=298. Gutta Percha Manufacture.= A manufacturer of gutta-percha goods told me that the firm to which he belongs employ twenty-five girls. One of their girls earns $1 a day, making handles. The others close the seams of coats, and other articles of dress, with cement. Some work by the piece, and some by the week. When by the week, they are paid $3.50 and $4; and those by the piece earn about the same. He thinks, if it is unhealthy, it is because the sulphur used opens the pores and renders the person liable to take cold. I visited a gutta-percha comb manufactory. The girls receive $2 a week, while learning. They can learn in a few days. They polish and pack the combs. They work ten hours a day, and receive $4. Few of them get $4.50. The employer thinks there may be more work in that line hereafter. A woman acquainted with machinery could superintend the machine that cuts the teeth of the comb. Rounding the teeth is done by men, but could be performed by women. I was told there is a manufactory at Stratton, L. I., where seventy women are employed. HAIR WORKERS. =299. Artists.= The making of hair ornaments is a distinct branch of labor. Some very beautiful and ingenious pieces of workmanship have been executed. Bracelets, earrings, breastpins, and guards are the most common articles. The work is nicely adapted to the nimble fingers of women, whether engaged in it for pastime or profit. A foreign lady, that does ornamental hair work, told me that it is a right profitable business to one that can do it well, but American women have not patience to learn to do it in a superior manner. A hair jeweller in Philadelphia told me he employs six girls--all Americans, and he thinks they do better than foreigners. He pays a girl seventy-five cents a week, for three or four weeks. By that time she has learned enough to earn $3 or $4 a week. Formerly he required a girl to spend two years learning, and paid her nothing during the time. He mentioned one firm that required three years' apprenticeship. But the girls often became discouraged, and went at something else. Now the business is not so much of a secret. He has now and then paid as high as $12 a week, for a hand that was very ingenious and successful. They pay high for their designs. The gentleman had paid $50, the week previous, for a design. His girls all work in the establishment, and spend about nine hours at their work. It is done altogether by hand. The only disadvantage attending it is the confinement that pertains to it, or any other employment of that kind. An artist on Fifth street gives work out of the house. The average rate of wages he pays is $4 a week. Hair artists, when employed by the week, receive from $4 to $5. At S.'s, New York, they pay a good hand from $4 to $5 a week, ten hours a day. A person of good abilities can learn most of the patterns in three weeks. An ornamental hair worker told me she charges fifty cents a lesson of an hour. A lady was taking lessons who