Part 63

=Pianos.= In England, the men engaged in making piano actions used to do much of the work at home, and their wives and daughters would assist them. In the United States, each branch in the making of pianos is now done separately, except in very large establishments, and consequently most of the work is done at home by the workmen. At a factory in New York, an apprentice, nearly out of his time, told me that an individual to learn the business is bound, and must remain until of age. Otherwise he could not get a certificate, and is not likely to find employment without one. An apprentice receives $3 a week the first year, $4 the second year, and more afterward if he is bright and quick to learn. A journeyman receives from $10 to $12 a week for his work. At W.'s piano manufactory, New York, we were kindly permitted to pass through and see the entire process of making. Among other parts that I thought could be done by women, were those of varnishing and polishing. This work forms a separate branch of itself, and requires an apprenticeship of three or four years. It looked to be very simple. The pianos are first rubbed with pumice stone, to render them smooth and susceptible of a polish, then with rotten stone. Rubbing with pumice stone all day might be too laborious, except for a very strong woman; but the other process is feasible for any woman of moderate health. Indeed, the finest polish could be better given by women than men, because it is done by the naked hand, and the softer the hand the better. The ornamenting of the sounding boards could be done by women that know anything of painting, and also the gilding on the inside top and outside front. I asked an old Frenchman, doing that kind of work, how long it would require to learn. He said he had been at it fifty years, and had not learned it perfectly yet. It is pretty work, and very suitable for a woman of taste. The delicacy of woman's touch, with some knowledge of drawing and painting, would enable her to succeed. Covering wire, and putting it in, is another branch that might be done by women. Bleaching ivory for the keys, cutting them, and gluing them on, are also within woman's range. Cutting leather and buckskin, and gluing it on the hammers, are very light and simple work. Another branch suitable for women is regulating the tone of pianos. Men, said W., would oppose women working at the piano business in large establishments, but a man would not be likely to suffer inconvenience from employing women in his own house to do the part he carries on. If he were independent of his business it would be better. At ----'s, New York, a manufacturer of pianoforte actions, I saw two girls at work. It is very nice, clean work. Part of the time they stand, and the remainder they sit. One is paid $3 a week, and the other less. The young man who showed us through the factory, said much of the work in making pianoforte action that is now done by men could be done by women. D----'s girls looked to be Americans. They have work all the year. It mostly consists in covering hammers. A manufacturer of pianofortes writes: "Our men are paid both by the piece and by the week, according to the departments in which they are engaged. The time of learning is from five to seven years for men. Apprentices (boys) are paid from 25 cents to $1 per day, beginning with the first amount, and increasing from year to year. In some departments, physical strength is required, in others, aptness and ready tact--in others, a cultivated musical ear. The prospect for future employment is very fine in all branches for men--in some, equally good for women. The majority of workmen are below mediocrity, as compared with most all others in manufacturing." A manufacturer in Meredith, N. H., writes: "We once employed a lady in our key and action department. She was the wife of one of our workmen. She earned as much as her husband, and in every respect did her work as well. She learned her trade in half the time it took her husband to learn the same. Theirs was jobwork; the two earned about $3 per day. She did her housework besides. I think there might be many ladies employed in our business, to the advantage of all concerned. We expect to test the matter further by employing some in our varnish rooms soon."

=Seraphines.= A manufacturer writes: "I think women might be employed to advantage in some parts of the work, and in any part of it, if they could adopt a different style of dress, something like the Bloomer. The long dress with hoops, as now worn, must be an insurmountable barrier against their entering many employments. It is injurious to health, and prevents a proper development of form."

=496. Musical String Makers.= The manufacture of strings for musical instruments is carried on as a separate branch. A German violin maker told me that women are employed in Germany in winding wire for guitar strings. I find they are also in a factory in Connecticut, and the manufacturer said they could earn as high as $9 a week. It is rather severe on the fingers, but that can be avoided to some extent by wearing a glove finger. In New York, it is mostly done by Germans and French, who have taken the trade from Americans. The preparing of catgut from the intestines of sheep and goats, and making it into strings, is carried on mostly in Germany, and some women are employed at that. Most metal strings are of steel, and covered with fine wire of other metals. Mrs. Z., whose husband, when living, manufactured covered strings for musical instruments, told me, she and her daughters had often assisted in covering guitar strings and the lighter piano strings. She thinks a person of good abilities could learn it in from two to four weeks, with an attentive instructor. She usually rested against a bench while employed. A good worker will earn from $3 to $5 per week. She has never heard of any but English and German women being engaged in it. In some of the up town shops the machinery is moved by steam, but it does not answer so well, because it is not so easily slackened or checked. Harp strings and the larger piano strings cannot be made by women, because of the strength and firmness required.

