=86. Seal Engravers.= Seal engraving is cutting in a precious stone, letters or a device. The cutting is done by means of a lathe and sharp cutting tools. Diamond dust and oil are used. The lathe is moved by treadles. The finer the work, the smaller the tools. Taste, good eyesight, and a knowledge of form are necessary. No pattern is used. The hand and eye must serve as guides. It would be a very pretty occupation for women, but would require time, patience, and practice. Seal engravers in New York earn from $10 to $12 per week, but the occupation there is filled. Mrs. Ellet, in her "Women Artists," mentions a Prussian and a German lady as being noted for their skill in cutting precious stones. A seal engraver told me he does not pay apprentices the first year, but the second year $2, and from that up, according to the abilities of the worker. It requires from four to seven years to learn all the branches thoroughly. Another engraver told me the business is not worth learning now that gum mucilage has done away with sealing wax, and consequently the use of seals. The designs for seals are usually taken from a heraldry book; always when for a coat of arms. Such seals are in greater demand in Europe. Seal engravers in this country do not have constant employment. They cut fancy seals when not otherwise occupied. The work can be done at night by a good light. =87. Sculptors.= Properzia di Rossi, Maria Domenica, Anna Maria Schurmann, Maria von Steinbach, Anne Seymour Damer, Falicie de Faveau, and in our own country and time Miss Lander, Harriet Hosmer, and Miss Stebbins, are among those who have proved the ability of woman to succeed in sculpture. Sculptors, it should be understood, seldom, if ever, labor with the chisel. They prepare models, which are made in a composition of clay or wax, and then superintend the imitation of these in marble. Sculpture is the chastest imitation of nature and the highest expression of the form and spirit of beauty known to art; and while woman is possessed of the finest sensibility and most exquisite perceptions, there can certainly be no reason why she should not succeed in it. Mr. Lagrange, in urging the establishment of Government schools of design in France, says: "Painting, engraving, and sculpture, encouraged as music and dancing are, promise equal success; they provide a more assured support in its being better acquired, and a more substantial renown, and especially a calmer and chaster existence. Painter, engraver, or sculptor, it is her _works_ alone that claim the public eye. Her person is sacred; no one dares to lift the veil that conceals her countenance; no one presumes to call upon her to courtesy to feeble applause. A young girl, chaste and pure, she may watch by the lonely hearthside; a wife, she may not see her smiles and caresses in dispute as the seal of a purchased rite; a mother, she may educate her children under a name they will never be tempted to despise.