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
which affords constant employment.
=12. Editresses.= The most powerful instrument for disseminating general
knowledge in the United States is the newspaper press. It does a great
deal for promoting a love of letters; and the cheapness of the papers is
such as to render them accessible to almost every one. The literature of
the day penetrates the most remote corner of our country. Obscure,
indeed, is the place that knows not the printer's power. Even in
California, more than a year ago, there were published 81 newspapers. In
New York city alone were published 154 newspapers, and 114 magazines.
But this is not strange when we remember that no less than eighty
languages are spoken there. A newspaper states that there are printed in
Austria 10 newspapers, 14 in Africa, 24 in Spain, 20 in Portugal, 30 in
Asia, 65 in Belgium, 85 in Denmark, 90 in Russia and Poland, 320 in
other German States, 500 in Great Britain, and 1,800 in the United
States. Taking merely newspaper and magazine literature into
consideration, does not our republic offer inducements to intellectual
culture? Does she not reward talent and encourage industry? Yes. Her
general diffusion of knowledge and the learned men of her press give a
positive reply. The dignity of man should be elevated, his affections
purified, and his pursuits ennobled by the mighty influence of the
press. Editors should live as ministers to the welfare of humanity. The
aspiring character of our people and their thirst for knowledge will
long make a heavy demand on the talent and taste of those who wield the
editor's pen. There are several publications in the United States
conducted exclusively by ladies; some in which the assistant editors are
ladies; and a small number devoted to the interests of women alone.
Several ladies have entered the editorial corps within the last few
years. The Harpers, in their Magazine, state there are about six hundred
literary and miscellaneous periodicals published in this country. If all
the labor, as type setting, binding, &c., was done by women, what a
fortunate thing it would be for many of the poor! I have been told that
when an article is sent to a newspaper, and is known to have come from
the brain and the pen of a woman, ten to one, her compensation will be
smaller for it, and in many cases it will be rejected. There are a few
exceptions. Fanny Fern, for instance, receives, we have seen it stated,
at the rate of $100 a column from Mr. Bonner for a contribution to the
_Ledger_. The sum total he will pay her for the amount he has engaged
will be $6,000. Mrs. B. receives $600 for editing a monthly paper. Some
time back contributors to the _Independent_ were paid $3 a column, and
to the New York _Observer_ at the same rate. Mr. L. told me that a man
is paid $20 a week for making out an index for the New York _Tribune_,
which could be done by any lady with a cultivated and well disciplined
mind. The man that was employed not long since had been a wood engraver,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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