Our Girls Part 12

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 cla.s.ses 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 gra.s.s 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 ill.u.s.trate 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, ill.u.s.trating 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 pa.s.sion for the use of such tools. Nine persons in ten, including both s.e.xes, would, if they enjoyed facilities, indulge this natural pa.s.sion 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-sh.e.l.l 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 tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, 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 cla.s.ses, 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 cla.s.ses, 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 cla.s.s.

One of these, which will serve for present ill.u.s.tration, 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.