Part 55

=416. Salt.= "In certain cities, especially at Dieppe, France, women have the business of carrying salt; it is a monopoly which has belonged to them from time immemorial. They form a corporation, have a syndic, and salt in the sack cannot, in this city, be transported from the vessel to the depots or warehouses by any but them." According to the statistics of the salt manufacture in 1850, there were 2,699 males employed and 87 females in the United States. Water from the ocean, lakes, and salt springs, I suppose, could be boiled by women. A rock-salt manufacturer writes: "Women might do some of our work better than a man; but one man can tend the hopper and tie as fast as another can fill. The best salt for dairy purposes is imported, and therefore a seaport is the best place for our business." A manufacturer in Barnstable, Mass., writes: "Women are not employed in my branch of industry, as far as my knowledge extends, _in making salt_; but, when it is ground for table use, women are sometimes employed _in making the bags_ to put the salt in. They formerly made good wages in this business; but, since sewing machines have come into almost general use, the price of labor has fallen, and I am not posted as to the price now paid, as most of the ground salt and the bags are manufactured in Boston. Working with salt is very healthy. We manufacture our salt between the 1st of April and the last of October, by solar evaporation; but very little if any salt can be made in this way after the latter month, as the sun runs too low for salt making. Our works are provided with covers, which require too hard labor for women to shove on as rain approaches, and to be opened every fair day. Women can, and occasionally do lend a hand in this business; but it is too laborious. Then, the salt has to be taken out by men with shovels, and this is too hard labor for women. They might assist in drawing the water from one room to another, by simply taking out and putting in plugs; but under a hot summer's sun, we think our business entirely unsuitable for them. In the winter, we manufacture epsom salts; but even this work we consider too laborious for women." A salt manufacturer in South Yarmouth, Maine, writes: "I believe women are employed in the mills in Boston for grinding salt, in making the bags, putting it up, &c., for table use. Otherwise, the service is too hard." Manufacturers in Syracuse, N. Y., say "they have but a limited number of women employed in making sacks. The most of their sacks are furnished by the manufacturing establishments." Salt clarifiers in Burlington, Vt., write: "We employ one woman, because it is cheaper to do so. We pay her $4 per week--a man we would have to pay $6. The work is healthy, and women's part soon learned. Spring and summer are the best seasons. The prospect for work in this line is good. Board, $1.70 per week." A gentleman in the salt business at Geddes, N. Y., writes: "There used to be employed far more women than now in making bags to hold dairy or bag salt. Now, sewing machines have entirely superseded them in this branch of our business. During the summer season, formerly, there were from one hundred to three hundred women at bag making. There are now, say one hundred or more women engaged in packing and filling the barrels with salt. They are all foreigners. It is dirty, heavy, and laborious work, and not suitable for women, but is extremely healthy. No difference is made in the price paid men and women, all being paid by the piece, and earning from 75 cents to $1 per day. A strong woman can learn very soon. The amount of work, probably, will not change much in future. The work is done only in the summer season. A large proportion of all the salt made in this country is made here. The annual product of our salt springs is about seven million bushels salt, produced at an expense for _labor_ of not less than ten cents per bushel. Nearly all is paid to men, Irish and Dutch getting the most of it. A very small part of the work, if any, is adapted to women. Most of our women workers are the wives or mothers of men and boys who fasten hoops on barrels. Most of the salt at Syracuse, N. Y., is made by boiling down the water that springs from artesian wells. At Turk's Island, salt is made by simply digging vats in the meadow and throwing the water into them. As it rarely rains there for a number of months, they require no covering to their works, and have only to take out the salt and stack it up when it is made."

=417. Soda.= I find that in factories of this kind, girls are not employed in this country, except for putting the article in papers. They are paid from twelve to sixteen cents per hundred, according to the size. At a factory I saw many at work. They looked very neat. All wore clean calico dresses, and snow-white handkerchiefs over their heads, to prevent the soda from lodging in their hair. They must inhale considerable of it, as the atmosphere was strongly impregnated. One of the workers told me they are paid eighteen cents per hundred packages, which were rather large. A box contained sixty packages. Some are able to put up as many as seven hundred packages a day. The proprietor and one of the girls said it was not unhealthy work; but it is my impression that it is, if worked at constantly. It requires but a week to get in the way of doing it, and expertness is gained by practice. They work all the year, but sometimes there is not much to do. They are most busy in spring and fall. Some of the hands live near; so, in slack times, if the proprietor receives an order to be filled, he sends immediately for his girls. At another factory, I was told September and October are the most busy months for their hands. They cannot send much away in winter, because the rivers are closed and railroad freight is high. Soda, I was told, is more used in the South than saleratus. Some of their girls are paid by the week, and some by the box. They earn from $3 to $4. The gentleman said the dust was disagreeable, but not unhealthy. Their girls stand while at work.

