Chapter III: Part 3

Notwithstanding the occasion of our long night-watch, the mother declared she would, as soon as Charley was well, box my ears, while she did not forget, the next time she had occasion to rise to attend to our little patient, to take a seat by the side of her noble husband, and assure him, by a fond pressure of the hand, that the memories were all very precious to her.

Moral. Young women who desire the company and assistance of black- whiskered porters, should go down Marble Street early in the morning, with a basket of provisions for the widow Ramsey.

EMPLOYMENTS FOR WOMEN.

In the "Cyclopaedia of Woman's Work,", by Virginia Penny, I find invaluable suggestions.

There are a great many occupations at present pursued exclusively by men, which offer no considerable difficulties to women. Miss Penny mentions more than five hundred employments in which there are no insurmountable difficulties to women, but which are pursued almost exclusively by men. I will mention some of these, without pursuing the order which Miss Penny has chosen, or using her language. But it must not be forgotten, that to this indefatigable woman I am indebted for many of the hints given under this head.

AMANUENSES.

The phonographic amanuensis has become an absolute necessity to literary men, and to business men of large correspondence. The art of phonography is not a difficult one to learn; a moderate degree of rapidity is easily acquired, and first-class rapidity is not beyond the reach of many persons. I have conversed with professional phonographers, and the general impression is, that women are particularly well adapted to the art of phonography. The compensation, turning, of course, upon the rapidity, would range from five hundred to ten hundred dollars a year. The hours would not be long. The occupation is, in many respect, a happy one for women.

BANK CLERKS.

The clerk services of a bank may be performed by women. Their writing is as neat, their reckoning as reliable, their devotion to business as certain, while they would not be tempted, by gambling, fast horses, and other expensive forms of dissipation, to steal. It is quite clear that vast sums of money would be saved to banks by the employment of women as clerks. Cases of defalcation would, under their hands, become exceedingly rare.

BROKERS.

Already we have firms of female brokers. This is wise and right. Broker's establishments, whether conducted by men or women, must have many clerks. What has been said about the employment of female clerks in banks, is applicable to the establishments of brokers.

COPYISTS.

Already thousands of women are employed as copyists. Several hundred find opportunity in Washington alone, and some of them receive twelve hundred dollars a year. A great many lawyers in our cities employ women as copyists. Indeed, in the thousand and one institutions and business houses, lawyer's offices, and so on, women are already employed as copyists. The occupation is a good one, well adapted to women, and will engage a constantly increasing number.

DENTISTS.

Nothing has surprised me more, than that women have not engaged in the profession of dentistry. Her gentle touch, the size and flexibility of her fingers, her quick sympathies, her instinctive sense of proportion and beauty, and her conscientiousness present, altogether, singular qualifications for the dental profession. Dentistry is a lucrative business, and the doors are wide open to women.

LAWYERS.

Theodore Parker said: "As yet, I believe, no woman acts as a lawyer but I see no reason why the profession of law might not be followed by women as well as men. He must be rather an uncommon lawyer who thinks that no feminine head could compete with him. Most lawyers that I have known are rather mechanics at law, than attorneys or scholars at law, and, in the mechanical part, woman could do as well as man,--could be as good a conveyancer, could follow precedents as carefully, and copy forms as nicely. I think her presence would mend the manners of the court, of the bench not less than of the bar."

Christina Pisani wrote a work, which was published in Paris in 1498. It gives an account of the learned and famous Novella, the daughter of a professor of law in the university of Bologna. She devoted herself to the same studies, and was distinguished for her scholarship. She conducted her father's cases, and, having as much beauty as learning, was wont to appear in court, veiled. At twenty six she took the degree of LL.D., and began publicly to expound the laws of Justinian. At thirty she was elevated to a professor's chair, and taught the law to a crowd of scholars from all nations. Others of her sex have since filled professor's chairs in Bologna.

I have seen a good deal of lawyers, and I am free to express the opinion that women would inevitably cleanse and elevate that profession. As a very large portion of legal business consists in writing out deeds, mortgages, wills, indentures, and other kindred documents, no one will doubt that, at least in these departments, women would prove successful. And after listening, from time to time, during the last twenty years, to female lecturers, especially in connection with the reforms in laws advocated by the "woman's rights" women, I cannot doubt that they would make successful advocates at the bar. I should not urge young women to prepare themselves for the legal profession, as I think it would be better to leave the question of propriety to their keen instincts; but if they decide to enter that profession, I shall, if possible, be there to hear their first speech at the bar.

LECTURERS.

It seems unnecessary to comment on the fitness of woman for the platform. She has exhibited a singular adaptation to this, the most public of all possible lives, and knowing, as I do, personally, most of the female lecturers in the country, I would add, that the platform has not demoralized them. The leading female lecturers in America are among the most womanly women whom I have the honor to know. The field is immense, and would welcome many additions.

Lectures upon health to women, by women, are very useful, and have almost uniformly proved a success, pecuniarily and otherwise. I should be rejoiced to see many hundreds added to the corps of woman lecturers upon woman's health. It is a profession for which there are now abundant opportunities to prepare.

LIBRARIANS.