=497. Netters.= Netting is now generally done by machinery. Seines are mostly made in that way. When by hand, it is done by old people, who receive a very inadequate compensation for their labor. The nets so much used for horses are mostly made in a large factory near the city of New York. In England, woollen netting is used by some gardeners for the protection of the bloom of fruit trees from frost. They are also used to prevent birds destroying currants, cherries, raspberries, and other small fruit. The making of purses of different kinds, and of hammocks, have employed a small number of people. Net and seine manufacturers in Gloucester write me: "We employ one hundred women who work at their homes, and are paid by the piece. It requires a year to learn. From October to June are the best seasons for our trade. A few that we employ to work by the week spend ten hours a day at it. The comfort of the occupation is good, but the pay poor. We think women better company than men. Health and strength are the best qualifications for our work." A net and twine company in Boston write: "We employ women for converting twine into netting. It is mostly job work, and they have cash for what they earn. The comparative prices of men and women are the same as those of factories in general. It requires about as long to learn as it takes a woman to learn to knit stockings. The business is good as long as the sea furnishes fish and mankind eat them. The employment of women in the work is a providential necessity. Nearly all ours are American. Women are quicker in their work--men stronger. Our women have the leisure that belongs to nearly all manual occupations."

=498. Oakum Pickers.= Perhaps some one reading this book may not know what oakum is. It is old rope, pulled to pieces until it is soft and pliable, like the original material, and used for the purpose of corking vessels. Ten years ago, the picking was done by hand, and many women employed. Now, this work is mostly done by machinery in this country, and very few women are employed. In some factories, women are employed in teazing, that is, untwisting the pieces of rope that are not pulled to pieces by passing through the machinery the first time. They are paid so much per hundred pounds, and do not earn more than $2 a week. It is dirty, disagreeable work. A firm in Maine write: "We have seen females, both young and old, at work in oakum mills in the State of New Jersey. In England (we believe) all oakum is made in their almshouses, consequently a part by females. The business is healthy. We use many boys that do work which might be done by females; but we prefer the boys."

=499. Paper Hangers.= An English lady, who has spent much time in various parts of Europe, told me she had known of women being engaged in paper hanging in small towns. I believe it is customary, when papering a room, to have one person put the paste on, and another put it up. We are confident women could do the first-mentioned part of the work.

=500. Polishers.= Women are employed in France in polishing furniture. They are mostly the wives of cabinet makers. It requires art to do it that some can never learn. A person must be able to put the gum shellac on evenly. A woman in London earned a very good living by applying French polish to the furniture of cabinet makers. A French woman that polished furniture in Paris, told me that the work is hard on the fingers, and one could not learn it in less than a year. A piano manufacturer told me that women could be profitably employed in polishing pianos. It is better learned by women than men, he thought. It is tedious, however, and requires patience. I have been told that the finest polish is imparted to furniture by the naked hand, and the softer and finer the hand the better. For that reason, women are employed in France to polish piano cases with the palms of their hands, and, when not employed, wear kid gloves to keep their hands soft and smooth.

=501. Pure Finders.= The finders of dog pure constitute a small class in this country; but Mr. Mayhew thinks in the city of London there are between two hundred and three hundred constantly employed. It is used for dressing leather and kid, and sold at from sixteen to twenty cents a bucketful. In our country, it is probably carried on with bone grubbing and rag gathering.

=502. Rag Cutters.= I find nearly all rag cutters are Irish, and they are mostly old women or young girls. The girls usually earn about 75 cents or $1 a week. I called at a rag dealer's, and was told by a woman that one cent a pound is paid for cutting the seams off, taking the linings out, and removing the buttons. A woman can earn, she says, from $2 to $2.50 a week. It is not unhealthy. They grow fat on it. Theirs are mostly old women, and all are Irish. For assorting they are paid by the week, and receive $2.75. They work from seven to five in winter; in summer, ten hours. The keeper of the wareroom sells his rags for making paper, and sends many to Europe. The women work all the year. No other kind of work could be done by women in that business, as the only other is packing in bales, and that, of course, must be done by men. The warerooms close at six; so the women have the evenings for themselves. P., a rag dealer, says he buys and sells according to the quality of the rags. It is customary to pay by the week for sorting rags. Some get $2, and some $2.50. Cutting the seams off is paid for by the pound. The odor was extremely offensive (it was a damp day); but the man said it was not unhealthy, unless the rags are worked with in a close room; then the dust is apt to affect the eyes. Occasionally the small pox is taken from rags. I called at a rag dealer's, and was told by a filthy, squalid, barefooted girl at work, that for cutting up rags a penny a pound is paid. She was assorting. For that work, hands are paid twenty-five cents a day, and their board. It is very dirty work. The dust and sand must affect the eyes and lungs. Some men can cut as many as thirty-five pounds a day. Men are paid twice as much as women for assorting. I inquired why. I was told by a young junk dealer, standing by, that they could pick twice as much in the same time, the truth of which the reader can decide as well as I. Some men earn at it, he said, $6 a week. A woman, who seemed to have some interest in the place, remarked the girls have work all the year. Called at the door of a large wareroom, where I saw men assorting waste paper to be sold for the purpose of being made into new paper.