=418. Starch.= A large number of plants and vegetable substances contain starch. Wheat, potatoes, rice, and maize are the principal. It is also found in the seeds and stems of plants. It is not soluble in cold water, consequently may be easily washed out of any vegetable substance. For those from which it cannot be so removed chemical decomposition may be employed. Manufacturers write us: "The making of starch is hard and unsuitable work for females; but girls are employed to put up the starch in papers and label it, receiving from thirty-seven to seventy-five cents a day, according to what the worker accomplishes." The following intelligence we received from the Oswego factory: "We employ from fifteen to twenty women, because we find them more attentive than boys. They paste labels on packages of starch, and receive thirty-seven and a half cents per day, of from eight to ten hours. A smart girl can learn in a few hours. The prospect of employment in future is good. They are paid the same that boys would be, and have work the year round. There are no parts suitable for women, in which they are not engaged. Board, $1.25 to $1.50."

=419. White Lead.= At the store of a white lead manufacturer, I was told they employ a number of girls, when busy, to label the tin cans. The making of white lead is unhealthy, and, I suppose, very disagreeable work. Women are employed in England in the manufacture of white lead.

=420. Whiting.= This article is used for cleaning silver, and one preparation of it for the face. There are not more than from twelve to twenty women at the work in the United States. B. used to employ women, and paid by the pound. The women earned about $3 a week, of ten hours. They were employed merely in putting up the article.

COMMUNICATING MEDIUMS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND OTHERS.

=421. Assistants in Public and Benevolent Institutions.= There is a wide field of usefulness open to ladies, as matrons in charitable institutions. Blessed is the influence a woman exerts as a matron, if she is a kind, good woman. Her responsibilities are great, but a consciousness of the vast amount of good she may accomplish should reconcile her to them. The discharge of her duties will often cast her in the society of visitors, many of whom are refined and educated people. In _reformatory institutions for children_, a matron may do incalculable good. _The female department of almshouses, lunatic asylums, hospitals, prisons, workhouses, and all other public and charitable institutions_, should be in the hands of women. They can exert a better influence. They know better the wants of their sister women. They can enter into their feelings. They can check familiarities with the male inmates, and exert more influence when temptation is offered. In short, they are women, and know a woman's heart. _Orphan, and deaf and dumb asylums, houses of refuge, eye and ear infirmaries, schools for imbecile children, and all such places_, should be managed by women, as far as practicable. The managers of the home department of such institutions should be firm and efficient, yet kind hearted. Nor should merely the filling of these offices be given to women, but there should be a number of lady visitors to coöperate with the managers. They can often suggest many improvements for the comfort and health of the inmates, that would escape the notice of men. I was told by a friend, now deceased, who took an active part in establishing and advancing benevolent institutions, that she found it very difficult to obtain matrons, seamstresses, and tailoresses, willing and competent to instruct the inmates of the institutions in their various branches of labor. She thought it would be well to instruct women so thoroughly in their business that they might efficiently impart a knowledge of it to others. She thought there should be a house where women and girls could be properly prepared to perform the duties of cooks, nurses, and house servants. A lady friend suggested that many of the situations in the public institutions of New York might be filled by some of the women who are now keeping boarding houses, and so, the pressure in that quarter being removed, there would be fairer and fuller play to those that are left in the occupation. A principal reason of the order and cleanliness of the workhouses in Holland, is the attention and humanity of the governesses; for each house has four, who take charge of the inspection, and have their names painted in the room. For the moral management of convicts, men are systematically trained in some countries of Europe. In the hospitals, prisons, and reformatory institutions of England, supported by the government, women are employed. They are even eligible as overseers of the poor. The President of the Board of Public Institutions in New York city furnished me with answers to questions in regard to the women employed therein, as follows: "Women are employed as matrons, nurses, and laborers in this city, and on Blackwell's and Randall's islands. They receive from $5 per month to $430 per annum, and are paid by the month. The labor performed, properly belongs to women, although we employ some men for part of the same labor, but their pay is about the same. There is no need of an apprenticeship to become familiar with their employments, and the only special qualifications are health and strength. There is no difference as to seasons with us. They work only as many hours as are necessary. The demand for those occupying this position grows out of the number of the destitute and criminal thrown on our hands. About twenty-five per cent. employed are Americans. We employ women in all work for which they are suited. The more intelligent are selected for the most responsible positions. If so disposed, they have ample time for mental and moral culture. They live where they labor, and their places of residence are comfortable." Each of the janitresses of the public schools of New York receives a salary of from $100 to $400 per annum. At the Tombs of New York, a woman has charge of the department where the female convicts are. At a meeting of ladies in Dublin, for the employment of women, Mr. McFarlane said that "for the last twenty-five years, the Grangegorman Penitentiary had been under the management of a lady, and it had been most admirably conducted."