A very large part of the work and remuneration incidental to the management of libraries is in the hands of women. But many places are still occupied by men, who might be spared for more muscular forms of labor.

PHYSICIANS.

If I had been writing this work twenty years ago, it would have been necessary to argue the fitness and propriety of women doctors. Happily, such an argument is now unnecessary. All but such as live in darkness welcome women to the medical profession. Already they have become professors in medical colleges in this country, as they were for many hundred years in Europe.

Whether a woman has nerve enough to perform a grave surgical operation, I do not care to inquire.

No thoughtful man who has watched her in the character of nurse, even when she is uneducated, will entertain a doubt about her happy qualifications for the management of the sick.

The most important responsibilities of a physician have reference to ventilation, cleanliness, bathing, feeding,--in brief, to nursing; and no one but a stupid, obstinate man would suggest her inferiority for such services.

I have no doubt that, finally, the medical profession will fall almost exclusively into the hands of women, as its most important part, nursing, already has.

A very large part of our medical business grows out of the diseases of women, as such, and I shall not insult my readers by gravely considering the question whether men or women should examine, manipulate, and treat such affections. When I hear men protesting that women cannot understand and manage these affections, I declare, some very ugly suspicions occur to me. Women and children are the sick ones. Very few men have occasion to seek the doctor.

If those who read these words understood as I do, how little brain is used in the selection of drugs, how simple a routine is followed by the doctor in selecting his medicines from day to day,--if those who read this, knew as I do, how infinitely more important and difficult are the duties devolving upon the nurse, who stands by, and watches day and night, from moment to moment, the changes in the condition of the patient, and who, without having been trained to the profession, is entrusted with the responsibility of determining, throughout all those trying hours, exactly what is to be done upon the occurrence of this or that change; if those who read this, understood, as I do, about these things, they would smile when asked to consider the propriety or possibility of educating women for the medical profession, so that, in addition to performing all the most important services, they should be entrusted with the selection of the drugs, if drugs must be given.

PREACHERS.

Female preachers have appeared among the most enlightened peoples, and have risen to distinction and influence. In America, among the Quakers, women have illustrated the finest pulpit oratory.

It has always seemed to me that women were especially adapted to the pulpit. Their natural eloquence, their sweet persuasive voices, their characteristic unselfishness, purity and piety constitute their unanswerable claim to a place in the pulpit.

It is strange, how rapidly the prejudices of men against women lecturers and women preachers have disappeared. These prejudices lie on the surface; they do not rest upon organic instinct. So completely has this prejudice disappeared from Boston, that a woman is heard by many because she is a woman. If to-day one of our churches should invite to its pulpit a woman of good capacity, of fine pulpit manners, of a noble, sweet spirit, and of fine personnel, its very aisles would be crowded. I should much prefer to go there.

A few hundred educated women would find employment, and good compensation, in New England pulpits.

PROOF-READING.

This has become a distinct profession, and employs a great number of persons. It is a profession to which women are perfectly adapted, and in which a very considerable number could at once find remunerative occupation.

PUBLISHERS.

I know of no good reason why women should not become publishers. Of course they can do the work of a publishing house,--I mean the correspondence, book-keeping, counting, making-up orders, and packing books. But I know of no good reason why they should not conduct the business, and receive the profits. Many authors, myself among the number, would be especially gratified to have our works placed before the public by women, because, when trained to business, they have shown a singular exactness and honor; and, secondly, because it would give assurance to the world that the new book was fit to be read.

TEACHERS.

It seems unnecessary even to allude to the propriety of teaching as a profession for women. It is, however, a modern notion.

At present, in New England, an immense majority of the teachers are women.

I have had a good deal to do with schools during the last twenty- five years. I was a member of the Boston School Board for some time, was at the head of the Seminary at Lexington during four years, an have always been interested in the question of woman as a teacher.

I have interrogated, perhaps a hundred school committee men, in different parts of the country. Their testimony, and my own, after all this observation, is, that woman is a better teacher than man. I think this is true even in the department of mathematics. I am sure it is true in all those studies, in the teaching of which, the social, moral or religious element is brought into play.

The proportion of female teachers in American schools is very rapidly increasing, and it is noteworthy that they are constantly rising into schools of a higher grade.

The state authorities in Massachusetts have recently placed a woman at the head of one of our principal Normal schools. It is safe to prophesy that, within fifty years, teaching, in the common schools, High schools, and in the Normal schools, will be almost exclusively in the hands of women. I think, within that time, a considerable proportion of the professors in our colleges will be women. Already several are doing themselves, and their sex, great honor, as professors in colleges.

The only dark spot in this bright picture is, that women are starved while performing this valuable labor.

I know a beautiful, bright young woman, in this city, who is regarded as one of the best teachers in the city, who presides in one of the most beautiful rooms in one of the grandest buildings in Boston, but who, when out of the school palace, is obliged to crawl away with her mother into a dingy, miserable garret, where they spend their time in contriving how to make their pennies last through the year.

The schools known as Kindergarten have already become quite numerous. They will rapidly multiply. Within a few years, children three years old will be sent to these beautiful Kindergarten schools, where, in each others society, and under the management of bright, cheery, loving teachers, they will engage in a great variety of pleasant games and infantile studies.

