The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's WorkPenny, Virginia
General
The Employments of Women: A Cyclopædia of Woman's Work
Penny, Virginia
Women -- Employment
druggist here who would take a pupil, but I have no doubt one could be
found."
=105. Keepers of Fancy Stores.= A fancy store pays well when a good
connection is established, but it takes time for that. Business is
moving up street in New York, and of course fancy stores with it. Some
unite millinery with the sale of fancy goods. The prices paid to those
who stand in such stores, vary greatly. They are given under the head of
Saleswomen.
=106. Gentlemen's Furnishing Stores.= A great many women are employed in
this business, and many more might be. The making of gentlemen's robes
furnishes in itself quite a business in cities; also the making of
cravats, collars, hemming handkerchiefs, and odd work to be done. Mrs.
M. told me she has a girl that assists in the house, and stays in the
store when not so occupied, and receives for her services $6 a month and
her board. Madame P. pays $3 to each of her operators (ten hours a day),
and to one superior operator $4. She pays $3.50 a week to a button-hole
maker. That is made a separate branch of sewing. Fourteen is the usual
number of button holes in a shirt, and some employers pay one cent
apiece; some, one and a half; and for large ones, in which studs or
sleeve buttons are worn, two cents apiece. Some men are very particular
about the make and fit of their shirts. Madame P. gets $2.50 a dozen for
shirts from a store down street, and $4.50 for shirts from a store up
street. Ordered work pays best. Her great trouble is that she does not
get constant employment. For awhile she sunk in her business from $4 to
$5 a week. Mr. P. says, whenever business is dull in New York city, it
is, of course, wherever work is done to supply the city. He takes
learners in busy times. Mr. D., who employs 2,000 hands in his factory
at New Haven, has discharged them all; also Mr. H., who employs 1,000;
and Messrs. M. & H., who employ as many. He thinks, when business
revives, there will be work enough for all in this line, and even more.
Shirts are such an essential part of a man's wardrobe, that as long as
men exist, shirts must be made. With the many improvements in sewing
machines, Mr. P. has shirts, when cut out, given to the operator, and
turned from the machine complete, with the exception of buttons and
button holes. No basters are employed. All the felling is done by a
feller, and all the hemming by a hemmer. He furnishes his operators with
machines. He employs men to cut, because they do it faster than women.
They cut with a knife twenty-four thicknesses of cloth. All factories
furnish machines and needles. Troy is the great place for making shirt
collars. The girls are paid by the piece in these factories, and the
employers will not permit them to work more than eight hours a day, as
they do not wish them to lose their health. A girl is not retained in
these collar factories that cannot earn $7 a week--eight hours a day.
The machines are moved by steam.
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