=503. Rag Gatherers.= The chiffoniers or rag gatherers of Paris are said to number about 6,000; those of London about 800 or 1,000. The chiffonier in Paris can collect only from eight in the evening until early next morning, as the streets are all swept before six o'clock in the morning, as after that time until eight in the evening the citizens are passing. A few in Paris have realized fortunes; but we suspect the most, in all countries, barely gain a subsistence. They all lead a hard and gloomy life. In the United States, most of the rags collected are converted into paper. Some are sold at shoddy manufactories, and those unfit for either shoddy or paper are spread over corn land, or used as a fertilizer for hops. One of the most handsome buildings on Broadway is said to be owned by a man that commenced life in the petty business of a rag collector. So much for economy and industry! Most of the rag pickers in New York live in the Five Points, and near the Central Park. Scarcely any person that has seen the old women rag pickers of New York in rain and snow, cold and driving winds, partially clad, can ever deny that a woman is capable of very hard and degrading labor, when driven to it by want. Rag picking and rag assorting are distinct branches. Rag pickers make the most, and are chiefly Germans. The number of rag gatherers in New York is very great, and the majority of them are women. I never observe the face of an American or French woman. Rag gatherers have each their own province, and none of the rest dare intrude. The majority do not confine themselves to picking up rags only, but bones and bits of metal and glass. Some even carry a basket in which they gather waste vegetables or putrid meat, or the trimmings of uncooked meat, which they feed on themselves, or give to a pet pig, or trade with some neighbor better off that has a cow. When the rag collectors reach their homes, they assort the articles they have collected. They separate the rags into clean and dirty (the last they wash), into linen and woollen, and the paper into clean and dirty, white and colored. The life led by rag gatherers is very laborious, as they must spend all the hours of daylight on their feet, walking many miles. Their earnings are so scanty that they must be out in all kinds of weather. The enormous rent they pay for wretched accommodations is a disgrace to the landlords. Many of them sleep a dozen in a room, on the bare floor. By the most rigid economy and unremitting industry, a few are enabled to lay by a small sum for old age, or purchase a little cottage and a plot of ground, when they change their filthy occupation for a more healthy and agreeable one, that of raising vegetables for the market. If I had to make a living on the streets of New York, I would prefer carrying a wheel around to grind knives and scissors, or putting window-glass in, to collecting rags, for the work of neither is so filthy. The children of rag gatherers begin very early to follow the pursuit of their parents. I saw some children one day picking rags, that told me they received two cents a pound. They were at the dirt heaps where carts of dirt from town had been emptied. They sometimes gather forty pounds each a day. They cannot do so well in winter. I saw a rag collector who starts at five in the morning, and is gathering rags until eight in the evening. She eats nothing during the time. She was German. Her father and mother also gather rags. Her father sells them at two cents a pound. She did not know how many pounds she gathered, but said she got three large bags full every day in good weather. I saw other collectors, who told me they gather each from ten to thirty pounds a day. Some families succeed in gathering from fifty cents to $1.50 worth a day, in good weather and good seasons. "The prices paid for the staple articles of their trade, purchased exclusively by middlemen, are: bones, 36 cents per bushel; rags, whether linen or woollen, $1 per cwt.; paper, $1 per cwt.; and these sell them again to the down-town customers, the rags at $2.50 to $3.50; the paper at $1.25 to $1.50; with a proportionate advance on bones, and all the articles in the junk business."

