Transcriber's Notes: Text originally marked up as bold is surrounded by =, text in italics by _. All footnotes can be found after the Appendix, before the Index. Obvious printer's errors have been remedied, a list of all other changes can be found at the end of the document. Note: There are many opening or closing quotation marks missing in the text. As in most instances, it is impossible to say where the quotation was meant to begin or end, those errors have not been corrected. Only instances where quotation marks were obviously missing or superfluous, were such added. Equally, "Employee/s" is found in various different spellings throughout the book; this inconsistency has been retained. THE EMPLOYMENTS OF WOMEN: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work. BY VIRGINIA PENNY. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY WALKER, WISE, & COMPANY, 245 WASHINGTON STREET. 1863. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by VIRGINIA PENNY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. TO WORTHY AND INDUSTRIOUS WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES, STRIVING TO EARN A LIVELIHOOD, This Book IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. It is very easy to obtain book after book on "The Sphere of Woman," "The Mission of Woman," and "The Influence of Woman." But to a practical mind it must be evident that good advice is not sufficient. That is very well, provided the reader is supplied with the comforts of life. But plans need to be devised, pursuits require to be opened, by which women can earn a respectable livelihood. It is the great want of the day. It is in order to meet that want that this work has been prepared. The few employments that have been open to women are more than full. To withdraw a number from the few markets of female labor already crowded to excess, by directing them to avenues where they are wanted, would thereby benefit both parties. At no time in our country's history have so many women been thrown upon their own exertions. A million of men are on the battle field, and thousands of women, formerly dependent on them, have lost or may lose their only support. Some of the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of soldiers, may take the vacancies created in business by their absence--others must seek new channels of labor.