The physical exercises which constitute a prominent feature of these baby schools, are very fascinating and profitable to these little ones.

In these schools children of from three to five years of age will not only be brighter and happier, but they will be much healthier, than when left to the chances of the average home, without system, times or seasons.

It need hardly be said that such schools will fall into the hands of women, and will, within a quarter of a century, employ a great number of them. The hours will be short, the occupation perfectly adapted to the finest girls, and, as these little ones are objects of the tenderest love, the compensation for such persons as can successfully manage them, will always be large.

Lord Brougham gave it as his opinion, that a child learns more during the first eighteen months of its life, than at any other period, and that it settles, in fact, at this early age, its mental capacity, and future well-being.

TEACHERS OF GYMNASTICS AND DANCING.

Here is a field, at once healthful, respectable and immense. In this field women have already displayed a remarkable capacity, and I have no doubt, as in the progress of civilization special physical training and amusements come to occupy a larger place in our life, that women will find in this service employment for a large number of the intelligent and ambitious.

I have known young women, neither beautiful nor educated, but with devotion to their duties, to earn more than a thousand dollars a year, in teaching gymnastics. Instructions in dancing have long been given by ladies. So far as I have learned, they have been quite successful.

TEACHERS IN DRAWING AND PAINTING.

The instruction of girls in drawing and painting has now so generally fallen into the hands of female teachers that one need hardly speak of it further than to say that it is an employment entirely fit and proper for women, and one which usually affords a generous remuneration.

WATCHES.

Let us speak first of watch-cleaning. What are the qualifications of a good watch-cleaner? Nimble, sensitive fingers, neatness, and carefulness.

Now put your finger there, and let me show you a watch-cleaner. He works in a window only two squares from my Boston residence. He weighs about two hundred and twenty pounds, and has a fist big enough to knock down an ox. The whole thing looked so comical to me, I thought one day I would go in and plague him a little. So, after a little chat about watches in general, I said:--

"By the way, it has occurred to me that women might work at watch- cleaning.

"Women," said he, "why, they couldn't clean watches. They haven't the skill, they haven't the mechanical genius for it, sir. I don't go in for none of your 'woman's rights,' sir; I think women should attend to their own business."

"And, pray, what do you regard as their business?"

"Why, staying at home in their own sphere, and attending to their domestic concerns; taking care of their children, and keeping their husband's clothes mended."

I saw at once that the case was altogether too deep for me, and so I simply remarked:--

"Yes, to be sure, of course; and is it not strange, that they should not be willing to stay at home, and rock their babies, especially the seventy thousand in the state of Massachusetts who can never expect to have husbands?"

Cleaning watches is a business that should at once pass into the hands of women. The opinion that they have not the requisite mechanical capacity to take a watch to pieces and put it together again, is the opinion of a goose. They can do the work quicker and better than men. It is an employment that naturally belongs to them.

In the watch-making establishment at Waltham, several hundred bright, intelligent young women find employment and good pay.

"There is a manufactory in England, where five hundred women are employed in making the interior chains for chronometers. They are preferred to men on account of their being naturally more dexterous with their fingers, and, therefore, being found to require less training."

It may be said, in one word, that, taking the world together, there are many, many thousand women employed in manufacturing watches. They do every part of the work, except what is called finishing, or putting the pieces together, and in several establishments they do even this, and finish the very best class of chronometer watches.

The making of watch chains is a business adapted to the delicate fingers, and to the patience of women. Accordingly thousands are occupied in this specialty.

PENS.

The manufacturing of pens is an employment in which women can excel. It requires patience and quick movements of the fingers. A certain part of the manufacturing of gold pens, it has been objected, would be too dirty for women.

By the way, this very objection is made with reference to a great many employments. It is said, they are too dirty for women. Now, really, is not this a good joke? Why, there is not a dirty task in house-keeping,--and I certainly know of no occupation in which there are so many dirty tasks,--which is not done by women. If there is a dirty thing which men would not touch with the ends of their fingers, it is sure to be left to girls.

The making of gold and steel pens should fall into the hands of women. The making of gold pens is a profitable occupation, and, as at present tending, bids fair, when women are fairly introduced, to offer occupation for a great number of them.

AQUARIA MAKERS.

"One of the most innocent and pleasant amusements that has attracted attention for some time, is the making of aquaria. The cases are formed of plate glass, square, oblong, circular, or any other shape to please the fancy of the owner. The glass is tightly sealed when joined. The aquaria are of two kinds. One is formed of salt water, and contains marine plants and animals; the other contains fresh water, and such plants and animals as are found in rivers and smaller streams.

They form a beautiful addition to the garden, the conservatory, or the drawing-room. Rocks form the foundation, and the soil on them furnishes subsistence to the plants. Zoophytes, mollusca, and fish, constitute the inhabitants of the aquarium. Insects also find a place in this miniature ocean or river garden. The size for parlors is from one foot to three feet in length."

This is an occupation happily adapted to the graceful, elegant tastes of cultured women.

ARCHITECTS.

"Propersia di Rossi, born in Bologna in 1490, furnished some admirable plans in architecture.