=422. Commissioners of Deeds.= There are about two hundred in the city of New York, and, with a moderate run of custom, each can make several hundred dollars per annum. Their duties are very light, and, I have been told, could as well be performed by women as men.

=423. Housekeepers.= A kind, yet decided manner, will more effectually govern a household than fretting and scolding. A portion of time should be regularly set aside for servants to feel as their own. It will often prove a matter of economy to those who exact work of them. Those of principle will work more diligently. Everybody needs some rest. Gain the good will and confidence of servants, and they will reward you in the labor of their stronger muscles. But avoid familiarity, by all means. Much of the long, wearing toil of servants might be avoided by consideration and management on the part of a housekeeper. Domestics labor hard, and much of the comfort of a family depends on them. Do not accuse on suspicion those in your employ of doing or having done wrong. Be careful of the reputation of others, particularly dependent females. A man of standing, to whom I expressed the desire that more occupations should be opened to women, expressed the wish that our domestics should be Americans, and of a more intelligent class. An effort should be made to elevate the standard of servants, he said, to induce more respectable and intelligent women to enter domestic service. Those engaged in it, he thought, should find something else to do, and will be pushed out as a more competent class enter. I would prefer to see our present class of servants fit themselves better for the discharge of their duties, and American girls enter occupations of a more refined and exalted nature. The same gentleman referred to, stated that his servants each receive $2 a week, dress handsomely, and lay by money. (?) They do better for themselves, he remarked, than the girls in his bookbindery. In some of the convents of France, the sisters go through a course of training to prepare them for the duties of housekeepers, and are then sent to take charge of religious and charitable institutions connected with their church. Why might not some such plan be pursued by Protestants? Says an English review: "In Germany, the employment of women in the offices of house-steward, maitre d'hotel, butler or lackey, sanctioned by universal custom, is not considered so incompatible as it would be with us, with the other branches of a first-rate establishment."

