=247. Pens.= I saw a gold-pen manufacturer in Brooklyn. He will take ten or twelve learners shortly, and pay them from the commencement. He must have honest girls, for a dishonest girl will take $5 or $10 worth of gold at a time, frequently without its being missed. He will have a separate apartment for his girls. The best hands can earn from $5 to $6 a week, working ten hours a day. It requires only about a month to learn, but practice greatly improves and expedites work. He thought the prospect rather poor for learners. The part done by men could be done by women, but it is dirty work. That done by women is rather neat work. W., of Brooklyn, employs a number of girls in watch-case polishing and in finishing off pens. The majority are Americans. Some are paid by the piece, and some by the week. They work ten hours a day, and have employment all the year. Some girls learn the art in a short time, and some never. Some girls are paid while learning as much as $2.50 a week. W. thinks the prospect good of employment in that branch. He wanted several girls more. From the nimbleness of their fingers they can do their work better than men. More gold pens are made in this country than steel ones. A jeweller said learners should be paid from the first, and you may know he is not much of a man who would be willing to receive a woman's work for nothing. On Nassau street, N. Y., I saw a manufacturer who employs girls for stoning, frosting, and polishing pens. They are paid by the quantity, and can earn from $3 to $5 a week. They stand at a lathe while polishing. The only trouble is that their dress is likely to catch on the wheel. That might be remedied by wearing Turkish costume without hoops. It requires care and some judgment to do the frosting. They are paid something while learning, and in two or three months receive full wages. When business is good, the factory is going all the year. To make a good finisher requires that the individual have some mechanical talent and be a good penman. Some never succeed. In stoning and frosting, girls sit. The finishers are men, and the stooping required sometimes produces consumption. So many gold pen cases are not used now as formerly--probably not more than one tenth as many. Gutta percha has become a substitute. N. employed women seven or eight years ago in polishing, stoning, and pointing pens, and paid $5 a week of ten hours a day. Manufacturers in Williamsburg, Mass., write: "We employ women to make gold pens, pen holders, and jewelry, and pay from $3 to $4 per week--some by the piece and some by the week. It requires from one to three years to learn, according to the part they do. They are paid small wages while learning. We wish honesty and ingenuity in our workers. The business is permanent. Work is given at all seasons of the year. The hands work eleven and a quarter hours per day. We employ from ten to twelve women, because they can do the work equally as well as men, at about one third the price.