"Madame Steenwyck and Esther Juvenal, of Nuremberg, are mentioned as eminent designers.

"In the 17th century, Plantilla Brizio, of Rome, was a practical architect, and left monuments of her excellence.

"The wife of Erwin Steinbach materially assisted her husband in the erection of the famous Strasburg Cathedral, and within its walls a sculptured stone represents the husband and wife as consulting together on the plan."

The ordinary course of training given, as a basis, and I have no doubt that women will submit, in response to public invitations, as handsome designs for public and private buildings, as men.

ENGRAVERS.

In the course of my experience as an author, I have had occasion to procure eight hundred engravings on wood. I never see men at work upon them, without thinking what a perfect employment this would be for women. It is not a difficult business to learn, but requires mostly a quick sense of touch, keen vision, with a patient, careful manipulation of the fingers. A very large part of the wood engraving should be performed by women.

What I have said of wood engraving is, perhaps, not less true of copper and steel engraving.

PHOTOGRAPHERS.

Photography now employs many thousands in the country, and there is no part of the business which may not be as successfully performed by a woman as by a man. Already a very considerable percentage of the operators and colorers are women.

SCHOOLS OF DESIGN.

Schools of design have long existed in Europe. There are quite a number of them in Paris, some of them of prodigious proportions, and about a third of them are for women. There are schools of design scattered throughout the cities of the United States.

The object of these schools is to give a knowledge of some of the industrial branches of the fine arts. In some of these schools drawing is taught with marked thoroughness.

Designing for paper hangings, calico, wood engraving; designs for carpets, silks, ribbons, furniture, laces, plated ware, silver, jewelry, etc., are beginning to receive much attention.

Just think of the absurdity of employing men to design calicos. As a woman has a keener instinct for delicate forms, and beautiful, harmonious combinations of colors, so it is certain that she would succeed best in designing for calicos and similar fabrics.

These schools of design are to open an unlimited field for the remunerative employment of women. As our civilization is widened and refined, this field will rapidly enlarge.

Already, if there were some thousands of women educated,--and they may be educated, generally without expense to themselves,--they could find immediate and well-paid employment in the industrial prosecution of various branches of the fine arts.

GARDENING.

This has long seemed to me an employment in which women would not only gain health and strength, but in which the most modest and retiring might find a congenial occupation, and the products of which are never depreciated because raised by a woman. A peck of peas has a certain market value, not dependant upon the hands which raised them. A woman who works at making pants receives fifty cents a day, not on account of the amount or quality of her work, but be cause she is a woman. A man engaged upon the same garments receives two dollars a day, not because of the amount or quality of his work, but because he is a man.

It is doubtless true that, in very many cases, the man does his work better than the woman; but it is not less true that, in a majority of cases, the difference in price grows out of the difference in sex.

So of the school. A male teacher receives a thousand dollars a year, not because his moral influence is better, not because the pupils learn more, but because he is a man. A woman teaches a similar school, and receives four hundred dollars, not because of the inferiority of her moral influence in the school, not because the pupils learn less, but because she is a woman.

Now, happily, all this is avoided in gardening. A man who would sell a beet is not obliged to put on a label, "raised by a man, ten cents," and upon another, "raised by a woman, four cents," but the article brings its market value. This is a great advantage, and one affording a special gratification to women of spirit.

Besides, gardening is an occupation requiring very little capital, and, except in the fancy departments, comparatively little training. Near any of the cities a woman can earn more upon a half acre of land, with four months' work, than she can earn by sewing twelve months, saying nothing of the healthfulness of gardening, and the unhealthfulness of sewing. A young woman, tired, disgusted with the difficulties which hamper her on every side, asks:--

"What can I do to be saved?"

I reply, "Cultivate a half acre of ground."

You can sell the products of your garden to one of the market-men who make it their business to purchase garden vegetables where they are raised, and convey them to market. Nearly all of our men gardeners sell at their doors, and have nothing to do with the market.

I do not know of another opening which women can enter so easily, with so little wounding of their sensibilities, and which promises such sure and generous remuneration.

A year ago I urged some young women who were out of employment to engage in gardening. They said they had no capital, no experience, but would be willing to try if the way could be made smooth for them. I spent a couple of days in driving about among the gardeners, in the neighborhood of Boston, and asked the following questions of some fifty of them:--

"Is there any part of your work that women can do?"

"If so, what compensation would you give to attentive, quick- fingered American girls?"

The answer to the first question was uniformly,--

"A large part of the work of a garden, or 'truck' farm, can be done as well by women as by men."

To the second question, the answers ranged from five to eight dollars per week.

A CAPITAL INVESTMENT.

Persons possessing capital, and interested in the welfare of women, could hardly make a wiser or more beneficent investment of their means, than in the purchase of small farms in the neighborhood of cities, for the use of women.

Dividing these into half-acre lots, they should rent them to girls and women, either without rent, or for a sum which would simply meet the interest on the capital invested. In every case, probably, the investments would pay well, without any rent, by the natural increase in the value of real estate in the neighborhood of cities, and the improvement incidental to nice gardening; but the occupant would not hesitate to pay a small rent.