=504. Rope and Twine Makers.= Ropes are made of the fibres of various plants, and particular kinds of grasses, and the fibres of the cocoanut cover. Hair from the manes and tails of horses is also used. Hemp and flax are most common in the United States. The simplest mode of making rope is under long sheds. After the material is spun into yarn, it is doubled or trebled, and twisted. Ropes for the rigging of vessels employ a large number of men. The great variety and amount of cordage used make it an extensive trade. Ropes are now manufactured in some places by steam. A small number of women are employed in rope making. S. & M., Philadelphia, employ about fifty female hands. Some are engaged in spinning, and a dexterous woman will keep from forty to fifty spindles in constant motion, some at carding, some at balling. The last-named operation is the only one in which the women can sit while at work. They work ten hours, and earn from $1.50 (for young girls), to $5 a week (for the experienced frame spinners). The last mentioned are mostly English, Scotch, or Irish women, who have followed the trade from childhood. It requires long practice to command the highest wages. A good steady hand is much valued, and is not liable to be thrown out of work. Water power is used with the machinery. W., New York, employs them in his manufactory for spooling only. A manufacturer on Long Island writes: "I pay my hands $1 a week, for the first four weeks; then $1.50 a week, for the next four weeks; and for the four weeks following, $2 per week; and so increase their wages till I allow them $3.50 per week. I employ mostly boys and girls. I pay them the same, regardless of sex. They work from ten to twelve hours, and are employed all the year. Board, $1.25 to $1.50 per week. At eighteen, my boys learn a trade. I pay my hands well and use them well. I do not receive children under twelve years of age. I encourage them in going to school before and after they work in my factory." There are only two factories of this kind in New York city that employ women. The proprietor of the largest gave me the following items: "I employ thirteen girls and women (mostly Irish) in spooling, twisting, &c. Most are paid by the week. Women receive $3.50; girls, from $1.15 to $3.50. The time of learning is one, two, or three weeks, according to the kind of work, and the ability of the girl. The prospect is poor for more learners. My girls work ten hours a day, and have employment the year round. There are enough of hands in New York. Some of the minor parts could be performed by women, that are not, but not enough to give many employment. Cities are the best for selling the article, country the best for making. Men do not perform the same kind of work women do. Women are best suited to their branches. Boys could be got to do the work of the girls for as low wages. Indeed, most boys work for less in New York than girls." We think the last assertion a mistake on the part of H. The agent of the Royal River Yarn and Twine Company writes: "We consider our employment healthy. It proves so. Take, for instance, a certain number, at random, of different ages, employed in cotton mills, and compare with the same number, taken in the same way, from farm neighborhoods, and you will find more sickness and death among farmers' daughters." (This is rather a startling statement, but we are not prepared to disprove it.) He adds: "The regularity in exercise, taking meals, and resting, accounts, I think, for the steady employment in cotton mills, and the like, being so conducive to health. I have been engaged as a machinist, &c., about a cotton mill, for thirty-five years; and, according to my observation, more girls improve their health, taking ordinary care of themselves, than otherwise. Part of our hands are paid by the week, and part by the piece. They have from $2 to $4.50 per week, new hands having only $2. It takes from three months to two years to learn. Common sense and industrious habits are the only qualifications needed. Spring and summer are the best seasons, but work is furnished continuously the year round. Our girls go home now and then to spend a few weeks, visit, fix their clothing, &c. To shorten their time would be rather a disadvantage, as capital invested must pay, or no encouragement would be given to invest more. Demand for hands is steady; and if a surplus, it is on the neatest and lightest kind of work. Women are neater, steadier, and more active than men. Our girls make the best of housewives. Overseers, agents, and business men marry them, and we may look around and see, in some that have worked in mills, the brightest and best mothers of the land. The faculties of the mind are quickened by the busy hum and movement of machinery. Board, $1.50, respectable and comfortable. Parties not regarding that, would not have respectable help."

=505. Sail and Awning Makers.= I think it would require considerable strength and long practice to make sails, but not more than some occupations in which women are engaged. L. sometimes employs women to run the binding on awnings, paying 2 and 2½ cents a yard. He thinks no women are employed in the United States in making sails. They worked at tents during the Mexican war, but now only men are employed. S. knows that, in France, women make the lightest kind of sails. In Russia, sails are made by women. A sail maker in a large maritime city writes: "Some women are employed in sail making in Massachusetts. It is a healthy trade, and men spend three years learning it. A sail maker needs a tough constitution and steady habits. Some parts of the work are suitable for women. The best locations are on the lakes or in seaport towns." An awning manufacturer told me he employs girls in summer, and pays from $4 to $5 a week, of ten hours a day. They work by hand, and bind and put on fringe. T. employs some girls for binding. They can earn from $3 to $4 a week when constantly employed. He usually pays by the week, and has it done in his shop. A sail maker in Connecticut writes: "Women are employed at sail making in France. A knowledge of arithmetic and draughting are essential. The work is done at all seasons. The occupation is filled. It is usual to spend four years as an apprentice. The best locations are in seaports or river towns. I think the occupation is too laborious for women."