=424. Keepers of Intelligence Offices.= Intelligence offices are established for the purpose of giving information to or respecting persons seeking employment. They are individual enterprises. From fifty cents to $1 is paid by an applicant for information of persons desiring one of such capacity as they seek to fill. The same price is paid by the person seeking an assistant or domestic. Most offices are limited to supplying domestics; but one or more might be established for the supply of seamstresses, saleswomen, milliners, dress makers, &c. Girls often find it an advantage to apply at an office, if they have not friends to interest themselves and secure them situations. But they should be particular to know the character of the office they patronize. A lady remarked to me, if a girl was willing to spend a year in a family where she could be well instructed for her work, she could then be sure of a good home and fair wages. Servant girls are universally complained of at the North. Many of them are very exacting. Most are raw Irish girls, who think, when they come to this country, everybody is equal. Consequently, they do not know their places as they do in the old country, where there are distinct grades in society. Another thing that makes some so trifling is that such swarms come, and they are so ignorant, and many of them so corrupt, that they instigate each other. I was told, by the keeper of an intelligence office, that girls and women always ask more than they expect to get. Some cooks get as high as $20 a month. They are mostly French and German. Now and then he has a good American. He has a lady in attendance that can speak French and German. His terms are fifty cents a month from the employer, and the same from the employée. It gives the privileges of the office for one or two months. Few are willing to go to the country. Many girls come from the country that do not know where to board. The keeper of the office sends them to a cheap but respectable house. His office is open from eight to five. To employers he sends a blank certificate of character, to be filled when the servant leaves. There is a Protestant office in Philadelphia, and one or more in New York. At an intelligence office on Grand street, where girls pay fifty cents and the employer fifty cents, the girl has the privilege of being supplied with places for two months, if she remains on trial the time specified by agreement with her various employers. If not, she forfeits the privilege. This office had a servants' home connected with it, that is, a boarding house for servants out of employ. The girls paid $2 a week. A training school was connected with this, in which the servants received instructions in cooking and the various details of housekeeping. The cooking of the boarding house was done by some of the number. He failed in his enterprise, he said, from want of capital. One has been in operation in England for eight years very successfully, connected with which is a training school. They have few Americans to apply for places; for Americans like lighter work, as nursing, sewing, being lady's maid, &c. In summer there is a scarcity of girls, for they go to the country and watering places to cook and do housework. In the fall they flock to the city, and there are more applicants than situations. At some offices the privilege is accorded for three months, and at some only one month. A lady who keeps an office in Williamsburg told me, when the girls come to her, she takes their names and qualifications. She receives the calls of ladies wanting girls, and also records their wants. After five o'clock, and on Saturday after two o'clock, the office is closed, and she then compares the wants of employers and employées, and makes out a corresponding list. Next day she sends girls to their places. I could have got a lady's maid for $5 a month with board and lodging. I saw a lady securing a nurse for her child at the same price. Fifty cents is the fee for the privilege of her office for three months. She furnishes girls during that time until the mistress is satisfied; and the girl pays the same, and is furnished with places for three months until she is satisfied. She does not require references from her girls, but sends the lady to the last employer of the girl. I called at Mrs. Y.'s office, New York. Girls, she says, get different prices in different States. In wealthy States, as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Southern States, they get good prices. In Cincinnati, and the States of Wisconsin and New Jersey, poor prices. She sends many from the city to every part of the United States. People write to her, inclosing the money for the girl's passage. She then buys her a ticket and provisions, and sends her on; but the arrangement is always for a year or six months, as people are not willing to incur the expense of paying the passage of a girl for less time. She could get many more places for girls, if they would go to the country; but they do not wish to go, and, if dissatisfied, be at the expense of returning. The girl may be deceived, by finding there are twice as many in the family as represented, or the work is much harder. Mrs. Y. learns the character of a girl that applies to her, and then registers it in her book. So ladies applying for a girl have from her the true character. She has no difficulty in finding places for her girls. She is always busy but on a rainy day. People object to having an intelligence office near them, as the girls are inclined to stand about the door. It is said that the majority of the keepers of intelligence offices furnish the best places to those by whom they are bribed. A few years ago, the number of white female servants in New York city was estimated at 100,000, that of Boston 50,000, Philadelphia 30,000, and Baltimore 20,000. There is a lady in Boston who goes around among her friends and secures to them good domestics, receiving some compensation for her services--I think, fifty cents a domestic. When the influence of servants over children is considered, I think parents cannot be too careful in the selection of their servants; and to obtain good ones, they should be willing to pay a fair price. There is a waste of time to girls sitting in offices, and a risk run of being sent, by a person of whose moral character they know nothing, to a house that may prove the wreck of their virtue. At a boarding house and intelligence office for workwomen, the lady told me they charge $2 a week for board, allowing the privilege of the wash room, and of sitting in the parlor in the evening, which is warmed and contains a piano. To those who cannot pay as much as this, they charge from $1 to $1.25, giving them rooms in the attic. They have been applied to often for persons of a higher class than usually frequent intelligence offices, but only until since the times have been so hard have they had such applicants. I was told, at another office, they seldom have American girls apply for places, except as house girls, and they are mostly girls who have worked in factories. They send girls to California and all parts of the United States, and they have some who travel through Europe in the capacity of ladies' maids. Their office is open from nine to five o'clock. When a girl is sent for from another place, the money is sent by express and a receipt taken, or by mail, and a receipt taken at the post office. One of a high order for cultivated women, who desire places as bookkeepers, copyists, secretaries, &c., is quite necessary. We would suggest the establishment of such an office for furnishing female workers to different parts of the United States, where they are wanted in the higher branches of woman's labor. It would confer a blessing on virtuous and industrious women, and be an accommodation to employers. A paper devoted to the same interests might do much good also; but we think it doubtful whether it would pay its way.