If entirely unacquainted with farming, three or four might join to hire a gardener, and under his guidance they would all soon learn to work advantageously in raising the common garden vegetables.

A dozen or twenty of these girls could board in the old farm house, and would make a pleasant family. Naturally they would "exchange works" with each other, and thus secure social enjoyment.

This is no dream, but only requires that one man or woman should possess a few thousand dollars, which it is desired to invest in property with sure returns, and given, besides, twenty girls who are suffering the tortures of dyspepsia and hopelessness in city work, and who desire a healthy, pleasant, remunerative employment. Certainly, both these classes of persons are numerous.

I know a great many persons in the neighborhood of Boston, (and with our rapid railway communications they may be located at considerable distances,) I say I know of many persons who have farms which are really producing nothing but a little grass and a few flowers, but which, changed into such half-acre gardens, would become sources of considerable income to all concerned. Twenty acres of good land, and a good-sized farmhouse, with an advance of two thousand dollars to prepare the land, and feed the company until their crops begin to return something, would give a home and independence to forty girls; and more than this, would fairly open and illustrate the possibilities in gardening as an employment for women.

It need hardly be said that the cultivation of flowers is an occupation perfectly adapted to the finest girls; and as flowers are in constant demand, with regularly quoted prices, every day in the year, this field bids fair to offer pleasant and profitable occupation to many women. It is enough to say that women should at once be introduced to this branch of industry.

It is hardly necessary, in this place, to point out the practical difficulties, which are accessible to every inquirer. Under the auspices of the New England Woman's Club, at No. 3 Tremont Place, Boston, a horticultural school has been opened a few miles out of Boston, for the training of young women.

As I said in the beginning, I do not know of another branch of industry in which so many women could find immediate and remunerative employment as in cultivating the land; and I cannot doubt, now that the public mind has been awakened to the subject of woman's employment, and as under the rapid spread of the social evil, thousands not interested on the side of benevolence are thoroughly awakened to the importance of multiplying occupations for women, as a defence of public morals,--I cannot doubt that this most promising field will soon be invaded by an army of American girls and women.

It seems to me that one special advantage will be found in the intimate relations between a productive garden and the comfort of a family. What a stimulus to a loving mother, that the products of her garden not only gratify the palates of her loved ones, but make important contributions to their health. It seems to me that, more than any other occupation I can name, the cultivation of a garden in connection with a family, would come in to afford special gratification to the wife and mother.

"Iowa has an Agricultural College on a plot of land of six hundred and fifty acres, with over thirty young ladies and one hundred and forty young men, whose tuition is free, and their daily work, which all are to do, is credited towards their board. This year the college building is to be enlarged to double its present capacity."

It is hardly necessary to repeat the facts found every day in the agricultural and other papers, illustrating woman's capacity for practical farming. Some of the rarest successes in general farming, have been achieved by women. I have personally known several of these farmers, who were intelligent and refined.

MERCHANTS.

What an army of men, some of them big enough to carry an ox, are engaged, in the United States, in selling silks, calicos, thread, tape, needles and pins. Hundreds of thou sands of stalwart young men, who might earn twice as much in more active, muscular, outdoor occupations, are shut up in stores; while a corresponding number of women; desperate for lack of bread, lie in wait at night, when these men come out of their silken stores, to tempt them to vice and disease, which may carry all into one common ruin.

CARPENTERS.

A "kit" of carpenter's tools, and a carpenter's bench, may be purchased for a few dollars. Every house should have such provisions. It is curious how universal is the passion for the use of such tools. Nine persons in ten, including both sexes, would, if they enjoyed facilities, indulge this natural passion for straight lines, angles and curves.

From my observation, I think girls possess this mechanical fancy and tact quite as generally as boys.

In several homes where I have met facilities for making boxes, frames, rulers, etc., the girls have displayed more interest in the use of the beautiful carpenter tools, than the boys.

What a priceless knack of fingers, preparation and fancy for a hundred different occupations, and healthful, muscular exercise would thus be won.

My friend, Capt. R--, purchased a "kit" of carpenter's tools and a turning lathe, nearly twenty years ago, and encouraged his six daughters to use them. Scores of cupboards, shelves, frames, book- holders, towel-racks, etc., etc., scattered all over his house, testify to the mechanical taste and skill of his girls.

At the holiday season they send to friends many beautiful boxes and book-shelves, made with their own hands.

But for the wealth of the family, I have no doubt that these girls would have sought mechanical occupations.

OTHER OCCUPATIONS.

