female help. Board, from $2 to $3." Another cloak maker in Boston writes: "I employ from twenty to thirty women (mostly American), and pay by the day. They work nine hours a day, and receive from $4 to $10 a week. A good sewer, with taste, will learn in six months. Some learners I pay, some I do not. Spring and autumn are the most busy seasons. The girls are not out of employment two months. I employ three ladies as saleswomen. Board, from $2 to $5 a week." A cloak and mantilla maker in New Haven writes me "he employs twenty-five American girls, and pays by the week, from $4 to $8. He pays learners when they have spent six months at the trade. His girls are principally farmers' daughters, who are rapidly taking the place of men in stores. Board, $2.25 to $3.50." A manufacturer in Providence writes: "I employ women in making and trimming bonnets, making cloaks and mantillas, and as saleswomen in my store. I pay by the week, from $3 to $8--average, $4.75--ten hours a day. Six months is the time usually spent in learning either trade. In January, February, July, and August, some of my workers are out of employment. All are Americans, and pay for board from $2 to $2.50." P., of Providence, "employs about twenty girls making dresses and cloaks, whose wages depend upon their ability as sewers; average price per week, about $4."