Women would succeed well as engravers and chasers of gold and silver, as etchers and stamp makers, herbarium makers, landscape gardeners, lithographers, map makers, modellers, music engravers, painters, picture restorers, piano tuners, painters of plates for books, steel engravers, sculptors, telegraphic operators, wax workers, book-keepers, book merchants, china merchants, keepers of fancy stores, grocers, junk dealers, music sellers, sellers of artists' materials, sellers of seeds, roots and herbs, small wares, toys, in variety shops, as bird raisers, and bird and animal preservers, fruit venders, dealers in pets, restaurant keepers, thread makers, glove makers, makers of shawls, yarn, ribbons, sewing silk, lace menders, makers of files, guns, hinges, nails, screws, skates, shovels, wire, candle-sticks, hooks and eyes, lamps, pens, rings, scales, buckles, needles, saws, scissors, spectacles, surgical instruments, telescopes, thermometers, lanterns, thimbles, gold and silver leaf, pencils, inkstands, paper cutters, porcelain goods, beads, harnesses, pocket-books, trunks, whips, combs, piano cases. They succeed well as pearl workers, tortoise-shell workers. They succeed in manufacturing shoes of all kinds, and gutta-percha goods. They succeed as hair workers, as artists, as merchants of all kinds of goods. They succeed in manufacturing artificial flowers, belts, bonnet ruches, dress trimmings, embroidery, feathers, hoopskirts, parasols and umbrellas, and so on, and so on, to the extent of several hundred occupations, with a large number of which they have nothing whatever to do, and from which they are kept by persistent, blind, stupid prejudice; the apology, explanation, or whatever you may choose to call it, generally being, either that the work is too dirty, too hard, requires too much patience, or, much more frequently, that it requires too much skill.

With all these occupations open to them, it is hard to believe that New England girls will consent to starve, or for lack of bread, will wander off into bye and forbidden paths.

EMPLOYMENT AGENCY.

Nothing is more simple or easy than to extend the field of woman's industries.

Let the young women and their friends call a meeting, and establish an agency for the neighborhood. This meeting need not cost the girls a penny. A committee of five intelligent ladies and gentlemen can readily be found, who will undertake the management.

The duty of the committee will be to seek new employments for girls, and smooth the way.

FALSE TESTS OF GENTILITY.

Everywhere, among all peoples, we find the spirit of aristocracy-- caste. The distinction between classes, in most countries, appears in dress, intelligence and manners.

In the United States the distinctions are not thus marked.

In the cars, for example, you meet a gentleman, whose address and conversation are very pleasing, and you are just in the act of congratulating yourself upon the acquisition of a charming acquaintance, when some one whispers in your ear the appalling fact that he is nothing but a carpenter.

You meet a lady, exquisitely attired, with a beautiful face, sweet manners, and brilliant conversation, and you wonder who she can be. She must be the daughter of a leisurely, cultured banker; but, after taking pains to ask the conductor, and several gentlemen in the car, you are at last informed by the brakeman:--

"Why, darn it, she is that Lizzie Brown, the dress-maker."

The fact is, we cannot rely upon the European indications of high and low classes, and so, in America, we have devised numerous arbitrary, and often unreasonable and inconvenient habits, and customs, which are learned and practised by "our set, you know," but which are not generally caught up by the earnest, busy class.

One of these, which will serve for present illustration, is a rule that you must, at table, put everything into your mouth with a fork.

In one of our most reputable monthlies, I read, a day or two since, a chapter in a story, in which it was stated, as a shocking exhibition of depraved vulgarity, that John Smith put his food into his mouth with a knife,--the deplorable wretch!

Last summer, at a sea-side house, I was remarking to an intelligent lady, in an after-dinner chat, that of all the gentlemen on the ground, I was most interested in that tall, reserved, scholarly- looking man.

She replied, with a toss of her head, "I can't bear him. Why, he eats with his knife!"

Of course nobody supposes that for most sorts of food a fork is better than a knife; but unless some tests of what is called gentility can be maintained, you see we shouldn't know who's who and what's what.

I learned somewhat early in life to use the fork almost exclusively; but now that it is made a sign of gentility, I am learning to use the knife.

I always enjoyed the anecdote of that "first gentleman of Europe," a certain King of England, who, on a state occasion, invited to his table a Scotch nobleman, with his two daughters. The nobleman was one of the truest friends of the king, and the daughters were most intelligent, worthy girls; but, living very much out of society, they had not learned all the rules of table etiquette. So upon sipping their coffee, and finding it too hot, they poured from the cup into the saucer, and drank from the saucer. The king, who was at the head of the table, heard a derisive laugh from some of the pets of the court, and looking over where his Scotch friends sat, he saw the occasion of it. Immediately he lifted his own cup, poured into the saucer, and set the cup down on the table with a great noise, whereupon the exquisites colored, and hushed.

Girls, I advise you to use the fork in eating such things as can be eaten best with it, unless you wish to make issue with a false and arbitrary test of gentility.

There are table habits, vital in their importance. I may here name the practice of eating only simple food, with great deliberation, maintaining, during the meal, your legitimate share in the conversation, and constantly watching for opportunities to assist those about you.

CONSERVATISM IS FASHIONABLE.

Nothing is more fashionable than conservatism. Slavery--what a hot- bed of sensualism! What a pandemonium of cruelty and crime!

All over the North the merchant, the politician, and the clergyman pledged each other to silence. It was the fashion.

A few brave souls protested. Sneers and ridicule followed them. Ah, can it be believed,--the blue-eyed daughters of New England joined in the sneers. They drew aside their skirts as they passed the champions of liberty and virtue. No other memory connected with the antislavery revolution is so hard for me to bear. If only they, hearing the cry of agony from their outraged sisters in the South, had listened, sympathized, and, in their own gentle way, striven to help the torn and bleeding ones, I could bear the memory of the brutal indifference of men.

"WOMAN'S RIGHTS" ARE UNFASHIONABLE.

In most of the states women have no legal claim to their own children. In several of them the father may, in his will, commit the little ones to the care of strangers, and the mother can only weep and moan.

In many of the states the wife has no right to the property which her father gave her, or to that which she has earned with her own hands.

In not one of the states can a woman express her opinion or wish at the ballot box. Her person, her property, her claim to her children, --everything she holds most dear in this life, is controlled by the ballot box. The most ignorant foreigners are invited to it; our mothers and wives are forbidden.

Women and girls receive, for the same work, only half the compensation of men and boys.

The "woman's rights" movement seeks the mitigation, and final removal, of these outrageous wrongs.

My dear girls, think for yourselves this time. Don't simper and giggle when the fools sneer at "woman's rights." They don't know what they are talking about.

A few days ago I heard a sort of jackanapes ridiculing "woman's rights," and several very sweet girls were listening to his coarse scurrilities; and, must I say it, smiling their approval.

Wearing an unfashionable dress is not half so bad; going into the street with the bonnet of two years ago, even, will not unsex you like a smiling indifference to these desperate struggles of your sisters. To avoid starvation on one hand, and crime on the other, they plead with the world for justice.

In this city of Boston there are twenty thousand women starving on needle-work, and five thousand who live, or die, by crime. A few brave ones, driven to the wall, hope, by calling attention to their helplessness, to obtain sympathy and justice. This is essentially the "woman's rights" movement. Suppose you don't like the mode in which they agitate. When you hear criticisms, or ridicule, if you haven't the heart to say a word in defence, at least you can keep silence.

I wish I dared to tell you how we men almost despise you, sometimes, for this abandonment of each other.

THE "SOCIAL EVIL."

Men go prowling about, seeking to seduce and ruin girls, and will stand by each other, even in this infamous business. When a poor girl, overcome by the arts of an oily-tongued villain, perhaps by a promise of marriage, consents to sin, how you drop her, and shun her, and sneer at her. A hundred times I have heard chivalrous men declare that, "women have no honor; they never stand by each other. If one gets into trouble, the rest forsake her, and run away." Girls, if you care to commend yourselves to men, stand by these unfortunate ones, encourage them, help them. You needn't fear being soiled; the spirit in which you would engage in this angelic service, would serve as a perfect shield.

I know something of men. I have lived in many countries. I have been much in society, have been, to some extent, what is railed a man of the world, and have talked with men about women, hundreds of times.

I am confident that nothing would so elevate a young woman in the estimation of all noble men, as the brave defence of an unfortunate sister. It would thrill us all, and lift you into a heroine.

If a few hundred of you would join hands around the social evil, even in a city like this, where it has attained huge proportions, you could bring it within easy reach of christian aid.

Nothing, this side of God, do men revere, as they revere virtuous women. Let it be known among men, that the victims of their lust have been taken under your protection, and the whole aspect of the question would instantly change. Instead of looking upon the unhappy ones as fair game, men would suddenly become conscious that they were dealing with your friends, and, therefore, with you.

A SHORT SERMON ABOUT MATRIMONY.

I would address those young women who want husbands. There are such; I have noticed them. Girls, if any of you have really made up your minds that you "wouldn't marry the best man that ever lived, there!" skip this little sermon, because it really has no interest for you.

Men will shut their ears if they have a spark of delicacy; for every word of this is private and confidential.

MY TEXT.

The text, or rather the occasion for what I am about to say on the subject of marriage, was this:--

About a week ago, a young woman of twenty-six (she said twenty-six, so I am sure about her age,) came to me in regard to her health; and after the professional conversation was finished, we fell into a general and pleasant chat.

She was delightfully frank, and said, while we were discussing the ever fruitful subject of matrimony,--

"I wish I was little."

"That is too bad," I replied; "I have been admiring your grand, queenly proportions ever since you came in; and now you spoil it all by showing that you are not grateful."

"I can't help it; I wish I didn't weigh more than eighty pounds, and wasn't more than four and a half feet high."

"I am shocked! Do tell me what makes you wish so?"

"To be frank with you, the reason is just this: Men are so fond of saying, 'My little wife.'"

I laughed, thinking it was intended as a bright speech; but her flushed face assured me that, instead, she was uttering her very heart.

"Go on," I said, "tell me your thoughts."

"My thoughts are just these; and I believe they are the thoughts of all unmarried marriageable women. I long for nothing this side of heaven as I do to bury all my uncertainties and anxieties in the love of a husband. Eagerly would I make any sacrifice to secure this precious treasure. But I fear there is nothing left for me but to be sneered at as an old maid. So while I might otherwise be grateful for what you choose to call my queenly proportions, I can only wish I was one of the little women whom men seem to fancy."

I shall not tell you any more of this conversation, and my friend will excuse this much, as a text for my little sermon. Only she and I will know to whom this refers.

I wonder if it is improper to speak plainly about what so many are thinking of.

I will venture a little. Now don't take on airs and turn up your noses. My hair is of a color which might introduce me to you in the character of father. I shall speak very plainly. It cannot compromise anybody, for, as I told you, this is all private and confidential.

YOU WANT HUSBANDS.

Now don't deny it; it sounds silly in you. It is, all of a piece with the earnest declaration of the mother who is managing her daughters through Saratoga, Newport, and an endless round of parties, but who constantly declares, in the most earnest way, that she has no more girls than she wants, that she could not consent to part with a single one of them, and who, at length, when pressed to part with dear Arabella, gives a reluctant and painful assent, and who may be seen on the wedding day penetrated with inconsolable grief at parting with that dear child. Girls, don't join in this farce; it is too thin.

You want husbands. You think of them by day, and dream of them by night. You talk of nothing else. Think on, and dream on; even if you never get them, it will make you better and nobler to think about them.

On our side of the house we are all thinking and dreaming of you, and, although we may never marry, our hearts will be the warmer and purer for having been occupied with thoughts of you.

WHY MEN DO NOT PROPOSE.

In entering upon this most important and delightful relation, we men are expected to take the overt initiative. You are perplexed and grieved that so many of us hold back, and wander about, homeless bachelors all our lives, leaving you to die old maids.

Let me whisper in your ear.

We are afraid of you!

As I am out of the matrimonial market, I will let my friend Robert, who is in said market, explain.

Robert is a splendid fellow, and dying to have a home of his own. He declared in my parlor the other evening, that he would prefer ten years of happy married life to fifty years of this nothing and nowhere.

My wife said, "Well, Robert, if you cannot find a wife, you had better give a commission to somebody who can." With a flushed face; he replied:--

"Now see here, Mrs. Lewis, I am a banker; my salary is two thousand dollars. I cannot marry a scrub. I must marry a wife with manners, one who knows what's what. My mother and sisters, to say nothing of myself, would break their hearts if my choice were below their idea. Just tell me how, with such a wife, I could pull through on two thousand a year? Why, her dress alone would cost half of it. Board for the two would cost at least fifty dollars a week, and even with that, you know, we should not get first-class board.

"And then there are the extras,--the little trips, the lectures, the concerts, the operas, etc.; one cannot live in society without a little of such things.

"Oh no, unless I first make up my mind to rob the bank, I cannot think of matrimony. If I had five thousand a year I would venture; but with two thousand,--well, I am not quite a madman, and so I stay where I can pay my debts.

"My lady friends think I am so much in love with the--Club that I have no time for them. One of them said to me the other day, when we were discussing this matter,--

"'Why, what you spend in that miserable club, would support a wife, easy.'

"'It wouldn't pay for her bonnets,' I replied."

Now ladies, Robert is getting extravagant, so we will let him retire, and I will go on with my little sermon. I do not often preach, but in this case, nothing but a sermon will do.

BEAUTY OF WOMAN'S BODY.

Firstly, you are perfect idiots to go on in this way. Your bodies are the most beautiful of God's creation. In the continental galleries I constantly saw groups of people, gathered about the pictures of women. It was not passion; the gazers were quite as likely to be women, as men. It was the wondrous beauty of woman's body.

Now stand with me at my office window, and see a lady pass. There goes one! Now isn't that a pretty looking object? A big hump, three big humps, a wilderness of crimps and frills, a hauling up of the dress here and there, an enormous hideous mass of false hair or bark piled on the top of her head, and on the very top of that, a little nondescript thing, ornamented with bits of lace, birds' tails, etc.; while the shop windows tell us all day long, of the paddings, whalebones, and springs, which occupy most of the space within that outside rig.

In the name of all the simple, sweet sentiments which cluster about a home, I would ask, how is a man to fall in love with such a compound, doubled and twisted, starched, comical, artificial, touch- me-not, wiggling curiosity?

THIS DRESS CHECKS YOUR MOVEMENTS.

Secondly, with that wasp waist, your lungs, stomach, liver, and other organs squeezed down out of their place, and into one half their natural size, and with that long trail dragging on the ground, how can any man of sense, who knows that life is made up of use, of service, of work; how can he take such partner? He must be desperate to unite himself for life with such a deformed, fettered, half breathing ornament.

If I were in the matrimonial market, I might marry a woman that had but one arm, or one eye, or no eyes at all, if she suited me otherwise; but so long as God permitted me to retain my senses, I could never join my fortunes with those of a woman with a small waist.

A small waist! I am a physiologist, and know what a small waist means. It means the organs of the abdomen jammed down into the pelvis; it means the organs of the chest stuffed up into the throat; it means a weak back; it means a delicate, nervous invalid; it means a suffering patient, and not a vigorous helpmate.

Thousands of men dare not venture, because they wisely fear that, instead of a helpmate, they will get an invalid to take care of. Besides, this bad health in you, just as in men, made the mind, as well as the body, faddled and effeminate.

You have no power, no magnetism. I know you giggle freely, and use big words, such as splendid, awful, etc.; but then, this does not deceive us; we see through all that sort of thing. The fact is, you are superficial, affected, silly. You have none of that womanly strength and warmth which are so assuring and attractive to men.

Why you have actually become so childish, that you refuse to wear decent names even, and insist upon little baby names.

Instead of Helen, Margaret and Elizabeth you affect Nellie, Maggie and Lizzie.